What isn’t in the latest video from The Kills? They’ve got guns. They’ve got sports in the form of ping pong, and a rousing game of patty cake. Hell, they’ve even got fake teeth, a plethora of hats, and a cameo by Jack White. “Tape Song” comes from the band’s release Midnight Boom. A couple skulls and some choreography round this visual accompaniment to the track off.
Crystal Stilts Add Tour Dates
With Alight of Night just released, Brooklyn’s Crystal Stilts will continue what’s been a rather busy 2008 with another round of tour dates. The avant-garage rockers will hit major U.S. cities, as well as a couple in Canada, at the end of November and continue touring through mid-December, joined by Gothenburg indie-pop band Love is All and folk outfit Vetiver.
Dates:
11/21 New York, NY – Less Artists, More Condos
12/07 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom#
12/08 Boston, MA – Great Scott#
12/10 Montreal, QC – La Sala Rossa#
12/11 Toronto, ON – Horseshoe Tavern#
12/12 Detroit, MI – Magic Stick#
12/14 Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle#
12/17 New York, NY – Le Poisson Rouge%
# = w/ Love is All
% = w/ Vetiver
MP3: “Crystal Stilts”
The Streets “Everything is Borrowed”
Mike Skinner of The Streets released his fourth album, Everything is Borrowed, in September. The distilled moment at the opening of the album’s single, “Everything is Borrowed,” offers the impression of an adolescent kicking rocks along a train track in gray suburbia. Suddenly, low synths begin to speed forward, climbing octaves and growing louder until they emerge as an electric church organ pop melody beneath Skinner’s trademark sing-speak. Unlike his usual cheeky banter, however, the snarky Brit has toned it down lyrically. He investigates deep subjects with thoughtful sincerity: “Just when I discover the meaning of life, they change it… I love the rain on my scars.” Skinner is still fit, but just a little moodier this go around. Lulu McAllister
Inbox: UFO!
Sure, we’re always curious to know about an artist’s upcoming release, most recent tour, or arsenal of analog gear, but XLR8R‘s also got a curiosity for quirk. Thus, each week, we email a different artist and find out what makes them tick, in the studio and in life. On this occasion, we gab with UFO!’s Ed Garro about Sean Lennon, Germany, and breaking toys.
What are you listening to right now?
Oh, that’s funny. My friend Federico just put on this Robert Fripp record. Good, weird stuff; arty stuff. I’m in it. Love the atmospheric stuff.
What’s the weirdest story you ever heard about yourself?
That I was fucking dudes in my bedroom and smoking crack with them. Oh yeah, and that I was Samoan 🙂
What band did you want to be in when you were 15?
I was what I wanted to be when I was 15–a DJ in Daly City! But I remember way earlier, in the third grade, I wanted to be an astronaut. It all kinda makes sense. Now I just feel like I’m in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Well, more like Oddity. It all mixes well for now.
Worst live show experience?
Me and Sage almost taking this sound guy down for shutting us off. Well, he shut me off. Yeah, Laura (Sage) and I were pretty heated. The crowd fucking lost it. Some bottles flew, a kid got roughed-up by the bouncers. On top of that, some girl ODed. The cops came and we had to shake the place. I don’t know if we got paid or not. Some dubplates got snaked out of my box, too. It was crazy back in those days. I think we even missed our flight. But now that I think about it, it sounds like fun. It was the early rave days–all kinds of crazy, messed-up shit used to go down. I mean, what the hell did I know? I thought it was all part of just being a junglist: fast breaks, ripping bass lines, crowds mashing it up and totally having it. The stupid thing was I didn’t even know what punk music was back then, but now that I think of it, my state of mind was just that–a damned punk in the 21st century. I don’t think I really have had a bad experience. If I did, I got over it.
Favorite city to play in?
BERLIN!!! They really go for it, Germany in general. Alles clar! Oh God and their breakfast… I do miss it.
What’s the closest you’ve come to a “forbidden love”?
I guess the last girlfriend. That was nuts.
What is your favorite thing you own?
My JP8000 and the Hoffner Beatle bass. It was my computer, but I don’t have one anymore.
Name one item of clothing you can’t live without.
My jacket and socks.
What’s more frightening: drowning, spiders, or American cheese slices?
All of them: drowning in spiders while in the American downfall of its cheesiness while fear slices away at all of your nerve endings.
What did you always get in trouble for when you were little?
Wow, all kinds of shit. D grades; breaking, melting, and blowing up toys; cussing; coming home late; police; fighting with my brother and sister. You know, regular kid shit. The only difference now is that I’m still doing the same shit, just shoving it into my music.
What other artist would you most like to work with?
Sean Lennon. I love his melodies. And I’d love to get back in the studio with Danny Fresh.
What’s the last thing you read?
The Spiritual Journey of Alejandro Jodorowsky. He’s like my dad.
Complete this sentence: In the future…
Only tomorrow knows, for the future is you and what you make. That’s all that tomorrow knows… is you.
Stupidest thing you’ve done in the last 12 months?
Staying stupid… LOL!
What’s next?
The future.
The Cosmetic Surgery EP, featuring UFO! and s0n!ka together as Cosmetics, is out November 11.
Video: “Forbidden Love”
Barbara Tucker & Tuccillo “One Desire Part 2 (Tomoki & Nono Remix)”
Brooklyn-born performer Barbara Tucker has provided vocals for Pet Shop Boys, Dave Steward, Deee-lite, Wyclef Jean, George Clinton, and Reel to Reel over the course of the last two decades. While her music generally resonates more in the European market, one should also consider her a legacy in the New York dance scene, as co-founder of The Underground Network (The Big Apple’s longest running club). In this pulsing, eight-minute single, “One Desire Part 2,” the soulful dancefloor diva takes us “way down” into the belly of early house music, with help from Spanish DJ Guiseppe Tuccillo–an acquaintance from Tucker’s residency at Space in Ibiza. Lulu McAllister
Amp Fiddler/Sly & Robbie Inspiration Information
The Riddim Twins Sly & Robbie are known for their mastery of reggae, but their resume also contains a bit of funk, some disco, and even some ambient IDM. Which makes their collaboration with Parliament-Funkadelic keyboardist-turned-superfly solo man Amp Fiddler a wonderful union. Inspiration Information showcases everything we’ve come to expect from Fiddler (soul-drenched vocals, mood-setting keyboard riffs) while spotlighting everything we demand from Sly & Robbie (gravy-thick basslines, solidly rhythmic drums and percussion, tight arrangements). Boasting a high degree of both musicianship and funkiness, this eight-song project just works, from the chilled, jazzy version of “I Believe in You” to the Obama-esque social commentary of “Black House” (an update of George Clinton’s “Paint the White House Black”) to “Serious,” on which Fiddler declares, “I’m more serious than the price of gas.”
Sis Nesrib
A few select DJs were lucky enough to have it on CDR, Ricardo Villallobos being one of them. Sis had asked these guys to not share it with anyone until it came out in October, and I guess that made it a little more special because it wasn’t abused. I am telling the truth when I say that this track is a bomb. Super-bouncy, it gets everyone in the room totally freaking out. Nice and dirty with a great vocal and a hook that is to die for. It makes me seriously get down!
Chiptunes: Been Caught Stealing
Back in the mid-’80s and early ’90s, DIY programming nerds were a fiercely progressive bunch. Believing that freedom of information is a basic civil right, they hacked everything they could; like graf artists breaking into buildings and tagging them as their own, they removed copyright protection from software applications and introduced “crack intros” to computer programs, letting users of said software know which hacker crew had freed up the program to the public. Those crack screens turned into A/V spatializer demos (op art for the coding-inclined), and the “demoscene” was born. Out of that came chiptunes and 8-bit music: beats and melodies synthesized from old computer sound chips (like you might find in a Commodore 64) with limited polyphony and tone-generating possibilities.
Today, “chiptunes” refers to both a musical style and a subculture of people who make such tracks and give them away for free online. The chiptunes scene has proliferated exponentially and, in keeping with the original ideal of sharing information, the tunes spread as fast as the open-source software they’re made on. Warm and fuzzy socialism, right? Well, not exactly.
As it turns out, chiptunes’ egalitarian idealism may be its biggest weakness: Freely downloadable music can tempt those mining “free” samples. Add to that the fact that most of the music is released under idealistic (and frequently misunderstood) Creative Commons licenses–and the fact that the subculture has no real financial backing from labels–and you have a recipe for the perfect musical heist.
Case in point: In 2007, hip-hop producer Timbaland plagiarized the entire melody of a legally remixed track, “Acidjazzed Evening,” by Finnish demoscene musician Janne “Tempest” Suni, and used it on Nelly Furtado’s “Do It.” When the accusations came down, Timbaland responded in an MTV interview with hubristic indifference, implying that there was no reason to clear samples for videogame music. “The dude is trying to act like I went to his house and took it from his computer. I don’t know him from a can of paint,” said Timbaland.
Toronto band Crystal Castles also found itself in hot water after yanking a Creative Commons-licensed tune from chiptune producer Lo-bat, chopping it up, pitching it down, adding vocals, and renaming it “Insecticon.” Beyond the obvious, the problem here was that the CC license required Crystal Castles to attribute their original source. Secondly, they were not to use that source in a saleable piece of music, and, thirdly, they would be required to license that new piece of music in the same way that the source was licensed. Crystal Castles’ management responded by changing the song title to “Crystal Castles vs. Lo-Bat (Unreleased Demo)” and then locking the band’s Wikipedia page.
“Lo-bat releases most of his music under what, by any standards, are pretty generous terms,” explains New York chip musician and co-administrator of the 8bitpeoples net-label Bit Shifter (a.k.a. Joshua Davis), attempting to sum of the state of affairs. “He’s gone out of his way to allow and promote listener participation in his music, and has made his stipulations pretty reasonable. He’s basically saying, ‘Here, have this for free, alter it, remix it–just please keep my name attached and please don’t sell it.’ Crystal Castles’ uncredited, commercial use of his audio is obnoxious not because of the act of sampling per se, but because they managed to contravene the few rights Lo-bat opted to keep.”
In other words, Davis continues, “It’s like Lo-bat opening the door to his house, declaring that everyone is welcome to come in and take whatever they like, except for one off-limits room, and Crystal Castles walking right into that room and helping themselves without being bothered about it at all.”
Exhibit Honors L.A. Airbrush Royalty
All hail the kings of airbrush art! On Wednesday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m., Family Books will present Overspray: Riding High With the Kings of California Airbrush Art, an exhibit celebrating the airbrushed art of 1970s-era Los Angeles in all its glossy, hyper-sexualized glory. Airbrush artists Dave Willardson and Charles White III will be in attendance to share a slide show and answer questions about the art and their careers, which included work for Playboy, Levi’s, the Rolling Stones, American Graffiti and Tron.
If you can’t make it to the City of Angels to experience this colorful exhibition of vintage airbrush posters (including an extremely rare Star Wars one) first hand, pick up a copy of Norman Hathaway’s corresponding book, Overspray, when it hits the shelves in December.
Visit Family Books at 436 N. Fairfax Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90036.
Chromeo Performs on Conan Tonight
Catch Dave 1 and P-Thugg of Chromeo hamming it up on the Late Night with Conan O’Brien show tonight. The duo will be performing an unplugged version of the track “Momma’s Boy,” off their Fancy Footwork release, and to make up for the fact that they’ll be sans-synths for this performance, the two have enlisted an eight-piece string section to accompany. They’ve doubtless found a way to weave their eccentric, quirky antics into these traditional instruments.
Tune in on NBC at 12:35 EST to find out.
Elsewhere, keep an eye on the duo when they perform live November 12 alongside Vampire Weekend at the mtvU Woodie Awards. Chromeo’s up for one, in the Left Field Woodie Award category.
Photo By Martin Laporte.
