Németh Film

Music created for short avant-garde movies rarely has much broad appeal, and Film, by Austrian synthesist/guitarist Stefan Németh, isn’t going to change this situation. However, within the rarefied realm of experimental soundtracks, this Radian/Lokai member has made a significant contribution with the six tracks collected here. If you’re familiar with Radian’s arid, deconstructed post-rocktronica (imagine if Tortoise recorded for Mego), then Film won’t surprise you at all. Introverted, oblique, and minimalist, Németh’s compositions favor slate-grey guitar feedback, methodical tom-tom tattoos (the disc’s best track, “Transitions,” features a rhythm that recalls that of Can’s “Mushroomhead”), and subtle electronic whorls. Imbued with a vague tension and subtle portentousness, Film–as well executed as it is–will likely appeal mainly to other soundtrack composers.

Clothes Captioned: Freshjive

Back in the day, you couldn’t set foot in a rave without spying a citrus-colored Freshjive shirt (probably a take-off on the Tide or Fruit of the Loom logos), or a copy thereof. Subterfuge and social commentary is still the name of the game for this Los Angeles brand, whose spring 2008 collection alone contains riffs on Afrocentric ’90s hip-hop, cholo culture, and Middle East politics–plus plenty of their now-infamous logo parodies, from a re-release of the aforementioned Tide rip-off to versions of the Pop Will Eat Itself and Oakland Raiders icons. Rhyming and stealing hasn’t always been easy (a recent lawsuit from Stüssy comes to mind) but that hasn’t stopped founder Rick Klotz from pushing the envelope, or the growth of the Freshjive enterprise, which now includes the SoCal surf-inspired Gonz clothing line, a store (Reserve LA, on Fairfax Avenue in Hollywood), and the publication of an annual collector’s mag, The Propagandist, which is an outlet for Klotz’s photography and inspirations. Here are some special selections from the company’s spring line.

Breed hat ($40)
The Breed New Era cap, inspired by the classic 1991 MC Breed video for “Ain’t No Future In Yo’ Frontin’.”

Punks t-shirt ($36)
Inspired by the legendary Brand Nubian and their hit single “Punks Jump Up.”

Stand or Fall t-shirt ($28)
From a famous, very poignant quote by Malcolm X.

1989 zip-hoodie ($88)
This one’s athletic-influenced, with an Olympic theme. Freshjive 1989 refers to the year that Freshjive was created.

Resurgent varsity jacket ($290)
This varsity-style jacket’s got a heavy wool body with white leather sleeves, plus a quilted and printed satin liner and hood. Check the O.G. Freshjive logo patch on the chest and back!

Lab Waste “People Talk About Us”

L.A.-based Giovanni Marks and Thavius Beck join forces as Lab Waste once again, back with more of the unconventional hip-hip and electronic delirium we’ve come to expect from the duo. Taken from their forthcoming B.E.A.R. release, this track finds the underground veterans dabbling in Dirty South territory, complete with extended chopped-and-screwed uber-outro. Dangerous.

Lab Waste – People Talk About Us

Solvent Demonstration Tape 1997 – 2007

Ten years of unwaveringly passionate releases in the electro-IDM business deserves a retrospective double-disc compilation, and it’s Jason Amm’s time to be honored. Demonstration Tape covers the best of the best, from his early Suction Records material (“Flexidisc,” “My Blue Car”) to his initial Ghostly hits like “My Radio” and “Think Like Us,” while unveiling some newly hatched killers like “In the Light” and “Creepy Crawler.” The new tracks showcase Amm’s knack for electro-fied 4/4 beats with unearthly vocoder manipulations and omnipresent synth zaps. Remix homage is paid by Adult. (“Flexidisc”), Alter Ego (“Think Like Us”), Mitgang Audio (“My Radio”), and JDSY (“For You”). One might predict the Alter Ego remix to be a snarling behemoth of a techno track–and one might be right.

RJD2 Preps Tour

RJD2 will leave his Philadelphia home this spring to hit the road for several tour dates. The fact that he’s taking a band along means the indie hip-hop producer turned indie songwriter will likely be playing songs from his 2007 XL debut, The Third Hand. Be sure to check him out at one of these dates.

03/01 Sayreville, NJ: Starland Ballroom
04/01 Asheville, NC: The Orange Peel
04/02 Atlanta, GA: Variety Playhouse
04/04 Austin, TX: Emo’s
04/05 Dallas, TX: Palladium Loft
04/07 Tempe, AZ: The Clubhouse
04/08 San Diego, CA: Casbah
04/09 Los Angeles, CA: Henry Fonda Theater
04/10 San Francisco, CA: The Independent
04/11 Portland, OR: Hawthorne Theater
04/12 Seattle, WA: Chop Suey
04/14 Salt Lake City, UT: Urban Lounge
04/15 Denver, CO: Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom
04/16 Kansas City, MO: Record Bar
04/17 Minneapolis, MN: First Avenue
04/18 Chicago, IL: Abbey Pub
05/01 Washington, DC: 9:30 Club
05/02 New York, NY: Bowery Ballroom
05/03 Boston, MA: Paradise

Prosumer & Murat Tepeli Serenity

Panoramabar resident DJ Prosumer (Achim Brandenburg) is a diehard Chicago-house/Detroit-techno disciple who, along with fellow German producer Murat Tepeli, tinkers with the genres’ templates just enough to avoid blatant homage. Serenity actually suffers from an excess of personality (drama-queen vocals–some by Elif Biçer–with soap-opera scenarios), and most of Serenity‘s 17 tracks come off as pastel, Herbert-lite exercises. Tepeli and Prosumer generate some interesting tones, but the beats often sound too muffled and restrained, and the melodies are sometimes cloying. Serenity works best when Prosumer and Tepeli ditch the vocals and let the music do the emoting, thereby approaching the subtle melodic grandeur and tonal depth of Carl Craig and Theo Parrish.

Wax Poetics: Expanding the Empire

Since its inception in 2001, the bi-monthly Wax Poetics magazine has become a bible for seekers of rarefied grooves, message-laden hip-hop, and ephemera from bygone soul and funk eras. It is to publishing what Soul Jazz is to the crate-digging community–not just a distiller of the finest lost sounds in funk, reggae, and jazz but a griot-like teller of their histories.

Last year, with the help of Amir Abdullah (of Kon and Amir fame), the magazine expanded to include a label of the same name, on which they released their debut compilation, East of Underground, a recording borne of a battle of the bands on a U.S. Army base in Germany in 1971. “We’re following that up with a rare 45 titled ‘Baby I Want You’ b/w ‘Pray for Me,’ the Mizell Brothers’ first release as The Moments,” informs Wax Poetics editor and vinyl enthusiast Andre Torres.

While an MP3 download site of hard-to-find tunes is on its way, Torres’ latest obsession is a pair of books that the magazine will release in association with Puma. “Make Checks Payable to Charles Mingus,” a tale of the legendary bassist’s failed mail-order “record club,” is just one of many intensely researched and beautifully photographed stories recounted in Wax Poetics Anthology Volume 1 (hardcover; $39.95). But to really wax nostalgic, check out Cover Story (softcover; $19.95), a less content-heavy survey of funk, soul, hip-hop, house, and disco’s sexy, strange, beautiful, and hilarious sleeve art.

Both books are out this spring on Wax Poetics/powerHouse Books.

Ghislain Poirier No Ground Under

On No Ground Under, inimitable DJ/producer Ghislain Poirier enlists a vast crew of international pals–from France, Jamaica, and Brooklyn–to pepper his inventive beats with worldly touches of Trinidadian Soca and dancehall. The Montreal-based DJ’s choppy, futuristic hip-hop numbers can easily stand on their own, and in some cases, the guests overcrowd the tracks. But cuts like “No More Blood,” which features dancehall crooner Face-T, and the gritty “City Walking,” where freestyle MC Abdominal visits, are expert collaborations, fitting their vocalists like a glove. Some of the best tracks, though, find Poirier going it alone, like “Hit & Red,” with a broken, reconstructed beat that recalls Rounds-era Four Tet, and the ultramodern, Neptunes-y “It’s a War War War.”

EMC: Hip-Hop Supergroup Drops Album

Albert Einstein’s famous E=mc2 theory of relativity was a major contribution to physics, but didn’t do a damn thing to improve music. Now, however, a combination of MCs from New York and Milwaukee have formed supergroup EMC and are set to change hip-hop’s physics.

Consisting of New York’s Masta Ace, Punchline, Wordsworth, and Milwaukee’s Stricklin, the members of EMC are known as some of hip-hop’s most creative and prolific lyricists. Their new concept album, The Show, drops April 8 on M3 Records, and includes 24 songs and skits that describe every aspect and detail of life on the road for a mid-level hip-hop act.

The Show starts off with EMC stranded at the airport, waiting for a promoter who is two hours late to pick the group up. The album continues to describe, in songs and interludes, events leading up to the show–radio interviews, driving around city, backstage drama. The music throughout is stellar, with beats from Holland’s Nicolay, 9th Wonder, Ayatollah, Marco Polo, DJ Premier, and other heat makers.

The Show’s tour theme enhances the overall project, rather than overrides the songs, and musically it’s an incredibly consistent and classic-sounding boom-bap document, with sonic lineage to Little Brother, The Roots, and Main Source.

Masta Ace is no stranger to concept albums, having produced 2000’s Disposable Arts and 2004’s A Long Hot Summer, each of which had a running narrative and skits galore. Ace also owns M3 Records, founded in 2003 after his former label, JCOR Records, folded. EMC is a tremendous return to form for not only Ace, but also his Lyricist Lounge vets Punch and Words and Midwest sensation Stricklin.

Tracklisting
1. Who We Be
2. Airport
3. Leak It Out
4. The Check In (Skit)
5. Traffic feat. Little Brother
6. Say Now
7. Message (Skit)
8. Don’t give Up On Us feat. ADI
9. Git some feat. Sean Price
10. We Alright feat. Strickie Love
11. Radio Station (Skit)
12. EMC “What It Stand For”
13. Angry Mech. Guy (Skit)
14. The Grudge
15. Make It Better
16. The Lobby (Skit)
17. Winds of Change
18. The Show feat. Ladybuy Mecca
19. Back Stage (Skit)
20. Borrow U feat. Strickie Love
21. Once More
22. U let Me Grow
23. Feel It feat. Money Ham
24. Bonus Track

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