Somewhere in between the darker side of late ’90s indie rock and dissonant shoegaze comes the San Francisco duo Ellul. The band’s self-titled debut was recorded along the California coast in places as diverse as churches, industrial warehouses, and living rooms–which isn’t too surprising given the the guys’ lust for indie guitarscapes.. Anyone old enough to remember Caulfield Recordings will have their second coming.
Arnold Jarvis Love & Life
While your parents were enduring the last years of changing your diapers, Arnold Jarvis began laying down the foundation for what would be a lengthy vocal and songwriting project spanning two decades. Love & Life is a compendium of house numbers he’s lent his soul-laden chops to, with production from the likes of Louie Vega, Roy Davis Jr., and Alix Alvarez. While never straying from Jarvis’ soulful house vibe, each disc has been crafted by other DJs’ hands and minds. While Florida-based DJ/producer Albert Cabrera “blends” the first disc, Ricanstruction label founder Frankie Feliciano mixes up the goods on the second. Good vocals and choice production sometimes grow more ripe with age.
Azaxx Fiesta Tropical
This had been sitting in my promo pile for a while and I wish good records I got sent could speak to me so they didn’t get lost behind the piles of wack hip-hop/R&B promos major labels send me. Columbian cumbia mixed up with shuffling beats from France means I always get asked “What’s the tune?” when this is spun.
Balkan Beat Box Nu Med
NY-based saxophonist Ori Kaplan and drummer Tamir Muskat have been tooling around the borough underground for years, performing in groundbreaking bands like Gogol Bordello and Big Lazy. But a turn toward Eastern Europe proved to be their breakthrough. With their self-titled debut, the pair took pounding brass sounds, killer guitar work, and some mighty fine beats and made one of the most groundbreaking albums on this scene. This follow-up is equally as compelling on a songwriting level and much cleaner production-wise. The presence of frenetic Israeli MC Tomer Yosef is tasteful and humorous, making the record a close approximation of their stage show. Still, studio work is key, and here Muskat’s hand is steady. The Moroccan-based rhythm of “Pachima” is a swirling pastiche of Gnawa with tasteful electronics, while the clean horns of “BBBeat” frolic amidst a flurry of darbuka and drums.
Solta O Frango
Chicken Preps Jazztronika Comp
DJ, designer and, enterprising A&R man Chicken George has compiled a new volume of his The Swed.u.s.h Connection series, with volume two focusing on a variety of U.S. producers and music styles that should cause a stir in the downtempo and jazz club scene. George compiled a previous volume featuring tracks by Take and Hydroponic Soundsystem for the Swedish Brandy label, home to Freddie Cruger and Southside Break Crew (a.k.a. Raw Fusion’s Beatfanatic).
George is introducing his own new musical term for volume two. He calls the hybrid “jazztronica,” which is a mix of downtempo, hip-hop, soul, funk, dub, Afrobeat, and house combined to make a spicy musical gumbo. Featured on volume two of the comp are Philadelphia’s Illvibe Collective, comprised of Statik, Panek, Phillee Blunt, Lil Dave, and Skipmode. The track “What They Say” features renowned Philly songstress Lady Alma.
The EP’s other tracks come courtesy of an experienced bunch, namely Martín Perna’s (founder of Antibalas and longtime TV on the Radio collaborator) potent Afrobeat funk combo Ocote Soul Sounds, Dallas hip-hoper Nick Nack, and San Francisco’s J-Boogie’s Dubtronic Science project. Leaving no groove style or stone unturned, Chicken George delivers a varied EP that sheds light on America’s vibrant and too-often overlooked jazztronica underground.
Event: FIXED and Zombie Nation in Brooklyn
JDH & Dave P have helped renovate New York nightlife with their FIXED parties. These two ex-punk patriots have had everyone from Ewan Pearson to Lindstrom to Peaches to M.A.N.D.Y. destroying nights at their always-ripping parties–and based on Zombie Nation‘s Gigolo-tech history, this event will definitely be one for the books. Brooklyn already has its hands up.
Friday, May 11, 2007
XLR8R and FIXED Present
Zombie Nation (Munich, DE)
With FIXED Residents
JDH
&
DAVE P
Studio B, 259 Banker St. Brooklyn
10 p.m. – 4 a.m., $6 (In Advance) $8 (At Door), 21+
Dub Trio Readies Live Album
ROIR has a long history of releasing amazing records, especially in the live department (uh, Christian Death’s Decomposition of Violets, hello), so Cool Out and Coexist, the latest offering from hardcore/dub band Dub Trio, seems the logical next release for the label.
Not only has the Brooklyn-based trio gained extreme praise from experimental rock overlord Mike Patton (Faith No More, Fantomas), they’ve also done studio and stage work with G-Unit and Mobb Deep. Cool Out and Coexist, however, is indicative of the band’s all-out war capabilities. Recorded live during sold-out shows at Brooklyn’s Union Pool, the album is stripped down, profoundly heavy dub chaos. Featuring the band’s minimal reverberated drums, delayed guitar flurries, and bombastic breakdowns, this newbie is comparable to the initial energy of Bad Brains (if they were all on PCP, that is). There’s no way that HR isn’t thoroughly pumped.
Fred Miketa
Cool Out and Coexist is out June 26, 2007 on ROIR.
Tracklisting
1. Angel of Acceptance
2. Who Wants to Die
3. Interlude #1
4. One Man Tag Crew
5. Interlude #2
6. Untitled
7. Casting Out the Nines
8. Jack Bauer
9. Drive By Dub
10. Extract
11. Cool Out and Coexist
12. Screaming At the Sea
13. Illegal Dub
14. Jog On
Beyond Beats and Rhymes: Taboos
For years, former Northeastern University quarterback Byron Hurt has been speaking to students and athletes about gender violence prevention. But as a filmmaker, this longtime hip-hop head has taken his activism a step further with a Sundance-approved documentary, Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes. Hyper-masculinity, misogyny, and homophobia in the music are all up for discussion, with everyone from Spelman College students to MCs like Fat Joe and Jadakiss weighing in. XLR8R caught up with Hurt to discuss how his film has sparked a new discourse.
XLR8R: In the film, you mention that watching music videos inspired the project.
Byron Hurt: Well, I had been thinking about making a film about hip-hop for years. I actually first came up with the idea in 1997 and I didn’t really have the confidence or courage to pursue it then. I had several conversations with one of my colleagues, Jackson Katz. He had been encouraging me to make the film. Then one Saturday afternoon I had been sitting at home watching music videos, and I decided, “This is the time for me to do it.”
What about those videos struck a nerve in you?
Just the fact that they were so formulaic and that they all had the same reoccurring themes and images. It was almost like watching the same music video over and over again.
As a hip-hop head and former athlete, how did you overcome your insecurities about confronting these issues of hyper-masculinity and misogyny in hip-hop?
I just decided that if I didn’t do it, somebody was gonna do it. You have to muster up the courage, and most of the people who I look up to and respect, they stand up in face of hostility or potential resistance. And to be quite honest with you, I haven’t really seen any of the resistance that I thought that I may face.
Sarah Jones and Jadakiss were very forthcoming in speaking to you. But Russell Simmons dodged the questions. Did you expect resistance?
I knew that everybody didn’t want to have a conversation about misogyny and homophobia in hip-hop. I mean, people are more willing to talk about the violence and the hyper-aggression than they are the misogyny and the homophobia. In those two areas, people tend to be either defensive or don’t really want to talk about it all, which I think is very interesting.
Has the film sparked a dialogue within the community, encouraging people to open up about these things?
I think the film is one tool to get that discussion going and it has gotten going. And I think Nas’ Hip-Hop Is Dead also got people to talk about where hip-hop is right now. The actions that were taken by the Spelman women [not allowing Nelly to visit their campus if he wouldn’t discuss their issues with his music] also contributed to forcing the discussion. I just think people are at a point where they’re starting to reject a lot of what they’re seeing and what they’re hearing. The film landed at the right time.
Boots Riley Withdraws from Commencement
Boots Riley, the leading MC of political-rap group The Coup is absurdly active when it comes to communal action. He’s served on the central committee for the progressive Labor Party, helped build the Anti-Racist Farm Workers’ Union in California, and founded the Mau Mau Rhythm Collective–a group bent on taking various organizations’ messages and spreading them on a cultural platform (namely, hip-hop).
Growing up in the already extremely communal city of Oakland (home of the Black Panther Party), Riley is quite the revolutionary force in the Bay Area. He’s become such an outspoken presence, the University of California Berkeley invited him to speak at the Black Graduation ceremony this Saturday–which would typically be right up the MC’s alley.
But Riley, alongside Danny Glover, has pulled out of the event in favor of protesting the school’s contribution to poverty wages.
Riley states, “In solidarity with the Custodian’s Union (AFSCME Local 3299), I will not be making the UC Berkeley 2007 Black Graduation commencement speech. Many ideas were talked about regarding how to show solidarity with and not get in the way of this fight. Some said that I should use the opportunity to speak to the audience about the union’s demands. However, being that the speaking theme I was given was ‘Revolution: Command Change,’ I feel the best way to embody this theme is not to give lip service to it, but to show that we must be involved in the struggles that are happening around us every day.”
According to a press release, the AFSCME Local 3299 noticed that employees in UC Berkeley, Irvine, and Santa Cruz were making $4 to $6 hourly. If that’s not a cry for revolution, what is?
