I haven’t heard his new album yet, but Hawai’is own Creed Chameleon is back with a new one and a video has been created for the song “Morning Blessing”. Watching this video shows the power of hip-hop and how it has transferred over to the middle of the Pacific to brew up acknowledgment of its roots with its own special blends and ingredaments, Auntie Marialani style. For me, watching this video only gets me homesick for the people and the land I will forever call my own. As my man Juando Reyes would say, I LIKE CRAI NOW. Hui Creed, we go eat.
(SIDENOTE: Spock the Maili Lunch Wagon. Much respect.)
The man loves pancakes and looks forward to you rubbing on your titties. I of course am talking about the main man, Pharoahe Monch, who will be releasing a new album through Duck Down called W.A.R. (We Are Renegades). If you’re reading this at SXSW, he will be taking part at Duck Down’s 15 Year Anniversary SXSW Showcase at The Scoot Inn (1308 East 4th Street) on Friday, March 19th.
He will be touring, and Canadians will get the first chance to see him performing these new songs. Here are the tour dates: April 3 Saint John, NB Evolution Nightclub
April 4 St. John’s, NF Club One
April 5 Halifax, NS Paragone Theatre
April 7 Ottawa, ON Ritual Nightclub
Aprill 8 Toronto, ON Venue TBC
April 9 Cornwall, ON Rangatangs Nightclub
April 10 Montreal, QC Telus Theatre
April 12 Thunder Bay, ON Roxys Nightclub
April 13 Winnipeg, MB Pyramid Cabaret
April 14 Saskatoon, SK Odeon Events Centre
April 15 Calgary, AB The Whiskey Nightclub
April 16 Edmonton, AB Starlite Room
April 17 Lethbridge, AB Venue TBC
Aprl 18 Nelson, BC Spirit Bar
April 21 Victoria, BC Element
April 22 Vancouver, BC Venue TBC
As for the Duck Down anniversary show, here’s the planned schedule for the show tomorrow night: 8PM to 8:40PM – Music by DJ EVIL DEE
8:40PM to 8:55PM – Promise
9:05PM to 9:20 – Team Facelift
9:30PM to 9:45PM – Marco Polo & Torae
9:55PM to 10:10PM – Skyzoo
10:20PM to 10:35: Blue Scholars
10:45PM to 11:15PM: Kidz In The Hall + Special Guests
11:25PM to 11:45PM: Pharoahe Monch
12AM to 12:10: Ruste Juxx
12:10 to 12:25: Smif N Wessun
12:25 to 12:40: Sean Price with Black Milk
12:40 to 1AM: Buckshot with special guests
1:10AM to 1:40AM: B-Real of Cypress Hill
2AM: Close
The show will be hosted by Peter Rosenberg of HOT 97
The first 50 people to enter receive a limited-edition Duck Down/UNDRCRWN SXSW T-Shirt.
Australian hip-hop keeps getting on stronger, and in 2010 it’s about shining the light on Mantra, whose new album Power of the Spoken will be released by Obese Records on March 26th. The video was shot and directed by The Artifact.
Almost a month ago, Ras Kass put up his project via Kickstarter, leading some hip-hop fans to question the need for any artist, specifically a respected MC, to put up something like this. However, I felt that what Ras Kass did was take his project to the fans, didn’t make a big request for a large amount to raise funds to produce the album, and he posted it. (One particular article looked at Public Enemy doing the same thing on another website, where they were only able to raise just under 30 percent of the goal they were seeking.)
As you can see below, he surpassed his goal with (as I write this) 35 days to go. Statistics on Kickstarter show that he has 115 people backing him on his project, donating $6,557 towards the A.D.I.D.A.S. (All Day I Dream About Spittin’) album, either on CD or vinyl. Two individuals donated at the 1200 dollar price range.
His intention was to reach a goal of $3,800, so the fact that he met and surpassed this goal with about a month before the deadline shows that people are willing to show support for an artist and project if it’s worth their time and money. Since the period to donate is still open, you can make a donation if you wish.
Preach Jacobs has been creating music for a few years, touring across the U.S. and making it to Japan on a recent trip. He now has an online magazine he is developing called Mo’ Betta Soul, featuring hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, and any of Jacobs’ personal interests (a photo essay is linked to on the front page). Browse through and enjoy.
Fans of sample based artists like Kid Koala, The Avalanches, and Cut Chemist will enjoy the new 7″ single by NickNack called “Strangest Secret” b/w “Gathering Shadow”. The two songs are a hint of what appears on his forthcoming album, but Crowd Control Records are releasing it in the handy 7″ single format. You can also download the songs as 320kbps MP3’s for whatever price you want to pay, including $0.00, click here for details. If you do download it for free and like what you hear, then opt for the vinyl 45.
The full length album, Dearly Departed, will be out sometime this spring.
If you are a record collector or a vinyl newbie, you have no doubt seen this photo posted and Tweeted countless times on Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks. While it is very cool, it is not a new thing to see “the inner walls” of a vinyl record groove. Similar photographs have been posted for years, especially when comparisons were made between vinyl and compact disc.
Fellow vinyl junkie DJ Shadow knows about the “inner juices” that lie within his record collection. Back in 2002 on tour in support of his Private Press album, he introduced a number of great visuals as he played his songs, one of which involved what I call “the exploration of a groove”. It’s a computer generated film which begins in outer space, slowly making its way to Earth before reaching a yard where a few people are having a barbeque and listening to records on a pair of Technics turntables while a record crate sits close buy. It gets closer, and as soon as you think it can’t get any closer, it moves closer to the record stylus and cartridge. It is then that the film takes it one step closer: by going into the groove (watch it from the beginning, but the magic moment begins around the 2:00 mark):
When I saw DJ Shadow on this tour in Seattle on June 9th, 2002, this film was shown as “Fixed Income” was played. I myself got chicken skin because I actually had a similar idea for a film in the 8th grade, which means I must’ve seen similar photos of a magnified record sometime in the 80’s. I wanted to be an artist that showed films behind me because I was a huge Pink Floyd fan, and they were a band who used incredible visuals through backdrop films on a number of tours. When I saw Shadow do it, I thought “shit, he did it”, and I said that with approval. Shadow wanted to be the early bird that got the worm as depicted on graphics used for the promotion of The Private Press. As for me, there was a comic strip in Mad Magazine which stated “the early bird catches the worm, but who catches the early bird?” I wanted to be the one to do it before the early bird. I did not have a chance, but to realize someone else had the same idea was satisfaction enough. The Private Press tour was documented on the DVD In Tune And On Time: Live!, where you’ll be able to see the above video in HQ form.
Sage Francis is about to drop a new album in May with the pecular title of Li(fe). Does the album have a split personality, or is he suggesting that within life there is always a lie or two? Do we get through life by lying, or is it deeper? No doubt, Sage Francis will be telling it like it is, or li(k)e it is as the case may be.
Pre-orders for the album as a a double LP and single CD are being taken now at Strange Famous Records, with a few unique deals and prices that will be void when May 11th rolls around, so take advance of these pre-order offers.
When it’s 3am, it’s eternal. Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek know what time it us, and thus they are Reflection Eternal and the duo are about to drop another collaboration in the form of an album they call Revolutions Per Minute (it always goes back to vinyl), due out on March 23rd. With a title like Revolutions Per Minute, one would expect for it to be released on vinyl but as of now it will be out on CD and digitally via the usual places.
Traveling Man (Mello Music Group) is a new 24 track album by D.C.-based producer Oddisee, who created songs inspired by and named after various cities/locales. The 2LP set is available to pre-order from Fat Beats.
Oddisee always seems to be keeping himself busy with new project after new project, you can follow his trail by checking his regularly updated blog.
