Monday, November 21, 2005

Hey look, I did another interview!


Please check out my interview with Portland, OR, hip-hop artist Ohmega Watts right here. I also reviewed last week's Apes/Modey Lemon show here. See, I'm doing something, sorta. As you astute motherfuckers may also notice, I have replaced the Vertical Slum link with the Swizzle-Stick link, since I'm writing for the Swizz again and tVS is on hiatus, or in a cocoon, or some witty metaphor. Stay alert. Well, gotta go. I'll write some substance sometime.

Monday, November 14, 2005

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

This One's For Emily


Cuz it's my 127th post, and my sister is borderline-obsessed with the overwhelming occurrence of the digits of my parents' address in nature. Anyhoo, how are y'all? I've been busy and lazy at the saaaame time. While not posting here, I have written an astounding total of 0 articles elsewhere. Well, I did writeup and sendoff email interview questions for Ohmega Watts, a new Ubiquity Records hip-hop artist who happens to be performing tonight at the High Five, but he has not yet responded. So yeah, I have no excuses, just self-loathing, hahahaha. I did vote today, which was fun, and I hope you did too.

R.I.P. Mana "China" Nishiura

As I found out from Pitchfork today, a Friday car accident claimed the life of China Nishiura, the current drummer for DMBQ and a past "support" drummer for Shonen Knife. The accident also injured the rest of DMBQ (whom were all released the same day) and their tour manager. As I wrote back in April, DMBQ put on a great show with China on the drumset. I'm now glad that I saw them while she was still with us. Check the Shonen Knife link above for a full tribute. Sad.

Musical Contemplations - Thunder, Lightning, Strike by The Go Team!

I've listened to this album 3 or 4 times now, and I still don't know what to think. This album, originally released in the UK, was issued here in the United States last month by the powers that be at Columbia Records. I guess someone somewhere has deemed them as having some sort of commercial potential, because this certainly doesn't sound like a major label album. Before I go any further and give you the wrong idea, let me state that I do like the album (Furthermore, any Columbusites digging my review are hereby advised to stop by Used Kids, because the place is currently overrun by $9.75 copies). I don't know how to describe the style. Most tracks are sound collages of old-school hip-hop samples, some soul samples, and 70s-sounding instrumentation. Some of the songs sound like a modern take on 70s easy listening, which is just weird. The last track made me think of Abele (please read this) because it rocks the same sample as "Nikole" by Kurious ("Just like my jeans, my self esteem was saggin"), so huzzah for that! There are some tracks that sound like a mic was left on a chair next to a cheerleading practice, because there are vocals but the volume is very low. Overall, though, the enjoyment level is pretty high for me. If I compose these thoughts better, I'll try this again soon.

Well, I gotta run. Abele, Abby, Evan, and Stacy and I will see Tom Vek and the Mobius Band at the House of Blues in Cleveland Saturday night, which should be exciting. I'll try not to keep you waiting so long next time. Peaces.