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- New Music: Land of Kush: "Against the Day" [MP3/Stream]Yesterday
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These days the land of Kush is anyplace with legalized medicinal-marijuana use. But the original land of Kush was an ancient civilization also known as Nubia, located in the present-day Republic of Sudan. And the stuff the rappers smoke was named after a mountain range in Afghanistan, so yeah. The Land of Kush relevant to this post is a 30-plus-member Montreal ensemble "modeled on classical orchestras from late Nasser-era Egypt." Yep, that sounds like a Land of Kush, all right.
Led by veteran local musician/composer Sam Shalabi, Land of Kush debuted Against the Day in a live performance last June during Montreal's annual Suoni Per Il Popolo, then documented their genre-crossing work in the studio for Constellation. Named after Thomas Pynchon's Against the Day, the album is broken into five sections corresponding with the chapters of the novel. The title track shows how Shalabi harnesses the energy of having so many people in one place to create a chop-heavy sound in the tradition of Amon Düül's Psychedelic Underground epics, spanning psych, Middle Eastern, and North African influences: warbling saxophones, galloping drums, dazzling guitars, shrieking woodwinds, etc. In the context of previous work that Shalabi has called "protest music about Arabophobia," though, it's not just a communal happening; "Against the Day" is also a reminder that the Arab world is much more tha
- Pitchfork.tv: The New Year: "Seven Days and Seven Nights (Airport)" [Video Premiere]Yesterday
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'Twas the season for spending way too much time in airports. I got really lucky: stayed at home for Thanksgiving, was only delayed a grand total of about 30 minutes despite flying on four airplanes over Christmas and New Year's, lost my holiday spirit but not my soul on the trek back from Newark to Brooklyn. Former Bedhead stalwarts Bubba and Matt Kadane got a little bit luckier in the self-directed video for "Seven Days and Seven Nights (Airport)", a single from their self-titled 2008 album with current band the New Year. In this languid, meditative clip, the New Year find everyday beauty in a place better known for stress, delays, and unnecessarily diligent authoritarians making us take off our shoes. This "airport" version of the album's "Seven Days and Seven Nights" trades the original's sinuous guitar lines for tranquil piano, but its plaintive, gently unfolding charm is intact. Hey, maybe I'll take another vacation. LATER BITCHES.
Pitchfork.tv page with embed code is here.
[from The New Year; out now on Touch & Go]
- Video: Neil Finn and Friends [ft. Radiohead members, Jeff Tweedy, Johnny Marr]: "Fake Plastic Trees" (live Radiohead cover)Yesterday
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7 Worlds Collide was the title of former Crowded House/Split Enz singer/songwriter Neil Finn's 2001 live album. I bet you could count more worlds colliding than that if you added up all the bands represented in this tender Radiohead cover from the live shows promoting Finn's forthcoming 7 Worlds Collide follow-up, with proceeds going to Oxfam International. It's a trip hearing Wilco's Jeff Tweedy sing The Bends classic "Fake Plastic Trees" (BTW, Jeff, everybody knows it's "if I could be who you wanted," not "what you wanted", but I'm not gonna quibble with ya), and his bandmate John Stirratt is on bass. Former Smiths/current Modest Mouse/Cribs guitarist Johnny Marr also plays guitar, joined by Liam Finn and Radiohead's Ed O'Brien, while Radiohead's Phil Selway drums. The sound and picture aren't so great, but like I said, I can't quibble: Jeff Tweedy singing "Fake Plastic Trees" with Johnny Marr! Thanks to Evan C. for the tip.
- New Music: Eminem [ft. Dr. Dre and 50 Cent]: "Crack a Bottle" [MP3/Stream]January 6
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So this is the New Year: Like the "Y2K-type bug" that hit thousands of Microsoft Zune players as the ball dropped in Times Square, the idea of a track teaming Eminem with Dr. Dre and 50 Cent feels, well, strangely familiar. And, speaking of balls, here's Slim Shady talking about his again. We actually heard a portion of this song last month, when it was called "Number One" and showed up on Big Mike and DJ Neptune's 4th Quarter Pressure Pt. 2 mixtape. Back then, the rapping was all Marshall Mathers, with Dre limited to manning the knobs (um, nullus?) and no Mr. Cent in sight.
This time the rubber-grabbing party hook isn't any different-- catchy, if not exactly special-- and Eminem's colorfully juvenile gross-out rhymes are still enjoyable as far as they go. Dre's production doesn't have the glinting club-rap minimalism of his work on new 50 Cent single "I Get It In", synths and keyboards instead bubbling like VIP-room champagne over a relaxed midtempo beat. And it's good to hear Dre's deliberate boom again, seriously. But did he have to bring up something as forever 1990s-linked as Waco? 50's King Kong, and he doesn't "give a fuck"... obviously. Still, some people will probably say they really like this, a prospect that almost makes me feel young again. (via OnSMASH)
- New Music: Dan Deacon: "Get Older" [Stream]January 5
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Earlier today we saw the spooky tent-in-the-woods cover art from Bromst, the highly anticipated follow-up to Dan Deacon's electro-spazz pop opus Spiderman of the Rings, and now here's the first taste of new music. Right off the bat, it certainly sounds like Dan Deacon. Opening with a few glitchy squiggles, some tuff drums and percussion fold in before everything moves into the kind of roaring 8-bit euphoria he specializes in. Deacon somehow manages to keep the densely packed midrange just this side of a headache and, as usual, he stays long enough on each chord to make every change count.