All posts by G. Gordon Gritty
Mixtape Review: Sorry 4 The Wait [2011]
Rapper: Lil Wayne
Release: July 13, 2011
Comments: No “sorry” allowed. Here we have Lil Wayne gettin’ all apologetic and shit. Damn, Tez! I haven’t eagerly been awaiting Tha Carter. When it comes to hip-hop and rap, I never really await. I stumble upon. Now Weezy, if I had to say so myself, is the best mainstream rapper nowadays. In life in general I am a big fan of weird references and word play. Wayne connects this-to-that with uncanny ease. It is great. A majority of the tracks on Sorry are freestyles. This means minimal bullshit and optimal spitting. My favorite effort is “Gucci Gucci” — far better than the Kreayshawn original…this one is loaded with plenty of Weezy-isms: “My life is a movie, I got a leading lady; My rooftop drop back like Tom Brady” (Simple comparison/simile). “You’re a dead man walking: Michael Jackson Thriller” (Equality, facts). “Racks” does come close in terms of quality of material coming out of his mouth per second. “Real nigga since day one/Cause I ain’t promised day two/Throw that pussy at me/Bitch, I think I’m Babe Ruth.” And it goes on and on. It’s tough to select Weezy passages. Weezy’s rambling on the slow tempo “Marvin’s Room” fits quite well with the lyrics and stuff. I’ll stop here. Wayne is pretty divisive – love ’em, hate ’em. If you dislike him, this won’t change anything. If you’ve never listened to a Lil Wayne song and are open to rap, please do go ahead and give this a listen. Fans will appreciate it, I’m sure.
Grade: A-
Audacity, Tijuana Panthers Featured On Noisey
Fullerton rock ‘n rollers (Burger Records) Audacity talk about the formation of their band, life experiences, and other stuff you’ll have to watch to find out. Curated by The Soft Pack.
LINK: http://www.noisey.com/#!/view/audacity-video
Long Beach surf rockers Tijuana Panthers talk about the same kind of thing as Audacity did.
LINK: http://www.noisey.com/#!/feature/tijuana-panthers-video
Live footage from shows at The Detroit Bar for both bands, by the way.
New King Khan Interview On Rollogrady
King Khan discusses his insane (literally) past twelve months, Jay Reatard, and everything in between.
LINK: http://www.rollogrady.com/rollo-grady-interview-with-king-arish-khan/
Upcoming LP Re-Issues
Some good news on the vinyl front:
– In The Red Records will be re-issuing the currently very hard-to-find Black Lips LPs Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo (2007), Good Bad Not Evil (2007), and 200 Million Thousand (2009) in August.
– FDH Records will be re-issuing Terror Visions’ World of Shit. Originally released as a picture disc in 2006, this will be getting the proper LP treatment soon. And for those of you still confused, Terror Visions was a side project of Jay Reatard’s, similar in style to Lost Sounds, but harsher, darker and not as melodic.
Boston Counter Cultural Compass – JUL 11
KLYAM has a neat calendar of shows that we plan on attending or, at the very least, recommend to others. The Boston Counter Cultural Compass has an even better publication that details quite a gamut of gigs every month. A good chunk of the listings are area punk houses and basements [what we folks like to call the underground underground] so please do get in touch with the BCCC or BCCCers (new term, maybe?) for information on locales. This is a great source for local music happenings — perhaps the best. They have a constantly updated Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Boston-Counter-Cultural-Compass/137506276302253?ref=ts and a website: http://www.bostoncccompass.com/.
Click here or on the picture below [to make it more readable] to see what is going on for the rest of July!
Colleen Green Touring W/ Dum Dum Girls
That’s right for all you West Coast KLYAMers check out Colleen for sure as she’ll be performing in a venue near-by! And the Dum Dum Girls, they are quite worthy of checking out, too.
10/1 San Diego, CA – Casbah
10/2 Costa Mesa, CA – Detroit Bar
10/3 Los Angeles, CA – Troubadour
10/4 San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
10/7 Portland, OR – Doug Fir
10/8 Vancouver, BC – Electric Owl
10/9 Seattle, WA – Neumo’s
10/12 St. Paul, MN – Turf Club
10/13 Madison, WI – High Noon
10/14 Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle
10/15 Detroit, MI – Magic Stick
10/16 Toronto, Ontario – Lee’s Palace
10/17 Montreal, Quebec – Il Motore
Pixies Coming To Hampton Beach, Other “Lost Cities”
October 30 @ Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom
The specifics are going to be announced tomorrow so more information will be posted here then, but there is a middling to good chance the band will be coming to a place NEAR you.
CD Review: Sound Kapital [2011]
Band: Handsome Furs
Release: 6/2011
Label: Sub Pop
1. “When I Get Back” – A-
2. “Damage” – B+
3. “Bury Me Standing” – B+
4. “Memories of the Future” – A-
5. “Serve the People” – B+
6. “What About Us? – B+
7. “Repatriated” – A-
8. “Cheap Music” – B+
9. “No Feelings” – B
Comments: If you’ve been listening to the Handsome Furs for the past couple of years (longer, even), you’ll notice that this record swims comfortably in a known sea. Sure, there is no known guitar recorded on this LP. I’d argue that some of the synths create a fuzz reminiscent of a Dan Boeckner guitar (“Cheap Music”), but let us not get caught up in this. “When I Get Back” is getting back to Face Control. Not that they ever departed from it. It’s luscious pop, dance-y, layered, and anthemic. It’s hard for the Furs to mess up their music. Their sound is habitually one of slickness and compactness. That’s why I love ’em. Sometimes they do border on recycled songwriting, principally in structure, but I’d be hard pressed not to say this isn’t common for a lot of bands. Repetitive song endings are Boeckner’s go-to-guys and as ubiquitous as they are (on Sound Kapital and in the past), they remain exciting. Case in point would be “Damage,” which doesn’t really get GOOD ’til the end. A tune like “Memories of the Future” is for sure one of their most electro-dominant. There are a bunch of subtle sounds, some very wobbly and bass heavy, others as delicate as the touch of a toy piano. There a couple of tracks that either overstay their welcome, or simply aren’t as memorable or deserving of multiple listens as others. I do give the band a lot of credit for cutting things off after nine songs. Smart decision. The dance party of Sound Kapital is one that people will remember for being consistently joyous. It’s not an earth shattering dance party nor is it one to elicit boredom.
Grade: B+ (88)
———————————————————————
Handsome Furs play @ Brighton Music Hall on August 17.
SOTD: “I See You On A Path” (Final Solutions)
A Jay Reatard band…This song is from the year 2003.
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 