Janelle Monae: Cyber Soul
The OutKast-affiliated Dungeon Family, arguably the crew that established Southern hip-hop as a creative and commercial force, is a locus for imaginative artists bent on self-exploration. So it made sense that Janelle Monae, a young and ambitious singer from Wyandotte County, Kansas, would find her way to OutKast’s Big Boi in Atlanta.
“I met Big Boi [when] I was singing backup for Scar,” says Monae, referring to the other highly touted singer in the Purple Ribbon camp. Later, a standout solo performance of Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly” at P. Diddy’s soul food restaurant, Justin’s, prompted Big Boi to track her down. “Immediately after’ felt someone grab my arm,” she remembers. “He was like, ‘I really believe in you. I think we should talk.'”
Monae signed with Big Boi’s Purple Ribbon imprint, and debuted on the label’s 2005 compilation Got Purp? Vol. 2. A subsequent spotlight on OutKast’s ill-fated Idlewild project, where she swung with an easy jazz syncopation on “Call the Law,” stoked anticipation for Monae’s upcoming solo endeavors.
But even the keenest futurist couldn’t predict the utter weirdness of Monae’s Metropolis project. Inspired by Fritz Lang’s 1927 silent-era classic, a German Expressionist-styled meditation on the Industrial era, the album stars Monae as Cindy Mayweather, a woman who travels to the future and consorts with androids, underground workers, and evil capitalists. “I’m an alien from outer space/I’m a cyber girl without a face, a heart, or a mind,” she sings on “Violet Stars/Happy Hunting!,” a bounce cut ridged with guitars that evokes a harder, funkier version of OutKast’s “Hey Ya!” On “Cybertronic Purgatory” she sings a wordless aria over acoustic guitars, then returns to Earth for “Sincerely, Jane,” a pop critique of urban malaise.
Monae conceived the project with Wondaland Productions, a fledgling musical collective that, like her, landed its first major credit on the Idlewild soundtrack. “It pulls from some of the story in Metropolis, but it’s a world of its own,” says Monae of her album. “We’ve taken it far out. It’s way further than the original.”
Unusually, Monae’s soulful Metropolis will be released as four EP-length “suites.” The first will be Metropolis Suite I of IV: The Chase, with a new chapter landing every two or three months.
“We decided to take the symphony approach. [Classical symphonies] play a suite or two, and then you clap, and then you have intermission, and then you come back,” explains Monae. “I always thought the reason why did that is [for the audience] to process what they’ve just heard and not overwhelm them.”
The Week In Tours, July 26
This week the personified hype machine himself Jona “YACHT” Bechtolt traverses the States yet again packing small clubs and amphitheatres alike, while James Murphy as LCD Soundsystem stays in the live mix with a few dates on both coasts. Next, Kitsuné’s L.A. representatives Guns ‘N’ Bombs take their heavy electro from Houston to Tokyo, and multi-instrumentalist Kieran Hebden works out a series of dates with a number of his projects (including Fridge, Four Tet, and a collaboration with Steve Reid).
YACHT
08/19 Brooklyn, NY: McCarren Park Pool
08/23 Portland, ME: Space Gallery
08/24 Montreal, QC: Casa Del Popolo
08/25 Toronto, ON: Sneaky Dee’s
08/27 Buffalo, NY: Soundlab
08/28 Cleveland, OH: Beachland Tavern
08/29 Cincinnati, OH: Publico
08/30 Bloomington, IN: Buskirk Chumley Theatre
08/31 Ann Arbor, MI: The B-Side
09/01 Chicago, IL: Beat Kitchen
09/02 Grinnell, IA: Grinnell Lounge
09/03 Omaha, NE: Slowdown Jr.
09/04 Denver, CO: Hi Dive
09/05 Salt Lake City, UT: Kilby Court
09/08 Portland, OR: Satyricon
09/11 Sacramento, CA: Fools Foundation
09/12 San Francisco, CA: Bottom of the Hill
09/13 Visalia, CA: Howie & Sons ?
09/14 Los Angeles, CA: The Echo
09/15 Morrison, CO: Red Rocks Amphitheatre
LCD Soundsystem
09/05 Austin, TX: Austin City Limits
09/17 Denver, CO: Red Rocks Amphitheatre
09/20 Los Angeles, CA: Hollywood Bowl
09/30 St. Paul, MN: Roy Wilkins Auditorium
10/03 Louisville, KY: Waterfront Park
10/05 Columbus, OH: LC Pavilion
10/06 New York, NY: Randall’s Island
Guns ‘N’ Bombs
07/26 San Diego, CA: Thin
07/27 Houston, TX: Rich’s
08/04 Lincoln Heights, CA: Roachella
08/15 Toronto, ON: The Social
08/16 New York, NY: Hiro Ballroom
08/17 Baltimore, MD: Sonar
08/24 Osaka, JP: Triangle
08/25 Tokyo, JP: Womb
09/20 Mexico City, MX: Mansion
09/21 Seattle, WA: Decibel
09/29 Los Angeles, CA: Neighborhood Festival
Kieran Hebden
07/27 Glasgow, UK: The Classic Grand (Four Tet)
07/28 London, UK: Plastic People (Four Tet)
07/29 Liverpool, UK: Bumper (Four Tet)
08/09 London, UK: Barden’s Boudoir (Fridge)
08/11 London, UK: Field Day Festival (Fridge)
08/16 Dublin, UK: The Village (Fridge)
08/17 Hasselt, BE: Pukkelpop Festival (Fridge)
08/18 Brecon Beacons, UK: Green Man Festival (Fridge)
09/01 Inveraray, UK: Inveraray Castle (with Steve Reid)
09/02 Stradbally, UK: Electric Picnic Festival (with Steve Reid)
Sole Preps New Album
It’s been two and a half years since Tim Holland (a.k.a. Sole) released a full-length, and Sole and the Skyrider Band hints at what the Anticon. artist has been up to all this time.
Holland kept busy with an instrumental album–released under his manbestfriend alias–and with US and European tours, but the artist reportedly became bored with the find-a-beat, throw-out-a-rhyme formula. During this time, a series of events led him to the Orlando, FL-based band Skyrider, who relieved Holland of some of his musical ennui and helped him breathe life back into the creative process. Both Sole and the group relocated to Flagstaff and have been there since. The new album is a testament to this partnership, and more of the fantastically original leftfield jams that put Anticon. on the map.
Sole and the Skyrider Band is out October 23, 2007 on Anticon.
Tracklisting
1. A Say Day for Investors
2. Ghosts Assassinating Other Ghosts
3. Nothing if Free
4. The Bridges, Let Us Down
5. 100 Light Years and Running
6. Shipwreckers
7. The Sound of Head on Concrete
8. Magnum
9. Bones of Pets
10. In Paradise
11. One Egg Short of the Omelette
12. In On Cavalry
13. Stupid Things Implode on Themselves
Daily Download: Koushik and Percee P “Reverse Pt. 2”
By now, fans of hip-hop are familiar with Stones Throw’s Chrome Children series, and Volume 2 delivers more of the same eclectic hip-hop, soul, and funky electro beats found on the first. Here, Koushik and Percee P slink and croon their way through the saucy, energetic “Reverse Part 2.”
Download this song as an MP3, or preview a week’s worth of tracks at the XLR8R Podcast. Subscribe using iTunes, or with an RSS reader of your choice.
Koushik & Percee P “Reverse Part 2”
By now, fans of hip-hop are familiar with Stones Throw’s Chrome Children series, and Volume 2 delivers more of the same eclectic hip-hop, soul, and funky electro beats found on the first. Here, Koushik and Percee P slink and croon their way through the saucy, energetic “Reverse Part 2.”
Junior Senior Hey Hey My My Yo Yo
Danish dance-hop duo Junior Senior is many things-frothy, frenetic, summery–but subtle isn’t one of them. When they say there’s “too much good stuff out there to ignore” on Hip Hop a Lula, they’re not kidding; they’ve got a kitchen-sink aesthetic that constantly jumps influences. Still, there’s an overall retro feeling to Hey Hey My My Yo Yo, their second full-length, that hearkens back to innocently sweet ’60s pop and the deep joy of Motown, helped by guest stars such as Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson of the B-52’s and venerable girl group The Velvelettes. Who needs subtle when its opposite is so much fun?
Various Artists Motown Remixed Vol. 2
Considering the size of Motown’s archives, remixes are inevitable. Luckily, the original material’s often so good that even mediocre producers could fare well-and this Latin-meets-Motown lineup is anything but mediocre. “Shotgun,” from Jr. Walker & the All Stars, gets a Los Amigos Invisibles mix that strips down much of the track and turns up its drums. Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” goes house in a Fun Machine mix, and two Jackson Five remixes (“I Want You Back” in a reggaeton take and the horn-driven Miami mix of “Dancing Machine”) show why it’s so tragic that Michael Jackson has gone off the rails. With results this good, Vol. 3 is a virtual certainty.
The Social Registry Throws a Social
The Social Registry is one of the labels we love for many reasons, and now throwing festivals one of them. The Brooklyn based-imprint is responsible for releasing records from the likes of Gang Gang Dance, Blood On the Wall, and Psychic Ills, and its roster is expanding exponentially. Recently enlisting psych duo Growing, Mike Bones, Sian Alice Group, and Douglas Armour to its army, the label will showcase its old and newfound talent with a two-day outdoor celebration at Brooklyn’s The Yard.
Coinciding with the label’s 4th anniversary, the festival will feature live performances from Americana bad boy TK Webb, Mike Barr’s newest brainchild Octis, jazz-pop outfit Artanker Convoy, and all of the aforementioned artists. New York has seen a lot of fests over the summer, but few have mixed guitar processed noise, post-folk, and freakout rock the way The Social Registry promises to dish out.
For directions and ticket details go to The Social Registry.
Festival Details and Lineup
Saturday, August 11th
Psychic Ills
Artanker Convoy
Ghost Exits
TK Webb
Samara Lubelski
Mike Bones
Sian Alice Group
Sunday, August 12th
Gang Gang Dance
Sian Alice Group
Growing
Electroputas
Douglas Armour
Christy & Emily
Octis
