Here’s another track from those crazy guys in Panther. Charlie Salas-Humara and drummer Joe Kelly let the drums and vocals rip on this one, from their forthcoming and highly anticipated 14 KT God. Listen closely for a few political references as well, a new direction for Humara and his ever-evolving songwriting.
San Francisco-based gallery White Walls has teamed up with Hip to Help, an organization that brings the arts to inner-city youth, for a benefit show on February 2. Work by Mike Giant, Richard Colman, Silvia Ji, Shawn Barber, Ian Johnson, and several others will be on display and for sale. Proceeds go towards funding the music department at George Washington Carver Elementary School in S.F. If you want to check out the artwork but can’t make the show, visit the gallery’s website to view pieces.
White Walls is located at 835 Larkin St. in San Francisco.
British Sea Power
Do You Like Rock Music?
(Rough Trade)
I do like rock music, but I don’t like smug, half-heartedly disaffected British nerds that think that wearing wool sweaters and scarves on stage, quoting Dostoevsky, and performing 20-minute encores on stages decorated with foliage and plastic birds is avant-garde. Therefore, chaps, I do not care a whit about your droll third album.
Big Kuntry
My Turn to Eat
(Atlantic)
My Turn to Eat might sell some units to people who think Big Kuntry is a muff-positive country/electroclash group. That might actually be preferable to this major-label debut from a member of rapper T.I.’s Pimp Squad Clique (although it does contain a song called “Goin Ham”). “We’re on some real reality shit,” explains crewmate Mac Boney of the squad’s sound. Goodie goodie gumdrops.
Nine Inch Nails
Year Zero Part 2
(Interscope)
The last NIN concert we went to was so depressing. Trent Reznor’s whole band looked like embarrassed clone copies of him and the music was a hair’s breadth away from Creed. Apparently, the Rez is set to release the second part of his 2007 album (and its attendant “alternate reality” game) Year Zero soon, which predicts a dystopian future whzzzzzzzzzzz……zzzzzzzzzzz. Oh, sorry, what? I just fell asleep.
Moby
Last Night
(Mute)
Hmmm. Let me tally this up. A few albums where you make millions sampling huge chunks of negro spirituals, and then a “concept album” designed to be listened to in hotels by people who don’t have to worry that the water in the mini-bar costs $20. I think my tax bracket is too low to allow me to get excited here even if I wanted to.
Patrick Wolf
Title TBA
(Loog)
Am I the only one who doesn’t get this? It sounds like horrible glam folk for people with Olivier Theyskens pants and tiny penises, and the fact that “fashionistas” love it makes me dislike it even more.
Bauhaus
Going Away White
(Bauhaus Music)
The PR skinny says that this is going to be Bauhaus’ “final album,” a claim they also made after 1983’s Burning From the Inside and 1998’s lackluster comeback, Crackle. We’re particularly excited about two thirds of this album’s title.
Nada Surf
Lucky
(Barsuk)
This band had one sorta hit on alt-radio in 1996–a predictably quiet-loud-quiet-loud ode to how whiny emo kids are never popular in high school (if only they could have predicted My Chemical Romance’s success!) and how oafish jocks will always rule the scene and get the “cheerleader chicks.” Twelve years later and that’s still the riskiest the band ever got.
The EELS
Meet the EELS: Essential EELS 1996-2006, Vol. 1
and
EELS Useless Trinkets: B-Sides, Soundtracks, Rarities and Unreleased 1996-2006
(Geffen)
Same thing as Nada Surf: one tepid alt-pop song 10 years ago, yet they… wait is this a double-greatest hits album? And a rarities and b-sides collection? I’m think I’m about to swallow my tongue.
Robert Pollard
Superman Was a Rocker
(Happy Jack Rock)
As long as this erstwhile Guided By Voices frontman can still stand up and hork out a tune, there will be a “least anticipated album of next year” listing waiting for him. Here’s looking at 2009, Bob!
Ladytron
Title TBA
(Nettwerk)
I remember this one time when I went to a record store with a really nerdy friend of mine, and he embarrassingly asked if they had Ladytron’s then-new album, Light and Magic. The clerks stared at him perplexedly and then broke into condescending laughter. I joined them. That was in 2002.
Another iteration of Spectral Sound‘s Death is Nothing to Fear tour, which features Sepctral DJs visiting a series of venues in U.S cities, is about to begin. Tonight, label resident Derek Plaslaiko will kick off the seventh tour in New York, and will thus begin pushing his high-energy sets to clubs around the country. The Detroit-based DJ is currently a resident at the Bunker in New York, as well as at the Wolf+Lamb parties. Catch him at one of these dates, spinning some of the most versatile techno this side of the Midwest.
01/25 New York, NY: The Bunker
02/09 Washington, DC: Zodiac
02/15 Pittsburgh, PA: Z Lounge
02/16 Cleveland, OH: Touch
02/22 Detroit, MI: Oslo
02/23 Phoenix, AZ: Homme Lounge
02/29 Los Angeles, CA: Venue TBA
03/01 San Francisco, CA: Venue TBA
03/05 Boulder, CO: Venue TBA
03/07 Portland, OR: Kulturezene
03/08 Seattle, WA: Krakt
03/15 Toronto, ON: Pia Bouman School
03/19 Boston, MA: Phoenix Landing
03/28 Milwaukee, WI: Venue TBA
04/17 Chicago, IL: Sonotheque
Taking over from the Soul Vendors in the late 1960s as house band at Studio One, The Sound Dimension played on countless classics that formed the very foundation of Jamaican music, with rhythms such as “Rockfort Rock,” “Real Rock,” “In Cold Blood,” and “Drum Son” having since been recycled endless times. This compilation collects 18 of their most killer instrumentals, including those named above, from the era when rocksteady was morphing into reggae, showing a strong yet subtle influence of funk, particularly through Eric Frater’s wah-wah guitar pickings. This disc is worth the price for the shuffling “Great Mu Ga Ru Ga” alone, while the equally rare “Less Problem” and flute serenade “Jamaica Underground” are further highlights. Great stuff!
That French Touch sound the whole world is loving right now definitely came from somewhere, and Everloving Records’ compilation B.I.P.P.P. strives to show fans where. The compilation spans the years between 1979 and 1985, showcasing artists, like Act, whose sound left a mark on dance music and is still present on dancefloors and in studios today. Tune in for the original take on robot-rock.
Luke Solomon better shrink the font on his resume. Besides his work as Classic Recordings co-founder, DJ, producer, and member of Freaks, he’s now dropping a debut full-length as a solo artist. A fixture on the London scene for almost two decades, Solomon has made an album of electro goodness, with horns boozy and otherwise (“The Beat Goes,” “Liquid”), psychologically confessional vocals (“Out of Control”), and weirdly rich strings (“Martin, a Cello and Me”). Throughout are flourishes of house, jazz, techno, and more, all sliced and diced into something new under Solomon’s hand. Sure, his other projects are great, but with an album this good, here’s hoping he stays focused on that solo thing for awhile.
Producer Praveen Sharma shows off his DJ skills and excellent taste in music on XLR8R‘s latest exclusive mix. Sharma has been making music for years now, with his debut album, Backed By Spirits, out on Neo Ouija. He is also a member of Percussion Lab, who streams the best in underground electronic music over the internet airwaves. For this mix, he went hunting through the Ghostly International catalog to bring us an hour’s worth of music by Matthew Dear, Kate Simko, Flying Lotus, DJ Koze, and many more.
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Tracklisting
1. Osborne “Outta Site (Luke Vibert Remix) (Spectral Sound)”
2. Pär Grindvik “Continue In My Words (Spectral Sound)”
3. James T. Cotton “The Second Night Cycle (feat. Ellis Monk) (Spectral Sound)”
4. Dabrye “Game Over feat. Jay Dee & Phat Kat (Flying Lotus Remix) (Ghostly International)”
5. Matthew Dear “Elementary Lover (DJ Koze Remix) (Ghostly International)”
6. KILN “Templefrog (Ghostly International)”
7. Cepia “Hoarse – (Ghostly International)”
8. Kate Simko “Clean Living (Spectral Sound)”
9. Daso “Deine Schuhe (Spectral Sound)”
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After a whirlwind 2007 that included a spot on Chromeo’s Fancy Footwork tour, shows with A-Trak and Kid Sister, and a remix album for Vice, Flosstradamus begin 2008 by preparing their debut album.
The Cool Kids, Amanda Blank, and Kid Sister have all been enlisted to make guest appearances on the Chicago-based duo’s forthcoming album, which means the recording studio will turn into quite the party. The yet-to-be-titled album, set for a summer release, will likely reflect this atmosphere, and contain enough synth-heavy bangers to keep you dancing until next summer.
In the meantime, the duo has some exclusive gear available on eBay. Get your hands on J2K’s old iBook, autographed and packaged with 25 GB of music, Serato, Ableton, and Flossy FX, the group’s patented effects program. Other wonderful schwag includes limited-edition Flosstradamus sunglasses and signed copies of mixtapes.
It may sound like nonsense, but DJ NaNa’s handle is a popular nickname in his parent’s homeland of Ghana, and the world inside his Canadian head is an excitingly confusing mess of American freestyle and scratch culture, ’90s European sample culture, and modern digital post-border sonic vagabondism. NaNa’s diverse influences come together on “Wheel Life Is,” blending together Kanye-style chipmunk soul samples, string rhythms, and scratches, and a molasses-slow break out of the chopped-and-screwed playbook. The World Inside My Head, Vol. 2 balances mostly instrumental tracks with selected guest MCs, peaking on “Untitled,” a Jay Dee-ish showcase for fierce verses from Turbin and Planet Asia.
