Phoenix’s own Miniature Tigers stopped by AOL’s The Interface for a session as they continue their seemingly non-stop tour in support of the debut LP Tell It to the Volcano.
I posted two of the four songs below (Cannibal Queen and The Wolf). Get the other two and an interview here. You can also get the audio if you subscribe to The Interface podcast.
Related:
Miniature Tigers on The Train Tracks
Miniature Tigers on Daytrotter
Guest list: Charlie Brand of Miniature Tigers
From black cabs to train tracks, you just never know where you’ll stumble across a great performance. So how about a park bench? Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit offered up three songs for a session at Off the Beaten Tracks, including a new/unreleased song called Swim Until You Can’t See Land (via Forkcast).
Does this mean we’ll see a follow-up this year to my favorite record of 2008? If that’s the case, we’re looking at a potentially big year from Fat Cat’s Scottish representatives, including We Were Promised Jetpacks and The Twilight Sad.
Related:
Frightened Rabbit: Bright Pink Bookmark (video)
Frightened Rabbit: I Feel Better (video)
Frightened Rabbit: Keep Yourself Warm (live in Phx)
I just picked up the new 33 1/3 book by Matthew Gasteier on Nas’ classic debut Illmatic. So, naturally, I’ve revisted the album and listened to it about four or five times in the past couple days – just as a reminder of its near-flawless standing.
But listening to Illmatic can be as frustrating as it is rewarding, knowing now that his propensity for greatness was undermined by his inconsistency in the albums to follow (It Was Written, I Am …, etc.). Because in the post-Illmatic years, for every Nas Is Like (a DJ Premier gem) there was a Hate Me Now (feat. Puff Daddy). How do you reconcile that?
Perhaps that’s the curse of releasing one of the most influential hip-hop albums of the ’90s (ever?). Sadly – and inevitably – nothing Nas has done or will do can live up to Illmatic’s perfection. Needless to say, I’m eager to dig into Gasteier’s account/analysis of the album.
Meantime, here’s my favorite cut from Illmatic, the Large Professor-produced It Ain’t Hard to Tell that famously samples Michael Jackson’s Human Nature.
Serial collaborator Chali 2na, late of the great Jurassic 5, is finally breaking out with his own solo album, due for release July 7 on Decon. Despite the somewhat cheesy title (Fish Outta Water … get it?), it’s good to hear one of the MCs from J5 steppin’ up.
The first single from the album is called Lock Shit Down, featuring Talib Kweli. And I guess the real question is whether Chali 2na and his baritone pipes can carry a full album or if it will only make us yearn for the J5 days.
Also, Chali 2na lends his voice to a new adidas campaign called “Inner Workings” with two animated videos featuring NBA stars Dwight Howard and Derrick Rose.
No surprise here, but The Roots remain the only reason to watch Jimmy Fallon’s show. So every time a decent musical guest is booked, the tantalizing notion of a collaboration with The Roots – like the one with Public Enemy – warrants some attention.
On Monday night, they teamed up with the old-as-dirt Beastie Boys (what’re they, like, 45?) for a top-notch rendition of So What’cha Want off the recently remastered Check Your Head.
One of the year’s best songs (so far) gets a seizure-inducing light show of a video:
ELSEWHERE: Kings of Leon fans are an angry bunch. Phoenix New Times music editor Martin Cizmar riled ’em up with his review of Tuesday’s show at Mesa Amphitheatre. They call him a ponce, git, tit, loser and turbo nerd (whuh?) … and that’s just the half of it.
Somewhere between The New Danger and his acting career, I fell out of love with Mos Def.
Black on Both Sides was such a certified classic that I wanted so badly to like The New Danger, an album in which Mos was clearly to make some sort of lofty artistic statement (but only he knew what that really was). I thought maybe if just I kept the album in my iTunes library it would somehow reveal itself to me. Alas, its fate rested in the digital trash can. And who the hell knows what was going on with True Magic … I barely blinked when that came out.
So with my interest in Mos at an unfortunate all-time low, I mustered just enough strength to check out the tracks from his forthcoming album The Ecstatic (due out June 9). (I’d already wasted my time watching Something the Lord Made, so what’s another few minutes?) I’m happy to report that this (so far) sounds like what should have been the follow-up to Black on Both Sides. I’m not ready coronate Mos again, but the three tracks released have me somewhat hopeful.
Check the new video for Casa Bey below:
It’s not uncommon for me to wake up with any number of Telekinesis songs in my head, such is the pull of its contagious pop.
That was the case this morning, and wouldn’t you know … a new video for Awkward Kisser, from the full-length debut Telekinesis!, is out.
Remember: Telekinesis plays the Rhythm Room on May 20 as support for Margot & the Nuclear So and Sos.
Not sure how I missed this one, but I didn’t stumble upon it until browsing around the Brassland site. The National perform So Far Around the Bend, from the excellent Dark Was the Night compilation, on Jimmy Fallon.
The band is joined by Nico Muhly, who arranged the song.
So, let’s see here … we have another promising Scottish band on FatCat Records, home of The Twilight Sad and Frightened Rabbit. Yeah, I think I can get behind this.
Much as I wanted to hate the name, it’s kinda clever. But what came first? The band name or this Threadless T-shirt?