Samhain, November 1, always indicates new cycles and fresh beginnings in my life, and this year seems to be no different. Here’s to autumn in LA!

As always, I keep this post updated and added to throughout the month and you can find it by looking in the right-hand column on my main page under “Shilo’s Event Calendar.”

• 3: Wisp, Naha, Schlage & more @ Technique @ Zanzibar
• 3: Jogger, Daedelus, Buraka Som Sistema, Jokers of the Scene & more @ Cinespace in Hollyweird. Free vodka 10-11PM.
• 4: Low End Theory Special Ableton Event w/Thavius Beck, Sweatson Klank, MatthewDavid
• 6: Kraddy
• 7: Other People’s Money w/Vibesquad, Datsik, Subvert, Excision, Propa Tingz & more @ Nucleus Events Center

• 8: Brainfeeder Sessions @ Downtown Independent w/Daedelus, Jogger, Gaslamp Killer, Dr. Strangeloop, Jeremy Ellis, Teebs & Kutmah
• 10: Random Rab, Imagika & Electric Dandelion @ Zanzibar
• 11: Low End Theory: My Hollow Drum, Kutmah, Devonwho
• 11: Deru, Blockhead, AmpLive & Yppah @ The Echo
• 12: The Do Lab presents Bluetech, Mimosa & Electric Dandelion @ King King
• 12: I AM A LASER with Take, R/D, LC & Souleye at Club Nokia upstairs
• 13: Compression w/Robtronik, Drumcell, Vic Carillo @ King King
• 14: BWOMP presents: Attack of the BASS w/Anitserum, Puppykicker, Ev-1, J-Viz & more @ TBA

• 18: Low End Theory w/Ghislain Poirier, Rob Luis & Lanu
• 18: Scion House Party w/Plastician, Mary Anne Hobbs, SCUBA & 12th Planet, FREE w/RSVP
• 20: Culprit & Hear w/Anthony Collins, Sammy Dee, Droog, Deliquent Frequency @ new venue TS 2
• 20: Fat Freddy’s Drop @ The Roxy
• 20: RUSKO, 12th Planet, Mr. White @ Avalon
• 21: WE THE PEOPLE w/Bad Religion, Glitch Mob, Flobots, LA Riots, Jogger & much more @ Los Angeles Center Studios, downtown

• 24: Dubtroit w/Pawn, Druley, Rudelgin & more
• 25: Low End Theory: Daedelus special extended set
• 25: House of Dub @ House of Blues w/DLX, Pawn, Steady, Kelly Dean, Evol, Pablo Hassan & more
• 26: HAPPY THANKSGIVING = drinky drinky!
• 27: Compression 4-Year Anniversary w/Claude Von Stroke & SF Dirtybird Crew
• 28: Dysfunctional Family w/[a]pendics shuffle, Death by Acid, Alex Villalobos & more @ TBA
• 28: Pure Filth presents BASSFACE with: JOKER & NOSAJ THING, The Professionals, Novocaine9, Heru!, Kemst, Nomad @ Lot 613

Photo by Tap Tap Productions.

Lembra da versão “Quer pagar quanto?!” de Thom Yorke? Lançou o In Rainbows, disponibilizou para download e o usuário escolhia quanto pagar pelo link ["It's up to you"]. Eu mesmo dei 2£. Na época saiu menos de R$10. No dia seguinte havia link para download free, claro, mas quis pagar pois achei a iniciativa do líder do Radiohead genial. Sim, coisa de gênio. Questionar a indústria fonográfica, lançar um álbum de forma ‘independente’ [depois lançaram um box especial do In Rainbows, por 40£] e ainda se dar bem.

Tudo lindo e maravilhoso. Até o AmpLive entrou na onda, fez um remix do disco e colocou no site: “It’s not up to you. It’s free”. Eis que hoje cedo Pedro Jansen me manda um link sobre o novo clipe de Mr. Yorke. Segundo Jansen: Thom  Yorke + música nova + Banksy + clipe. Mas só posso ficar com o que ele falou. Por quê?

Por causa disso:

Legal, né? Falta saber qual foi a do rapazinho para pedir que retirassem o clipe do ar.
Não acho que o Thom Yorke é a solução de nossos problemas, mas que decepcionou forte agora, decepcionou.
“It’s not up to you” mesmo.

Well kinda… In an interview with Believer Magazine Thom Yorke said this:

“None of us want to go into that creative hoo-ha of a long-play record again. Not straight off. I mean, it’s just become a real drag. It worked with In Rainbows because we had a real fixed idea about where we were going. But we’ve all said that we can’t possibly dive into that again. It’ll kill us…. we need to get away from it a bit.”

So I guess we can expect more music in smaller chunks from the Radiohead crew. I know Thom is a regular reader of the New Rockstar Philosophy so I’m sure he can only be planning on putting out 3P’s.

Why? Because the 3P is a perfect idea for any artist. Cheaper, quicker, more music to your fans more often, and 3 songs is just enough music to be able to make a significant statement while keeping it manageable and chunk-able for yourself. You could put out 3 political songs, 3 alt-country songs, 3 heavy numbers, lullabies, or whatever you choose to do you can position it to be more then just 3 regular songs. You can position it as a stand alone peice of art.

So although Thom York may have not literally said that he’s going to be putting out 3P’s, it’s interesting to see that he’s ready to change things up for the new world just like us.

For more info on the 3P and other new world music strategies download the free book.

Get The NewRockStarPhilosophy eBook My Friend. It’s FREE!

Take Control of Your Music

Voyno

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Over the last several months, MixMatchMusic has been busy working on a short film for South By Southwest, titled “Remix…A New Way to Engage Fans”. Well, we’re happy to announce that the film is now live and you are invited to see how artists and fans are turning to remixing to connect and interact with fans in a music 2.0 world.

Emerging hip hop artists, the Bayliens, are poster children for a music 2.0 world that is nearly as much about connecting with fans off stage as it is entertaining them onstage.  This film shows how they’re connecting with fans at an almost molecular level, by offering them the musical building blocks of their songs and encouraging them to remix them into new sounds and new songs. The film also features insights from AmpLive (of Zion I) and Trifonic on the power of artist-fan collaboration.

Musicians are navigating a dramatically changed music business landscape.  More than ever, they have to engage and involve casual listeners in order to build deep and lasting relationships with them.  The group behind the video, MixMatchMusic (aka, the dudes writing this post), is focused on helping musicians make those connections and deepening the bonds that link them with fans.

Fight Night Round 4 dropped about a week ago, and with the amount of time I’ve been spending with it, I’m surprised I’ve even had the time to blog. Or shower. Those who had an addiction to the great Fight Night Round 3 know what I’m talking about, and this new edition somehow manages to be a huge upgrade in every department over that classic game. Plus, it has Mike Tyson – pretty sure no game has had him since Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out on the original Nintendo.

Anyway, gameplay is better, and feels much less “robotic” than in Round 3, there is way less of the annoying sponsor ads (the creepy Burger King guy was EVERYWHERE in Round 3), and last but not least, the music is a HUGE improvement in this edition – which is a surprise, considering EA Sports has had some pretty bad music choices over the years (Keane’s “Is It Any Wonder?” was in Madden one year…ouch).  But, yeah some great tunes in this edition – of particular note are two awesome remixes that I had not heard before : Tokyo Police Club’s “The Baskervilles” – Amplive Die Hard Remix (which you can stream here), and El-P’s “Flyentology” – Cassette’s Won’t Listen Remix (stream here). Both of these tracks scream one thing and one thing only : swagger. Normally, I always turn off all the menu music in video games, but these heavy-hitters are the perfect tunes to get you in a pugilistic mood. 

Check out some gameplay footage, featuring Mike Tyson vs. the overmatched Middleweight, Winky Wright.

As funny as it is to see Tyson vs. Wright, it really isn’t that far off from this beating he gave to the then-undefeated Michael Spinks.

Purchase Fight Night Round 4 on Amazon

Tokyo Police Club on MySpace

El-P on MySpace

Elevate- Ugnaught

Pansy- Tusken Raiders

Crush- Tha Fruitbat

Bibo- More Rockers (*love love love love love!!*)

Konkrete Jungle (Drum ‘n’ Bass remix)- Amplive from Zion i

download

Tracks/Description (if interested)

Typical Cats – What You Thought Hops:  Listen to this song… with your hips,  great spoken word intros to a sick song.

MF Wooly – Repetition Heart Sickness/Letter to the Princess:  Basically one song split in two tracks, nice guitar sample, progressive flows.

Emancipator – Soon It Will Be Cold Enough to Build Fires:  Instrumental track… straight fire… get this guys album, all the songs are just as good, its great chill/study music.

AmpLive – Video Tapez: Beat is ridiculous… ridiculous.

Panacea – The Great Escape: This may be my favorite track on the mix, really amazing song.

Jazz Liberatorz – I Am Hip Hop: Love the chorus/lyrics on this one, exellent jazzy hip-hop… Listen to the baseline

Nujabes – Feather: If you dont have this song already, consider this your lucky day. Most played song on my iTunes. It’s  just amazing… moving lyrics, beautiful beat. I  can’t say enough good about this song.

Handsome Boy Modeling School – The Truth: Good vibes, its a little long.. but I could listen to this beat for days.

Morcheeba – Reflections Eternal Mix: Dope raps/vibe. Talib/Morcheeba blend really well.

Elzhi – Talking In My Sleep: Dope storytelling over an addicting beat. Dope

Adam Tensta – My Cool: Brain posted this song back in soulrap’s uber.com days. It soon became my house’s theme song last summer. Really fun party/dance song.

Oddisee – Hip Hop’s Cool Agian: I really love the drums on this one, Oddisee’s rhymes go perfect. One of my favorite tracks on this mix.

Kid Cudi – Dat New New: Since Cudi’s last mixtape The Moon Man was meh we dident put it up on soulrap. So to make up for that, me and Kaz decided to take the best part of that tape and put it on this mixtape.

Cyne – Boombox Pimp: Brand new Cyne, I’m not sure if this is out in the states yet. Fun beat, love the chorus. Gotta love happy songs.

Sergio Mendes – Yes Yes Ya’ll: Exellent party song, play this at ur next party. I have issues with the volum on this track, it may be really loud, if so turn down the track volume on iTunes.

Brother Ali – Good Lord: Nice piano sample and Brother Ali always on point.

Living Legends – She Wants Me: Fun song. heard it live and instantly decided to put it on my next mix.

Cyne – This Year:  More new Cyne, dope beat, nice lyrics.

Common – Be:  “never looking back, or to far in front of me. The present is a gift, and I just wanna be.” One of my favortie tracks of all time.

Senim Silla – For The Record: Really sick flow. Senim Silla (part of the late Binary Star) still holds it down.

PreZZure – Life: Kaz found this dude, he is SOOO nice on the production, definatly a name u will be hearing soon. But currently  it is VERY hard to find this guy’s music, took forever to get this one. Go to his myspace page and listen to ‘Mr Blue’, just amazing.

download: Mixtape – What You Thought Hops

-Nick

lastnightsparty.com

• Kissy Sell Out – This Kiss (Jack Beats Remix)

• Boy  Futur – Maximal (LiBD edit) ..Liege Is Burning Down anthem! myspace

• Das Glow – I wanna wake up with you

• Siriusmo – Wow (Modeselektor remix)

• Radiohead – Nude (Amplive Remix)

Le + : wait & see!

Enjoy yourself!

(via Nod Young)

Why does dude always look so pissed in his press pics? Rhetorical question. Anyway, AmpLive’s got some interesting electro-hop in the works and a new single to give out. The single, “Gary is a Robot,” is out on May 12th everywhere, but available via an exclusive pre-release at Turntable Lab right now. You’ll be able to snag a full record to later this year. This new collab with Micro Jaxson and Trackademicks feels like a pretty solid night starter.

AmpLive + Micro Jaxson + Trackademicks – Gary is a Robot

Beats™

Just an awesome song. I would put it up for download… but I want to put it on the next mixtape. You’ll just have to wait… It’ll make it better.

-Nick

Hey d00dz.

I got some music for you.

Enjoy the below:

First up, we have Marc Bianchi, better known as Her Space Holiday. This songs is super old, but it’s so great, I decided to put it up. It’s soft and nice, like most of his music. But yeah, here is “Missed Medicine.”

(mp3 download) Her Space Holiday “Missed Medicine” (mp3 purchase) amazon | iTunes

Next, is Asher Roth. Another white dude who can rap. Not only can he rap, but he can rap well.  It’s nice to see more white rappers come out, not in a racist way, but in a way that shows skin color doesn’t mean a damn thing when it comes to making good music. Check this track that illustrates his frustrations with the constant comparisons to that other famous white rapper.

(mp3 download) Asher Roth “As I Em feat. Chester French” (mp3 purchase) amazon | iTunes

Hitting that middle is Pigeon John and Flynn Adam with their A Tribute Called Quest-ish project Rootbeer. So far, they’ve only released “The Pink Limousine EP,” but if this is a sign of what’s to come. I’m extremely excited, to say the least.  Here’s “Girlies”

(mp3 download) Rootbeer “Girlies” (mp3 purchase) amazon | iTunes

DOOM. The true hip-hop supervillain. Cancelling shows last minute, employed fake-DOOMs to perform in his place are a couple of the shiesty things this masked rapper is known for. But for all his short-comings, he definitely can still kick out a bangin’ album. “Born Like This” is the long awaited follow-up to “MM…Food,” and it has been well worth the wait. This J Dilla produced track is a taste of what you can expect from his latest. This is “Gazzillion Ear.”

(mp3 download) DOOM “Gazzillion Ear” (mp3 purchase) amazon | iTunes

The last I have for you, The Grouch & Eligh. They just dropped “Say G&E!.” Eligh’s production is still on point, and the guest production by Amp Live, Flying Lotus and Rick Rock add some nice touches. These dudes have been around for awhile, and this album has enough cross-over potential to possibly give them some well-deserved respects…or propers, as some would say….anyway! Here is the Barbra Streisand “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” sampled (I think) “No Flowers.”

(mp3 download) The Grouch & Eligh “No Flowers” (mp3 purchase) amazon | iTunes

Well, there it is.  The firstz.  Hope you enjoy these songs, I’ll post some more tracks and various other things pretty consistently…hopefully.

MUCH LOVE.

After carefully listening to the 35 remixes that fans made for the “DJ DJ” Remix Contest, Zumbi and AmpLive have made their decision. Congratulations to Hoyo, Orby Spectre, and Indecent the Slapmaster for winning the contest!

Hoyo was awarded the grand prize for his remix, which showcased a dirty electro twist to the song. Check it out here. The first runner up was Orby Spectre, who brought the funk with his remix. And, Indecent the Slapmaster was awarded the 2nd runner up prize, and gets Evolving Music’s nod for the most creative name for a remix: “DJ DJ Slapped and Slumped“.

All in all, Zion I fans had the best remixing chops that we’ve seen so far! You can listen to all the remixes, whenever you please, on Zion I’s Remix Wizard.

Last week marked the end of the Zion I remix contest for the song off their new release The Take Over, “DJ DJ.” The contest was phenomenal, bringing out 35 quality new remixes of the track by fans and artists. At the beginning of the contest we explained the process and rules, and now it’s time for a quick glance at what some of the contributors produced.

The best part of this contest is the incredible range of sounds and styles that were brought to the re-envisioning of the track. Hiright came with a remix that brought in 808s and a drastic slow down on the tempo of the verse for his “808 Remix” while keeping the backing music uptempo. RockG went the opposite direction on his “Parents R Out of Town” remix, opting for a techno heavy delivery. Also on the electronic side of the spectrum, MixMatchMusic’s Gavroche decided on a “drumglitch” remix, subduing the source material under a pervasive layer of drum tricks. If those two don’t tend enough towards house music for you, DJ STINJ-E’s remix turns Zion I out into a serious rave sound. Inflect took the remix into serious video game sound territory, layering it with blips and beeps throughout before going heavy with the scratching.

While most of the remixes chose to slow down the tempo of the song, SliPro went the other way, upping the tempo behind an ascension of a grimy drum and synth march that sounds like a war march. Mike Ponticello stripped down the chorus over funky bass, and then built the chorus up around melodic synth parts and some haunting and airy backgrounds. Then you have the crunchy sound of the chopped up remix from Autobots.

My two favorite remixes were completely different, as one might hope from a remix contest. Hiright’s second offering is deep, relying on an eerie piano melody, descending space keys and a steady head nodding beat, even adding a dense verse of his own regarding his history with the music. This was the only use of an original verse that I heard in the remixes, which made it stand out. The NeoMob’s remix is the most club-ready in my mind, with great ascension and digitized voice samples.

To check out these remixes, you can visit the site here. And with the results not being announced until after March 25th, your votes still matter!

…okay, that was a lie.

But I’m going to try and keep these reviews short because I have a shitload of them to do! (Even after this batch, I have a stack of thirty or more sitting here waiting to be listened to.)

So… lez go!

AmpLive “Rainydayz Remixes” - Here’s the story: Bay Area producer/DJ AmpLive takes select tracks from Radiohead’s latest album, “In Rainbows,” and does sweet remixes of them featuring the likes of Del the Funkee Homosapien, Too $hort and Chali2na, among others. Since it was an unauthorized remix, AmpLive gives it away for free online. The greedy corporate douchebags at Warner/Chappell Music catch wind of this and deliver a pretty little cease and desist to AmpLive, telling him to pull said tracks from the Internet. Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke catches wind of this and gives his blessing to the album, demanding that Warner/Chappell lay off. Knowing well enough not to piss off a guy who makes you a ton of money, Warner/Chappell rescinds the cease and desist, and whimpers away like a crying bitch with a skinned knee. And now, thanks to AmpLive and Thom Yorke, you can download this eight-track gem for free right here. Enjoy! (NOTE: My friend Lille pointed out that this was actually released a long time ago, but I just came across it and thought I’d share. Free music is always good.)

Raphael Saadiq “The Way I See It” - Long before the world knew him as Raphael Saadiq, this R&B musician was better known as a member of both Tony! Toni! Tone! and Lucy Pearl. With this, his third solo outing, Saadiq has created an album of soulful harmonies that give a shout-out to an era in music that existed long before Raphael was even born. According the Internet, this disc was actually released late last year, which means I somehow missed it along the way. But I’m glad it finally fell into my lap because it’s found a reoccurring spot in my CD player.

Aceyalone & The Lonely Ones “Aceyalone & The Lonely Ones” - My favorite album of this batch! Aceyalone has taken his hip-hop roots and buried them deep into the ground of old doo-wop and soul! The album features upbeat tracks that are guaranteed to get some radio play, but also a few smoothed-out songs that you’d swear were produced decades ago. And I don’t really care one way or the other about swearing in music, but Acey stayed true to the genre and left each and every track curse-free. Quite a feat considering there is so much to swear about in the world today.

Isaac Hayes “Juicy Fruit (Disco Freak)”/”Black Moses” - Another great set of classic albums remastered! Kids might know Isaac Hayes only as Chef on “South Park,” but long before those days he was the sound of pure and concentrated sex, laying his smooth baritone voice over classic tracks like “Never Can Say Goodbye” and “Music To Make Love By.” Originally released in 1971, “Black Moses” features all of the songs and medleys that made it one of Hayes’ most well-known albums (outside of the soundtrack for “Shaft,” of course). And just like the vinyl before it, the Digipak folds out into a cross shape to showcase Hayes in all his Christ-like glory. “Juicy Fruit (Disco Freak)” from 1976 isn’t as well-known, but the seven tracks on the disc feature Hayes at his sexiest, especially on “The Storm is Over.” And the art is just as fantastic, featuring Hayes in a swimming pool being surrounded by six women wearing little more than a Carmen Miranda-style head of fruit. The best part? The photo on the back showing Hayes joyously jumping out of the water with a huge banana in his mouth. Even if you own one of his greatest hits collections, these albums were meant to be heard from beginning to end without pause… preferably with a nude member of the opposite sex… in a hot tub… and with a lot of exotic oils and candles and small mammals and whatnot.

Marcio Local “Marcio Local says, ‘Don Day Don Dree Don Don’: Adventures in Samba Soul” - An Afro-Brazilian blend of dance and soul, Marcio Local mixes classic South American percussion with American influences, like hip-hop and disco. It reminds me of a more scaled-back version of a fellow Luaka Bop alum, Los Amigos Invisibles.

Architecture in Helsinki “That Beep” - I like the Australian-bred, Muppets-gone-wild act Architecture in Helsinki, and I’m especially looking forward to their next follow-up to 2007’s “Places Like This.” Unfortunately, this five-track single release does little for me. Featuring the single “That Beep” and four remixes, there just isn’t that much here, and the best version on the disc is the original release. On top of that, two of the four remixes are by the same DJ team (Radioclit). Was it that hard to find four individual people to remix the song? For me, this is just a not-that-tasty (or filling) snack as I wait for their next main course (their upcoming full-length, “Vision Revision”).

Bruce Springsteen “Working on a Dream” - Springsteen is a weird one for me. When I was younger, I loved his “new” stuff and didn’t get the appeal in his old songs. Now, as an adult, I no longer like those glory days of “Born in the U.S.A.” and cling to his older, more folk-driven work. This new album is a blend of both, mixing his old sound with his really old sound. And it features the track from “The Wrestler,” which I surprisingly do like. Still, nothing on this album is as good as seeing him bang his nuts against a television camera while broadcast live to an audience of 100 million.

Ace Enders “When I Hit the Ground” - I don’t know what it is about me, but I’ve just never found any of the late nineties/early 2000s alt-rock acts that exciting. Ace Enders is better known as the frontman of The Early November, and while this album is an attempt at going in a different direction, we’re given just a bunch of the same old, same old. If you dig The Early November you’ll dig this because it’s that similar. But if you’re like me and are tired of alt-rock pop tunes that all sound the same, avoid it.

John Williams “Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark”/”Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”/”Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” - In the past I’ve been known to give composer John Williams a lot of shit for creating music that all sounds the same. Of course, he has the last laugh because he’s loaded and I’m a poor fuck, but whatever. But these three remastered soundtracks from the Indiana Jones trilogy (I don’t count that “Crystal Skull” turdfest as being an Indiana Jones movie) made me realize something: This is the music I grew up listening to, and because of that I’m nostalgic for it. Each disc includes the original soundtrack, along with numerous previously unreleased tracks, the best being the “Temple of Doom” soundtrack that features eleven new songs. (My favorite is track 19–”Water!”–mostly because I think it has a funny name.) If you’re an Indy nerd, you’re going to want to get rid of your other soundtracks and pick these up, because these are the quintessential releases! Until they release another set a few years from now that has even more unreleased material, of course. Also, and this is an art dork thing, but the packaging on each CD is pretty nice, each coming with a sixteen-page booklet. So my apologies to John Williams… even though I still can’t tell the theme songs to “Superman” and “Star Wars” apart.

Asobi Seksu “Hush” - This duo of James Hanna (guitar/vocals) and Yuki Chikudate (lead vocals/keyboards) are a slightly more psychedelic rock version of Stereolab. It’s a solid effort with some great experiments in sound, but a few of the tracks play it a little too closely to the radio-pop line (“Sing Tomorrow’s Praise,” “Transparence”), and this breaks the album’s momentum. If they can abandon all “safe” tracks on their next album, they may very well be on to something.

Phoenix Rising “Ascension” - This disc starts off a little too New Age-y for me, but by the third track it shifts a bit and becomes more about the individual instruments being used and less about the genre. Phoenix Rising is the Bay Area-based duo of Wendy Loomis (piano) and Monica Williams (flute). It’s not something I would seek out because my likes typically don’t lie in the realm of piano/flute combos, but each of the disc’s seven tracks are an appreciated departure from the wave of indie-pop that has flooded mainstream America.

Knox Bronson “The Seasons” - A beautiful and brilliantly mastered four-track instrumental work that bridges the gap between the orchestral and symphonic, and the subtle digital realm of acts like Plastikman. Each track (coming in around the fifteen-minute mark) represents a different season, and Bronson has somehow managed to rip apart summer, fall, winter and spring, and put them back together in the form of a song. One of the best of this batch.

The Vox Jaguars “The Vox Jaguars” - When I first saw the photo of the Vox Jaguars I thought, “They look like kids!” But that’s just something all old fuckers say, right? Then I read their press release. Guess what? THEY ARE KIDS! With two members listed as still being in high school, I was afraid as I put their CD in my player. But you know what? They’re not bad. This Santa Cruz-based punk quartet reminds me of the Canadian group Born Ruffians, both in their lyrical delivery and style. And sure, they have a long way to go, but this four-track EP is a great start for any band, especially when you consider the fact that most of them can’t even vote yet.

Roxy Epoxy and the Rebound “Band-Aids on Bullet Holes” - The CD that got sent to me for this release was freakishly warped and my player couldn’t read it! Sorry, Roxy!

The Irish Experience “Green Energy” - I guess this would be considered a hybrid of sorts when it comes to Irish music, mixing a classic Celtic sound with some instrumentation that is anything but. Overall, the Seattle-based Irish Experience seems to have a pretty good grasp on the genre, but I wish they’d learn to get rid of some of the electric and synthesized sounds they have going on. I’m not an Irish music purist by any means; I love Flogging Molly, for example. But unlike Flogging Molly, this group seems to be going for more of a natural sound than their punk-influenced brothers. Because of that, the unauthentic elements stand out that much more. To their credit, though, they don’t bog the music down with unnecessary lyrics. Instead, they let the instruments speak for themselves, which is just the way I like it.

-Shady

This is a good line up and a hell of an opening party. I don’t know any of the dudes at Birds but they know whats up and from what I hear they give good cuts. Check this out if you can, I know I’m going to try and make it!
Check out these peeps spaces:
Prince Klassen

Birds Barber Shop

Busdriver

Amplive

For last month’s new music update, click here.

February brought some very excellent music my way. An update of 84 songs spanning most genres included some new music as well as some hidden gems from the years past. Enjoy!

Franz Ferdinand, Tonight: In their first studio album since 2005’s You Could Have it So Much Better, the Scottish blokes return with another round of rollicking, high energy rock music. The staples of their previous musical endeavors are all here, from the steady lock-step drums to the grinding and rapid guitars, all accentuated with Alex Kapranos’s distinct vocals that he ranges from soft caress to forceful leader to out and out yell. While the album doesn’t provide much in the way of evolution from previous work, that’s not to say it’s not solid. In fact, in an era where numerous bands change their face and sound from one release to another, a little continuity isn’t a bad thing. They slow it down nicely with “Dream Again,” showing a more melodic touch to their sound, and on “Bite Hard” they show their ability to start slow to build to a frenetic and recognizable chorus structure. Don’t Sleep On: “Can’t Stop Feeling,” “Twilight Omens,” and “Bite Hard”

Glass Candy, Deep Gems and B/E/A/T/B/O/X: This is a group I just heard about out of Portland, OR. They’re currently on the Italians Do It Better label, with B/E/A/T/B/O/X coming out in 2007 and the Deep Gems album of unreleased tracks released in ‘08. With an eerie female lead vocalist in Ida No, this group specializes in a delicious mixture of 80s pop music fused with dark/deep disco sounds. The grimy bass grooves, melodic keys and moving beats create a vision of dark streets on a rainy night or a dimly lit club for slow dancing hipsters, but would also feel right at home on the Scarface and Grand Theft Auto 2 soundtracks. Imagine a collaboration between Tangerine Dream and Nine Inch Nails with Kelli Dayton, formerly of the Sneaker Pimps, on vocals. If you like 80s, or disco, or just some dark music you can listen to in your cruise to an unmentionable location, Glass Candy will keep your head nodding. Don’t Sleep On: “Feeling Without Touching,” “Etheric Device,” and “Touching the Morning Mist.”

Lake, Oh, The Places We’ll Go: This relatively new (at least in terms of mass release appeal, just signed to K Records) lo-fi indie pop/rock group out of Olympia, WA caught me by surprise. Taking liberally from multiple genres and mixing it up with lyrics from both a male and female vocalist, the album doesn’t fit any one mold. There are hints of Say Hi to Your Mom, Death Cab for Cutie and Peter Bjorn and John here, but also moments of quiet melody that hearken to Feist or Sia. Some of the more uptempo indie moments on the album bring to mind Throw Me the Statue. Pianos, guitars, handclaps and horns find their moments at various points throughout the album, leading to a well-rounded and easily enjoyable album that is effortless as a listen. Don’t Sleep On: “Minor Trip,” “Dead Beat,” and Bad Dream.”

Telefon Tel Aviv, Immolate Yourself: While I’ve been listening to Telefon Tel Aviv since their sophomore release Map of What is Effortless, it wasn’t until I heard about their newest release that I learned about the death of one half of the laptop duo, Charles Cooper. Unfortunately, not much is known about the circumstances surrounding his death, other than he was missing for about a week before he was found, but given the dense emotional contexts of the group’s music, it isn’t hard to see where some levels of despair may have existed for Cooper. While Map brought their electronic sounds to a simple and accessible short format, Immolate Yourself is a densely layered piece that screams of despair behind towering walls of sound, melancholy synth work and distorted and echoed lyrics. At times beautiful for the music and others simply horrendous because of the distress the music belies, Immolate Yourself is a perfect study of what happens when depression meets a talented musician who simply can’t get it all out on paper. No word yet on what Joshua Eustis plans to do, but having been a long time friend of Cooper, it wouldn’t surprise me if it was a bit difficult to go back to the studio without him. Don’t Sleep On: “Your Mouth,” “Helen of Troy,” and “M.”

Zion I, The Take Over: Having already written a review of this album (that you can find here), I won’t say much other than to mention that the songs grow on me a bit more each listen. Don’t Sleep On: “The Take Over,” “Antenna,” and “Coastin’” featuring K.Flay.

The Singles Artists: These artists didn’t get full albums on the music update, but they definitely had a hit or two that got thrown in. For hip-hop fans, check out Kool G Rap (“On the Rise Again,” “What’s More Realer Than That”.) If you like old time classic rock and roll but have grown weary of listening to your Led Zeppelin albums over and over again, check out the new throwback work of the Golden Animals (“Queen Mary,” “My My My”) If you’re an indie rock listener, give Ruby Isle a try (“How It Hurts,” “One Trip.”)

MixMatchMusic Tra.kz releases: For those of you who haven’t been following, MixMatchMusic recently launched Tra.kz , a URL shortener for all things music. As part of that release, a number of bands released new music using the site, to tremendous results. The Expendables, Giant Panda Guerrila Dub Squad, Trifonic, and Pepper all released some new tracks. From Trifonic, we got “Gutter Box,” as well as a smoking remix of Kanye West’s “Love Lockdown.” Pepper brought a soundboard recording from a live concert with “Too Much.” For those with more interest in Pepper, we’ve got an interview coming up, as well as a remix contest, so stay on the lookout for that.

Another great month for new music… can’t wait to see what March has in store. Keep listening.

In 2006, Zion I released their album Break A Dawn, an album previously released only in Japan and brought stateside following the release of their collaboration with The Grouch, Heroes in the City of Dope. And then, radio silence. Without question the group was staying busy with live performances, interviews, AmpLive’s foray into remix work with the Rainydayz Remixes of Radiohead’s In Rainbows, but the gap between Break A Dawn and tomorrow’s release of The Take Over has been the longest drought of new Zion I material since the gap between 2000’s Mind Over Matter and their sophomore 2003 release Deep Water Slang. And the good news? The Take Over shows what ten years of maturity, musical comfort and genre influence can do to two people dedicated to their craft. The bad news? It clocks in at under 50 minutes, and when it ends, you can’t help but wish there was more.

While The Take Over doesn’t carry with it the same continuity of thought that made Mind Over Matter an intro to outro listen, it does bring the most eclectic genre influences into the music since that album. AmpLive’s creativity with his hip-hop and stunning ability to incorporate other genres helps create a musical backdrop for Zumbi’s lyrics that transcend plain hip-hop or rap. Following the intro, “Geek to the Beat” kicks off the album with a mixture of tribal drums and background chant sounds that are mingled with electro synths and heavy 808s. While it would be very easy for other artists to fall into the trap of using one of these sounds at the expense of the others, Amp has managed to find the balance, alternating between the very simple beat and chants during the verse and then bringing in a heavier electric feel for the chorus. The video below has a snippet of the song performed live on Friday night in Oakland.

“Takeover” follows “Geek to the Beat” and provides a much more traditional hip-hop sound. Amp brings in a boom-bap beat with simple keys in the background and a cut up sample that creates a feel of building in the song while you shrug your shoulders to the sample and then feel the beat come back underneath. Zumbi sounds effortless in his lyrics, and as it goes to chorus, the “takeover” sample mixes with undulating synths and a soulful sounding male vocalist sample. As the song fades and goes to outro, Amp’s musical skills are once again on showcase with a funky electro sound that sets up one of the singles off the album, “DJ DJ.”

This track is certainly one of the more out there cuts on the album as it uses techno and fast paced electro sounds with a chorus snippet in Spanish provided by Deuce Eclipse. Amp on here pays homage to his craft by sprinkling in something of almost anything he can find, including 80’s synth work that could have worked in almost any dance hall. What is perhaps most exciting about this track is that it goes in so many different directions, yet the potential for the evolution of the song is further enhanced by the fact that the group has released the stems to the songs online for fans to remix their own versions. Below is a brief clip of their performance of “DJ DJ” from Friday night.

This goes into one of the most solid songs on the album, “Antenna” featuring Amp’s main collaborator on the Radiohead remixes, Codany Holiday. On this track, Holiday’s refrain of “make me feel brand new” sounds at once both current and retro, a heartfelt line used more as hook than as chorus. What’s fantastic about it is that Zumbi appears to have felt it too as he structures his verses around Holiday’s hook, the simple and in places sparse beat and Amp’s synth work which here sound like falling sheets of rain. The result is a reflective song about Zumbi’s current situation and thoughts, with ascending vocoder sounding samples through the chorus. The electro remix and distortion at the tail end of the song helps to break it down before leaving you with the full beat and hook as it trails out. Video of Friday’s performance of the beginning of this song below.

From there we go into the track duo of “Caged Bird Pt. 1″ featuring Brother Ali and “In the Mornin’ (Caged Bird Pt. 2).” These two tracks work as contrasting pieces. The uptempo and refreshing strings provide the melody for a moving and full sounding hip-hop track with a sample-heavy chorus complete with scratch effects and chop up by Amp. The lyrics focus on the idea of something better, and the feeling of the song as a whole is that the street and the cage provide the lyrics, but the music helps open it up and make flight possible. The easy, soulful and bluesy transition to the beginning of pt 2. then gives way to a grimy and deep sound with a much heavier beat. Pt. 2 sounds a bit less hopeful and upbeat than pt. 1, as if pt. 1 is meant to help the caged birds sing, and pt. 2 takes a view of the grind that creates the cage. What’s amazing here is that using the same melody and samples, Amp weaves two completely different songs together with such precision that the split between them is virtually invisible.

“Radio” takes a page from the “Hey Ya” book in that it incorporates a traditional drum/clap sound and acoustic guitar strum, making it sound like a hybrid of hip-hop and 50’s pop music. Zumbi raps about genres and musical evolution on this track that is really a retrospective of radio music and pays homage to the great artists of the past, from Miles Davis to Jimi Hendrix. And on the following track, Amp attempts to bring in a good portion of this retrospective with “Gumbo,” a brief interlude song steeped in horn work and Ragtime influenced jazz. But careful never to let his genre influence tilt too far in one direction, Amp takes the horns and decomposes them to electronic fluctuations of a space jazz variety.

“Country Baked Yams” featuring Devin the Dude is probably the largest departure from Zion I’s signature sounds on the album. It’s a song that will probably do very well on the radio and will have followers, but for me is a bit off. This isn’t to say that I don’t recognize the attempt at something different here and praise the attempt, I just personally don’t think it works. The track is steeped in bubble gum synths and the vocal alteration to a higher pitch makes it feel almost a bit childish. But the chorus is finely crafted with a simple vocal part and a very nice guitar melody with a nice bass line. It’s certainly closer to pop than I’ve heard from Zion I, but as an exploration and experiment, it shows that they’re willing to cross lines and try new things, which I’m never opposed to, even when the results fall short.

“Coastin” featuring K.Flay follows, opening with and carrying through piano that sounds heavily influenced from Amp’s work on Radiohead’s music. The drum clap gives a background for K.Flay’s smooth and somewhat smoky voice and the lyrics by Zumbi sound like he was without question coastin when he wrote it. Amp mixes in some crowd sounds to complete the track. The result is a driving song, perfect for late night with the sunroof open or mid-day with all the windows down. See the clip below:

The last single of the album, “Juicy Juice” comes next, and is the first song that I actually heard off this album a few months ago. The deep 808s and the hyphy feel come out on this Bay Area track that could easily have been placed as the opening track in place of “Geek to the Beat.” The sing-along worthy track, “Peppermint Patty” follows and has the vocal singalong part backed by horns and an eerie melody behind Zumbi’s lyrics. Next is “Bring in the Light” with a grim outlook on the current state of the world, including the bleak but all too familiar thought in the lines “Killing for oil/protest for peace.” Throughout the track, Amp brings jazz touches in, which go full steam ahead in the last minute of the song as he experiments with digitally distorted samples from the song mixed with a jazz piano and more space jazz sounds. While all of the tracks are solid on this album, the outros and interludes are where Amp really shows what kind of producer he is and how well grounded he is musically. They end the album with “Legacy” featuring Ty and Jennifer Johns, a jazz/lounge/pop fusion that draws on some of the tribal beats that show up throughout the album.

All told, there’s something for just about every listener on this album, whether you’ve followed Zion I since Mind Over Matter or if The Take Over is the first time you’re hearing about them (in which case, which rock have you been living under?) Latin, Jazz, Techno, Dance, Blues, Funk and Rock all find a place here, and even when they may not work for a particular listener, the desire to try and experiment with everything can’t be overlooked and is part of what makes the album great. What’s important to note is that while the song by song break down goes to describing what can be found on the album, it doesn’t do justice to the music here. Zumbi’s lyrics are introspective and conscious enough to get better with every listen, and similarly, AmpLive’s production work incorporates so many genres and layers to the musical tapestry he creates here that it’s hard not to constantly pick up new pieces to the sound that you hadn’t heard before. The Take Over drops tomorrow.

Bay Area hip-hop duo Zion I is well known over the course of their discography for exploring musical sounds and genres not typically associated with the sounds of the streets. Zumbi’s introspective and intellectually based lyrics have found an excellent match in the musically curious mind of AmpLive, who aside from remixing Radiohead’s In Rainbows album has brought soul, funk, electro, house and rock vibes to hip-hop in a way that makes Zion I both incredible and enlightening to listen to.

Silent on the discography front since their 2006 collaboration with The Grouch, Zion I has poised themselves for a new group release, their first since they brought the Japanese only release Break A Dawn over the Pacific for a stateside release in ‘06. Their new album, The Take Over, is scheduled to drop next Tuesday, and in keeping with their format of engaging their fans and examining ways to evolve their own music in our current remix culture, they have launched a remix contest for one of the tracks off the new album, “DJ DJ.”

Today, Zion I released their stems from “DJ DJ” to the general public, using MixMatchMusic’s simple Remix Wizard. If you’re an audio wiz already, just download the stems and work them out, but even for those with less musical experience or musicians not interested in downloading the stems, the MixMatch wizard provides the stems and the mixing interface to make this contest accessible to anyone with a computer. What’s excellent about the format here is that it doesn’t require any previous experience, as the wizard is very intuitive and easy to use.

Finish your remix and upload it by March 12th and you’re in the running for some excellent prizes, including a spot for your remix on Zion I’s Myspace page and lots of great Zion I stuff for the winners. For more information or to enter the contest, click here.

"We used to suck at music together, and we decided we're going to suck at music together again"

Just a few brief comments (in chronological order) on what happened at the 2009 Grammy Awards…

I can’t help but say how disappointed I was in the U2 performance.  Fuck your boots, Bono.  I really hope their new album, No Line on the Horizon, doesn’t suck. 

I would propose to Jennifer Hudson.

Justin Timberlake blessed us with the most awkwardly delivered joke – some shit about a “general” store.  It was terrible.

The Reverend is still one of the coolest men alive.

The Jonas Brothers were worse than Timberlake’s joke.

Blink 182 announced that they will play together again.  Tenacious Lee couldn’t give any less of a shit.

Katy Perry rode a banana onto the stage.

Kanye West had his signature complaint.  Although this time he did so with a smile, as opposed to the torrential downpour that we’re used to seeing.

Something about the Radiohead performance really pissed me off.  Maybe it was Thom Yorke’s serious case of the heebie-jeebies that made me feel that way.  Or maybe it’s because I feel that In Rainbows is a bit overrated (I do like AmpLive’s remix album a lot, though — download RainyDayz here).  But how could a band that I actually enjoy upset me so much?  Honestly, I think it was the screwy mic-levels and bad acoustics that spoiled many of the performances at this year’s Grammys.

Neil Diamond’s catalog isn’t deep enough for him to not have to play “Sweet Caroline” in 2009?  I’m sick of that song.  He has a million that are better.

Jamie Foxx has yet to impress me since his days with In Living Color.

Lil Wayne won “Best Rap Album” for Tha Carter III.  The Score still is, and always will be, the best album to ever win this award.

Album of the Year went to Raising Sand by Robert Plant and Allison Krauss.  Was this an upset?  I thought Coldplay was rumored to win this year.

Opinions?

Early in January, Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert sat down with Lawrence Lessig. The interview was typical Colbert tongue-in-cheek, but good for a laugh. For those of you not closely following the implosion of the music industry and subsequent recreation as a more inclusive forum, Lessig is the author of Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy, a book that examines methods of creating revenue out of creative work. The example Lessig used while talking to Colbert was Flickr which allows users to post pictures which Flickr can then create revenue from. But Lessig’s primary argument is that the war on Peer-to-Peer file sharing has failed (he’ll get no argument here) and that the copyright laws are outdated with the vast number of increasing ways people can share, remix and alter original work while making something new. In a way, every blog does this. This post in itself is a remix of two interviews, the functions of two websites and my arrangement of these facts with my thoughts. It’s about as close as I come to making music. The DIY explosion in music is part of the culture that has helped spawn mash-ups like Danger Mouse’s Grey Album (The Beatles’ White Album/Jay-Z’s Black Album) and AmpLive’s Rainydayz Remixes (AmpLive remixing Radiohead’s In Rainbows.) The point is that technology and the rapidly evolving music industry need to find common ground with artists, and not just other musicians, but all artists, as the mixed media medium is something that can only grow from here.

Well, when Colbert was very specific about becoming “possibly litigious” should anyone take portions of his interview and remix it with a dance beat, he had to do so knowing full-well that someone would. He wasn’t disappointed as two days later, internet upstart IndabaMusic jumped into the fray with a full site devoted to remixing the Colbert/Lessig interview. But it didn’t end there, did it? With Colbert, how could it? Never being one to avoid an opportunity to poke fun at himself, Colbert remixed a video of his own work to a pulsing dance beat, and told the remixers to lay off again, to of course encourage them to remix more. Enter Dan Zaccagnino, head of Indaba who had an interview on Colbert the other night (interview at 14m in) to talk about the remix culture. Of course, these types of remixes are nothing new over at MixMatchMusic, which has had success with their Remix Wizard. While the Indaba/Colbert remix contest is excellent, it is Indaba based. MMM’s Remix Wizard is a free widget that can be set up and used by any artist on their website to host remix promotions. It doesn’t even need to have anything to do with music, as evidenced by Remix Sarah Palin.

While Colbert’s thoughts in the interviews with Lessig and Zaccagnino are clearly meant to be humorous, they serve a larger purpose in that these episodes help create buzz for a rapidly growing and increasingly important segment of the music industry: collaborative pieces brought about through alternative means. Indaba has managed to create a large community of musicians from around the world who are engaging in internet based musical collaboration, and this is a huge first step in breaking down barriers within the recording industry.

But with every broken barrier comes the question of the next frontier. While Colbert asked Zaccagnino what happens to girlfriends breaking up bands if the musicians collaborate on the internet, he failed in his attempts at humor to get to the root of the issue, namely monetization of content. While not many musicians will actively think internet collaboration as a means to avoid break-ups with their significant others, a most serious topic of interest to them is how they can profit from their work. No artist likes the idea of losing control over their work, but if knowing that the usage of their work by others would create tangible income for them, the concept of collaboration and other artists who liked them enough to mix them with their own pieces becomes a much more appealing, and therefore widespread trend. As with the foresight of their DIY remix widgets, MixMatchMusic provides the ability for artists to monetize collaboratively made songs, as well as contribute stems to their social sample library to earn royalties.

The monetization of artist work and internet collaboration is the next step in the rebuilding of the music industry. As fans become more involved with the artists because they are part of a shared internet workspace, the desire to support an artist will increase. Add to that the ability to remix their favorite artist’s work, and the fan interaction with the music becomes uncaged. Forget making a mixtape for a friend. Imagine taking your favorite songs and going Girl Talk on them. This interest and desire to support the artist would in turn funnel revenue back to the musicians.

The recording industry would say that this has been the goal of their war on file sharing, but that is an outrageous lie as most artists never see a dime of the few settlements the RIAA succeeds in obtaining. Little wonder then that the RIAA is backing down. In fact, one could argue that the backlash against the recording industry has been fueled by the consumer perspective that the artists aren’t seeing the profits they should. Furthermore, as revenue streams move away from the major labels and into the artists’ pockets, the majors will be forced to work with both musicians and consumers on more viable distribution and revenue models.

But forget about the money and the labels and the upheaval in the industry. How will this help music evolve? As more artists turn to internet collaboration because their work is safe and profitable, the inevitable evolution of genres and musical landscapes will grow exponentially. Think The Beatles and Jay-Z were cool? What happens when you can take a French hip-hopper’s lyrics, a tribal drum beat from a musician in Africa, a flute melody from Tokyo and a guitar piece from Columbus, Ohio, and add it to your piano piece from the comfort of your home and computer? Sure, you could make money, but look at what your collaboration has created musically. When internet collaboration is monetized and all-inclusive, the community becomes the music industry, and the listeners become the musicians.