I became aware of Antibalas around the time that I was working on a review of the very cool Scion Daptone Records Remixed compilation where I mentioned that Ticklah who is credited with the remix of “How Long Do I Have to Wait” by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, is David Axelrod who, among other things, has been a member of the Brooklyn, NY Afrobeat and funk ensemble since 1999.
Antibalas was formed in 1998 and modeled after Fela Kuti’s Africa 70 band and continues to maintain connections with members of Fela’s bands. In 2008 the band was involved in the off-Broadway and on-Broadway musical of Fela’s life titled Fela! The musical is based on the events of his life and particularly his politically motivated music career and oppression from the Nigerian government.
Antibalas’s influence from Fela Kuti extends further than just their afrobeat style, they also choose to make their music the platform for sharing their political views. No where is this more evident than their third album Who Is This America? which was released in 2004 on Ropeadope records. The band and label felt that their political and social statements on the album are as relevant today as they were during the Bush-era, post 9/11 period they were conceived in.
The re-issue of Who Is This America? will be on CD and digital download with a new bonus track “Money Talks” and with an iTunes-only track “Paz.” Notably, Ropadope is choosing not to release this album on vinyl. As luck would have it, Daptone Records released a vinyl version back in 2004 that seems to still be available on their site for $20 and has the “running man” cover artwork. Daptone also has Antibalas’s 2007 Anti- Records release Security on vinyl as well. Security was produced by John McEntire of Tortoise, incidentally. Ropeadope will have a special edition package that includes the CD, a download and a reprint of the “Running Man” teeshirt ($27.99). You can get just the teeshirt, too.
Click Here to download “Big Man” from Who Is This America?
Click Here to pre-order Who Is This America? from Ropadope.
Click Here to order the original (no bonus tracks) Who Is This America? 2 LP from Daptone.
Margaret Stutt who goes by the nom d’cordion Pezzettino has collaborated with Milwaukee-based producer LMNtylist on her follow up to her 2009 release Lion. Titled LubDub, it is a 10-track EP of, well– I guess they are love songs. Well, maybe not all of them are love songs, but certainly they are related to love and appear to be roughly arranged in a timeline of a love affair that is having some fits and starts getting off the ground.
Originally the follow up to the moody, serrated toothiness of Lion was supposed to be a kinder, gentler album to be titled Lamb. In December of 2008 she posted the track listing for both releases on Facebook. When Miss Pezz blew through the Midwest last Fall it would appear that she had already moved into the mental space of Lamb in preparation for recording that album. By that time she had recorded the lead track for Lamb– the insanely catchy “You Never Know” which kind of took on a life of its own with its joyous video and vinyl 7″ release– each with a custom cover done by Milwaukee artist Dwellephant. For that Fall tour she’d already been performing “You Never Know,” “Hunting Season,” and “Falling Down” all songs that seemed fully formed and ready for the album. She also played a new song that was a quick favorite for me– “Where’d Ya Go.”
Anyone who knows Margaret well knows that she is constantly catering to her muse– typically recording inspired fragments of song anywhere and anytime they show up– many songs were written behind the wheel of her now-departed Civic on the long drives between the gigs on tour. It was a collection of these fragments that she gave to Milwaukee HipHop producer LMNTylist who was interested in trying his hand producing some pop songs. When she stopped through Cedar Rapids in January she played me the rough mixes that she had just received. I was at once shocked and excited at what I’d heard– the lead off track for LubDub “Replay” was pretty much cemented at that point as was “Cold Hard Chick.” This was a dramatically different direction for Pezzettino– she had given over to the production and the resulting songs still showed the fun and humor typically found in her music, but now had rhythm and were… funky!
The album pulls from a number of different influences ranging from the Reggae/Dub of the title track, to more the Jazzy “Only One” and “She Deserves” to the DooWop spin of “Replay” to a more “classic” Pezz piano track in “For You and Your Headaches.” Here is a video Margaret shot of a street mural painter that uses “Only One” as its soundtrack:
So, maybe it is fitting that the more mild-mannered Lamb would be quickly replaced by a more determined and immediate electronic release in LubDub. I guess the chops of Lamb will get to spend some more time slow cooking.
LubDub will be available for download on September 7th and on 12″ colored vinyl later this fall. Pezzettino has a Kickstarter drive going to attempt to raise the $1000 needed to press the vinyl. After an impressive week, she has raised over half of the funds and, at the time of this writing, still has over 30 days to go! Donations range from $1 to $1000 and have varying levels of perks at each level. Any donation over $15 gets you some copy of LubDub with pledges over $20 getting you the vinyl and the CD version of it along with four bonus tracks. Other levels get you things like cookies, her dress from the “You Never Know” video, private performance, or the ability to determine the next cover songs in her popular cover series. Click on the kickstarter widget below to see what your options are to help get this great release out.
The fantastically appropriate album art (shown above) was done by LittleTinyFish.
There are two release shows– one in each of her hometowns:
Milwaukee: September 11th at Turner Hall with Mondo Lucha, 8PM Brooklyn: October 14th at Cameo Gallery, 9PM
In the middle of these shows is a quick run of the Midwest that includes stops in DeKalb (9/12), Iowa City (9/15 at The Blue Moose Tap Room), Omaha (9/16), Des Moines (9/18 at Vaudeville Mews) and Boulder, CO (9/23). Visit her MySpace Page to keep up to date on this tour. This tour is going to be the first time in a while she has toured with a small band– so I’m looking forward to these shows!
Track Listing for LubDub:
1. Replay
2. She Deserves
3. Cold Hard Chick
4. Only One
5. Intermezzo I
6. Lub Dub
7. Where’d Ya Go
8. Intermezzo II
9. For You and Your Headaches
10. I Did Not Use Those Words Yesterday
Last year Cheyenne partnered with Louisville’s reknowned son, Bonnie “Prince” Billy aka Will Oldham on an EP of duets titled Among the Gold. Among the Gold is a collection of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century standards like “Beautiful Dreamer” and “Let Me Call You Sweetheart.” Louisville indie label Karate Body pressed an insanely-limited edition (250 copies) 10″ colored vinyl pressing of it and only made it available at shows and at their online store. It is available for digital download from Cheyenne’s Bandcamp Page. The EP certainly demonstrated Cheyenne’s talents and beautiful soprano but really didn’t show her songwriting abilities. Cheyenne will be releasing her first solo record titled Before Lately on September 28th and it will be on another Louisville label sonaBLAST! Records.
Where Among the Gold was steeped in the old-time standards it was made of, Before Lately is more contemporary mix of ingredients. The album is drifting and dreamy– introspective, really. The album is a very stripped-down affair with very little percussion and utilizes all of Cheyenne’s talents: vocals, violin, guitar and piano. The songs move between ethereal shoegazer-ish production on tracks like “Path” and “Lull” and more direct singer-songwriter style tracks like on “Doctor” and “Not.” Before Lately made an impression on me right away and tugs my disappointment that it isn’t available right now!
Cheyenne is currently on tour and will be making a stop in Iowa City on Thursday 7/29 at The Mill Restaurant opening for Portland, OR band Archeology. This will be the late show, which starts at 10PM and is a 21+ show. Tickets are $6. I’ll be interested to hear how these songs translate to the stage. You can listen to the whole album via this nifty player:
Cheyenne Marie Mize on Tour:
Sat Jul 24 – The Denver Post Underground Music Showcase – Denver, CO
Sun Jul 25 – The Denver Post Underground Music Showcase – Denver, CO
Tue Jul 27 – Czar Bar – Kansas City, MO
Wed Jul 28 – Vaudeville Mews – Des Moines, IA
Thu Jul 29 – The Mill – Iowa City, IA
Fri Jul 30 – Uncommon Ground on Clark – Chicago, IL
Sat Jul 31 – White Rabbit Cabaret – Indianapolis, IN
In early April, Sherry and I were in the Twin Cities visiting relatives and I managed to get a trip to the Mecca of Records known as the Electric Fetus. While I was flipping through their used vinyl and discount bins an unfamiliar soundtrack was playing overhead. Sherry asked me what it was, and I wasn’t sure but I was as enthralled as she was with the very mellow and groovy music. At one point I found myself singing along with one of the tracks, “You don’t know how to ease my pain, you don’t know…” I asked the guy behind the counter, “Is this a cover of Godley & Creme’s ‘Cry’?” He replied that the thought it was and said, “we’ve been playing this all day and I never noticed that!” He went on to tell me that it was a kind of “Minneapolis Supergroup” called Gayngs(I had to look at the “upcoming releases” board to see how it was spelled). Well, I promptly scoured the file sharing repositories for a leak of Gayngs album titled Relayted and found one. The album quickly entered my regular rotation until it’s release date on May 11th when I purchased the gorgeous 2 LP vinyl in a white gatefold sleeve.
Gayngs is a 23-member (or should I say “participant?”) band/project assembled by Ryan Olson who had an epiphany of sorts waking up one morning to the strains of 10CC’s softrock mega hit “I’m Not In Love.” It was then and there that he decided he wanted to record an album of a similarly-inspired sound. One that would allow them to use all of those cheesy synth patches any self-respecting musician should stay away from. The beginnings of the album started with Ryan andSolid Gold members Adam Hurlburt and Zach Coulter. Over time Ryan added other members to the band drawing from friends and girlfriends until the assembled cast grew to 23. All 23 members don’t play together on any one song on the album. Other notable groups who donated members include Bon Iver (Justin Vernon, Mike Noyce), Megafaun (Brad Cook, Phil Cook, Joe Westerlund), P.O.S., Leisure Birds (Jake Luck, Nick Ryan) and Roma di Luna(Channy Moon Casselle). The album delivered by this large union of musicians is surprisingly singular in vision given all of the participants– which can only be a testament to how Olson managed the proceedings.
A couple of weeks ago we had a family get-together and my relatives from Eau Claire, WI showed up with a present for me– a copy of Relayted on CD and a copy of the May Vita.mn magazine with an article on Gayngs with a focus on the band leader/arranger Ryan Olson. Apparently my aunt is good friends with Ryan’s mom! It turns out that my aunt and uncle went to The Last Prom on Earth show at First Avenue in May and had a great time! Of course, this was a show that Sherry and I had debated on going to, but couldn’t make it and had been kicking ourselves about. Well, thankfully the band will be bringing their 69-beats-per-minute antics to a quick run of dates at the end of September and beginning of October cumulating in a visit to the Austin City Limits Festival on 10/10. While the Last Prom on Earth shows had all of the members of Gayngs, the touring version will only have 10 members— notably without the women but showcasing new arrangements and new material!
It was March of 2009 when Lyrics Born announced the follow up to the fantastic genre-bending Everywhere At Once. The album titled As U Were has had a sliding release window since then due to LB’s insistent and unrelenting demands for perfection. LB has cushioned the blow a bit by providing a steady run of leaked tracks and free downloads which has given us a pretty good picture of what the album will be like.
Today the LB camp announced that As You Were will be released on October 26, 2010 and offered up the cover art to prove it! The cover was designed by Brent Rollins who also did Later that Day and Everywhere at Once. As if that wasn’t enough, we are also given another track in the pumping finger-jab-in-the-chest spurned lover vent of “Lies X3.” “If something just ain’t right, it’s just plain wrong… You’ve been lying to me.”
As U Were also marks the move to Decon who has an established multimedia track record working deals in licensing and other creative new avenues for music. Aside from the high-visibility Diet Coke commercial a few years ago and songs showing up on the occasional TV show, I always felt that LB’s music was bubbling-under a bit. I hope that the Decon partnership will finally kick the lid off that boiling pot.
One of the things I love about Lyrics Born is that he isn’t afraid to step out of the straight rap role, and in “Lies X3” he keeps a rhythmic pace in the lyrics, but he sings it all the way through. He’s expressed before that he doesn’t want to be pigeonholed into a predictable role and in the four tracks leaked from As U Were thus far, it is clear that Lyrics Born is again leaving a predictably worn MC path and stomping into the crunchy underbrush of his own direction.
When it comes to HipHop I tend to favor the musical pastiche typically purveyed by the Bay Area. Some of this is because I really cut my HipHop teeth on the seminal Bay Area label artists on Solesides (later Quannum) including Lateef, Lyrics Born, DJ Shadow, Blackalicious. In some respects California HipHop is considered a second generation from the early New York days of HipHop and rap, but it might be this distance that makes California HipHop more of a converged sound with funk. Of course these days, Left- and Right-coast isn’t so much a discernible distinction. These days there are still stylistic differences between, say Jay-Z and Snoop but beyond that there has been a lot of cross-pollination so it is difficult to make the same comment about today’s HipHop and rap.
Still, the last releases from Lyrics Born, The Gift of Gab, Blackalicious and DJ Shadow really show a very wide view of their art and I think shows them pushing the boundaries of what defines HipHop.
It’s this cultural and musical diversity in the Bay Area that fosters artists like singer Karyn Paige who, after several years of working and performing with various bands and musicians including the Jazz Mafia collective as well as Lyrics Born (who also worked with the Jazz Mafia Orchestra “Brass Bows and Beats) and Chali 2na (of Jurassic 5 and Ozomatli), is ready to release her first solo record titled Hola Mademoiselle which will come out fall of this year. Prior to that she will release a digital EP this summer titled The KP EP.
The releases promise to be a “diverse blend of pop, R&B, New Wave, Soul and Funk” and this is certainly delivered in the first single being offered as a free download titled “Want To.” “Want To” was co-writted and produced by Joe Bagale and Matt Berkeley of the Jazz Mafia with Karyn and to me really recalls the purple funk heyday during Prince‘s reign in Minneapolis– the funky analog synths and beats that were the signature of Mr. Rogers Nelson and the production duo of Jam and Lewis. It is a super-catchy track and has already made it to two of my car mp3 mixes! I can’t wait to hear the EP and album when they come out!
Do yourself a favor and grab this mp3.
Click Here to listen to “Want To” by Karyn Paige from her upcoming release Hola Mademoiselle.
Click Here to visit Karyn Paige’s website and sign up for her mailing list
Click Here to visit Karyn Paige’s Facebook Fanpage
According to the band website, El Ten Eleven’s debut album is being reissued on 180g vinyl with mp3 download by Bar None Records— the label the band was on for this album. Limited to 1000 copies.
El Ten Eleven just finished recording their new album to be titled It’s Still Like A Secret. Currently without a label, the band is reaching out to fans to build an investment base for the release. Options spanning from a $30 pre-order of a signed copy to a frankly very reasonable $750 donation which gets you the signed release, Executive Producer credit and an hour helicopter ride around Los Angeles piloted by Kristian Dunn. Other pricepoints include lunches and phone calls– for $100 you get a signed copy of the album and the option of punching Tim Fogarty in the face (with a boxing glove). I love seeing these kinds of inspired investment models being done by bands.
Local Natives posted on their Facebook wall today that they are providing the “stems” of four songs off their new album Gorilla Manor to encourage some remixing. The songs the band is making available are “Camera Talk,” “Who Knows Who Cares,” “Wide Eyes,” and “World News.” “Stems” are files of individual digital tracks of a multi-track recording which gives you the isolated instruments and vocals of the songs. This is useful for making remixes as you can edit and individually manipulate or replace parts and pieces of a song. To gain the .zip files of the stems you need to provide your name, e-mail address and postal zip code– a tricky way to build their e-mail list…
The band will be making the resulting works done by the remixers available on the stems page so keep an eye on that. The remixes will need to be submitted via e-mail to stems.fans@gmail.com. One idea for the band would be to provide an RSS feed of these remixes as the show up.
If you’re interested in early information about Thrill Jockey releases you need to look no further than the Thrill Jockey website itself! Last week I was doing some research on a couple of upcoming releases on the label and stumbled upon the upcoming solo release from Sea & Cake frontman Sam Prekop! Titled Old Punch Cardit will be an experimental instrumental electronic release. I have confirmed with Thrill Jockey that this will be released on Septemer 7th on vinyl as well as CD and download. Each of the covers for the CD and LP will be individually painted by Sam. The cover art you see above is effectively the canvas. Here are some examples of what the covers will look like:
Sam’s last release in the Fall of 2007 was also a disc of electronic instrumentals. It was bundled with his book of photographs.
Tracklisting for Old Punch Card (from thrilljockey.com)
01
Old Punch Card
02
Array Wicket
03
Knitting Needles
04
Brambles
05
Tell Work
06
November September
07
A Places
08
Lazy House
09
The Silhouettes
Sam’s band The Sea & Cake will also be going on tour around the time of this release in support of Broken Social Scene. I wonder if the Sea & Cake is gearing up for an eventual new record? John McEntire– who is the drummer for The Sea & Cake– produced Broken Social Scene’s new album Forgiveness Rock Record.
The Sea & Cake Fall Tour Dates in Support of Broken Social Scene (from Thrill Jockey):
Mon Sep 13 Washington, DC – Warner Theatre w/ Broken Social Scene
Tue Sep 14 Philadelphia, PA – Theater of Living Arts w/ Broken Social Scene
Fri Sep 17 Boston, MA – House of Blues w/ Broken Social Scene
Sat Sep 18 New York, NY – Rumsey Playfield w/ Broken Social Scene
Mon Sep 20 New Haven, CT – Toads Place w/ Broken Social Scene
Tue Sep 21 Northampton, MA – Calvin Theatre w/ Broken Social Scene
Wed Sep 22 South Burlington, VT – Higher Ground w/ Broken Social Scene
Fri Sep 24 Ithaca, NY – Historic Ithaca State Theatre w/ Broken Social Scene
Sat Sep 25 Buffalo, NY – Town Ballroom w/ Broken Social Scene
Sun Oct 3 Milwaukee, WI – Pabst Theatre w/ Broken Social Scene
Mon Oct 4 Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue w/ Broken Social Scene
Wed Oct 6 Winnipeg, MB – Burton Cummings Theatre w/ Broken Social Scene
Thu Oct 7 Saskatoon, SK – The Odeon Events Centre w/ Broken Social Scene
Fri Oct 8 Calgary, AB – Macewan Hall w/ Broken Social Scene
Sat Oct 9 Edmonton, AB – Winspear Centre w/ Broken Social Scene
Sun Oct 10 Kelowna, BC – Kelowna Community Theatre w/ Broken Social Scene
Tue Oct 12 Victoria, BC – Element Nightclub w/ Broken Social Scene
Wed Oct 13 Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom w/ Broken Social Scene
Thu Oct 14 Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom w/ Broken Social Scene
Fri Oct 15 Seattle, WA – Paramount Ballroom w/ Broken Social Scene
Sat Oct 16 Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom w/ Broken Social Scene
Tue Oct 19 Los Angeles, CA – Wiltern Theatre w/ Broken Social Scene
Click Here to visit the Thrill Jockey page on Old Punch Card which will be updated with streaming tracks and pre-order information closer to the release date.
In appreciation for the general love that playbsides.com gives Hiss Golden Messenger, MC Taylor sent me the mp3’s of Root Work to peruse in April. “At first, I wasn’t sure about commercially releasing this material as it appears on Country Hai,” he said in a later e-mail, ” but it sounds so good– through no fault of mine, really– that I thought it would make a really nice limited-edition vinyl release. That particular lineup of the band was special, in that we only played together three times (this recording was the second time), and it all came together.”
The lineup for Root Work is Slim Diamond (MC Taylor) on vocals and guitar, on bass and lapsteel is regular HGM member Scott Hirsch, Yair Evnine on guitar, Terry Lonergan on percussion, Robert Stillman on piano and Fender Rhodes, and Crowmeat Bob on horns.
The resulting six-track recording is less a re-hashing of Country Hai East Cotton than it is a re-imagining of the source. I think this is partially a product of the chemistry of the musicians as well as MC and Scott benefiting from a perspective two years after the original album was recorded. The fresh perspective seems to allow the band to exercise some light improvisation.
“John Has Gone to the Light” goes from an almost five-minute track to an almost nine minute song. The band spends more time riding the loping dub beat before succumbing to the double reggae-time chorus.
“Lion/Lamb” actually gets edited from the epic Traffic-ish “Lion” on Country Hai down to a just over three-minute stripped down folky strumming guitar and mandolin.
“Resurrection Blues” was a cursing post-death two-beat march on Country Hai. On Root Work it becomes a bluesy sax-driven gospel swagger. The call-and-response makes me think that the Blind Boys of Alabama should cover this version!
“O Nathaniel” is stripped and slowed down to reveal the rich palate of the vocal melody at the sacrifice of the more pronounced double-time Fleetwood Mac glissando payoff at the chorus on. But, on the Root Work version of this song we get a really great guitar solo as the song wraps up that would make Lindsey Buckingham take a second notice.
“Isobel” doesn’t vary much from the original version, but it is clear that MC is comfortable hanging on notes in his vocal making the whole song a more relaxed and bluesy experience. The new mix of instruments and in particular the piano riffing is a welcome development to the song.
“From a Lincoln Continental (Boogie Interpolated)” I thought this Tim Rose cover from Country Hai ended up sounding a bit like a “Digging In The Dirt”- period Peter Gabriel due to the clockwork approach to the instrumentation. On Root Work “Boogie” gets a welcome extended swampy blues workout. The song ends up sounding a lot more like the original Tim Rose version this way.
I caught up with MC last week and the pre-sale is up on the Heaven & Earth Magic Company website. Heaven & Earth Magic Company is the record label MC and Scott Hirsch started for their projects. Their first release was Country Hai East Cotton. The vinyl release of Root Work is a frighteningly limited one-hundred records– each numbered with covers designed by Brendan Greaves and hand screened by MC! The record is $15 (around $20 shipped) and comes with a digital download from bandcamp so you can get 320Kbps mp3’s or FLACs (or just about anything else actually). This is a steal, frankly. If you’re not into the vinyl thing, you can just order the download for a very reasonable $6 or you can pick individual tracks for $1 apiece.
The debate over the versions of the songs between Country Hai East Cotton and Root Work is akin to debating the merits of red versus white wine. Either is appropriate depending on when you’re drinking. I’m looking forward to drinking in the subtle tannins and liquorice notes of the vinyl pressing of Root Work.
Click Here to listen to tracks from Hiss Golden Messenger’s Root Work and to order digital download or vinyl pressing with digital download.
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