(EDIT: Playback must be seen on YouTube due to copyright reasons. It’s worth it!)
It was only a matter of time. The Decemberists’ third single from their new album The King Is Dead features a fantastic video with a finely detailed reenactment of a scene from David Foster Wallace’s mammoth tome Infinite Jest. For those familiar with the book, the legendary tennis academy scene featuring a full game of Eschaton, a sort of thermonuclear war simulation played with tennis lobs, is set to “Calamity Song” (quite the appropriate lyrical choice). Given Colin Meloy’s hyper-literary tendencies, the connection isn’t too surprising, and true fans of the book will have a good time spotting out all the slight references stuffed into each scene. It’s also a damn good looking piece of work.
Now if only the band’s next video somehow recreated “The Entertainment” from the same book, that would be a real treat…
Rabbit Junk have always been an eccentric band. They’ve been known to mix anything from industrial and black metal to hip hop and hardcore, and this song is no different. “What Doesn’t Kill You Will Make You a Killer” is the first single from the band’s upcoming album (currently untitled). It features the return of the more fun, tongue-in-cheek Rabbit Junk and also the return of Sum Grrl. The song itself is really two parts — the hip hop influenced beginning and the metalish second half. Oh, and the video is pretty cool too.
—————————————————————————————————
Rabbit Junk – What Doesn’t Kill You Will Make You a Killer
Download this song (and another from the album) free here.
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of August 23, 2011. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Active Child – You Are All I See (Vagrant Records)
Apathy – Honkey Kong (Dirty Version Record)
Zee Avi – Ghostbird (Universal Republic)
Balam Acab – Wander/Wonder (Tri Angle)
Black Tide – Post Mortem (Geffen Records)
Bunnydrums – PKD (Metropolis Records)
Circle Takes the Square – Rites of Initiation (Gatepost Recordings)
CSC Funk Band – Things Are Getting Too Casual (Fat Beats) CSS – La Liberacion {UK} (V2)
Gabe Dixon – One Spark (Fantasy)
Darondo – Listen To My Song: The Music City Sessions (Omnivore Recordings)
Downhere – On the Altar of Love (Centricity Records)
Edguy – Age Of The Joker {EU} (Nuclear Blast)
The Game – The R.E.D. Album (Interscope)
Ganglians – Still Living (Lefse)
Ghost Brigade – Until Fear No Longer Defines Us (Season of Mist) Global Noize – Prayer for the Planet (Lightyear) Trevor Hall – Everything Everytime Everywhere (Vanguard Records) Hard-Fi – Killer Sounds(Warner Bros UK) — Davey Boy
Hawthorne Heights – Hate (Cardboard Empire)
Heart – Greatest Hits (Audio Fidelity)
Heart-Set Self Destruct – Of Nightmares [EP] (Sound Mine) ICS Vortex – Storm Seeker (Century Media)
Jorn – Live in Black (Frontiers Records)
Kourosh – Back from the Brink (Now Again)
Krum Bums – Cut The Noose (Century Media Records) Left Spine Down –…
It’s been over a decade since One Be Lo first burst on to the Midwest’s hip-hop scene as part of the now legendary Binary Star and he’s still more than alive and kicking. His fourth solo release since the original dissolution of Binary Star, L.A.B.O.R., is due out on September 6th and if its first single “The G.O.A.T.” is any declaration of what’s in store One Be Lo’s powerful wordplay and trade marked murky and soulful beats are back in full form.
Thrice have posted a lyric video (?) to another song from their upcoming album, Major/Minor, entitled “Promises”.
Stupid lyric videos aside, “Promises” shows Thrice continuing in the direction they took on Beggars, away from the experimentation and expansiveness that led to Vheissu and The Alchemy Index. It’s another straightforward, four-minute rock song, and while it’s something that Thrice has done better than anyone for years now, it still feels a little underwhelming to hear them play their cards so close to their chest. Major/Minor is shaping up to be exactly what Beggars was, an album of tight songs that hardly expand the band’s sound palette.
Green Day performed a new song entitled ‘Amy,’ presumably written in tribute to Amy Winehouse, at the Tiki Bar in Costa Mesa, California last week. The band performed 15 new tracks in total at the gig in aid of cystic fibrosis.
The band also posted the lyrics for ‘Amy’ on their website:
Amy
Is your heart singing out of tune
Are your eyes just singing the blues
Dirty records from another time
Some blood stains on your shoes
No one really knows about your soul
And I barely even know your name
Burning rhythms and posting lies
For a bunch of fools drown in shame
Amy don’t you go
I want you around
Singin’ woah please don’t go
Do you wanna be a friend of mine?
Did you tattoo a lucky charm
To keep you out of harms way?
Warding off all evil signs
But it never really kept you safe
You’re too young for the golden age
Cause the record bin’s been replaced
27 gone without a trace
And you walked away from your drink
Is your heart singing out of tune
Are you eyes just singing the blues?
Dirty records from another time
Some blood stains on your shoes
May I have this last dance
By chance if we should meet?
Can you write me a lullaby?
So we can sing you to sleep
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of August 16, 2011. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
All Pigs Must Die – God Is War (Southern Lord)
Awol One & Nathaniel Motte – Child Star (Fake Four Inc.)
Belle – Never Too Late (Ingenious Records) Blue October – Any Man in America (RED GENERAL CATALOG)
The Bottle Rockets – Not So Loud: An Acoustic Evening (Bloodshot Records)
Braid – Closer To Closed (Polyvinyl Records)
Breaking Benjamin – Shallow Bay: The Best of Breaking Benjamin (Hollywood Records)
Jeff Bridges – Jeff Bridges (Blue Note)
Chimaira – The Age of Hell (Entertainment One Music)
Cianide – Gods of Death (Hells Headbangers)
Guy Clark – Songs & Stories (Dualtone Music Group)
Ghost Brigade – Until Fear No Longer Defines Us {EU} (Season of Mist)
Gotye – Making Mirrors (Eleven)
The Cool Kids – When Fish Ride Bicycles (C.A.K.E./Green Label Sound)
Denial Fiend – Horror Holocaust (IBEX MOON RECORDS)
Kosha Dillz – Gina and The Garage Sale (Team Kosha)
The Duke & The King – The Duke & The King (Silva America)
Friday – It’s Finally Friday (Grind Season Ent.)
Gold Leaves – The Ornament (HARDLY ART)
Hercules and Love Affair – Blue Songs (Moshi Moshi)
Hexentanz – Nekrocrafte (Agonia Records)
Jewel – The Merry Goes ‘Round (Fisher-Price)
Mac Dre – Da Treasure (Thizz Nation)
Mister Heavenly – Out Of Love (Sub Pop)
Natalia Kills – Perfectionist (Interscope…
It is fairly easy to see that Alex Smith matches his peers within Detroit in terms of talent and quality of his output. That says a lot given the rich musical legacy of Detroit. His output of late hasn’t dropped off the standards set by 2005’s Just Ask the Lonely. On its own, Here’s Your Trance, Now Dance!can attest to that.
Though one can keep pretty close tabs on artists’ releases these days, sometimes a very pleasant surprise comes about unexpected. High School Graffiti is one of these pleasant surprises, with five cool little tunes. My Naffew Randy is one especially worth checking out. So hurry up and grab this EP for free here, and remember your please and thank yous.
This one’s a bit unexpected: London rapper Sway freestyling over Ed Sheeran’s ‘You Need Me, I Don’t Need You.’ Sheeran’s original is easily described as a sort of an English take on Jason Mraz (I’m more a fan of his cousin Laura), but Sway’s mix takes in a busy grime beat and a tongue-twisting lyric to give the track a completely different, much-improved feel.
Meanwhile, the lyrics – “next thing Slick Rick meets Chris from Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush” – are specific enough to alienate 95% of today’s UK hip hop audience, which is just as well since most of them are busy rioting at the minute.
Take a listen to an improvised live version of the original, here:
The recent news that Century Media Records had removed its entire catalog from Spotify ended up leading to another discussion about file sharing and everything that goes along with it. This blog post is not that serious. I’ve just decided to dredge up some old videos that were created during the intial Napster controversy.
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of August 09, 2011. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Afrobeta – Under The Streets (DoIT Music Group)
Alev – We Live In Paradise (Eclipse Recordings)
Army Navy – The Last Place (The Fever Zone)
Barenaked Ladies – Snacktime (Raisin Records)
The Birthday Massacre – Imaginary Monsters (Metropolis Records)
Luke Bryan – Tailgates & Tanlines (Capitol)
Dream On Dreamer – Heartbound (Rise Records)
Drive A – The World In Shambles (Dead Conflict Record)
Eyes Set to Kill – White Lotus [EP] (Ingrooves)
Fleshgod Apocalypse – Agony (Nuclear Blast)
God Module – Rituals (Metropolis Records)
Greeley Estates – The Death of Greeley Estates (TRAGIC HERO RECORDS)
Gucci Mane & Waka Flocka Flame – Ferrari Boyz (Warner Bros.) Hassaan Mackey & Apollo Brown – Daily Bread (Mello Music Group)
Hell Or Highwater – Begin Again (Hell Or Highwater) Ace Hood – Blood, Sweat & Tears (Def Jam)
The Horrors – Skying (XL Recordings)
The Irrepressibles – Mirror Mirror (101 DISTRIBUTION)
Jay-Z & Kanye West – Watch The Throne (Def Jam)
Karmakanic – In a Perfect World (Inside Out)
The Motels – Apocalypso (Omnivore Recordings)
My Amends – Acceptions (Ingenious Records) NewBreed – NewBreed (Metal Mind Productions)
Pepper Rabbit – Red Velvet Snow Ball (Kanine Records)
Royce da 5’9” – Success Is Certain (Gracie)
Sainthood Reps – Monoculture (Tooth & Nail Records)
Scattered Trees – Sympathy (Musebox) …
I must have seen her face before
I fell in love when I was born
Now they hide her with a whisper
It’s over
If I were to list out all the bands that I’ve ever seen live and list them in accordance to how many times I’ve dragged my ass down to some dive of a venue to see them, RX Bandits would proudly sit atop that list. Since my introduction to them back when they were just a politicized 3rd wave ska act through their growth into one of the most forward thinking acts in modern music I’ve had the honor to see them one shy of a dozen times – but it was the last two shows, two of their last three shows ever (and last in the vicinity of their southern California home) that proudly affirm how special they really are/were. Their sets at the Mayan Theater in the heart of downtown Los Angeles and two days later at the Glasshouse a half hour inland in Pomona made the previous 9 RX Bandits shows that I have attended seem reserved in comparison, which is no easy feat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy0hpSHZsPs
Part 1: August 4th, 2011 @ the Mayan Theater
Shows at the Mayan are always a mixed bag. On one hand the size of the venue and its stunning décor that looks ripped straight out of the intro scene of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark add a remarkable ambiance…
The 59th edition of FabricLive‘s mix sets features Four Tet aka Kieran Hebden, and this lovely future single culled from the end of it is now available for streaming. It’s graceful and hauntingly beautiful, perfect for that 5 am comedown. As Hebden noted: “This mix is not about my DJing. It’s about London and fabric and nights out and my take on all that. The memories and the influences. I used old and new music, I used recordings of fabric, and I made new tracks of my own for it. I hope people play it fucking loud and lose their minds in it and remember or imagine what it’s all about.” Check out the FabricLive compilation when it drops September 19th and for now, enjoy this fantastic single.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Das Racist, the joking-but-not-joking rap group from New York, released their first paid single to the world yesterday in the form of “Michael Jackson”. It comes from their upcoming album Relax, and brings a lot to unpack, from the Wingdings-inspired album art to Heems’s RZA reference to the meaning, if there is one, to the song’s anthemic hook: “Michael Jackson/ A million dollars/ You feel me?/ Holla.”
But all I really have to say is this: “I’M FUCKING GREAT AT RAPPINGGGGGGGGG!”
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of August 02, 2011. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Antigone Rising – 23 Red (101 DISTRIBUTION)
Archers of Loaf – Icky Mettle (Merge Records)
Trace Atkins – Proud To Be Here (Show Dog Nashville)
Battlecross – Pursuit of Honor (Metal Blade)
Boston Spaceships – Let it Beard (Guided By Voices)
Richard Buckner – Our Blood (Merge Records)
Bury Your Dead – Mosh N’ Roll (MEDIASKARE)
Caina – Hands That Pluck (Profound Lore)
Greyson Chance – Hold On ‘Til the Night (Geffen Records)
Dead and Divine – Antimacy (Wolf At Your Door Records)
Denial Fiend – Horror Holocaust (Ibex Moon)
Direct Hit – Domesplitter (Kind of Like Records)
Dir en Grey – Dum Spiro Spero (The End)
Excruciator – The Devouring (Heavy Artillery)
Flourishing – The Sum Of All Fossils (The Path Less Traveled) Fountains Of Wayne – Sky Full Of Holes(Yep Roc Records) — Rudy Klapper
Fruit Bats – Tripper (Sub Pop)
Harvest – Years of Defiance. Years of Disgust. (Good Fight)
John Hiatt – Dirty Jeans & Mudslide Hymns (New West Records)
Hot Water Music – The Fire, The Steel, The Tread / Adds Up To Nothing (Self-released)
It Prevails – Stroma (MEDIASKARE)
Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter – Marble Son (Thirty Tigers)
Keb Mo – The Reflection (Yolabelle International)
Machine Drum – Room(s) (101 DISTRIBUTION)
Malefice – Awaken the…
