DJ Eleven and Matthew Africa are responsible for one of the year’s best mixtapes-Dirty Raps: The Best of Too $hort. In this episode, they walk you through how they did it, from choosing songs down to preferred kbps rates for MP3s, and give a nice history of Too $hort and mixtapes themselves along the way.
Previous Episodes
Episode 18: Mars-1
Episode 19: Chromeo
Episode 20: My Sing-A-Ling
Episode 21: Devin the Dude
Episode 22: Matmos
Ready for some Russian boom-bap? No, it’s not a new Vadim album, but the debut of 21-year-old Mikhail “DJ Alibi” Galkin, a Moscow-born, Toronto-based musician who’s thoroughly self-schooled in dope beat production. Galkin’s instrumental tracks contain ample dusty-crate samples and thick MPC drum thumps, as well as his own live instrumentation and stylish arrangements. But Galkin saves some of his best beats for guest MCs Theo 3, Giant Panda, and Insight; the latter’s lyric-splattered “Let’s Ride” is viciously funky uptempo hip-hop. Contrast that with “Life at the Rex”‘s Grant Green-style cool-jazz guitar licks, or the sashaying “Samba International,” and you’ll realize Galkin’s music is indeed a fresh alibi.
Moving on from Platinum Pied Pipers’ Triple P (2005), Robert O’Bryant (a.k.a. Waajeed) gathers Tiombe Lockhart, Invincible, Ta’Raach, and material from the late J Dilla for his latest album, The War. “The Overtaking” features ominous beat arrangements, slow, suspense-building guitars, and Lockhart on vocals. Photo by Dustin Ross.
Stereotypes quickly make the imagination dance on most people’s first listen to Northern State. These female rappers straight outta Dix Hills bare fangs like “I wish you well, what the fuck?!/I heard your mom drives an ice cream truck,” and try to seduce through lines like “I’ll organize your underpants/I’ll color-code it/I’ll make you a vegan pie and then I’ll à la mode it!” But that is NS’s charm–they are what they damn well please and have no pretensions to earn “street cred.” Many lyrics induce cringes, but the music’s robotic guitar riffs and Luscious Jackson-style roller-rink funk earn them some forgiveness.
This September, we get inside the hip minds of some of the indie world’s most stylish acts, like Dudley Perkins, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Tiombe Lockhart, Waajeed, Alice Russell, The Politik, and Rita J. Then we chat with Wiley, Quio, Prinzhorn Dance School, artist Mike Paré, and Calvin Harris. Z-trip stops in to talk videogames, and Tim Harrington of Les Savy Fav provides thrift-shopping tips. Other features include No Age, Shawn Brackbill, and Turf Talk. Style for miles.
Head over to our Magazine Section and download a PDF of XLR8R 110 straight to your desktop. You can subscribe to the XLR8R Digital Magazine Podcast to receive regular updates, or email us to find out your nearest retailer carrying the mag.
Olympia, Washington-based, Arkansas-bred trio The Gossip is leaving the Northwest again for a headlining tour that’ll make punks, blog-readers, and Europeans stoked to be alive. Unlike the band’s recent tour with Cyndi Lauper and Erasure, this jaunt sees the band going back to its roots, taking along Portland-based party-man Panther and The Long Blondes. Not to mention, you can see the band outside of an arena, which rules.
The Gossip
08/27 Stuttgart, DE: Schocken
08/28 Frankfurt, DE: Cookys
08/30 Vienna, AT: Full Hit of Summer
08/31 Munich, DE: Atomic Cafe
09/01 Milano, IT: Idroscalo Rock
09/02 Zurich, CH: Abart
09/05 Paris, FR: Nouveau Casino
09/07 Birmingham, UK: Academy
09/08 Bristol, UK: Academy
09/09 Isle of Wright, UK: Bestival
09/11 Cambridge, UK: Corn Exchange
09/12 Preston, UK: 53 Degrees
09/13 London, UK: Forum
09/14 London, UK: Forum
09/15 Brighton, UK: Dome
11/06 Los Angeles, CA: Music Box Theater
11/09 Dallas, TX: House of Blues
11/10 Austin, TX: The Parish
11/12 Atlanta, GA: The Earl
11/16 New York, NY: Webster Hall
11/17 Brooklyn, NY: Music Hall of Williamsburg
11/18 Cambridge, MA: Middle East
“Diva” is an overused and grotesque word. It conjures images of an incessantly expanding Mariah Carey, and lurid Ibiza enthusiasts ripe with passion for all things “glam.” Quite frankly, it makes this writer slightly uncomfortable even typing it. Yet it’s the most apt term for a female vocalist with as much soul as Kathy Diamond.
The London-based, Sheffield-raised disco funkstress has been crafting her dynamic vision since 1993, releasing vocal-house twelves on her own dime via white labels. But Diamond’s dance potential has been elevated with her first long-player, composed by production powerhouse Maurice Fulton. “I met Maurice through my friend Nesreen [better known as Modal artist and fellow Fulton contributor Bibi]. She’s a fine singer!” exclaims Diamond via email. “Nesreen told Maurice about me, he called, I started writing songs to a couple of his instrumentals, and that’s how it started.” The duo crafted the 2003 “Sunshine” single (on Cottage), which eventually segued into her first LP, Miss Diamond to You (Permanent Vacation).
Stirring together an amalgam of subtle slap-bass leads, cosmic synth waves, and vintage soul vocals, Diamond’s debut long-player brims with a childhood spent listening to old soul and disco. “It was a very exciting moment in our house when my mum got The Best of Donna Summer. She fell out with her sister because it came under question who actually owned [the record]. My Aunty Mandy put her name on it and my mum lost the will to live,” Diamond recalls. “It could have been an original disco-related death!”
Though her talent for writing soulful love songs was always evident, the desire to make glittery dancefloor gems didn’t strike right away. “I’ve always been a bit of a drama queen but didn’t get into making disco music until later on. I preferred dancing to it with my mum in the living room and dressing up,” says Diamond. “But my love for real songs kept me writing, along with a couple of rubbish boyfriends, and some very inspiring late nights out!”
With tracks like “All Woman” and “I Need You Here Right Now,” Diamond is at once dominating and vulnerable, sensual and innocent, which always makes for an interesting disco heater. “The perfect disco record for me has the backbone of a real song–it’s hooky as fuck and has the biggest ass-whipping bassline you’ve ever heard!” Diamond asserts. “Maurice has delivered my favorite slap-bass ever. When it kicks in during ‘All Woman,’ I get a massive rush! I love it!”
Wooden ShjipsS/THoly Mountain
We rarely get to give the Holy Mountain bros dap, but the San Francisco-based label has just given birth to one triumphant piece of prog-history. Wooden Shijps figured out that organs, Alice Cooper-esque vocals, and lo-fi guitar fuzz are the recipe for one legitimate stoner soundtrack. Grass will be fired up to this on the immediate tip.
DJ Ayres & Nick CatchdubsSuperfriendsDJ AyresCatchdubs
What started as a monthly at SF’s Milk Bar has finally come full circle with a stellar mix from the party’s founders: The Rub’s DJ Ayres and Fool’s Gold Records’ Nick Catchdubs. The rough theme here is dance rock (Devo, The Gossip, Depeche Mode, Zongamin), and the selections are keen, unexpected, and tightly cut. Stomp your feet.
BoddickerBig Lionhearted and the Gallant ManBanter
Big Lionhearted sounds like a Modest Mouse of yesteryear: communal, sloppily taut, and most of all head-bobbingly inventive and emotional. These simple little indie rock tracks carry a big punch. Give 21-year-old Caleb Boddicker his due.
Para OneEpiphanieNaïve/Ryko
Over a year after it’s European Institubes release, Para One’s debut LP finally reaches US soil with a domestic price tag. Tracks like “Dundun-dun” and “Midnight Swim” are still hipster dance staples and Epiphanie is still better than most current electro-house. Take that, blogs.
ElektronsGet Up 12”Wall of Sound
This 12” is all about the Herve remix. The pulsing, rollercoaster synthlines are the epitome of a perfect peak-time dance track–it will either make you throw your hands in the air in ecstatic, sweat-soaked revelerie, or it will make you run to the bathroom and vomit. Either way, the Dubsided sound has destroyed you once again.
MusclesGuns Babes LemonadeModular
The latest release from camp Modular is another synth-punk-funk tour de hip. Melbourne-based Muscles certainly shares a few of the tendencies of labelmates The Presets–unaffected, glam-punk vocals layered with techno 4/4’s and synth stabs, but the poppy melodies make this debut work. If this genre is still going anywhere, Muscles is the first in line.
Clipd BeaksHoarse LordsLovepump United
The whole ’90s noise-punk sound is pretty tired, but Clipd Beaks is one of the few bands around that gives the wavering genre hope. Hoarse Lords sounds like it was recorded in somebody’s basement, then sent for a proper mastering from anyone of the producers working with The Birthday Party. If you like dirty, heavy bass lines and effected guitar wanking, this thrashy record was made for you.
KomputerSynthetikMute
Not unlike Kraftwerk, these spelling bee failures own up to analog majesty. Filtered synths, weird noises, and whispered, robo-vocals usually equate to a cliché, but not in the case of this decade-old duo. Between Synthetik and Alan Vega’s Station, Mute is prepping for its place in the rad releases of 2007 hall of fame.
VariousEskimo Volume V: The GlimmersEskimo
Fo the fifth installment of its mix series, Eskimo wrangled up Belgian leftfielders The Glimmers to compile a percussive masterpiece. Featuring unpredictable funk artistry from Venus Gang, Tussle, Primal Scream, and others, this collection drops at a time when disco-esque mixes are nearly exhausted. It’s got nothing on Optimo’s mix, but Volume V still kills it.
Shitmat GrooveriderPlanet Mu
Whenever a press release indicates that an album has anything to do with “hard jungle” or “mashcore,” Managing Editor Ken Taylor usually tosses it to the promo wolves. It may be the gnarly cleavage on the cover or the track title “Beastiality,” but either way, it’s still here. Shitmat, you are the lone breakcore survivor.
Indie don Aesop Rock teams up with his longtime production partner Blockhead for None Shall Pass, another full-length of the funk-driven, jazzy hip-hop we’ve come to expect from the Definitive Jux artist. Labelmates EL-P and Rob Sonic make guest appearances, and no one spits fire into a mic quite like Aesop does here. Photo by Chrissy Piper.
