Category Archives: video

general, video

Wilco: Hate It Here (on SNL)

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This isn’t one of my favorite tracks from Sky Blue Sky, but I am growing to at least appreciate the dear diary-like honesty of the lyrics. (Thanks, Brooklyn Vegan.)

SUNDAY NIGHT: We headed to Modified to check out the Hands on Fire/Fleet Foxes/Blitzen Trapper show. All three are excellent, and I am already a couple spins through the Fleet Foxes’ Sun Giant EP (8.7 at Pitchfork.)

As it turns out, keyboardist Casey Wescott is a hip-hop head, so you’ll be seeing an I Used to Love H.E.R. entry from him in the near future. He told me about his dad throwing out hip-hop CDs when he was young – Midnight Marauders, Quik is the Name. Trashed. Man, that’s like tossin’ a Mickey Mantle baseball card. He also spoke of his fondness for The-Breaks.com, a massive repository of sample usage in hip-hop, and how he taught himself sampled material on Wu-Tang Clan records on the piano. All in all, it was a fantastic conversation, one that made me miss the first few songs by Blitzen Trapper.

hip-hop, video

New Roots video: 75 Bars (Black’s Reconstruction)

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roots.jpg
Photo via Three/21 Media.

Check out the new video for the Roots’ 75 Bars (Black’s Reconstruction), the lead single from their forthcoming record Rising Down, due out April 29. The video was directed by Rik Cordero of Three/21 Media.

And here’s some behind-the-scenes footage for the shoot of the next Roots video for the song Get Busy.

Related:
?uestlove meets Travis Barker.

general, video

Elbow: The Seldom Seen Kid, out April 22 in U.S.

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According to Billboard, Elbow has hooked up with Geffen for a U.S. release of The Seldom Seen Kid, due out April 22. A single for One Day Like This will be available digitally on March 18.

The band will follow with some tour dates, with a May 9 date in Los Angeles the closest they will get to Phoenix:

April 26: New York (Webster Hall).
April 27: Washington, D.C. (Sixth & I Historic Synagogue).
April 29: Chicago (Park West).
April 30: Minneapolis (Fine Line).
May 8: San Francisco (Bimbo’s 365).
May 9: Los Angeles (Avalon).

Twisted Ear has singer Guy Garvey’s track-by-track breakdown of the record.

You can also go to theseldomseenkid.com to hear a new song (Audience With the Pope) by clicking the cubes to, as Elbow puts it, “build the tune track-by-track until the full glory of the song is revealed.” Or you can just furiously press your mouse button all over the screen like I did.

In case you missed it, here’s a radio rip I recorded of Grounds for Divorce.

And here’s a video of Elbow performing said song on Jonathan Ross’ show:

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:

hip-hop, video

Meanest Man Contest: new video!

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I’m not one to often use exclamation points to get my point across (OK, maybe sometimes). But I think after watching the new video for Meanest Man Contest’s Throwing Away Broken Electronics, you’ll be pretty amped up, too.

What’s not to like about the video, directed by Greg Tuzin? Slow motion. Women in bikinis with boomboxes for heads. Destruction of electronics with baseball bats and sledgehammers. Women in bikinis with boomboxes for heads destroying electronics with baseball bats and sledgehammers. And, oh, the song is pretty dope, too (but you already knew that).

I asked Eriksolo about inspiration for the song: “I was cleaning out my house one day and I came across all this old gear that I used to make music on but was no longer really working right. It made me really nostalgic and sorta melancholy. But then it also felt really good to get rid of it.”

So if you ever wanted to do this, I think you’ll agree this video is the stuff dreams are made of.

Remember to pick up the track as part of a limited 7-inch on Gold Robot Records.

Curious about that sweet Gold Robot Records shirt Quarterbar is rockin’ in the background? Get it here.

hip-hop, remix, video

Arrested Development: Miracles (Metamorphosis mix)

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Credit: twovital.com

I’m hesitant to post a remix of a track when I’m guessing a majority of people haven’t even heard the original. But in case you missed it, Arrested Development (no, not this one) came back last year with the appropriately titled Since the Last Time, the group’s first release in more than 12 years. Mr. Wendal. Tennessee. Yes, that Arrested Development.

Like you might expect, Arrested Development – specifically, frontman Speech – spends a good portion of the first few songs getting reacquainted with the listener. On Miracles, Speech raps: “But 10 years later / back in the game / come on, push up the fader / if you believe in miracles.”

It all makes for an interesting quandary: Is the group just a piece of nostalgia for us now or can AD be relevant again? I guess there’s no right answer, but I think about some of the hip-hop groups that reunited recently – Digable Planets, A Tribe Called Quest (however briefly), etc. It seems these comebacks could possibly spoil whatever legacy was left behind.

That said, Since the Last Time (available on eMusic) is hardly some one-off piece of fluff. The messages of unity, peace and pride are still there, a natural continuation of 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life Of… , the album that put Arrested Development at the forefront of hip-hop (and pop music, for that matter) in the early ’90s.

I gotta say, it’s nice to have them back.

  • Arrested Development | Miracles
  • Arrested Development | Miracles (Metamorphosis mix)

Video for Miracles: