This Is Book's Music

There are days when I get a good dose of new followers on Twitter, and I’ll browse through them. I do not follow everyone, but I interact with everyone. When I was looking through new followers, I decided to see which artists were checking out my timeline. One of them was a guy out of Ohio who goes by the name of Contact Lens. Sometimes he’s CL for short, but there are people who might see that and go “wait, there’s only one CL in hip-hop, and his name is CL Smooth.” Yet with Contact Lens, maybe he’s telling people “my clarity is brilliant, and I want you to hear what I see and think.” Discovering he had a Bandcamp page, I listened.

I’m glad I did.

What I’m hearing is a producer who is willing to put a serious effort into his music, definitely on the level of Madlib, The Alchemist, Chief Xcel, and Vitamin D. What I like about the work on the all-instrumental Allnighter is that he includes elements of his sources that would be considered flaws, be it tape hiss, analog tape flaws (such as warble), or a bit of distortion that I think too many producers try to clean up. He knows how and when to use certain effects properly, and while one can imagime writing lyrics for these songs as soon as they’ve listened to it, I like it because they’re great to listen to as is. If you are a producer or a producer junkie, you will understand what I mean when you hear this. What I also like is that if you didn’t know Contact Lens was from Ohio, his productions might suggest he is from anywhere but the place he calls home. He could easily be a hot producer in California, an incredible influence in NY/NJ, and could probably tear it up amongst rappers in Atlanta.

The Bandcamp page tags him as being “experimental”, but I don’t hear this being experimental in the strictest sense. Then again, if you think of the abstract side of some of Madlib’s work, when it’s just him doing the hip-hop thing but wanting to include elements of all of his musical personas, then you might get a possible sense of Contact Lens’ vision. At least that’s my interpretation, you might hear it different but I feel CL has a full vision of his capabilities, but wants to test himself in all projects that come his way, or those that he wants to start at any given time, I don’t think he is someone who is willin gto wait for opportunities. He’s going to create them and pave his own path.

At least that’s my interpretation.

Psychic Ills will be going to SXSW this year, and they are going on tour as they head towards Austin, Texas. They will be doing shows with a number of bands along the way, including Prince Rama so save your aluminum cans and glass bottles so you can afford to go to these concerts:

March 6… Raleigh, NC – Kings Barcade
March 7… Atlanta, GA – 529 !
March 8… Memphis, TN – Lamplighter
March 9… Denton, TX – Denton Confederette *
March 11 New Orleans, LA – Cafe Istanbul
March 12… Houston, TX – Warehouse Live #
March 14-17… Austin, TX – SXSW
March 19… Hot Springs, AR – Low Key Arts $
March 20… Lawrence, KS – Jackpot Music Hall
March 21… St. Louis, MO 2720 Cherokee $
March 22… Chicago, IL – Hideout $
March 23… Cleveland, OH – Happy Dog $
March 24… Pittsburgh, PA – Assemble $
April 6… Baltimore, MD – Golden West %
April 7… New York, NY – Mercury Lounge %
April 8… Philadelphia, PA – Phonographic Arts Liberty Festival

! = w/ Lyonnais & Lotus Plaza
* = w/ Woodsman
# = w/ R. Stevie Moore & The Men
$ = w/ Prince Rama
% = w/ Night Beats

The group are touring in support of themselves and their latest album, Hazed Dream (Sacred Bones), which is available on vinyl, along with the other trendy digital formats.

…and then there’s just a bunch of them, you know? But I come across The James Low Western Front, who will be releasing an album in February and when it comes to people from the Pacific Northwest, I want to know and hear. Can I relate to their sense of wonderment, the isolation, the chill, the occasional boredom? I don’t know, it does apply to any specific location but the Pacific Northwest is unique in that it’s the Pacific Northwest? In this case, these guys are from Portland, so I’m even more interested.

The James Low Western Front is lead by singer/songwriter James Low, and the new album will be called Whiskey Farmer (Union Made). Do they make whiskey in Portland? Yes they do, or at least there are a number of small distilleries in/near the city, but what Portland does have is a wealthy amount of drinkers. Loads of bars, loads of people who want to feel the spirits or escape the doldrums, and one can say Low is someone who represents the feel good guy who may hit a few moments of misery here and there, and wants to escape them with song and a drink or five.

He does so with this video which begins his visual tale at the Westerner Motel in Portland, where he sings “thinking California, living a Texas life/nothing I do seems to bother this dusty sky”. It could literally be written anywhere, which will definitely help bring him appeal to a wide range of people. It feels a bit like good country pop, or Americana with pinches of the kind of rock sensibility that is sometimes joked about but taken seriously when someone is affected by what they hear. The video is nothing more than Low carrying a drawing of a sun, hoping to find it somewhere in his travels, or perhaps someone is willing to take him there. You’ll have to watch the video to see what happens, but I will say that it’s open-ended, which is often a good way to interpret a song.

Low does plan on making videos for each song on Whiskey Farmer, not sure if he will create them in the same sequence as the album or if the videos plan on telling a story on its own, but I look forward to hearing and seeing the results. In fact, you can listen to the album right now iwith the Bandcamp player below, and pre-order it right now.

If you like what you hear, The James Low Western Front will be doing a few shows throughout Oregon, including a show in Pendleton, along with a quick drive or train ride to Seattle. Here is where he’ll be:
February 3… Portland, OR (Laurelthirst Public House)
February 7… Seattle, WA (Sunset Tavern)
February 25… Portland, OR (Laurelthirst Public House)
March 31… Eugene, Oregon (Sam Bonds Garage Eugene)
April 13… Hood River, OR (Cebu Lounge)
April 14… Pendleton, OR (Great Pacific Wine and Coffee Co.)

This video is credited as being “NSFW”, but I didn’t see anything that was offensive, overly or otherwise. Then again, considering that your job or school can see every bit of information you receive through their servers, it’s best to let you know about this before hand.

Why NSFW? Well, it’s a bunch of people in costume smearing and tasting each other in different liquids and syrups, so is being erotic and exotic offensive? To some people yes, so you may want to watch this in the privacy of your own home. There’s food, there’s tongues, there’s legs, there’s leg pits, so there’s a lot of skin to taste and feast on. Or is it the somewhat disturbing ending that has nothing to do with humans?

Aaah, now did that make you want to click this video? Good. It’s okay to get your favorite syrups and pour it all over your friends for tasting purposes, I am 100% in support of this. However, the ending goes over the edge, but it’s just that right amount of freaky that’ll make Phèdre‘s “In Decay” worth watching, and all of this with a song that has a nice disco feel. You might expect the body tasting imagery, but not that happens at the end.

A few weeks ago, Pelican revealed forthcoming tour dates in Europe, as they make their way to covering a number of music festivals.

The band are also releasing a 4-song EP on April 10th via Southern Lord called Ataraxia/Taraxis, and they’ve decided to share one of the songs from it, a nice one called “Lathe Biosas”. You can listen to it now or download it for free.

Pelican – Lathe Biosas by Biz 3 Publicity

In hip-hop, everybody wants to be “the best”, “the ultimate”, but it’s not about you boasting how great you think you are. It’s about others hearing your music and saying “you know, this guy is not bad at all.” When you got a group of people who decide to work together and create something, it will of course lead to mixed reviews but when it works, you wished they had done this much earlier. Eligh & Amp Live knew the deal when they did “Beautiful Addiction”, and by bringing in GrivesBlake Hazard, they only made a good song better. Unite for the music, unite for creativity: a plus in my book.

The instrumental to this should be familiar to some of you, but if not, it’s Jay Electronica‘s “Exhibit C”. Famoso decided to drop his lyrics, flow, and skills on it and come with something that I think is very cool. The video is pretty basic, and perhaps not meant to be spectacular but it’s a down home track made for the love of the music, and yet what he’s able to do with it is not only promotional, but emotional too. It’s Brooklyn, what do you expect? Greatness? As you should.

The approach in this new video by Zach89 is an old school one, from the jackets, shoes, hair styles, and ways to dance. It does this as he rhymes over A Tribe Called Quest‘s “Scenario”, and it works.

My only complaint is a minor one for most people, and it’s that his vocal track sounds distinctly different from the sound of the instrumental. I would’ve tried to strengthen the vocal, have him do another take, or adjust the instrumental so that it would fit the quality of the vocal track. Again, a minor technical complaint but it’s nice to see and hear the effort.

If you like his approach, his new mixtape called RapZhody honors the old school with his new rhymes and a few unique twists here and there.

From Chicago to across the pond, Russian Circles are going to do some serious rocking in a few when they go on tour throughout Europe and Great Britian. To say that these guys are going to be busy is putting it somewhere that you probably know so…

Apr 05 – Prague, CZ @ Matrix
Apr 06 – Vienna, AT @ Arena
Apr 07 – Munich, DE @ Feierwerk
Apr 08 – Dresden, DE @ Beatpol
Apr 09 – Berlin, DE @ Festsaal Kreuzberg
Apr 10 – Warsaw, PL @ Hydrozagadka
Apr 11 – Vilnius, LT @ Propaganda
Apr 12 – Riga, LV @ Gertrudes 101
Apr 13 – Tallinn, ES @ Electric Storm Festival at Tapper
Apr 14 – Helsinki, FI @ Virgin Oil Company
Apr 15 – Moscow, RU @ Gogol
Apr 16 – Stockholm, SE @ Strand
Apr 17 – Oslo, NO @ Revolver
Apr 18 – Gothenberg, SE @ Truckstop Alaska
Apr 19 – Copenhagen, DK @ KB 18
Apr 20 – Hamburg, DE @ Hafenklang
Apr 21 – Utrecht, NI @ Tivoli
Apr 22 – Brussels, BE @ Magasin 4
Apr 23 – Esch-Sur-Alzette, LU @ Rockhal
Apr 25 – Glasgow, UK @ Stereo
Apr 26 – Belfast, IE @ Speakeasy
Apr 27 – Limerick, IE @ Dolan’s Warehouse
Apr 28 – Dublin, IE @ Button Factory
Apr 29 – Manchester, UK @ The Ruby Lounge
Apr 30 – London, UK @ Scala Theater
May 02 – Paris, FR @ Point Ephemere
May 03 – Kortrijk, BE @ De Kreun
May 04 – Koln, DE @ Gebaeude 9
May 05 – Karlsruhe, DE @ Jubez
May 06 – Zurich, CH @ Rote Fabrik
May 07 – Geneva, CH @ Le Kab
May 08 – Milan, IT @ Magnolia
May 09 – Lyon, FR @ Le Clacson
May 11 – Bilbao, ES @ Azkena
May 12 – Porto, PT @ Hard Club
May 13 – Lisbon, PT @ Musicbox
May 14 – Madrid, ES @ Ritmo & Compas
May 15 – Barcelona, ES @ Apolo 2

If these shows lead to greater acceptance in North America, you’ll know why.

You know what I can’t stand? Laziness on the behalf of other writers, journalists, or bloggers. I hate it when I go through a few blogs looking for things to listen to or watch, and some of them share the exact same story. What’s worse is when they use the same headline so when you do a search, it’s hard to tell who ripped off whom unless you’ve read the original press release.

When it comes to Bhi Bhiman, I want to make the effort to let people know about him and his music. Now sure, I could just say BHI BHIMAN CONFIRMS TOUR WITH ROSIE THOMAS AS NEW ALBUM ‘BHIMAN’ EARNS RAVES but you know what? I didn’t say a damn thing, I simply cut and pasted. Too easy, but also too lazy. Me? I see the fact that Bhiman is going on tour with Thomas and I think okay, cut the bullshit, just post the fricken dates. So I should do this right around here:
February 18 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill (CD RELEASE SHOW)
March 15 – Philadelphia PA @ World Cafe Live *
March 16 – Vienna VA @ Jammin’ Java *
March 17 – Chapel Hill NC @ Nightlight *
March 18 – Atlanta GA @ Red Light Cafe *
March 20 – Nashville TN @ 12th and Porter *
March 21 – St Louis MO @ Old Rock House *
March 23 – St. Paul MN @ Turf Club *
March 24 – Madison WI @ University of Wisconsin *
March 25 – Chicago IL @ Schubas *
March 26 – Ann Arbor MI @ The Ark *
March 27 – Grand Rapids @ Covenant Fine Arts Center *
March 28 – Akron OH @ Musica *
March 30 – Boston MA @ Cafe 939 @ Berklee *

* with Rosie Thomas

Bhiman will be on tour in support of BHIMAN, his new album that was released this wek.