arizona, general

Calexico: Live in Nuremberg (free download)

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There is little doubt that SB 1070 – that heinous anti-immigration black eye on our state – has sullied Arizona’s reputation. When I traveled to Illinois for a wedding last month, that’s all anybody seemed interested in asking about when I revealed I was from here. Though I find nothing redeemable about this bill, I’m sick at how many people who know so little about or never have been to Arizona suddenly have so much to say about it. Hey, look, I’m not defending our conservative politicians (I didn’t vote for them), I’m just not willing to accept people disrespecting the place I’ve called home for almost 25 years. I guess it’s my civic pride.

So thank God for a band like Calexico, an Arizona institution. The Tucson-based group has jumped in the SB 1070 fray, but they’re not asking/expecting musicians to not voice opposition to it (who would?). They’re taking a different tack: Come to Arizona and actually do something. Don’t boycott from afar. That’s too easy.

“We’re asking artists to take a stand, make their voices heard and inspire fans to get involved,” frontman Joey Burns says. “Now is the time when art can make a difference. Now is the time for action.”

As an Arizonan, I’m quite grateful for Calexico, a band sticking its neck out to engage in thoughtful dialogue at a time when it’s not very popular to be from here.

And, really, all I wanted to tell you is that the band, in conjunction with CASH Music, is offering a free download (320 KBPS) of a 2009 show in Nuremberg, Germany. The download is a way for the band to celebrate the start of a new tour, but I’m listening (and appreciating) Calexico for reasons that hit closer to home.

Calexico, Live in Nuremberg (download via CASH music):
1. Roka
2. Bend To The Road
3. Inspiration
4. Crystal Frontier
5. Two Silver Trees
6. Red Blooms
7. Victor Jara’s Hands
8. Man Made Lake
9. Fractured Air
10. All Systems Red

general

Stream new Miniature Tigers: Japanese Woman

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minitigers

I’m dedicating this post to our good friends Jay and Carrie, who not only are fans of New York-by-way-of-Phoenix band Miniature Tigers but are soon taking what is sure to be an epic trip to Japan.

How is this relevant, you ask. Well, AbsolutePunk.net is streaming a new Miniature Tigers song called Japanese Woman, a track that will be on the band’s sophomore album Fortress, due out on July 27. It’s sort of a misnomer to call this a new song; the group has been playing it live for at least the past year or so, including a session for AOL’s The Interface last June.

But this is the polished product, on which frontman Charlie Brand sings: “Oh, man, my brother went to Japan / He got caught up in the culture and says he’s never coming home.” I’m sure Jay and Carrie aren’t even considering abandoning us like that.

[STREAM]: Miniature Tigers | Japanese Woman

By the way, you can stream another new Mini T’s song, Mansion of Misery, over at EW.com.

general, hip-hop

Throwing Away Broken Electronics

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If you’ll indulge me in a song I’ve posted about before – twice. But my wife and I spent most of Wednesday cleaning out what we call the “computer room,” our catch-all space where we keep everything from the primary computer to an elliptical machine to a bookshelf with my (unopened!) Michael Jordan Starting Lineup figure (this one).

It’s a room that was a comfortable mess – until it became an uncomfortable mess. It was the type of room in which you only remembered where something was in relation to the clutter around it: “Oh, that unused checkbook is in the same drawer as the three-hole punch!” (Why do we own a three-hole punch anyway?). There was just stuff everywhere – CDs, wires, papers, 45s. I’m not talking Hoarders-style mess, but it became overwhelming enough that we were inspired to purge. And it became readily apparent as we were cleaning that this room was an electronics graveyard, a dusty museum of dated technology. Long-dead hard drives and orphaned AC adapters finally met their maker. RIP.

Still, like anything, there’s a certain trepidation to letting go. Oh, sure, we hung on to our fair share of cables (“I’ll need this some day”, you tell yourself), but we finally took a stand, and god damn it we’re going to recycle those cell phones from 1998! Why, though, did I feel a certain loyalty to these inanimate objects? For the past month, I’d been cursing that good-for-nothing, motherfucking scroller ball in our Mac Mighty Mouse that absolutely refused to respond when I wanted to scroll down. (Strangely, it didn’t respond either when I slammed it on the desk two or three – or 10 – times.) But when it came time to, uh, pull the plug, something felt odd. You invest money and faith in this technology only to throw it away like an ATM receipt? I expected more, I guess.

All the while, I could only think of the Meanest Man Contest song, Throwing Away Broken Electronics, a fitting soundtrack for the day. And I remembered what emcee Eriksolo told me when I asked him about the inspiration for the track:

“I was cleaning out my house one day and I came across all this old gear that I used to make music on but was no longer really working right. It made me really nostalgic and sorta melancholy. But then it also felt really good to get rid of it.”

As I sit here, typing from the cleanest I’ve ever seen this desk, no truer words have ever been spoken.

hip-hop, video

Open Mike Eagle: I Rock (video) + Sunday show

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It hardly seems fair, all this talent sprouting from Los Angeles’ fertile underground hip-hop scene. From Project Blowed to Low End Theory and spots in between, LA fosters original and progressive movements that are the envy of other cities.

One of the rising stars of the scene is Open Mike Eagle, a former third- and fourth-grade special-ed teacher and Project Blowed alum who in May released his debut full-length, Unapologetic Art Rap on Mush Records. In placing it fourth on his list of Best Rap Albums of the Half Year, embedded LA scribe Jeff Weiss describes UAR as “the rare contemporary rap record that rewards (and demands) repeat listening.” He’s right, of course. Open Mike Eagle raps with contextual depth and mature self-reflection. In other words, he makes you think … and stuff.

Check out I Rock above, a song that lays out the cruel realities of trying to make a living as a teacher by day and rapper by night. Neither seems a very financially solvent path, even when combined. So do yourself – and Open Mike Eagle – a favor and plop down $8 on Sunday at the Hidden House (607 W. Osborn in Phoenix) to see him open for Canadian emcee Moka Only on the Fake Four Summer Tour, brought to you buy Universatile Music.

For more on Mike Eagle, read Weiss’ Q&A with him at LA Weekly.

general

New Pharoahe Monch: Shine (feat. Mela Machinko)

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shine

Pharoahe Monch – formerly of Organized Konfusion and owner of what, in my opinion, is one of the most scintillating verses when he opens the 1994 track Stray Bullet – is preparing to drop his third solo album, W.A.R. (We Are Renegades), which will be available on iTunes on July 27.

The first single, Shine – featuring Mela Machinko with production by Diamond D. – shows Pharoahe still on top of his game, a complex and thoughtful lyricist whose rhyme schemes continue to boggle my mind.

As an aside, if you’ve never heard Organized Konfusion’s Stress: The Extinction Agenda (off which the aforementioned Stray Bullet lives), you’re robbing yourself of a true classic.

Pharoahe Monch “Shine” feat. Mela Machinko (produced by Diamond D) by duckdown

hip-hop

New Cut Chemist: Adidas to Addis

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soundofthepolice

If you blinked, you might have missed Cut Chemist’s three-second cameo in the 2009 movie Up in the Air, which I finally saw a few days ago. But Cut is about to ramp up his visibility this year, starting with the July 27 release of a new mix, Sound of the Police.

Originally intended to be a one-time performance for the Mochilla Timeless series, Sound of the Police was created using just one turntable, a mixer, a loop pedal and original vinyl pressings.

“The music chosen for this mix goes quite a bit deeper into the crate than his other contributions. Driven by his passion for Ethiopian, Colombian, Sudanese and Afro-Brazilian sounds, this mix also features a few classic tunes you might recognize. Sound Of The Police puts it all in context to help the listener remember that hip-hop culture is indeed rooted in Africa.”

The first track, Adidas to Addis, is available to listen/download now via Cut Chemist’s Bandcamp page.

<a href="http://cutchemist.bandcamp.com/track/adidas-to-addis">Adidas to Addis by Cut Chemist</a>

general

For the last time: Radar Bros., Letdownright and Soft Drink at Yucca Tap Room

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When Charlie at Stateside Presents let me jump on tonight’s Radar Brothers show as a way to promote this blog’s five-year anniversary, I had big plans: Q&As and maybe some acoustic sessions with the local openers – Letdownright and Soft Drink.

But as it often happens, life gets in the way, and a job that requires I keep late-night hours and a bit of an irregular sleeping schedule has made it harder to keep up with regular posts. So it’s weirdly fitting that I’m cramming one last post in about the five-year anniversary show a mere five hours before it begins.

I suppose, then, there’s something to be said that the blog has lasted this long. Arbitrary a milestone as it may be, I’m proud to have endured through countless promo e-mails, broken-down hard drives and long hours in front of a computer. And whenever I think it’s time to pull the plug, someone tells me they love a song I posted or discovered a band through the site – and, well, that was the whole point of creating this site in the first place.

I’ll spare you some drawn-out, state-of-the-blog missive – there is a show in a few hours, after all – but I will say thanks to the people who continue to read the site and the other bloggers that supported it from the get-go and continue to link to it. Big thanks to Soft Drink and Letdownright for playing tonight (sample their wares below) and to Jason Woodbury for DJing the show and contributing multiple times to this blog.

Most important of all, thanks to my wife, Annie, who has been ever supportive and encouraging of this endeavor, even when it steals some of our quality time.

general

Radar Brothers on Daytrotter

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radar brothers-daytrotter

In a strange case of impeccable timing, the fine folks at Daytrotter on Monday posted a Radar Brothers session that was recorded in March at South By Southwest.

That works out nicely, considering Jim Putnam and Co. will be playing Yucca Tap Room on Wednesday, a night we’ll be celebrating this blog’s five-year anniversary. That’s a free show that also includes local favorites Letdownright and Soft Drink.

For the Daytrotter session, Radar Brothers performed three songs, all from their newest album, The Illustrated Garden: Chickens, Dear Headlights and Horses Warriors. Head to the Daytrotter site to check it out. And then come to Wednesday’s show, officially put on by Stateside Presents.

And thanks to my Albert Ching and Martin Cizmar at New Times for running this item on the show.

arizona

Friday night: Shawn Anderson – Unplugged

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besnard_electric

If there’s a show in town, chances are good that our friend Shawn at Electric Mustache has posted about it, taken photos of it and possibly even shot some video. He’s a tireless supporter of the music scene in Phoenix, making sure some other bloggers – ahem – stay on their toes. You’ve probably been pushed out of the way by a bearded dude with a big camera at venues around town – that would be Shawn, who teams up with Mike Escoto on Electric Mustache.

Shawn’s efforts haven’t gone unnoticed here, so I’m not at all surprised to see that he’ll have his concert photography on display at SuTRA Midtown Yoga on Friday night for an event that includes acoustic sets from Matt Harris, Bears of Manitou and Sorry Charlie.

Festivities run from 7-10 p.m., and SuTRA is on 2317 N. 7th St. in Phoenix.

Shawn has branded his photographic endeavors under the name Electric Shots, and you can check out all sorts of pictures right here. Probably a safe bet to assume he’ll have a camera in hand at his own event.

hip-hop

Prince Paul presents Horror City 1995

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horrorcity

Harnessing the democratic power of the Internet, legendary hip-hop producer Prince Paul has unearthed a previously unreleased album – Horror City – to share some 15 years after its creation. Is 2010’s best hip-hop album actually from 1995?

Thanks to Twitter and Sendspace, a producer with one of the most impressive resumes in the game dusts off a gem that apparently was slept on (foolishly) by labels back in the day. And I’ll just echo what The Fader had to say: If this is material Prince Paul has been hanging onto all this time, can you imagine what else we haven’t heard?

The download for the 11-track album includes cover art and a brief history about the project from Prince Paul (copied without edits below):

This was a project that I wanted to put together with Amityville MC legend Superstar . as I thought about it more I wanted to recruit more Mcs we knew to make it diverse . Superstar already had the name “Horror City” so wen recorded under that name . This project was recorded right after the first Gravedigga album ” 6ft deep” in 1995 . I shopped the demo but unfortunately it got looked over and never got signed . I sat on this project for a while but it always had a dear place in my heart because I thought it was really good and the talent was there . I stripped some of the music from the demo and put it on ” a prince among thieves” and actually had a few of the guys perform on the ” Thieves ” album as well but to be honest I always liked these originals better . So now I have decided share these songs with all of you because holding on to them made no sense .. why not share great music . Hopefully you the listener will enjoy this project as much as I do . please share it , thats why I made this for free download . For more group info please log on to http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000981527022 for a proper bio of “Horror City “

ZIP: Prince Paul | Horror City (follow link, 41.54 MB)

Horror City tracklisting:
1. War Party Intro
2. Play it Close
3. Pain
4. You Got Flow
5. Take it How You Want it
6. Big Sha
7. Tattles Tale
8. Horror City Terrorists (freestyle)
9. MC Hustler (original)
10. Headbounty
11. War Party Outro