hip-hop, interview

Q&A with Doodlebug of Digable Planets

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OK, so I’ve had this one in the bag for a while, and I’ve been really excited to post it. After I posted on the Procussions (who opened for Digable Planets last year), I was contacted about an opportunity to interview Doodlebug (aka Cee Knowledge), one-third of the fantastic Digable Planets. Yeah, like I was going to say no to that.

The DPs, as many of you know, reunited last year after 10 years apart. I’m excited about the potential that Doodle, Butterfly and Ladybug can recapture. Even if it feels a bit nostalgic, there’s still a market eager for what the DPs offered in their heyday.

For me, any conversation of hip-hop includes Digable, who blended the cool-cat vibes of jazz with laid-back beats to create a chilled vibe. It’s almost surreal that they reformed, but hip-hop is better for it:

How’s the touring?
“It’s good. … We’ve been touring all of 2005 up until the end of January. Now we’re gonna take a break. I’m gonna start working on a solo project. … I have a new mixtape out called the Cosmic Funk Essentials. Around April we’ll start working to record a new Digable Planets album.”

(mp3) Cee Knowledge (with Giant) | Jazz Is

What kinda people are you seeing at shows?
“I’m seeing a lot of young cats, so they obviously couldn’t have been big fans when we were first out … they’d have been too young. After shows, I’m talking to people that say they’ve been down with us for so long and they went to shows. There’s also cats that are in college that heard about us and liked our music and never had a chance to see us perform and they were excited because they never thought they’d have a chance to see us perform. … I think it’s a mixture of old and new.”

What’s the response been like?
“Yeah, it’s real great. After such a long break, for them to have all those people come out and show support with no new record out … that was awesome, man.”

What sort of response where you expecting?
“I really didn’t know what to expect. You always hope for the best, but I didn’t know what to expect. It’s a blessing that after all this time, we’re still … in some people’s minds. They wanted to come out and pay their hard-earned money to see us.”

What can we expect on a new album?
“I really don’t know … it’s gonna be 10 years’ experience traveling the world, meeting new people. I think we all grew as artists, as producers, as people and producers. That growth should be shown on a new album.”

What led to you guys splitting apart?
“There’s a lot of different things. It would take too long to go into them all. I’m not trying to air no dirty laundry. It boiled down to us being young, rebellious and not really understanding the business. Our record label was starting to fall apart around the time we broke up. Our management company wasn’t together right. A lot of things that were going on, plus personal issues that kinda put us in a corner. … We got into this for fun. And when it stopped being fun, we decided to walk away. ”

Was there regret?
“Most definitely. I can only speak for myself … I didn’t think it was a good idea. But it was the best thing to do at the time. After a couple of years I definitely regretted it, and I stayed in touch with the other two. I did some solo stuff and Ladybug would come in and help me out on some things. Butterfly came in on a show I did in Philadelphia.

“But it took awhile for everybody to get over whatever the issues we had to get over. Finally we were mature enough to talk about those issues. I had an opportunity to do a tour in Europe last February and I thought it might be a good chance to get everyone back together again. And if it didn’t’ work out and if everyone wasn’t feeling it anymore, it would have just been a nostalgia thing, it woulda been over. Halfway through the tour everybody was coming up to me telling me how much they loved it and how they wanted to keep it movin’.”

Was it ever a thought before the tour that you should get back together?
“We had some legal issues that we had to handle that we all had to come together again for. … But that didn’t really need us to be in the same city again. A couple of months after that, I kept in Ladybug’s ear and Butterfly’s ear. Eventually, we got to a point where we sat down and decided after a couple of talks on the phone to sit down in September 2004. We had a meeting for a couple of hours, and at end of the meeting, we decided, let’s try it.

“We hired a booking agent. We were booked up for an entire year. It was amazing that people actually wanted to book us. It was exciting, it was a real exciting time, man.”

What was it like the first time back on stage?
“The first time was kinda nerve-racking a little bit. I wasn’t sure what to expect, I didn’t know what to do. It had been 10 years or more since we were on the stage together. But at the same time, we were all professionals. Individually, we maintained a stage presence doing our solo projects. I was nervous all the way up to the time we hit the stage, but once we hit the stage all the nervousness died away. We just flowed. The first show (in Vienna) was hot. It was real hot. It was real tight.”

What do you think has changed from time you split up to now?
“The music, the artists, the culture that surrounds the artists and the recording. That hasn’t really changed. But the way they market and way record labels are involved, their level of involvement is a lot different than 10 to 12 years ago. They’re willing to put up bigger budgets. Marketing campaigns are outrageous. People are getting a lot more money than back when we were doing it. … The focus in terms of market has changed. The mainstream market is really more focused on the pop, that gangsta rap. It’s different. We’re a little older. I think there’s a market for everything. Going out and doing these shows has really proved it to me. With no record out and not too much publicicty, these shows are packed, people were out there and they were interested. They knew the songs and they would sing along with us. These are songs out in ’94, ’95. So I’m like, ‘Damn!’ There’s definitely still a market for this.”

It shows people are starving for good hip-hop.
“There’s still good music. It’s just that the mainstream doesn’t always seem to focus on the good stuff. Underground has held down a lot of great artists. They just might not have right outlet or right situation that it takes to get there. It’s also a lot of luck.”

Are you nervous that you’ve lost a portion of your fan base?
“It’s probably gonna show in terms of record sales. That’s where there the pressure is more on us. It’s pressure because you have to find a label that’s willing to do it. But as long as you do your thing and be yourself … at the time we did our first album, nobody thought we would have commercial success. Everybody looked at us as group that would be college radio group. A&R signed us took a chance with us. All meetings were concentrated on college marketing. Then the single (Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat) ) came out and it somehow hit a nerve with the fan base. And it went way past their expectations. I don’t think they were even ready for what came with that song.

“As long as you stay true to yourself as an artist and a person and do your thing and do the best you can do, you never know. There’s no guarantee people are going to like you, as long as we do our best I’m happy with that. … I know there’s a fan base that’s going to follow us and grow with us.

“We’re gonna grow. We’re not gonna be the same. There’s gonna be a fan base that’s gonna want to hear to hear another Cool Like Dat. But that might not be something that’s going to come out of us. I don’t know what’s going to come out of us. But whatever it is, it’s going to be real, it’s going to be natural and it’s going to be fly.

You’ve got so many people caught up in nostalgia. There’s got to be a fine line, catering to fans that were with you back in the day but also moving forward.
“Yeah, that is true. The position we’ve been put in, it’s been so long, people didn’t even think we were gonna come back. And now they’ve solidified their ideas of what we’re supposed to sound like. ‘Cause all they had to listen to was the first two albums. They weren’t with us when we grew as individuals when we were apart for those 10 years. So the dynamic of all three of us together, it’s going to be different for all of us … us and our fan base.

“Hopefully it’ll work out. I’m confident that it will, just from energy of the live shows. That was the key to whether or not we were going to be able to do this. After 10 years, you have to regain that vibe and that trust as performers. And on stage, I think we reclaimed that.”

live

Baby Dayliner

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And now, the post you’ve all been waiting for … well, at least one of you.

Allow me to backtrack to the National show in LA last week. Annie and I are having a splendid time at the bar with Justin and his wife, Melissa (two of the nicest people you’ll meet). Then the house music dies and a tall man with a button-down shirt (white collar/cuffs) takes the stage. He’s by himself. Singing. There’s some electronic-type beats backing him. Nothing more, nothing less.

So we’re sorta stunned. Like, this isn’t for real, is it? It is. And, admittedly, we kind of have a laugh at it. Until … um, well … I start getting into it. For a guy who is like a cross between Harry Connick and Rick Astley (props to the wife for that reference), I’m thinking this is some ironic/hipster ploy. It isn’t.

And it isn’t funny anymore when all the cool kids start slowly migrating toward the stage, eager for a closer look whilst bobbing to the beats. I can’t decide: He’s retro, he’s ironic, he’s hip, he’s ballsy, he’s … good. Hell, he has a pompadour. And he’s sort of doing this mic-in-one-hand, mic-cord-in-the-other-hand dance that you might do if you were at home by yourself listening to Wham!. In a matter of about a 40-minute set, Baby Dayliner converts elitist hipsters to cooing fans.


Melissa was so enamored with Baby Dayliner, she just had to get her picture with him. So she steps to him at the bar, tells him he put on a great show, and he’s a real nice, laid-back cool kind of dude. He makes small talk – and makes some pretty sweet faces for photos:


Now I have to jump into the scene:


So does my wife. Baby Dayliner is winning over our wives. (Cut to scene: Me falling to knees, arms extended to sky): Daaaaaamn you, Baby Dayliner!!:


Peep Baby D (that’s what I call him) on MySpace. His new album, Critics Pass Away, is due out in May on Brassland.

Baby Dayliner | Raid!
(From his LP High Heart & Low Estate)

Also …

  • Dodge is rockin’ a new Black Keys track here.
  • Eric, probably my favorite-ist writer out on these here blogs, kills it yet again with another well-written piece on the exaggerated notion of “payola” and what it means to mp3 bloggers.
  • Peter saw Blackalicious Tuesday night, and I’m jealous.

How about some upcoming shows in the A to the Z?:

live

Pictures/recap of the Cloud Room in Phoenix

2 Comments

Holy hell. I didn’t realize how dependent I was on technology until my Cox digital package of telephone/cable/Internet bugged out for two days. It’s fixed, thank heavens. But I may need help: Hi, I’m Kevin. And I’m addicted to the Internet. (OK, now, everyone, all at once … “Hiiiii, Kevin.”)

Anyway, I have lots to catch up on this week, including Monday’s show at the Rhythm Room with the Cloud Room and Phoenix’s own Asleep in the Sea.

I’ll start with Asleep in the Sea, a trio that’s becoming one of my favorite local acts, as much for the guys’ approach as for their music. That was never clearer than on Monday, when there couldn’t have been more than 30 people in the place (hey, it is Phoenix) when they took the stage at about 9 p.m.

Instead of sulking, Tom (guitars, vocals), Owen (keys, bass) and Eli (drums) embraced and made light of the situation. When life hands you lemons … errr, something like that. Anyway, the best way I can describe Asleep in one word is this: irreverent. They have a special talent for not taking themselves too seriously, and that should hold any cynicism of a fledgling band at bay (for now).

Asleep in the Sea | Dance On

Also, Asleep put out a MySpace bulletin about an upcoming tour. They’re asking for any help in setting up shows. Go be their friend and help ’em out!


As for the Cloud Room, I came away really impressed. But then I’ve been enjoying the band’s self-titled debut, so I sort of went in with high hopes anyway.

The band, especially frontman J., captured the emotion and energy of a band that is – and should be – going places. For all the buzz Hey Now Now has created (it was the penultimate song on the setlist, if you were curious), I’ve found myself absorbed with the rest of the album: particularly Blackout!, Waterfall and We Sleep in the Ocean.


At the risk of sounding like a band sycophant, I did chat with J. after the show when I bought a 7″ for Waterfall. After all, he was wearing a National shirt; how could I resist? Anyway, besides being a really nice guy, he seemed to have his focus trained on the group’s second album, for which they have four songs recorded already. The band had a one-album deal with Gigantic, so they’ll either shop new stuff to labels or put it out themselves.

From what I could gather in my quick chat with J., he seems eager to calm the hubbub surrounding Hey Now Now – which, if the previously linked Pitchfork article is to be believed, was the inspiration to a hastily thrown-together album – and let people form opinions on the Cloud Room from what should be a more carefully crafted LP. J. seems acutely aware of the fact that not a band (or a career) does one single make, catchy as it may be. But that’s just my guess.

The Cloud Room | Blackout!

Whatever the case, on to a few pictures:



covers

Peach, Plum, Pear

6 Comments
Kevin’s internet service is currently down. Although I secretly think this is a ploy to get me to post, I’m stepping up again. Oh my.

Just going to do a quick spotlight on a jam in heavy rotation in my car/ipod/work right now and the dilemma I face on which version I prefer. Current alt-folk (or whatever) nymph, Joanna Newsom delivers a delicate rawness with it. Then Owen Pallett, under his Final Fantasy moniker, strings it up all hauntingly. Here are both versions of Peach, Plum, Pear. Let me know your thoughts.

Joanna Newsom | Peach, Plum, Pear

Final Fantasy | Peach, Plum, Pear

live

The National in LA: I won’t fuck us over

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Before any talk of the National, I gotta say what a fun time we had hanging out with Justin and his wife Melissa and, of course, Jax. All are fantastic people and I’m happy to consider them friends … like, ones I’ve met in person and stuff.

Also, thanks to Chris for chipping in with the Camp Lo update. And to Royce, who will catch the blogging bug in due time. I expect to see more of him up on this here site, so be prepared.

As for the National … my high expectations were absolutely exceeded. A packed venue (sold out) always makes the anticipation a little more heightened. I’d listened to Alligator so many times, yet what’s great about a show like this is how it makes you revisit the album to listen for something you missed the first time (or hundred times) around.


That was the case, for me at least, with Mr. November (mp3). The song quietly hangs around as the last track on Alligator, so I’d been giving it the short shrift. Jax predicted, correctly, the National would play it as the second to last song (before the encore). As our friend Ben said, “It’s the jam.”

It’s like something clicked when I saw/heard it played live. That probably had something to do with lead singer Matt Berninger, who is compelling on stage, if not perhaps a tad dramatic. Either way, his body language is at times spastic and theatrical. At this show, he had a habit of tucking his left hand under is right armpit while his right arm was cocked at a 90-degree angle, mic in hand.


It might have seemed over the top or insincere if he didn’t sing with such charisma. How can you deny these lines in Mr. November?:

“I wish that I believed in fate/
I wish I didn’t sleep so late/
I used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders”

Mr. November has the same feel of tension and release as Abel with Berninger’s guttural yells peaking in the chorus, before leveling off just as you’ve reached this internal boiling point yourself. (Never mind that when I first heard the song I thought Berninger was saying, “The warm front is over / I’m Mr. November.” What?!?! I’m an idiot.)


Thing is, though, I’ve attached such emotional ties to the songs of Alligator that it was almost impossible for the National to disappoint me. Is it possible for Alligator to be my album of the year for 2006, too?

(FYI, emusic has added the National’s back catalog.)

Alas, I also need to mention opener Talkdemonic, a two-piece folksy-electronic instrumental duo from Portland, Ore. I’ve said before that instrumental-only music has to work very hard to keep my attention. But Talkdemonic isn’t instrumental for the sake of being instrumental. There are very unique (viola-meets-Apple laptop-meets-drums) compositions at play. It’s easy to imagine these pieces as backdrops to movies, their sound brimming with emotion.

Kevin O’Connor, one-half of Talkdemonic.
Tomorrow’s post will be devoted to the first opener … but I won’t spoil it for you just yet.

hip-hop, live

Ghostface Killa

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As Chris mentioned Kevin is rockin’ in the City of Angels, so Mr. ‘I swear I’ll post’ is going to step up for a couple of days.

Last night went and checked out the monstrous Ghostface Killah at a local joint, small and intimate enough for Shoalin’s finest to melt my face off.

This will not be an in depth Kevinesque concert review (no playlist), but after settling down and yelling at the ‘Lightman,’ Ghostface launched into a verbal onslaught of tracks from his old records, new release and Wu-Tang classics.

He asked, and surprisingly got from the raucous crowd, ten seconds of silence for O.D.B aka Big Baby Jesus aka etc etc. Then launched into O.D.B’s hit ‘Shimmy Shimm,’ where the crowd screeched out the lyrics.

Overall, a great show, at least until he invited all the ladies on stage for a dance party, reminding of MTV’s great wonder of avant garde The Grind.

Here’s a smattering of solid Ghostface:

Ghostface Killah | The Champ | From the new Fishscale

Ghostface & MF Doom | Iron Maiden | From Operation Ironman

Prefuse 73 Feat. Ghostface And EL-P | Hide Ya Face | From Surrounded By Silence

hip-hop

Bed Rock

3 Comments

Kevin is in L.A. right now (bastard), and since he took care of gorilla vs. bear while I was at SXSW, I thought I’d return the favor and come post at his crib. Even though he didn’t ask me to.

One of my favorite hip hop records of the late ’90’s was Camp Lo’s Uptown Saturday Night. Sonny Cheeba and Geechie Suede took us back to the ’70’s Blaxploitation era, both lyrically and stylistically, and as far as 21 year-old me was concerned, it was the perfect party record.

Camp Lo sort of disappeared after that, but here’s a new track from the duo. While not on par with the material on Uptown…, “Bed Rock” is a straight up sex jam, peppered with Camp Lo’s trademark slang.

It was nice knowing you guys…Kevin probably won’t invite me back after this one:

Camp Lo Bed Rock mp3

covers, general, vinyl

Los Angeles, I’m Yours

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By the time you’re reading this, I’ll be in a car somewhere on the Interstate 10, nothing but desolate desert … and the Flying J truck stop in Ehrenberg, Ariz., for some Wendy’s, on the way to Los Angeles. For a six-hour car drive, I don’t get to Calif. as much as I should. So I’m looking forward to my three days there.

The highlight of the trip is Wednesday’s show with The National and Talkdemonic. Cannot wait. After reading Ryan’s recap of the Chicago show and Frank’s review of the Toronto show, I’m even more excited for this sold-out event.

We’ll also be seeing my sister-in-law June, who is very much pregnant. Due to pop next month. So here’s a Talkdemonic song off the new one, Beat Romantic, for her – and our soon-to-be nephew.

Talkdemonic | Junesong

My boy Royce has promised he’ll be posting while I’m gone … so there will be no interruptions of your regularly scheduled programming.

Also …

I absolutely forgot to recap my haul from Saturday’s record swap meet in Phoenix. I was having little luck finding much: I picked up Inxs Kick on 12″ and a live Marvin Gaye album.

I decided to hit one last table. The lady was super nice and said all LPs were $4 or three for $10. She told me the 45s (two boxes worth) were 50 cents apiece. So I snag the Rolling Stones’ Out of Our Heads and the Cream Disraeli Gears on 12″. Need that third one, right? So I go back and find the Who, Live at Leeds. Not only is the record in decent shape, the cover opens up like a folder and contains paperwork with typed lyric sheets and other odd, record label stationery and such. The woman couldn’t believe I found it and says it books for $50-$70. I immediately feel awful, telling her she should take it back. But she insists that I found it so I should have it in the three for $10 deal under the condition I don’t resell it. Done.

As for the 45s, I snagged a bunch of Michael Jacksons for the jukebox at home. The gems were a Capitol 45 (orange vinyl!) of Blind Melon’s No Rain and an REM 45 for The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite with a ridculously cool cover on the b-side of The Lion Sleeps Tonight.


Here it is, converted from vinyl.

REM | The Lion Sleeps Tonight

radio rips

More ‘n more Tapes ‘n Tapes

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So about a little more than a week after the boys in Tapes ‘n Tapes played for KEXP from SXSW, they found their way to the Seattle radio station for another in-studio. Because I’m not as fortunate as some people, who have seen Tapes about 37 times in the past couple of weeks, this will have to do for now.

Meanwhile, the trip to LA is but a day away. Mmmmmm, we’re gonna see the National on Wednesday with the Drunkard and his wife (but dinner and drinks first). We’re gonna hit Thai Town and eat ridiculous amounts of Thai food and probably haul some back to Arizona. (My wife and her family are Thai and they bring a cooler on these trips to LA. I’m serious.) We’re gonna see Jax. And I’m going to spend many hours in Amoeba Records.

Anyway, on to the Tapes.

Tapes ‘n Tapes, on KEXP, 3/25/06:

1. Cowbell
(Might be a little bass-y; not sure if that’s my recording or the studio engineer.)
2. Omaha
3. Insistor
4. Jakov’s Suite
(With a little clarification about how to pronounce the title.)

Elsewhere …

On a totally non-music-related topic, a parking lot next to the building where I work in downtown Phoenix is being torn up, for it will be the future site of some monstrous hotel. This lot sits between our building and our parking garage, which offers about a block of walking in between.

The walk from the garage to the building was lined with these towering palm trees that I suppose (living in Arizona) I took for granted. That is, until I saw what the construction company did to them in the leveling process. There was no uprooting and transferring of the trees. Nope. They just sawed them off, leaving a row of helpless palm tree stumps. The portions that were cut have been chopped into smaller pieces to, I assume, toss or mulch or something. I’m no Sierra Club activist or anything, but the visuals made me kinda sad.

It makes me appreciate Wolf Parade’s Modern World (mp3) even more:

“Modern world don’t ask why/
Cause modern world will build things high/
Now they house canyons filled with life.”

A few pics of the Palm Tree Massacre below:



general

Pitchfork Music Festival: some research

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I’ve been thinking about the Pitchfork Music Festival, for which my wife and I are securing travel plans. (Hooray, Chicago!)

So far, the lineup is really solid, with Spoon, the National, the Mountain Goats, Band of Horses, Aesop Rock and Tapes ‘n Tapes among the highlights (at least for me) so far. But it got me thinking: How did Pitchfork select its lineup (which still is not officially filled out)? More specifically: What bands would agree to play at a festival organized by a music publication notorious for its acerbic, snobby and sometimes ridiculously vicious (did I get them all?) album reviews?

In an attempt to answer my own question, I delved into some admittedly surface research. I went to Pitchfork’s site and used its search engine set to “Reviews” and plugged in each band and recorded the rating given to each album. I didn’t bother looking at the authors of said reviews, although that certainly could be a tell of certain consistencies across an artist’s catalog. So, keep in mind here the, ahem, science is a bit crude.

The results are somewhat revealing, if not totally expected: Of 60 albums reviewed from 13 artists (not including Hot Machines, for which there were no reviews) booked so far for the festival, the average rating is 7.64 (458.6 total divided by 60 reviews).

The highest-rated artist with more than one album (Band of Horses drew an 8.8, and well-deserved, I might add) is Silver Jews at 8.76. The lowest-rated artist is Ted Leo and the Pharmacists at 6.92; a 4.0 on Tej Leo (?), Rx/Pharmacists was a killer.

The highest-rated invdividual album (full-length) was the Silver Jews’ American Water, which scored a 9.9 (ooooh-so close to that iconic 10.0). The lowest-rated full-length was the aforementioned Tej Leo. (Although, Mission of Burma’s Accomplished best-of collection got a shabby 1.9, which was more a product of the reviewer’s distaste for Ryko’s packaging and not so much the group itself.)

So, what does this all say, other than that I struggle to use my time wisely? Well, you could argue (as I would) that a conflict of interest exists. A publication that (supposedly) objectively critiques the work of musicians has no business putting on a festival with those same musicians. It implies (perhaps on a subconscious level) a quid pro quo is in place.

Because I work in the media as a sports copy editor at a major newspaper, I think of the old sportswriting adage: “No cheering in the press box.” In other words, writers must, above all else, remain objective in their coverage of a team. Same goes for music.

However, the obvious needs to be stated here: If the Pitchfork honchos are going to organize a festival, they’re not going to invite musicians or bands they don’t like. But think about it. Do bands who have been reviewed favorably feel an obligation to return the goodwill and agree to play the festival? On the flip side, will Pitchfork be swayed in future reviews to look kindly upon artists who performed – not to mention helped raise money and awareness for the site in the process?

I think it’s an interesting topic to explore and should be examined as more bands are announced. I may be oversimplifying the whole thing. But I’m confident in one thing: Travis Morrison will not be invited.

(Here is my crude Excel spreadsheet.)