If you haven’t seen that flyer over there on the right, I’m really happy to have added Miniature Tigers to the Oct. 13 Birdmonster and Kinch show at Yucca Tap Room.
The group (from Phoenix!) is getting some airtime on Sirius’ Left of Center, and the band just released a new video for the single Cannibal Queen, directed by JD Ryznar, one of the co-creators of the Yacht Rock series.
Check out the video and then come out Monday. No cover!
Man, I really enjoyed watching the VH-1 Hip-Hop Honors on Monday night. More to the point, seeing the De La Soul tribute was great. What’s not to like about Q-Tip, Public Enemy, Mos Def, Cee-Lo and friggin’ EPMD covering De La tracks?
I mean, how cool would that be to see Chuck D spittin’ your rhymes, even if he got just like 90 percent of the words right? And EPMD bustin’ out Ego Trippin’ (Part Two)? Damn. Well played, VH-1.
And then Q-Tip and Mos Def come back out for Buddy? Calgon, take me away!
UPDATE: Culture Bully has mp3s of the whole night’s performances.
Cadence Weapon is about to hit the road for a Canadian tour, which doesn’t help me very much. However, it means his ’08 gem, Afterparty Babies, is getting a second push.
Here’s a new video for the song Real Estate, with Cadence in suit and tie as a real estate agent and DJ Weez-l dressed up as, well, DJ Weez-l.
Also, for anyone going to the shows in Canada, Cadence is offering a mixtape on the tour called Separation Anxiety. So who out there in Canada wants to hook me up?? You can preview two tracks at his MySpace.
Strong as the San Diego Street Scene lineup was, there was little doubt that seeing the National was my main event. (Side note: After Black Crowes canceled as the Saturday headliner, why not bump the National into that role instead of adding an old, withering Devo? Seriously, now. Devo?)
There’s really little doubt at this point — my fourth time seeing the National (though not once in my own home state) — that this is my favorite band, though I take some exception to the group all but abandoning pre-Alligator songs in its live set. At least give me Murder Me Rachael.
For what it’s worth, singer Matt Berninger looked like your college geology professor when they took the stage in San Diego — dark-rimmed glasses, navy blazer. It all looked very studious, until, of course, he became a tad unhinged during Abel.
For a more composed picture of Berninger, check out these performances from the Bandwidth podcast (via Stereogum). Here, Berninger remains calm — perhaps because he’s in a kitchen? — wearing dark glasses, like he’s singing himself out of a hangover.
Apartment Story:
Slow Show:
I swear, I didn’t plan this on a day I already posted about PUTS. But here’s a new video for The Wiz, off Fun DMC (due out Tuesday).
You can also download Thes One’s promo mixtape Funner Than Leather.
I’ve been enjoying the hell out of the new Damien Jurado album, Caught in the Trees (at eMusic).
I’ll have more to say as I take it in some more. In the meantime, here’s a great spot spot with the Black Cab Sessions of Jurado and his bandmate Jenna Conrad performing Last Rights, which is off the new album.
Since Travis returned last year after a four-year hiatus with The Boy with No Name, the band has been absurdly prolific. Not only is another album coming out this year (Ode to J. Smith), but Travis has now released three videos for it (see video for the title track here).
Here’s the latest, for Song to Self, not quite the rocker Something Anything is:
Take two of my favorite emcees, add a highly regarded Bay Area producer and put their record out on the heavyweight champ Definitive Jux and what do you get? The Mighty Underdogs and Droppin’ Science Fiction.
I think it’s safe to predict that bringing Gift of Gab from Blackalicious and Lateef the Truthspeaker from Latyrx together will result in some breathtaking verses. Add Headnodic from Crown City Rockers and we’re talking supergroup material.
The group is offering a free download of a new track, War Walk, that features Chali 2na (shocker), Tash, Raashan Ahmad and Zion I. And, man, it’s great to hear Lateef, who probably ranks as one of the more overlooked cats out there.
Pre-order Droppin’ Science Fiction at Def Jux. Other guests on the album include MF Doom, DJ Shadow and Mr. Lif.
Here’s the pretty awesome video by Ben Stokes for Gunfight, featuring MF Doom:
On the heels of that last Frightened Rabbit post, let’s keep the Scottish theme rolling.
Travis has released a second video (here’s the first) for the band’s upcoming album, Ode to J. Smith. (If you recall, this is the song that got me in a little bit of hot water.)
According to Travis’ YouTube page, the video shows a man trapped in an elevator car “for days.” That puts a new spin on the desert-island discs debate … what albums would you most like to have if you were stranded in an elevator car for 41 hours?
As always, Sole Sides has got me covered on news I’m missing.
This time, we get a new video from Cut Chemist’s The Audience’s Listening, even though the album came out in 2006.
According to the Eyestorm Productions YouTube page, the video for (My 1st) Big Break the “first music video shot entirely on a 360 degree panoramic view.”
Here’s hoping Cut serves up something new real soon (though I definitely haven’t grown tired of this album). On a side note: I gotta get me one of those Cut Chemist slipmats.