I had a couple of trips to Half Price Books in Cedar Rapids that yielded a couple of interesting things.
Laughing Stock
Can’t Stop Won’t Stop – A History of the Hip-Hop Generation
B-Sides in the Bins #12 – Cedar Rapids 5/24/07
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Category Archives: Music
New Arcade Fire 7″ to Include Calexico Cover of “Ocean of Noise”
From the Casadecalexico newsgroup on Yahoo, the new single from Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible “Intervention” includes a studio version of Calexico covering Arcade Fire’s “Ocean of Noise” that I posted about earlier. I’ve been collecting the City Slang import singles from Calexico and this is one of those, but apparently Merge will have a US release of this single as well which is slated to be released July 10th.
Click here to hear a sample of the studio version (from boomcat).
Click here to hear the live version.
The Pines Release Sparrows in the Bell and Tour
Last weekend my wife Sherry and I were in the Twin Cities for a wedding. On Sunday we visited the Sculpture Garden and hit The Wedge in Uptown, which is our favorite grocery store in the Cities and is only a couple of blocks from my wife’s sister. My wife and I have some food allergies and sensitivities so we buy foods that aren’t always readily available in regular stores.
So, we racked up a pretty sizable bill for what should have been a quick run. The checkout person suggested that we join the Co-Op by buying a share as we would get a discount on this purchase as well as future ones. We are going to be back up here at least two more times this summer and thought it might be nice to not need to pack a bag with just food. So, we joined. While we were talking to a guy in customer service it came up that we were from Cedar Rapids/Iowa City. He said that he was from Iowa City, too! It turned out that our customer service guy was Benson Ramsey from the Pines! He remembered me from the Bo Ramsey show in Dubuque where I gave him a copy of the KUNI radio show from last year. Benson said that Dave Huckfelt also works at the Wedge
We talked for a bit and he said that the new Pines release Sparrows in the Bell
Listen to “Don’t Let Me Go” from Sparrows in the Bell performed on KUNI last year.
Listen to “Bound to Fall” from the Pines debut CD.
Free Live EP From The Black Keys
The utterly Lo-Fi-tacular Black Keys have made available for download a four-track EP of live tracks from their Fall 2006 tour on their MySpace Page. The tracks are “No Trust” (from Magic Potion
The Sea and Cake Release new iTunes-only EP Anybody
One of my favorite releases from this Spring has been Everybody by the Sea and Cake. I listen to it at least once a week on the iPod. Thrill Jockey announced yesterday in their e-mail newsletter that there is an iTunes only three-track EP titled Anybody with songs that were recorded during the sessions for Everybody.
The cover art for Anybody was done by guitarist Archer Prewitt. Thrill Jockey will have a nifty record bag with this cover art on it.
The songs are “All In Throws,” “Breathless,” and the instrumental “Mis.”
Click here to purchase the Anybody EP for US$2.97.
The Fucking Champs 2007 Spring Tour
I will admit that before Fables of the Reconstruction converted me I was into Heavy Metal. During the Early 80’s with a Sony boombox bungee-cord strapped to my Honda moped I was listening to bands like Rush, Blue Oyster Cult, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motley Crue and Def Leppard. I still hold a place in my heart for those bands. Admittedly, most of these groups have aged better than others.
The Fucking Champs are an instrumental trio currently made up of long-standing Tim Green and Tim Soete and joining them is Phil Manley from Thrill Jockey staple Trans Am. I had heard of The Fucking Champs in relation to the collaborative projects with Trans Am as The Fucking Am and The Trans Champs, but I hadn’t gotten around to checking them out.
When I first heard The Fucking Champs’ new album VI, I was impressed in this band’s ability to play what seems like a complete lexography of heavy metal riffage. From song to song on this album I can pick out guitar tones and riffs that remind me of particular parts of my favorite metal bands. This album reminds me of what I really loved about Trans Am on their early albums like Surrender to the Night
The Fucking Champs are kicking off a Spring Tour on Thursday in Atlanda and continues through June 9th in Raleigh, NC. They are stopping in Iowa City at the Picador on Memorial Day so I’m going to try to get out to see that. Tickets are $8.00! You can’t beat that price. I’m sure it will work out to be thousands of riffs per dollar! Opening for them are Birds of Avalon and Red Fang.
Here are the tour dates:
Thursday, May 24
Atlanta, GA
The Earl
Friday, May 25
Birmingham, AL
The Bottletree
Saturday, May 26
Memphis, TN
The Hi Tone
Sunday, May 27
St. Louis, MO
The Duck Room
Monday, May 28
Iowa City, IA
The Picador
Tuesday, May 29
Chicago, IL
The Empty Bottle
Wednesday, May 30
Detroit, MI
Magic Stick
Thursday, May 31
Toronto, ON
Sneaky Dee’s
Friday, June 1
Montreal, Que
La Sala Rossa
Saturday June 2
Wallingford, CT
The American Legion Hall
Sunday, June 3
Allston, MA
Great Scotts
Monday June 4
New York, NY
The Mercury Lounge
Tuesday, June 5
Brooklyn, NY
Studio B
Wednesday, June 6
Baltimore, MD
Ottobar
Thursday, June 7
Philadelphia, PA
Johnny Brenda’s
Friday, June 8
Charlottesville, VA
The Satellite Ballroom
Saturday, June 9
Raleigh, NC
King’s Baracade
Listen to Spring Break from VI
Purchase VI from iTunes
B-Sides in the Bins #11 – Cedar Rapids 5/14/07
Prestige Jazz – Various (CD Starbucks Entertainment/Concord Records FSP-1504-2/CDS-055, 2007)($13.95) Okay, I’m a sucker. When I’m on the road for work I drink Starbucks Coffee. When I’m standing in line waiting for my ventelattefrappecappuchino I look at the CD’s conveniently placed next to where I have to wait for my order. Usually I don’t see anything that I haven’t heard before or I would be particularly interested in. When I was in Austin last month I stumbled across a title that I initially resisted temptation over. However, the urge became too strong and I found it in Cedar Rapids. The CD is called “Prestige Jazz” and is a compilation of 50’s and 60’s jazz artists from the venerable Prestige label which during its heyday was as big a deal as Blue Note.
“Prestige Jazz” is a compilation of songs from the likes of The Modern Jazz Quartet, John Coltrane, Red Garland, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Eric Dolphy and Sonny Rollins and is one of the first releases on the controversial Starbucks Entertainment label. You may have heard about Starbucks Entertainment in the press recently as it will be releasing Paul McCartney’s next album.
The packaging is really smart– white with the familiar 1960’s Prestige logo on it– it drew my eye immediately from between the other CD’s. Nice pop-artish graphics and beautiful photographs of the artists from the Michael Ochs Archives. Each song has a little paragraph talking about the song and the artist. Certainly a great primer for Jazz neophytes.
The release is sort of a cross promotional deal as it is a compilation of the recent remastering that the Prestige titles are going through by Rudy Van Gelder who recorded some of the great Jazz albums from that period. Of the songs I’d only heard “Django” by The Modern Jazz Quartet and “Like Someone In Love” by John Coltrane before. A nice addition to my small-but-growing Prestige collection and gives me ideas for other titles to look for. A good Jazz compilation when you need a jazz mix as well.
Looking at the website, it looks like they have a Riverside comp as well… another ventiwhitechocolatemochawithwhip please…
Richard Buckner and Six Parts Seven Live in Iowa City 2/26/07
Following a weekend of really bad weather in Eastern Iowa, I wasn’t sure whether we were going to see this show. As I posted earler, Allen from Six Parts Seven had reached out to let me know that they were playing in the area as part of a tour they were doing opening and backing Merge artist Richard Buckner.
After a good dinner at the Atlas World Grille we made our way over to the Picador in time for the 9PM doors. This was the first time I’d been to the Picador since its transformation from the long-standing Gabe’s. Due to the previous “Early/All-Ages” show running long, the show we came to see would start late so we hung out downstairs in the bar waiting for the doors to open.
Once we got upstairs, we met Allen Karpinski who is the lead guitarist for the group and principle composer/arranger. I had been exchanging PM’s with him on myspace leading up to the show. He seemed genuinely happy to see us at the show and we talked about the tour progress so far and he said that his brother Jay who was the drummer had dropped out of the tour over a disagreement. So the band was continuing the tour without him and other members of the touring band were filling in on drums. The topic turned to gear with my friend Erik who builds guitar amps. Allen had an effects pedal that was made for him by a friend that stopped working. Erik offered to take it home and look it over to see if he could fix it.
I hadn’t been here since some time in the late 90’s– I think it was the Evan Dando solo show with Epic Soundtracks (R.I.P.). At that time the room had a bunch of tables and chairs. Apparently they only have two or three tables and chairs which was a bummer because as much as I like standing for shows, I like to sit– and certainly my wife would have prefered to have the option.
First up was Six Parts Seven doing a five-song 20-minute or so set. I was disappointed because I would have liked to hear more songs from them as they were the reason I was here. Apparently, though the small crowd was there to see Buckner.
As expected, they played a mellow impassioned set. The members focused on playing the songs. The crowd was small and it seemed like we were watching a band practice! From time-to-time someone would take on the drum role– sometimes mid-song. The songs took on a new feel and perspective compared to the album versions of the songs.
One thing I noticed was that Allen was playing a capoed bass guitar. You can see that in the picture above. This explains the “mid-range bass” credit in the liner notes of Casually Smashed to Pieces. Between the Six Parts Seven set and Richard Buckner’s I got a chance to catch up with Allen again and asked him about it. He said that he is actually playing lighter gauge strings in addition to the capo. I suggested that he could be playing a Bass VI. He said that the tone would be different.
Allen also gave me the setlist that was played that night: “Conversation Heart,” “Stolen Moments,” “Awaiting Elemental Meltdown,” “Night Behind the Stars,” and “Knock At My Door.”
After the break Buckner somewhat unexpectedly showed up on the stage and started playing some songs solo. The guys in Six Parts Seven hung out in the crowd watching the show like everyone else. After four or five songs they joined Buckner on stage.
The Buckner set was comprised of mostly recent songs from the fantastic Meadow release and the prior two albums. I wasn’t as familar with his songs, but I knew the Meadow songs pretty well as I had been listening to it very regularly leading up to the show. My favorites were the more uptempo songs like “Town” and “Lucky” and benefitted quite a bit from having a full band behind him. The drum beats were more straightforward 4/4-type so the stand-in drumming worked pretty well.
It was pretty obvious to me that Six Parts Seven was pretty nervous on a couple of songs– especially when it required a switch-up of the drummer. But, they held it together and there were definately moments of brilliance. My friend Erik and a buddy from his work Shawn were very impressed with the Buckner songs and planned to pick the new release up.
Buckner evidently plays a lot of shows solo. He was using sampling pedals to play over himself– sort of like Keller Williams. This was an interesting aspect to his sets. Sometimes it worked really well, other times I felt like it was a distraction. Buckner doesn’t say a lot in his set either and seemed to fill the between song gaps with his sampler pedal.
Looking back on the show, I really am pretty happy I made it out to see them. The show was very intimate and that allowed Six Parts Seven to showcase their strengths in dynamics. I would like to see Six Parts Seven headlining a show or at least get more than twenty minutes of them. I’d consider seeing Buckner again, too.
Six Parts Seven Daytrotter Session / Interview
The fine folks at Daytrotter have finally released the session that Six Parts Seven did for them. This session was done the same day as their show at the Picador in Iowa City that I saw– February 26, 2007. Since this is out I will finish my long-overdue review of that show and post it this weekend complete with pictures.
This set is pretty similar to Six Parts Seven’s opening set for Richard Buckner. Four songs, mostly from their fantastic Causally Smashed to Pieces
Six Parts Seven on Daytrotter – Free Music
Interview with Allen Karpinski by Sean Moeller from Daytrotter
The Greyboy Allstars – What Happened to Television? (review)
Growing up one of my favorite instrumental songs was “Green Onions” by Booker T. and the MG’s. When I started listening to the mid-Nineties Acid Jazz movement, the instrumental and keyboard driven music reminded me of the grooves of the MG’s. Around this same time the formidable Blue Note Records released a compilation titled The Lost Grooves – Rare and Previously Unissued Slices of Funk from the Vaults of Blue Note 67-70. This compilation was solid great grooves from beginning to end and included Grant Green, Lonnie Smith and Lou Donaldson. According to the liner notes penned by Bob Belden, the period of 67-70 represented a transitory period for Blue Note — moving from the bop styles and leading to the 70’s fusion. Blue Note signed a number of artists who all represented the funk-fueled jazz. In the 90’s the massive Blue Note catalog was being sampled by DJ’s and they responded with this album as well as their own hip-hop act US3. Around this same time the Beastie Boys released Ill Communication that had Hammond B3-driven funk instrumentals (assisted by Money Mark) and the subsequent EP The In Sound from Way Out that collected the instrumentals plus a couple of other tracks.
I was listening to all of this in the 90’s and it shaped my tastes for instrumental funk.
DJ Greyboy formed the band the Greyboy Allstars with Karl Denson in 1993 during the height of Acid Jazz as an extension of his residency spinning discs at a bar in San Diego. The band’s style of music was influenced by the rare jazz groves that DJ Greyboy was using in his sets. Uninterested in extensive touring, DJ Greyboy’s involvement in the group is to act as a creative leader and filter to the band’s music. The Greyboy Allstars’ new album on SCI Fidelity What Happened to Television?
The Greyboy Allstars decided to re-form after a successful reunion show last year. The result is a purple wall-to-wall shag of funk and jazz grooves. On the informative episode of the SCI Fidelity podcast the band admits to having a fascination with a certain period and this record shows it. All of the instruments are old school funk jazz and even the recording was done live to tape with tape splicing for edits.
I hadn’t heard of DJ Greyboy or the Greyboy Allstars prior to getting this album so this review required some digging to get the details of this group. The band is made up of seasoned scenesters. Guitarist Elgin Park is better known as Michael Andrews and scored films like “Donnie Darko” as well as the TV series “Freaks and Geeks” and has also produced a number of albums for artists like Inara George who is on this album. Sax player Karl Denson was a former sideman for Lenny Kravitz. Robert Walter who plays the Hammond B3 is a well-regarded sideman who worked with the Headhunters and Bobby Previte. Bass player Chris Stillwell has worked on many sessions including the soundtracks for “40 Year Old Virgin” and “Starsky and Hutch” as well as working on Inara George’s first solo record All Rise. The Funky Drummer for this album is Zak Najor.
The album was recorded and largely written in a week. Only one song was written prior to the sessions. According to the band in their podcast, this prevented the “jury duty” that is usually associated with introducing songs to the band for approval. This also gave everyone a stake in the songs as they created the songs as a band. I think that the sense of urgency to get the record recorded resulted in a much-needed lack of polish. The band says that there are “tiny mistakes” all over the record that you wouldn’t notice but add to the edge of the record. They site the album track “Left Coast Boogaloo” for this in that the song nearly fits in the smooth jazz category except for the angular guitar playing.
Overall the record is fun and sunny which is exactly the mood the band set out to capture. Every track is the sound of a band stretching its legs in a style they love. Of note are the vocals– they include lots of James Brown or Bootsy Collins style shouts and phrasing. A couple of the songs feature the band members on vocals. Two of the songs have Inara George, daughter of Lowell George on them.
The record’s first single will be the band’s take on the standard “How Glad I Am.” This song is a funkified song with Andrews Sisters style harmonies provided by The Living Sisters which has Inara George as a member. The Living Sisters includes Becky Stark from Lavender Diamond (featured in this month’s Paste Magazine) and Eleni Mandell. Elgin Parks/Michael Andrews was producing the Living Sisters album, which is largely a folk record and they do a version of “How Glad I Am” on it. He got the idea to have them do their same vocals over the band’s groove. The result is very cool if a bit unexpected. It reminds me of the song “Dancing” from the movie “Xanadu” where Olivia Newton-John sings in a similar 40’s swing style that gets mashed with the Tubes. Inara Seems to be very busy! She is also in the critically-raved The Bird and the Bee whose new album is out on Blue Note of all places. I heard “Again and Again” on last week’s “Grey’s Anatomy.”
The band’s namesake DJ Greyboy shows up for two inspired tracks where he guests on the turntables– “Old School Cylons” and the cover of an obscure funk 7-inch called “Give the Drummer Some More.” This was a record that Greyboy used to spin in the early days at the Green Circle that the band liked. No one could come up with a copy of the record for the band to learn the song so they found a partial sample of the record and improvised the song from there. According to the band in the podcast, “Drummer” is in the style of songs like “Do the Tighten Up” and “Memphis Soul Stew” where each of the members of the band get a shout-out and a solo. A very good way to wrap up a great album.
If you’re a fan of Acid Jazz, old school R&B or Jazz Funk, this is the record for you. The band says that they are already working on the next albums– I think this is great news. They are kicking a tour off in May and will be touring through the summer. If you’re lucky enough to have them in your town you should go out and shake the boogaloo.
Click Here to download the SCIFidelity Podcast #7 on the Greyboy Allstars as an mp3.
The Mini-Site dedicated to What Happened to Television with two tracks (“V Neck Sweater” and “How Glad I Am”) in Real Audio.
Greyboy Allstars on MySpace with “V Neck” and “How Glad” as well as one track from their debut record and one from the Ben Stiller movie “Zero Effect.”
Download “Knowledge Room” from What Happened to Television?
Get What Happened to Television? from iTunes
