Chicago duo Kidz in the Hall is kicking off a tour later this month to support its forthcoming third album, Land of Make Believe. Dubbed the “Crowd Control Tour,” the run also features 88-Keys, Izza Kizza and “Atlanta brave” Donnis.
Little Brother has announced the track listing for their final album Leftback, which drops April 20 on Hall of Justus/Traffic Entertainment Group:
With production from the likes of Khyrsis, Denaun Porter, Zo!, Symbolyc One, J. Bizness and King Karnov, LeftBack is poised to take listeners on an epic auditory adventure. Phonte and Rapper Big Pooh will also be extending invites for the farewell party to fellow emcees Torae, Truck North, Jozeemo, Chaundon and Median, while crooner Darien Brockington and chanteuse Yahzarah are on hand to add a touch of the melodious to the album.
As the momentum behind LeftBack continues to swell, Little Brother is proud to unveil the official artwork and the track listing for the album. Fans will be excited to learn that LeftBack features 13 tracks of unadulterated hip-hop, while the album artwork finds Phonte and Rapper Big Pooh standing tall amidst the ghosts of albums past, press coverage and other memories accumulated throughout Little Brother’s celebrated career. “We wanted the fans to have that moment of nostalgia when looking at this artwork” says Rapper Big Pooh. “You are able to take a quick journey from the beginning of our careers to the end as Little Brother by glancing at the artwork.”
You know how I feel about embedding players from other sites, but I don’t feel like searching for a non-affiliated version of this clip. Cyhi da Prince and Pill (who kills it) drop guest verses. Taken from Kanyeuniversity.com.
As the 2010 music season heats up, don’t forget about Sage Francis. The Providence, Rhode Island poet, rapper and iconoclast is returning with his first album since 2007’s Human the Death Dance. Set for release via Anti- on May 11, Li(f)e is a collaboration with several rock musicians, including producer Brian Deck (known for his work on Modest Mouse) and Jim Becker and Tim Rutili from Califone. The overarching theme is a critique of organized religion.
Intrigued? Check the bio facts:
An underground star from his years as a battle champion, poet and founder of influential Strange Famous Records, Francis garnered even wider acclaim with his incendiary 2005 release “A Healthy Distrust,” a timely condemnation of corporate greed, war-mongering and American complacency. On his electrifying new album Li(f)e, Francis turns his keen observational skills to a culture of rampant hypocrisy and, in particular, organized religion.
This album is a marked evolution for Francis. His signature wordplay, a dazzling mix of sardonic humor and biting social commentary, is now complimented by a talented band consisting of producer Brian Deck (Modest Mouse, Iron and Wine) and cohorts Jim Becker and Tim Rutili of the acclaimed Chicago outfit Califone. It proves an effective soundtrack for Francis’ riveting lyrical discourse. The record’s title Li(f)e is a deliberate amalgamation of the words life and lie. As Francis says, “What about life is a lie? What we’re told about God is a lie. What we’re told about race, gender roles, beauty, war, food, drugs, sexuality, capitalism, history, the nature of humankind…a gang of lies. I feel it in my gut, I think it in my brain, I write it with my hands and I speak it with my mouth. That’s what makes Li(f)e the general theme of this album.”
German producer Michael Fakesch, formerly of glitch pioneers Funkstörung, has collected his sundry remixes for like-minded folks into the Exchange collection. It drops March 5 on Musik Aus Strom.
Here’s an explanation:
Michael Fakesch used to be one half of Funkstörung (R.I.P.). From 1994 until their break-up in 2006 the two electronic wizards have been pioneers in combining weird beats, digital electro-madness and beautiful melodies. Their merciless remixes for Björk and Wu-Tang Clan marked their breakthrough and gained them international fame.
After the decease of Funkstörung Michael Fakesch concentrated on doing sound design for commercials (Toyota, Sony, Vodafone, Kia, Philips) and even won the Grand Prix 2009 of the Cannes Golden Lions. He also did music for several shorts and, of course, remixes!
As widely announced, Flying Lotus is set to issue his third album. Set for release via Warp on May 4 (after being pushed back from its original April 20 “4-20” date), Cosmogramma features guest spots from Laura Darlington from the Long Lost, Thom Yorke from Radiohead and others.
Just for old times’ sake:
Looking back, his full-length Warp debut, Los Angeles appears to be much more of a mission statement than a simple introduction – laying the foundation for a field on which an entire generation of artists would soon be playing. While that album was an introspective, moody travelogue through the Californian metropolis, it certainly hinted at Flying Lotus inclination to expand his sound beyond terrestrial means.
As you may deduce from the title of his latest opus, he s done just that. Not only has an entirely new range of sounds been unlocked by our intrepid astral traveler, but every genre touchstone associated with his name has been merged into a self-described space opera . Seamless in execution and too wide in scope to properly describe, it is the authentic embodiment of his unique musical heritage. The spirit of his famed aunt, Alice Coltrane permeates the record, notably in the powerful collaborations with relative Ravi Coltrane, bass virtuoso Thundercat and the brilliant harp prodigy, Rebekah Raff.
Okay, this one is for my NorCal heads. Lots of shots of the Mission District and Market Street in this one. And Richie Cunning has a decent flow. But what’s up with the Ferris Bueller meme?
Directed by Trevor Traynor and edited by Adam Zuckerman. Taken from the Rec League’s Season Two.
This isn’t really on the hip hop or soul tip. The sound veers towards Kid Cudi’s electro-pop side. But it’s a nice tune, and the video is extraordinarily creative.
“Symphonies” premiered on IFC’s new program “Automat” last night.
Jern Eye rhymes with Spank Pops and J Billion at the Golden Gate Bridge, with other San Francisco landmarks thrown in. Nice beat by Jake One.
Directed by Lorenzo Escalante. Taken from the album Vision.
This clip incorporates documentary footage of Kam Moye making the promotional rounds along with some lip-synched scenes (which aren’t synched properly). The Marco Polo beat is nice.
Directed by Charles Barcelona. Taken from Splitting Image, which is in stores now.
This morning, Sole announced in a post on his website, Soleone.org that he is leaving Anticon, the company he co-founded in 1998.
It wasn’t unexpected. Rumors had spread that Sole was leaving Anticon, especially after his last album with the Skyrider Band, Plastique, became his first release to not appear on the label. (It was issued by Fake Four Inc.) In the post, titled “Sole leaves Anticon Records,” he writes, “From now on now all my releases will be made available @ soleone.org via my new label Black Canyon Records and exclusively distributed worldwide via Revolver USA.”
Anticon hasn’t issued a response yet, but will presumably do so in the next few hours and/or days.
“In the early days of the label, anticon was a pet project of mine, a life-long dream. We fulfilled the dream of a collectively run record label and put out many great records and stood as an image of defiance against the music industry,” writes Sole. “Today, with a heavy heart I end 11+ years of working with anticon.”
Ten years ago, when Sole was recording underground classics like Bottle of Humans, few longtime Anticon fans would have anticipated that the crew’s biggest (and most controversial) mouthpiece would someday abandon his “pet project.” If anything, Anticon would cease to exist first, and Sole would proudly go down with it.
“We created anticon as a response to what was going on at the time in the music industry – the indy boom of the late 90’s. There were still a viable music industry then and people bought records. That’s how we built up our empire,” writes Sole.
However, the underground rap world that Sole once led and provoked has long since fractured, unable to find the common ground that catapulted indie-rock — to name a genre/scene it is often compared to — to dominance. The Okayplayer.com scene gets grudging respect (if at all) from the old-school rap audience; so-called “emo rappers” leap onto Warped Tour and other rock package tours to seduce the Hot Topic crowd; and electronic-tinged “beat” makers spend more time remixing indie-rock acts like the XX and mainstream ciphers like Lil Wayne and Gucci Mane than collaborating with their indie-rap counterparts. Too often, these sometimes-oppositional enclaves have split audiences, resulting in neither sustained fan appreciation, critical acclaim nor noteworthy record sales.
Denver, Colo. sextet Flobots return with their third album, Survival Story. Set for a March 16 release via Universal Republic, it features a set of political barnstormers that will undoubtedly excite their fan base. The real question, however, is if they have a new set of songs as memorable as 2008’s breakout single “Handlebars.”
While you wait for the answer, chew over this chunk of bio:
Survival Story is a vision of hope for a world facing its limits. While others revel in the dystopian, the Flobots remain committed to their ability to rise together. Navigating the coming years will require new tools. It will require narratives that cause us to reexamine our priorities, redefine wealth, and re-inspire ourselves. It will require that we come together in the face of death and write the story of our own survival.
Holed up in Blasting Room studio in Ft. Collins, CO with Producer/Mixer Mario Caldato (Beastie Boys, Money Mark, One Day as a Lion), Flobots had a lot to get off their collective chests. They didn’t just tour the world they listened to it. From message boards to emails to comments left on social networking sites to actual conversations (remember those?), Flobots paid attention to what was being said. Andy believes, “Talking with the audience before and after shows gives us constant inspiration, and motivation, to keep doing what we do.â€
Each and every person has a story to tell but struggle is a universal theme.
Tanya Morgan embarks on the “Hi-Fidelity” tour later this month, the “Hi-Fidelity” a reference to Donwill’s forthcoming album Don Cusack in High Fidelity. The East Coast run features support from Kooley High.
Since everything nowadays is prefaced with a YouTube teaser (albums, tours, mixtapes, actual videos), check below the jump for a commercial featuring the members of Kooley High.
Brainfeeder announced today that it is releasing a new album by Daedelus on March 23. It’s a seven-track effort titled Righteous Fists of Harmony, and it is inspired by the Boxer Rebellion in China. The label posted a video preview for the album, which is embedded above; the wondrous clip features the estimable Laura Darlington and was created by DestroyRockMusic Inc.
More details:
In this release for Flying Lotus’ up-and-coming label Brainfeeder, Daedelus presents a soundtrack-of-sorts to the Boxer Rebellion. What, you ask, could make such ancient history an inspiration for modern electronics? Well, Daedelus has found a strange relevance to our modern malady in these epic events of long ago…
After seventy years of China’s opium-related subjugation by Queen Victoria and her allies, a force of resistance fighters — termed “Boxers†by the British — rose to the challenge in 1898. Calling themselves “The Righteous Fists of Harmony,†this secret society of martial artists felt they held magical powers: they believed themselves bulletproof, able to fly, and capable of raising the dead (who would then fight alongside them). And so began the brief Boxer Rebellion; three years later 100,000 Boxers had fallen, their magic helpless against the cutting-edge machinery of war. The British prevailed only to face ultimate defeat, as their empire rapidly declined.
Daedelus endeavors to compose a requiem for the end — of beliefs, of lives, and of an era. This elegy for a bygone battle sheds light on our own contemporary conundrum: will our faith in modernity be our downfall? Are we blinded by this age of wonders, doomed to be destroyed by our ingenious inventions? Although Daedelus’ music has always juxtaposed organic and electronic elements, they war as never before on “Righteous Fists of Harmony,†a portrait of a tumultuous era that came crashing to a close.
Last week, Little Brother elaborated on its previously-announced plans for Leftback. It turns out that it won’t be an EP of leftovers from the Getback sessions, but a full-length album. After its release on April 20 via Hall of Justus (with distribution from Traffic), Phonte and Big Pooh will embark on a final set of tour dates.
Phonte revealed that Little Brother had effectively split up last June during an interview with 215mag.com. After the interviewer, Tayyib Smith, posted the story on Okayplayer.com’s message boards, Phonte confirmed the news in a response subsequent to comments. “It’s been 3 studio albums, a host of mixtape/mix-albums, a gang of label/internal group drama and we still survived through it all. For me it just feels like a ‘we came, we saw, we made our mark’ sorta thing. I don’t know if there’s anything left to prove,” he wrote.
Leftback was originally intended as a post-breakup addendum. Now, the group will give its fans a fourth and final album (not counting mixtapes and compilations such as The Chitlin Circuit and Separate But Equal) and a chance to say a proper farewell.
Last night, El-P announced that Definitive Jux will soon go on hiatus, and that he plans to step down as its artistic director. Acknowledging industry rumors portending his label’s imminent demise, the co-owner, rapper, producer and symbol of one of the most acclaimed rap imprints of the past decade explained in a note titled “Of Hooptys and Hovercrafts,” “We are not closing, but we are changing.”
In the post — which went live around 10 p.m. EST February 2 but is dated February 3 — El-P didn’t fully explain what new form Definitive Jux will take. But it appears that it will turn into a catalog label focused on selling products created during the past decade.
Also unclear from the statement is whether Definitive Jux will stop releasing new material. It has a backlog of signed artists, including Despot, Activator, Danny!, and Cool Calm Pete. Many of them have waited years for Definitive Jux to issue their material. Those delays have fueled speculation that the company is becoming financially insolvent. In the post, El-P described such rumors as “mildly exaggerated.”
Other artists closely associated with Definitive Jux, including breadwinner Aesop Rock and Rob Sonic, are expected to release albums in 2010. El-P promised that its final slate of projects include King of Hearts, a collection of the late Camu Tao’s final recordings, and “a DEF JUX remix compilation, a 10 year anniversary retrospective and some other goodies. But then as a traditional record label DEF JUX will effectively be put on hiatus.”
Rest in peace to J.D. Salinger, author of The Catcher in the Rye:
Short and squalid: Mr. J. Medeiros, The Art of Broken Glass EP (potholesinmyblog.com), Oddisee, Odd Winter (oddisee.bandcamp.com)
Well, this is a nice surprise. The great Gil Scott-Heron, author of classics such as “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” “Johannesburg,” and “The Bottle,” has had a well-chronicled bout with drugs in recent years, and eventually served a few stints in prison for possession. I think that most of us have written him off as a result, but thankfully he has rebounded with new art.
I’m New Here, set for release via Beggars Group on February 9, is Scott-Heron’s first album since 1994’s Spirits. Production — or, more accurately, spare musical backdrops — are lovingly provided by Beggars Group president Richard Russell. No Brian Jackson, though.
More from the bio:
On much of I’m New Here, Scott-Heron reflects on his life and this moment with his trademark vocal power and insight, sharing his visions among Russell’s flickering, electronic soundscapes which at various times conjure up thoughts of Burial and The xx, as well as a host of hip-hop influenced sounds. Against the low, buzzing miasma of “Crutch,†Scott-Heron observes a sidewalk junkie from both inside the addict’s head and out: “His eyes half-closed reveal his world of nod/A world of lonely men and no love, no God…†Against the metallic pulse of “Running,†he narrates a cold-sweat, 3 a.m. epiphany: “Because it’s easier to run/Easier than staying and finding out you’re the only one/Who didn’t run.†And, on the blues holler of future single “New York City is Killing Me,†he manages to sound like a raw-throated blues singer from a ‘30’s field recording and an existential narrator trapped in some post-industrial wasteland. Occasionally the electronics are stripped right back – as they are on the beautiful, heartfelt “I’ll Take Care Of You†– or on “I’m New Hereâ€, a cover of indieband Smog, of all things, where Scott-Heron’s weathered baritone completely owns the lyrics, transforming them with the force of own history. At other times in stark contrast, they’re ramped right up – just listen to the crashing, hip-hop beat and primal vocal boom of “Me And The Devilâ€. Elsewhere, along with brief ruminations and tape-recorded insights, Scott-Heron sings over the airy, funk arrangements that recall his ‘70s work, given a modern day reboot by Russell. But through all of it runs the thoughtful, provocative and still rebellious voice of Gil Scott-Heron.
After nearly two decades collaborating on various Quannum projects, specifically husband Lyrics Born’s two solo albums, Joyo Velarde gets her solo shot. Set for release on February 16 via Quannum/Red Distribution, Love & Understanding features production from RJD2, Tommy Guerrero, Headnodic, Jumbo the Garbageman and, of course, LB.
Miss Velarde will perform a few spot dates in the Midwest this month with Lyrics Born. Since the latter is also planning an album release later this spring (currently titled As U Were), expect to see the couple on the road throughout much of 2010.
For now, though, here’s the bio:
Joyo was born in Manila but later relocated to the Bay Area, where she is known as the female voice behind the seminal independent label Quannum.
Think Vanessa Williams meets Amel Larrieux (Groove Theory). Joyo blends soul and hip hop stylishly with her stunning vocal range at the forefront. Pulling from Minnie Riperton, Chaka Khan and Tina Marie as well as contemporary R&B singers like Alicia Keys, Solange, Angie Stone and Raheem DeVaughn, Joyo has truly mastered her craft. On “You Got Me (In the Mood)†Joyo reminds you of a female version of Marvin Gaye, while on “Lower Deck” she is truly reminiscent of Denise Williams on her hit song “Silly.†Joyo’s classical study with an opera company in Rome resonates throughout the album, particularly the track “On And On.â€
