All posts by Kevin

general, video

Incoming: Vampire Weekend, Sept. 24

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If anything can illustrate Vampire Weekend’s ascent it’s the fact that the New York quartet is playing Tempe’s cavernous Marquee Theatre on Sept. 24, just more than a year after appearing at cozy Modified as an unsigned band.

Tickets ($19) go on sale Saturday. No opening act has been announced yet. Check Stateside Presents for more information.

Just a few weeks ago, I was marveling at Vampire Weekend’s ubiquity at our local shopping mall, where we heard a VW song in no less than three different stores. I don’t mean that as a backlash-fueled knock at all. I say good for them. Haters be damned.

Vampire Weekend’s video for A-Punk:

hip-hop

The Roots: 75 Bars (live) + Muxtape

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If you haven’t visited the Roots’ page over at Okayplayer.com, you’re missing some great content. I spent a good hour or so reading, listening, watching all it has to offer, including a bonus song from the international release of Rising Down.

I just got my hands on Rising Down the other day, and so far, it’s everything I’ve come to expect from the Roots – passionate and intense with something to say. I can’t think of a band – hip-hop or otherwise – that is as prolific without losing its edge as the Roots.

To celebrate, I’ve created a Roots-themed Muxtape. I’ve included a favorite song from each of their nine albums, including the 1999 live album The Roots Come Alive.

Remember: The Roots and Erykah Badu visit Mesa Amphitheatre on June 14.

Here’s an AOL sessions performance of the new track 75 Bars (Black’s Reconstruction), found at Okayplayer.com.

  • The Roots | 75 Bars (Black’s Reconstruction) (AOL sessions)
arizona

Sounds from the Basement, Vol. 1

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It’s always great to see someone champion the local Phoenix/Tempe scene. That’s what Ashley Harris has been doing with The Basement, a two-hour local show based out of Arizona State’s campus radio station the Blaze 1260 AM.

She’s brought in local bands for interviews, performances and guest DJ spots. She’s leaving ASU, but Harris has left us a gift: Sounds from the Basement, Vol. 1. It’s a compilation – downloadable for free – of some of the performances, which are mostly acoustic.

The compilation features bands I’m familiar with – Source Victoria, Colorstore and Sleepwalk, A Robot – and some I’ve never heard (but glad I have now) – especially Adam Lee and the Dead Horse Sound Company.

Listen to and download the compilation at Pure Volume, where you can also watch video of 10 more performances.

  • Source Victoria | The Welcoming (live on The Basement)
  • Adam Lee & the Dead Horse Sound Company | Oh, Virginia (live on The Basement)
hip-hop

DJ Shadow: What does your city sound like?

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DJ Shadow has teamed with Nokia for a pretty cool contest/”experiment” – What does your city sound like? (I presume it’s a play on the Shadow track What Does Your Soul Look Like.) They’re asking people to record the sounds “that define your city.”

Shadow got the ball rolling with a trolley-bell-heavy track on San Francisco (mp3 below).

I wouldn’t even know where to begin with Phoenix. How do you record urban sprawl and 100-degree heat?

  • DJ Shadow | What does your city sound like? – San Francisco

(via Solesides.com)

RELATED:
Head Like a Kite’s Dave Einmo just discussed DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing in his I Used to Love H.E.R. entry.

general

Incoming: Fleet Foxes, June 30 (Tucson)

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I mentioned recently what a Fleet Foxes kick I’ve been on. It hasn’t slowed since. Pretty sure I listen to the Sun Giant EP at least once a day.

Looks like they’re coming back through Arizona, except they’ll be playing in Tucson and not Phoenix (via Brooklyn Vegan). Date: June 30. Place: Solar Culture, which, last time I was there, was BYOB. No ticket information yet on Solar Culture’s site.

By that time, the band’s full-length, self-titled debut will be out (June 3 on Sub Pop).

general

Incoming: Oxford Collapse/Frightened Rabbit,
June 24

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Hello, Oxford Collapse.

Stateside Presents is bringin’ it. Just look at the schedule of upcoming shows. (Wolf Parade – yay! – in Tucson – boo!)

Here’s another great one: Oxford Collapse with Frightened Rabbit at Rhythm Room on Aug. June 24. (Buy tickets.) [EDIT: Thanks, Conan, for date correction.]

I actually just picked up the new Frightened Rabbit record, The Midnight Organ Fight, on eMusic. Everything about the band’s name told me to stay away (rabbits are the new wolves, I guess), but then I discovered the band is on Fat Cat, the same label as the Twilight Sad (good), and the new album was produced by Peter Katis, who produced the National’s Boxer (great).

Check out some thoughts at Chromewaves on the group until I form an opinion of my own.

And, honestly, who doesn’t like Please Visit Your National Parks by Oxford Collapse? (And For the Khakis and the Sweatshirts, for that matter.)

hip-hop, i used to love h.e.r.

I Used to Love H.E.R.: Head Like a Kite

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The 26th installment of I Used to Love H.E.R., a series in which artists/bloggers/writers discuss their most essential or favorite hip-hop albums (read intro), comes from Dave Einmo, the man behind Head Like a Kite. On June 17, Head Like a Kite will release There is Loud Laughter Everywhere (Mush Records). Given Einmo’s talent for morphing samples into pop melodies – he sampled sounds from Super 8 movies his parents shot in the late ’70s for his first album – his choice to discuss an instrumental classic seems natural.

endtroducingDJ Shadow
Endtroducing … (Mo’ Wax, 1996)
When asked what hip hop record has had the biggest influence on me, it’s tempting to dig deep and pick something less obvious. But my mom taught me to be honest. DJ Shadow’s Entroducing really changed the way I thought about beats and loops and production. He seamlessly threaded gargantuan Bonham-esque drums with moody, down tempo grooves and found sounds that oozed nostalgia while at the same time fast forwarded to the future. That album created a whole new genre of hip hop that still gets mimicked today. It’s cinematic and demands your attention. I love records like that. There are lots of albums by guys like Prefuse 73, Four Tet, Madlib, Dabrye, DJ Krush, Madvillian, and The Roots that have had lasting impressions on how I listen to music. But “Entroducing” was the album that really opened up my eyes in 1996. It’s hard to believe that it came out 12 years ago. That’s the true test. A timeless record that will still sound fresh a decade from now.

hip-hop, vinyl

Re-up: The Pharcyde – Pork

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A reader/commenter asked for a repost of this Pharcyde B-side I posted in August. Normally, I would just e-mail these sorts of requests, but there wasn’t an address for which to send.

So please forgive a repeat post. But if you haven’t grabbed these tracks, get to it.

ELSEWHERE:
Check out a Wired Listening Post interview with Muxtape creator Justin Ouellete. Then go listen to my Muxtape (which is in need of updating).