Music Report

Let’s consider the theme for this week the lack of any theme at all. If this week’s Report had a name it would be: Untitled. N-joy.

In the wake of Pacific Division’s appearance in the report last week, unisigned Inglewood duo U-N-I occupies the leadoff spot. Akin to Spank Rock or early OutKast/Dungeon Family records, U-N-I utilize hard-hitting beats, unafraid to incorporate elements of rock alongside traditional hip hop cliches. It is groups like this that are making it more and more difficult to usefully categorize rap in any kind of regional fashion. Notable cuts include K.R.E.A.M. (Kicks Rule Everything Around Me) and Castelvania (I’m a sucker for 8-bit samples). Check the Myspace page for a nice 80’s and 90’s collage.
http://www.myspace.com/unimuzik

Those Dancing Days come to use from the Stockholm suburbs, by way of the UK, and bring with them a sound called Northern Soul. The comparison is certainly premature but one listener characterized lead singer 18 year old singer Linnea’s voice as that of a female Julian Casablancas. “Hitten” leads the way as their best song to date among the five on their self-titled EP.
http://www.myspace.com/thosedancingdays

In response to all of the letters I’ve been getting here at The Report requesting a soundtrack for a depressing summer here is The Devil, You+Me by Deutschland’s own The Notwist. Despite hailing from Germany, they have been considerate enough to record in English so we can sing along as we slit our wrists to the melancholic beauty of their compositions. I’m surprised that I haven’t seen any Death Cab for Cutie comparisons as I could see this as a direction Ben Gibbard could have gone with Postal Service and had less widespread success but more fervency among a limited fan base.
http://www.notwist.com/

Ever the source of free and complimentary music, The Music Report directs you this week to the Adult Swim website for 4 free albums, each created in collaboration with a different indie label. The CDs, entitled World Wide Renewal Program, Definitive Swim, Ghostly Swim, Warm and Scratchy, are filled with music from the likes of El-P, TV on the Radio, and a boatload of acts you haven’t heard of.
http://www.adultswim.com/williams/music/index.html

In case you were wondering what song is featured in the commercial for the Heineken Beertender, it is “Forever” by Walter Meego, a Chicago duo. Their dance-pop stylings have appeared on EPs and compilations since 2005 but have only this year, on May 27th, released their first full length called Voyager.
http://www.myspace.com/waltermeego

Welcome to the sanitarium that is The Music Report. We can’t stop, won’t stop delivering the straight dope on vocal and instrumental artists.

Pacific Division might be described as the West Coast Cool Kids thanks to their throwback style.
Instead of the traditional mixtape, in mid-2006 Pac Div released a blend tape called “Sealed for Freshness” although the two formats are virtually indistinguishable. No word on any East Coast shows in the near future but, when they do come to town, word on the street is their stage show is packed with dance moves Tupac-with-Digital-Underground style.
http://www.pacdiv.com
http://www.zshare.net/download/37237807dcb11e/

The last show of the season at the Museum of Natural looks to be another doozy. Appearing live and in person on Friday, June 27th are Talib Kweli, Pete Rock and Buckshot along with dinosaurs who are appearing neither live nor in person. $20 advance tickets only (which includes complimentary screenings of the Space Show “Passport to the Universe” and a museum pass for future use).
http://www.amnh.org/rose/specials/

Girl Talk’s new record “Feed the Animals” is now available with a pay-what-you-want system. $5 or more gets higher quality FLAC files and a one-file seamless album mix; $10 gets you a packaged CD, with a sweet piece of cover art. Unlike Radiohead, if you opt to pay $0.00, it will allow you to do so but make you feel guilty by asking why you’ve opted for that option. Must have been designed by a Jew.
http://74.124.198.47/illegal-art.net/__girl__talk___feed__the__anima.ls___/

I didn’t really believe it until I heard it either but the new group The Explorers Club sounds like they’ve put out a new Beach Boys album. Hey, why not? If the Beach Boys or Genesis or The Beatles refuse to put out new material, who am I to criticize someone else, in this case a sextet from Charleston, South Carolina, for stepping in and filling the void left by their stubborn or dead predecessors?
http://www.myspace.com/explorersclub

Bomb the Music Industry plays old fashioned punk rock music, with a touch of ska thrown in for flavor, modeled after the greats: The Clash, Bad Brains, Rancid, etc. When Sum 41, Good Charlotte and their ilk hit the scene claiming to be punk rock, real fans and musicians went back underground to enjoy the music and the scene to the way it was meant to be. Also, one of the members when to sleepaway camp with my buddy upstate. Next show, June 24 at the Knitting Factory, then Irving Plaza with Rancid August 17.
http://www.bombthemusicindustry.com/

On the video scene, witness “Three Thug Mice” featuring cartoon rodents as they chase tail, do drugs, rob people, and generally get into trouble in an NYC populated by gun toting asian ducks, streetcorner preaching lizards, knife-fighting felines, and worms who are awesome at breakdancing.
http://www.threethugmice.com/

The Music Report is brought to you this week by AXE, the most foolproof way to get women to swoon over you in a hyper-unrealistic fashion.

Our first group is another one out of Sweden in Teddybears. Around since 1991, they’ve released only 5 albums thus far. Their name is a reaction to the morbid band names commonplace in the death metal scene at the time. Their single “Punkrocker” with Iggy Pop providing vocals will sound very familiar to most as it dominates a recent Cadillac spot. Tracks already in the can for the next album include guest appearances by Slick Rick and Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne.
http://www.teddybearsrock.com/home.php

Nas is in news this week with the upcoming release of his ninth solo album on July 15th. Formerly titled “Nigger,” the record is currently nameless after civil rights leaders (and undoubtedly retailers) demanded a change. Out now is “The Nigger Tape,” a mixtape preview of the album produced with DJ Green Lantern including “Legendary,” the theme to the Mike Tyson documentary that recently premiered at Cannes. If you like what you hear, Nas will be performing as part of the Rock the Bells festival at Jones Beach on Sunday, August 3rd.
http://www.mediafire.com/?wuzgp1mymrw
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1D0040A6C64C4ED5?artistid=1141759

If anyone needed to be persuaded that DJ Green Lantern doesn’t sleep (or maybe it’s like the real Green Lantern in that whomever wears the ring becomes the hero), proof is in his second killer mixtape release of the week: “Charles Hamilton: Outside Looking.” The whole thing is a great find from a newcomer to the scene (who goes by his real name) with its Sonic the Hedgehog iconography and sample from The Offspring on “Rockstar Girl” simply adding the icing to the cake.
http://www.iamnotcharleshamilton.com/

Next on the Hit Parade is Cryptacize out of California Bay Area. At times, their music might be (and has been) described as “showtunes-inspired mayhem.” Other times “gothic folk” is the name of the game. And this is all over the course of their one LP release entitled “Dig That Treasure” on Asthmatic Kitty Records of Lander, WY. See also their excellent cover of Steely Dan’s “Peg.” Cryptacize plays the Knitting Factory tonight (Thursday).
http://www.myspace.com/cryptacize
http://stereogum.com/mp3/Cryptacize%20-%20Peg.mp3

If it wasn’t yet, the word ‘bored’ should be eradicated from the vocabulary of anyone with broadband internet access. In addition to the video networks set up by Vice Magazine at vbs.tv and the indie music sages at Pitchfork Media in Pitchfork.tv, web TV network Revision3 has partnered with Seattle music and culture rag XLR8R (like West Coast FADER) for XLR8RTV. All of the above offer plenty of good quality, on-demand video. If still pictures remain your thing, take advantage of the free PDF downloads of every issue of XLR8R current and past.
http://revision3.com/xlr8rtv/
http://www.xlr8r.com/magazine

On a final note, I am beside myself that, with all of the possible rap names out there, misspellings, made up words and all, an up and comer from the Southside of Queens would opt for one already taken by semi-famed crooner Vic Damone. Bonus on this one is how the interview begins: “Q: What's good man? A: I'm chilling, you know what it is.” You don’t have to edit anything out when you have the unlimited word count enabled by web publishing.
http://www.hiphopgame.com/index2.php3?page=vicdamone

Summer has arrived with all of its exposed love handles and skin cancer-inducing UV rays in tow. Cel-e-brate Music Report come on!

The Music Report was questioning the inclusion of the following artist based purely on her musical chops but Haley Bonar’s name made it hard not to. Out of the Great White North, Bonar brings the emotion of Cat Power, the charm and wit of Feist, and the indie-cred of Kimya Dawson according to one sympathetic blogger. On the heels of her third release, Big Star, see her live Thursday night at the Knitting Factory or Friday at Brooklyn’s Southpaw.
http://www.haleybonar.com/

VDRK is a New York DJ and designer who’s getting terrific accolades for the Subdrive Selektor mix he dropped a couple of Saturdays ago. It is 40 tracks jammed into 35 minutes with each and every track is expertly mixed and lushly overlapped. VDRK can get a little dancey for us straight folk but he usually steps back toward the mainstream just in time. Plenty of upcoming gigs including tonight, Thursday, at Savalas in Brooklyn and next Friday, the 13th, at Europa.
http://www.3onota.com/vdrk/
http://www.subdrivemedia.com/vdrk_subdrive.mp3

Somehow, it has taken this long for Fleet Foxes to make into The Report. They’re indie darlings out of Seattle who describe their style as “baroque harmonic pop jams.” Signed to Sub Pop records, hallowed home of Nirvana and their grunge brethren, Fleet Foxes. They released their first LP, following a pair of acclaimed EPs, this past Tuesday with apparent Hieronymus Bosch-inspired cover art. The FFs swing through Liberty City with a show at the Bowery Ballroom on July 9th and a performance at Brooklyn’s Union Hall the following eve.
http://www.myspace.com/fleetfoxes

Another NYC electronic act makes it to press this week in the form of Ratatat, the duo of Evan Mast and Mike Stroud. The sheer miscellany of Ratatat’s samples might be disastrous in the Mac’s of others yet they never fail to bring in a excellent rhythm despite sometimes working with sonic elements that were (seemingly) sourced from Atari’s archives and the Bronx Zoo. Ratatat productions have landed everywhere from the movies Knocked Up and Cloverfield to commercials for Hummer and the television program My Gym Partner Is a Monkey. A new album entitled LP3 drops August 8th
http://www.ratatatmusic.com/

Lykke Li arrives as the latest in a line of Swedish pop imports. Fader magazine infers that Sweden provides the world with a disproportionate amount of its catchy pop music because they don’t look down on it as an inferior genre artistically as others tend to. That being said, Li’s pop music is more like that of Feist than Britney Spears. Li’s debut album Youth Novels was released this past Tuesday in the UK. Some songs are better than others but overall it makes the grade.
http://www.lykkeli.com/

To close, here’s the Indian remake of “Thriller.” Maybe this is funny, maybe it’s simply an illustration of the growing influence of globalization. Either way, it’s 100% legit.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=LbvP7dT3Dx0&feature=related

Hello there. You’ve stumbled into the friendly confines of the latest edition of the weekly Music Report.

(Aimee) Duffy is another white British soul singer attempting to emulate Amy Winehouse’s success in much the way her labelmate Adele has. Fortunately, once we are able to see past the mimicry, Duffy has a rich sound and decent looks to offer. Duffy will appear at Jersey City’s All Points West Festival on Friday, August 8th.
http://www.iamduffy.com/
http://www.apwfestival.com/

In album releases, Steinski (Steven Stein)’s essential two-disc career retrospective album entitled What Does It All Mean: 1983-2006 came to the market this past Tuesday courtesy of Girl Talk’s record label Illegal Art. Steinski has been the epitome of underground thanks to the nuisance of copyright law. Steinski is probably best known for his “wildly influential” old school sound collages, and he is arguably one of the first to incorporate off-the-wall samples into his mixes including Looney Tunes material and Groucho Marx bits.
http://www.steinski.com/blog/links_to_my_downloadable_mixes_streaming_radio_shows_and_whatnot/

Also on Tuesday, Dallas’s I Love Math released their sophomore effort Getting to the Point is Beside It. I Love Math isn’t the electronica act their name might suggest. In fact, it’s a side project by members of Apples in Stereo and Old 97s featuring a combination of the pop-rock and alt-country styles of its constituents. Refreshingly, I Love Math return to the basic ingredients of the craft eschewing the overproduction so common today even in the indie scene.
http://www.myspace.com/iloveilovemath

This summer, the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival returns July 10-12. With a $10 “donation” you can partake in KRS-ONE, DJ Premier and Brooklyn’s own Buckshot at Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park on Sunday the 12th. Buckshot has been doing the Underground thing since ‘92 with groups Boot Camp Clik and Black Moon but has since earned elevated notoriety via two collaborations with producer 9th Wonder, Chemistry and The Formula, in recent years. And if you missed Kidz in the Hall’s record release show at S.O.B.’s recently, they return as part of the Paid Dues Festival at the Nokia Theater June 4 with Buckshot, GZA, Murs, Blackalicious and others.
http://www.brooklynbodega.com/brooklynhiphopfestival.htm
http://www.myspace.com/buckshot
http://www.guerillaunion.com/paiddues/

On the music video front is Kanye West’s second video for “Flashing Lights” which is rumored to be prequel of the original video. Regardless, it is fairly interesting creatively with an unconventional frame rate and style.
http://therapup.rawkus.com/2008/05/flashing-lights-unreleased-video.html

The New York leg of the JVC Jazz Festival is not far hence thus I will recommend two shows it will bring to town:
• The first is the Mos Def Big Band where we find the MC and actor now also a conductor. Sat Jun 28, 8pm Carnegie Hall.
• The second is Maceo Parker, a funky alto saxophonist who played the house down at Duke University’s Page Auditorium. He’s performing Wed Jun 18, 8pm at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple.
http://www.festivalnetwork.com/events/details.php?ID=4

Greetings Music Fans. Lacking any unifying thread for this week’s Report, let’s defer to Jeopardy and call it Potpourri.

Mrs. Music Report contributes a quality pick today in the form of folky Bon Iver, a trio from Wisconsin led by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon who describe their style more as neo-soul. At one point their debut For Emma, Forever Ago was rated as Metacritic.com’s (like RottenTomatoes.com for music) top album. It is, of course, primarily a lament concerning a former flame so be prepared for that. Bon Iver will play two shows in NY in July, the first at the Bowery Ballroom and the second at the Music Hall of Williamsburg.
http://www.myspace.com/boniver

To be released this Thursday, May 27 is the Volume 4 of the Verve Remixed series. Simple concept: Verve Records turns over its catalog of jazz master recordings for a set of DJ/Producers to remix into some new freshness. Source material comes from Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, James Brown, Astrud Gilberto, etc. with those enlisted to do the refreshment including Little Brother’s 9th Wonder and Feist producer Mocky. If you want just the pure dope, pick up Ella Fitzgerald’s The Very Best of the Rogers and Hart Songbook.
http://www.amazon.com/Verve-Remixed-Vol-Various-Artists/dp/B0016OMFQQ
http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/artist/releases/default.aspx?pid=11679&aid=2685

It is so easy to forget how good Elvis Costello is. Fortunately he’s released a new Rock album earlier this month with a title familiar to New York foodies: Momofuku, similarly paying tribute to the Japanese inventor of Cup Noodle. Rilo Kiley’s Jenny Lewis provides back up vocals and the album “finds Costello re-energized by his past.” Costello plays two nights at Jones Beach in August with The Police.
http://www.amazon.com/Momofuku-Elvis-Costello-Imposters/dp/B0016KHAY2/
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1D004022039B6C22

Oakland sextet Subtle are another group who resists genre characterization but does not completely defy comparison. Elements of TV on the Radio, Saul Williams, and Gnarls Barkley are all discernable at times throughout their catalog. Subtle will release their latest album Exiting Arm June 3rd prior to which they’ll be headlining tomorrow, Friday, May 23 in the Knitting Factory’s Main Space.
http://www.myspace.com/subtlesix
http://knittingfactory.com/show.php?event_id=109804

Tonight at Studio B is hosting Flosstradamus, the previously mentioned DJ duo who are “good deejays to take your friends who don't like dance music to see.”
http://www.clubstudiob.com/news.html

As we like to do here at The Report, we’ll leave you with a Music(-related) video. Instead of being amazing or funny or even well-done, it’s a short documentary on what they contend to be the most important 6-second drum loop ever. Beware, the voiceover/narration stands as among the most monotone I have ever heard.

In advance of the Music Report’s fact finding mission to the Caribbean, this week’s edition is respectfully submitted with island undertones.

17 North Parade is an imprint of VP Records launched in 2007, its name paying homage to the address of Randy’s Record Mart, Kingston’s music mecca during the 1960’s and 1970’s. 17NP’s offerings consist primarily of anthologies that collect reggae and dancehall classics from artists that extend beyond even the most distant Marley family member e.g. Wayne Wonder, the Mighty Diamonds, Buju Banton and so on.
http://www.17northparade.com

Esau Mwamwaya is not from the Caribbean, he hails from Malawi, but the Music Report ceased the study of geography after the 7th grade. Sometimes called “the African Phil Collins,” Mwamwaya was fortunate enough to be discovered by the production duo Radioclit as his junk shop wasn’t providing the income necessary to purchase the additional vowel he longed to introduce to his last name. Esau’s tunes blend traditional tribal percussion and African vocals with newfangled, yet rudimentary, electronic sounds.
http://www.myspace.com/esaumwamwaya

The Report prefers to include good looking artists each week. Listeners may never see a given singer or tambourinist but I suspect they sleep better knowing they could meet him/her without incident. Unfortunately, Adele doesn’t meet that criterion. On the plus side, she does have a voice reminiscent of Dusty Springfield, and is playing 2 nights at the Highline Ballroom in June after the 1st show sold out. Hailed by some as the next Amy Winehouse after her album 19 rose to #1 in the UK and went platinum in a month, Adele’s sound is truly more Etta James than Motown.
http://adele.tv/

S.O.B.’s on Varick St. stands as a venerable stepping stone for ready-to-break hip hop acts. Continuing that trend is the appearance there of Kidz in the Hall on Saturday for the release of their second album The In Crowd. The University of Pennsylvania-educated duo consists of MC Naledge and DJ/Producer/2004 Olympian Double-0. These Kidz’ sonic resemblance to The Cool Kids may not be coincidental as Naledge likewise grew up on Chicago’s Southside. Kidz in the Hall play NYC again June 4 as part of the Paid Dues tour at Nokia Theater.
http://www.myspace.com/kidzinthehall

Representing the Research Triangle, we’ve got Kooley High. KH is a five-piece hip hop outfit, three MCs and two producers, formed during their stays at NC State University. The music is lighthearted thematically yet soulful in its sound. This is hip hop by and for lovers of hip hop, fame, fortune, posturing and politics aside. Some songs might even be characterized as Pop, à la Black Eyed Peas, if they fit better into the commercial mold for radio play with the addition of an infectious hook. Kooley High has had no small benefit in the mentorship of local-boy-making-good 9th Wonder, whose handiwork can be heard on both The Summer Sessions EP, available on iTunes, and the gratis mixtape Raleigh’s Finest.
http://www.myspace.com/KooleyHigh
http://www.inflowential.com/raleighsfinest/

Let us conclude with a fun video from Madvillian, for the track “All Caps,” which takes the viewer through a living comic book, Sea Monkeys ad and all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewc1hixzYPY