Those fantastic fellas in Elbow, whom I post so much about, are up for this year’s Mercury Prize.
In breaking down the nominees, BBC offers up a live video of Elbow performing Grounds for Divorce off this year’s nominated album, The Seldom Seen Kid.
DJ Z-Trip at Unconventional ’08
So maybe it’s not quite as rousing as Barack Obama actually speaking in person, but DJ Z-Trip makes excellent use of technology by interspersing some political commentary – Obama meets M.I.A.? – throughout this set at Manifest Hope Gallery in Denver last week during the Democratic National Convention. Watch as Z-Trip takes an Obama clip – “We cannot wait” – and, in a clever twist, turns it into a rallying cry over the Nu Shooz song I Can’t Wait.
(Props to URB for posting this.)
UPDATE: You can download a portion of the Obama set Z-Trip has been working on at his Web site.
Radar Bros.: Brother Rabbit (video)
Ah, any movement from the Radar Bros. camp is great news. The latest is a new video for Brother Rabbit, a track off one of my 2008 favorites, Auditorium.
The video was directed by The General Assembly, which calls it “our oilfield epic.” Like the Radar Bros.’ music, there’s something sparse and vaguely depressing about this video. Though it doesn’t look like West Texas – it was shot in rural Oklahoma – the passing shots of the oil derricks make me fondly remember my two years in Lubbock, Texas. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is as lonely/frightening as driving in the empty spaces of West Texas and seeing those beasts of steel slowly crank up and down, up and down. There’s a political message in here, I’m sure, but that’s not ever really what struck me.
This video (via the Merge blog) seems to capture a day in the life of a lonely existence – an oilfield worker who comes home after a long day to get dressed up, only to spend an evening by himself again at a non-descript bar.
Seriously, I get pretty upset/sad watching this.
The Pharcyde: 4 Better or 4 Worse (Nu-Mark remix)
As Delicious Vinyl continues to open its vaults for remixes far and wide, I’m torn at how to feel about it.
On the one hand, it’s a great way to breathe new life into older material and, more important, introduce these artists/albums to a new generation. But, at the risk of sounding like curmudgeon, can’t we leave well enough (or, in the Pharcyde’s case, perfect enough) alone?
Case in point: Hot Chip’s remix of Passin’ Me By. Weiss and I had a little back-and-forth about this one. I think it’s fair to call this track a classic, an influential hip-hop love story if ever there was one. So why risk its reputation in what turned out to be (in my opinion) a remix that sucks the soul out of the original?
That said, DJ Nu-Mark (formerly of Jurassic 5) then comes around and gives me faith in the art of the remix with his reworking of 4 Better or 4 Worse.
From the opening bars of the soulful piano line to the head-nodder of a beat, it simply feels like Nu-Mark had a better grasp of what the Pharcyde was about, like he’d been waiting for years to remix one of their tracks.
One of these days, I will post a Pharcyde all-remix post, as I’ve got a few gems on vinyl. Until then, enjoy Nu-Mark’s wizardry. And you can pick up the Runnin’/4 Better or 4 Worse single – with a cappellas and instrumentals – at eMusic.
The Pharcyde | 4 Better or 4 Worse (Nu-Mark remix)
Sundays with A Tribe Called Quest: Vol. 10
Here’s a great 27-minute interview with Q-Tip on the Juan Epstein podcast.
They ask Q-Tip basically everything you’ve ever wanted to know: “What was Jarobi’s role?” “What was the first song you recorded as Tribe?” (Answer: Tip wrote Bonita Applebum when he was 14. 14! I don’t even remember what I was doing at 14 years old, but I wasn’t writing hip-hop classics.
Q-Tip also talks about the various versions of Scenario – which became a topic of conversation on the Nets lately – and how all his recorded versions were lost in a fire at his home studio years ago. If I believed in emoticons, here is where I would put in a sad face.
New Common: Announcement (video)
Here’s the video for Common’s new single Announcement, starring Pharrell.
Remember: Common visits Marquee Theatre in Tempe on Sept. 13. Get tickets ($29) here.
New People Under the Stairs: Step Bacc
A wise man once said People Under the Stairs “are the epitome of California cool – laid-back beats and verses that celebrate the mellow side of West Coast living and obsessive crate digging.” OK, that was me.
In a year that hasn’t produced too many hip-hop records I’m excited about (where are you, MURS?), the first single from PUTS’ forthcoming Fun DMC has surfaced. The track is called Step Bacc, and it seems to live up to the promise of the album title.
Says Double K for the requisite press material: “On our last album, Stepfather [
Worth noting is the duo created/produced the record themselves at Thes One’s new home studio, designed and built by the man himself.
People Under the Stairs | Step Bacc
New Birdmonster video: The Iditarod
Well, how’s that for timing? Right on the heels of an announcement of Birdmonster’s Oct. 13 show at Yucca Tap Room in Tempe comes a new video from the group. Check it out below. Keep Dramamine close at hand.
Also, about that Yucca show. I’m excited to say that local support will come from Kinch (on tour now) and two of my very favorite musicians from Phoenix – one happens to be my brother – performing an acoustic-type set together: Chad Sundin of the Via Maris and Brendan Murphy of Source Victoria. I’m told Brendan and Chad will perform each other’s songs and a couple covers. (Related: Source Victoria won the best rock category for the Phoenix New Times’ Summer of Sound series.)
And, now, on with the Birdmonster:
Meanest Man Contest: We Blame You EP
I think if hip-hop is going anywhere – if it wants to think new, think different, think outside the bun – it would do well to take a few hints from Meanest Man Contest.
The Bay Area duo of Quarterbar and Eriksolo are constantly tweaking and redefining what we think hip-hop should be. I like that I’ve been challenged to think about hip-hop in a new way with how MMC fiddles with beats and rhymes in a very electro-pop sort of fashion. They craft beats; they don’t cop ’em.
On the new We Blame You EP – on the always-great Gold Robot Records – you can find a great example of that on You’re Right. It’s Ballin’, an instrumental track that layers beats and minimal sampled vocals over a mesmerizing synth line. (Also, love the title of the track.)
You can pick up We Blame You at eMusic. Dig into some more Meanest Man Contest at RCRD LBL.
We Blame You tracklist (and kudos to Hunter on the cover design):
1. We Wouldn’t Want it Any Other Way (Débruit remix)
2. Throwing Away Broken Electronics (Mochipet remix f/ DJ Lion)
3. You’re Right. It’s Ballin’.
4. They Do (Multi-Panel remix)
5. They Do (Roman Ruins version)
Meanest Man Contest | Throwing Away Broken Electronics (Mochipet Remix f/ DJ Lion)
ALSO:
- Meanest Man Contest | Throwing Away Broken Electronics
And, of course, the video – a wonderful example of how slow motion should be used:
Incoming: Birdmonster, Oct. 13
After helping put on a show with Birdmonster back in March, we’re doing it again as the foursome supports the excellent new album From the Mountain to the Sea.
The show, on Oct. 13, will be at Yucca Tap Room again, which means no cover. I’m excited about tentative plans for local support that I’ll announce soon.
The other night I actually started on a post about Birdmonster that devolved into long-winded rant. My intent was to discuss how good the new Birdmonster record is. Instead, I started tailing off into a pissing match about how blogs so easily turn their back on bands after propping them up (nothing new, I know). The irony here is that From the Mountain to the Sea is so deserving of that original adulation, but the finicky tastemakers have chosen instead to ignore it. Too bad for them.
I liked No Midnight, the band’s first album. But I’ve been helplessly pulled in by From the Mountain, especially with those inviting hand claps on Born To Be Your Man. Oh, how I love hand claps.
Promotional material that came with the record (out on the Fader Label) gets all deep, talking of the band’s “previous abrasive style” and something about a “landscape of honest sincerity.” If that’s a hoity-toity way of saying Birdmonster seamlessly scaled back but fleshed out its sound, then I’m in total agreement. One of my favorites on the album, the opening My Love For You, is a vintage-sounding ballad that sort of catches you off guard, with singer Peter Arcuni’s voice affecting an almost AM-era vibe over what sounds like … a banjo. I’ll have to confirm that.
Check out the band performing Born To Be Your Man outside, at a park, in the glorious embrace of nature’s wind at the Bay Bridged.
Oh, yeah: From the Mountain to the Sea is available digitally now. It will be released in physical form Sept. 2.