N.W.A. Biopic in The Works; Are We Getting Our Checks Yet? Apparently Not Actual Working Title

By Couscous on

After Diddy and co's neat, tidy little bow packaging of the complex life of rapper Notorious B.I.G. with the film Notorious (TMT Review), we knew it would only be a matter of time before another biopic on a legendary rap artist would appear. In this case, it's on a legendary rap group, as word dropped recently that pioneering gangster rappers N.W.A. will be getting the biopic treatment. The movie is being produced by founding N.W.A. members Ice Cube and Dr. Dre along with Eazy-E’s widow, Tomica Wright. According to Entertainment Weekly, the producers "are now actively searching for a director along the lines of Curtis Hanson," director of Eminem's pseudo-biopic 8 Mile.

Rap biopics promise more than the standard Ray-style musician biopics, though it's hard to imagine that, with members of the group serving as its producers, the movie won't be anything but the crystalline spectacles version of the group's story. Still, it's even harder to imagine that a movie about N.W.A., a group known for its riveting oral portraits of poverty, drug use, and disturbingly casual violence, will be eazy to digest. Sorry, couldn't resist! Currently, screenwriters are furiously trying to map out a montage sequence that effortlessly displays the boys talking hard, rebuffing trash talk, pulling people's cards, living in a legitimate manner, and otherwise not saying shit.

Casiotone For The Painfully Alone To Pack Up His Suitcase, Get Sad, Leave Home, and Go On Tour

By Jon Lorenz on 03-13-2009

This spring is looking to be a busy time for Casiotone For the Painfully Alone. Now that this depressing winter is on its way out, Casiotone's Owen Ashworth is ready to leave his cozy little bedroom and hit the road. He is starting off with a few dates in Texas -- which will see him playing the Tomlab/K/Asthmatic Kitty showcase, as well as the Team Clermont/Utne Reader one as part of Austin's SXSW -- and will soon after be jetting out to Europe to do a month of shows. A U.S. tour is expected this spring, too.

All this activity will be in support of his upcoming records: Advance Base Battery Life, a collection of 7-inch split-singles and compilation tracks he released from 2004-7, all but two of them on CD for the first time, out March 10 on Tomlab; and Vs. Children, the fifth album proper from CTFPA since 2006's Etiquette, which is due April 7 also on Tomlab.

Casiotone For the Painfully Alone Spring Dates:
03.15.09 - Denton, TX - Dan's Silverleaf (NX35 Festival)
03.16.09 - Houston, TX - The Mink Backroom
03.18.09 - Austin, TX - Beauty Bar (SXSW Showcase) #
03.19.09 - Austin, TX - Flamingo Cantina (Team Clermont/Utne Reader)
03.19.09 - Austin, TX - Ms Beas
04.11.09 - Munich, Germany - Orangehouse
04.12.09 - Cologne, Germany - Subway
04.14.09 - Bristol, UK - The Croft
04.15.09 - Nottingham, UK - The Bodega
04.17.09 - Galway, Ireland - Roisin Dubh
04.18.09 - Cork, Ireland - The Quad
04.19.09 - Dublin, Ireland - Whelans
04.20.09 - Manchester, UK - The Deaf Institute
04.21.09 - Glasgow, UK - Nice 'N Sleazy
04.22.09 - Edinburgh, UK - Sneaky Pete's
04.23.09 - Sheffield, UK - TBA
04.24.09 - York, UK - Fibbers
04.25.09 - Brighton, UK - Freebutt
04.27.09 - London, UK - The Luminaire
04.29.09 - Oslo, Norway - Bla
05.01.09 - Stockholm, Sweden - Strand
05.02.09 - Aarhus, Denmark - Pop Revo Festival
05.03.09 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Loppen
05.04.09 - Hamburg, Germany - Knust
05.06.09 - Prague, Czech Republic - Klub 007 Strahov
05.07.09 - Wien, Austria - Arena
05.08.09 - Minehead, UK - All Tomorrow's Parties
05.10.09 - Paris, France - Maroquinerie
05.11.09 - Amsterdam, The Netherlands - Paradiso
05.12.09 - Lueneburg, Germany - Asta Wohnzimmer
05.13.09 - Nuremberg, Germany - MUZ
05.14.09 - Wiesbaden, Germany - Schlachthof
05.15.09 - Luxembourg, Germany - Exit07
05.16.09 - Saarbruecken, Germany - Sparte04
05.17.09 - Leipzig, Germany - UT Connewitz

# Parenthetical Girls, No Kids, Jeremy Jay, Tara Jane O'Neil

Hella Back To Being A Duo, Working On New Album, Making For The Most Uneventful News Story I’ve Ever Written

By Annapocalypse on 03-13-2009

According to a new blog post on their MySpace page, Hella have reshuffled themselves back to the original duo of Zach Hill and Spencer Seim. They are currently at work on Hella’s new album, which will be recorded and finished sometime this year on an as-yet unknown record label. Because this news is not particularly that exciting, I’ve decided to rewrite this story below and add in a few creative details that the Hella boys might have missed when they wrote their blog entry:

Hey guys! Hella is back to being a duo after kicking out Josh Hill (Zach’s cousin), Carson McWhirter (The Advantage), and Aaron Ross. Zach and Spencer decided it was time to part with the band members after learning they were the creators of this blog and that they still believe in the Easter bunny (see the cruel joke Zach and Spencer played on them in the “Band Members” section of their MySpace page.) Zach and Spencer are currently at work on their new album.

Chinese Hack into iTunes’ Code And Sells Gift Cards for Low, Low Prices

By Brom on 03-13-2009

China renewed its charm offensive on TMT readers this week with an audacious hacking of iTunes’ gift certificate algorithm. These upstanding Chinese citizens are now selling $200 gift cards on Taobao, a Chinese equivalent to eBay, for as little as $2.60. Using the site’s instant messaging platform, the buyer receives a gift voucher code from the seller that can then be used to redeem the card from a user's iTunes account. The cards are also available in the U.S for around $43 on eBay.

The hacker’s craft is so brilliant that not only have they given Apple a fine kick in the teeth, but they’ve also posed a frustrating conundrum for those good-for-nothing capitalists. If Apple decides to change the gift voucher code generation algorithm, all of the cards available right now would become obsolete. Consequently, the only ones making money at this moment in time are the code sellers and the artists who still get paid when their music is downloaded from iTunes.

It’s been only a week since the Chinese government’s commendable decision to ban Oasis from playing dates in Shanghai and Beijing in April (TMT News) and now this ingenious nation delivers another slap in the face to shameless profiteers. Who ever said quasi-Communism doesn’t work?

Comrade Obama, start taking notes.

The Field to Release Follow-up to 2007’s From Here We Go Sublime, Which is Apparently Not a Record of Sublime Covers; Lou-Dog is Bummed

By Nobodaddy on 03-12-2009

Man, if I was releasing a record, I would NOT forecast my subsequent album’s transcendent greatness in its fucking title. The Field’s Axel Willner may have learned a thing or two about that himself, as his follow-up to 2007’s hazy slow-burn smash, From Here We Go Sublime, bears the considerably more cautiously-ubiquitous title of Yesterday and Today.
But just to up the ante this time around, Willner's label, Kompakt, has teamed-up with Tom Waits Records... I mean, ANTI-, to release the anticipated follow-up, which is gonna drop May 19. Willner has also teamed up with Clash frontman Joe Strummer... I mean, Battles drummer John Stanier for the title track, and Willner's best press guys swear that he expands his palette, “continuing the oblique sampling strategy of From Here We Go Sublime while building up the rhythmic architecture.” So yeah, there’s that “ubiquity” theme again. Maybe this is a concept record?

Of course, since igniting loft party musical conversations around the world with Sublime, we all know that Willner has been much in demand as a remixer, with tracks from local British singer Thom Yorke to hot U.S. jazz combo Battles raising his profile significantly, so hopefully this album really does stack up, even if the title doesn’t. Otherwise that Sublime-covers route might not be a bad idea.

A ubiquitous “spring/summer North American tour” is also in the works, so sit tight on that. Meanwhile, here’s that good-old ubiquitous tracklist:

1. I Have The Moon, You Have The Internet
2. Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime
3. Leave It
4. Yesterday & Today (feat. John Stanier)
5. The More That I Do
6. Sequenced

Mia Doi Todd to Release Instrumental LP About Birds

By Kenny Bloggins on 03-12-2009

The mercurial Mia Doi Todd (whose name is rather hard to say after a few drinks I discovered) will be going a different direction from her normal lush and haunting folk: completely instrumental. Given the rich compositions demonstrated on her earlier releases and her BFF opportunities with Dungen, Morning Music promises to be a layered listen.

Without turning this article into an itemized grocery list, it's interesting to note that Mia will be toolin' around with "drum, harmonium, piano, tin whistle, tamboura, acoustic guitar, and bongos," while collaborator Andres Renteria will take over "cajon, piano, wooden stool and udu" duties. Sounds like the hippie shit to me, but MDT consistently adds a foreboding tone to make each song daring and delicious, so I'm not worried.

Morning Music arrives April 14 on City Zen.

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