Time to take your pants off and show everyone that neon pink g-string you’ve been wearing since 2 Live Crew had you feeling so horny all those summers ago. There is no better time for a 2 Live Crew reunion, especially as the emcees are in their 50s at this point. If they were to reunite at 65, you’d probably have to see them play nursing home venues, where many a hips would be sure to pop out of joint.
Luther Campbell is all the wiser, so on his stop through the Sundance Film Festival — where he’s promoting a short called The Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke — he announced his group will begin touring this summer. Get ready to pop that coochie and shake that azz all summer long. We’ll have tourdates as they become available.
The Roots did it with undun (TMT Review), and now the breath of fresh old-school air that is De La Soul (or at least 2/3 of them) have planned their own concept album under the moniker First Serve: the album is called First Serve. It’s the first De La-related album since 2004’s The Grind Date (TMT Review), but this time they’ll be spitting from the mouths of the fictional characters Deen Whitter and Jacob “Pop Life” Barrow, two brothers in Queens who want to get the hell out of Queens (can you blame them?).
Stream the first track, “Pushin’ Aside, Pushin’ Along” right here:
And be sure to watch the 40-something rappers dressed up as Whitter and Barrow living a cartoon life in the early days with Ma Dukes breaking down the door while they tryna get they smoke on. Catch that over at NME.
James Ferraro has returned to the mixtape game only a few weeks after making his biggest splash yet as the fueled-up, jet-setting bad boy DJ BEBETUNE$$$ (via the straight fire mixtape inhale C-4 $$$$$ that’s been spinning at the office for a minute). SILICA GEL finds BEBETUNE$$$ introducing a twisted new alias into the mix by the name of BODY GUARD — a wink, perhaps, to James’s growing female fanbase and the lengths they’ll go to catch him “off [his] game.”
SILICA GEL drops everywhere in less than a month (February 23), so get your fix in the buffertime with these #FRESH #UNRELEASED BEBETUNE$$$ AKA BODY GUARD beats:
Something tells us tunes these #LIQUIDMETALPUNK, #INFRAREDPUNK, #BLADEPUNK, and #FLAMETHROWERPUNK won’t stay unreleased for long.
Freak-jazz duo Talibam! and multi-instrumentalist Sam Kulik (Nervous Cabaret) have joined forces to create a “new underwater thriller fairytale” album Discover AtlantASS through UK publishers Belly Kids. The album consists of 19 tracks and an accompanying 25-page comic (drawn by London artist James Clapham) that illustrates this epic psychedelic opera, due out February 25 (advance order here).
According to the press release, Discover AtlantASS tells the elaborate story of a young teenager named Franklin, who gets abducted to the undersea world of Atlantis by a laid-back “jazz fish” revolutionary named Stinge. Together, they attempt to combat a disastrous oil spill that has nearly eradicated the underwater community of poets, musicians, artists, and fornicators. The story is said to be based on strange experiences the trio shared on a 2008 tour of Finland and recent geopolitical events, such as the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the controversy surrounding the “Ground Zero Mosque” in Manhattan.
Belly Kids informs us that the overall aesthetic of the opera is “like a radio play for the post-television era” and makes ample use of Talibam!’s signature genre-riddled style, featuring synthesizers, trombones, voices, guitars, banjos, and homespun sound effects in an Ethiopian-jazz-meets-Balkan-folk rhythmic style.
Talibam! and Sam Kulik will be touring Europe in support of the release from February 27 - March 25. The trio will perform tracks from the album in full costume, with puppets and video accompaniment. After returning to New York, they will showcase the work in an eight-night festival at St. Mark’s Church, presented by Incubator Arts Project. The CD and comic book will be sold at all performances this year and will be available from retailers in New York, London, and wider Europe.
Ha. See? I TOLD YOU Disappears would be touring shitlessly in support of their new album Pre Language on Kranky that is due March 1 soon enough! SHA-BOOZ-BAZ!
Seriously though. I totally said that last Friday, like exactly. I also unloaded a bunch of A-list material about the band and about Steve Shelley and Sonic Youth and Joan of Arc… last Friday was a wild scene, man. Bottom line, the story was all hilarious and evocative and and still applicable here, and I’m not going to blow any more of my creativity on those assholes. Just go click on that link and read it. Then come back here and read this story again (being sure to let its latent brilliance wash over you) and check out the revised list of dates. There’s some European ones and a new batch of North American ones with Lotus Plaza, and even a couple with Lee Ranaldo milling around the stage. “Who the fuck’s that old man?!?” the kids will whisper to each other. It’ll be great.
Dates galore:
02.18.11 - Vancouver, BC - Biltmore Cabaret
02.19.11 - Seattle, WA - Chop Suey
02.20.11 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
02.22.11 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill [Noise Pop Festival]
02.23.11 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo
02.24.11 - Pioneertown, CA - Pappy and Harriets
02.25.11 - San Diego, CA - Casbah
03.26.12 - Colmar, Fance - Supersounds Festival
03.27.12 - Paris, France - Bonnes Mani Glaz’art
03.28.12 - Tourcoing, France - Le Grand Mix
03.29.12 - London, UK - Corsica Studios
03.30.12 - Brussels, Belgium - Ateliers Claus
03.31.12 - Hasselt, Belgium - Kunstencentrum Belgie
04.01.12 - Amsterdam, The Netherlands - Paradiso
04.13.12 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall *
04.14.12 - Ann Arbor, MI - The Yellow Barn *
04.15.12 - Toronto, ON - The Garrison *
04.16.12 - Montreal, QC - Casa del Popolo *
04.17.12 - Ithica, NY - The Haunt *^
04.18.12 - Albany, NY - Valentine’s *^
04.19.12 - Brooklyn, NY - Glasslands Gallery *
04.20.12 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s *
04.21.12 - Raleigh, NC - King’s Barcade *
04.22.12 - Knoxville, TN - Pilot Light *
04.24.12 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl
04.25.12 - Birmingham, AL - The Bottletree *
04.27.12 - Austin, TX - Austin Psych Festival
04.28.12 - Dallas, TX - Club Dada *
04.29.12 - Memphis, TN - Hi-Tone Café *
Elfin Saddle’s music is exactly what its name sounds like. Singing saws? Check. Accordion? Check. Non-obnoxious xylophone? Tiny charming Japanese woman? BUT OF COURSE! This Montreal-based four-piece is an enchanted fox ride through a forest of dandelions, fireflies, and tweed-clad wee folk. It’s like late-80s kids series David the Gnome tunneled its way out of the past and into a Québécois art school.
And now the group wants to take you on a whole new fox journey with their latest album, Devastates. Multi-instrumentalists/vocalists Emi Honda and Jordan McKenzie, cellist Kristina Koropecki, and upright bass-slapper Nathan Gage have crafted a lovely little “soundworld” on this one, as their label (Constellation) puts it. It’s art folk for a new millennium, and the band pulls from that whole sea chanty/European vagabond school of indie rock while still sounding super fresh, urgent, and innovative. Entrance to elfland is open to mortals come March 6, when the album hits stores.
Devastates tracklisting:
01. The Changing Wind
02. Kiboho
03. Boats
04. The Power & The Wake
05. Chaos Hands
06. Invocation
07. In a Blanket of Leaves
08. The Wind Come Carry
