Get to Know: Anti-Crew
Hip-hop + guitars = musical sexy time.
Can music made by two best friends really be that much better than music done by train-wreck druggies? I think the obvious answer is yes. But the trend seems to be the closer the band is to each other, then the better the product becomes. That stays too true for Chicago band Anti-Crew. Anti-Crew actually started in Kansas City, which is slowly becoming a Mecca for underground hip-hop acts...
Posted by Amy Dittmeier on Feb 04, 2009 @ 7:00 am
The Hold Steady Documentary and Live CD
Craig Finn and company set to release a double dose of midwestern charm
As if we didn't like The Hold Steady enough, they're now set to release a double CD package called A Positive Rage on April 7. On one disc, a live show recorded on Halloween in 2007 at The Metro in Chicago. The other CD? A DVD documentary that follows the midwestern transplants from their geeky beginnings in Minnesota to their (still geeky) fame in Brooklyn with the release of Boys and Girls in America.
With a live show that is known for being as fun as Girl Talk and Keith Richards in a china shop, we're happily handing over the cash to the hyper-literate thirty-something rockers.
Posted by Mark Steffen on Feb 03, 2009 @ 4:00 pm
Lil Wayne Releases Terrible Single
Bear witness to this huge rock of trash.
I apologize for writing about Lil Wayne again, but this is too ridiculous to pass up. Let it be established that Lil Wayne IS crazy (it’s probably the drugs). Last week a new single by the artist entitled “Prom Queen” leaked, and shortly after a video from a live performance was posted on the web as well (give it a watch for a good laugh). Apparently Lil Wayne wanted to hold a guitar onstage so much that he put together this song.
Basically this track is a mix of guitars - with Wayne attempting to sing about a prom queen he is in love with. This combination turns out to be terrible - and sadly the first single of a new album to be released this year entitled Rebirth. Which means the world can probably expect more of this shit (although it does illicit responses such as, “Is he for real?”). The autotune Wayne uses in the chorus would make anyone laugh. This track should only be listened to in order to witness this terrible clash of rock and rap.
Don’t get me wrong, I like me some Lil Wayne, but he does create mountains of crap in order to get to the real dope tracks. This is simply a crap-boulder in those mountains. Watch the tattoo-clad rapper’s performance here, and wait for Weezy to perform at a high school prom near you.
Posted by Andrew Macnider on Feb 03, 2009 @ 10:20 am
New Music from The Flaming Lips
Electric Kool-Aid Acid Music Reigns Again
Our days of munching psychedelics before afro-synth-pop dance parties at college are completely over, but the latest offering from The Flaming Lips, in typical fashion, has us yearning for an acid flashback. Three songs by The Lips are featured on the soundtrack of a film premiering at SXSW, Know Your Mushrooms: "The Wizard Turns On...," "What is the Light?," and the brand new "Anything You Say Now I Believe You." The new jam is almost seven minutes of traditional Wayne Coyne thrumming out semi-intelligible vocals with an acoustic/electronic mellow-trance noise floating and bleeting behind it that will turn even the most cognizant of brains inside out.
Between this new song and the recently released "Christmas on Mars" video, does this mean we can expect a new Flaming Lips album? Tom Wolfe and I hope so. Have a listen over on the band's MySpace page.
Posted by Mark Steffen on Feb 02, 2009 @ 3:50 pm
The Quintessential Synthcore Album
It's not just noise.
If you’ve actually decided to read this article, rather than blowing it off at the sight of the word “synthcore”, congratulations…there’s hope for you yet. In the current music scene, any genre that contains the word “core” is just lumped into the category of “it’s just noise”. Yes, much of what’s out there in any of the insert genre here-core is total crap...
Posted by Cory Roop on Feb 02, 2009 @ 9:30 am