The Week In Tours, May 24

With the exception of artists with a steadfast punk-ethic, tours are being chopped into “select dates” for veteran acts. Face it: When was the last time Booka Shade took on South Dakota and preceded to drive straight on through to Indiana? Never. So in honor of the badass touring habits of today’s established ensembles, here are a couple of short-lived tours pit against a punk venture.

Danish octet Under Byen is joining The Album Leaf for a series of orchestral shows bound to silence a grip of coast folk. The math-punk femme fatale known as Marnie Stern gets downright prog on the whole country, while Rhymesayers’ playboy Blueprint spits his game in a few select cities. And Dirtybird’s founding tech-master Claude VonStroke pays his dues at Movement and a few special club affairs. Get some.

Under Byen
06/28 Los Angeles, CA: El Rey Theater
06/29 Pomona, CA: Glasshouse
06/30 San Francisco, CA: Slim’s
07/02 Eugene, OR: WOW Hall
07/03 Seattle, WA: Neumo’s
07/04 Vancouver, BC: The Plaza
07/06 Portland, OR: Doug Fir
07/07 Boise, ID: The Venue
07/09 New York, NY: Knitting Factory

Marnie Stern
06/21 Portland, OR: Holocene
06/22 Vancouver, British Columbia: Pat’s
06/23 Seattle, WA: Chop Suey
06/25 Salt Lake City, UT: In the Venue
06/26 Denver, CO: Larimer Lounge
06/27 Albuquerque, NM: Launch Pad
06/28 Lubbock, TX: Jake’s
06/29 Denton, TX: Rubber Gloves
06/30 Oklahoma City, OK: Conservatory
07/01 Omaha, NE: Sokol Hall
07/02 Minneapolis, MN: 7th Street Entry
07/03 Chicago, IL: Abbey Pub
07/05 Cleveland, OH: Grog Shop
07/06 Toronto, ON: El Mocambo
07/07 Montreal, QC: La Sala Rossa
07/08 New York, NY: Knitting Factory
07/09 Boston, MA: TT the Bears
07/11 London, UK: The Coronet
07/12 London, UK: Bardens
07/13 Brighton, UK: Audio
07/14 Nottingham, UK: Liars Club
07/15 Newcastle, UK: TBA
07/16 Leeds, UK: Royal Park Cellars
07/17 Liverpool, UK: Korova
07/18 Manchester, UK: Star & Garter
07/19 Bristol, UK: Thekla
07/22 Philadelphia, PA: Johnny Brenda’s
07/23 Baltimore, MD: Ottobar
07/24 Washington, DC: Rock and Roll Hotel
07/25 Chapel Hill, NC: Local 506
07/26 Atlanta, GA: Drunken Unicorn
07/27 Baton Rouge, LA: Spanish Moon
07/28 Austin, TX: Emo’s
07/30 Tucson, AZ: Plush
07/31 Phoenix, AZ: Modified
08/01 San Diego, CA: Casbah
08/02 Los Angeles, CA: EchoPlex
08/03 San Francisco, CA: Bottom of the Hill

Blueprint
06/12 Pittsburgh, PA: 31st Street Pub
06/13 Baltimore, MD: Ram’s Head Live
06/14 Washington, DC: Rock N Roll Hotel
06/16 Philadelphia, PA: North Star
06/17 Brooklyn, NY: Europa
06/20 Detroit, MI: Magic Stick
06/22 Indianapolis, IN: Emerson Theater
06/23 Chicago, IL: The Note
06/25 Des Moines, IA: House of Bricks

Claude VonStroke
05/24 New York, NY: APT
05/26 Detroit, MI: Masonic Temple
05/26 Detroit, MI: Movement Festival
05/27 Detroit, MI: Movement Festival
06/02 Montreal, QC: Jean-Drapeau Park
07/20 Chicago, IL: Smart Bar

Daily Download: A Touch of Class “I Feel Upside Down”

A Touch of Class is the remix duo the world’s been waiting for. Known for taking electro-chances since the late ’90s, Oliver Stumm and Domie Clausen have made clubs cry with infectious reinterpretations of everyone from Services to The Gossip to Le Tigre. The duo’s latest offering, A Touch of Class Still Sucks!, is another collection of electro-slappers that has clubs on their heels.

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.

A Touch of Class “I Feel Upside Down feat. The Ones”

A Touch of Class is the remix duo the world’s been waiting for. Known for taking electro-chances since the late ’90s, Oliver Stumm and Domie Clausen have made clubs cry with infectious reinterpretations of everyone from Services to The Gossip to Le Tigre. The duo’s latest offering, A Touch of Class Still Sucks!, is another collection of electro-slappers that has clubs on their heels.

A Touch Of Class – I Feel Upside Down feat. The Ones

Various Artists Virus Syndicate Present Contagious Vol. 1

London is the center of the grime universe, but Virus Syndicate wants to put Manchester on the map. The crew (producer MRK1 and MCs Nika D, JSD, and Goldfinger) lays down bass-heavy beats and rhymes that don’t sacrifice crispness in their quickness. There’s real cleverness here, as on “Cant Do the Rhyme,” where they call out MCs who “don’t make sense most of the time.” And unlike Lady Sovereign, the crew doesn’t try to make its songs pop-friendly MTV fodder. It’s not all smooth, though: The constant references to their MySpace page sound desperate, and some tracks never quite gel (Poet Shadeo’s “No Style”). But this trip could be the ticket to expand your grime horizons.

Qualo: Backpack Gangstas

The annual Chicago Rocks showcase, organized by the respected Molemen crew, has been a highlight of the city’s hip-hop calendar for years and Qualo made sure its appearance during the 2005 edition would be memorable. Waving a flag and flooding the stage with rappers, the group turned its set into a haphazard scene straight out of a political convention. It was an apt move for Qualo, a quartet who are definitely rap’s dark-horse candidate.

“We’re from Chicago and we bring the truth,” says group member Shala Esquire. “We’re more rooted in reality. There’s a dark, bluesy sentiment to our music. It’s never corny.”

Qualo started taking shape when the group’s four members–Preast, Chicago Shawn, Shala Esquire, and King Ken Winz–met and began performing at Chicago’s Lane Technical High School. Progressing organically from campus freestyle sessions in the school cafeteria, the group solidified and started cutting records (they all share production duties). A wide range of influences, from Led Zeppelin and A Tribe Called Quest to local rappers like Psychodrama and Crucial Conflict, informed the group’s polyglot approach to putting together beats and rhymes. With lyrics spanning sarcastic political satires and street-heavy screeds, Qualo has a diverse style sometimes compared to that of OutKast, particularly the duality of that duo’s approach.

“If you notice, Big Boi and Andre could never get along if there wasn’t a little Big Boi in Andre and Andre in Big Boi,” said Shala Esquire. “We don’t have one thing, either. People aren’t just backpack or gangsta.”

The group started gaining wider attention with their self-released 2004 album Believe–­which earned a stellar review from that other Chicago institution, Playboy–and continued to make noise on the mixtape circuit with CDs like Only in America, which contained the dead-on genre parody “Crack.” Signed to Universal, Qualo expects to drop a full-length later this year. In the meantime, they’re working on solo albums (like Chicago Shawn’s forthcoming reggae disc), collaborating with artists like Low B of Hollertronix, and strengthening “The Movement”–a loose term they apply to friends, fans, and fellow artists from Chicago

“We want to be known as a group that makes music and just happens to rap,” Esquire explains. “People put us in boxes. When they can’t package and corner you, they don’t know what to do with you. I think the era we just left in rap, there was a lot of pandering. We’re the new sentiment of what rap started from: rebellious and breaking the norm.”

Pon Di Wire

The next DJ to bus’ from London to Kingston looks to be thuggy-singjay Munga Honorable, whose track “Earthquake” is sizzling on BBC1xtra and other dancehall radio shows.Skinhead reggae is alive, well, and living in L.A. The Aggrolites sound a lot like vintage ’70s reggae acts The Pioneers, The Melodians, or Clancy Eccles–earning fanatical acclaim from English skins via Trojan Records’ 20 Reggae Hits collections. The Hellcat label act is currently touring in support of its third release, Reggae Hit L.A. Catch the crew in Colorado at the High Desert Ska Fest on June 9.

Morgan Heritage, Tanya Stephens, Anthony B, Fantan Mojah, and Collie Buddz will appear at Reggae Rising, August 3-5, at Dimmick Ranch, French’s Camp, Humboldt County, California–the former site of Reggae on the River.

Grammy-winning reggae act Inner Circle sent a press release this week alerting the media to an imposter group touring as Inner Circle. The statement read “…persons unknown are illegally advertising themselves as Inner Circle. They are using our trademark, name, and likeness to perform the following dates: May 18, Porto Alegre, May 19, Estrela, and May 25, Florianopolis. This is not in any way affiliated with Inner Circle.” The band has released several excellent singles, including “Smoke In My Eyes” and “Blood a Run Featuring Jr. Reid,” since finding success with 1993’s “Bad Boys,” (a.k.a. the COPS theme).

Looking for your favorite reggae act’s MySpace page or official website? Look no further than Top 5 Jamaica, an excellent search engine for all things Yard.

Richie Spice will be a no-show for three bookings. The “Brown Skin” singer hit a roadblock at the backlogged Jamaican visa/customs office and will not perform in the US until after June 10. Consequently, Fifth Element Records has postponed Spice’s shows at Martha’s Vineyard (May 26), Club Tobago, NY (May 27), and Westchester Reggae Festival, NY (June 3).

Riddim check: A number of new singles will be hitting shops this week. Up-and-coming imprint Danger Zone debuts the Jamdown riddim, a seriously rootsy one-drop affair. Find tracks like Buju Banton’s “Love Needs,” Jr. Kelly’s “Always,” and Lutan Fyah’s “Mightier Than Them” on this version. The label with the yellow graffiti logo, Kickin, presents its new Rewind (a.k.a. D. Brown’s “No More Will I Roam”) riddim–an apt name for its revival of the Jah Cure hit, “Situation Get Out of Control.” That track reappears with Jah Mason joining Cure on vocals, and joins other singles on the riddim by Capleton, Sizzla, and Norrisman. Nocturnal Music offers up a Fireball; its newest beat features 7 inches by “The Messenger” Luciano (“Better Day”), Ras David (“Herbal Healing”), Determine (“Hear My Cry”), and Yami Bolo (“Everyday Story”), among others. Dancehall fans should listen for the Doublekick. The new riddim from Black Warriahz showcases singles by Elephant Man, Ghost & Roundhead, Lady G, and Macka Diamond.

Barbara Makeda Blake Hannah’s book Joseph: A Rasta Reggae Fable (Macmillan Press) is to be made into a feature film. Ras Kassa, one of the siblings of The Harder They Come director Perry Henzell, will set the tome to celluloid. Sizzla will make a cameo appearance, while reggae historian Roger Steffens will play the role of Sam.

Soulphonic Sound System Volume One

As sonically sharp as DJ Santo’s and Chauncey Canfield’s beats are on Volume One, it’s the guest vocals that are this album’s saving grace. Meshing breakbeats, jazz horns, and Latin flare is a painfully typical formula, and, as such, tracks like “Dossaba” and “Nutmeg” are completely forgettable. “Make It Stop” and “The One” are the sole highpoints, containing charming female vocals that flutter nicely with the production. Although the Portland duo can blend diverse styles cohesively, the songs are repetitive (“Motanica”), uninteresting (“Mr.Sparkle”), and mechanical (“Underwater Circuits”). Volume One sounds like every other lounge comp you’ve heard recently, and proves that possessing technical know-how isn’t enough.

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