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hip-hop

New Atmosphere: Shoulda Known

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Just a couple days after talking about Atmosphere’s May 5 date in Tempe, I’ve got a handle on a new track from his forthcoming album, When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold (April 22, Rhymesayers).

According to a one-sheet, the album is based on fictional narratives that deal with societal issues, including parenthood (as heard on Shoulda Known). The album includes a 40-page hard-cover book that includes a children’s story by Slug. (Probably different than this children’s story.)

Remember to submit questions to Atmosphere for Slug and Ant’s weekly Paint it Gold video series.

  • Atmosphere | Shoulda Known
  • Atmosphere | Shoulda Known (instrumental)
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New Alejandro Escovedo: Fall Apart (stream)

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It’s so great to hear more new music from Alejandro Escovedo, who, in 2003, became ill after a show in Tempe and was diagnosed with hepatitis C, which caused advanced cirrhosis of his liver.

He’s apparently in recovery mode after releasing 2006’s The Boxing Mirror, which included the song Arizona. On June 10, he’ll release his ninth album, Real Animal on Back Porch Records. Not sure if this new track, Fall Apart, on his MySpace page will be on the album, but a bulletin says it’s a “solo acoustic performance recorded at Alejandro’s home studio on a sunny Sunday afternoon in the Texas Hill Country.”

Not surprisingly, Escovedo reflects on his health and the indiscretions of his younger days (he also references Phoenix in the song):

“Everything’s so strange / my body doesn’t feel the same.” And then: “I had a few, a few hundred drinks too many / I’m at the point of no return.”

STREAM: Alejandro Escovedo | Fall Apart

Here’s a video with Escovedo and producer Tony Visconti in the studio:

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The National on Fair Game from PRI

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The National, creators of my favorite album of 2007 (and 2005 for that matter), stopped in for an interview/session on PRI’s Fair Game with Faith Salie, which kindly made mp3s of the performance available for download.

My good friend from high school texted me Friday night after seeing the National in Brooklyn, a show we damn near flew out to New York for. “Just got out of the national show. Brilliant.” Sigh. Although I spent my evening with a nice seat for the Celtics-Suns game, I’d much rather have been in Brooklyn.

Maybe they’ll come to Arizona soon. Maybe? Please?

The National on Fair Game from PRI, 2/19/08:

  • Fake Empire
  • Slow Show
  • Start a War
  • You’ve Done it Again Virginia
hip-hop, video

Incoming: Atmosphere, May 5

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Slug and Ant, better known as Atmosphere, are hitting the Marquee Theatre on May 5 as part of a tour to promote their sixth full-length album with one of the greatest titles: When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold (April 22, Rhymesayers).

Check out Atmosphere on their first episode of Paint It Gold, in which you can submit questions to the group.

Dates:
04.22 Chicago, IL The Metro
04.23 Chicago, IL The Metro
04.24 Toronto, ON Opera House
04.26 Boston, MA The Roxy
04.27 New York, NY Webster Hall
04.29 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
05.02 Austin, TX Emo’s
05.03 Austin, TX Emo’s
05.05 TempePhoenix, AZ MarqueeMarquis Theatre (sigh, no respect)
05.06 Los Angeles, CA Henry Fonda Theatre
05.07 Los Angeles, CA Henry Fonda Theatre
05.08 San Francisco, CA The Regency
05.09 San Francisco, CA The Regency
05.12 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom
05.13 Seattle, WA Showbox
05.14 Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom
05.16 Salt Lake City, UT In The Venue
05.17 Denver, CO Ogden Theatre
05.18 Denver, CO Ogden Theatre

Also download Atmosphere’s Strictly Leakage – “thirteen songs to chase away the winter doldrums.”

general, live recording, video

Bon Iver: Skinny Love (live in D.C.)

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NPR streamed a Webcast of the Black Mountain/Bon Iver show Tuesday night in Washington D.C. By Wednesday, a podcast of the Bon Iver set was available.

It’s great timing because I just picked up the newly released Bon Iver record, For Emma, Forever Ago (at eMusic on Jagjaguwar). Well, I know it’s not exactly new seeing as how Justin Vernon self-released it last year, but it’s new to me because I didn’t give it a whirl until just this week. And I’m growing obsessed.

I’m sure all the five-dollar adjectives have been used to describe this one, so I won’t even try. It’s music that moves you, for sure. And I’ve only been able to give it my partial attention. It sounds like a record written that could have been written in the cold, isolated woods of Wisconsin … oh, wait. It was.

Here’s Skinny Love from the NPR Webcast. Listen to the full performance here.

And here’s Vernon performing Flume at 89.3 The Current:

Veron also answered some questions for Muzzle of Bees and My Old Kentucky Blog last year.

hip-hop, video

Opio: Stop the Press (video for new single)

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Next to Del (recently discussed), Opio of Souls of Mischief ranks right up there as my favorite member of Hieroglyphics. His delivery always feels loose but intense, and his ability to clearly enunciate without rushing – he got into a habit of really stressing the last syllable on words that ended in “er” – is an art in itself. And his verses in the classic ’93 Til Infinity are hard to top (“Here’s a 40, swig it / you know it’s frigid / I got ’em chillin’ in the cooler / break out the ruler”).

After releasing Triangulation Station, his solo debut, in 2005, Opio returns with Vulture’s Wisdom, due out April 8. From what I can tell, the album was produced by Architect, a member of Homeliss Derilex, a group that boasts a history with early Stones Throw material.

Here’s the video for Stop the Press, the new single from Vulture’s Wisdom, which will be packaged as a CD/DVD and include videos of almost every song.

And here’s a video for Don Julio, in which Opio namechecks Soundgarden:

general, live recording

Download Editors show in Tempe

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A kind taper has made available his/her recording of the Editors’ Feb. 12 show in Tempe at Marquee Theatre, the band’s first Arizona concert. Files are in flac format, which, in layman’s terms, means you have to do a little work to turn them into mp3s. I discovered a free program called xAct for coverting to wav files; then use iTunes for converting wav to mp3.

Here’s the set list from the show:
1 – Camera.
2 – An End Has a Start.
3 – Blood.
4 – Bullets.
5 – The Weight Of The World.
6 – Escape the Heat.
7 – Lights.
8 – When Anger Shows.
9 – Spiders.
10 – All Sparks.
11 – Munich.
12 – Push Your Head Towards the Air.
13 – Bones.
14 – Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors.
Encore:
15 – You Are Fading.
16 – The Racing Rats.
17 – Fingers in the Factories.

I’m happy to see this available because I wasn’t familiar with the first song after the encore, You Are Fading, apparently a rare B-side (via). I can’t believe this song didn’t make The Back Room cut. Drummer Ed Lay just goes to town on the snare in this one, pretty much fueling the song’s frantic energy.

  • Editors | You Are Fading (live in Tempe, 2/12/08)
  • Editors | You Are Fading (via)
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Mike Doughty: Busking

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I’ve talked a couple times now about Mike Doughty’s forthcoming album Golden Delicious, out Feb. 19 (also known as “this Tuesday”) on ATO.

While I wait for that, Stinkweeds was cool enough to hook me up with a five-song promo CD by Doughty called Busking, a word used to define the art of performing in public places for tips.

According to Doughty in a note on the back of the CD sleeve, he busked between the 3 train and the F train at 14th Street in New York when he was 19: “I lasted about ten minutes.” He went back recently with gear to record for this pretty unique release, which seems more like an experiment in sociology than field recording. This time around he was a little more successful: “I got lots of smiles, and made $3.10. Two dollar bills, four quarters, and a dime” (via).

The CD is great because you can hear all the incidental (and sometimes deafening) noise of subway stations – people chattering, trains roaring past, echoes. You can even pick up Doughty chatting with a few passers-by, presumably those who chipped in a few cents.

Tracklisting:
1. Looking at the World From a Bottom of a Well.
2. F Train.
3. The Only Answer.
4. 40 Grand.
5. Sunkeneyed Girl.

  • Mike Doughty | Looking at the World From a Bottom of a Well

In more Doughty news, I posted the 27 Jennifers video last month. Well, MySpace is hosting an alternate, if not sorta creepier, version here.