hip-hop

Peanut Butter Wolf’s Chrome Mix

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Stones Throw and Adult Swim, who teamed up to bring us DangerDoom’s The Mouse and the Mask, are collaborating again for the Oct. 3 release of Chrome Children, a CD and DVD featuring tracks by Madvillain, the late J Dilla and pretty much every other Stones Throw artist.

The DVD portion is a full-length recording from a show headlined by MF Doom and Madlib at this year’s SXSW. A nice treat for those of us unable to attend … ahem, me.

As a prelude to the release, Stones Throw mastermind/executive producer Peanut Butter Wolf put together a mix, half of which features tracks from Chrome Children.

Get the track listing for Chrome Children and PB Wolf’s Chrome Mix here.

Peanut Butter Wolf | Chrome Mix – download or stream

arizona, live

Phoenix concert update

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So, I’ve had too much to drink tonight because we went out with some really good friends. For the time being, I thought I’d point out the mess of great shows coming to our Phoenix/Tempe area. Wow. Pretty insane. Although, I’m a little upset with the Decemberists for booking Tucson and not Phoenix. Um, hello! Yeah, we’ll talk about that later, Colin.

My bro and I have our eyes on next week’s Clientele show at the Rhythm Room.

Our friend Forrest (who kinda knows this guy) bought tickets for the Ladytron/CSS show on Oct. 24.

Birdmonster and Division Day play Modified on Aug. 19. We’ll be in Vegas, drinking and gambling.

Local favorites Reubens Accomplice play Modified Aug. 31.

The Long Winters, whose Commander Thinks Aloud I’m listening to right now, is coming Sept. 12 to the Rhythm Room.

The motherfucking Black Keys are in town on Sept. 16, but we’ll be in Austin for the ACL festival. Damn!

Fruck! Serious dilemma: Rogue Wave and Ratatat play the same night at different venues. This rarely happens in Phoenix. I’m leaning toward Rogue Wave right now.

Maritime, whose We, The Vehicles I am loving, comes to town Sept. 26. Then Jose Gonzalez on Oct. 4. Holy hell. Thank you to Stateside Presents for the goodness.

Yeah, and then Damien Jurado is coming to Modified Oct. 16.

And, oh, Saturday night a couple members of that band called the Arcade Fire are guesting as DJs at Shake!

More proper (read: sober) posts coming today …

general

Glenn Kotche: “Mobile”

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Of all the reviews, wrap-ups and write-ups I read about the Pitchfork Music Festival, one glaring omission from nearly all of them (including my own) was the set in the Biz 3 tent by Glenn Kotche, also known as the drummer for Wilco.

Having once aspired to play drums myself, I’ve been enthralled by Kotche in the Wilco setting. On stage, he’s focused and passionate; to me, he’s the most inspiring part to watch from the Wilco shows I’ve seen. Go back and listen to the drum work on I Am Trying to Break Your Heart for an example.

This year brought the release of his third solo release, Mobile (on Nonesuch), a riveting and disciplined collection of interpretive percussion work.

We watched Kotche’s live set at Pitchfork from behind the stage, where it still seemed impossible to take in the scope of his performance. (For the record, all members of Wilco, save for Jeff Tweedy, at least from what we could tell, were on hand.) He had drums, chimes, carved-up cymbals and doo-hickeys that looked like fruit baskets. There might even have been a laptop, too.

Despite the jammy/improvisational mask his music wears, you get the feeling Kotche meticulously maps out every note and movement. No sound seems wasted.

Glenn Kotche | Individual Trains

hip-hop

“Brush yo’ god damn teeth”

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Yesterday a friend sent me this track, and while I listened to it all day (without a clue who the artist was), I was debating whether it was truly serious or a parody of some sort. After keying in some absolutely ludicrous Google searches (“read a book rap song”; “read a mothafuckin’ book song”; “wear deodorant + it’s called speed stick rap lyrics”), I think I found my answer.

This song, Read a Book, is by Bomani “D’mite” Armah, who identifies himself on his MySpace page: “I’m not a rapper, I’m a poet with a hip-hop style.” Raised in D.C., Armah calls himself an educator, performer and activist (but definitely not a rapper). All of which sounds very serious, but doesn’t lessen the levity of Read a Book, clearly a parody of the Lil Jon school of rap. Although, I almost feel guilty saying the song is humorous because my best guess is “D’mite” is using it to make a statement. In the intro line (preceded by a Lil Jon-esque “yaaayeeeah”), he says, “I usually do songs with like hooks and concepts and shit, right? But fuck that, I’m trying to go blacker.” In that sense, it’s a bit reminiscent of De La Soul’s brilliant concept on De La Soul is Dead, which spawned countless imitators.

When the song kicks in, we get a Jeep-worthy beat (backed by like Beethoven’s Fifth or something) and repeating verses of lines like, “Read a book, read a book, read a god damn book” and “raise yo’ kids, raise yo’ kids, raise yo’ god damn kids” and (my favorite) “your body needs water so drink that shit”. Seriously, it goes on even more, either mocking the Southern style of rap or exposing the ills of society (or, more likely, both).

The more I think about it the more I can appreciate the not-so-subtle tone in which the song makes its point. One last thing: Brush yo’ god damn teeth.

Bomani “D’mite” Armah | Read a Book

general

Eric Bachmann: “To the Races”

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Having never paid much attention to Archers of Loaf or Crooked Fingers – despite being told on numerous occasions I should – I wasn’t sure what to expect from Eric Bachmann’s solo LP To The Races (out on Saddle Creek on Aug. 22). What I do know is that he is set to tour with Richard Buckner, one of my favorite artists, so I probably owed it to myself to listen. And, I gotta be honest, this is the first Saddle Creek release I’ve listened to (sorry, Bright Eyes fans).

According to a one-sheet at Saddle Creek, Bachmann wrote To The Races in June and July of 2005 “while voluntarily living in the back of his van.” Um, OK. I’m not sure why anyone would do that to themselves what with all this modern technology of running water and electricity we have. Bachmann then recorded the album in a hotel in Buxton, N.C. Is this the indie-rock Henry David Thoreau or what?

Living in a van (“down by the river!”) is either a genuine motive to reach some higher artistic power that I could never attain sitting in the comfort of my synthetic leather IKEA swivel chair or a story that looks great on a press release. I’ll guess the former.

It must have worked because To The Races is pretty gorgeous: the type of sparse, haunting acoustic storytelling that I love so much about Buckner. Their touring together seems like a natural fit.

The Buckner/Bachmann tour hits Tucson on Sept. 2 as part of the Club Congress anniversary party. (We’ll be at a wedding … which also happens to be the same day Centro-Matic plays Modified in Phoenix. This better be one hell of a wedding.)

Eric Bachmann | Lonesome Warrior
Eric Bachmann | Carrboro Woman

Related:
Muzzle of Bees, with its fresh new design, has a new Richard Buckner track.

Unrelated:
It’s my mom’s birthday today. She probably never reads this, much less logs on to the insanity that is the information superhighway, but I thought I’d tell her happy birthday anyway. She’s on an Alaskan cruise with a good family friend whose lymphoma is in remission, and I hope they’re both having a great time.

general

Yes kids, it’s SHITDISCO

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SHITDISCO bring their funky-disco-punk-whatever the fuck all the way from Glasgow, Scotland. They are known for throwing little shindigs around town in abandoned spaces through out Glasgow.

This may not be an earth shattering music experience, but I dare you not to shake that money maker a little (or at least swivel in your computer chair). Here’s a couple of songs from their sold out, self-produced single.

SHITDISCO | I Know Kung Fu

SHITDISCO | Disco Blood (Errors remix)

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

I Used to Love H.E.R.: an introduction

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I’ve been overwhelmed/excited this year by the number of superb hip-hop releases (Murs’ Murray’s Revenge and Cadence Weapon’s Breaking Kayfabe among my favorites), quite a turnaround from 2005, when the only LP that really stuck with me was The Craft by Blackalicious. (Though, maybe I wasn’t digging hard enough.)

What’s followed has been more posting about hip-hop than I expected from myself even though I’ve long loved the genre, counting A Tribe Called Quest, Run-DMC, De La Soul, Digable Planets, etc. as mainstays in my collection. I never intended this space to be devoted to one style of music over another, but, as it took shape, a majority of posts seemed dedicated to indie rock and all its variations. That’s probably more a case of my cyclical listening habits than anything. (Though I must have paid just enough attention to hip-hop to be linked by the heads at The Broke BBoys, Analog Giant and Los Amigos de Durutti, all of which have a distinct hip-hop flavor.)

The wide array of great hip-hop albums released this year re-energized my love for a genre that seems to polarize the indie-rock set. Response to many of my hip-hop posts has been lukewarm, which has both disappointed and surprised me. Either some folks really don’t like it or just don’t know where to start, a notion that got me thinking.

At first, I thought I’d keep a regular feature in which I discuss some of the essential hip-hop albums in my collection. Then I took it a step further: I’ll ask musicians the same question. Judging solely on comments and e-mails I get, I’m guessing a majority of people who swing by here are indie-rock fans. Ideally, I hope that my posts on hip-hop have served as an introduction to it rather than a means of exclusion.

There seems to be a bit of a disconnect between indie rock and hip-hop, and, short of delving into some cultural/economical dissertation, I can’t understand why. My little utopian fantasy is to shorten that gap. For example, would it surprise you that John Vanderslice is a huge hip-hop fan? Or that John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats is, too?

This excerpt from an interview with Vanderslice:

(Interviewer): You know, one of the things that I’ve been wanting to ask you for a couple of years now — whenever I pull up one of your songs on the computer, it’s always got the genre “hip-hop/rap” attached to it.

(JV): Yeah, because that’s all I care about. (We both laugh.) It’s funny I make a point of it, when I get my albums and send them to CDDB, I always want it to be under that. … I just think hip-hop is absolutely the most inspiring thing … for me personally.

I figure if you’re tired of having me shove the hip-hop down your throat, maybe you’ll be more inspired to check some out if an artist you listen to talks about it – what makes it appealing and inspiring. I think you’ll find that some of the most well-rounded artists (such as Vanderslice or Darnielle) have the most varied tastes.

Obviously, this disconnect works in reverse, too: I’m sure there are hip-hop artists/fans who don’t know much about indie rock. Perhaps that will be a sequel to this series.

Until then, I Used to Love H.E.R. will be a regular feature (once a month? maybe more?) around here. Musicians (of all types), bloggers, writers and other industry types will drop in and discuss, in their own words, essential hip-hop albums from their collections. If the well has run dry of contributions, I’ll offer up my own. Mostly, I just want to use the feature as a starting point where people can learn about great albums and then use it as a springboard to discover more.

On a final note, the name I Used to Love H.E.R. is cribbed from a Common song off the great 1994 album Resurrection (when he went by the name Common Sense). On the track, Common personifies (and practically eulogizes) hip-hop as a woman who loses direction amid money, “gangsta rollin” and a life of glamour (lyrics). Ice Cube interpreted the song as a dis on West Coast rap, prompting his response on the Westside Connection track Westside Slaughterhouse, to which Common retaliated with The Bitch in Yoo. Westside Connection came back yet again with Hoo Bangin’.

For the record, Ego Trip’s Book of Rap Lists, an indispensable rap resource, declared Common the winner.

Common | I Used to Love H.E.R.

hip-hop

Parental Discretion Iz Advised

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This has to be one of the most genius interpretations of edited audio I’ve ever come across. A friend sent me this link, which contains mp3s of N.WA.’s classic Straight Outta Compton edited down to just the explicit portions of each song. I might say this person had too much time on his or her hands if I didn’t enjoy it so much.

From a shock-value standpoint alone, Straight Outta Compton stands as a watershed album. It scared parents of suburban white kids everywhere. (I think my mom was more concerned with Public Enemy’s By the Time I Get to Arizona, fearful that Chuck D., Flavor Flav, Termniator X and the Security of the First World might actually raid our home state.)

But on top of that, N.W.A. pretty much set the course for so-called gangsta rap, and it seemed swearing on record was part and parcel of wearing that crown. But I was surprised to learn that five of the 13 songs on Straight Outta Compton are clean, including Express Yourself, whose title seems to contradict its curse-less verses.

No surprise on the explicit-content edits that Fuck Tha Police is 42 seconds, longest of any of the songs, with a 12.1 percent “ECR” (or explicit content ratio).

Click here for all the tracks. Just for fun, N.W.A.’s Express Yourself video:

general, hip-hop

G. Love w/Blackalicious “Banger”

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I have to be honest here: I haven’t listened to G. Love since that self-titled debut G. Love and Special Sauce. Come on, don’t act like Cold Beverage wasn’t the jam. Because it was. You’ll feel a lot better about life once you just admit that. We’re all friends here.

Well, G. Love just dropped a new album, Lemonade, on Aug. 1 (yeah, I didn’t know either) on Brushfire Records, which is somehow affiliated with Jack Johnson. But relax, cool indie hipster kids, and hear me out: This track, Banger, has the indisputable champs, Blackalicious, on it. The new album also has a guest spot from Ben Harper. Cheap sales ploy? Maybe, but, really, who hasn’t done it? Besides, anyone down with Blackalicious is cool by me. I’m not here to be the indie police.

Banger brings the funk – wah-wah-style keys and bluesy harmonica over a taut beat. It’s not really fair to compare G. Love’s raps to Gift of Gab because Gift of Gab can blow anyone away, much less a blues-lovin’ white kid from Philadelphia.

G. Love feat. Blackalicious | Banger

arizona

In Tempe tonight: Scottie-Stock III

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The local Phoenix/Tempe music community is pulling together tonight for a benefit show at the Marquee Theatre for Mark Covert, who owned Nita’s Hideaway, which used to be the best club for live music in the Valley.

Covert is in need of a liver transplant, and a Phoenix New Times story details his battle. As the story points out, his reputation is held in high regard as evidenced by tonight’s lineup: Jimmy Eat World, Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, Less Pain Forever vs. Peachcake, Dead Hot Workshop, Gloritone and the Minibosses, among others.

The number of amazing shows I saw at Nita’s Hideaway (especially at its old, original location) blows my mind when I stop to think about it: Built to Spill, Jimmy Eat World, Neko Case, No Knife, DJ Swamp, who absolutely wrecked the turntables and cracked a record, half of which I caught (and still have). That’s not to mention the weekly visits I paid to the Bombshelter DJs (Z-Trip, Radar and Emile).

I was introduced to bands (and lots of alcohol) at Nita’s. It was a cozy club, tucked in Tempe’s industrial area, next to an adult bookstore. There were shows inside and biggers ones outside: I can remember being a bit tipsy, requesting (loudly) over and over for Built to Spill to play The Plan much to the chagrin of my then-girlfriend (and now wife) Annie. I also remember thinking I’d go see Calexico there once without purchasing tickets in advance. Big mistake: I couldn’t find parking and got so frustrated I drove back home.

Anyone who’s played music in Phoenix/Tempe in the past 10 years probably owes some sort of debt of gratitude to Covert and Nita’s, which eventually moved to a new location before closing a few years back.

The full lineup is available here, and you can buy tickets (or make donations) here. Click here for the Donate Life Web site.

A few mp3s to encourage attendance:

Jimmy Eat World | Lucky Denver Mint (live)
Gloritone | Die to Make a Dent
Peachcake | Hundreds and Hundreds of Thousands