Kate Nash

In 2007, Kate Nash charmed the world with her cheeky, poppy hit, “Foundations” off her equally cheeky debut album, Made of Bricks.

This month, the British singer released her third full-length album, Girl Talk. A change from the catchy pop that carried her two previous albums, Girl Talk tackles deeper subject matter, according to Nash.

“I think it’s my best work so far, it’s really honest,” she said. “I wrote a lot of personal songs. A lot of s**t went down and happened to me and I kind of dealt with it by writing.”

Nash released this bad boy (or should we say girl?) in style with her extravagant release party inspired by the one and only Carrie Bradshaw.

“It’s really … like Carrie Bradshaw’s book launch.”

The night included the works – gift bags with the album in it, cocktails, press, performances and even a red carpet, just like the “Sex and the City” heroine’s launch.

Now that Girl Talk is out, Nash is taking it on the road, along with her all-female band.

“It feels really amazing to have all women behind me,” Nash said.

Not that she didn’t enjoy performing with men, she said, it’s just a different vibe being on tour with them.

“I can’t really relate, there are no girls having like girl talk or to borrow makeup or if you haven’t got a tampon, even just stuff like that,” Nash said. “I just thought, ‘Why don’t I try all girls?’ These girls are nice and we relate and now they’re like my best friends.”

And it’s that girl-power mentality that inspired Nash to become a global ambassador for the Because I Am A Girl Campaign, which she is promoting with the tour.

“We complain about a lot of stuff that actually we shouldn’t complain about because we’re really lucky with what we have,” Nash said about her recent trip to Africa for the campaign. “There’s not as much opportunity for them but they have so much ambition and will work hard to get it and I think that that’s really inspiring.”

Photo courtesy of CompleteVII.

We walked out of Spybar Friday morning around 3AM covered in sweat and confetti. Not sure where the confetti fit in. Didn’t care.

Me and Adeshola. 

Flosstradamus, the stage name for two Chicago based DJs, J2K (Josh Young) and Autobot (Curt Cameruci), were in Grand Rapids early last month and played a show at The Pyramid Scheme. I missed it because, well frankly I just didn’t know about it, or them. But you can believe that after their all the chatter they caused last month I wasn’t missing it this weekend.

Tiny venue to hold that much energy… the place was packed and for good reason too. Chicago loves Flosstradamus. Check it out:

I’ve decided I should come up with a stage name: DJ NikkiRuth, DJ BabyRuth… my middle name is Ruth, after my grandmother. I’m sure this is exactly what she and my parents had in mind when naming me… the likelihood of it becoming part of a DJ name. Taking suggestions starting now. Once I have the name down I’ll worry about doing the actual work (never gonna happen… former rural white girl).

Marco Polo-produced track from the Toronto emcee’s album “The Pyramid Scheme”.

Here’s what they are bringing down:

Prolonged Enjoyment: Session IPA
The Curl: Imperial Pilsner
Aorta Ale: Double Red Ale
Golden Rule: Golden Pale Ale
Publican Porter: Imperial London Porter
Bludgeon Yer Eye: India Black ale
Bourbon Sustenance: Barrel Aged Black Lager (12 months)
Thundeur: Experimental Black Ale
Earl of Brixom: English Dark Mild
My Bock: German Maibock
Adia’s Ale: Golden Ale w/ Strawberries and Kiwi
‘Merican Wheat: Traditional American Wheat
Alter Spalter: German Altbier
Village Reserve: California Common Ale
Vision Quest: Pilsner w/ Mustard Seeds

Excited? Yum!

Hailing from San Diego, Pinback is a band comprised of two principal players: Armistead Burwell Smith IV (Zach) and Rob Crow. Pinback started as a part-time endeavor back in 1998, when Zach’s band Three Mile Pilot went on an extended hiatus and Rob found time away from his other musical interests (mainly Thingy and Heavy Vegetable). After recording their self-titled debut, released by Ace Fu in 1999, Pinback became a fully realized project.

After a sold out show in February at The Pyramid Scheme, DP is back to bring yet another stellar performance to Grand Rapids!

dead prez  is revolutionary Hip Hop with a Gangsta Lean.  From their debut classic album Let’s Get Free, to their Turn Off the Radio mixtape series, all the way forward to M1′s forthcoming international project AP2P and stic.man’s current ground breaking “fit hop” album The Workout, dead prez’s RBG movement continues to expand and evolve in this Age of Information. -deadprez.com

“The Los Angeles group, comprised of drummer Tim Fogarty and bassist/guitarist Kristian Dunn, set themselves apart from other power rock duos that have been so popular of late by playing an almost jazz-like frenzied rock. The seasoned performers, who have been together since 2003, create a hybrid sound harkening back to progressive jazz rock bands like Mahavishnu Orchestra or Return to Forever, but with a 21st century twist reminiscent of bands like Radiohead. Dunn, alternating on a 12-string guitar and a fretless bass, played frenzied jams modified by an array of electronic enhancements triggered by a sea of foot pedals. Fogarty complemented him with a relentless drumbeat. Listening to the intense wall of sound, it (is) sometimes hard to believe that it was being created solely by a duo of masterful musicians.” -L. Paul Mann, JamBase

El Ten Eleven on BandCamp 

El Ten Eleven on Facebook

Recently named one of 12 Michigan Acts You Should Listen To Now by Paste Magazine, “Frontier Ruckus took Michigan by storm near the end of the last decade with two very solid records, 2011’s Deadmalls and Nightfalls and 2008’s The Orion Songbook. The band’s countless local live performances landed them on alt-weekly covers and made them one of the more beloved local acts in the state. And nationally, they got a bit of attention, too….The songs are all about Michigan, but that hasn’t discouraged more far-flung fans; oddly, there’s something about the specificity of lead singer/songwriter Matthew Milia’s memories that translates to a broader experience…”

Frontier Ruckus online

My name comes from my Egyptian background and heritage. It’s really me  paying homage to my culture and also just some hip hop bragging type shit. By the time these records are done, they will be the fourth one for me. That’s what the plan is.

What is the overall tone of your upcoming release “The Pyramid Scheme”? What do you want your fans to take away from it?

It’s definitely got a lot of different flavors, but the overall tone is sort of  the product of living in a fast paced environment, living in the big city, and just surviving. it’s really a project that I hope by the end of it people know me as an artist and as a person because I think sometimes there is a disconnect between the artist, the persona and the person who is actually making these records. I really try to make an album that was really reflective of who I was as a person and kind of letting people seeing behind the curtain, and maybe get a little closer into my mind as an artist and as a person.

Correct us if we’re wrong, but is “How Can I Love You” a song about your love for and struggle with your relationship with the hip hop culture and community?

It was really about the business. It was also about a woman and it was about record labels. The first verse was about record labels, the second was about the business more so, the third was about women and the business, kind of mixed together. It was metaphorical for basically anything I had love for or attachment to in my life at the time I wrote this song.

 
“It’s so Hot” has a 70’s feel to it. Is that what you were going for? Looking at the video you kind of get that feeling as well.

We reached out to my big brother Greg Nice who is a hip hop legend and I have known Greg for a while and then my man Cosmo Baker he did the cuts, we have a group called the Sheen Brothers.  I want this record to introduce the Sheen Brothers. We’re like some retro cool motherf@ckers, we still rock the party and we’re still up to date with what we do. It definitely does have a throw back vibe. I wanted to make an old school party record and I couldn’t think of anyone better to put on it than Greg Nice. To me it was about trying to make a throw back record but at the same time not trying to be overly nostalgic. It still has a modern kind of vibe to it. We actually released an entire EP as the Sheen Brothers, we got a lot of good dance and house remixes to it on the “It’s so Hot” EP. That was really an introduction record to the Sheen Brothers trying to pay homage to a time in hip hop, when people were make party records like Nice n Smooth. I just felt like I knew Greg for a long time and we had a good relationship so I thought it would be a perfect fit and that’s how that record came about and the nostalgic sound.

 
Who are you currently listening to?

I listen to a lot of people. right now I definitely like Action Bronson, Willie the Kid, The Weeknd, a lot of different stuff. it might not all be new. I’m working on a set right now for sat in Philly so I’ve def been listening to Dilla this month. Big L, it’s the anniversary of his death so I’ve been bumping that today. Its and eclectic playlist, it’s not all rap, 

You have done collaborations with people like Pete Rock, Greg Nice, U-God (of Wu-Tang) and many others. Who would you like to work with next?

Any of the guys I mentioned I would love to do a record with, anyone from my playlist who are still alive. All of those collabos came about naturally. For me it’s about establishing a friendship and relationship. I don’t just collaborate with people for the sake of collaborating. Anyone that I’m a fan of, I’d love to work with a lot of different artists. 

You play many roles in hip hop, from emcee to DJ to producer, of the three, which is your favorite?

I love them all. It just depends on my mood. If it’s a rainy winter cold day, I like to be a producer. If I feel like I want to be a party animal, all eyes on me, its def gotta be the emcee. If I just wanna go to the party and control the mood and atmosphere, then its def the dj. I love them equally, but  in the long run I see myself  producing because that’s sort of where I started and no matter what it sort of plays a role in emceeing and djing. without the production I don’t know if would have been able to branch out and do the other things. 

Although you’re Canadian, we hear a little bit of New York in your rhymes. Is it from the time you spent in the Bronx?

Definitely, beyond the Bronx, I grew up spending the summers in New Jersey with my grandmother. I spent a lot of time in America. It’s funny because people in Canada say I don’t really sound Canadian and people in New York say I sound like a New Yorker. Every different region views my accent differently. Definitely New York influenced my record I have my musical roots in New York more so then  I did in Canada. I got my break in Aqmerica and then opportunities at home started to open up more and more.

Musically, who would you say inspires you? Or has influenced you in the past

There are so many different artists, people who have influenced my sound and my style and artisst that I work with definitely influenced me. Everything from like a Jimmy Hendrix record to a Nas record has influenced me. There are so many that influenced me. I can’t really say one specific artist, I loved Wu growing up. I would say my exposure to different types of music because I grew up in Canada was more than the average person. It was hard to get hip hop where I was from. With the internet now  my influences change almost daily because there is so much music coming out. I try to stay eclectic with people I listen to.  I try not to be influenced to much especially when I’m recording because I feel like it could muddy my view or I may subconsciously be taking cues from things they are doing.

We know that you have the Pyramid Scheme coming out March 13th, are there any plans for a Sheen Bros release this year as well?

Yea, ideally we want to do a Sheen Brothers EP in the summer and that would also come out through Silk Ivory which is my imprint and it goes through Universal. Ideally in the summer you would be getting a Sheen Brothers EP. We are def trying to make some progressive dance type of music with the Sheen Brothers. I’m trying to distance myself from making rap not because I don’t like it but as a producer and when we dj Sheen Brothers our sound is a lot more dance oriented.

As you mentioned its been a few years since your last release, how do you feel that you have changed as emcee since then?

I’m a brand new artist,  I had some releases in the mid 00′s and as far as whoever is riding with me from that era is gonna love what I’m doing. The reality is most people probably view me as a brand new artist. Every project that I do for people who have followed my career is drastically different and I do that on purpose so this record is drastically different from any other project. Overall the difference is my writing is much better I feel, the production is a bit tighter all this is accumulation of all the work that I’ve done. For a fan that s followed my whole career it doesn’t sound like any other record I put out and the Sheen Brothers won’t sound like anything we ever did and the next album I put out will be different. I like to show people diversity.

What can we look forward to from you in 2012?

The Pyramid Scheme first and foremost is def my heart and soul on a record right there, that’s March then in the summer the Sheen Brothers EP and I hope by the end of the year I hope to have another full length Pyramid album done. I def want to be very consistent with the music and keep putting out material and become as prolific as I possibly can be because that’s what it comes down to is having that catalog for people to find and you never know what each record can bring.

Simahlak-produced track from the Toronto emcee’s forthcoming album “The Pyramid Scheme” which features input from the likes of Greg Nice, Marco Polo and Saukrates.

This is authentic Hip Hop. Here’s another group of guys that I feel bad about not being familiar. The beat is crazy. Check out 4th Pyramid’s site HERE.

4th Pyramid Ft. Greg Nice & Cosmo Baker – It’s So Hot (Sheen Bros) by 4thPyramid

exhibit a: the rob bliss waterslide thing. now granted, i’ve said some less than kind things about rob bliss in the past, but i’ve always liked the actual events he’s put together even if i “disagree” with his personality.  someone says to me: “dude (cause all of my friends are surfers, naturally), some kid is turning lyon into a giant waterslide, like in that dodge commercial,” i say, “sign me up, bro.”

not grand rapids.  grand rapids is dicks.

who’s paying for it?! did you read the damn article?! and i’m sorry your kid has leukemia, but what exactly does that have to do with anything?  he probably shouldn’t be on a giant waterslide regardless of the supposed “germ” issue.  here’s some more stupid people.

oh my god, shut the fuck up. and e-coli?  i don’t think you know how that works, rollin butler, if that is indeed your real name, WHICH I DOUBT!  granted, people who comment on local news stories tend to skew overwhelmingly toward awful.  but i’m also seeing people i actually know constantly bitching about really cool shit.

“man, I AM SO SICK of talented filmmakers and hilarious actors coming to grand rapids to shoot movies.  can we get bloated val kilmer back to shoot some direct-to-dvd crap?”

“art prize is just fucking grand rapids elite trying to control the scene, man, even though last year’s probably brought in 200,000 people and $7.6 MILLION to the area.”

“fuck all these new bars and venues popping up downtown.  the orbit room is just fine with me, thank you very much!”

god damnit, people. grand rapids is starting to get awesome in a big way and all you pricks can do is bitch and complain.  and it’s not just outside film companies and business owners doing cool shit.  there’s tons of artists and bands and photographers and god knows who else making and writing and shooting and god knows what else-ing.  i posted this earlier this week but it bears repeating here: when did it become uncool to be excited about shit?

obviously, me bitching about people bitching just helps create a bitching infinite loop that eventually will pull us all into a bitching black hole that no bitching can escape (too much?). so think of this as a call to arms against negativity.  i love grand rapids.  it has a lot of potential to be the next great mid-western city.  don’t drag it down with all your too-cool-for-schooledness.

-srd