Amp Fiddler Announces Tour
If you haven’t seen Amp Fiddler live yet, your life is severely lacking something. The singer, songwriter, producer, and keyboard player has shared the stage with everyone from Carl Craig to J Dilla, and spent 10 years touring with George Clinton & the P-Funk All-Stars. Nothing gets a crowd moving quite like his soul-flavored hip-hop and sultry vocals.
Amp will hit the road again, after a three-year hiatus, in support of his Afro Strut album, the follow-up to 2004’s Waltz of a Ghetto Fly. He’s also got a bonus track, “Hollywood,” available for free download from his website, to tide your appetite over until the show.
Dates
03/11 San Francisco, CA: The Independent
03/12 Long Beach, CA: Temple Bar
03/14 Chicago, IL: Double Door
03/15 Pontiac, MI: Crofoot Ballroom
03/16 Toronto, ON: Mod Club Theatre
03/18 Boston, MA Middle East Upstairs
03/20 Baltimore, MD: Ram’s Head Live
03/21 New York, NY: Highline Ballroom
03/22 Washington, DC: 9:30 Club
03/23 Philadelphia, PA: World Cafe Live
03/25 Charlotte, NC: Visulite Theatre
03/26 Atlanta, GA: Sugar Hill
03/28 Miami, FL: Winter Music Conference, Live Sound Stage
Daddy Rings The Most High
“I got to move forward/And put the culture in the place where it once was,” Rasta toaster Daddy Rings proclaims on “Dispensation.” That’s enough raison d’etre for any album. Though Rings has been under the American radar since the mid-’90s, when he challenged Shabba and Cutty for top-ranking status in JA, he’s kept busy, producing for his African Glory label and frequently collaborating with Gentleman (who appears on “The Future”). Rings’ delivery has matured considerably; he still bubbles hot, yet he’s become a wiser, more meditative, and inspirational artist. Roots and culture lovers will find much to rejoice over on The Most High, which aims for–and achieves–classic heights.
Various Wayfaring Strangers: Guitar Soli
A collection of solo finger-picked acoustic guitar recordings from the 1970s may not seem the obvious move for The Numero Group, the Chicago label known for releasing obscure soul and freak-folk. But Wayfaring Strangers is more than just a disc of emotive and gorgeous–not to mention technically astounding–guitar songs; it’s a reassessment of an entire genre of cottage recordings, one in which “obscurity” was a level of fame most only aspired to. Like Brad Chequer, whose masterful cassette-only recordings find their first digital release here. Or Scott Witte, whose “Sailor’s Dream” has all the proficiency and vitality of a Norman Blake or John Fahey (Wayfaring’s saint), but who recently finished a sophomore album–27 years after his first.
Jokers of the Scene Top Shelf Mother Fucker Mix
Jokers of the Scene have become the darlings of the Mad Decent label, and with good reason: Their catchy remixes and original tracks call to mind the loopy in-your-face-ness of Switch, and their sampling choices are familiar enough to elicit cheers on the dancefloor while still sounding fresh. The mix is about one-third original material or remixes, and the rest offers J.O.T.S.-approved tunes from Radioclit, Acid Jacks, Crookers, and Bart B More. The XXXChange/Devlin/Darko remix of DJ Class and two mixes of J.O.T.S.’s “Juggle It” are highlights. The whole thing is filled with buzzing synths and post-disco/electro beats, and while sometimes the mix plays it a bit safe, it’s a good fun overall.
Air Reissues Moon Safari
I think Moon Safari and I’m immediately transported back to 1998, when laid-back, hypnotic synth-pop was ruling electronic music and French duo Air were seen as masters of that genre.
Ten years on, Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel are reissuing and expanding their classic album, which will drop March 31 in the U.K. and April 15 in the States. The limited edition package will arrive as a three-disc set, and include the original Moon Safari, a remixes and rarities disc, and a DVD documentary entitled Air: Eating, Sleeping, Waiting & Playing. The latter is footage of the duo’s first tour, along with video clips and rare album graphics.
Tracklisting
CD 1
1. La Femme D’Argent
2. Sexy Boy
3. All I Need
4. Kelly Watch the Stars
5. Talisman
6. Remember
7. You Make it Easy
8. Ce Matin-Là
9. New Star in the Sky (Chanson Pour Solal)
10. Le Voyage De Penelope
CD 2
1. Remember (David Whitaker Version)
2. Kelly Watch the Stars (Live on BBC, 1998)
3. J’Ai Dormi Sous L’Eau (Live on BBC, 1998)
4. Sexy Boy (Live on BBC, 1998)
5. Kelly Watch the Stars (Moog Cookbook Remix)
6. Mabrouk (Live on KCRW, 1998)
7. You Make it Easy (Live on KCRW, 1998)
8. Bossa 96 (Demo)
9. Kelly Watch the Stars (Demo)
10. Sexy Boy (Beck Sex Kino Mix)
KRS One Signs To Duck Down, New Album With Buckshot
Kris Parker, the incomparable New York MC known as KRS-One and The Teacha, has officially signed with Duck Down Records, home to Buckshot, Sean Price, Smif-N-Wessun, and others. Duck Down co-president Dru-Ha remarked, “To say we are honored and humbled would be an understatement. KRS has a message in his lyrics, [and is] a gladiator performer who reps the culture and possesses all the qualities that an MC should embody: meaningful lyrics, mastery of the flow, intense creativity, and a ferocious live show”
Duck Down co-owner Buckshot (formerly of Black Moon) is recording an album with KRS for release later this year, three tracks of which are now complete. For those that can’t wait, 9th Wonder & Buckshot’s The Formula album will be in stores April 15. But Buckshot is clearly excited about the upcoming collaboration with KRS: “Before I even began rapping, that is who I checked for. I kept [Boogie Down’s] Ghetto Music: The Blueprint of Hip-Hop album on me at all times.”
KRS started his career in 1987 with Scott LaRock as Boogie Down Productions. Their seminal album, Criminal Minded, featured hits like “South Bronx” and “The Bridge is Over;” the title track was recently remixed by DJ Premier for release on the Smirnoff Signature Mix series.
KRS has been socially active over the years, founding the Temple of Hip-Hop to promote hip-hop arts, and the Stop The Violence Movement, which united the hip-hop community in an effort to curb crime. Parker still records and tours relentlessly, despite losing his step-son to suicide in July 2007.
In a related power move, Duck Down has also signed top battle and radio DJ Revolution. Rev will release King of the Decks on Duck Down in fall 2008, which features appearances from Guilty Simpson, Dilated Peoples, Q-Bert, Tash, Kidz In The Hall, Planet Asia, and many others.
Pictured: Buckshot (left) with KRS-One.
Junior Boys Mix Get Physical’s Body Language Disc
Canadian electro poppers Matt Didemus and Jeremy Greenspan, a.k.a. Junior Boys, will show off their record collection on the latest installment of Get Physical‘s Body Language mix CD series, set to drop this spring.
With previous editions compiled by label bosses M.A.N.D.Y., Jesse Rose, and Dixon, there’s much to live up to here. Didemus and Greenspan have chosen a healthy balance of original tracks and remixes from Radio Slave, Matthew Dear, Supermayer, Prins Thomas, and more. If you’re looking for a good primer on techno in its many different forms, this might be the ticket.
Tracklisting
1. Sorcerer “Surfing At Midnight (Prins Thomas Miks)”
2. Supermayer “Saturndays”
3. Chelonis R. Jones “Deer In The Headlights (DJ Hell Remix)”
4. Love Nine “Feedback”
5. Kreon & Lemos Feat. Feeboy “Fola”
6. Kelley Polar “Rosenband (Magic Tim’s Instrumental Version)”
7. Steadycam “In The Moog For Love”
8. Radio Slave “Screaming Hands (Cosmo Vitelli Radioaktivitat Remix)”
9. Studio “Life’s A Beach! (Todd Terje Beach House Mix)”
10. Gui.tar “Love Started To Shine”
11. Stereo Image “Dark Chapter”
12. Matthew Dear “You Know What I Would Do”
13. Pushé “Don’t Take Your Love Away”
14. Visage “I’m Still Searching”
15. Junior Boys “No Kinda Man”
16. Rework “Love Love Love Yeah (Chloé Remix)”
17. f0st3r “bl3w r0d30 d3m0”
18. Chloé “Be Kind To Me”
19. Bill Nelson “When Your Dream Of Perfect Beauty Comes True”
Junior Boys DJ Sets
03/13 New York, NY: Hiro Ballroom*
03/15 Toronto, ON: Venue TBA
03/27 Miami, FL: Studio A
*w/ Matthew Dear’s Big Hands
Canary Landscape
Video by Todd Mattei.
School of Language “Rockist Pt. 4”
After Field Music announced an indefinite hiatus in 2007, David Brewis found himself with spare time. From that came his School of Language project. As his new one-man outfit, Brewis keeps busy with his laptop, experimenting with the possibilities and limitations of electronic pop music. His debut album, Sea From Shore, recently hit the record store shelves.
