Oxbow Narrates Narcotics

The noise-vets in Oxbow have reason to celebrate. They’ve finally graduated from the Nick Cave academy with degrees in the slaying arts, and on The Narcotic Story, the San Francisco-based band takes the blues for a demented spin.

Best known for vocalist Eugene Robinson’s cathartic live performance (which includes stripping, howling, and pelvic-gyrating), Oxbow has carved a very unique place for itself in the post-rock scene. Recording albums with the legendary Steve Albini and collaborating with everyone from Lydia Lunch to Marianne Faithful, the quartet may be one of the most overlooked bands in the genre, particularly when compared to contemporaries like Faith No More and Isis.

The Narcotic Story is the culmination of the band’s nearly 20-year opus. Rather than relying solely on the power of discordant guitars and Robinson’s wailing, the band presents songs that rely as much on orchestral piano scores, accenting strings, and harmonizing vocals as they do on spasmodic brutality.

Teaming up with Japanese doom-trio Boris to support Isis on a forthcoming European tour, Oxbow is set to intoxicate the world with its new narcotic story.

The Narcotic Story is out now on Hydra Head.

Tracklisting
01. Intro
02. Geometry of Business
03. Time Gentlemen Time
04. Down A Stair Backward
05. She’s A Find
06. Frankly Frank
07. A Winner Every Time
08. Frank’s Frolic
09. It’s the Giving, Not the Taking

Three New Music Documentaries

Tapes N’ Tapes
Silly graphics and haphazard organization aside, Walter Bell’s film Mixtape Inc.–which will tour the indie festival circuit before it lands on DVD–does a great job of explaining the origins and inner workings of the hip-hop mixtape game. The doc features over 70 quality interviews with the likes of Kay Slay and DJ Clue (who speak on their innovations, and their feud), Lloyd Banks and Fabulous, and old-schoolers Red Alert and DJ Bruce B, who drop the requisite hip-hop history. Truly hilarious moments include an interview with Curt Nice (who runs a mixtape shop from his mom’s basement in East Cleveland) and an awkward-as-hell freestyle from Kanye West and his boy GLC, who claims his main focus is “lookin’ fresh as hell,” despite looking straight out of a TJ Maxx clearance sale. Ooh snap. Marty B

We Are Famile
The adage “family is what you make it” couldn’t apply more preciously than it does to Daniel Smith’s band, The Danielson Famile. The group, formed in 1995 around Smith’s Rutgers University senior thesis, is comprised of his actual brothers and sisters (along with a few friends like Sufjan Stevens), but it’s obvious that “family” is always the message of Smith’s lifelong, Lord-pleasing work. Danielson: A Family Movie (HVE; $19.99) follows Smith’s six-album path while closely examining his faith. Most intriguingly, it illustrates the band’s penchant for making quirky pop without resorting to heavy-handed tactics to drive their point home. Perhaps that’s why Danielson was practically rejected by the Christian music community, instead finding a home on labels like Secretly Canadian. Thank God. Ken Taylor

Euro Trip
What do indie hip-hop artists do when they’re on tour? The same stuff y’all do. Listen to the iPod, smoke weed, attempt to bone chicks (and fail), sit around the hotel lobby feeling tired as hell. Which means that only the most die-hard Detroit rap addict will catch a buzz from Frank N Dank’s European Vacation (Needlilworks, $19.99). The documentary DVD was shot on J Dilla’s last tour before he died, but mainly centers on performances and quips from rap duo Frank N Dank. Live footage and an included CD of the group are hype, but the extras are pretty bland, save for an airport gab session with Dilla, Dank, and Rhettmatic trading stories about Biggie and Busta. Marty B

Mr. Oizo Makes Feature Film

Steak, in this case, is not a slab of red meat, but the debut feature film from Quentin Dupieux, better known to Ed Banger Records fans as Mr. Oizo. The 90-minute film is set in the year 2016, and follows a young man named George, who is obsessed with the latest rage in the fashion world–facelifts. Rich bullies, virtual sports, a kidnapping, and ransom money all make up important plot points in the story, and if Steak anything like the slew of Ed Banger music videos available, it should be quite the juicy treat.

The film’s soundtrack is, appropriately, available on Ed Banger June 18, 2007. Those in Paris can head out to the film’s release party on June 20 (also the film’s release date), at Paris, 5 avenue de l’Opera.

Weekly Chart: Awol One

Awol One has been making hip-hop for nearly 20 years, but he shows no signs of slowing down. Only Death Can Kill You, his latest release, sees Awol make a temporary break from his conventional backpack-style hip-hop. Skid Row-esque guitar samples and loose percussion make his uniquely biting voice more scruffy and agro than ever, and we caught up with the vocal marauder to see what tracks inspired this album, his spookiest vision yet.

Only Death Can Kill You is out now on Cornerstone R.A.S.

1. System of a DownS/T (American)
2. The CarsComplete Greatest Hits (Elektra)
3. Special EdYoungest In Charge (Profile)
4. TocaS/T (Two Tone Elephants)
5. MIA “Galang” (XL)
6. TV On the RadioReturn to Cookie Mountain (4AD)
7. Public Enemy “It Takes a Nation of Millions” (Def Jam)
8. DeftonesAround the Fur (Maverick)
9. The ShapeshiftersWas Here (Cornerstone R.A.S.)
10. Boogie Down ProductionsBy All Means Necessary (Jive)

XLR8R TV Episode 11: Pole

In part two of our series on San Francisco’s Recombinant Media Labs, XLR8R Technology Editor Ken Taylor looks at the state-of-the-art sound facility through the eyes of Berlin-based musician Stefan Betke (a.k.a. Pole). To a soundboard master like Betke, the lab is not only “a dreamland,” but a fertile ground for his dub-heavy explorations. Watch as he experiences Recombinant Media Labs for the first time.

Watch This Episode

Previous Episodes
Episode 1: DAT Politics, Zion I
Episode 2: Carl Craig
Episode 3: SXSW Part One
Episode 4: SXSW Part Two
Episode 5: Busdriver
Episode 6: Psychedelic Videos
Episode 7: Beth Ditto and Yo Majesty
Episode 8: Digitalism
Episode 9: Joakim
Episode 10: Recombinant Media Labs, Part I

Daily Download: Bumps “Tryplmeade Gorsmatch”

When three percussionists from post-rock behemoth Tortoise make a breakbeat record, the odds are that it’s going to be groundbreaking. Bumps‘ first release for Stones Throw, Beats, Breaks, Raw, Drums, beams with Latin, Jazz, Afroabeat, and yes, a little post-rock rhythm. Is there anything these guys can’t accomplish musically? 

Preview a weeks worth of tracks via the XLR8R Podcast. Subscribe using iTunes or with an RSS reader of your choice.

Bumps “Tryplmeade Gorsmatch”

When three percussionists from post-rock behemoth Tortoise make a breakbeat record, the odds are that it’s going to be groundbreaking. Bumps first release for Stones Throw, Beats, Breaks, Raw, Drums, beams with Latin, Jazz, Afroabeat, and yes, a little post-rock rhythm. Is there anything these guys can’t accomplish musically?

Bumps – Tryplmeade Gorsmatch

Dan Deacon Spiderman of the Rings

A member of Baltimore art collective Wham City, Dan Deacon built his reputation with floor-shaking live performances of manic, homemade electro-pop stitched together with ramshackle equipment. He brings the same spastic energy to Spiderman of the Rings, an inventive (albeit wacky) recording that whips distorted chipmunk vocals and hyperactive synths into impossibly catchy party anthems. Fortunately, Deacon’s ear for structure and melody counterbalance the album’s ADD qualities, and Spiderman ultimately succeeds as a result of that symmetry. The record stumbles briefly when Deacon slows down between bangers, as on the twee-ambient “Big Milk,” but the finest tracks here–”The Crystal Cat” and “Okie Dokie”–make for pure celebration, tweaked out in the best possible way.

Kompakt Readies Speicher 3

Fans of all things techno, take note. Cologne-based imprint Kompakt Records is set to unleash the third installment of its Speicher (“Extra”) series, a collection of compilations showcasing the label’s best 12” tracks in a single mix CD.

This time around, labelhead Michael Mayer and Jorg Burger (a.k.a. The Modernist) take the reigns, steering the mix through melodic intros, peak-time dancefloor numbers, and straight into 4 a.m, dropping some of the freshest techno tracks Kompakt has released to date.

Superpitcher, DJ Koze, and Motiivi:Tuntematon make appearances here. In addition, Matias Aguayo (Closer Musik) teams up with Marcus Rossknecht, and working as Broke, the two showcase markedly heavier production work than we’ve seen from them in the past. Hannes Wenner and Christopher Bleckmann also show up, with a bag full of fuzzed-out electro-house courtesy of their Misc moniker.

Speicher 3 proves that the overall Kompakt sound has expanded far beyond the minimalist pop of Michael Mayer and Superpitcher. If nothing else, this third installment is astounding for what we think is the best track John Dahlback has ever written, “Wet Summer.” Enjoy.

Speicher 3 is out June 19, 2007 on Kompakt Extra.

Tracklisting
1. DJ Koze “Na Cha Cha”
2. Davidovitch “Cellophane”
3. Superpitcher “Enzian”
4. Stardiver “Another moment of Silence”
5. Tom Pooks “Pablo Assan’s”
6. Axel Bartsch “Galaxy”
7. Broke “Overthat”
8. John Dahlback “Wet Summer”
9. Misc. “Status Now”
10. Motiivi:Tuntematon “I Don’t Feel Good (When You’re Not Around)”
11. Davidovitch “Insider”
12. Jurgen Paape “Fruity Loops #2”
13. Mayer/Voigt “Transparenza”
14. Axel Bartsch “Deal”
15. Motiivi:Tuntematon “Mankind Failed”

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