FoeWeel !!! ???

Original Artwork, Joseph Arthur 2008

This past Friday night, we went to go see Joseph Arthur play a solo show at the best music venue in San Francisco, Great American Music Hall. When we showed up, I was surprised that it was a sit-down show, which I have never experienced at GAMH. The show was missing the sampler theatrics, which I’ve come to associate with Arthur, but it was far from a disappointment. He ran through such classics as Speed Of Light, Birthday Card, In The Sun, and a slowed down version of Honey and the Moon, which takes away the somewhat light-hearted optimism of the original, and turns it into more of a mournful plea. After the show, they were selling cd’s of the recorded show with Arthur signing and drawing (see above) on each cd cover. He was also kind enough to give a smudge on the hand to my cohort for the evening.

Joseph Arthur – Honey And The Moon (Live @ GAMH, July 19, 2008) – an intimate show with a great re-working of a classic choon.

Cex – Just Don’t Bite It – from the Tigerbeat6 Attitude release, which takes NWA classics and chops them up to make it seem like your record player is broken, or just skipping badly.

Santogold – I’m A Lady (Diplo Mix featuring Amanda Blank) – from the Top Ranking Diplo Dub megamix off of the Mad Decent label. a little LL with Miss Blank on the mic—how can you wrong?

Boban I Marko Markovic Orkestar – Dzumbus Funk – for fans of Beirut and everything else eastern european, way eastern european. a brass workout.

The Bridge and The House…picture taken by TG

Thanks to everyone who voted for my quick remix of Nude. My personal favorite was the Spor Remix. I liked the pitch and tempo change and how he kept the overall feel of the song.

Martina Topley-Bird – Razor Tongue (Downtempo) – one of the most anticipated releases, at least for me, for this year. still waiting for the doves and madvillain. and like the others that have come and gone (lidell, portishead), it disappoints. well, at least compared to her previous release. another danger mouse production. geezus, this guy is everywhere. there are some good songs, but what mtb had on quixotic/anything was that smokey flavor. it was like you were let into a door for a seedy, sultry, almost dangerous experience. maybe that’s why greg dulli covered a track. here, you get a collection of post lexapro pop songs. i do like this track which has more of that past quality. (correction: the track is not Poison, it was labeled incorrectly)

Santogold – I’m A Lady (featuring Trouble Andrew) (Pop) – she’s been everywhere and has Bjork as a major fan. she’s rapped alongside Spank Rock and been compared often to MIA from the few tracks that have been out there. these comparisons are true for the tracks heard, as they were reworkings by the same producers that have worked with MIA in the past. for her first release, miss santi white shows her 80′s chops with almost every genre covered including dub, punk, rock, hip hop, beats, etc.. the track above is a pop song which also features mister trevor andrew, pro snowboarder extraordinaire and leader of the band trouble.

Plastikman – Spastik (Dubfire Rework) (Techno) – take a member of the progressive house group Deep Dish, have him release a track (Rib Cage) off of what is arguably one of the best, and most influential techno labels (m-nus) and then have that label head, (Richie Hawtin) play said track for the final track of the 2006 Detroit Electronic Music Festival. And then to further add the imaginary fuel to the fire, have this member of Deep Dish rework a classic track for a series of special releases (Nostalgik 3) from the Plastikman days. It’s kind of like having Radiohead ask Coldplay to play on one of their albums, and then have them cover Let Down and release it as a song on a Radiohead single. the backlash has begun. “house music all night long ? say what ?” people are raising their hands in the air and waving them because they do care.

Trevor Andrew and Dingo

santogold’s hype is soon to boil over. very much in the vein of m.i.a. she is doing tracks with spank rock, being remixed by switch and name checked by bjork. i need to listen to more, but what i’ve heard is some pretty heavy stuff. she’s also associated with a band called trouble.

trouble is a project by burton/analog/uninc. snowboard rider trevor andrew. now, when i think of professional athletes going into the music world, i think shaq-fu. i first heard of trouble from the free ‘Analog moving picture project’ dvd which you can find at your local snowboard shop. it features the analog riders from burton riding in japan. also, it has trevor andrew and his band trouble performing a number of songs. at first, i thought it was some type of 80′s tribute band because it has all of the elements that i would normally hate in the electro 80′s music of today, but the songs are catchy and good. go to MKOB for two great tracks from the album. below are two videos for the tracks. the ‘bang bang’ track features santogold. did i mention that he is a sick rider as well.

Videos:
Trouble – Bang Bang featuring Santogold
Trouble – Chase Money