The Jack Johnson Sessions are so Good

No not that Jack Johnson, that Jack Johnson.

"The Mask" (part one) by Miles Davis

"Wow, Miles Davis invented Grindcore." - The Breetard

One Snazzy Joint

So a couple nights ago I spent some quality time with the breetard and our parents and we were lucky enough to have gotten tickets to Dizzy's Club in Manhattan as a Christmas gift (yeah Grandma). I'd never been to the place before and was pretty blown away. It's a real small place, with a slightly raised stage, and the wall behind the stage is entirely glass, looking out over the city. The tickets didn't say who was going to be performing so it was a nice surprise when we got there that it was actually someone I'm familiar with, Paquito D'Rivera. He played with an ensemble of 6, plus a bandoneon player on several songs. Although all the instrumentalists were extremely talented, the bass player stood out for me as the virtuoso of the group (outside of D'Rivera himself). During one piece he played two extremely complex counterpoint melodies at once, using each hand to hammer-on the notes. The percussion was phenomenal as well. The set player was amazingly technical in his playing and the auxillary percussionists did a great job of blending their sounds with his, playing more drums, chimes, bells, and other little noisemakers than I could count. The trumpet / trombone player had a style very similar to D'Rivera's sax playing, very fast and highly melodic, with few sweeping notes and lots of staccato. Although he was playing mostly a background role, the pianist really shone on the slower pieces and one of the later up tempo songs. There was a section where he and the bandoneon took the center stage playing off of each other that was one of the high points of the show. D'Rivera himself still blew them all away, playing swirling complex melodies as if it was the most natural thing a person could do.

Unfortunately, he was not wearing this outfit.

Not only is D'Rivera an amazing sax player, but he was completely comfortable on stage talking to the crowd. He didn't overdo it with the talking, but threw in a couple stories about Gillespie, who he worked with from a very early point in his career, and background information on the pieces they played and the different genres they crossed. Monday is D'Rivera's last night at the club, and I'd guess it was sold out, but if you can get there by any means, It comes highly reccomended from yours truly. Even if you have a chance to see him elsewhere, or see someone else at Dizzy's, I'd say both would be enjoyable experiences.

"Guataca City" (to David Amram) by Paquito D'Rivera
This song's a great example of the style of most of his set. Upbeat, complex melodies. Awesome.

In other news, I've listened to "Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes" by Paul Simon at least 5 times today. I hope everyone keeps in mind how great a song that is. How great the whole graceland album is, even.

"Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes" by Paul Simon

Heeeeee is 1-3-8

I don't think I've ever made a secret of the fact that I love the Misfits.

Even though the band was finished before I was even born, I've loved them since the first time I heard them, sometime back in Grade School. When I first started playing my guitar with bands in people's basements, we played Black Sabbath and the Misfits. If I really stop to think about it, I'll always put Glenn Danzig in my top 5 vocalists. Sometimes I even think about getting a misfits tattoo. But not this one...

I came across this today while trolling the internet for hookers and I am dumbfounded by it on so many levels. I can't even imagine what this guy is going to do for the rest of his life. He's pretty much resigned himself to being in movies like Dee Snider's "Strangeland" for the rest of his life. Or he could be one of the gang-bangers in the first Batman movie that had Chris O'Donnell. Remember those magnificient neon bastards?

Now there's a face that won't have trouble finding a job. Unless it's in a hit movie.

I feel like even the members of the various groups that have used the Misfits name would see this guy and say, "Errr, maybe a bit overboard... mmm?"

"Last Caress" by the Misfits

I don't care if this song is about killing babies and violent sex with the listener's mother. The first time I heard this song, I knew by the end of the first two bars that it was a beautiful song. It really is.

"Bullet" by the Misfits

Probably the most artful use of the phrase "Masturbate Me" to ever be used in conjunction with a historical analysis of the JFK assassination.

"Angelfuck" by the Misfits

If you can listen to this song and "Last Caress" and tell me that Danzig doesn't have ridiculous chops as a vocalist, then you can go straight to purgatory.

"We are 138" featuring Henry Rollins by the Misfits

This live track is hilarious. Take notice of how Henry doesn't seem to have a consistent handle on the lyrics and devotes himself instead to wordless screaming. In all fairness, this was recorded during a time period when Rollins was supposedly ingesting tons of Acid.

The Ghost, plus Art of the Mix

So... new Ghostface with a titty-delicious album cover. It must be good, right? Maybe. I avoided putting my commentary out right when I first heard the album, as to not jump the gun on hasty opinions, but more than a week or so later, I'm still not sure how I feel. It bears definite similarities to fishscale, but while fishscale branched out with the far out sounds on tracks like Just Blaze's "The Champ", Pete Rock's "Dogs of War", and DOOM's "Underwater", The Big Doe Rehab is relatively narrow in the scope of its sound and lacking in big gun producers.

The production is heavily dipped in a classic R&B sound. Two appearances from the Rhythm Roots All-Stars take things in the direction of latin funk and afrobeat, but both appearances are saved for skits, not songs. I'm not entirely sure what to think of Ghost's flow on the album either. Previously, he's used a slow calm voice for smoother R&B tracks. Here we see him spitting in the hype shouted style he normally reserves for more bombastic cuts. It provides an interesting dynamic between the vocals and the beat, but it also leaves the listener wondering how much time and thought went into the album as a whole. Final verdict, Ghostface on a bad day is still Ghostface. This is an album I'll definitely keep in rotation, but it's not destined to become one of the Wu Tang classics.

One of the tracks that stands out for me is "Shakey Dog Starring Lolita" feat. Raekwon. The track is a sequel of sorts to "Shakey Dog" off of Fishscale and is one of the few times on the album where it seems like Ghost's flow was well matched to the track. He goes a bit off the deep end towards the end of the track, though.

"Shakey Dog Starring Lolita" feat. the Chef by Ghostface Killah

In Other News,

I've recently gotten into the website Art of the Mix. Users post up the tracklists of their own mixes (mp3, CD, minidisc, or mix tape) and share feedback with each other. There are a TON of wack mixes on here, but I've also come across some interesting stuff, like A Danceable Solution to Teenage Revolution and Babylon's Burning Vol. 1. My first contribution to the site went up today (you can see it here) and I decided I'd share it here with you folks. The zip file contains all the tracks from side A and side B, albeit out of order. Here's the tracklisting for those of you too lazy to click over to AOTM.

Download, Cigarbox Guitars Volume 3, Riot Riot Fight
(megaupload)

Side A

1. "Start the Riot" by Atari Teenage Riot
2. "I Feel Like Dying" by Lil' Wayne
3. "Silver Rocket" by Sonic Youth
4. "Indecision Time" by Hüsker Dü
5. "Atmosphere" by Joy Division
6. "What's the Latest?" by Riff-Raff
7. "Lighters" by Plow United
8. "Never as Tired as When I'm Waking Up" by LCD Soundsystem
9. "Lightworks" by J Dilla Jay Dee
10. "Ain't the Devil Happy" by Jeru tha Damaja
11. "Dead Flowers" by the Rolling Stones
12. "Remainder" by Rites of Spring
13. "Purgatory" by Indecision
14. "Natural's Not In It" (from the Peel Sessions) by Gang of Four

Side B

1. "Bonjour Jeune Fille" by The Blow
2. "A Dream" (Blockhead Remix) by Donny Hathaway
3. "Patience" by Rites of Spring
4. "Me and You" by Egg Hunt
5. "USA" by Reagan Youth
6. "Work, Part II" feat. Big L by Gang Starr
7. "Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards" by Billy Bragg
8. "House of Cards" by Radiohead
9. "Pass This On" by the Knife
10. "Be Good" by Tokyo Police Club
11. "Las Cruces Jail" by Two Gallants
12. "Banned in D.C." by Bad Brains
13. "Donuts (outro)" by J Dilla Jay Dee
14. "Workonit" by J Dilla Jay Dee
15. "Minor Threat" by Minor Threat

I know it might not seem like it, but Atari Teenage Riot into Lil' Wayne sounds SO GOOD.

You're Not Crunk and I'm Telling Everyone

So when I saw that Lil Jon was involved with the Florida pop-punk outfit Whole Wheat Bread, then saw his use of the slogans "Crunk's Not Dead" and "Crunk Ain't Dead", I deduced he probably was into Punk in his day.

After that, I didn't think much of it. Fast forward to today, when I'm bored and trolling wikipedia. As I'm reading about Bad Brains, I see that (minus H.R.) the band joined Jon on a remix of a song he did with Ice Cube, using a new arrangement of the instrumental from "re-ignition". Fucking awesome. Then I see that not only is Lil Jon a huge Bad Brains fan, but he was into Minor Threat too.

"Roll Call Bad Brains Remix" by Lil' Jon

"Re-Ignition" by Bad Brains

"Screaming at a Wall" by Minor threat

Possible pre-cursor to "to the windoooow, to the wall!"??? Could be...

Tang-sgiving

I was going to post a happy thanksgiving post, but how can I be happy when there's sadness in Shaolin? I'm pretty out of touch with the blog world lately, so I'm a little late on this, but I came across Miss Info's interview with Raekwon today.

Dude's pretty anti-guitar and anti-Rza. Plus, stay tuned for a wu-tang album WITHOUT THE RZA. Why would they think that's a good idea? I know Ghostface has been vocal about his displeasure, and Method Man has voiced his concerns in the past, but I'm curious to hear where the others stand on this. I'm guessing U-God will go with whomever wants to put him on. I can't imagine a split between the Rza and the Gza, but even if these guys are angry at the Rza, how could they leave the Gza? He's the genius. This just doesn't sit well with me.

Iggy Pop and the Boys... or Paul's Power

Since the summer, I've been whipping a new(er) car with a big advantage over my old car. A tape deck. I'm sure there are folks out there who think a tape deck would be a step down from a mp3/CD player, but really, that's balderdash. Having a thought out mix CD is always nice, and plugging in your iPod is handy (if it hasn't been stolen yet), but there's a certain quality to a homemade tape that just can't be beat.

Recently a friend gave me a tape that I thought deserved special mention on here. Side A of the tape, Paul's Boutique by the Beastie Boys.

see the scenic LES corner, mere blocks from ABC No Rio!

Flip to side B, and it's Raw Power by Iggy and the Stooges.

pre James Mecklenberg days

Sonically, yeah, the albums are pretty different. I wouldn't have expected them to go together very well. It's such a great combination though. Even though they approach it very differently, both albums have a strong element of chaos that helps them vibe together, and the entire package makes for a great driving tape.

"B-Boy Bouillabaisse" by the Beastie Boys

The epic 9 song mega track that closes out the album. My favorite part is the third song, "Stop That Train". Not only is the beat funky as hell, but there's a great sample of Keith and Tex's song, "Stop That Train", that vocalist/DJ Scotty recorded a singjay version of for the The Harder They Come soundtrack.

"Draw Your Brakes" by Scotty

"Search and Destroy" by Iggy and the Stooges

The first Stooges track to come blistering out after the automatically tape flipping. Already a great start to an album, now an even better start to the album. It makes me drive recklessly.

Speaking of the cover of Paul's boutique, if you're in the vicinity on November 24, you should check out Street Smart Cyclist at ABC. Go to their myspace and download the songs yourself.

Pink and Blue

So, my job started consuming my life, I saw LL Cool J with the LOX and Clipse, I moved to Brooklyn, saw the Bouncing Souls at Coney, saw T.I. again and took a vacation to see Weezy upstate, I went back to college, I quit my job, etc etc. Long story short, I was not contributing anything here anymore. Now I am.

This song just recently came to my attention, I know I've heard it before, closer to when it came out, but I must have not known the title.

Pink and Blue by Outkast

Much to my chagrin, it is not a cover song.

Pink and Blue by the Mountain Goats

Free Head

Its been quite some time and I’ve been working on a couple things here and there. October was suppose to be the month to get this place back in the swing of things but alas, it hasn’t happened. Until I can post something up here’s the new Radiohead for anyone who’s having problems with the download from their site.


inrainbows

Beasties in the Pool

Pretty late with this review; oh well, gotta keep the blog alive. So this post is a little different from the rest - I figured since I was drunk at the show I might as well be drunk writing the review (excuses, excuses I know..) but I caught the BBoys earlier in the month at McCarren Park Pool in Brooklyn and it was straight on point. First off any show I can have easily accessible free parking, even according to NYCPD, is a fuckin’ hit in my books right off the bat. Got there with no problems and the park was set up right next to a couple bars and bodega’s all supporting Brooklyn Brewery which was served at the pool too.

Put back a few in the park across the street while one of the chicks from Luscious Jackson was DJ’ing then made my way into the show. Opened with Hello Brooklyn and closed with No Sleep ‘til Brooklyn and as I suspected on my ride to the show this was in fact the first Beastie Boys show in Brooklyn to date. The atmosphere was more or less a block party and the boys were playful with each other on stage and even brought out Rev Run at one point.

They mixed instrumental segments with DJ set and that kept everything moving nicely and apparently played a more varied set list than what was the norm for most of the tour. Everything was on point except having to wait 30+ min for a fuckin beer but I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I think by now most of the show is all over YouTube but here’s a couple clips.

Hello Brooklyn/ Root Down

Open Letter to NYC/ Rev Run On Stage


No Sleep til Brooklyn

C Ray Z MoNsterS

Sharkey and C Rayz Walz just put out their latest collaboration Monster Maker and I don’t mean to jump on the hype-wagon but this is a good one. I honestly have never heard anything from Sharkey before but he brings in a very unique soulful style and group of beats that surprisingly work well with C Rayz’s flow. It’s hard to describe the sound of this album but it’s funky as hell, even bordering on dancehall at points, and the samples are very random with the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s and even John Denver making it on different tracks. There’s some female singing on it too which fits in perfectly over the more song structured beats (I could look up her name but I’m too lazy). C Rayz keeps it interesting with amusing lines and tailored flows to compliment each track although I will say he sometimes blends in almost too well and gets lost in the beats and singing which often rocks hard enough on it’s own with out him. Check out these tracks, they’ll give you a better idea of what all the fuss is about better than I can.

Forgotten

This Ol' Twisted World

My Way

MM..Seconds??

So the re-release of MF DOOM’s last album came out last Tuesday and from what I understand the original, put out in 2004, was yanked for sample clearance issues that have since been fixed. It’s basically the same release except there’s a new beat for Kookies (apparently Sesame Street wasn’t down with DOOM using their shit). Special perk this time round is they’ve got a DVD showcasing footage from his stops from the MM..FOOD Drive Tour in 2004 when he originally released the album. That was my first time seeing DOOM and the NYC BBKings footage is the best on the DVD in my opinion. I remember wondering why there were crowds of cameras surrounding DOOM during the show but looking back I’m glad they were there now. Bumping ‘the Fine Print’ on my DVD player brings back some awesome memories from that night and for the hour long performance video alone this is worth copping – I’ve got it sitting next to the original release right now. Here’s a promo clip from Rhymesayers and DOOM performing Beef Rap from the DVD.

Promo


Beef Rap

Rocking Bells

Since Druglas got his shit together and posted his two cents on Rock the Bells, I figured I should do the same. First off, I have to ask, what is wrong with white people? I like to get into a performance, and maybe I don't get as physically into rock and roll as I used to, but in my mind it just seems unnecessary to mosh your face off to Cypress Hill. If it's during "Rock Superstar" that's one thing, but during "I wanna get high"? Could you pick a mellower song to start the moshing during? Never mind that the mooks behind me decided to start moshing after they ingested a fist sized bag of coke. Cuz that's not a recipe for disaster. Anyway, other than some inappropriate moshing, way too much rain, and the perils of mass transit, it was a good day. I got there a while before Druglas, so the Breetard and I were able to catch the Grouch and Eligh's set.

I had dismissed them in the past after a few listens, but they rocked the shit out of their set on Sunday. Eligh is definitely the shining star of the duo, but that's not to say the Grouch wasn't holding his own. Since the theme of the day seemed to be everyone getting backed out of their skulls, it was appropriate that "No More Greener Grass" was the highlight of their set. After that, MURS came out to rally the crowd for Mr. Lif, who was joined by Akrobatik for most of his set. I enjoyed their performance, but I was more excited to skeedaddle to the main stage and catch Blackstar.

Talib went through his solo material first and ripped it. I've missed out on seeing him live so many times that it was really great just to be finally seeing him and it helped that he fucking killed it. Mos Def's solo set was a little bit more lackluster, with too much meandering singing. It was really cool, however, when his DJ spun Aretha Franklin's "One Step Ahead" before dropping the beat for "Ms. Fat Booty", the crowd went ape, and rightly so. That moment aside, the high point in Mos's performance was when he went into "Definition" and was joined onstage by Talib. Then Rakim was up.

To me, it felt like he was standing in front of a largely unappreciative crowd. His set was fantastic, however, despite the tepid crowd response.

Cypress Hill was kind of ruined for me by the jackoffs sniffing blow and punching people right behind me. Before those guys really got into it though, the set was really enjoyable. Especially the gigantic inflatable Buddha onstage. Public Enemy was really good too, but I didn't stick around for a complete rocking, instead making my way over to catch Doom.

As Drug already informed you, Doom was sick, even if it was a much shorter set than it should've been. It was pretty cool that once most of the crowd ran away to catch the Wu, Talib came out to rock "Old School".

Maybe I'm a little spoiled when it comes to the Wu Tang. Around this time last year when I saw them, I met Ghostface, and I spent the show within arms reach of the stage. Needless to say, it was a little different watching them perform from about a football field's length away. I was a little disappointed with the absence of Ghostface, and the apparent substitution of a portly Ghost look a like. Either way though, it's the Wu Tang, and my ever-present hip hop chubb for them was in full effect.

Seeing Rage was like a flashback to '99, the last time I saw them. I was kind of surprised at de la Rocha's relative silence in between songs, until I heard there was some backlash over things he'd said the night before about assassinating George W. I kinda thought that things of that nature were standard fare for Rage - last time I saw them, they burned an American flag - but I guess he was asked to tone it down. To be honest, it was a little disappointing to see that he acquiesced and just did the show without the political ranting.

Rock Randalls in the Rain

Rock the Bells mo’fucker. Better late than never (seems to be the theme of all my posts) but last Sunday me and the Green Hornet were at Randalls Island getting soaked checkin’ out this festival. Speakin’ for myself I thought it was dope especially considering I got cheap tix and there were a lot of groups I’ve been listenin to for years that I finally got to see. When I first got in I was at the Paid Dues Stage and caught the tail end of Mr.Lif which wasn’t as dope as I would have imagined although he’s a really nice guy and I was lucky to meet him later in the day.

Next up was Cage and Yak Ballz two of my guilty pleasures in the underground hiphop scene. Along with Cage came the rain and everyone got drenched but luckily his performance was dope and they made up for it. I dunno if it woulda been as nice for someone who wasn’t as familiar with the songs but it hit the spot for me. Brother Ali was next and he’s always been impressive live. That albino gets the crowd goin' every time and his set showcased mostly his new album, a sick acapella and a couple older favorites . Felt was up next and Slug and Murs were in good spirits getting the crowd into it. Slug and Ant pulled out godlovesugly to please the Atmosphere fans but right bout then I left for the main stage.

Erikah Badu pulled a no show so Cypress Hill set got bumped up and I ran over there to join the crowd and pull a blunt break. Seemed like it was a greatest hits set for them and I was kinda out of it (go figure) but they played Hits from the Bong, Dr. Greenthumb and I wanna get High which sounded pretty tight. After that Public Enemy came on but I wandered back to catch Living Legends and get some grub ($8 Philly Cheese Steaks – fuck that). Living Legends were on for awhile and shit kinda lagged towards the end even being familiar with most of what they played. After they got off we waited again for DOOM to turn up and the DJ bullshit over the mic. I’ve seen DOOM a few times now and he always makes the crowd wait and this time was no different. When he came on he dropped a couple Dangerdoom tracks he’s never done live and Monkey Suite which was a treat but the rest was pretty standard and he only was on stage for 30 min even though he was scheduled for a full hour. My guess is he cut it short cause over half his crowd bounced when Wu Tang was came on stage in the middle of his set.

Wu was dope and Method Man took the front man roll and held the act together. I’m not a huge Wu fan so I’ll let Green Hornet chime in on this one for a better run down on their performance. Rage came after and it sounded liked 1996 all over again. Nice to finally see them live and they were tight as could be with a trimmed down set-list hittin all the favorites to fit their time slot. Great show overall and I’d do it again if I had the chance. Here’s a couple youtube clips from the show, enjoy.

DOOM Montage



Cypress Hill - How I Could Just Kill a Man


Rage - Know Your Enemy Clip


Hot 97 Interviews/ Run Down

T.I.P. Comin live from the VIP

I wrote this post a while back after I saw T.I. at the hard rock cafe. Apparently I left it in drafts and never posted it, so here it is.

So last night, after standing in line for way too long, I caught T.I.'s show at the Hard Rock cafe. I remember that I had a blast, but I can't remember too much detail, so I'm just going to critique what I can recall.

6 Pack of Bluepoint Toasted Lager at Penn Station

Always refreshing, but trying to twist off the non-twist off cap I made myself bleed.

Styrofoam coffee cups of Bud Light and Heineken on line outside the Hard Rock Cafe

I can't remember ever having a heineken and not thinking, "ugh this tastes like ass." Standing out there for eternity in that line though, that Heineken hit the spot like nothing else.

Double Jack Daniels on the rocks at the Hard Rock Cafe

Apparently the laws of math don't apply inside the Hard Rock Cafe, where a single is 1.5 oz and a double is 2 oz. Most of this drank was accidentally poured down a friend's face.

Triple Shot of Patron on the Rocks with Lime

Never before have I ordered something just because it was mentioned in a T Pain song and I don't think I'll ever do it again.

Shot of Patron

Just unneccessary. Also costs just as much as a triple shot of Patron on the rocks.

Red Bull

Tasted more like grapefuit juice. Couldn't have been entirely grapefruit juice though, because I hate grapefruit juice.

Then the show ended and I wound up at some bar in Williamsburgh. I think there was a PBR, a magic hat #9, and a gin and tonic involved, but I can't even really be sure. As far as my goofy dancing ass could tell, T.I. put on a great show. He did "Big Things Poppin'" instead of "Big Shit Poppin", which I guess would make it easier for MTV to edit (they recorded the show). Come to think of it, I don't think he cursed at all. My only other complaint would be that he did an extremely abbreviated version of "Rubberband Man", which was basically the one song I've been looking forward to for weeks. All in all it was a great show, but it really made me want to see T.I. outside of an MTV setting.

"Rubberband Man" by T.I.

A Bit of Grass-Stain Does Not a Ruined Pair of Jeans Make

Lil late with this review but the Green Hornet and I attended the Decemberists show this past Monday at Central Park Summerstage and it was pretty damn good. I had some déjà vu after seeing the Decemberists open for Death Cab at the Summerstage 2 years ago, and it was great to see them headlining this time around. This concert was also particularly special for me as it was the first show in a year I’ve seen due to my blown out ears and tinnitus I’ve been dealin’ with but the Decemberists lived up to my expectations. (PSA – protect your ears people, one day they wont stop ringing and you’ll go deaf - no joke) I missed Grizzly Bear who opened but from what I’ve heard on their Myspace page and what I heard as I was walking to the show through the park I didn’t miss much.

After I got there I grabbed a poster, done by Mike King and awesome as usual, and waded through the indie kids to find a spot towards the back. Central Park is nice because it’s wide but shallow so you’re not too far away from the stage and usually have some room to breathe even with a full crowd. The Summerstages’ boring lighting and notoriously poorly mixed audio didn’t distract too much although every time Nate would switch to his electric bass things got a bit muddy. That aside, the set list was awesome and highlighted a lot of songs they haven’t been doing this current tour since most shows have been with an orchestra. As Colin said, they were playing a collection of summer songs to fit the atmosphere and pulled out some of my personal favorites like July, July!, Oceanside, Billy Liar, and Red Right Ankle. They also played a chunk of tracks from the Crane Wife which supplied some of the lower points of the set for me, I could have done without the Island and would have rather heard the Tain or California One, but it was nice to hear these newer songs at the same time. There was some nice crowd interaction during Chimbley Sweep with Colin instructing the band and entire audience to sit down on cue as usual and Mariners’ Revenge Song is becoming a classic set closer for them.

The band was tight for the most part and this was the first time I had seen them as a 5 piece. Jenny and Chris Funk held down the various side instruments although the lack of a strong female backing vocalist was noticeable (Jenny sounded better when Petra was touring with them in my opinion). John lightened the mood by acting goofy although he must have been suffering from some mild ADD during Mariner’s Revenge with Jenny having to politely remind him that it was time for him to sing one of the verses. The amount of talking was kept to a minimum in light of the strict Summerstage curfew which was fine by me and resulted in a 4 song encore and nice full set. It’s good to see the Decemberists getting the recognition they deserve and all in all it was a quality show for Central Park.

Here’s a youtube video of the Chimbley Sweep antics for yah and the Infanta from one of their orchestral shows (unfortunately no orchestra in NYC). From what I understand Colin’s gonna be around for another solo tour this winter – lookin’ forward to that one. Until next time…

The Infanta (with orchestra)

Back in the Day.... 2000

So once upon a time not too long ago, when the hornet wore Vans and lived life slow, I loved to hate on people who liked weezer. I thought liking weezer was the silliest thing ever. I thought Buddy Holly was so corny, even though I loved the video, and I took every opportunity I could find to make fun of my friends who liked weezer. The problem with this was that I really didn't do my homework too well. Sometime in the late summer of 2000, maybe the fall, I found myself sitting in a room with two ladies I was friends with. They decided they really wanted to listen to weezer, so the girl whose house we were in fired up Napster and started playing "Suzanne". Now I'd seen Mallrats, like any teenager with an affinity for nerd culture and crude humor, so I recognized the song instantly. The problem was I had professed my love for this song before. Before I knew it was weezer. After that it was like an avalanche. I found out that "Pink Triangles" was a weezer song. I found out that "Say It Ain't So" was a weezer song. All these songs I really liked were turning out to be weezer songs. It turns out I had had a pretty weak grasp on what songs weezer actually played. So I bought the Blue Album, my brother bought Pinkerton, and we rocked.

The thing is, even once my love for weezer had blossomed, I still hated the song "Holiday" off of the Blue Album. I used to program my CD player to play every track except that song. Something about the way they elongated the syllables in the word "heartbeat" just made me angry. I got into arguments with people over how awful the song was. Everyone else seemed to love it.

Today I came across the album and ended up listening to it end to end while I did my security rounds at work. I don't know what it is, maybe I've matured in some way, but I really enjoyed "Holiday" tonight. So much so that I listened to it twice in a row. I've always felt that even though I didn't like it, it set up the album perfectly to close on "Only in Dreams", but tonight it was more than that. I really enjoyed the layering on the vocals, the organs, everything just fit together. I'm even having trouble figuring out what could have made me hate it so much. That was always the one flaw that the Blue Album had for me. Now I guess it's perfect.

"Holiday" by Weezer

Blazin' Hip Hop + SYL

I've spent most of this summer in a pretty deep mainstream rap phase. It probably started with summer jam and the anticipation of summer jam, but so far it hasn't let up. Seeing T.I. on Thursday probably isn't going to do anything to slow it down (thankyou eBay), although seeing the Decemberists on Monday and Elvis Perkins on Saturday possibly could. Anyway, I bring this up because today was one of the rare occasions lately where I've really jammed on something you couldn't find on hot 97 or power 105. I was playing kickball and one of the base coaches shouted "run to the hills!" I don't know about you, but I don't think I've ever heard that phrase uttered without thinking of Iron Maiden. I spent most of the rest of the game singing in my metal falsetto (and making ill double plays) and when I came home I decided to sit down and listen to some Maiden.

"Run To The Hills" by Iron Maiden

Listening to Maiden brought me to listen to Strapping Young Lad, a band I don't even think I've thought about since I started working at WSOU almost four years ago. I believe I've missed them, though not too much.

"Far Beyond Metal" by Strapping Young Lad

Sour Diez

For whatever reason, I can't stop listening to this song. Maybe it's because it brings back memories of my fondness for that lemon lime dank. Maybe it's because you could have a dime in the coin purse of your jeans and as soon as you pulled your pocket open a little, the whole room smelled like someone was burning already. Maybe it's those little yellow hairs on the plush fluffy green goodness. Maybe it's because of this production. I know it's not because of N.O.R.E. or Dame Grease's sub sub par rhyming. Maybe it's Styles. Whatever the reason, I can't stop listening to this song.

"Sour Diesel" feat. N.O.R.E. & Styles P by Dame Grease

What You Know About Selling Out in 9 Seconds or So

So I was all excited to buy tickets to see T.I. at the Hard Rock Cafe. I stayed up till 9 after my graveyard shift and everything. I reload the ticket page from 8:59 to 9:00 and as soon as tickets are available, I start buying. I try to buy 5. No luck. I try to buy 4. 2. 1. Sold out. All before 9:02. Damn, T.I.

"Top Back" by T.I.

Wu Tang Wu Tang

So I've finally got something new to add to my list of "things that wasted six dollars".

If there's one thing you can count on, it's that any rite-aid / walgreens will have a bin of Kung-Fu DVDs. Inevitably, there is always at least one Wu-Tang DVD mixed in, not counting the actual Kung Fu movies with Wu related bonus features. Usually I spot them, glance at the synopsis, then put em back thinking I should buy one sometime. For whatever reason, I decided to pick one up when I saw U-God's (not) smilin' face on the cover. I've always liked Baby U-ey and I thought it might be interesting to see him air out the rest of the Clan. I thought wrong. The whole DVD consists basically of U-God bigging himself up, talking smack on Ol' Dirty, the Rza, and the Gza, and talking about how he'll punch anybody else in the face if they talk smack on Ol' Dirty, the Rza, or the Gza. There's one segment where the interviewer asks him about the rumors of Capadonna being homeless. Since the interview takes place as U-God drives around Staten Island, it just so happens that he drives by Cappadonna talking on his cell phone as he drives in the opposite direction. There's also a lot of screen time devoted to U-God's former crew, the Hillside Scramblers. They're pretty terrible. There are some bonus features that make the disc almost worthwhile, but at the end of the day I think I might've been better served by walking out of walgreens and hitting up the dollar menu at the other end of the parking lot.

In happier Wu Tang news, there's a great countdown at Urb Magazine of the top 20 Wu videos. Personally, I would've thrown "Ain't Nuthin Ta Fuck Wit" somewhere into the mix. Even though there's a lot of clips tossed in from other videos on the countdown, you'd be hard pressed to find something more badass than the shots of the huge crowd freaking out to the song's hook. Plus that dude in the white ski-mask is fuckin' terrifying.

Uuugh Hippies

If I learned anything from this weekend, it's that I can't stand hippies. Poser hippies especially (Real Hippies Don't Litter! Damn guys, pick up after yourselves!), but real hippies get on my nerves too. This Saturday, I caught Bob Dylan way the fuck upstate at Bethel woods. I guess it would've been silly of me to think I wouldn't have to deal with hippies at a Dylan show on the grounds of the original woodstock.

Hippies aside, I had a good time. I'd be a liar, though, if I said the show wasn't a little disappointing. Dylan's voice is completely shot, which worked out fine for certain songs. "Tangled Up In Blue" worked great with the rhythmic speaking thing he was kinda doing. "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are A-Changin'" didn't really work out so well. I was kind of bummed too about not hearing "Nettie Moore". You'd think that he would gravitate towards songs that he recorded after he lost his voice, since they'd come off the same as they do on record. The music was incredibly tight, but his voice was just completely devoid of melody. He also did the whole set in a blues-y style. Now I love the blues, but when it comes to Dylan, I've always preferred folk singer Dylan to bluesman Dylan. The musical highlight of the night was definitely when he closed with "All Along the Watchtower", playing it far closer to the Hendrix rendition than his own original.

"Nettie Moore" by Bob Dylan
"All Along the Watchtower" by Jimi Hendrix

Non-Musical Highlights:

-Watching a Tripping Hippie scream, "Fuck America!", while he was dragged out by 6 Security Guys.
-Realizing that Paul Sr. from Orange County Choppers was standing next to me in the mass of people walking to the parking lot.

I Hate You, Papoose

So a while back, I posted some things to the effect of Papoose not being the worst rapper ever. Now that I've heard his new single 300 times in 2 days on hot 97, I retract all of those statements. I will now be adhering to my original assertion, that Papoose is the worst thing to ever happen to hip-hop. Snoop Dogg is doing himself no favors with this collabo. Also, Scott Storch is wack.

get it???

"Bang it Out" feat. Snoop Doggy Dogg by Papoose