On Thursday, June 19, digital prankster/mixmaster Girl Talk posted his new album Feed the Animals over the Internet.
Feed the Animals is available as a "pay what you want" download. You can pay nothing and download the album as 320 kbps MP3s; pay $5 and download the album as FLAC files and a long continuous mix; or pay $10 or more for the above packages as well as the CD, which is set for release via Illegal Art in September.
As with Night Ripper, his 2006 breakthrough, Feed the Animals incorporates over 300 songs into a 50 minute mix broken into 13 "songs." Popular rap hits like Rich Boy's "Throw Some Ds" and the Cool Kids' "Gold & a Pager" play a big part as do pop, dance and rock classics like Janet Jackson's "Nasty," Big Country's "In a Big Country" and Stardust's "Music Sounds Better With You." "This project has always been about embracing pop," he told Billboard earlier this month. "There are parts with edits more detailed than anything on 'Night
Ripper,' but overall, I spent time focusing on a particular source song
for longer periods of time, rather than jumping from song source to
song source as quickly as possible."
Girl Talk isn't officially on tour at the moment, but he generally plays a lot of shows. This summer won't be an exception, as he's scheduled to hit several major festivals. His itinerary, as well the Feed the Animals track listing, is located below.
If you missed Dizzee Rascal on his sold-out No Chiefs Allowed tour with El-P last May, here's some good news: He's coming back to the States for another run. The bad news is that he's sticking to the same major markets as last time.
Why would Dizzee Rascal play the same cities over again instead of expanding his audience elsewhere in the country? Beats me. All I know is that if you don't live in New York, California, Chicago and a handful of usual suspects -- like the Pitchfork Festival in Chicago and the Rogers Picnic in Toronto -- then you're still out of luck.
Last year, I criticized Warped Tour for its tendency to add a token hip-hop act or two to a slew of crappy punk bands. But this year appears to be different. While Warped Tour's tone remains obscenely corporate, with the usual mall punk stars (Cobra Starship, Angels and Airwaves), legendary old-schoolers (GBH) and pop-punk wannabes, more than a few weirdly unusual (if not necessarily good) acts have been thrown in the mix, including Jeffree Star and Does It Offend You, Yeah? That adventurous spirit extends to the hip-hop acts as well.
Some of the better known artists include ever-popular cult rapper/comedian. MC Chris. Look out for Othello and Braille, two-thirds of Lightheaded; Braille just released an underrated album, The IV Edition, in April. Shwayze is more on the pop-rap end, with a skater-pop aesthetic similar to Travis McCoy. Shwayze just got a write-up on MTV due to his popular single, "Buzzin'," and his self-titled debut comes out on August 19. Junk Science, (pictured above) the anchor band behind Definitive Jux-affiliated label Embedded Records, picked up Hangar 18's slot. (Hangar 18 dropped off the tour for unknown reasons.) And though you can argue that they aren't really hip-hop, I'll throw Gym Class Heroes in this category, too.
Lesser-known groups appearing on Warped include Megaphone, a new duo consisting of Moe Pope and Headnodic (from Crown City Rockers and the Mighty Underdogs); Detroit rapper Dante, who releases his album Roaming Empire on July 15; and Buffalo, New York hot prospect Edreys.
MC Chris, Gym Class Heroes, Shwayze, Othello and Dante will hold down the entire Warped Tour. Braille, Junk Science, Megaphone and Edreys will appear in select cities. Check the itinerary below.
Starting next week, self-styled revolutionary Immortal Technique will spend the rest of the summer touring across the country. He'll be promoting his first album in four years, The 3rd World, which is set to drop on June 24 via Koch Entertainment. And, as was the case last year, he'll spend part of that time on the Rock the Bells festival tour.
In related news, Immortal Technique has organized an essay writing contest. The competition is open to high school students in grades 9-12; high school seniors who graduated in June are eligible, too.
"Too often students are bogged down with necessary after school jobs and
do not have the free time needed to cultivate their writing and
analytical thinking skills," writes Immortal Technique, who is something of an essayist himself, in a statement on his MySpace page. "Recognizing that these skills are crucial,
Immortal Technique would like to award the writers of the top three
essays with money meant to allow them more free time to reflect on the
state of the world and to develop their writing skills. The essay
contest is meant to demonstrate to the youth that their writing and
critical thinking skills can generate an income for them and their
families."
You can learn more about the contest on Immortal Technique's website. The contest ends July 8.
For those of us who graduated from high school, like, a long time, here's the track listing for the decidedly R-rated The 3rd World and the itinerary for Immortal Technique's summer program.
Okay, I know this is old news, at least by Internet standards. In case you didn't know, however, Rock the Bells and Paid Dues Festival are returning for another year. Rock the Bells, the first touring hip-hop festival since Smokin' Grooves ended in 2002, is famous for hosting the last concert appearance of the complete Wu-Tang Clan lineup at its inaugural event in 2003. Murs began organizing Paid Dues as an L.A. indie festival in 2006; after partnering with Rock the Bells' promoter Guerilla Union, it became a multi-city endeavor and a little brother of sorts to the bigger Rock the Bells.
The bad news is that both festivals have much shorter itineraries this year. Rock the Bells only encompasses ten shows, while Paid Dues features a piddling four concerts. (Last year's editions lasted 19 and 13 shows, respectively.) It seems that while Rock the Bells sold out in major cities like New York and Los Angeles, it struggled to fill arenas and amphitheaters in secondary markets such as Atlanta and Salt Lake City. Hence, a scaled-back schedule this time around. Rock the Bells doesn't jump off until July, though, so there's a chance that more cities may be added.
The good news is that Rock the Bells is offering a more diverse lineup than last year's old-school icons and backpack kings. Participating artists include A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, Mos Def, De La Soul, Method Man & Redman, Rakim, Raekwon & Ghostface, B-Real, Immortal Technique, dead prez, Murs, Spank Rock, Kid Sister, Santogold, the Cool Kids, Jay Electronica, Wale, B.O.B., Kidz in the Hall, Amanda Blank, DJ Green Lantern, Just Blaze and Black Violin.
Best of all, Rock the Bells has scored another coup by reuniting the original Pharcyde: Fatlip, Slim Kid Tre, Imani and Romye a.k.a. Bootie Brown. This will mark the quartet's first run of shows together since Fatlip got kicked out of the group back in 1996.
On the Paid Dues end, you've got Rakim, De La Soul, GZA, Blackalicious, Sage Francis, Little Brother, Hieroglyphics crew, Murs & 9th Wonder, Buckshot, Supernatural & Scratch, Kidz in the Hall, Yak Ballz, Sollilaquists of Sound, Braille and Bernard Dolan.
Since I'm too lazy to detail exactly which artists are appearing in each city, please visit Paid Dues Festival and Rock the Bells' respective websites. The general tour itinerary is below.
