hip-hop

New J-Live: Reveal the Secret EP

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Perhaps one of the most overlooked records in my collection – the type of album you can’t believe you haven’t listened to in the past six months because, damn, it’s so good – is J-Live’s All of the Above, released in 2002 and available on eMusic.

After listening, you have to wonder if this guy isn’t one of the best MCs going. I once read a story about him in which the author called him “unfuckwithable.” And it’s really hard to argue.

Yet his profile dropped considerably since All of the Above was released. Look at his Web site, for crying out loud. Still promoting his 2005 album The Hear After.

Well, he’s back with an EP, Reveal the Secret (BBE Music), which features production from Jazzy Jeff and Da Beatminerz. J says on his MySpace blog: “I want this to feel like it came outta nowhere. I want the people that have it to feel special you know. Let them spread the word that I’m back. Pass it on before the album drops. You know… let the cat out the bag, reveal the secret.”

Right. I’m just doin’ what the man says. Check out Feel Like Spittin’ (produced by Da Beatminerz).

  • J-Live | Feel Like Spittin’
general, radio rips

VHS or Beta: Can’t Believe a Single Word (WOXY)

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Some songs were not meant to be unplugged, acoustic or stripped down. Case in point: VHS or Beta’s Can’t Believe a Single Word.

I never listened to the group before this year’s Bring on the Comets was released. And this song grabbed me right out of the gate. How could it not? I haven’t even given two thoughts to the lyrics; I’m more interested in how the drums move me, how the chorus pulls me in. Again, how could it not?

The band stopped by WOXY for a Lounge Acts session. I can understand the desire to perform and hear a song in a different context. But acoustic guitars do Can’t Believe no justice. Still a great song … but gimme the drums!

  • VHS or Beta | Can’t Believe a Single Word (original, via Quick Before It Melts)
  • VHS or Beta | Can’t Believe a Single Word (live on WOXY)
general, radio rips

The New Pornographers: Myriad Harbour (on KCRW)

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Two years ago, my boy Royce fought me – but eventually caved – when I said the National’s Alligator was the best album of the year. He would say, “I hate that you’re right.”

Well, now I’m saying I hate that he’s right about Myriad Harbour, a song that is turning out to be my favorite of the year. Coincidentally, I started listening to Challengers really heavily – and Dan Bejar’s ode to New York – at about the same time I took my own trip to the Big Apple in early September. Yes, it took me that long to realize the greatness of Challengers. And now I can’t stop.

It also helped that we saw the New Pornographers in Tucson about a week later with Bejar in all his drunken glory. It was a sight to behold, Bejar moseying on to the stage for his songs then promptly exiting at the end of each song. Unreal. And hilarious.

Bejar was even kind enough to make the group’s KCRW appearance on Sept. 20. Not even Neko was there (at least from what I can tell). What’s that say when Bejar is the responsible one?

At any rate, this version (mandolin and all) is pretty funny because Bejar starts laughing and nearly loses it in the first verse before composing himself.

There’s also something very subtle but somehow defining when he changes the lyric “I walked into the local record store” to “I walked into your local record store.” The slight one-word switch really emphasizes the theme of his singing from the perspective of a New York outsider.

  • The New Pornographers | Myriad Harbour (live on KCRW)
hip-hop, remix

Busdriver: Kill Your Employer (Antimc remix)

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When you’re putting together your favorite albums of 2007, do not forget Busdriver’s RoadKillOvercoat, released waaaay back on Jan. 30.

As a nice reminder, Busdriver is heading out on a headlining tour with Daedelus and Antimc, both of whom took a crack at remixing the Busdriver single Kill Your Employer (Recreational Paranoia is the Sport of Now) – or “Kill Your Employer” for short.

Busdriver has made the Antimc mix available as a free download on his Last.fm page. Where Daedelus decontructed Employer and rebuilt it with deep bass on a house music tip, Antimc manages to temper Busdriver’s hyper-literate flow with a little hip-hop house-party vibe.

  • Busdriver | Kill Your Employer (Antimc remix)

BONUS:

  • Busdriver | Kill Your Employer (Daedelus remix)
general

New Nada Surf: See These Bones + bonus mp3

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Thanks to Brooklyn Vegan for the heads up on news from the Nada Surf camp.

The new album, Lucky, is due out Feb. 5 on Barsuk. And the group has made available for download the first single, called See These Bones.

BONUS:
Nada Surf played an acoustic set at Stinkweeds’ former Tempe location (R.I.P.) in February 2006. I recorded but never got proper permission to post the whole thing. Here’s an mp3 of Happy Kid from that performance.

  • Nada Surf | Happy Kid (live at Stinkweeds, 2/20/06)
general

Incoming: Vampire Weekend/Trolleyvox

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New York’s Vampire Weekend, recently signed to XL Recordings and previously discussed here and at Circa 45, return to Phoenix for a Dec. 1 show at Casa Blanca.

The Trolleyvox is co-headlining. Tickets are $8 (statesidepresents.com).

Vampire Weekend’s three-song EP, a promising peek into what a full-length holds (due for January ’08 release), is available at eMusic.

hip-hop, remix, vinyl

Run-D.M.C.: You Be Illin’ (remix)

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I’m not sure what I’d do if I ever lived near an Amoeba Records. I imagine going broke would be a possibility.

My latest trip to the Hollywood location wasn’t as fruitful as I would have liked, but how can I argue when one of the pieces is an original 12-inch of Run-D.M.C.’s You Be Illin’? First side has a remix — albeit a somewhat conservative definition of a remix – and the second side has Hit It Run and the You Be Illin’ instrumental.

The remix doesn’t stray too far from the original save for some additional horns and substituting the third verse (“The other day around the way I seen you illin’ at a party”) in favor of a more traditional instrumental bridge. Regardless, whenever I listen to this song it reminds of how much I listened to the cassette as a kid. Though I’ll likely go to my grave claiming Tougher Than Leather as a desert-island disc, there’s no denying what an influence Raising Hell had on me, a cornerstone of my collection … still.

And where the hell do I get one of those dookie rope chains with a gold adidas charm?

  • Run-D.M.C. | You Be Illin’ (remix)
general, video

Elvis Perkins on Take-Away Shows

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I’m a little late on the draw on this one, but check out Elvis Perkins playing my favorite song of 2006 on La Blogotheque’s fantastic Take-Away Shows series.

On a somewhat related note, I’m happy to say that last week in Los Angeles I snagged a 7-inch of While You Were Sleeping (b/w Counterclockwise).

Enjoy the video (which might require a little Dramamine).

general, radio rips

The Twilight Sad on KEXP, 10/4/07

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Credit: Susana Meza (via KEXP blog)

I guess it was a sign that while having lunch with co-workers at a newish (well, new to me) cafe one day last week, the Twilight Sad was playing over the speakers in the restaurant (compliments to the playlist maker).

Just the previous week, I had been jotting down my favorite albums of the year, and I completely forgot about Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters, which seems fitting considering one of the main themes of the album centers on disaffection and alienation.

Seattle’s KEXP hosted the Scottish quartet for a studio session during KEXP’s live broadcasts from Chicago. I missed the band when it came through Phoenix a couple months ago, so I’m glad to have some semblance of a live set, including the fairly epic Cold Days from the Birdhouse.

Download full set as one mp3 here.

Subscribe to KEXP podcasts.

The Twilight Sad on KEXP, 10/4/07:

  • Cold Days from the Birdhouse
  • Watching the Chair Painted Yellow
  • And She Would Darken the Memory
  • I’m Taking the Train Home
hip-hop, i used to love h.e.r.

I Used to Love H.E.R.: A-Trak

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The 18th installment of I Used to Love H.E.R., a series in which artists/bloggers/writers discuss their most essential or favorite hip-hop albums (read intro), comes from DJ A-Trak, a champion turntablist who now works with Kanye West. I cornered A-Trak at the 2006 Pitchfork Festival to ask him about his favorite hip-hop record.

Pharcyde
Labcabincalifornia (Delicious Vinyl, 1995)

I love Bizarre Ride (II the Pharcyde) but Labcabin was really my joint. They grew a lot on that album and they got darker. That progression makes me think of De La going from 3 Feet High to De La is Dead. Some people still love the first album. Just me working with Kanye … I saw that with Late Registration where a lot of people love College Dropout for its innocence, but I really like the second album for just being more grown-up and deeper and a little more complex. And Labcabin was one of those albums I listened to to death because, I mean, that came out in ’96 (’95 actually) … I started DJing a year earlier.

For many reasons I really love that record. Just on some straight hip-hop shit – just beats and rhymes, everything was on point. And that’s one of the records where I first heard Jay Dee (J Dilla) and Jay Dee is my favorite producer. That was one of the albums I first heard his production and I was floored by everything.

You know when you’re talking about a good record … where on some aspects you can really break it down to many elements. And on other aspects you can say it was just dope period. There’s some records you could be like, it’s got good beats and good cuts. But by the end of day it might not be your favorite joint. Other albums you like it but it might not necessarily satisfy every one of your urges. That record (Labcabincalifornia), I feel as a DJ, I love all the scratches. It’s not even on some technical shit. It’s just really tasteful, everything just sounded good.

Runnin’ is probably my favorite song ever.

What drew you into that song?
It’s just everything … I think something you can say about Pharcyde, you can’t really pinpoint it down to one mood. It’s a song that’s really open and kind of candid but without being over the top, without being oversensitive to the point where it feels awkward in the hip-hop context. It still bangs as a hip-hop beat. I love the cuts in it. It’s got kind of an eerie vibe to it with the sample. It’s not too jazzy … it’s a jazz sample that sounds a little eerie and just right. The lyrics are awesome. One thing with Runnin’ as a producer that always bugged me out with that song … is the drum programming. It’s crazy to me. The drum pattern always sounds just right, but you can never predict where it’s going to fall. I think it’s at least like an eight-bar pattern. You know on a lot of songs you just know the drum programming, you can sing out the drum patterns. To this day, I can’t remember, where the next kick is gonna land. But it always sounds like it’s supposed to be.

I love Bizarre Ride … it’s one of the records I got into hip-hop through. But Labcabin, it aged really well. It left an impression on me. Just from the depth of it. I like stuff that’s a little darker, too.

It’s funny because I don’t even listen to it all the time. But I know I can go back to it and get into it.

  • The Pharcyde | Runnin’

    • BONUS:

  • The Pharcyde | Runnin’ (Jay Dee remix) (vinyl rip from Drop 12-inch)