controversy, general

The Killers “When You Were Young” (stream)

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Whoa. Two posts in a row from Royce. Felt like I was on vacation for two days. And he’s got another lined up that is gonna be sweet. Hint: It involves the band Phoenix + remix. Look out!

By now, you might have heard a snippet or stream of The Killers’ new track When You Were Young. I created an mp3 from the stream, but because I enjoy my freedom and am really not interested in taking part in some Oz-like life courtesy of the RIAA, I’ll keep it to the stream here.

I’m hardly convinced this is a precursor to “one of the best albums in the past 20 years” (via Stereogum). In fact, the hook sounds more like a rip-off than anything – of another fairly mediocre song, no less. Listen to the guitar (or is that a synth?) line of When You Were Young, then listen to the snippet of the intro to Coldplay’s Talk. Eerily similar, I’d say.

[stream] The Killers | When You Were Young
Real Player or Windows Media

Coldplay | Talk (snippet)

hip-hop

Samurai Champloo

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No need to sound the NERD ALERT, but this post is about Anime. Samurai Champloo is a badass serial from Shinichiro Watanable of Cowboy Bebop fame. What’s Cowboy Bebop? Do yourself a favor and find out.

Roughly Champloo, coming from the Okinawan word chamuru, translates to mix. So the title basically translates as Samurai Remix. Fitting since intermixed with all the slicing and dicing katana style is some pretty dope hip hop beats. Some heavy hitters lend a snake and/or crane to the effort.

Kevin recently posted some big tracks from Five Deez. Fat Jon is on the production team and brings some nice down tempo funk to Champloo.

Fat Jon | 624 Part 1

Nujabes, aka Jun Seba, is a Japanese hip hop producer who adds his jazzy beats to the mix. Check out the the show’s opening track.

Nujabes feat. Shing02 | Battle Cry

Force of Nature also brings it a little more gritty. The Japanese production duo consists of DJ Kent and KZA.

Force of Nature | Death Wish

Hip hop: Katana dueling :: Cookies: Milk

SAT’s and shit!

hip-hop

Create & Devastate

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The Swedes are bringing it. As we all know, the Nordic people are putting on a mini invasion. Here’s a little sample of their hip hop front.

Create and Devastate hail from Helsingborg, Sweden. Self proclaimed crate diggers, Create & Devastate made the progression from turntablists to music production.

As the story goes, they sent the infamous Masta Ace, of 1988’s big posse cut The Symphony, an email of their beats and he agreed to stop by during a Euro tour and lay down some vocals. Thus the single was born.

The B-Side features vocals from Maylay Sparks and drops a big band beat. The 12” is released through Threshold Recordings.

Create & Devastate are also a part of the Elite Fleet along with fellow Swedes DJ Connect and Big Ape. If these tracks are any indication, look for big things coming from this crew.

Create & Devastate feat. Masta Ace, Stricklin | The Hitman
Create & Devastate feat. Maylay Sparks, Kenneth Masters | Just Get Down

hip-hop

Five Deez “Kommunicator”

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At some point – I’m not sure when or how – hip-hop started blurring the line between the genre’s traditional beat patterns and the more experimental, time-signature-skewing ways of electronic music.

But I’m not complaining. As someone with lukewarm interest in electronic music, I’ll take any way to make it easier to digest. It’s like hiding a pill in ice cream for a child.

In this case, I’ve been enthralled by Five Deez and their release Kommunicator. The foursome from Cincinnati — Fat Jon, Pase Rock, Sonic and Kyle David – has put together an album that is sonically delicious. The style of Five Deez (from my reading, it’s an abbreviation for the “Fifth Dimension”) is part-hip-hop and part-house music, and they strike a nice balance that wouldn’t scare off fans of either.

Everything about Kommunicator sounds like a sci-fi experiment in sound and space, a peek into the future of hip-hop.



Five Deez | Fugg That
Five Deez | From Sorrow

general

Walter Schreifels: “Depressed Friends”

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Wading through the local concert calendar, I spotted an August 23 date in Tempe for seminal punk/hardcore group Gorilla Biscuits, who are reuniting for a monthlong tour of the United States. (Brooklyn Vegan has the dates.)

That got me thinking about Walter Schreifels, guitarist in Gorilla Biscuits and frontman of many projects, including the fabulous Quicksand, Rival Schools and, most recently, Walking Concert. So I hit up the MySpace page for Walter (yeah, we’re on a first-name basis). It appears he’s working on some acoustic-type solo material for something called the Arthur Lee EP. All I know about it is what I gleaned from his MySpace page, which is next to nothing.

Depressed Friends is a touching if not, well, depressing track – Schreifels coming to grips with how to console his down-and-out buddies. It’s a far cry from Biscuits/Quicksand/etc., but just as welcome.

Walter Schreifels | Depressed Friends

hip-hop, samples

Lupe Fiasco/Jonah Matranga: “Never Lies”

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OK, I’m liking Lupe Fiasco more and more with each day. I do some digging around and find that Jonah Matranga (ex-Far frontman, among other groups) and Fiasco teamed up for a track called The Instrumental, which is part of the Madden ’07 video game and, more than likely, Lupe’s Food & Liquor LP.

If I’m not mistaken from my research, The Instrumental is the same as Never Lies, which was the song’s original name. Matranga sings the hook; it sounds like a sample from an old Far song, Nestle, off the great Water & Solutions.

Part of the name change, I think, stemmed from an Internet leak of Food & Liquor. Read more here. The story says he will “probably keep at least 30 to 40 percent of what leaked” on Food & Liquor (due for an August release on Atlantic). That said, you won’t catch me hosting the song. But, ahem, you can find it yourself. (Just FYI, it’s not Mike Shinoda singing. I believe he produced the track, though.)

In more news of rappers sampling alternative rock, Stereogum tells us about another Chicago emcee, Rhymefest, who samples the Strokes on his forthcoming album Blue Collar.

Related:
Lupe Fiasco “Kick Push” video.

general

Grizzly Bear: “Yellow House”

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If I’ve discovered anything about myself in listening to so much music the past year, it’s that I can be impatient. I like hooks, I like beats. Get me in and get me out in four minutes. (OK, I’ll give you five or six minutes if your first name is Sufjan.)

So when I popped in Grizzly Bear’s Yellow House – probably in the car or something – it didn’t last but two songs. This has little to do with Grizzly Bear and more to do with my sometimes antsy nature. From the get-go, I could tell listening to Yellow House would not be a mindless activity. This requires physical and mental concentration. Restraint and patience.

Although I’m not entirely familiar with the “freak folk” scene, the band was mentioned in passing in the New York Times article about it, although the guys dispute the story’s description of them. I prefer the label from Gothamist, which described Grizzly Bear’s music as “bewilderock.”

More than any album I’ve come across this year, Yellow House tests my iPod trigger finger. When I feel the urge to flip songs, then I’m oddly compelled to keep listening. There is no traditional verse-chorus-verse safety net to fall into.

Again, this probably says more about my tendencies as a listener than Grizzly Bear as a band, because they’re good. Really, I need more albums like this. Or I need to actually listen to more albums like this. Each song takes awhile to wrap my head around. Plans, for example, offers everything I love in a song: horns, great drums, rhythm. But its scattered approach tends to confuse on first listen and then fall into line with each successive play, much like the album as a whole.

Yellow House comes out on Warp Records on Sept. 5. Sept. 4 The group is offering a free download of the single On a Neck, On a Spit at its Web site.

Grizzly Bear | Plans

general

Birdmonster/Division Day in Phoenix, Aug. 19

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Finally. Birdmonster and Division Day are making their way to our fine state, playing Modified on August 19. Only $6.

These two bands have been touring like mad with no Phoenix stops. Birdmonster has played Tucson a couple of times. So I’m pretty jazzed about this show. Six dollars? Six American dollars? Hel-lo! That’s a bargain. You can’t get out of Subway these days for less than $6.

Birdmonster | Balcony
Division Day | Hurricane

Related:
Birdmonster on WOXY.
Division Day video for Hurricane.

Are you wondering what other shows are coming to Arizona? I thought so:

general

Darker My Love

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With the release of debuts by Silversun Pickups (July 25) and Darker My Love (August 22), Dangerbird Records could have a very fruitful summer.

The similarities between the two bands are pretty evident; they both have updated takes on the shoegaze/psych-rock sound. To me, Darker My Love recalls a little Kyuss with driving melodies of British Invasion era (especially on Summer Is Here). The bio cites My Bloody Valentine, The Velvet Underground and The Dandy Warhols, so I may be way off. I only know what I hear.

Either way, I think a tour with Silversun and Darker sounds like a fine idea. That said, Darker My Love is playing in Phoenix at (sigh) Dodge Theatre on August 8 as openers for AFI. Nothing against AFI … Dodge is just a fairly sterile/impersonal venue.

Darker My Love | What’s a Man’s Paris
Darker My Love | Summer Is Here

video

July 4th doings and what not

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So, did everyone have their fill of burgers, hot dogs and Twilight Zone marathon? Oh, man. I love the Twilight Zone. Favorite episode? Probably this one.

But that’s beside the point. We had some grillin’ and booze and even Mr. Marathonpacks was in the hizzouse. He’s out here, helping his super-cool girlfriend settle in for her move. Two days of 100-plus-degree weather probably made them both wonder what they were thinking. But we had plenty of this and this. Despite what you’ve heard on the Information Superhighway, Eric is about the nicest guy you’ll meet. He also plays a mean frisbee.

Anyway, we had some friends over and, somehow, the conversation turned to one of my favorite comedians, Louis C.K. I have yet to watch his HBO show Lucky Louie, but I’m setting the Tivo today. I did find this interview with Jon Stewart on the Daily Show somewhat, um, hilarious. … Sorry, music to come later today: