Return of the B-Boy Mixtape

Between digging through some of my old CD wallets and bumping Strictly Business (1988) at work, the past week was a reminder of just how deep (and I mean, DEEP) into Hip-Hop I was throughout the glory days of junior high and early high school. Rediscovering classics like Mobb Deep's The Infamous (1995), or Mecca and the Soul Brother (1992), records I once memorized from front to back, has taken me on nostalgic joy rides and inspired a renewed appreciation for the music.

  

All of this Hip Hop reminiscing meant I had to throw together a quick mixtape of some of my favorite cuts: 16 tracks that together do a pretty good job of non-chronologically spanning the gamut of Hip Hop's trajectory, from classic old school to some of the genre's more contemporary directions.  You gotta turn the volume up on this one.

Tracklisting:

1. EPMD - Let The Funk Flow, from Strictly Business (1988)

2. Madvillain - Money Folder (Four Tet remix), from Remixes (2006)

3. Ugly Duckling - I Did It Like This, from Journey To Anywhere (2000)

4. A Tribe Called Quest - Vibes and Stuff, from The Low End Theory (1991)

5. Gang Starr - You Know My Steez, from Moment of Truth (1998)

6. Pete Rock - Hip 2 Hip, from Soul Survivor II Sessions (2005)

7. Mos Def - Hip Hop, from Black On Both Sides (1999)

8. People Under The Stairs - The Breakdown, from Question in the Form of an Answer (2000)

9. Common - The People, from Finding Forever (2007)

10. Digable Planets - Black Ego, from Blowout Comb (1994)

11. Handsome Boy Modeling School - The Projects (P Jays), from So . . . How's Your Girl? (1999)

12. Blackalicious - My Pad and My Pen, from The Craft (2005)

13. Atmosphere - Modern Man's Hustle, from God Loves Ugly (2002)

14. Flying Lotus - 1983, from 1983 (2006)

15. Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - I Get Physical, from The Main Ingredient (1994)

16. The Nonce - Mix Tapes, from World Ultimate (1995)

Click here to download the entire mixtape in a single folder.

Death to Blogging, A Renewal, and Some Sort of Manifesto

As you surely have apprehended by now, this experiment in music-and-other-"things"-blogging has slowed to a molasses-drip of output that is, at best, pretty pathetic, and at worst, begging the question of what's the point. Nick's hiatus (read: his sugarcoated resignation) and my own dearth of posts both point to a logical conclusion: that hella philistine as it currently stands must die (if it hasn't already, which it pretty much has).  It's been fun, it's been real.  Thanks for the memories.

Which I can't say I'm sad about.  There's been some sense of relief in not worrying about trying to post something just to post something this past month.  I mean, this stuff takes a surprising amount of work.  And keeping up with the increasingly tabloid-like nature of music news and culture is exhausting, self-consuming, and, as I've been starting to find lately--an unnecessary drag.  In all of this, for me, the raw joy I get from music has somehow gotten lost, gone fishing, A.W.O.L.

I'm still gonna keep this blog going, but on some different terms.  The original blueprints have been redrawn, thrown out, incinerated, along with all the bull.  What's left will be non-comprehensive and out of step with the scene; the music shared because I have fun doing it and hope you find something you dig.  

There's so much great music going on out there, and the internet is a phenomenal vehicle for its spread.  But all too often the racing machinery of the blogosphere and its byproducts of hype and status lose sight of a basic truth: Music is not meant to be exclusive. 

So, here we go again,

Truitt

  

The End Of An Era?

I forgot to post a few days ago after first reading this Seattle Times article.  Apparently the artist/label royalty fee for broadcasting a song over satellite radio is considerably higher than it is for conventional AM/FM radio, and even higher for playing a song over the web.  This fee was just recently increased, much to the griping of web radio sites (which are businesses) like Pandora.  

Things wouldn't be so bad, except that where satellite radio and conventional radio stations only broadcast one song at any given time, Pandora's "personalized radio" stations collectively play untold thousands of songs at any given time.  Multiply that number of songs by that incremental fee increase and you can see that the total impact on these sites' ability to make a profit is critically large.

According to the article, Pandora has yet to post year-end marks out of the red, and before the fee hike, 2009 was projected to be the site's first profitable year.  Now they may have to preemptively pull their own plug.  

Pandora is one of the most successful of the free web radio sites out there, and if they can't withstand such a blow, it seems even more unlikely that less popular, similar sites such as Imeem, LastFM, and others, will be able to do so either.

What a colossal tragedy of copyright laws and greed.  I hope this isn't the end of a great invention for discovering and sharing music.

Obamanomics, explained

Yesterday's NY Times Sunday magazine featured an article on Barack Obama's core economic philosophies entitled "A Free-Market-Loving, Big-Spending, Fiscally-Conservative Wealth Redistributionalist."  Written by a economist dude named David Lednhart, this is far and away one of the best pieces of journalism I've read in a long while.  Not only does Lednhart make clear the nuances and complexities of Obama's economic beliefs as distinct from the over-generalized mantras of tax trigger-happy "liberals," he presents them in a way that's highly-intelligent without ever presuming a requisite intimacy with economic and political theory.  

It's a pretty long article, but well-worth the time--particularly in how what lies within may surprise you.  Yet having read it I'm more convinced than ever of Obama's post-partisan abilities.  

Happy reading,

Truitt

Panda Riot Covering MIA

M.I.A.'s  2007 banger "Paper Planes" may have been a little played out even before Pineapple Express co-opted it's hard-hitting bounce, but there's a version by Chicago band Panda Riot floating around that gives a different and rewarding fuzzed-out take on the song.  Not bad, right?

Whatever Gets You Thru The Night

just a little fly by....



whatever gets you thru the night,
johnson!

This Summer's Car- Bike War, or "My Hurry Is More Important Than Your Hurry"

Recent articles from the NY Times, from the Seattle Times, from the Oregonian, and from Newsweek commonly touch on a issue that's become extremely topical in the wake of the "going green" trend and this summer's cycling-favorable weather.  

With more people converting to bikes as a means of alternative and cheaper transportation (especially in Portland, where a nation-leading 6 percent of the population relies on two-wheels), there's also been an increase in the number of (often-violent) confrontations between cyclists and motorists competing for their share of the road.  Here's a video capturing of one of the recent incidents in Portland.

The three articles linked above cover the issue in ample detail, but what's most significant in this debate is that as long as gas prices keep soaring and "going green" options become more viable, the number of people trading in their keys for some handlebars will only continue to rise, further legitimizing the need for more bike-friendly roads and policies.  Obviously, cars will remain the dominant majority for a long time to come, but it will interesting to witness how cities, states, and perhaps even the federal government respond to and accommodate the biking movement.  

Chalk this one up as another case of acting for change versus practicality.  Maybe Barack knows what to do?  

Until then, see you out there on my 1984 Nishsiki.

A Couple Of Things

The absence of Nick's usual daily barrage is leaving this site pretty, well, worthless, so I'm trying to pick up my long-overdue-slack and actually post something.  Also, those Morgan Freeman voiceover commercials have inspired me to add some new features.  With that said, here we go:

First things first.  In addition to the PDX July Podcast, a bunch more songs are up for streaming on the Gold Soundz player.  We're talking T.I., the Duchess and the Duke, Grizzly Bear, Starfucker, and more--all definitely worth checking out.  There's a new podcast for August on the way, too.

I've also set-up a trial run for a new component of the blog, for now called "On Deck, Out Soon." Here you'll find a brief list of some up-and-coming album releases we're looking forward too.  Not that our tastes will always match yours; they shouldn't.  And just because it's new sure doesn't mean its gonna be good.  The idea is that it's impossibly hard to keep up with all the great music constantly coming out these days, so a feature where you can see some of what's on the horizon in one, localized, spot might be of interest.  

More posts on the way.  No joke.

Hiatus

I am going on hiatus for the month of August.

For a good time
Keep your eyes on these sites
worlds greatest ghosts
shaky hands
starfucker
musicfestnw
portland timbers
wilco

FOREST PARK,
johnson!

July PDX Podcast

We just posted a short podcast titled "PDX July Podcast" of music by Portland artists all of which was released or recorded in 2008.  You can find the podcast in the Gold Soundz player top right.

Track One
The Rainy States
"With Fever"
In Basement Air
2:49

Track Two
Worlds Greatest Ghosts
"Mazes & Monsters"
Exercising Demons
3:04

Track Three
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
"Just Out of Reaches"
Real Emotional Trash
4:51

Track Four
The Old Believers
"Betcher Ass"
Eight Golden Greights
3:45

Track Five
Nick Jaina
"One Hand Washing the Other"
Daytrotter Session (off of Seven Stations)
3:48

Track Six
Blitzen Trapper
"Big Black Bird"
EP3
2:48

Track Seven
The Shaky Hands
"Wake the Breathing Light"
Lunglight
4:57

Track Eight
Mattress
"Bring It Round"
Heavy Duty
3:13

Laura Gibson - The Penny Jam

Some might argue that filming artists in non-music venues like stores or in alleyways has already been done (Black Cab Sessions, Takeaway Shows, etc...) and any new versions are just unnecessary imitations. What makes the local versions in Portland interesting is that they are familiar artists in familiar places. Secondly, performances for This is Lost Gospel are free and anyone can attend them if they wish. While The Penny Jam does not include audiences they have recruited an impressive array of artists to film. This film is footage of Laura Gibson performing at OMSI.


Laura Gibson at OMSI from The Penny Jam on Vimeo.

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson on Daytrotter

Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson is the latest artist to pass through Daytrotter studios, where he and his bandmates recorded four unreleased songs, including a worthy Dylan cover.

You can listen and freely download all four tracks over here.

Enjoy the PDX Pop Now and Block Party Weekends, everybody.

Black Kids - Partie Traumatic

After giving Black Kids 2007 EP release an 8.4/10 Pitchforkmedia has chosen to defend their 3.3/10 rating of their recent full length release Partie Traumatic with this photograph above. I haven't listed to Black Kids enough to argue one way or the other based on the music but this is ridiculous. The caption on the homepage doesn't even warn the reader of the ensuing madness:

"After a well-received EP, Jacksonville's Black Kids release a Bernard Butler-produced debut that surprisingly hit the top 5 in the UK."

When one is this eager to generate buzz about new bands one should take the time to think about what they're doing. Do we think this really is Best New Music? Should we even bother doing this? What happens if we don't like their music in six months after we've generated all of this buzz about them?

Most importantly, they're just a bunch of "kids" playing music. They probably appreciated the praise, but they most likely didn't ask for it. It's kind of sick to think about people doing something like this. The picture isn't even that funny. When Pitchfork slammed Weezer or Nine Inch Nails they at least explained why. You think that it would be important to explain why you liked the ep of a band you generated a bunch of buzz about so much and why you're now so critical of the album. This could also be a big joke. ("Haha! JK! We don't take ourselves too seriously. It's just music! Now for the real review")

They've also asked all writers to lower their ratings because they've been "too high" recently.

Integrity,
johnson!

The PB&J Campaign

Speaks for itself:

"How does this work? It's actually not ONLY about the PB&J. Any plant-based meal you eat instead of something based on meat, fish, eggs, or dairy products can have a big impact.

Find out more about how this works.

How much can you accomplish?

You might not end global warming in one lunch break, but each time you choose the plant-based meal you make a difference, just like taking out the recycling or taking public transportation to work instead of driving.
Ready to take the PB&J Pledge?"

More information about the PB&J Campaign.

Was, Is, Be...PDX

Here are some interesting things that are worth checking out.

On Saturday, Starfucker played a free show in an alleyway as part of a series of performances put on by This is Lost Gospel. Some other previous shows included local bands White Fang, Almost Nearly, and Glass Teeth. Stay tuned for some more shows featuring Southern Belle, Glass Candy, and yet-to-be-announced surprise guests. Check out the site for videos and photographs of the performances.

Tonight, Jack Lewis & The Woodgrain will be playing live on my radio show "The Half & Half Hour" at kpsu.org at 9:00. And at 10:00 another band, Patterns, will be playing on "Arya Imig's Sound Judgement."

Tuesday Night at the Dekum Manor will feature some other great local bands: The Shaky Hands, Here Comes a Big Black Cloud, Worlds Greatest Ghosts, and the Vonneguts. Should be crazy.

Thursday, head on over to the Hotel Deluxe for the first Top Down Film Festival Series show. The even will include a performance by Love Menu followed by a showing of the movie Big Time on top of the parking garage.

And........

Friday-Sunday = PDX Pop Now. Local Cut has a great compilation of songs by bands that will be performing at the festival.

happy summertime,
johnson!

TV on the Radio - Dear Science.

TV on the Radio will be releasing the follow up to their 2006 release, Return to Cookie Mountain, on September 23rd. It's title is Dear Science,. You can see them performing these new tracks at a few venues coming up including a stop at Portland's Roseland Theater for this year's Musicfest NW on September 5th.

Batman - The Dark Knight

Picture courtesy of Frank Stockton

2nd Annual TSK Donut Eating Contest

Seattle's own The Saturday Knights are hosting round 2 of their annual Doughnut Eating Contest (and live performance) at the Downtown location of local gourmet chain Top Pot Doughnuts a week from this Saturday.  That's the same weekend as the Block Party--but maybe this will be a great break from the crowded Pike-Pine stretch.  Of course, the contest and show are both free.  

Our 16th Poet Laureate

As this article and this article from the NY Times report, Kay Ryan of Marin, California has recently been named the successor to Charles Simic as U.S. poet laureate.

You can read some of Ms. Ryan's work here.

Sub Pop 20th Birthday Bash - Sunday

Sunday marked the second half of Sub Pop's 20th anniversary music festival.  The 10 hour event showcased some of Sub Pop's current up-and-coming artists and indie-headliners, as well as legendary bands from throughout the Seattle label's fabled history reuniting on stage for the first time in years.  I was able to get my mitts on some tickets for the day's "revelry," and sure enough the stacked lineup did not disappoint. The weather was great, too. Here's a rundown of the performances:

Kiwi polyglot-popsters The Ruby Suns started things off with a quick set of tunes from their immensely-awesome and genre-itinerant debut record The Sea Lion.  The grand setting of sun and amphitheater fit some of their more expansive songs really well, although the multifarious instruments and sounds going on throughout Sea Lion seems near-impossible to duplicate on stage--especially with only two people--and, as Nick pointed out after seeing them a while back, the group is still honing their live act.  

Next on the bill was Grand Archives, a hometown Seattle band who undoubtedly boasted the day's most entertaining stage-banter.  Grand Archives' country-tinged, dad-rock was easy on the ears and perfect for lounging in the grass to.  They strolled through a set of highlights from their self-titled album released earlier this year, all the while joking around with the small crowd, which was still gathering at that point.

A bit of a surprise and a huge highlight for me was getting to see Blitzen Trapper, a recent signee to the Sub Pop label and one of my favorite bands from Portland, take the main stage next.  The group wasn't officially listed on the festival schedule (there was only a "TBA" between Grand Archives and Kinski, the band on-deck), so their unexpected appearance made the rollicking, foot-stomping, rock-jams they played that much sweeter.   The songs were a mixture of Wild Mountain Nation and some other stuff that didn't sound too familiar (but is potentially from the new album, whenever that's coming out).

The harder-edged, psychedelic group Kinski came on next, playing straight through a string of loud, squalling, (mostly) instrumental songs.  I've heard some of their stuff on the radio before and it's not bad, but have never got into them.  My fellow festival-goer and I took this chance to hit the beer garden. 

The British art-punk quartet Foals then took the stage, smashing a microphone into pieces before they even sang a verse.  Their twitchy, tightly-coiled, and sometimes ambient math-rock helped jump-start the hitherto sleepy crowd, only the openness of the amphitheater setting rendered their contagious and irreverent energy somewhat muted (for example: their opening performance for Wolf Parade's "secret" show the next night at the much more compact and enclosed Neumos was night-and-day better).   One major highlight was the nervous look on the stage crew guy's face after lead singer Yannis Phillippakis punctured an amp with his guitar neck.  Simply priceless. 

Les Thugs, a French early-grunge band, and the first of Sunday's highly-anticipated reunited groups to play, came on next.  While I can appreciate the ground these guys helped break, I was still listening to Skee-lo and TLC when they were making their hit records, and their sound is one I just can't really connect to.   This marked our second beer garden-run.

No Age did their noise-rock power pop thing next.  While Pitchfork and other tastemakers are pretty enamored with this Los Angeles duo, I can't help but agree with the sentiments of my festival-companion: "I feel like guys I knew  in mediocre high school bands could play this stuff."  Alas, another beer.  Hang in there, I promise I get less critical.

The second reunited band from Sub Pop's early days to perform on Sunday was Red Red Meat.  Same impression as for Les Thugs, however I enjoyed their experimental, garage-rocky songs a lot more.

After RRM, Bay-area based psych/blues-rockers Comets On Fire played an impressive, scorching set. The virtuosic talent these guys displayed--especially lead guitarist Ethan Miller and drummer Utrillo Kushner--was insane.  They wailed and shredded and absolutely killed it.  Their intricate, time signature-shifting songs are so dense, it's nearly overwhelming to comprehend what their doing with their instruments.  Wow.

Up next was another formerly-active band: Beachwood Sparks.  These So-Cal dudes haven't played a show in years, which they apologetically told the crowd, though I thought their sort of indie-stoner-bluegrass sounded pretty dang smooth.  I never got into this band either, but I can see why Sub Pop would have signed them way back when.

The last of the reuniting groups, Green River, was far and away the one with the most hype entering day-two of the Anniversary party, which makes sense:  As soon as singer Mark Arm belted out the first words of "Come On Down," people went absolutely ape-shit.  The crowd immediately ballooned to its largest size of the day, and a mosh-pit of a bunch of burly, hairy, dudes materialized out of nowhere.  The band was clearly loving the throwback atmosphere, too; they were strutting and smiling as they relived song after song from their pre-Nirvana glory days, and drummer Alex Vincent even leapt off the stage at one point for some token crowd-surfing.  Although I was even younger when Green River was laying the foundation for Seattle's grunge scene, their energy and showmanship Sunday night was undeniable, and worthy of their legend.  The band definitely satisfied the festival's contingent of loyal fans eager for their return.  

Wolf Parade's closing set aptly capstoned the epic day.  The Montreal quintet sounded confident, inspired, and genuinely enthused to be playing that night.  There were a few songs from Apologies, of course, but the group used most of the hour-long slot to showcase At Mount Zoomer's chops; and shit was tight.  The band's strong chemistry was especially palpable on tracks like "Soldier's Grin," and "Animal In Your Care."  And their acute interplay and gleeful willingness to adventure was explosive on "Fine Young Cannibals," where they--don't look now right-wing hipsters--jammed out the song's bridge for a while.  Wolf Parade was the only festival act allowed to come out for an encore: wisely choosing to leave the delighted crowd with the anthemic "I'll Believe In Anything." Their performance Sunday was so good that I had to go and see them again the following night (at Neumos), which, if nothing else I've said makes any sense, is definitely saying something. 

P4K's pictures of the two days' performances can be found here.  KEXP's also got some good photos here.