Yours Truly profiled local act (via Louisiana) Painted Palms for the latest edition of their Neighborhood series. Aside from it being shot beautifully, I love this video for a few reasons. Reese and Chris, the cousin duo behind Painted Palms, live in my neighborhood and there are a number of great shots along Divisadero, the main drag in our area. Also, I have met the guys a few times through mutual friends and it feels great to be able to support nice, talented people from the hood (and to name drop!).
I’ve only casually listened to their recorded material, but was lucky enough to catch them last night at Milk Bar and I was extremely impressed. Their sound benefits a lot from the breathing room afforded by a venue and they had the crowd grooving on a typically groove-less Monday night. Highly recommended if they come through your town.
Check out another video to surface from The War on Drug’s upcoming album, Slave Ambient. The video does a fantastic job of capturing the mood and textures of the more organic, layered sound that they first introduced on their Future Weather EP and pervades the new album. You can hear what I mean by streaming the whole album at the Urban Outfitters blog now. I just bought tickets to see them this Fall in San Francisco and am excited to see the new album come to life.
I imagine this video was shot a few months back when Lia Ices came through San Francisco opening for the Cave Singers. I arrived uncharacteristically early to that show so was able to catch the entirety of their set. I was more or less captivated by her then and, not surprisingly, the team at Yours Truly has done an excellent job at bottling some of that magic. Lia Ices’ debut album Grown Unknown comes highly recommended.
This NSFW unofficial video for The Weeknd’s “High For This” from Michael Cumming really fits the tone of the track (in that there’s lots of women wearing next to nothing, artfully).
We haven’t written about much lately, but lest you not be entertained, there were some great pieces on The Weeknd when their (his?) mixtape first dropped, here, here and here.
1. Apropos of nothing, B. Rich’s “Whoa Now,” featuring a great sample of “Movin’ On Up,” and an introduction to Baltimore, pre-The Wire. This track was huge the summer that my parents finally caved and got cable… to say the least, it was a formative summer of rushing home to watch 106 & Park and Rap City after my summer job.
2. Dave Bry has a straight-forward take on the boom in rap talent of late over at The Awl, “Rap is good now because rappers aren’t afraid to be weird.” I’m tempted to agree with him, but I’d change the thesis a little bit: it’s because rappers aren’t afraid to be themselves these days, whether they’re “weird” (as Bry thinks Lil B and Odd Future are) or not. Guys with loads of talent, like Freddie Gibbs, Yelawolf and Big Krit, to name three of the more recognizable up-and-comers, spit about their lives and experiences, whatever they may be.
Of course, to put it as such is to assume that authenticity is the most important thing for hip-hop fans, only a few months after a year in which Rick Ross had the record of the summer and Drake sold more than a million copies of Thank Me Later. Nothing against Ross (and everything against Drake), but their successes just might suggest that my premise is flawed.
Really, it seems that rap is good now because there’s an excess of talented rappers just starting out, regardless of their weirdness. Undoubtedly, some will falter and some will inspire even stranger music in the future. For now, let’s enjoy what we have.
4. Kid Cudi has split from his management and production team. The good news, to some, is that Plain Pat and Emile “are free to actually pass their beats to tolerable or maybe even great rappers.”
5. I respect that musicians today have to make their money from alternative sources, be them branded content or whatever else, but this Daft Coke thing seems like a terrible move for Daft Punk and a great one for Coca-Cola. In other relevant Daft Punk news, the Tron: Legacy soundtrack remix album is out April 5th.
6. (Bonus Track): John Roderick of The Long Winters throws down the gauntlet to music writers. He acknowledges that having something insightful or different to say about every band or artist is difficult, but in taking stock of the state of music journalism, implores critics to avoid certain hackery. Required reading for music journalists.
1. I dig this video for “Freaks and Geeks” from Donald Glover, fun production on the track too. Initially I though his Childish Gambino side project was something he did for fun, almost as a joke. Over the last few months, it’s become clear that rapping is something he takes seriously, and expects fans to take seriously as well. He certainly comes with a lot of energy. I’ll be seeing him in concert sometime next month, will report back when I do.
2. McSweeney’s “What Your Favorite Classic Rock Band Says About You” is a regular barrel of laughs:
Ted Nugent: Your hair has at some point been caught in a ceiling fan, boat propeller, or lathe.
AC/DC: You only remove your socks to shower, and then only reluctantly.
Allman Brothers Band: You do not own a bong, but can quickly make one from a piece of fruit or an abandoned toilet.
Cream: You know a guy who knows a guy who worked on Star Wars.
Journey: You own those running shoes that are shaped like feet.
3. The Village Voice’s interview with Douster on his influences, Robyn and synesthesia is a good read.
4. Yes, yet another Noz link (the guy’s productive, what can I say?): the 50 Greatest Rap Commercials (link goes to my personal favorite, Jordan Brand’s use of Mos Def’s “Umi Says”).
5. The always enjoyable Maura Johnston mounts a mild defense of Ke$ha and raises some valid points. If forced to add anything, I’d say that whoever is picking her beats is does a solid job.
Yes! Probably my favorite song of the last year gets a deservedly fun video. James Murphy does sort of sound like Kermit the Frog. Or maybe I am just saying that to get back at him for prematurely ending LCD and robbing me of the chance to ever see them live.
I saw these guys open for Smith Westerns a few weekends back and this song in particular really stuck with me. They have a really strong, enveloping sound live that comes through well in this recording. The rest of their debut album is worth a listen as well.
WOW. The intro, Gaspar Noe biting, standing on top of cop cars, Rihanna doing Rihanna things (singing hooks, looking incredible, etc.), the way the whole thing is shot, playing with focus. Man, just, wow.
I could’ve gone with Nicki Minaj being featured instead of Cudi, but no matter, it’s a terrific video. The track was a favorite of the blog’s in 2010 and Hype Williams really brought it with a goosebump-inducing video worthy of the track itself. Very stoked on this one.
