hip-hop

Mike Relm

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In what surely must be some sort of cruel joke, Oct. 4 brings to Arizona three shows all worth seeing, all at different venues: Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Marquee Theatre in Tempe; Jose Gonzalez at Rhythm Room in Phoenix; and Del the Funky Homosapien at the Clubhouse in Tempe. What city am I living in?? This never happens. (For what it’s worth, I’m leaning toward Jose Gonzalez at this point.)

Anyway, part of the support bill for Del on this tour run is Mike Relm, a DJ based out of the Bay Area. It’s been a busy year for Relm, who tackled the 20-minute Octagynaemix as a lead-up to the release of the Return of Dr. Octagon. He also went out on tour as the DJ for Peeping Tom, the latest side project of Mike Patton. Pretty nice company there.

Relm blends and mixes in the style of DJ Z-Trip – updating ’80s rock and pop with modern, danceable beats. Some may use the M-word … you know, mash-up. Ack.

Pretty sure I’ll be missing a seriously entertaining DJ set, although it is captured on a live DVD, Suit Yourself, an 88-minute video of Relm’s tour with Gift of Gab. Or check out the CD Radio Fryer.

Mike Relm | Radio Fryer preview mix
Mike Relm | Octagynaemix

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

I Used to Love H.E.R.: G. Love

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The first installment of I Used to Love H.E.R., a series in which artists/bloggers/writers discuss their most essential hip-hop albums (read the introduction), is from G. Love, who was kind enough to chat with me on the phone from Atlantic City last week before a show. G. Love’s bluesy-rap style owes a lot to the narrative roots of hip-hop. His new album, Lemonade, is available on Brushfire Records.

mp3: G. Love feat. Blackalicious | Banger

Eric B. and Rakim
Paid in Full (4th & Broadway, 1987)
Produced by Eric B. and Rakim
(Note: Rereleased in 1998 on Island on two-CD “Platinum Edition,” featuring original remastered recording and disc of remixes. Buy it here.)

“It was a pretty popular record. … I was into hip-hop when I was kid. It’s one of the records you gotta get.

“When I discovered my style, when I was a street musician, I started rapping the lyrics to Paid in Full over this blues riff. That kinda led me to develop writing rhymes. … I was playing this song Days Like This … I finished playing it and I was jamming and feeling good and started rapping the lyrics to it. It was like an epiphany.

“That’s definitely one of the hip-hop records on everybody’s list. That’s been a record that, you know, that made Rakim. … There’s arguments about who are the best emcees. Rakim and KRS-One are like the best emcees of all time. That record was the first hit. …

“On Paid in Full (the song), it’s not even the chorus, it’s like one rhyme. An introduction, a rhyme that tells the whole story and then it goes out.

“Those records (of late ’80s/early ’90s) kind of influenced a whole generation of people. It was a definitive time … There’s the big debate now about commercial hip-hop or underground hip-hop. The underground just bitches about commercial hip-hop, and commercial talks about getting paid and fucking chicks.

“Back then, it was more about storytelling, I think. That’s what made it so important to me. Everybody was rappin’ and telling stories. Whether it was Fresh Prince or L.L. … Being a songwriter is what it’s all about. It can be funny shit or scary shit. Songwriting is all about telling stories.”

Eric B. and Rakim | Paid in Full

Next installment: Joel Hatstat of Athens, Georgia’s Cinemechanica.

radio rips

Rob Dickinson: WOXY.com Lounge Acts (8/16/06)

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It’s been well-documented around here (see below) that we’re fans of Rob Dickinson in all his forms: as lead singer of Catherine Wheel or in his recently reincarnated solo life. So an acoustic session for WOXY Lounge Acts was bound to excite us. (By “us” and “we” I mean me. “Us” sounds more fun, like I have a staff working for me. Come on, play along.)

Since his solo debut Fresh Wine for the Horses came out late last year, Dickinson has been on the road, playing mostly acoustic shows. (A live session from New York City is available here on iTunes.) It’s difficult to hear his soaring voice and not get nostalgic for Catherine Wheel, though I’m learning (slowly) to separate the two. In his interview with WOXY, he wouldn’t go so far as to say the group has broken up, but it’s been “parked.” A nice way of saying Catherine Wheel has gone kaput for good. Sigh.

Ah, no sense in crying over spilled milk. But I do reserve the right to say that I think the cover for Fresh Wine is … corny. (I mean, seahorses? Wow.) I can forgive him this.

Get full download (with interview) here.

Rob Dickinson, WOXY.com Lounge Acts, 8/16/06:

1. Oceans
2. My Name is Love
3. Bathe Away
4. Future Boy*
5. Heal*

* – Catherine Wheel songs

Related:
Rob Dickinson on KCRW
Rob Dickinson, live in Scottsdale Part I
Rob Dickinson, live in Scottsdale Part II
Rob Dickinson on WXPN’s World Cafe
Rob Dickinson on Rehearsals.com (via Chromewaves)

live

The Clientele, 8/17/06, Rhythm Room

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To say I was disappointed by the Clientele might be too strong. Underwhelming is more like it. I probably came in with high expectations because I have quite enjoyed the group’s latest album, Strange Geometry (Merge).

Although, to be honest, I wasn’t quite sure how the Clientele’s live show would translate. Strange Geometry is a pretty record: dreamy pop with clean guitar tones and soft vocals. If anything, I took great comfort in one, admittedly superficial, aspect: I really expected frontman Alasdair Maclean to be a waifish, fragile creature. He had a little more heft to him, which I appreciated in a weird way.

Regardless, the group’s live show seemed void of any … oomph. Never have I seen a live show in which a drummer was rendered more passive than this one. Perhaps it’s simply a product of the Clientele’s gentle approach; the drummer changed from brushes to stick with barely any notice. He seemed to play with fragile strength, as if his drums were made of glass and every stroke might crack them.

To make matters worse, the group scuffled with sound issues after the first couple of songs, which resulted in an exchange with the sound man that was borderline snooty. Later, a broken guitar string left a lengthy pause between songs that was a hindrance for a group already struggling to grasp the audience’s attention.

It’s somewhat painful to write these things because Strange Geometry truly is a peaceful record. But after seeing the Clientele live, I get the feeling the group benefits from the production and touch-ups of a studio that a live performance doesn’t afford.

Openers Great Lakes sounded decidedly alt-country-ish, which threw me for a bit of a surprise. Although, I admit to being totally unfamiliar with the group’s history, so for me to put forth any sort of judgment may be unfair.

It’s always difficult to gauge a group when the first time you hear them is live. Our initial read was something along the lines of Jayhawks meets A.M.-era Wilco.

The Clientele | E.M.P.T.Y.
Great Lakes | Farther
Great Lakes | Diamond Times

hip-hop

Hieroglyphics: “Don’t Hate the Player”

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My man Matt over at Los Amigos de Durutti wrote up a nice post about the new soundtrack for the NBA 2k7 video game, which is produced by Dan the Automator. The soundtrack has tracks by Rhymefest, Chali 2na and Lupe Fiasco with Evidence of Dilated Peoples … among others. (I tried to find a screen shot of Ben Wallace in a Bulls uniform to no avail. Marion will have to do.)

I had to reiterate the greatness of the Hiero track, Don’t Hate the Player (get it? It’s about basketball … yeah), especially because Casual drops the bomb: “My crossover’s sicker than the Black Eyed Peas.”

Ouch. Funny because we were just at a bar last night and someone seemed to unload their quarters on the Internet jukebox for all Black Eyed Peas material. With little choice but to listen (and drink … heavily), I was stunned (again) at what a money grab BEP went for: My Humps? Christ. Props to Cas for that line then.

Check it out … clean version. Sorry. But I’ll throw in the instrumental for you remixers.

Hieroglyphics | Don’t Hate the Player (clean)
Hieroglyphics | Don’t Hate the Player (instrumental)

Going to check out the Clientele with Great Lakes and local band the Threads tonight at Rhythm Room. Should have some pictures tomorrow.

hip-hop

Rhymefest: “Blue Collar”

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For your first major album, you probably could do a lot worse than have Kanye West’s name attached to it. Now, I’m not saying Rhymefest couldn’t hang on his own, because he can. But that’s just part of the hip-hop game these days: Get a big name on the CD sleeve and reel ’em in.

At least Rhymefest, who won a Grammy for his part on Kanye’s Jesus Walks, recognizes his debt to his fellow Chicagoan throughout most of Blue Collar, almost like he’s playing Scottie Pippen to Kanye’s Michael Jordan. Like on the hot track Brand New (produced by Kanye):

“Me and ‘Ye go back like crew cuts /
He hook me up as long as I don’t ask him for too much /
But even he know ‘Fest is layin’ it down /
Cause this is just an old beat he had layin’ around”

More proof of Rhymefest playing up his inferior status to Kanye (which makes him a little more endearing, to be honest) comes in the video, when Kanye is counting a wad of crisp $100 bills then comes across a crinkled, messy bill. He promptly hands it to Rhymefest.

I’ve been diggin’ Blue Collar, if, at the very least, because it’s one of the few hip-hop records that doesn’t rely on cumbersome skits to prove its conceptual vision. Maybe in this case, Kanye could learn a thing or two from Rhymefest.

Rhymefest keeps his point of toiling in meager work and city life to his rhymes, like on Devil’s Pie, which cops a sample from Someday by the Strokes, in one of the album’s great lines: “I know I’m ahead of my time, but I’m behind on my rent.”

Despite various producers touching the album – Kanye, No I.D., Mark Ronson – Blue Collar keeps a consistent theme and flow, though I could live without a couple of the record’s stumbling blocks (namely, Stick and Bullet feat. Citizen Cope).

Rhymefest (feat. Kanye West) | Brand New

Brand New video: Windows Media | Real Player

general

Jeremy Enigk: “World Waits”

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If not for Chad over at Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands it’s likely I might have let Jeremy Enigk, former singer of Sunny Day Real Estate, fade to black the digital black hole of my iTunes library.

When we last left in Enigk, in 2003, he had formed the Fire Theft with two of the other three members of SDRE. I enjoyed the group’s self-titled debut, though at that point, there had been so much drama surrounding Sunny Day – too many breakups and makeups to keep track of – that fans maybe disregarded the Fire Theft as just another tease to a SDRE reunion that wouldn’t materialize.

But there was the matter of Enigk’s epic (yes, I said it, epic) 1996 solo album, Return of the Frog Queen. (Speaking of, thank you, Sub Pop, for selling it on vinyl for $5 at the Pitchfork Music Festival.) Enigk’s declaration of born-again Christianity was rumored to be reasons for the breakup (the first) and the inspiration behind Frog Queen. As someone who grew up with hardly any religious direction (mother is Jewish; father is Irish-Catholic), I never was emotionally stirred by Enigk’s motives of faith … it didn’t bother me either way. That’s an admittedly naive outlook, but I didn’t – and still don’t – think that my limited religious views needed to be in line with Enigk’s to appreciate what he was doing as a musician.

So here we are 10 years later, and Enigk finally has a follow-up: World Waits (irony?), due for an October release on his Lewis Hollow imprint. In anything he’s done, Enigk somehow coaxes swells of uplifting and inspirational sound. SDRE’s final album, the Rising Tide, is a great example – or it could be that it caught me at a more vulnerable time: out of college, not really sure what the hell I was doing living in Milwaukee, away from girlfriend/family/etc.

But already on his new material, I’m finding myself pulled in emotionally. On River to Sea, Enigk, with that desperation in his voice, pretty much hits me over the head with this line:

“I’ve found my place where I have longed to be /
I can’t erase any mistake”

Pretty elegant in its simplicity, if you ask me.

Jeremy Enigk | Been Here Before
Jeremy Enigk | River to Sea

live

Final Fantasy, Modified, 8/13/06

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My favorite violin looping Canadian that calls advanced D&D his muse came to Phoenix last night. Yes, I’m referring to Final Fantasy. I would have posted earlier, but had a little too many Belgium ales. Monks lovingly craft each bottle of pure evil.

The show was wunderbar – Owen (all of us ex-D&D players are on a first name basis) crafts his songs one layer at a time, clicking through a looping pedal with a socked foot. I enjoyed the set and his unassuming jokiness between songs was charming. He played his cover of Joanna Newsom’s song “Peach, Plum, Pear” and that made me smile. When he closed the show he said there would be no encore, when the crowd protested, he replied, “I’ve been working hard up here, you know, you saw it.”

Final Fantasy | CN Tower Belongs to the Dead (rearranged)
Final Fantasy | Many Lives –> 49MP

Thanks to Forrest for having the presence of mind to snap some pictures.

radio rips

Silversun Pickups on WOXY (8/9/06)

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Big thanks to Largehearted Boy, who reminded us all about Silversun Pickups’ performance on WOXY last week. I really need a better system to organize these things, but that’s another story.

As if the local concert calendar isn’t already blowin’ up, Silversun Pickups are playing Modified on Oct. 1 with Viva Voce. ‘Bout damn time.

Anyway, there’s been some discussion among us nerds bloggers about Silversun Pickups on the heels of the release of Carnavas. The obvious comparison (which I’ve made myself) is Smashing Pumpkins. Eric made a Nirvana circa Bleach parallel after seeing Silversun at the Midwest Music Summit. In his words: “They were fucking loud.” (Now I really can’t wait to see them.)

Thing is, these comparisons are nothing more than a convenience for us – a way to identify a new band with a familiar sound and name. We do it all the time. Yes, Silversun Pickups recall Smashing Pumpkins, but is that enough to disregard them? That’s simply a starting point. If the descriptions are enough to pull you in, then it’s up to the listener to dig deeper than the surface comparisons. Personally, I find something a little more compact and efficient to Silversun’s sound than, say, Smashing Pumpkins. Not to mention, I never could stand Billy Corgan’s voice in large doses. (And besides, this whole Billy Corgan-looking-like-a-character-in-THX 1138-phase creeps me out.)

Anyway, get the full, uncut mp3 (with interview) from WOXY. Thank you, WOXY.

Silversun Pickups, WOXY.com Lounge Acts, 8/9/06:
1. Well Thought Out Twinkles
2. Rusted Wheel
3. Future Foe Scenarios/Kissing Families
(they connected these songs with a synth-driven bridge and I didn’t want to ruin the effect)
4. Lazy Eye

Related:
Silversun Pickups Well Thought Out Twinkles video
Silversun Pickups Well Thought Out Twinkles (mp3)
Silversun Pickups on KEXP (9/26/05)