hearsay

This one was almost late, so I’m going to save the long mix description. Mostly newer stuff again this month, somewhat grounded by Les Savy Fav and Carissa’s Wierd. Those and The Mosby Family Singers’ “Eternal Life,” which made its way onto Mississippi Records’ 2008 compilation, Oh Graveyard, You Can’t Hold Me Always, as well as Paul Chaplain & His Emeralds’ “Shortnin’ Bread,” which is hard to find, save inclusion on the Bob Dylan-curated radio show compilation, Theme Time Radio Hour, also released last year. Most of the others are newer, although Forest Fire, Pete & The Pirates, and hip-hop album of the year nominee Finale have all made their way onto older mixes. I found Pariah via Gorilla vs. Bear. Enjoy.

[banner image by Idle Type]

July 2009 Mix
01 The Mosby Family Singers – Eternal Life
02 Forest Fire – Fortune Teller
03 Pete And The Pirates – Knots
04 Noah And The Whale – Rocks And Daggers
05 Finale – No More Mr. Nice Guy (prod. House Shoes)
06 Beach House – Apple Orchard
07 Pariah – Detroit Falls (Mixdown)
08 Les Savy Fav – Je T’Aime
09 Paul Chaplain & His Emeralds – Shortnin’ Bread
10 Carissa’s Wierd – Heather Rhodes

I sometimes wonder if – of the two or three people that listen to these mixes – if they appreciate the variety of the mixes as much as I do or if it just comes off as a self-congratulatory exercise in showing my taste. I don’t think anyone else in the world would couple Pete & The Pirates with Slum Village in a mix, but I really like the coupling here. Pete & The Pirates are the other face of Hearsay 2006 favorites Tap Tap. The voice is the same, but I have to admit that I wasn’t aware of the Pirate variation of the group until the WOXY session that they at SxSW. They played a bunch of new songs in that set that I’m looking forward to, but I’m absolutely in love with “Moving.” I’m pretty sure that I found this Catcall song after watching a Pitchfork.tv video of it last year. It almost made the videos of the year list on the strength of the song alone. I still know very little about them, except that they (she) are from Australia. There you go.

A couple throwback hip-hop tracks here: a remix of Nas from a Justus League bootleg CD, and the aforementioned Slum Village track, which I’ve found myself returning to ever since Finale’s album closer/bonus track, produced by Flying Lotus, that pays homage to it. Speaking of which, there’s a Flying Lotus remix of Mia Doi Todd on here too. I mentioned Diamond District last month – the Oddisee-helmed group from DC/Maryland/Virginia (self-termed as “DMZ”). “The Shining” is one of only 2 tracks that aren’t produced by Oddisee, and even though I love his tracks, it is somehow more emblematic of the album’s vibe than any other.

If you don’t keep up on the blogs, The Rural Alberta Advantage is a band that is getting a lot of attention, first for the similarities in the vocals to that of Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel fame. It’s a fair comparison, but one that ignores the peppy Broken Social Scene feel of the instrumentation. They also signed to Saddle Creek. I really dig “The Deadroads.”

June 2009 Mix
01 Nas – Second Childhood (Bluegrasspedroremix)
02 Catcall – August
03 Pete And The Pirates – Moving
04 Slum Village – Fall N Love (prod. J Dilla)
05 Diamond District – The Shining (prod. Dung)
06 Why? – As I Went Out One Morning (Bob Dylan cover)
07 The Rural Alberta Advantage – The Deadroads
08 Helene Smith – True Love Don’t Grow On Trees
09 Mia Doi Todd – My Room Is White (Flying Lotus Remix)
10 The Be Good Tanyas – Waiting Around To Die (Townes Van Zandt cover)

April was a good month for hip-hop. There was Finale’s A Pipe Dream And A Promise, 2 albums from DC/Maryland’s producer/rapper Oddisee, and then a bunch of hints of what’s to come from Elzhi, Black Milk and others. So I’m kicking this month off with the obvious statement that “Hip Hop’s Cool Again.” I know, I basically claimed the same thing at the beginning of the year… But I had no idea then how good Q-Tip’s album would be, that Oddisee had grown so much since the few tracks that didn’t catch my attention years ago, or that Finale would match his unique cadence and flow with the depth of a well-crafted album.

So, like I said, first up is “Hip Hop’s Cool Again” off Oddisee’s solo LP, Mental Liberation. He also fronts a group, Diamond District, who just made a clean version of their soon-to-be-released LP, In The Ruff, available for free HERE. Honestly there’s not that much cursing so it’s not that far off from the final product, but it is good enough that I’m definitely going to pick it up, and I bet that this method of marketing the album pays off.

Besides for Little Big Adventure’s “Happiest Times,” soon to be released by Labrador, most of the rest of this month is some older stuff. I really like this Charlemagne song, but it took me a while to weed through the cheeriness of Detour Allure to appreciate it. This Heartworms track is pretty hard-to-find (at least for me), and is the version from the very first Little Darla Has A Treat For You sampler that I still remember picking up in ‘95 at Kim’s Underground West Village location. The Thermals cap off the mix… “Test Pattern” is far more 50s rock than the rest of The Body The Blood The Machine, and it is probably my favorite.

[banner image of isometric mountains by Charlotte Traynor]

May 2009 Mix
01 Oddisee – Hip Hop’s Cool Again
02 DJ Andrew Unknown & DJ Mekalek – Premier
03 Charlemagne – Nematode
04 Little Big Adventure – Happiest Times
05 Lilys – Catherine (Let A Positive Stream…)
06 Black Milk – Dreams
07 Heartworms – Really Really Really Sorry Parts 1 & 2
08 Finale – Heat (prod. J Dilla)
09 Archers of Loaf – Hate Paste
10 The Thermals – Test Pattern

I’ve made no secret that I consider Detroit my lost home (think The Odyssey). And the current coming of age of post-Dilla/post-Proof Detroit hip-hop has only furthered that appreciation for the city. I was disappointed last week when it was reported last week that Detroit’s city council had voted to force demolition of one of the gems of Detroit’s heritage, the long abandoned Michigan Central Train Depot.

If the building looks familiar, its probably because it was designed by the same architectural team that designed Grand Central Station in New York. Abandoned since 1988, the building fell into severe disrepair through the 90s. With tower windows blown out and deteriorating vaulted waiting rooms, the building is now a modern ruin: a symbol of what was (and what never was) in Detroit and the difficult heritage left to this nearly forgotten city. For me, in Detroit it seemed and emblematic symbol of both the problems that the city faced as well as the unique quality and potential of the city. Over the years, I realized I was not alone in seeing the building as a symbol: besides for use as a car chase backdrop in Michael Bay movies, the building made it’s way into Godfrey Reggio’s Naqoyqatsi (see the opening below), and most recently in videos for local rappers, Invincible (with Finale) and Black Milk.

I hope that the council reconsiders ordering demolition. I recognize the difficulty that literally living in ruins proves for residents, but I don’t think that erasing one’s history is a way to move forward. Or at least to move forward as a unique and engaging city. As Invincible noted, when you “mow down Motown for a parking lot next to the game,” “it’s like erasing Proof, only remembering Eminem’s name.” It would be such a shame to loose this buiding – this history – for an empty lot. It would be to answer local residents’ pleas for assistance with a deafening silence.

PS – Picked up Finale’s debut, A Pipe Dream And A Promise, yesterday at Record Store Day. Detroit hip-hop has truly gotten out of control. Heat!

It took me a while to get around to doing a proper writeup this month… I don’t know, it might just be me, but the slow build of Forest Fire’s “Slow Motion” with the heavy drums and blazing recorders is awesome. Sounds like it would fit into a Wes Anderson sequence. Towards the end of the movie. I’m feel obliged to put Kurt Vile (of The War On Drugs), The Mary Onettes, and Foreign Born on here. But they’re all great songs so I don’t expect any lip for it. Noah23 made it into Cokemachineglow’s year end picks, and is wothwhile for the Daniel Johnston sample alone. And can you believe that this Nobody beat is relegated to Interlude status? I mean Pacific Drift is good, but that is some stand out track shit right there. Oh yeah and I finally put another Honey Brothers track on one of these mixes. A bit tacky, maybe, but I love the Weezer-ness of it all. Couple throwbacks to round out this months selections. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

[banner image from the amazing LIFE Magazine archive]

April 2009 Mix
01 Forest Fire – Slow Motion
02 Kurt Vile – Freeway
03 The Honey Brothers – Some Of Them Are Nice Days
04 Noah23 feat. Ceschi – Faded
05 Nobody – Interlude 2
06 The Mary Onettes – Dare
07 Foreign Born – Vacationing People
08 Oxford Collapse – B-Roll
09 Close Lobsters – I Take Bribes
10 Descendents – Bikeage

Pretty much as soon as it posted, I fell in love with the Pale Young Gentlemen cover of M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes,” from Cokemachineglow’s annual Fantasy Covers Podcast. Only imagining the effort that it takes CMG to organize these collections, I was hesitant to appropriate the song for a mix until chromewaves pointed out that the band had sent it out themselves as well. I’m not all that familiar with the work of the Gentlemen, but I was shocked to find out that, despite every lyrical hint they could give me short of big-upping their high school in an ad-libbed verse, they weren’t a Scottish band, but rather one from Wisconsin with an accent that I still refuse to accept as American. The instrumentation of the Clash sample, gun and cash register sound effects, as well as the toned down mood of the track make it irresistible.

I’m also finally posting a Lattimore Brown track, and fellow vintage soul fans might also enjoy the Nas/Marley Marl-sampled Soul Children track. Throw Me The Statue is a band from Seattle that used to sound awfully Andrew Bird to me, but this track from their new EP has a very different sound and appeals to me on a much more Pedro The Lion meets Havergal way. Lykke Li has been getting a good deal of radio play, at least out here in L.A., but mostly for her song, “Little Bit” rather than “Tonight,” which substance(s) had recommended, and is a great, if not greater, track. Isaac Brock’s pre-Ugly Casanova LP track, “Diggin’ Holes” rounds out the mix, which I only just realized is a funny last minute replacement for Mercury Rev’s “Holes” which very nearly made the cut. That era of Modest Mouse tracks all have such an adorably simple witticism to the lyrics, and I love the way that this relatively harsh condemnation builds in such an innocent but straight forward way. That and the line about building permits.

March 2009 Mix
01 Soul Children – Move Over
02 Pale Young Gentlemen – Paper Planes (M.I.A. cover)
03 The Dodos – Trades & Tariffs
04 Q-Tip feat. Busta Rhymes, Raekwon & Lil Wayne – Renaissance Rap (Remix)
05 Throw Me The Statue – Ship
06 Bedhead – The Unpredictable Landlord
07 Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
08 Lattimore Brown – I Wish I Felt This Way At Home
09 Lykke Li – Tonight
10 Ugly Casanova – Diggin’ Holes

A month without posts, but I have good reason, I promise. Some not-so-old favorites in this month: Hudson Bell, Agent Simple and Bosque Brown. Oh and that MF Doom beat, “Vinca Rosea…” Remember that? I don’t think he ever used it for a track, but that turned out to be my favorite of the songs on his Special Herbs series, fittingly opening up the last couple. As I mentioned at the beginning of the year, I’m very eager to see what local-boy Nosaj Thing gives us with his debut LP. I felt it went well with the Alias track and the Abstrackt Keal Agram remix of M83 from 2003. I put it out there to a couple friends, but why is it that remixes of M83 are so much better than actual M83? Boom Bip, Jackson, I’m looking at you.

PS – I don’t know if anyone noticed, but in light of the lack of posts I added links to news/tracks elsewhere, listed under “Hearsay” on the right. ->

[banner photo is the brilliant "After Invisible Man" by Jeff Wall]

February 2009 Mix
01 Metal Fingers – Vinca Rosea
02 Sambassadeur – The Park
03 Agent Simple – Make A Right At Jordfallsmotet
04 Slumber Party – Sooner Or Later
05 Blind Willie McTell – Talking To Myself
06 Alias – I Heart Drum Machines
07 Nosaj Thing – DISTRO
08 Hudson Bell – Sea Horse
09 M83 – Run Into Flowers (Abstrackt Keal Agram Remix)
10 Bosque Brown – Still Afraid

I don’t know if 2008 was a resurgence of hip-hop, if I’ve finally caught up with some of the more promising acts of the past couple years, or if its just that I’m still catching my breath from Tronic… but I have renewed hope for hip-hop in 2009. So I’m kicking the year off with a selection of more recent hip-hop that has been getting steady rotation on my headphones.

[banner photo by chromasia]

January 2009 Mix
01 Caltroit (Black Milk & Bishop Lamont) feat. Phat Kat & Elzhi – Goatit
02 Little Brother – Can’t Let Her (prod. Illmind)
03 Show & A.G. – You Know Now (Buckwild Remix)
04 Mekalek – Running In Place (feat. Sparks)
05 Reef The Lost Cauze – Give It Up (prod. Eyego Direct)
06 Lord Finesse feat. Sadat X, Grand Puba & Large Professor – Actual Facts (Muneshine Remix)
07 Aim – Fall Break
08 Akrobatik – Remind My Soul (prod. Illmind)
09 Jay Electronica – Exhibit A: Transformation (prod. Just Blaze)
10 Strange Fruit Project – Makin’ My Way (prod. M-Phazes)

01. Foreign Born – Person To Person

02. Handsome Furs – Face Control {03.10.2009}

03. Nosaj Thing – debut album

04. Matt and Kim – Grand {01.20.2009}

05. Jay Electronica – Abracadabra: Let There Be Light

06. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone {03.03.2009}

07. Foundry Field Recordings – new album {01.2009}

08. Raekwon – Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2 {03.2009}

09. Neckbeard Telecaster – debut

10. Arcade Fire – in the studio, Miroir Noir, maybe LP3?

[2008 list]

favorites 2008:

01. Frightened Rabbit – Midnight Organ Fight
[topo: #1, zoviet: #2] video
Even the realization that the album title is crude code for intercourse doesn’t detract from the fact that this is a near-perfect collection of pop hymns; with depth and nuance to spare, but never overstepping its own ambitious bounds. – topomodesto

02. Wilderness – (k)no(w)here
[zoviet: #1, topo: #7] sample
Wilderness have never been a band for the masses; making music (art) for themselves and if anybody likes it, great. Their latest effort was even less accessible; a concept album of sorts, conceived as a continuous piece in collaboration with visual artist Charles Long. The result is some of their most inaccessibly brilliant music yet. – zoviet

03. The Helio Sequence – Keep Your Eyes Ahead
[zoviet: #4, topo: #6] sample
This is my guilty pleasure of 2008. Perfect pop songs. – zoviet

04. The War On Drugs – Wagonwheel Blues
[topo: #3, zoviet: #9] sample
When you open your album with the proclamation that, “Planets are spheres with a whale on the inside,” my captivation is pretty much guaranteed. With insanely brilliant lyrical imagery and orchestration that takes the best from The Velvet Underground and Bruce Springsteen and slams them together in a Phil Spector-like decadent mass of harmony, The War On Drugs easily had the most engaging debut of the year. – topomodesto

05. Girl Talk – Feed The Animals
[topo: #2] name your price
Those who comment that, ‘this isn’t even as good as the last album,’ don’t get that the point of Girl Talk is ass shaking. Even when he was playing these jams on his Night Ripper tour they were getting people dancing more than the older tracks. The appeal is universal and trying to find fault in that is an exercise in futility. – topomodesto

06. TV On The Radio – Dear Science
[zoviet: #3, topo: #10] video
These guys were teetering out of my favor after Cookie Mountain, but this definitely brought them back in. They’ve brought their sound to the major label world without forgetting about Brooklyn. – zoviet

07. Why? – Alopecia
[topo: #4] video
An album this honest should be unsettling, but despite (and partially because) of such wild and unexpected one-liners about the pains of life, it has a depth that compliments the unique pop allure of the music. – topomodesto

08. Black Milk – Tronic
[topo: #5] sample
To construct an album that simultaneously feels like the follow-up to Welcome To Detroit, Midnight Marauders and The Chronic is a feat that should have made Black Milk a household name in the way that The College Dropout did for Kanye. – topomodesto

09. Portishead – Third
[zoviet: #5] video
After an 11 year hiatus, could one of the originators of trip-hop continue the magic? That would be too easy. Instead, Portishead reconceived their mid-nineties sound to one of the best records of 2008. – zoviet

10. M83 – Saturdays = Youth
[zoviet: #6] video
Anthony Gonzalez’ self proclaimed John Hughes soundtrack lives up to its concept without being cheesy. – zoviet

[2007 list]