Category Archives: general

general

The illest of all places …

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Credit: Oh Word.

By the time you’re reading this I am either en route to or in New York. It’s my first trip there in about more than 10 years. We’re going for a wedding, but (shameless plug) I’ll also be turning 30 on Friday. We may even take in a Yankees game on Wednesday night.

In my absence, Jeff from Passion of the Weiss will drop by in his little free time to post. We’re also bringing the laptop, so it’s possibly I’ll bore you from New York.

In the meantime, I suppose I’m obliged to post a few odes to NYC, eh?

  • Nas | N.Y. State of Mind
  • Digable Planets | Borough Check
  • Interpol | NYC
  • 3rd Bass | Brooklyn Queens
  • Camp Lo | Posse from the Bronx
general, remix

Hang Me Up To Dry (Ingo Star Cruiser Remix)

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OK, so maybe everyone really is a DJ. I stumbled across this remix of Cold War Kids’ Hang Me Up to Dry while just trolling around the Internet for nothing in particular. Ingo Star Cruiser? Never heard of him … her … them?

Well, his name is Pete Ingo. He’s from London. He has a MySpace page. And I assume he’s a legitimate musician/DJ/whatever. He looks just like that guy in the photo, too.

I’m guessing this isn’t an officially sanctioned remix. Nevertheless, Ingo drops the Cold War Kids smack dab in the middle of a sweaty club dance floor on this one. As with many remixes, the tempo is jacked up considerably, though the tone of the bass line – the foundation on the original – still anchors the proceedings here.

In case you were curious, the BPM is 125. Ooooh, the strobe lights are making me dizzy!

  • Cold War Kids | Hang Me Up To Dry (Ingo Star Cruiser Remix)
general

The Cave Singers: Seeds of Night

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I’ve been pretty smitten with this single from the Cave Singers’ forthcoming album Invitation Songs (out Sept. 25 on Matador).

In fact, I sent the link for the mp3 to a co-worker, who, much to my dismay, was not into it. She said she “didn’t get it.” I’m not sure what there is to get, really, other than it being a pretty gorgeous piece of indie folk – and not in that sad/sappy sucker kind of way. Something compels me to invoke a Jayhawks comparison, though I’m not confident that’s entirely accurate.

Anyway, I also got my hands on the 7-inch that contains the unreleased B-side After the First Baptism. You can buy it here for $3.

The Cave Singers are opening for Black Mountain on Oct. 21 at Modified in Phoenix.

  • The Cave Singers | Seeds of Night
general, hip-hop

Galactic with Z-Trip: Bounce Baby

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On Wednesday, I went with a couple friends to see DJ Z-Trip with Aceyalone and Gift of Gab at the Brickhouse in Phoenix for the final stop on the tour to promote Z-Trip’s All-Pro Soundtrack (previous post No. 1, previous post No. 2).

What do I even say about this guy that I haven’t already? This tour was a spectacle: visual elements, a live drummer (Pete McNeal, who has worked with Mike Doughty and the Breakestra), MCs … there was even a temporary sound outage, which isn’t really surprising seeing as how the bass was making the hairs on my arms shake.

We even went to an after party at a small art gallery where Z-Trip and DJ Tricky T, a Phoenix boy Z took on tour, spun even more – a great time that upstaged the real show.

Z-Trip’s feel for an audience always has been his greatest strength. He’s a guy that can make hip-hop fans like rock and rock fans like hip-hop without them even thinking about it. He got the crowd jumping to Rage Against the Machine’s Killing in the Name just as easily as he did laying down a hip-hop track.

And, oh, he played the drums just for good measure. As Tricky T said: “How many DJs do you see doing this shit?”

That’s why it’s not a surprise to see him working with New Orleans funk band Galactic on the group’s newest CD From the Corner to the Block (Anti), an album that features crazy guest spots: Mr. Lif, Gift of Gab, Lyrics Born, Chali 2na, Boots Riley, Juvenile, etc.

I haven’t absorbed the album in full yet save for a couple tracks – Bounce Baby with Z-Trip and Think Back with Chali 2na (mp3 available at Chali’s MySpace).

An instrumental exhibit in funk, Bounce Baby is so tight Z-Trip just seems to effortlessly blend in without disrupting Galactic’s flow.

Here’s a story I just wrote on Z-Trip, previewing his Phoenix stop.

Pick up From the Corner to the Block at eMusic.

  • Galactic with DJ Z-Trip | Bounce Baby
general, video

Travis: My Eyes video

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Thanks to Mike, who made me aware of the new video for Travis’ My Eyes, off The Boy With No Name.

Honestly, this song – about the birth of singer Fran Healy’s son – goes against my hating tendencies of all things potentially touching and/or cheesy. Yet, I absolutely can’t get enough of it. In fact, I was just listening to the album yesterday on my way home from work. Pretty sure I was singing in the car. Yeeeah, now that’s cheesy.

In the video, Travis opts for more of a comedy than a drama (what’s with that ‘stache Healy is sporting?). Ahhh, deflecting emotion with humor … my kind of guys. And I don’t even wanna try to start interpreting the metaphor of them going down a water slide.

general, radio rips

Vampire Weekend on KEXP

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I wrote a little bit at Circa 45 about seeing Vampire Weekend last month.

Pretty sure we’re going to be hearing a lot more from this band, considering the buzz it’s generating is coming from just a three-song EP (available at eMusic).

If you haven’t heard Vampire Weekend yet, think Paul Simon (via Graceland/Rhythm of the Saints) with an indie-rock twist. As a live band, the quartet is tight and polished and craftily pulls off its world sound without any of the instrumentation you might expect to see. (I should note that in the interview on KEXP, the band mentioned Arizona as a tour highlight. Holla!)

The guys stopped at KEXP for an in-studio session and played four songs and even left off what I think is their best: Oxford Comma. Also check KEXP’s blog for an mp3 of Walcott (Insane Mix #2), the first song Vampire Weekend recorded.

You can also read a story I wrote when the band came through Phoenix.

Vampire Weekend, live on KEXP, 7/22/07:

1. Masnard Roof
2. Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
3. A-Punk
4. The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance

(Note: Original session, including interview, available via KEXP’s great Live Performance Podcast.)

general, radio rips

Travis on KCRW

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My brother and I have spent a good number of e-mails recently discussing how much we like the new Travis record, The Boy With No Name.

Mostly we’ve talked about how it feels like a return to the group’s pinnacle of The Man Who. I know what you’re thinking, that UK lineage: Travis begat Coldplay who begat Keane who begat countless other imposters. But I will defend Travis to the death.

Where these others feel contrived and forced in their writing, I get the sense of pure sincerity and emotion from Travis. Normally, my cynicism would not allow me to take Fran Healy’s introduction of My Eyes in this KCRW session without a bit of an eye roll: “I wrote this song the day I found out we were going to have a baby.” Corny but sincere.

If you have the time, listen to the interview. It’s revealing in how Travis functions, not only as a band but as friends. The guys talk about how they took a hiatus – I thought the 2005 compilation of singles was the death knell – because the foundation of the band was what great friends they were. But they had to step back and reassess after starting to think of each member as one-quarter of a business.

Needless to say, Healy says the band “has the hunger back.” They wrote 41 songs during the break, recording 21 for The Boy With No Name; 12 made the cut (two bonus tracks come on iTunes version).

Travis, live on KCRW, 7/24/07:

1. Eyes Wide Open
2. Selfish Jean
3. Up the Junction (Squeeze cover)
4. My Eyes
5. Closer
6. Pipe Dreams
7. Love Will Come Through
8. All I Want to Do Is Rock

Also be sure to check out selfishjean.com, where, according to Healy, you can “report or confess random acts of selfishness through written confession/report, photographs or video, grade how selfish you think your act was and judge other reports.”

general

Jeremy Enigk: The Missing Link

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Suddenly, you can’t turn your back on Jeremy Enigk. The guy goes 10 years between solo releases, but here he is ready to release The Missing Link, a collection of new material and acoustic tracks from last year’s World Waits.

Maybe Sunny Day Real Estate really is dead for good.

To be honest, I didn’t like World Waits as much as I wanted to. Maybe my anticipation for it – 10 years since the brilliant Return of the Frog Queen – far outweighed its actual presence in my hands. There are incredible moments on it: Been Here Before, River to Sea, Canons. And there are overdone parts I could live without, specifically City Tonight and it’s cringe-inducing opening line: “Am I late to the kingdom of love?”

Yet Enigk has stored enough credit with me that I’ll pick up anything by him, and that includes The Missing Link, due out Aug. 21 on his Lewis Hollow Recordings. According to the Lewis Hollow site, The Missing Link has four unreleased songs from the World Waits sessions and five live songs recorded with Enigk’s band at Sony Studios in Santa Monica, Calif.

Pre-order at Insound.

Ugo.com has a live acoustic performance on video with Enigk.

  • Jeremy Enigk | Oh John
general, remix

One Am Radio remixes Lymbyc Systym

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Man, today is crazy for shows in the Valley. I’ll be out at the Paid Dues Festival all day. (If an Internet connection behaves, I may even live blog it for work at riffs.azcentral.com.) The after-party show is headlined by Busdriver at Chaser’s in Scottsdale, which I’ll be at assuming I haven’t passed out by the end of the eight-hour Paid Dues show.

Also tonight: Talib Kweli at the Brickhouse in Phoenix ($35 … yipes) and the One Am Radio with Phoenix/Tempe’s own Lymbyc Systym at Modified. (And Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers at Marquee Theatre … if you’re into that kind of thing.)

If I weren’t doing the Paid Dues thing, I’d definitely be checking out One Am Radio/Lymbyc Systym. Not only is Lymbyc playing its own set, but the duo is serving as the backup band for One Am Radio.

It’s all a big lovefest that has resulted in the artists remixing each other’s work. Awwwww. I’m especially loving the One Am Radio remix of Lymbyc Systym’s Astrology Days. I mean, it feels like the remix barely retains any strains of the original. The horns warm the sound so much.

Check out a Q&A with the One Am Radio — done by this guy.

  • Lymbyc Systym | Astrology Days (One AM Radio remix)
general

New Ryan Ferguson: Remission

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No Knife, No Knife, No Knife. I love(d) No Knife. The San Diego band filled such an important space in my music collection – somewhere between punk music I never attached myself to and the power pop of the indie scene that I loved. Throw in some cryptic songwriting, and I’m hooked. (I can’t recommend No Knife’s Hit Man Dreams and Fire in the City of Automatons enough.)

Former No Knife guitarist/co-frontman Ryan Ferguson, whom I’ve written about before, is set to release his full-length solo debut, Only Trying to Help on Better Looking Records on Aug. 21.

Ferguson’s solo work, like on his EP Three, Four, is less jagged than his work with No Knife, a little smoother around the edges. But it’s no less interesting. From what I’ve heard on Only Trying to Help (thanks, 3Hive), Ferguson crafts big guitar hooks that, these days, are a little more pop than punk, but it opens the way for more straightforward and thoughtful lyrics.

You can stream Only Trying to Help at Ferguson’s Last.fm page (Remission and Kill My Confidence are faves so far).

3Hive (with Ferguson’s permission) also is offering his EP Three, Four in its entirety.

  • Ryan Ferguson | Remission