Airships Fill the Sky finds Brooklyn-based producer Morgan Packard weaving acoustic and electronic sounds together while maintaining his trademark sound of heavily-textured loops. The album–recently released on Ezekiel Honig’s new Anticipate imprint and packaged with a DVD of live performance–is a sea of cellos, accordions, saxophones, and digitally manipulated sounds that hypnotize the listener into the dreamiest of states.
On his 2006 LP, Dennehy, Chicago rapper Serengeti rhymed from the point of view of five different characters, like “Kevin,” a working class Bears fan with a thick Illinois accent. After hearing Don’t Give Up, ‘Geti’s collaboration with producer Polyphonic the Verbose, one is left wondering whether Kevin or his pals could have at least made a cameo on this project. Instead, intensely personal emo lyrics weigh too heavily on an album where the real star is Polyphonic’s brilliantly textured production. With nods to microhouse, drum & bass, dub, and ambient sounds, Polyphonic’s beats have an entirely unique, otherworldly feel to them. But the apocalyptic “Rambo” and a few other lyrically minimal songs notwithstanding, the tracks would perhaps be put to better use as instrumentals.
After departing Cleveland for Berlin aspirations, Metamorphic Records label head Dan Curtin delivers a clean mix of jumbled minimalism for his friends back at Philly’s Tuning Spork. This double-CD mix takes a walk down the avenues of modern house music, sampling the funk roots of yesteryear and displaying the skeletal influences of today’s techno sound. Most of the tracks offer basic arrangements done with a tribal, percussive style, however throughout the mix several peak thrillers blow the speakers. Featuring tracks from Lee Van Dowski, Guido Schneider, Tom Clark, Funk D’Void, Jay Haze, and Renato Figoli, the comp finds the scene’s best names and exclusive b-sides.
Various Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-1970Rhino
XLR8R HQ is just blocks away from San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury district, where the Summer of Love found its epicenter. Those few months–40 years ago–came to define a generation, and birth one of the country’s most important times in music, art, and politics. Now it’s a spot for hipsters to buy $200 jeans, crust-punks to score meth, and tourists to take pictures under the famed street corner’s signs. Should that take away from Love is the Song We Sing, Rhino’s amazing collection of San Francisco-specific psych and folk-rock gems from 1965-1970? Fuck, no.
Einmusik De’MediciItalic
Techno is essentially a genre of singles and compilations, so it’s rare that we have the pleasure of receiving a full-length techno album as formally tight and melodically stunning as this Hamburg-based producer’s debut LP. De’Medici is proof that minimal can thrive on your headphones as easily as in Berlin clubs.
Shooting SpiresS/TCardboard
The latest project from Parts & Labor bassist B.J. Warshaw takes droning, often assaulting noise and makes it intimate. Combing scratchy loops, distant vocals, and endless, pulsing feedback, Shooting Spires is stripped-down, apartment-produced art-rock that doesn’t lose emotion with its experimentation.
VariousFabriclive 36: James Murphy & Pat MahoneyFabric
There’s something special about a mix that’s got Chic’s “I feel Your Love Comin’ On” posed near Daniel Wang’s “Like Some Dream (I Can’t Stop Dreaming).” Murphy and Mahoney professionally shake up contemporary disco tracks with vintage ones, both obscure and commonplace. There’s no needless funk or excessive percussion here, just pop vocals and a realized vision.
Shout Out LoudsOur Ill WillsMerge
While some of SOL’s newest is a little on the radio-friendly, “we just opened for Camera Obscura” tip, Our Ill Wills is still something that can be listened to from start to finish without any complaints. And even if pop isn’t you forte, “Normandie” is about as infectious as any of The Cure’s greatest hits. It would foolish to sleep on the songwriting these five Swedes can turn out on the regular.
VariousBenno Blome Presents: from Antenna to Antenna1Sender
Spooky, dark-ambient techno is a force not to be reckoned with. Benno Blome has compiled a sick collection of pad-driven, 6 a.m. tracks that’ll make any comedown as enjoyable as go time. Featuring Baby Ford, Misc., Phage, and more, this disc was made to swirl around in your head for extended periods.
The Toxic AvengerDemoIHeartComix
The hip-factor of distorted-synth electro-house is bordering on totally annoying (if not cheesy) status, but you can’t front on amazing production. This young Parisian cranks out melodic, Digitalism-on-ecstasy-like, dance tracks that’ll treat any club right. Franki Chan’s label may be onto something with this dude.
PuziqueDon’t Go 12”Boys Noize
With a release on Boys Noize records, Puzique would be easy to lump in with all of the other electro-blog-house clogging hipster’s headphones, but with this single’s soulful vocals and filtered build-ups, what you have here is straight-up Chicago house. “Don’t Go” is peak-time chaos at its purest.
Ananda ShankarSa-Re-Ga MachanFallout
Only available in India until now, this reissue of the late Shankar’s 1981 LP is a perfect starting point for those looking to delve into the crossover genre of Indian funk and psych. Sa-Re-Ga Machan finds Shankar taking classical instrumentation in some bizarre directions, with references to surf-rock, ’60s Afrobeat, and even Elvis Presley.
Gucci SoundsystemAcarpenter 12”Death From Abroad
Only the third release on the baby-fresh Death From Abroad label, Gucci Soundsystem’s latest 12” sounds right at home among James Murphy’s oeuvre. A massive, funky-house number, “Acarpenter” rolls through devilish synth washes before exploding into space-disco bliss. It seems Padded Cell has some admirers–or competition.
“If you wanna know what Tiombe’s album is going to be like, this should give you a good idea,” says Waajeed. In the background, Tiombe Lockhart wantonly shakes her copper coiffure to the sounds of seminal no-wave duo Suicide careening from an old school Select-o-matic turntable.
Even if you muted the stereo, you’d still stand a damn good chance of piecing together Lockhart’s aesthetic–at least, if her apartment is any indication. Random thrift-store finds and other oddities adorn her eclectic flat: dismembered baby-doll heads fashioned into armrests, a medieval mace on the wall, Japanese flags as sofa throw covers, an artillery shell suspended from the ceiling, a 12″ of Prince-tutored girl group Apollonia 6’s salacious 1984 hit “Sex Shooter” in the corner.
By music-industry standards, the bizarre visual/aural collage of Lockhart’s life could be perceived as “left-of-center.” As a young, black female vocalist, Lockhart should be affecting a glossy video vixen posture for an anesthetized 106 & Park audience, and singing hooks for the latest Top 10 rapper. But self-expression and individuality are not for sale on Lockhart’s watch. “Part of what I love and hate about Tiombe is that it’s about Tiombe,” affirms Waajeed. “She’s not one of these dumb bitches where you write the song, tell her how to sing it, and you put her on stage with tits and ass out.”
“I don’t have a problem with tits and ass,” retorts Lockhart with a sly grin.
Piper at the Gates
Lockhart’s sound has largely been defined by Waajeed and partner Saadiq’s production collaboration, Platinum Pied Pipers. In 2004, PPP dropped a formidable buzz-track trifecta with the hip-hop-inflected R&B singles “Your Day Is Done,” “Stay With Me,” and “I Got You” (the latter two featuring lead vocals by Lockhart) and the trio embarked on extensive international tours in anticipation of the release of their debut full-length. Triple P was nominated as album of the year by UK soul tastemaker Gilles Peterson at his BBC Radio 1-sponsored 2005 Worldwide Music Awards, and grassroots pundits like ?uestlove sung the group’s praises from the mountaintops. In layman’s terms, these are usually good omens that you’re on to something pretty stellar.
Her success with the Platinum Pieds nowithstanding, Lockhart has been constructing a musical mystery over the past year and a half that may strike some PPP fans as a little odd. Why tamper with a winning recipe? Waajeed offers a bit of insight: “Tiombe has always come with her own style and attitude. I feel like, in some ways, PPP has kind of stifled that. [PPP] was more of a PG-13 thing.” Although Triple P was a family affair, with featured guest spots from a variety of artists, Lockhart’s solo flight was anything but an afterthought. “I’d always been working on solo shit,” says Lockhart. “It was always Waajeed and Saadiq’s understanding of ‘We know you’re doing your own thing, but will you come along on this ride with us?’. There were a lot of great lessons I’ve learned [with the PPP project], but I’ve always been working on my own side of things.”
Indeed she has. While attending New York City’s New School, Lockhart befriended classmates and future major-label recording artists Bilal and Robert Glasper, with whom she recorded a batch of songs later to be released as The Tiombe Lockhart Bootleg #1. One track from those early sessions that garnered Lockhart underground buzz was the metaphorical ode to booze “Mr. Johnnie Walker.”
After a failed recording deal with Elektra Records and other prospects in perpetual ebb and flow, Lockhart arrived at a crossroads. “What was happening in my life was that I was fed up,” she explains. “I had been signed, and I was wondering, ‘Why isn’t this happening?'” But following an NYC Slum Village show in 2003, a chance meeting with Waajeed would shift the tectonic plates of her world. While he was impressed with her bootleg and wanted to include her on the PPP project, she was skeptical of his cliché claims of being a producer. Providence ultimately came via Fed Ex. “He sent me the beat… with a check,” recalls Lockhart.
Too Hot to Handle
Following the success of Triple P, Lockhart encountered some resistance to her rock and roll spirit. “I feel like a lot of people could not handle what I was doing,” she muses. “The reaction was kind of like ‘Aw, she’s drunk.’ And I’m like, are you fucking kidding me?! Iggy Pop is one of the greatest performers of all time! He’s bloody and missing teeth when he walks off stage!”
In retrospect, it’s easy to understand their response. Her PPP output is embellished with a coquettish vocal panache that hearkens back to a bygone era. On “Mr. Johnnie Walker” in particular, Lockhart croons with a coy Marilyn Monroe appeal against a track with a jazzy 1920s flair that puts Amy Winehouse’s retro pursuits to shame. So it’s understandable that the crowd looks slightly dumbfounded when Lockhart launches into a Soft Cell-esque song like “Electric Bullets.” Still, she refuses to let popular demand box her in. “‘Stay With Me’ and ‘I Got You’ were my signature songs for 2004 and 2005,” says Lockhart. “And it’s not that I don’t like the songs. It’s just not where I’m trying to go now. But I still see those sad faces when I don’t perform them.”
Passion Play
With Waajeed’s recently released project The War LP in stores, and work on PPP’s sophomore effort underway, Lockhart’s debut album is beginning to organically take shape. Her uncanny ability to condense all of the mayhem and abstract elements of life into a fitting piece of work is further buttressed by Waajeed’s confidence in her skill. “I feel like Tiombe has never needed a producer,” he says. “She’s always been a person whose had her own ideas and knows what she wants to hear. Because she’s so passionate about her ideas, I felt like I should put myself in a position so that I can back out. And that’s pretty much how it is. If she needs me for assistance or for a track, I’m there.”
So while some listeners may be inclined to lump her in with the new crop of vocalists like Corinne Bailey Rae and Chrisette Michele, be clear that Lockhart isn’t your average jazzy belle. With a mercurial alchemy of sophistication and surrealism, the CD-R-only Queen of Doom EP (co-produced by Waajeed and Lockhart) finds her cavorting through a bipolar wonderland of despair, lecherousness, chaos, and resilience that could only be actualized in a dense metropolis like New York City. “What I feel like I’m trying to do is bridge everything that I know with the music I’m in love with,” she says. “No one can know where I’m coming from, except for me. All I know is that there is something that I’m supposed to do: sing and write. And I feel like if it’s genuine and it feels good, if I fucking bust my ass it’s going to be okay.”
Sony vs. Halo 3
Arguably, Halo 3 will be the most important piece of software that Microsoft has ever created, and could possibly cement the Xbox 360 as the game system of choice in the minds of Americans (those that don’t also own a Wii, that is).
Halo 3’s importance is not lost on Sony who, if big-shot video game industry analyst Michael Pachter is to be believed, could possibly be announcing another major price drop next week at the Tokyo Game Show for both the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 2, which continues to rake in dough, just in time to cockblock the Master Chief later this month.
From Gamasutra.com:
“Addressing recent rumors of a new 40GB PS3 SKU planned for release prior to the holidays (and the previously mentioned $99 PS2 rumor), Pachter opines that ‘both of these ideas have merit,’ noting that Sony Computer Entertainment President Kaz Hirai is the keynote speaker at next week’s Tokyo Game Show. ‘If the rumors are true,’ he says, ‘we cannot think of a better forum for making such an announcement, given that the event is less than a week before the launch of arch-rival, Microsoft’s Halo 3.’
But really, who is not going to play Halo 3 just because a PlayStation 3, which to my knowledge has no games that are the equivalent in terms of awareness and awesomeness, is a few bucks less? Not me, boss!
Final Fantasy VII Remix Album Downloadable, Free
Ten years after it was released for the original PlayStation, Final Fantasy VII still gets mad love, as proven by a free fan-created remix album that was made available last week.
The compilation, titled Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream, features 40 artists from around the world who took 45 of the game’s classic tracks, originally composed by Nobuo Uematsu, and turned them into jazz, rock, and techno numbers. Sure, why not?
This is the ninth album from OverClocked ReMix, a non-profit website that specializes in putting together remixed/re-interpreted albums of classic video game music.
Winamp on Wii? New Version Coming
Like Final Fantasy VII, the WinAmp media player is 10 years old! How the time flies.
And to celebrate, WinAmp, now owned by AOL, will be releasing version 5.5, whose functionalities take a square aim at iTunes, on 10/10 at 10:10 a.m. Clever.
In addition to being Wii-compatible, the new version will, according to Wired, who has had a chance to check it out, include:
-The Winamp Remote feature, which can stream music and videos from your computer to any other computer, Nintendo Wii, or cellphones, by logging in to winamp.com/remote. iTunes only lets you stream to computers on your local nework
-The Media Monitor feature, which allows you browse MP3 blogs within Winamp, assembling tracks in a playlist and allowing you to download them to your computer
-The ability to email or text playlists to friends
-The ability to find concert tickets or videos for an artist by clicking on their name
Wild!
dirtyBird’s Claude VonStroke must be sipping the hyphy juice these days, because the minimal techno mastermind has been putting in serious work that includes residencies from Ibiza to New York, as well as pumping out remixes for the likes of The Rapture and Jeff Samuel. The hardest working man in techno has also just launched his Mothership imprint.
The label’s first single, the Italoboyz’ “Viktor Casanova,” has already sold over 5,000 vinyl copies and been embraced by everyone from Villalobos to Jesse Rose. Another recent release is the sophomore single “Paranoid,” from XLR8R’s own “Bubble Metropolis” columnist Monty Luke. To celebrate these accomplishments and more, VonStroke and company are holding parties in San Francisco, San Diego, and Seattle. Get set for a year of dirty techno from San Francisco’s finest.
Italoboyz’ “Viktor Casanova” and Monty Luke and Tasho’s “Paranoid” are available now from Mothership.
Claude VonStroke with Italoboyz Tour Dates
09/20 San Francisco, CA: The End Up
09/22 San Diego, CA: Sin
09/23 Seattle, WA: Decibel Festival
The Italoboyz released Mothership’s first single.
The case of six African-American youths charged with various crimes in Jena, Louisiana, following a “racial incident” at their predominantly white high school, has recently made headlines around the world. Now artists, activists, entertainers, and others plan to rally in the southern city on September 20, the sentencing date for one of the alleged criminals.
The Jena Six are a group of black students who were charged with attempted murder after a fight with a white student who had been taunting them with racial slurs. This student also supported other white students that hung three nooses from the high school’s “white tree,” which sat in the front yard at their school (the school has since cut down the tree). The charges could lead to sentences of 20 to 100 years in prison, which civil rights advocates have decried as unfairly harsh.
In a statement from his publicist, hip-hop icon Mos Def is “asking African Americans of influence and concerned parties to join him in the fight against racial inequality and show solidarity for these young people, who are being treated very harshly by the law. The prosecution of these young men symbolizes a terrible miscarriage of justice, by punishing students opposing segregation in their schools and disregarding the threatening acts of others who advocate it.”
To sign the petition please go to “Jena 6 Petition.”
San Francisco-based duo the Rondo Brothers drops a sultry, slow-grooving electronic track–taken from their new album, Seven Minutes to Midnight–that’s adorned with soaring female vocals, sprinkles of guitar chords, and a throbbing bassline that provides a firm foundation for the entire song. Makes me want to sway my hips.
