Category Archives: general

general, hip-hop, samples

Serge Gainsbourg as sampled by The Beatnuts

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The Light in the Attic reissue of Serge Gainsbourg’s Histoire de Melody Nelson has garnered some heady praise, including a 10.0 and Best New (Old?) Music status from Pitchfork.

I don’t claim to be at all familiar with Gainsbourg’s work, but when I listened to the album, the opening bass line to the first song, En Melody, was instantly recognizable: The Beatnuts, the criminally overlooked New York-based trio (now duo), sampled it on Superbad, which appears on their 1994 full-length debut Street Level.

The Beatnuts push the tempo on the sample, turning the provocative mood of the original into the perfect low-end foundation for one of the best tracks on Street Level (and possibly The Beatnuts’ catalog).

general, video

Loney Dear on Daytrotter

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I’m sort of ashamed to admit that we didn’t make it in time for Loney Dear’s set when Emil Svanangen and his band opened for Andrew Bird on Feb. 14 in Tucson.

We caught a couple songs and I’ve since downloaded the 2009 release Dear John on Polyvinyl (get it at eMusic).

Svanangen recently recorded a Daytrotter session and it includes one of the Dear John standouts, I Was Only Going Out, a slow-building, layered bit of goodness with some expert whistling (no wonder Andrew Bird likes him).

Video for Airport Surroundings, the first song off Dear John:

general

Review: The Hold Steady, “A Positive Rage”

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Jason Woodbury returns! He’ll keep writing as long as I keep promising him beer. His band, Hands on Fire, opens the Vivian Girls/Ariel Pink show on Monday at Modified. You should go.

Live albums are a tricky thing. All my favorites are either very genre specific (Donny Hathaway Live, Sam Cooke at the Copa, Otis Redding – Live in Europe), or so studio doctored they they don’t really count. Needless to say, live albums so rarely live up to their expectation: to deliver in recorded form the energy and spirit of a live show.

The Hold Steady has a reputation as being a stellar live act, and they are. I first saw them in 2005 at Modified Arts not long after they’d released my favorite album of theirs, Separation Sunday. Guitarist Tad Kubler dropped his brand new Les Paul, and singer/dynamo Craig Finn showered everyone up front with saliva. The show was incredible, and each subsequent show I’ve seen of theirs (in bigger and bigger venues) has been, too.

Vagrant Records has just released A Positive Rage, the Steady’s first live album, documenting their successful jaunt hot off the release of their critically lauded Boys and Girls in America. The album is fine, but, as often is the nature of the beast, fails to encapsulate what makes the band such a joyful presence live. However, it’s especially nice to hear the band rock some oldies from their early days (Barfruit Blues) and one of their best songs, Ask Her for Adderall, which inexplicably got relegated to bonus-track status on their 2008 record Stay Positive. The album comes packed with great liner notes by Finn and includes an enjoyable, if totally congratulatory, DVD documenting the tour. It’s certainly a blast for Hold Steady fans, and might serve as a nice introduction to their live show, but the only way to really experience these guys is to go out to a gig, get sloppy drunk and sing a long like you’re in church.

– Jason P. Woodbury

general, video

Neko Case performs on The Interface

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I’ve gone on and on and on already about Neko Case’s new one, Middle Cyclone. So why stop now?

Neko took her act to The Interface over at Spinner for an interview and a few songs.

Below is the first single, People Got a Lotta Nerve. And I don’t mean to offend, but does Neko really need a backup singer/harmonizer?

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LAST WEEK, I told you I was doing a guest spot on Arizona State’s The Blaze (1260 AM). I had a blast (thanks, Becky!), but I’m still hesitant to listen to myself on radio. Maybe one day soon.

In any event, here are the songs I played … tracks I hoped would be somewhat representative of the stuff I champion around here regularly.

1. Built to Spill, “The Plan”
2. The Broken West, “On the Bubble”
3. The Gaslight Anthem, “Great Expectations”
4. Elbow, “The Bones of You”
5. The National, “Looking for Astronauts”
6. Source Victoria, “Miss Spiritual Tramp of 1948”
7. Frightened Rabbit, “The Twist”
8. Q-Tip, “Gettin’ Up”
9. The Gray Kid, “Lonely Love”
10. The New Pornographers, “Myriad Harbour”
11. Travis, “Selfish Jean”
12. Gloritone, “Flying Kites”
13. Rush, “Tom Sawyer (DJ Z-Trip remix)”

Songs I brought but did not get time to play:
Her Space Holiday, “The Truth Hurts So This Should Be Painless”
Baby Dayliner, “Silent Places”
Band of Horses, “The Great Salt Lake”

arizona, general

Jimmy Eat World: A Sunday, from Clarity Live

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As previously mentioned, Jimmy Eat World will unleash Clarity Live, a digital-only release recorded from the band’s Clarity x 10 tour finale at Marquee Theatre in Tempe. (I wondered how JEW would incorporate its home stop on the live release, but who knew it would use the Tempe show in its entirety? Pretty great if you ask me, especially considering I missed the show for a friend’s wedding.)

The album comes out April 7 at jimmyeatworld.com in multiple formats ranging from DRM-free MP3 to 24 bit/48K sample rate WAV files. And thanks to a connection here and there, I’m happy and humbled to be able to present the live-album version of A Sunday here for download. (This might be what some would call a “premiere” or “exclusive.”)

Enjoy. See below for the full tracklisting of the album (not that it’s much of a surprise if you’re at all familiar with Clarity).

Tracklisting for Clarity Live:
Table For Glasses
Lucky Denver Mint
Your New Aesthetic
Believe In What You Want
A Sunday
Crush
12.23.95
Ten
Just Watch The Fireworks
For Me This Is Heaven
Blister
Clarity
Goodbye Sky Harbor
What I Would Say To You Now *
No Sensitivity **

*Original studio version on split single with Jejune (1998)
** Original studio version on split EP with Jebediah (2000)

Related:
Jimmy Eat World: Goodbye Sky Harbor (live)
Review: Jimmy Eat World at Terminal 5 (NYC)
Guest list: Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World

general

Guest DJing on the Blaze 1260

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If you’ve ever wanted to hear the voice behind all these inane posts, then Tuesday is your day. I’ll be sitting in for an hour at 11 a.m. PT/MT as part of Guest DJ Week at Arizona State radio station the Blaze (1260 AM), which allows you to stream from the comfort of the chair you are sitting in right now.

Day 1 already offered up a few of my favorite local people, who likely will be tough acts to follow: Jim Adkins from Jimmy Eat World; Jason Woodbury from Hands on Fire and Martin Cizmar, music editor of Phoenix New Times.

In preparing for this – I was told to put about an hour’s worth of music together – I’ve learned it’s impossible to cram in everything I’d want people to hear. My working list of songs comes from artists that I feel are representative of regular postings around here, though I’m 99.9 percent positive I’m leaving something worthwhile on the cutting-room floor (sorry, Radar Bros. … maybe next time).

So tune in if you can. I’ve been told only about a hundred times that I have a (deep) voice for radio. I guess we’ll find out if that’s true.

general, video

Jason Lytle: Brand New Sun

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Anti- is offering a free sampler at Amazon that includes the first single from the solo album by Jason Lytle, formerly of Grandaddy.

Yours Truly, the Commuter is out May 19, and Brand New Sun certainly has strains of Grandaddy, which is probably to be expected. (Yours Truly’s cover even reminds me a little of The Sophtware Slump artwork.)

Also, NPR filmed Lytle performing a few tracks acoustic style during SXSW festivities.

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NEW Her Space Holiday: All You Demons (cover)

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Touring partners Her Space Holiday and City Light (coming to Modified on May 10) have collaborated on a split EP for which they cover each other. City Light takes on Her Space Holiday’s New Kid Revival and Her Space Holiday reworks All You Demons, from City Light’s forthcoming full-length Burn Out Bright.

The EP, due out April 7 on iTunes via Banter Records, is only two songs, but the kind folks at Banter have given us the green light to post Her Space Holiday’s contribution and the City Light original. (By the way, City Light is comprised of Nick Andre from Her Space Holiday; Denver Dalley from Desaparecidos; Andy Fitts from Aqueduct and Seattle singer/songwriter Matthew Shaw.)

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Daedelus: Off to the Races (Meanest Man Contest remix feat. Cuzzo)

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It’s pure coincidence, I’m sure, that Eriksolo from Meanest Man Contest e-mailed me to let me know about MMC’s remix of a new Daedelus track. Just the other day I was at a thrift store, staring at the piles of worthless/busted keyboards, speakers, joysticks, etc., and I couldn’t help but think of MMC’s great track Throwing Away Broken Electronics, an ode to dead technology.

MMC’s latest project is a reworking of a Daedelus song Off to the Races, which is available on a split EP on a new label called Friends of Friends. Eric sums it up thusly:

“The idea behind the label is that they ask an artist to do a split EP, and that artist asks a friend to do the other half of the EP, and then the artists ask another friend to create a piece of art, which then gets printed on a limited edition t-shirt that is sold as the physical component of the digital music release. The package comes with a bunch of remixes, of which my track is one.”

The project has been featured recently on XLR8R, the Amoeba blog and Pitchfork.

The EP is available on eMusic or at the FoF store. Below is the tracklisting and an mp3 of the MMC remix:

Friends of Friends, Volume 1:
1. Daedelus – C’est Super
2. Daedelus – LA Nocturn
3. Daedelus – Off to the Races
4. Jogger – Nice Tights
5. Jogger – Litre o’ Cola
6. Jogger – Nephicide

Remixes:
Daedelus – C’est Super (Michna Remix)
Daedelus – LA Nocturn (Eliot Lipp Remix)
Daedelus – Off to the Races (Meanest Man Contest Remix feat. Cuzzo)
Jogger – Nice Tights (Nosaj Thing Remix)
Jogger – Nice Tights (Mexicans with Guns Remix)
Jogger – Nice Tights (Grahm of Thunderheist Remix)
Jogger – Nice Tights (Keenhouse Remix)

Related:
Meanest Man Contest: We Blame You EP
Black Mirror: Quarterbar remix
Meanest Man Contest: new video!
I Used to Love H.E.R.: Eriksolo (Meanest Man Contest)
Meanest Man Contest: Partially Smart
Meanest Man Contest 7-inch