MIND INVERSION

Madlib issuing a plethora of music as usual…

Posted in Music News with tags Beat Konducta, Hip-Hop, J Dilla, Madlib, Stones Throw on Tuesday, October 21, 2008 by Tim Althaus

Well, for all of you Madlib & J Dilla fans out there, this should be a great few months for you. Earlier in October Madlib released part of an instrumental series entitled Beat Konducta Vol. 5 Dil Cosby Suite (which is only available for digital download right now, you can get the vinyl on November 11th). Now this month he is releasing Beat Konducta Vol. 6 Dil Whithers Suite for digital download (the vinyl will be released in December). Both of these Beat Konducta volumes are tributes from Madlib and J-Rocc (of the Beat Junkies crew) to the late great J Dilla. Volumes 5 & 6 will be released in early 2009 as an album (so the two will be combined into one album). I have had the pleasure of listening to both of these beat tapes and I can honestly say that Dilla Dawg would be proud. Each mix is just over 30 minutes (which means they are small packages, most albums are at least 50 minutes long usually), but good things come in small packages.

On top of both of these beat tapes, Madlib will also be releasing a 10″ Vinyl EP with three previously unreleased tracks from his Jazz/alter ego side project Yesterday’s Universe. The 10″ EP that is being released will coincide with the release of an art book by Jason Jägel entitled 73 Funshine. Jägel is best known for his work on album cover art for artists like MF Doom (MM FOOD) and Dudley Perkins.

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Blacklisted begins a U.S. tour today!

Posted in Concert Dates with tags blacklisted, hardcore on Monday, October 20, 2008 by Ryan Buege

Philadelphia’s premiere hardcore group, Blacklisted, has announced plans to come to a city near you. The Deathwish Records’ band will be hitting the road for the month in support of their recent incredible Kurt Ballou-recorded album, Heavier Than Heaven Lonelier Than God. While I’ve personally considered Blacklisted to be at the top of the hardcore heap since they emerged, they’ve proven to be a band that consistently improves with each album release. In my humble opinion, their most recent release being their finest to date. Even if they didn’t already have a good enough back catalog to warrant checking out the show, seeing them perform the new songs will be the biggest reason to go out and raise your fist alongside them. The tour begins today, October 20th, in Baltimore and circles around the country before ending on November 19th in NYC; support will be provided by Have Heart, Ceremony, and Letdown.

10/20 – Baltimore, MD @ Sonar
10/21 – Richmond, VA @ Canal Club
10/22 – Atlanta, GA @ MJQ
10/23 – Orlando, FL @ Blackbox Collective
10/24 – Tallahassee, FL @ Beta Bar
10/25 – Birmingham, AL @ Cave 9
10/26 – Memphis, TN @ Nocturnal
10/27 – Tulsa, OK @ Pinkeye
10/28 – Austin, TX @ Red 7
10/30 – Phoenix, AZ @ Modified Arts
10/31 – Anaheim, CA @ Chain Reaction
11/01 – Berkeley, CA @ Gilman
11/02 – Portland, OR @ Satyricon
11/03 – Tacoma, WA @ Viaduct
11/05 – Denver, CO @ Marquis Theatre
11/06 – Mission, KS @ Mission Theatre
11/07 – Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock
11/08 – Madison, WI @ Club 770 / University Of Wisconsin
11/09 – Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen
11/10 – Covington, KY @ Mad Hatter
11/11 – Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
11/12 – Cleveland, OH @ Peabodys
11/13 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Roboto Project
11/14 – Syracuse, NY @ Klub Polski
11/16 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
11/17 – Manhattan, NY @ Knitting Factory
11/18 – Maplewood, NJ @ Garden State Music
11/19 – Deer Park, NY @ Deer Park VFW

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Grizzly Bear, The National [New York City, New York; 10/10/08]

Posted in Concert Reviews with tags Grizzly Bear, Indy Rock, New York City, The Hammerstein Ballroom, The National on Monday, October 20, 2008 by gieb0624

With an eight dollar beer buzz, lungs filled with the New York City air, and finely pressed button up shirt that travelled with me from Minneapolis, I was ready for a night out with Grizzly Bear and The National, and let’s just say Matt Berninger (Lead Vocalist of The National) showed a New York City audience what a good show is really all about.

When Grizzly Bear took the stage I didn’t really know what I was going to expect from this Brooklyn based Indy folk band that I had listened to a hand full of times. I was feeling optimistic at first and kept telling myself that it was going to pick up, but I found it never really did. While Grizzly Bear’s rifts sounded pleasant and the vocals alarmingly beautiful, the music seemed to make me fade in and out of interest. At one point I found myself resting my chin on top of my girlfriends head as a prop to hold it up. Even though their album Yellow House can be found on my IPod with a dozen listens or so, I have come to the conclusion that like Ambien, it is best to take just before bed. After what seemed to be a fairly tame bear left the stage, the audience that was now halfway asleep started dozing into their IPod Touches playing games and choking down all the expensive “cheap” beer they could get in before The National would take the stage.

The National entered the stage. Because I was positioned right in the front I was able to notice a little bit of the pre-show sweat that had accumulated on Matt Berninger’s brow. I assumed from the drinks that were carried out with him the vodka and lemonades were going down smooth prior to the show, and to be honest that was perfectly all right with me. Right away the show started. The energy was so much higher than I expected. I had figured that much of the concert was going to consist of select songs from their latest release in 2007, Boxer, which landed them on the cover of Paste Magazine with best album of 2007. I’m not saying that the band didn’t grace us with the slow Bruce Springsteen-esque songs like “Fake Empire” and “Slow Show.” However, it was songs like “Abel,” from their 2005 release Alligator that got me singing at the top of my lungs and throwing my head around like I still had long hair, even though I didn’t. The parts of the show that I found to be the most intriguing all had to do with the lead singer. Because Berninger is just the vocalist and leaves the lead guitars up to the one set out of the four brothers in the band, he ended up being extremely entertaining. He moved around frequently when his vocals were not needed. Throwing his drinks at the back of the stage, yelling at the top of his lungs, and breaking the microphone stand and throwing it, all completed my National experience that night.

The songs danced around The Hammerstein Ballroom like garbage blowing through Times Square. Lovers held each other close when his words were deep and full of passion. Rockers danced about when the emotions got heavy and ending the concert with the song “Mr. November” from Alligator couldn’t have been any more appropriate with the Election in progress. All in all, the lyrics of Matt Berninger were louder than I had ever heard them before and it brought me back to the winter I first listened to The National with a friend while driving through the bluffs of northern Minnesota. We were “half awake in a fake empire.”

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Staring at the Walls

Posted in Life Perspectives with tags Philosophic Meadering on Thursday, October 16, 2008 by raeflect

Those of us that have grown up in rooms entirely our own, or have eventually occupied a lone cell, often times will decorate the walls. Some people seem to put up pictures, artwork, or tapestry merely to fill space, with little or no thought as to how this arrangement reflects personality. Others entirely take over a room, cramming the walls with either dozens of half blurred pictures of friends, posters of favorite bands, cloth hangings with intricate design, or artwork of still and/or lively nature. I ascribe myself to the latter school; There are pictures of valleys, waterfalls, cloud obscured sunsets, and random light swirls. I feel at home in my room, comforted by the images surrounding me, and I feel proud when anyone enters and comments on the either peaceful nature of the space, or the specific images that help make up the togetherness.

It seems that many individuals, especially those that decorate based on their wish to be surrounded by those things they love, are sometimes reticent, or reluctant to allow strangers entry into their space. Rooms often take on a personal feeling when one has inhabited the space for a long time, projecting a sense of peace, hurt, sorrow, love or even emptiness, depending on the personality of the occupant. To walk into the room of such a person is an almost intimate act, one that should be appreciated and respected. Currently my favorite thing to look at in my room is a painting I was loaned by a friend.

If the images on your walls are static and have become boring… consider spending a few minutes either re-arranging, or tearing them down to replace them with something more interesting to look at. Make your space belong to you… and live with it.

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Beastie Boys think you should vote

Posted in Concert Dates with tags beasties boys, ben harper, Hip-Hop, tenacious d, vote on Thursday, October 16, 2008 by Ryan Buege

With the election getting close, it seems as if the Beastie Boys have smoothing to tell us in this political hotbed that we know as Minnesota. Beastie Boys have expanded their “Swing State Awareness 2008” pre-election tour to six of the biggest battleground states just days before the election, including a November 1st show at Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul, MN.

If aggressiveness of both candidates at the debate last night didn’t show you, we have entered the final stretch of the race and all bets are off. With McCain and Obama viciously trading barbs back-and-forth, the tension between Republicans and Democrats has gotten extremely thick. In support of Barack Obama, the Beastie Boys will be playing several “Get-Out-The-Vote” shows in primary swing states in this years election.

The Beastie Boys have always advocated fighting for your rights, even if they were mainly your partying rights, and these shows are scheduled to let you know that they feel the same way about voting. Come to the show and reaffirm your stance with the classic Beastie Boys. And don’t forget to join the mob next week to push your candidate over the top (especially if you’re a supporting Obama).

The shows are:

10-27 Charlotte, NC – Amos’ Southend (w/ Sheryl Crow and Santogold)
10-28 Richmond, VA – Richmond Coliseum (w/ Norah Jones, Jack Johnson, and Santogold)
10-29 Youngstown, OH – Chevrolet Center (w/ Sheryl Crow, Norah Jones, and Ben Harper)
10-30 Dayton, OH – Hara Arena (w/ Sheryl Crow and Ben Harper)
11-01 Saint Paul, MN – Roy Wilkins Auditorium (w/ Ben Harper and Tenacious D)
11-02 Milwaukee, WI – U.S. Cellular Arena (w/ Ben Harper, Tenacious D, and Crosby & Nash)

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Review: Yeasayer, All Hour Cymbals

Posted in Music Reviews with tags tour dates, yeasayer on Thursday, October 16, 2008 by Ryan Buege

It’s already been a year since the release of this album, but it’s still worthy of my short review here. It’s rare that a modern rock band can breakthrough into my collection so effortlessly, but with All Hour Cymbals Yeasayer did it. Yeasayer has put together an album of effortless ethereal, psychedelic experimental rock that pulls you in at every twist and turn.

“Sunrise” is a brilliant introduction to an album that is packed tightly with with airy Middle Eastern and African influenced joyous rock. At times, the chants that permeate many of the tracks on the album provide an other-worldly ritualistic quality that is hard to place; while it feels like you could use the word gospel to describe it, you don’t want to because it never feels preachy. At the same time, the calming choral vocals are well-balanced by Chris Keating’s somber straight-ahead delivery throughout the rest of the album. “2080” and “Red Cave”, for example, propel that album forward with a confident groove after dwelling in psychedelia and off-kilter rhythms on songs such as “Germs”, “No Need to Worry”, and “Wait for the Wintertime”.

All Hour Cymbals is densely layered with a variety of instrumentation both new and old that unexpectedly coalesce into a sound that is concurrently futuristic and rustic. On this album, Yeasayer has achieved a balance that beautifully flows between a variety styles and allows its listeners to fully experience each. Powered by a combination of ethereal harmonies, polyrhythmic drumming, smoky ambience, and doomy marches, All Hour Cymbals is a perfect introduction to Yeasayer. This album was a perfect complement to last winter, transitioned amazingly into summer listening, and looks like it will still stay a relevant part of my playlist through another winter. The future holds great promises for these guys.

7.5/10

For now though, get excited, because Yeasayer is coming through the midwest this month in support of the album! Keep reading for the dates… Continue reading →

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Ephel Duath channels their dogs on new album

Posted in Music News with tags avant-garde, ephel duath, jazz, progressive metal on Thursday, October 16, 2008 by Ryan Buege

Progressive metal’s best Italian trio, the bizarre, jazz heavy, avant-garde experimentalists in Ephel Duath, have revealed a bit more of their plans for their forthcoming followup to Pain Necessary To Know. The band will release their fourth studio album, Through My Dog’s Eyes, in January 26, 2009 through Earache Records. Over the past couple albums, Ephel Duath has progressed through a number of (..pardon the pun..) palettes and have never failed to bring something new to the world of music. From the forward thinking progressive-influenced black metal of their early albums, to the off-time chaos of The Painter’s Palette, to the spacecy avant-garde jams of their most recent album, Ephel Duath always keeps everyone (including themselves, it seems) guessing about where they’ll take their sound next. Thus far, it appears that the band’s next album will not be an out of line with this trend… Continue reading →

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Review: Elzhi The Preface

Posted in Music Reviews with tags Black Milk, Detroit Hip-Hop, Elzhi, Hip-Hop on Wednesday, October 15, 2008 by Tim Althaus

I must preface this post (no pun intended) with the fact that I was looking forward to this album so much before it dropped, and the fact that most people that listen to Hip-Hop sadly probably don’t even know who Elzhi is. Elzhi became a member of the Detroit collective Slum Village after Jay Dee left to seek solo endeavors. This might have been my most anticipated album of the year just because I had heard Europass (an Exclusive Tour CD) earlier in the year (which will easily also be in my top 10 for the year). On Europass, the majority of the beats are done by Detroit monster Black Milk (whom I’ve already had the pleasure of mentioning many times), and that trend continues here where Black does the majority of production, only two other tracks are produced by someone else (DJ Dez is one).

The album starts out with the Intro (The Preface), most people would normally just skip this, but I think it almost foreshadows how the rest of the album is going to be; great beats and a vicious liquid like flow “This is only the beginning, now everything I’ve been in is included though, it’ll be concluded in the ending/ I thank ya’ll for spendin’ your time, your nickel and dime or four quarters to get your pre-store orders.”. “The Leak” is the first track you hear and of course Elzhi comes out spitting razorblades “Everytime I drop something hot you hear the sirens peak/ It’ll make the water in the hose on the hydrants leak” to an incredible Black Milk beat featuring beautiful voice of Ayah. In a lot of the reviews that I’ve read no one seems to mention the song guessing game which puzzles me, because I think it’s one hell of a clever song. Elzhi spits pretty much the whole sentence and leaves a two syllable word unfinished open for interpretation, and then finishes the word with the opposite of what you thought it would be. Colors is one of the most vivid songs on this album and really shows where Elzhi can excel his rhyming and put a brush to the canvas. He uses an array of colors from the spectrum in every line of his rhyme “Now there’s some that’s dead from fightin’ over bread crumbs/Feedin’ head numb it’s a murder we call it RED rum/Got the boys in BLUE jackets lockin’ up the new youth/That sell PURPLES with BLACKberrys with the BLUE tooth.” Brag Swag might be the most lyrically inclined song I’ve ever heard, the first line sets the standard for the rest of the song: “The day that hell snows is the day that El folds/poetry’s well told/ entertainin’ keep niggas trainin’ like the rail road.”

The only problem that I have (if you even consider it one) is that they put the Fire remix on this official release. I think the original version of Fire that was on the Europass cd was actually better. The Fire remix is still very good and features an all-star Detroit cast (it features Black Milk, Guilty Simpson (who has collaborated with Madlib, J Dilla, and Black Milk), Fat Ray (Who already did a project with Black Milk earlier this year), Fatt Father & Danny Down) who spit catchy punchlines and metaphors.

All in all front to back this is an amazing album, I can guarantee that this album will be in my top 5 for the year, possibly even top 3. It is so refreshing for me to be able to hear about all of these guys in Detroit doing big things. I am very much looking forward to hearing more from Elzhi, he is quickly on his way to becoming the top lyricist in Hip-Hop and with a debut like this the top is just over the next ledge.

9/10

Take a listen to a couple tracks:

Brag Swag

Colors

Fire (Remix)

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Dilated Peoples: Last is First (Produced by Alchemist)

Posted in Music News with tags Alchemist, Dilated Peoples, Hip-Hop, Okayplayer on Wednesday, October 15, 2008 by Tim Althaus

I logged onto my computer yesterday after work and was delighted when I looked on my Okayplayer rss feed for Firefox. It turns out that Dilated Peoples just released a new single from Decon’s Fresh Rhymes & Videotape Vol. 1 EP/DVD (Which dropped Yesterday). The one thing that I was super pumped about is that (of course) it was produced by Alchemist. When Alchemist and Dilated get together you can count on a four alarm fire because you know it’s going to be a hot track. This next year is going to be one of the busiest years ever for the Dilated Peoples crew. Dj Babu’s new album (Duck Season Vol. 3) Drops on October 28th, Evidence has the Layover EP dropping Nov 25th (as well as The Layover Mixtape and a collaboration with Alchemist entitled Step Brothers), a Purple Tape Instrumental album (He’s already released Red and Yello) and Rakaa’s Crown of Thorns was rumored to still be dropping sometime this year. All of the aforementioned information is on top of a new Dilated Peoples album as well as Evidence’s second solo album Cats & Dogs dropping next year. Even if these were the only releases for the next year in Hip-Hop I would still say it’s going to be one hell of a fucking year. Please go grab the 6 track EP/ T-Shirt combo from Decon here and cop all the Dilated material that is coming out this year.

Last is First (Produced By Alchemist)

P.S. Sorry Okayplayer, I had to steal the picture I love seeing Rakaa reppin’ the Dilla shirt.

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Get Your Georgie Fruit On

Posted in Music News with tags Badass, Of Montreal, Psychedelic on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 by Erik Burg

Georgie Fruit, the alter ego of Of Montreal frontman Kevin Barnes, and his sex crazed erotic fantasy world have been brought to the masses on Of Montreal’s new tour in support of the modern day Ziggy Stardust album Skeletal Lamping. Not only is the album release over the top (coming packaged with a shirt, lamp, sticker, bag, etc.) and can be found at Polyvinyl Records, but the new stage set is absolutely ridiculous. Of Montreal has been known to put on a pretty elaborate show in the past (i.e. dumping applesauce on the crowd) but the horse-riding, dancer choreographed, and gallow-filled stage set at their show in New York this past weekend takes the cake. Barnes and Co. played 25 songs, but what’s more impressive may be the 30 costume changes throughout. Lucky for us midwesterners, Of Montreal will take their traveling circus of a stage to both Minneapolis on October 25th (which yours truly has tickets to) and to Milwaukee the next night. Get your tickets for the First Ave show here or for the performance at the Pabst Theatre in Milwaukee here. Don’t miss an opportunity to see this once in a life-time spectacle, or twice in a life-time if you were as scenester in the 80’s and a big Bowie fan.