general

Elvis Perkins: “Ash Wednesday”

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My copy of Elvis Perkins’ Ash Wednesday came yesterday from Insound – finally. I’d been waiting for what seemed an eternity. Seriously, you guys. This album is pretty amazing. I’d already been obsessed with the song While You Were Sleeping, and the rest of the album … well … sheesh. If I had one regret about missing the ACL Festival this year, it was missing Elvis’ set. I can’t help but be moved by lines like this (from It’s Only Me):

“It’s only me, it’s only me /
The sound of my heart /
That startled me.”

But then I do a little digging and find out he’s coming to Phoenix on Nov. 25 to Modified with Pernice Brothers. Problem: I think I’m gonna have to work. Um, cough, I think I’ll be sick. Or something.

The closest comparison I can come to Elvis Perkins’ lyrical clarity and how it moves me is what I feel when I listen to Richard Buckner. Perkins’ voice isn’t as husky and dominating as Buckner’s, but there’s a bit of a quiver, a vulnerability that pulls you in whatever direction it wants.

Elvis Perkins | While You Were Sleeping

contests, radio rips

Calexico on MPR and contest

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Fact: I enjoy Calexico’s Garden Ruin quite a bit. Fact: Calexico is coming to Arizona for three shows in three cities in December. Fact: I have tickets to give away for said shows and autographed CDs. Fact: I couldn’t come up with anything clever to write to get this post started so I resorted to this lame tactic.

I’ve always felt that Calexico so perfectly captured what it’s like to live in Arizona, what with its beige landscape and lonely desert existence. And then Garden Ruin comes along and makes you rethink everything you thought Calexico sounded like. The hushed beauty of Yours and Mine is a high point in the group’s catalog if you ask me (which you didn’t).

The group (sans drummer John Convertino) stopped by Minnesota Public Radio’s great show the Current for a set. They didn’t play Yours and Mine, but frontman Joey Burns does explain in the interview that the name Bisbee Blue derives from a specific strain of turquoise from copper mines in Bisbee, located in the southeast corner of Arizona. A little Arizona history for ya.

Calexico, live on Minnesota Public Radio, 9/28/06:
1. Cruel
2. Bisbee Blue
3. Roka

ABOUT THAT CONTEST: Calexico is playing three shows in Arizona in December – Dec. 2 in Tucson; Dec. 4 in Flagstaff and Dec. 5 in Tempe. All tour dates are here. (The Tucson show benefits a public radio station there and Humane Borders. Read more here. Via Largehearted Boy.)

I have a pair of tickets for each show to give away. I’ll randomly select winners by e-mail. So, e-mail me at somuchsilence@gmail.com with “Calexico-(city)” in the subject (obviously, replace “(city)” with the actual city for which you are entering). You can enter for more than one city but can only win one. Three runners-up will receiver autographed copies of Garden Ruin.

If you don’t win, Garden Ruin is available at eMusic.

Related:
Calexico: Lucky Dime (alternate version).
Calexico on KEXP: “The high lonesome sound”.

Also, yesterday I said I’m cleaning out files but that I’d point you to some of the more popular posts on which I’ll be keeping the mp3s active. Here’s a couple of them, related to Calexico:

Calexico’s set on NPR (12/1/05).
Iron and Wine on NPR (12/2/05).
Iron and Wine/Calexico on NPR (12/2/05).

hip-hop

Black Sheep: “Whodat?”

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When I heard A Tribe Called Quest was reuniting for a tour this fall, I had to temper my excitement with the harshness of reality. For one, it was a tour sponsored by a video game ($) and any Tribe fan can pretty much agree that the group’s farewell, The Love Movement, was spotty at best. Now, Tribe hovers at the top of my list of favorite groups … hence the problem: When should we just let go?

Because here comes another Native Tongues comeback with Black Sheep, the duo of Dres and Mista Lawnge, who last left us with 1994’s Non-Fiction. They’ll be best known for The Choice Is Yours (revisited version, of course), though that debut album in full, A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, stands alongside any of those “golden era” albums – Low End Theory and 3 Feet High and Rising included.

And the way we (or, um, I) hold these albums in such high regard is going to make it difficult to believe that anything they do now will ever measure up. It’s sorta weird to even think that I’m discussing this: favorite artists of mine growing up are coming back around the block. But now I’m older and so are they. Maybe we’re more inclined to give these favorites a free pass the second time around. Or not.

It reminds me a little of when I cornered Diplo at the Pitchfork Music Festival this summer to ask him about his favorite hip-hop album (for a future installment of I Used to Love H.E.R.). His first answer was Black Sheep’s A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing. He went on to state all his reasons for liking the album as a teenager (which I can’t recall off hand). But then he said he listened to it recently and actually thought it was kind of mediocre. So what changes? Our age? Our taste? Our ability to detach our sentimental feelings once and for all?

I’m not saying I won’t listen to the forthcoming Black Sheep album, 8WM/Novakane. I enjoy the first single, Whodat?, a heavy hitter with thick horns produced by Seattle’s Vitamin D of Rhymesayers. But I’ll probably be lacking the same innocent enthusiasm I had back in the day, if only because I fear that if I don’t like it, it will somehow spoil my original memories – like watching an aging athlete. Who wants to remember Michael Jordan for his numerous comebacks or his ill-fated attempt at baseball? Maybe I’m too nostalgic. I really hope Black Sheep proves me wrong.

Black Sheep | Whodat?

CLEANING HOUSE: You may notice some sketchiness with EZarchive, every blogger’s favorite file-hosting solution. Apparently, they are upgrading and existing files will have to be moved over to the new and improved series of tubes where these types of things are held. It also means new Web links will be needed for files. So, I’m doing something I do sort of regularly: delete old mp3s. I’ll be keeping the mp3s on a few of the more popular posts active; throughout the week, I’ll re-introduce those posts if you missed them the first time around and don’t feel like digging through the archives. Hopefully I can do it without seeming like a self-aggrandizing jackass.

live

Cold War Kids, the Clubhouse, 10/12/06

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Probably the first thing to note – or, rather, get out of the way – about Thursday’s Cold War Kids show at the Clubhouse is the subpar turnout. This seems more an indictment of the sometimes-apathetic scene here than Cold War Kids, who, after all, originally were scheduled to open for the Futureheads but had the foresight to keep the dates and headline themselves after Futureheads canceled. Had the show been booked with Cold War Kids as headliner from the get-go, it’s likely a smaller, more fitting venue would have been picked. But inside the Clubhouse, a fairly open, midsize venue, the 40 or so people who showed up made it feel rather empty.

I realize a few factors were at play here. The Futureheads’ cancellation didn’t help and Thrice was playing across town at Marquee Theater, possibly siphoning off some potential Clubhouse-goers. But I saw at least a couple people walk up to buy tickets who left once they found out the Futureheads canceled. That, to me, is the frustrating part. Hey, you’re already out; pay the $10 and take in a show, which turned out to be really damn good. Naturally, Cold War Kids packed their hometown Los Angeles show the previous night, so I wonder what their expectations/feelings were about coming to Arizona. But then, we saw Band of Horses at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix about six months apart and the second show was sold out, about 300 people compared to roughly 75 the first time. That’s a telling sign of the scene here – frustratingly fair-weather. I imagine as Cold War Kids continue to pick up steam, their next stop here will be significantly more crowded.

And their inevitable popularity won’t surprise me at all either, but I will reserve the right to bitch at the next show when we’re all shoulder to shoulder and I can’t buy a beer because it’s too crowded: “Where the hell were you people last time?” Just in the four months since we first saw them in Tucson, Cold War Kids appeared more grounded and confident in their live set, though, fortunately, that doesn’t mean any less energetic. Guitarist Jonnie Russell is a kinetic performer, stomping around and twisting his torso, a welcome bit of showmanship when singer Nathan Willett is tied to his piano bench.

That loose energy serves their songs well. They opened with We Used to Vacation, which sounded oddly cohesive for how many moving parts (piano, rattle, free-standing cymbal being bashed with said rattle) are taking place at once. The group is averse to boring three-chord pitfalls, each instrument taking off on different paths before meeting at the common goal. Singer Nathan Willett inevitably steers the whole thing straight. His voice can soar or dive in or out, up and down. It’s probably more impressive and powerful live than on record, which, I would guess, is not an easy feat.

As for favorites, well, Hospital Beds can do no wrong, and hearing that jogging guitar line on Rubidoux and that sturdy bassline on Hang Me Up to Dry (the closer) pretty much sealed my enjoyment for the evening.

Fellow Los Angelians (Los Angelites?, Los Angelists?) band from Los Angeles Foreign Born opened. I liked them quite a bit, though I hate hearing a band for the first time live because it never really sticks. I’m putting them on my radar for CD shopping. Anyway, they have a blog, too.

Cold War Kids
MySpace | official site
mp3 | Tell Me in the Morning

Foreign Born
MySpace | official site blog
mp3 | The Entryway

hip-hop

Just call me D-Nice

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I’ll be coming with a proper recap of Cold War Kids/Foreign Born (great show) by tomorrow. Until then, I have to say how stoked I am to have discovered that this site is being linked now by the great D-Nice, former Boogie Down Productions DJ and now photographer extraordinaire.

I used to rock my cassette of D-Nice’s debut, Call Me D-Nice, non-stop back in, ooooh, the eighth grade. That is, until some chump stole it and my copy of Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions … that I brought to one of those “parties” that eighth graders were prone to have. I’m gonna hunt that kid down.

D-Nice | Call Me D-Nice

Coincidentally, the great Soul Sides posted the video for this track yesterday.

Related: The Stop the Violence Movement: Self-Destruction.

general

Cold War Kids, tonight at Clubhouse in Tempe

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Indie backlash is a bitch, ain’t it? I’ve been listening to the Cold War Kids’ full-length Robbers & Cowards this past week, and some small part of me feels like I should be apologetic for liking it. It’s that indie complex. But, you know what, eff that. I’m getting too grouchy to worry about that anymore.

Robbers & Cowards (Downtown) is comprised mostly of material from the group’s previous EPs, presumably under the theory of striking while the iron is hot. Who can blame ’em? Even if the writing is clunky at times – Still, things could be much worse / natural disasters, on the evening news – there’s at least an unflinching honesty to it. The music feels bluesy and loose, and it’s sometimes hard to reconcile singer Nathan Willett’s conversation-style singing within that context. But I see nothing wrong with pushing the issue of conventional song structures.

So, go ahead and hate. We’re still going to check them out tonight at the Clubhouse tonight. Which means possible pictures tomorrow.

Some media:

Mini-doc (by “mini” I mean 6 minutes): Oh, This Life.
(From CWK: “We put this film together to introduce ourselves to you, perhaps for the first time, and give you a glimpse of what we’ve been doing for the last two years; also to say thanks to those who have been with us since the beginning.”)

Video: Hang Me Up to Dry.
MP3: Cold War Kids | Hospital Beds

Related:
Cold War Kids, Dr. Dog, Elvis Perkins on KEXP.
Cold War Kids @ Daytrotter.

hip-hop, i used to love h.e.r.

I Used to Love H.E.R.: Sarah Daly of Scanners

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I’m really excited about the fourth installment of I Used to Love H.E.R., a series in which artists/bloggers/writers discuss their most essential hip-hop albums (read intro). That’s because singer Sarah Daly of the London-based Scanners discusses in a quick Q&A an album that is one of my top three favorite hip-hop records. That only made me appreciate the group’s new LP Violence Is Golden (Dim Mak) all the more. Visit Scanners Web site or MySpace. Below is the mp3 for the single Lowlife.

MP3: Scanners | Lowlife

Run-DMC
Tougher Than Leather (Priority Records, 1988)
Note: Deluxe editions, with previously unreleased songs and expanded liner notes, of Run-DMC’s first four albums, including Tougher Than Leather, were released last year by Arista. More information.

What’s your favorite hip-hop album?
“Tougher Than Leather by Run-DMC.”

How did you discover it?
“In a bargin bin in a record store.”

Why would you consider it your favorite?
“I just love all the tracks on it. It’s quite eclectic musically and the lyrics have a sense of humour.”

Did that album open you up to any more hip-hop?
“Well, more Run-DMC.”

What type of role (if any) has hip-hop played in your own music?
“It’s so all pervasive. It’s everywhere. you can’t help but be influenced
somehow.”

Probably most people would consider Raising Hell as Run-DMC’s seminal album or the one they’d most associate with the group. What’s different or more appealing about Tougher Than Leather (which happens to be my favorite as well)?
“It’s true that Raising Hell has all the hits that I associate with Run-DMC. In fact until Walk This Way I hadn’t heard of either Run-DMC or Aerosmith. I don’t think Tougher Than Leather production sounds that different to Raising Hell. I just came across it by accident. I love it maybe for no other reason than it was in my Walkman on the way to school. And I have some nostalgic attachment to it as a whole.”

Hip-hop has obviously evolved quite a bit since 1988, when Tougher Than Leather came out. What do you think accounts for its longevity and staying power?
“Hip Hop is now so utterly the mainstream. You hear it in the shopping malls and fast food restaurants across the world. But you can easily trace the influence of Run-DMC to platinum artists such as Kanye West and OutKast. I think that any music style that finds its place rooted so deeply into society will have longevity.”

Lastly, favorite track on the album … and why?
“Well I love Ragtime. It’s catchy and we all sing along to it in the car.”

Run-DMC | Ragtime

Previously on I Used to Love H.E.R.:
Pigeon John (De La Soul – De La Soul is Dead)
Joel Hatstat of Cinemechanica (Digital Underground – Sex Packets)
G. Love (Eric B. & Rakim – Paid In Full)
An introduction

radio rips

Walter Schreifels on AOL’s the Interface

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Walter Schreifels, member and/or founder of Gorilla Biscuits, Quicksand, Rival Schools and, most recently, Walking Concert, showed up recently for an acoustic set on AOL’s the Interface. Schreifels’ work, at least early in his career, existed in a bit of a hardcore vacuum, so the thought of hearing any of those tracks stripped to just an acoustic guitar seemed curiously contrary to the soul of bands like Gorilla Biscuits or Quicksand, one of my favorites.

Nevertheless, songs have to start somewhere – regardless of their final form – and I suppose an acoustic guitar is as good a place as any. Instead of splicing up the entire set, I took out just the two Quicksand songs Schreifels performed: Dine Alone (off Slip) and Thorn in My Side (off Manic Compression).

Dine Alone, as much of a hit as Quicksand ever had, might best be left plugged in, but Schreifels does some cool work with Thorn in My Side, including tapping out the opening drum line vocally.

Get the entire set with interview via AOL.

Walter Schreifels | Dine Alone (acoustic)
Walter Schreifels | Thorn in My Side (acoustic)

Also, Schreifels announced via MySpace that he’s released an album by Moondog, his pre-Quicksand band that never saw a proper album release. More information at Anthology Recordings, a digital-only label.

UPDATE: Quicksand fans can find video of the band performing Thorn in My Side on the old Jon Stewart Show here at YouTube. (Thanks, B.)