Forgive the nothing around here of late; been a little tied up with a show my buddy and I are putting up this Wednesday @ the UCB Theatre. Back up and live sooner than later, tatties.
I’ve roughly 20 minutes complete of the upcoming Cache Vol. 4 mixtape for the site here, and as it’s a decade ending, the mix is titled Last Century. Focusing on source tracks released before 2000 (with more contemporary fare mixed in), I find myself struggling not to drop “I Want You Back” at every possible turn- it’s like a 1900s cure-all tonic for laptop DJs unsure of a mix’s next turn. It works EVERYWHERE. Everywhere.
That’s no sleight to Andrew John Long, whose deployment of…
From directors Ferry Gouw and Jason Miller this week comes the video for Major Lazer’s latest, “Keep It Goin’ Louder”. An infinitely more obvious single from Diplo & Switch’s debut than “Hold The Line” and “Pon De Floor”, “Keep It”s housey hook is coolly surfed by club favorites Ricky Blaze and Nina Sky for a winter-break playlist staple; a sweat-friendly reprieve from all the acoustic guitar mopery inherent to the season.
Indeed, the ghouliriffic video is a few weeks late for Halloween- but…
Its Gattaca by way of JNCO Jeans cover art notwithstanding, I get the queasy feeling that Chris Brown’s Graffiti will be moving big numbers when it ships December 8th. So take note, Ben Gibbard: if you want to beat the shit out of Zoe*, apparently six months community service and a viral wedding video is all the recompense needed to get you back in the public’s good graces. The site here took a little heat when discussing the death of Ike Turner a few years back, specifically for…
I admit that for a time, I avoided The xx for fear of having another Black Kids on my hands; another blog fetishized quartet of mixed gender twentysomethings, with an ear towards danceability and an eye toward Beacon’s Closet who ultimately failed to deliver in the sustainability department. Then, I pulled my head out of my ass.
Maybe it speaks to the general cynicism I’ve developed about “it bands” three years deep with this site, but I’ve begun to empathize more and more with my…
Malice: …we care about it, man. We can do everything they’re doing now. I mean, we can put out an album in a week. We can do that. But I wouldn’t be happy with it. I think our songs, our albums, singles, even the mixtapes, everything is handcrafted.
Pusha: Yeah, I think that stuff sucks too.
Malice: [Laughs.]
Pusha: All of that music I’m seeing every fucking day…all these 50,000 mixtapes. With not one gem on it. Come on…You’re ruining it. You’re pissing…
No Mas and regular collaborator James Blagden present the animated tale of Pittsburgh Pirate Dock Ellis’ legendary LSD no-hitter. Flawless repurposing of audio; hugely original animation.
Eventually discharged from the Air Force for being uncooperative and “evidencing a dislike for the service”, Marvin Gaye went so far as to fake mental illness in his efforts to escape the mid-century war machine he’d so gracefully speak out against with his first post- Tammi Terrell output in 1971. Jokes to be made about the Gaye family and mental illness aside, it’s a telling rebellion from artist in restless youth, one that first came to mind upon hearing the song featured in…
Former Miss California Carrie Prejean visits Larry King Live, 11/11/09.
Dramatized and interpreted by Dan Chamberlain and Brandon Scott Jones; featuring Rebecca Drysdale. RRRADIO.
When the BBC Sound of 2009 anointed Master Shortie’s debut LP came and went with little fanfare earlier this year, most suspected that there just wasn’t room for another kodachrome decked pop hip hopper here stateside. Top 40 radio only just tapped into Cudi, and four years since his debut STILL has no idea what to do with Lupe Fiasco- it just wasn’t time.
I however, am of the school of thought that nobody’s going to buy the authenticity of a track called “Dance Like a White Boy”…
