Crippled Black Phoenix - 200 Tons Of Bad Luck

2009

Invada Records
Buy

6.5/10

For what they do, Crippled Black Phoenix achieve a fair amount on 200 Tons of Bad Luck. The only problem is, sometimes it just seems like they’re doing a bit too much. The disc is compiled from tracks off of two different releases with two very different sounds, and upon listening to the final product, this is more readily apparent than anything else. Clocking in at over 70 minutes, the album runs the stylistic gamut from languid post-rock to the sounds of Pink Floyd circa 1977. Like Forrest Gump’s analogy of life, you really do never know what you’re going to get next...(Read more at the Silent Ballet)

New Voxtrot Track

Sorry for being M.I.A. for the last ever, but more on that at a later date.

Instead, a new track from Voxtrot.

HOORAY!

***
Trepanation Party - Voxtrot

More rap megamix fun

A little bit back, I posted a link to a rap mix by Chris Read entitled The Diary.

Now comes a follow up to that, dubbed The Diary 1.5. It's in much the same vein as the first installment: scratches and funky beats mixed in a linear progression.

Good clean fun (well maybe not clean), and highly recommended!

(You can download the mix at the link above)

Band of the Week: Kid Cudi

I'M BACK BITCHES

***
band of the week #10: kid cudi (myspace)(official site)

It's been awhile, but the artist of the week feature is back! And who better than Kid Cudi?

I know that you've heard "Day 'N' Nite" by now, and the catchy as hell Crookers remix, right? I mean, everybody has, that shit's everywhere. "Embrace The Martian", another Crookers joint, is equally ill.

Is Cudi the future of hip-hop? If that would mean that the future sounds like this, then I sure as hell hope so.

This is going to be big.

The Prodigy - Invaders Must Die

2009

Cooking Vinyl
Buy (Amazon.com)

7.5/10

Go ahead.

Call me out on glossing over your favorite trip-hop band. Label me a retard for defending the shrieks of Thomas Erak and Tim Ward. Hell, even threaten to sue me for a particularly controversial review. Just do me a favor: give the fucking Prodigy a chance.

I've been listening to their new album since it leaked, and I like it. I liked it a month ago, I liked it this morning, and I'll hopefully like it just as much tomorrow and in another thirty days. And for once, it seems like the critics might just be on my side.

Dabbling in house, breakbeat, and dance punk, Invaders Must Die is a lot of things. Serious is not one of them. I think that many people are quick to forget that this is the same band that, barely a decade ago, rode a song called "Smack My Bitch Up" to moderate crossover success. Vivaldi this isn't - enjoy it for the same reasons you enjoy those shitty vending machine beefsteaks. They're quick, they're easy, and if you're fucked up enough, they're actually a whole hell of a lot of fun.

"Invaders Must Die" starts with a churning bass that reminds me of Brand New's "Not The Sun". The build-up on "Thunder" is the best kind of bait-and-switch, never really exploding but paying off in the end. Closer "Stand Up" is the march that Sousa never wrote, and even after hearing it twenty some-odd times, "Warrior's Dance" still manages to come off charming and exotic. These are the reasons why I like Invaders Must Die, and they're probably the same reasons why a lot of people hate it.

But, come on. Just give it a shot. And know going into it you're not going to be dining on filet mignon.

For once, just eat the fucking beefsteak.

---

Key Tracks:
Invaders Must Die
Thunder
Stand Up

Songs of the week: 3/4/09

Welcome to another late late late edition of "Songs of the Week"! I'm just running behind on life in general right now - a few days past deadline on a review of Crippled Black Phoenix for the Silent Ballet, as well as working on reviews of new albums from Morrissey and The Prodigy.

So bear with me, and enjoy some rad tunage.

***songs of the week #23

1. 1000 Cigarettes - MSTRKRFT
2. Rise Up And Fight - Crippled Black Phoenix (Great driving music here)
3. Can I Kick It? - A Tribe Called Quest (Yes, you can!)
4. Shine Shine - Boys Noize (I can't wait to see him in a little over 2 weeks)
5. The Garden - Cut Chemist (Trippy)

Special radio show (another one!)

My good friends DJ Clurr and DJ A Lo have both come down with the Consumption, and so they need relief from their Alternative Rock show on WCDB.

Sooooo...if you want to hear my tastes (other than that electronic bullshit from The Insomniac Dance Party), be sure to tune in. The show's from 6 to 8 PM tonight on 90.9 WCDB in Albany. You can, of course, always stream the show from WCDB's website if you reside outside of the greater Capital district.

Happy listening.

Commix - FabricLive 44

2009
Fabric
Buy

7/10

One of my hipster Lower East Side friends recently made the claim that breakbeat is dead – and has been for quite some time.

Cambridge's dynamic duo of drum and bass, Commix, offer a slightly less bleak assessment – breakbeat isn't dead. Not yet, at least...(Read more at the Silent Ballet)

Songs of the week: 2/24/09

Just dance.

***songs of the week #22

1. The Game - Zodiac (B-b-break beats. This is such a sick track, from sick EP, but I can't find anything else by them. There's another Zodiac that's electronic, but they suck. Any help?)
2. Slink - Bombs Into You (Jury's still out on the hype:substance ratio for Bombs Into You, but this is pretty fun)
3. Budapest 1956 (firing squad) - Riding Alone For Thousands Of Miles (The shape of things to come)
4. We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed - Los Campesinos!
5. Homesick - Mutated Forms (So fun)

Manchester Orchestra announce tour dates

It seems like half of my news pertains to this band, but when they're as talented as they are, can you really blame me?

Hot off the press, Manchester Orchestra have announced the dates for their US spring tour in support of the anticipated Mean Everything To Nothing. Are you pumped?

I am.

***
From an announcement via Facebook:

April 21st is a big day for us.

Not only does "Mean Everything To Nothing" hit stores, but we‘re also kicking off our US headline tour. We’ll start in Nashville on the 21st and end up on June 4th in Orlando. Other bands joining us are FUN (featuring ex-members of The Format and Anathallo) as well as Audrye Sessions and Winston Audio.

Fan pre-sale tickets for the tour go on-sale February 27th and will be available to the public on March 5th. Details are here http://manchesterorchestra.frontgatetickets.com/?utm_medium=columbia-email&utm_source=manchesterorchestra&utm_campaign=columbia-email|manchesterorchestra|20090223.

Here’s the full tour:


Apr 21-Nashville,TN @ Exit In
Apr 22-Athens,GA @ 40 Watt
Apr 23-Carrboro,NC @ Cat's Cradle
Apr 24-Richmond,VA @ The National
Apr 25-Baltimore,MD @ Ottobar
Apr 26-Philadelphia,PA @ Trocadero
Apr 29-New York,NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Apr 30-Cambridge,MA @ Middle East
May 1-Rochester,NY @ Water St.
May 2-Pittsburgh,PA @ Mr.Small's
May 3-Cleveland,OH @ Grog Shop
May 5-Pontiac,MI @ Eagle Theater
May 6-Columbus,OH @ Skully's
May 7-Covington,KY @ Mad Hatter
May 8-Chicago,IL @ Subterranean
May 9-Minneapolis,MN @ Station 4
May 12-Denver,CO @ Marquis Theater
May 13-Salt Lake City, UT @ Avalon
May 15-Seattle,WA @ El Corazon
May 16-Vancouver @ Biltmore
May 17-Portland,OR @ Hawthorne Theater
May 19-San Francisco,CA @ Bottom of the Hill
May 21-Los Angeles,CA @ Troubadour
May 22-San Diego,CA @ Voodoo Stage HOB
May 23-Tucson,AZ @ Congress
May 24-Tempe,AZ @ Clubhouse
May 26-Austin,TX @ Emo's Inside
May 27-Dallas,TX @ The Loft
May 28-Houston,TX @ Walter's
May 29-New Orleans,LA @ Spanish Moon
May 30-Oxford,MS @ Proud Larry's
May 31-Birmingham,AL @ Bottletree
Jun 2-St.Petersburg,FL @ State Theater
Jun 3-Orlando,FL @ The Social
Jun 4-Orlando,FL @ The Social