All posts by Kevin

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Stream Tapes ‘n Tapes’ new record

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Tapes ‘n Tapes are making their new record, Walk It Off, available to stream but only until tomorrow at 1 p.m. (Central).

From MySpace bulletin:

“you know how we keep talking about how excited we are about our new record? well we just couldn’t wait any longer to share it with you. and since we’re going to be playing all the new songs off “walk it off” at sxsw in a week, we figured you might want to hear them before hand…so we’re streaming the album right now on our website for free! the stream is only going to be up until tomorrow (thursday 3/7) at 1pm Central time, so you should go check it out now before it’s gone. think of it as taking the record for a test drive. all you have to do is go to http://www.tapesntapes.com/preview/ and enter your email address inside the blue box near the bottom of the screen, and you’ll get to stream the album right away!”

Remember: Tapes ‘n Tapes in Tucson (sigh) at Club Congress with White Denim on May 6. Tickets: $10 advance; $12 day of show.

hip-hop

Mr. Dibbs presents: Del the Funky Megamix

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Del the Funky Homosapien’s Eleventh Hour drops next Tuesday (March 11). To celebrate, El-P’s DJ, Mr. Dibbs, put together a mix of Del tracks – from the classics (Mistadobalina) to the new joints (Workin’ It).

I think Prefix Mag said it best: “For you newcomers, consider this your intro class to one of hip-hop’s most original artists.”

You can also stream Eleventh Hour in full at Del’s MySpace. (And despite the past two posts, I am not on the Def Jux payroll.)

hip-hop, remix

Dizzee Rascal: Where’s Da G’s (El-P remix)

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dizzee.jpg
Photo by Tim & Barry

With El-P and Dizzee Rascal about to head out on tour together and Def Jux releasing Maths + English in the U.S. (April 29), we get our first taste of this transatlantic collaboration.

El-P’s remix of Where Da G’s – which strips out some the looped synths in favor of El’s drums of death – will be featured on the American CD release of Maths, which you’ll probably be able to snag at the Def Jux store.

  • Dizzee Rascal (feat. UGK) | Where Da G’s (El-P remix)
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Wilco: Hate It Here (on SNL)

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This isn’t one of my favorite tracks from Sky Blue Sky, but I am growing to at least appreciate the dear diary-like honesty of the lyrics. (Thanks, Brooklyn Vegan.)

SUNDAY NIGHT: We headed to Modified to check out the Hands on Fire/Fleet Foxes/Blitzen Trapper show. All three are excellent, and I am already a couple spins through the Fleet Foxes’ Sun Giant EP (8.7 at Pitchfork.)

As it turns out, keyboardist Casey Wescott is a hip-hop head, so you’ll be seeing an I Used to Love H.E.R. entry from him in the near future. He told me about his dad throwing out hip-hop CDs when he was young – Midnight Marauders, Quik is the Name. Trashed. Man, that’s like tossin’ a Mickey Mantle baseball card. He also spoke of his fondness for The-Breaks.com, a massive repository of sample usage in hip-hop, and how he taught himself sampled material on Wu-Tang Clan records on the piano. All in all, it was a fantastic conversation, one that made me miss the first few songs by Blitzen Trapper.

hip-hop, video

New Roots video: 75 Bars (Black’s Reconstruction)

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Photo via Three/21 Media.

Check out the new video for the Roots’ 75 Bars (Black’s Reconstruction), the lead single from their forthcoming record Rising Down, due out April 29. The video was directed by Rik Cordero of Three/21 Media.

And here’s some behind-the-scenes footage for the shoot of the next Roots video for the song Get Busy.

Related:
?uestlove meets Travis Barker.

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Elbow: The Seldom Seen Kid, out April 22 in U.S.

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seldomseen.jpg

According to Billboard, Elbow has hooked up with Geffen for a U.S. release of The Seldom Seen Kid, due out April 22. A single for One Day Like This will be available digitally on March 18.

The band will follow with some tour dates, with a May 9 date in Los Angeles the closest they will get to Phoenix:

April 26: New York (Webster Hall).
April 27: Washington, D.C. (Sixth & I Historic Synagogue).
April 29: Chicago (Park West).
April 30: Minneapolis (Fine Line).
May 8: San Francisco (Bimbo’s 365).
May 9: Los Angeles (Avalon).

Twisted Ear has singer Guy Garvey’s track-by-track breakdown of the record.

You can also go to theseldomseenkid.com to hear a new song (Audience With the Pope) by clicking the cubes to, as Elbow puts it, “build the tune track-by-track until the full glory of the song is revealed.” Or you can just furiously press your mouse button all over the screen like I did.

In case you missed it, here’s a radio rip I recorded of Grounds for Divorce.

And here’s a video of Elbow performing said song on Jonathan Ross’ show:

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Incoming: Rogue Wave, April 24

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Rogue Wave owed one to Stateside Presents after backing out of a show scheduled for Jan. 22 and hooking up with a local radio station’s corporate-backed Tempe Third Thursdays night.

I went to the show, and it was about as horrible as you’d expect. Not Rogue Wave, mind you, but the commercial culture surrounding the show. My guess is Rogue Wave realized it, too. In that regard, they’re coming back April 24 to the Rhythm Room, where the Jan. 22 show was supposed to happen. Grand Ole Party opens. Tickets are $12.

hip-hop

New Cadence Weapon: Real Estate

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Thanks to the new Anti blog, you can download a label sampler, which includes a new Cadence Weapon track from his forthcoming LP Afterparty Babies (due out March 4, which, wow, yeah, is Tuesday).

Now that I’ve heard Real Estate, I’m sure Cadence Weapon performed it when he last came through Phoenix in October with DJ Weez-l, who handles all the cuts on the new record. CW also has made another new track, House Music, available for download on his MySpace even though it was just released for sale digitally at iTunes. So that’s three tracks you can download/preview off the new record (get In Search of the Youth Crew here).

Remember: Cadence Weapon and Born Ruffians, brought to you by Faux Show, at Rhythm Room on March 17, the same night as Nada Surf/Sea Wolf at the Clubhouse and Living Legends at the Brickhouse. Tickets for CW/Born Ruffians are $10.

  • Cadence Weapon | Real Estate
  • Cadence Weapon | House Music

Related:
Everything Flows (Cadence Weapon remix).
My interview with/story on Cadence Weapon.

UPDATE: Saturday’s Diplo show has been moved to the Clubhouse in Tempe. Buy your tickets ($15) at the Faux Show site.

hip-hop

The Dino-5: Baby Loves Hip-Hop

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dino5.jpgI’ve always thought that if I were to introduce hip-hop to my three nieces, that it would probably consist of a supergroup of Prince Paul, Chali 2na, Ladybug Mecca, Scratch and Wordsworth, and they would probably take on the personas of animated dinosaurs, and … oh, what? This already exists?

Yes, yes it does. They’re called the Dino-5. And, honestly, I don’t know what to make of it, either. It’s part of the Baby Loves Music series that is geared toward, yeah, babies. But with a lineup like that, how can adults resist?

So these five have gotten together to “tell the story of prehistoric hip-hop.” Prince Paul is DJ Steogosaurus; Chali 2na is MC T-Rex; Ladybug is Tracy Triceratops; Scratch (from the Roots) is TEO Pterodactyl and Wordsworth is Billy Brontosaurus. Sounds cheesy, I know. But, come on … how else are you gonna break your kids into this? And at this point, I’ll take anything from Ladybug (what’s with that Digable Planets reunion already?).

Look for an album from the Dino-5 this spring. In the meantime, their theme song is below.

  • The Dino-5 | theme song