I was going to write a news story about HRSTA, and I wanted to see how many people actually know them.
Well, who are they?
They're a band on Constellation. They released an album called Ghosts Will Come And Kiss Our Eyes (TMT Review).
Oh, I know HRSTA!! Mike Moya, Brooke Crouser, Harris Newman, and Eric Craven, right? They released that album last year, and it was recorded and mixed at The Pines in Montreal by David Bryant. If memory serves me, Newman mastered it at Montreal's Greymarket. Right?
Ah, Sweden. You good Scandinavian people just keep cranking out the classics. Whether your tastes in the arts run more towards the Runestone (it makes a reference to Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great! OMG!) or towards breathy female pop vocalists, Sweden has something for everything. And it has recently been revealed that Lykke Li, one of this beautiful northern nation's finest indie exports, will be embarking on a North American tour this winter in support of her debut full-length Youth Novels (TMT Review). This is great news, not only because "Little Bit" and "I'm Good, I'm Gone" are stone-cold killer jams, but also because this tour is largely above the Mason-Dixon line, and for those of us living in the wintry Midwest, any artist who goes on tours in February is basically considered some sort of entertainment-bringing demigod who must be revered and celebrated for breaking up our frost-bitten, boring, sozzled monotony.
So, cheers to you, Lykke Li, and your cold-enduring, Walpurgis Night-celebrating compatriots for bringing a little joy into the freezing desolation of middle America. And thank you for this wonderful opportunity to look up your homeland on Wikipedia in order to scrape up even the slightest of content for this story. Without your upcoming tour, I never would've learned about the delightful (and gross) summer tradition of kräftskivor or crayfish dinner parties. Tasty!
Rapper MC Breed, who became famous for his sing-along collaboration with Tupac, “Gotta Get Mine” and "Ain't No Future in Yo' Frontin,’” has died today [November 22]. He was 36.
Born Eric Breed, the Flint, Michigan rapper was found dead at a friend’s house in Ypsilanti Michigan, the Detroit News reports. His manager, Darryl Morris, confirmed his death, but the exact cause is still pending.
In September, Breed collapsed while playing basketball in his stomping ground of Atlanta, and was placed on life support for kidney failure. Friends got together to throw a benefit concert to raise money for his medical bills, but cancelled plans after his health bounced back.
Never fully reaching mainstream status, Breed rhymed proudly about the desolate town of Flint, an urban area usually masked under the wide belly of Detroit. His hit 1991 song, "Ain't No Future in Yo' Frontin'” sampled Zapp's "More Bounce to the Ounce" and the Ohio Players' "Funky Worm.” On “Gotta Get Mine” off his 1993 album The New Breed, he hooked up with a young, thirsty Tupac, and spit the famous line, “They hate to see a young nigga, come up.”
ATP New York, the festival hipsters young and old can enjoy together, is back. The 2nd annual fest is now scheduled for September 11-13, 2009 (instead of Labor Day as previously announced), taking place again at Kutshers Country Club in Monticello, New York. Although the co-curator will be announced in the coming weeks (hey, maybe it's us!), the first seven bands have already been announced:
- Friday, September 11 – Don’t Look Back/Comedy:
Dirty Three Performing Ocean Songs
Suicide Performing Suicide
David Cross – Hosting Comedy Stage
- Saturday, September 12 – Curated By ATP:
Animal Collective
Anti-Pop Consortium
Atlas Sound
Panda Bear
- Sunday, September 13 – Co-curator TBA
Tickets are $235 plus a $12 booking fee. Accommodations are available at Kutshers and the nearby Raleigh Resort and are on sale starting today. Go to the ATP website for more information.
In September 2006, Georgia native Chad Blue was shot in the groin and buttocks but unfortunately could not identity his shooter. That is, until recently, when a friend played Blue a track off of Hitting Licks For a Living, an album by aspiring rapper Rico Wright, who claimed, “Ask Chad Blue/ He knows I can shoot.” Well, first of all Rico, you shot a dude in his junk and his trunk. It’s not like you’re gonna hear from the Navy Seals about a sniping job anytime soon. Secondly, you forgot one of the cardinal rules of hip hop: “If a rhyme seems conspicuous/ Keep that shit ambiguous!”
As a result of the unintentional confession, Wright was convicted of aggravated assault. Already serving jail time for selling cocaine, Wright was sentenced to an additional 20 years of incarceration and 20 years of probation. Yikes.
So remember, kids, don’t shoot dudes in the butt, and if you do, don’t fucking rap about it! Did NWA ever name names in their songs? Hell no! Well, except for Strawberry, the Neighborhood Ho. Man, I really hope Strawberry the Neighborhood Ho turned her life around. I think of that every time I listen to “Dopeman.”
Dangerously unbridled energy no doubt accounts for the speed in Los Campesinos!'s latest full-length album, We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed. Retaining the same urgency, the band is already making headlines again with the announcement of a 2009 tour. The tour takes Los Campesinos! across the country with openers Titus Andronicus, a Jersey indie rock outfit who also has a senselessly energetic sound, concluding with two dates in New York City (the band's U.S. home away from Wales).
