Yesterday afternoon I spent a couple of hours engaged in discourse with fiber artist m. Cody and her homegirl, visual artist Christine Hajjar. Topics of discussion included art, music and all sorts of other good shit. Both ladies have recently set up shop in new locales, so the conversation turned to the communal qualities of a given city (particularly that of it’s artistic community) and the influence it holds, whether positive or negative, over the artists who take up residence there.
Living in an age where life imitates art more than ever and art seems to reflect life less and less (while simultaneously providing escapism which is increasingly more degenerate than fantastic) this symbiotic relationship between community, artist, art and society at large is explored embarrassingly infrequently by both artists and so-called critics alike. But coming up in conversation as it did reminded this cultural documentarian of a record I came across only a few short days earlier which is largely concerned with just such matters.
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There are sequels, and then there are spin-offs. After initial reports that Lovefoxxx, lead vocalist of Brazilian Post-Punk dance-band Cansei de Ser Sexy, was working on a solo album after the success of her band’s debut I was living in anticipation of the latter more-so than the former.
In the end, the reports of a Lovefoxxx solo project proved false. That bummed me out, and made me a little less than enthused about the CSS’s follow-up. But the São Paulo-based band’s sophomore album Donkey, which is out today on Sub Pop Records, picks right up where the first one left off. And I’ll take a stylish and satisfying sequel in place of a non-existent spin-off any day.
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By El Keter
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Posted in Music
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Tagged Cansei de Ser Sexy, Fleetwood Mac, M.I.A., Madonna, Pavement, Prince, Santogold, Smashing Pumpkins, The Talking Heads, The Velvet Underground, Tom Tom Club, Yeah Yeah Yeah
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In the movie business Summertime is the season for sequels. The past two weeks have borne that out as sequels, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army and The Dark Knight, dominated the box-office. But more and more it seems like the music industry has latched on to this practice too, because it feels like this Summer has seen the release of a number of records that were essentially quick sequels (often recycling previously released tracks) to projects I enjoyed last year.
For example, Wizard of Ahhhs, the demo/EP from Jacksonville, Florida-based quintet Black Kids, which the band gave away as a free download on their website, was one of my favorite releases of the year. In fact, I honored the band by proclaiming that their “demo is better than most of the albums that came out this year” on Imageyenation’s extra-lengthy year-end wrap-up. I also begged them not to let me down if and when they finally released a “real” album.
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By El Keter
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Posted in Music
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Tagged Black Kids, Calvin Harris, Duffy, Foreigner, Kenna, Lightspeed Champion, Morrissey, N.E.R.D., Peter Bjorn & John, Sparks, Suede, The Carps, The Cure, The Go! Team, The Smiths
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I’m in “a mood.” It’s uncomfortably humid here in my apartment. I’m bored just looking at the armload of vintage vinyl I’ve already flipped through a hundred times that’s leaning against the shelf next to my desk. And I don’t really feel like moving crates around in order to pull some other records out of my makeshift library. Besides, I know what I’ve got in there (see my comments from Tuesday about feeling stagnated) and I don’t really want to hear any of it right now. So the usual Records at Random format is getting shoved aside today in favor of something… else.
I’ve had the fourth installment of Verve Records‘ Verve Remixed series sitting here for a while now and I’ve realized I really only listened to it once. And that session was interrupted by police sweeping my building looking for people with outstanding warrants, so it really wasn’t satisfactory at all. Long arm of the law or no, I usually enjoy Verve’s remix projects — where they give tracks from their catalog (and increasingly from other label’s) over to producers and remixers of the moment to rework them as they see fit — and have yet to be disappointed by one as of yet. Thankfully, Verve Remixed 4 doesn’t break the label’s winning streak.
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By El Keter
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Posted in Music
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Tagged 9th Wonder, Anita O'Day, Cole Porter, Dinah Washington, Diplo, Ella Fitzgerald, Eric Bobo, Feist, Imani Coppola, James brown, Jamie Lidell, Karriem Riggins, Kenny Dope, Little Jacki, Marlena Shaw, Mike Mangini, Mocky, Nina Simone, Portishead, Roy Ayers, Rudy Van Gelder, Santana, The Cinematic Orchestra, Truth & Soul
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Over the years I’ve been a huge supporter of Brooklyn’s Nuclear Family both here on Blogarhythms and elsewhere. I’ve blogged about their projects dozens of times. Their music has provided the backbone of my radio playlists numerous times. I keep all of their albums — save the crew’s debut The New Singles, which I seem to have misplaced — on my MP3 player. And my closet is full of gear from Scumlife, group-member Tone Tank’s clothing company.
Earlier this week I got word that core member Krayo (one-half of spin-off group Iller Than Theirs) dropped a limited edition 7” vinyl single, “The Blackout” backed with “Cherry Lime Rickey,” for dolo. That’s the sort of news that automatically puts a smile on my grill. But I was even more amped when I discovered both sides were produced by Doc Strange, whose credits include Cool Calm Pete’s “Modern Rhymes,” quite possibly my favorite tune from the Blogarhythms dandy and Nuk Fam homie. As if that didn’t make the single enough of a draw, Krayo also put both tracks up for free download, continuing the crew’s tradition of giving back to their fans & supporters.
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By El Keter
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Posted in Music
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Tagged Cool Calm Pete, Darondo, Doc Strange, Fat Boys, Grip Grand, Iller Than Theirs, Kanye West, Krayo, Nuclear Family, Percee P, Tone Tank
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