Bumpy Knuckles Crazy Like a Foxxx

Fourteen years overdue, Crazy Like a Foxxx is newfound nostalgia for hardcore hip-hop purists. Shelved by MCA in 1994, what would have been the second full-length for Freddie Foxxx (a.k.a. Bumpy Knuckles) showcases his abrasive irreverence for MCs of the wack variety. Despite what Rakim is rumored to have said about Foxxx, the dude is ferocious. He manhandles the drum kicks and jeep bass provided by DITC producers Showbiz, Lord Finesse, and Buckwild. Written with his imprisoned friends in mind, Crazy also features self-empowering cuts “Amen” and “So Tough.” Sounding off from the Rotten Apple’s core, Foxxx’s time capsule also features legends Kool G Rap and a hungry young 2Pac at their rawest.

Podcast 54: Dre Skull: Sissy Bounce Mix

Thanks to Dre Skull, XLR8R.com readers will get a little lesson in the history of bounce music with this exclusive podcast. The Brooklyn-based DJ and producer compiled tracks from the sissy rap genre, a New Orleans phenomena that rose to fame in the late ’90s when a cross-dressing MC named Katey Red came to fame on the Southern rap scene. Here, Dre Skull shows off some of her tracks, as well as those of veteran Big Freedia and up-and-coming star Sissy Nobby.

To read more on sissy rap, and to see pictures, visit our Photo Blog.

Sissy Bounce Tracklisting
01 Dre Skull Intro
02 Big Freedia “Ahan Oh Yeah” (Money Rules Entertainment)
03 Katey Red & Big Freedia “They Ready” (White Label)
04 Katey Red “Melpomene Block Party” (Take Fo Records)
05 Sissy Nobby “Break It Down” (Hood Status)
06 Big Freedia “Dribble” (White Label)
07 Sissy Nobby “Snake” (Hood Status)
08 Sissy Nobby “Loopy” (Hood Status)
09 Sissy Nobby “Rewind” (Hood Status)
10 Big Freedia “Fuck Ur Man” (White Label)
11 Katey Red “Hungry” (Take Fo Records)
12 Big Freedia “Hit Me On My Next” (White Label)
13 Katey Red & Big Freedia “Stupid” (Take Fo Records)
14 Sissy Nobby “Consequences” (Hood Status)
15 Sissy Nobby “Da Letter” (Hood Status)
16 Katey Red “Tiddy Bop” (Take Fo Records)
17 Katey Red “Local New Orleans” (Take Fo Records)

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Podcast_Mix_2008_09_11

Top 10: The Dead Science, Matthew Dear

The Dead Science
Villainaire
Constellation
Release Date: Out Now

A rich, multi-layered avant-pop affair, Villainaire is both emotionally evocative and technically impressive, with a musical trajectory that one can never quite predict. This is the third full-length from the Seattle-based trio, which dabbles in everything from eerie jazz music to melancholy-drenched ballads here. JM

Matthew Dear
Dog Days: The Robsoul Remixes
Ghostly
Release Date: Out Now

“Dog Days” blew up in 2003 when Matthew Dear released Leave Luck to Heaven. I mean really blew up–it was almost impossible to set foot in a club without hearing the track’s arpeggiated synth melody and sharp beats. Fast-forward to 2008, and Ghostly has enlisted members of France-based Robsoul Recordings to rework the track. JM

Milosh
iii
Plug Research
Release Date: September 23

iii is full of electro-folk that ripples like water under the falsetto voice of soulful Canadian Michael Milosh. Bringing with him some classical training and a love of jazz, Milosh layers strings, samples, guitars, and understated beats into a soothing, subdued electronic composition. LM

Hatchback
Colors of the Sun
Lo
Release Date: September 30

I can’t say I’m in love with laidback, breezy dance beats in my old age, but Hatchback could change my mind with this release. A plethora of jazzy beats, disco-style keyboards, and a robust horn section make for an inviting listen that even gets grumps like me to dance. Throw this one on in the club, the living room, or when driving down some sunny highway. MN

Serena Maneesh
s-m backwards
Smalltown Supersound
Release Date: September 22

This two-disc re-release of Serena Maneesh’s shoegaze garage albums Fixxation (2002) and Zurick (1999-2003) features the Norwegian band letting its introspective vocals meander over rich, dreamlike guitars, subtle percussion, and the occasional lonely string. These songs transform into luscious, psychedelic numbers in the remixed versions included on Disc One. LM

Various
Of Great and Mortal Men: 43 Songs for 43 U.S. Presidencies
Standard Recording Company
Release Date: Out Now

J. Matthew Gerken, Christian Kiefer, and Jefferson Pitcher have taken the art of storytelling to a new level with their masterpiece, Of Great and Mortal Men: 43 Songs for 43 U.S. Presidencies. Beginning with spirited, marching-band flutes for Mr. Washington, then moving to jaunty claps and atonal harmonies for Honest Abe, and finishing with a lullaby for our current president, the clever album profiles all 43 U.S. presidents, with help from special guests Califone, Jamie Stewart (Xiu Xiu) and Mark Kozelek (Sun Kil Moon, Red House Painters), among others. LM

The Matthew Herbert Big Band
There’s Me and There’s You
!K7
Release Date: October 28

There’s Me and There’s You is protest music you could listen to at a cocktail party. Commentary on the Iraq war is tucked into upbeat, infectious, jazz rhythms, with unexpected accents from samples of things like “70 condoms being scraped along the floor of the British Museum” or “100 credit cards being cut up.” So says the album’s press kit. LM

School of Seven Bells
“Half Asleep/Caldo”
Ghostly
Release Date: September 16

My only beef with this one is that it’s too short, though a promised full-length set for release in October should ensure we’ve all got enough futuristic pop to sort us out for the year. Ex-Secret Machines guitarist Benjamin Curtis has teamed up with sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza, and together the three make a compelling, slightly psychedelic blend of indie rock here, armed with guitars and plenty of laptop-generated noise. MN

Ricardo Villalobos
Vasco
Perlon
Release Date: out Now

Villalobos’ playground of subliminal electronic music pulses alternately with plunky and erratic, deep accents. Using minimal decoration, Vasco turns into a free-floating exploration of uncomplicated rhythms punctuated with clicks, a tinkling cowbell that (for once) hides sheepishly in the background, and, not least of all, a sexy metallic voice speaking in French. LM

From the Readers
Various
Modeselektor’s Jetlag Mix
Download

Though it was neck-and-neck with Tobacco’s Songs to Get Killed in the Woods To mix, Modeselektor’s Jetlag Mix won out this week as being most popular with our readers for the second week in a row. Our bandwidth bill is going to be out the roof this month. Photo By Birgit Kaulfuss. JM

Text by Jennifer Marston, Lulu McAllister, and Maverick Newberry. Pictured above: The Dead Science.

Sissy Bounce

In the late ’90s, New Orleans bounce label Take Fo’ signed a record contract with local phenomenon Katey Red, a cross-dressing MC who made the title of The Showboys’ “Drag Rap” (the song from which most bounce music samples) seem very literal indeed. While those outside Louisiana struggled to make sense of how an openly gay rapper could not only peacefully coexist, but blow the fuck up, in the often homophobic Southern rap game, Katey was merely continuing in the N.O. tradition of keeping the party hype. She was damn good at bounce’s trademark stuttered and chanted club raps–and so what if sometimes, in between shouting out dance moves and neighborhoods, she would make references to male prostitution and gay sex? The girls loved to dance to it, the guys followed, and, unwittingly, the sissy rap genre was born. These days, nothing can dampen the spirit in New Orleans clubs like Da Chatroom, Caesar’s, and The Venue, where Red, veteran Big Freedia, and Sissy Nobby–whose gritty, impassioned relationship raps have made her the genre’s rising star–tear up the dance night after night. Our producer friend Dre Skull was down South when we received this excited missive from him and photographer Ports Bishop about the hype going down in the Big Easy. Words by Dre Skull, as told to Vivian Host. Photos by Ports Bishop.

This is the Josephine neighborhood where Freedia is from. (Katey Red is from Melpomene.) You can see these teenage girls in the background–there were actually about 15 of them pretty much hanging out on the corner everyday, playing some card game for money. When Freedia would drive up and play bounce out the window of her car, all the girls would bend over and start bouncing.

Tuesday night at Caesar’s in West Bank. It was billed as a mother-daughter routine between Big Freedia and Sissy Nobby; Katey Red just came out for fun. In the club, for the most part, you don’t hear rap in verse form; a lot of what you hear is phrases and chants, sometimes their voice is being chopped up as if by a sampler–like “Break it down, breakabreakabreakabreakadown”–but they’re doing it live. On stage, Nobby will shake her ass and Freedia will challenge the ladies in the crowd and see if they can compete. It’s kind of casual. I mean, the vibe is intense but it’s too rowdy to be “serious”–they could never mess up. (From left: Katey Red, Sissy Nobby, and Big Freedia)

Sissy Nobby outside her home in Gretna, West Bank; her yellow Mustang is in the background. Nobby, who sometimes refers to herself as Nobbella, is on her ascent right now. She’s all over YouTube, and has about a million plays on MySpace, with recent hits like “Break It Down,” “Snake,” and “Arch in Yo Back.”

Freedia called and was like, “I want a thug shot.” This is in her apartment. If you notice, she’s got galoshes on. I kind of felt like it was a post-flood style.

The Venue and Caesar’s both have these big murals that you can pay to get your picture taken in front of. This is Freedia with one of her fans named Precious.

Big Freedia and Katey Red were standing on the corner and a friend of a friend rolled up in this crazy ride. You can’t really see it, but the windshield says “Fresh Azimiz,” like some shortening of “As I am is.” Big Freedia is rocking that military-style scout look that’s been hot in New Orleans for a few years.

Deerhoof “Gut Symmetries feat. Zac Pennington”

Initially made as a conceptual follow-up to Portland-based Parenthetical Girls‘ debut album, (((GRRRLS))), Zac Pennington’s orchestral pop masterpiece, Entanglements, has finally arrived. Already, a few friends, such as The Dead Sciences and fellow labelmates No Kids, have remixed or covered the haunting and sensual album. Not least of these contributions is Deerhoof‘s take on the string-swept “Gut Symmetries,” which smartly keeps Pennington’s timeless falsetto vocals in place. The sentimental 11-song “linear narrative of ascendancy, adolescent sexuality, quantum mechanics, consent, and other moral ambiguities” feels like an ideal match for Deerhoof. Lulu McAllister

Deerhoof – GUT Symmetries 1

Max Tundra “Which Song”

Ben Jacobs (a.k.a. Max Tundra) is finally back, with his first album in six years. Parallax Error Beheads You finds the U.K.-based multi-instrumentalist dabbling in wobbly electronics and soul-drenched vocals, and the entire album has a definitive feel-good aura about it. Besides producing music, Jacobs hosts a weekly radio show on Resonance FM and was one of the last artists every to record a Peel Sessions on the late John Peel’s radio show.

Max Tundra – Which Song

Plants and Animals Plot Tour Dates

If epic post-rock is what you’re after to pass the Autumn days away, look no farther than Plants and Animals. The Montreal-based trio will leave their native city this month to embark on a North American tour in support of their March 2008 release, Parc Avenue. Check them at one of these dates:

09/18 Toronto, ON: The Horseshoe
09/20 London, ON: LOLA Fest
09/25 Wakefield, QC: The Black Sheep Inn
09/27 Peterborough, ON: The Montreal House
09/27 Hamilton, ON: The Casbah
09/29 Toronto, ON: Phoenix Concert Theater
10/01 Madison, WI: Club 770
10/04 Winnipeg, MB: Pyramid Cabaret
10/06 Saskatoon, SK: Amigo’s Café
10/07 Edmonton, AB: Starlite Room
10/08 Calgary, AB: The Warehouse
10/10 Vancouver, BC: Richard’s on Richards
10/11 Victoria, BC: Sugar Nightclub
10/12 Seattle, WA: Chop Suey
10/13 Portland, OR: Holocene
10/15 San Francisco, CA: Bottom of the Hill
10/16 Los Angeles, CA: Spaceland
10/17 San Diego, CA: Casbah
10/18 Phoenix, AZ: Modified
10/20 Austin, TX: Emo’s
10/21 Baton Rouge, LA: Spanish Moon
10/22 Atlanta, GA: The Earl
10/23 Chapel Hill, NC: Local 506
10/24 Washington, DC: Rock and Roll Hotel
10/25 Baltimore, MD: Talking Head
10/26 Philadelphia, PA: Johnny Brenda’s
10/27 New York, NY: Mercury Lounge
10/28 Brooklyn, NY: Union Hall
10/29 Boston MA: Paradise
11/05 Champlain. QC: Théâtre Petit

MP3: “Faerie Dance”

Photo by Katie Moore.

Midnight Juggernauts “Into the Galaxy (Danger Remix)”

This is definitely one for those who enjoy going to ’80s dance parties on the weekend. The Melbourne, Australia-based duo known as the Midnight Juggernauts already leans towards that synth-heavy sound so popular in that decade, but France-based producer and remixer Danger upped the ante (and the tempo) for “Into the Galaxy” and turned it into a full-on dance anthem. It’s the mark of a good track when it can get a certain grumpy in-house contributor to crack a smile and show off a few dance moves. This one’s got a beat that’s infectious.

Midnight Juggernauts – Into the Galaxy (Danger Remix)

Tittsworth Twelve Steps

Hailing from DC but aesthetically linked to Baltimore, DJ/producer Jesse Tittsworth makes tracks that don’t always uphold the grand tradition of that neighboring city’s venerated club scene. His debut LP here is an unabashed party record that relies too heavily on humor and guest appearances to hide a dearth of inventive beatmaking. A handful of winning tracks (“911” and “Tear the Club Up 2008”) offer clattering percussion for a propulsive, high-energy sound, and “4.21” manages a fair Justice impression, but elsewhere things go downhill fast: Baltimore shout-out “B-Rockin’,” is sadly just a watered-down retooling of Daft Punk’s “Teachers.”

High Places “From Stardust to Sentience”

High Places is found-sound enthusiasts Mary Pearson and Rob Barber, and for their self-titled debut album, the two utilized not just manipulated samples, but a boatload of instruments that range from guitars to Kalimbas (listen for the banjo too). This track manages an interesting feat, which is to keep the listener both relaxed and expectant, as tinkling bells and gently plucked guitars move over an off-kilter beat that constantly changes both rhythm and time signature. Suffice to say, the duo pulls this off with ease.

High Places – From Stardust to Sentience

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