general, live

Obi Best, Towncraft and more, Modified, 1/22/08

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Note: This is the first in what I hope will be regular contributions from Jason Woodbury, a local musician (Hands on Fire and Cardiac Party) who has graciously accepted an offer to profile bands/musicians from our fine city/state. Please welcome him aboard.

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Dakota Jeane

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Obi Best

I was fortunate enough to catch the live debut of Shane Kennedy’s Towncraft at Modified last Thursday, supporting Social Science recording artist Obi Best, along with locals
Gita and Dakota Jeane. Gita played a set of pleasant, polite indie folk, while Dakota Jeane, of socialist agit-folk duo Dakota & the Black River Bandit, performed songs from her recently released solo EP My Bell Jar. Her presentation revealed that she’s still finding her footing as a solo artist, but her charm smoothed over any instrumental gaffs. Headliner Obi Best, featuring Alex Lilly of The Bird and the Bee, accompanied by members of Beck and Jenny Lewis’ touring band, played their erudite pop to a devoted crowd. While I stupidly and ignorantly wrote them off as twee pop after precious little research, I was incredibly into their set, especially when Lilly set aside the guitar for a self described “keyboard purse” and the songs took on a demure Stereolab like quality.

It was Towncraft I was most excited about, based on the strength of the members other projects, such as the majority of the group acting as songwriter Daryl Scariot’s accompaniment in Turn Back O’ Man, violinist Megyn’s work with Dry River Yacht Club, upright bassist Dario Miranda’s jazz combo Black Bear Ensemble (who played a phenomenal set down the street at the Lost Leaf after the show) and lap steel player Matt Wisner’s alt-country group Tierra Del Fuego. With the bar set high, Towncraft didn’t disappoint. The instrumental sound of the Dirty 3 might be an easy reference point, but with guitar work heavy on feedback and baring an unmistakable Thurston Moore via John Fahey feel (guitarist Brent Miles was indeed sporting a Sonic Youth shirt), the spaghetti western idea makes for a good starting point, but the sound moves into areas far more spacious, ominous and majestic than a “recommended if you like” tag allows. A Phoenix band to keep a watchful eye on.

(YouTube video courtesy of SilverPlatter; photos courtesy Christian Johnson. For more photos of this show, click here.)

hip-hop, Sundays with Tribe

Sundays with A Tribe Called Quest: Vol. 20

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So I ripped through the 33 1/3 book on People’s Instinctive Travels and Paths of Rhythm last week. It was a very personal and authoritative look at an album that probably doesn’t get as much credit as it deserves. I’m actually lining up a Q&A with the author, Shawn Taylor, that I’ll post here, so stay tuned for that.

In the meantime, the book inspired me to go back to the album for some of the things I might have missed that Taylor describes with great zeal. Luckily, I found this great video of Tribe performing Can I Kick It? – probably one of the album’s best-known cuts – at the Apollo (via The Meaning of Dope).

I’m not sure when this was filmed, but it’s at least interesting to note that Tribe already ditched the Afro-inspired wardrobe, a vibe that seemed very prominent on the album and in the Native Tongues movement in general. We can only hope Sinbad burned that blouse shirt he’s wearing here.

general, year end

Guest list: Nick Piecoro (The Arizona Republic)

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This Last year, I asked a few Phoenix-area musicians/people of interest for their year-end, best-of lists for 2008: albums, songs, whatever. This installment comes from friend/former co-worker/music lover Nick Piecoro, who covers the Arizona Diamondbacks for The Arizona Republic.

Since I’m not a musician, I’m guessing I fall into the “people of interest” category only because Kevin was interested in having at least one person parrot his picks. He turned to the right guy.

Top five albums

1. Frightened Rabbit – The Midnight Organ Fight

It kicks off with The Modern Leper, my favorite kind of indie rock song – anthemic and always building, getting better and better until the final seconds. Yes, it’s a sensitive breakup album, but it’s more than that. It has a song in which frontman Scott Hutchison begs for sex (The Twist), one in which he admonishes the fruitlessness of the anonymous variety (Keep Yourself Warm), and another (My Backwards Walk) where he can’t seem to extricate himself from a relationship (“My clothes won’t let me close the door, these trousers seem to love your floor” “You’re the shit and I’m knee-deep in it”). Yet, somehow, in the end, it leaves you feeling hopeful.

2. Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid

Love the way singer Guy Garvey makes the commonplace unique: “We took the town to town last night, we kissed like we invented it,” or, when speaking of the lure of the local watering hole, “There’s a hole in my neighborhood down which of late I cannot help but fall.”

3. Department of Eagles – In Ear Park

Daniel Rossen’s side project might be even better than his main band, Grizzly Bear. Still, it’s very Grizzly Bearish. Meandering and atmospheric, it tends to grow on you with each listen.

4. Vampire Weekend – self-titled

Justify it if you must by saying you dig its afro-ness, its worldliness, its learnedness, but come on. It’s fun and catchy and pop at its finest.

5. Okkervil River – The Stand Ins

Admittedly, it is (if we can borrow from Squid and the Whale) minor-Sheff, but we love it still.

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Five more

• Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours

MGMT meets LCD meets The Avalanches and all combine to make an ’80s pop album.

• Fleet Foxes – self-titled

I really like it, but apparently just not as much as everyone else.

• MGMT – Oracular Spectacular

Four kick-ass songs, led by The Youth, but not enough after that.

• Atlas Sound – Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel

I can occasionally be a sucker for dream pop.

• Fuck Buttons – Street Horrrsing

Weird but good. Tribal, noisy, at times a little terrifying, but, for whatever reason, good.

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Of course, I expect the list to evolve as I discover things I missed. That in mind: Here are three great 2007 albums that I didn’t start listening to until 2008.

1. Broken Social Scene Presents, Kevin Drew – Spirit If…

Dear Canada, Thank you for BSS. Sincerely, Nick.

2. Handsome Furs – Plague Park

P.S., Thanks also for Dan Boeckner, whom I had incorrectly pegged as the clear weak link in Wolf Parade but now view as very nearly Spencer Krug’s equal.

3. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Soundtrack, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

So beautiful. (And: The movie is also worth it.)

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11 songs

1. No One Does It Like You by Department of Eagles. It’s four minutes of hand-clappy, catchy, doo-woppy greatness that never gets old, no matter how many times someone might hit repeat on your car stereo.

2. Lost Coastlines by Okkervil River. At 2 minutes, 43 seconds in, you get to the start of probably my favorite minute in music this year.

3. The Youth by MGMT. This is a dreamy and sort of psychedelic hippie-like tune that always always always gets stuck in my head.

4. My Backwards Walk by Frightened Rabbit. Heartfelt, sad and beautiful.

5. Starlings by Elbow. “You are the only thing in any room you’re ever in.”

6. Black River Killer by Blitzen Trapper. It’s like they said, ‘I know! Let’s turn Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian into a Tom Petty song!’ (Side note: Probably my second favorite song about murder, ranking behind Okkervil River’s Westfall.)

7. M79 by Vampire Weekend. I listened to this song while on the M79 over the summer. Yeah, I’m a dork. The song appears to name-drop an obscure minor leaguer(!).

8. Fools by The Dodos. Love the clattering, clanking, frenetic beat.

9. The Grey Estates by Wolf Parade. According to my iPod, I listened to this song 21 times from May through the end of July.

10. 2080 by Yeasayer. The echo-y chants are wonderful.

11. Sweet Love For Planet Earth by Fuck Buttons. This is not for everyone.

Related:
Favorite albums of 2008
Favorite song(s) of 2008
Guest list: Snow Songs
Guest list: Jason Woodbury (Cardiac Party/Hands on Fire)
Guest list: Zachary James Dodds
Guest list: Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World
Guest list: Brian Coughlin of Kinch
Guest list: Charlie Brand of Miniature Tigers
Guest list: Jay Wiggins (aka DJ Funkfinger)
Guest list: Brendan Murphy of Source Victoria

general, hip-hop

Cadence Weapon: Separation Anxiety
(pay what you want)

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Cadence Weapon (aka Rollie Pemberton) has gone and pulled a Radiohead. In a Facebook blast, Cadence announced he’s offering Separation Anxiety, a collection of remixes, collaborations and new tracks, on the pay-what-you-wish scale.

He also says he’s working on two – TWO! – new albums. I loved Afterparty Babies (still do, as a matter of fact), so this is some exciting news.

His note in full:

i make a lot of music. so much in fact, i have trouble releasing it all. the first thing i ever officially released was a patchwork CD-R of random bootleg remixes, verses, unfinished songs and instrumentals called cadence weapon is the black hand near the end of 2004. i had a girlfriend type person spraypaint all the CD decals and i did the official kinkos move for the cover art and tracklisting. now that other people have the internet and use it for hacking music, it’s made releasing music on it a more plausible idea. i wanted to do kind of a new version of the black hand mixtape.

as a result, i am putting this thing out with a pay-what-you-want prompt thing in case you actually like my music (unlikely) and want to pay for it. but you don’t have to pay. please let anybody know who might be interested in grabbing it

it has nevine on the cover!

i am also working on two new albums at the moment. one is called roquentin and it’s about abrupt shifts, hope, humanity, death and bands that take too long to soundcheck. and the other one is with a rapper called subtitle from LA, we’re called fall fashion. the album is mainly about getting fly.

You can pay (or not) for Separation Anxiety at Cadence Weapon’s Web site. (The download comes wtih album art and tracklisting; the mp3s are 320 kbps, but the tags are kind of a mess.) If you’re wondering, I paid $5, mostly because I was interested more in the new tracks than the remixes and such. Below is one of those songs, Roll With the Winners.

arizona, general

Wednesday night: Miniature Tigers in Tempe

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It seems pretty clear that Phoenix’s Miniature Tigers are on the verge of a big year.

Aside from the physical release of the excellent Tell it to the Volcano (out now digitally) on Feb. 17, the band recently was picked up for an East Coast/Midwest tour with Ben Folds. Pretty heady stuff — and well-deserved. After the Ben Folds tour, the Mini Tigers will hook up with another Valley band, Dear and the Headlights, for some dates out West. And they’ll be doing all this with a new member — guitarist Darren Robinson, late of Phantom Planet.

So if you live in the Valley area, you’d do well to check the band out Wednesday night at Yucca Tap Room, where they played in October for a show I put on with Birdmonster. Though the crowd skewed pretty young when I saw Miniature Tigers at Modified a couple weeks ago, I have a feeling they’ll be fine at the 21-and-over Yucca.

Related:
Guest list: Charlie Brand of Miniature Tigers
Miniature Tigers: Cannibal Queen (video)

arizona, general

Incoming: Calexico, April 4

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Tucson’s Calexico will make a visit to the Phoenix/Valley area for the first time in more than two years when the band plays April 4 at Heritage Square, an outdoor city block in downtown Phoenix that should make for an amazing evening.

Also on the bill are 12-piece Latin jazz ensemble Sergio Mendoza y La Orkesta and longtime Calexico collaborator Salvador Duran.

Tickets ($20) for the 21-and-over show go on sale Thursday (Jan. 22) at Zia Records, Stinkweeds, Hoodlums, Pizzeria Bianco and TicketWeb. Doors for the show open at 7 p.m. and it starts at 8 p.m. According to Stateside Presents, the concert will be over before the final light rail departure, which gives people a great chance to test out the newfangled public transit system in our city.

Calexico (follow ’em on Twitter) currently is touring overseas behind 2008’s Carried To Dust, an album to which I didn’t give as much attention as I would have liked when it was released. But I’ve since purchased it on vinyl and have enjoyed taking some well-deserved time with it.

Related:
Calexico on LiveDaily Sessions
Calexico: Two Silver Trees (video)
New Calexico: Two Silver Trees
Video trailer for new Calexico album

general, hip-hop

Z-Trip: Victory Lap – The Obama Mix (Pt. 2)

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In the heat of the presidential election, DJ Z-Trip dropped the Obama mix, an inspiring message through music that encouraged people to vote and take action. Now that our man is about to take office, Z has followed up his first mix with Victory Lap: The Obama Mix (Pt. 2). As Kyle said, if you need a soundtrack for Inauguration Tuesday, this is it.

Z-Trip explained the origin of the mix:

“Last week I was contacted by MoveOn.org to put something together for an email blast they are doing for the lead up to the inauguration. This one is called “Victory Lap: The Obama Mix Pt. 2”. It’s my way of congratulating all of us for electing what I think is the right person for the job. We made history and I’m proud to be a part of that. Yes, my friends, it is time to celebrate, but please don’t lose sight of the mess we are still in, there is plenty of work that lies ahead.”

As usual, Z-Trip does a masterful job of mixing music with a message, blending Obama sound bites with fitting song choices (Rare Earth’s I Just Want to Celebrate gets the ball rolling.)

[ZIP]: DJ Z-Trip | Victory Lap: The Obama Mix (Pt. 2)

general, year end

Guest list: Snow Songs

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This Last year, I asked a few Phoenix-area musicians/people of interest for their year-end, best-of lists for 2008: albums, songs, whatever. This installment comes from Yolanda Bejarano, a longtime Valley musician who now performs her indie-folk stylings under the name Snow Songs.

1. Dr. Dog — Fate
2. Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson — self-titled
3. Fleet Foxes – self-titled
4. Lucinda Williams – Little Honey
5. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
6. Kanye West – 808s & Heartbreak
7. Ryan Adams and the Cardinals – Cardinology
8. Lykke Li – Youth Novels
9. Department of Eagles – In Ear Park
10. CSS – Donkey

Related:
Favorite albums of 2008
Favorite song(s) of 2008
Guest list: Jason Woodbury (Cardiac Party/Hands on Fire)
Guest list: Zachary James Dodds
Guest list: Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World
Guest list: Brian Coughlin of Kinch
Guest list: Charlie Brand of Miniature Tigers
Guest list: Jay Wiggins (aka DJ Funkfinger)
Guest list: Brendan Murphy of Source Victoria