Crazy Talk!

Reason #56734 Why I Love Stevie Nicks

Stevie backstage in the early 80s, being awesome.   *sigh*

"Tell Me When to Go" Trackademiks Remix Video

Remember when people actually smiled in rap videos?  Me neither.  But that was the case at one time, or so I've read.   "Tell me when to go", the song that introduced the hyphy movement to those of us outside the Bay Area, also has a great video.  In addition a bunch of badass shit with cars, it's got a bunch of mean dudes full of sheer, unbridled joy for music and dancing.  Revisit this video with a slightly different twist: this version is of a Trackademiks remix which has a great vocal sample and new bassline on the chorus.  Also, this video has subtitles towards the end for those of you who don't spend all your time on Urban Dictionary.

What Makes a Hit?

While this Malcolm Gladwell article is centered around movies, there are some interesting points about music as well.

“We can tell a producer, ‘These are the elements that seem to be pushing your song into the hit cluster. These are the variables that are pulling your song away from the hit cluster. The problem seems to be in your bass line.’ And the producer will make a bunch of mixes, where they do something different with the bass lines—increase the decibel level, or muddy it up. Then they come back to us. And we say, ‘Whatever you were doing with mix No. 3, do a little bit more of that and you’ll be back inside the hit cluster.’ ”

The Formula: What if you built a machine to predict hit movies? [The New Yorker]

Mark Kozelek at The Parish in Austin TX 10-11-06 mp3

Low grade, unedited recording of the entire show here (128 kbps MP3, 1:55 hrs, 105 MB). 

Mark Kozelek (Sun Kil Moon, Red House Painters) is on a solo tour featuring Phil Carney on second guitar.  This set had a great song selection including "Glenn Tipton", "Void", a fresh take on "Michigan", Bob Seger's "Main Street", and an encore medley of "Around and Around" to "Rock and Roll Singer" and closing out with "Carry Me Ohio". While the quality of this recording may be fairly poor, the snappy onstage banter merits a listen (especially his inspired rant on text messaging at 9:42).  Even better, when an audience member asked Kozelek why he didn't just bring more guitars so he didn't have to waste time going in and out of different tunings, Kozelek replied, "You know what, I do have another guitar in the back.  It's the one I'm going to break over your face!"

Good Kozelek interview from this tour here.
http://www.myspace.com/sunkilmoonmusic

Givin' Up

You'll be missed.

Album covers, Monty Python-style

"...this spot takes you on a hilarious, ultra-violent, semi-pornographic tour through just about every famous album cover known to man."

Enjoy (.mov file).

(thanks, motiongrapher)

Sleight of Hand and Twist of Fate

This is U2 doing "With or Without You" circa 1999.  Watch this at home, not at work.  Turn the lights off.  Shut the door so no one can interrupt you.  Turn your phone's ringer off.  Watch this and tell me that your eyes didn't water a little. 

Awesome Traffic-disrupting Videos on California Streets

The old: U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name": Fast, crowded, anthemic.

A comedy troupe re-enacted U2's infamous rooftop performance: Check out their exploits here.

The new: Jose Gonzalez's "Heartbeats": Slow, solitary, sleepy.

 

The Shins: Austin City Limits Festival '06

With corporate logos plastered everywhere, sometimes it's nice just to see blue skies and someone singing their heart out.

Austin City Limits Festival: Best Nudity-related Onstage Banter

The Austin City Limits Music Festival was scorching hot yet again this year.  In addition to throngs of clothes-shedding music fans, the artists also had something to say about shedding some layers.

Cee-lo Green (Gnarls Barkley): [Unbuttoning his shirt] "I'm about to let out a sexy beast!!!"

Marty Crandell (The Shins): "I see a of skin in the audience, and let me tell you folks:  I like it.  It's so hot we might start taking our clothes off!  And then your wildest fantasy just might come true.  Imagine: eight Shins' nipples exposed for your viewing pleasure!!!"  To the dismay of the female fans, The Shins kept their clothes on the whole time.

I turn my camera on The Shins: They take the stage, you take some video

The Shins need your help; they want you to film them during their set at next week's Austin City Limits festival.  Note: Your weapons are limited to cell phone and digital cameras; auteurs with serious gear need not apply.  What does this mean?  The Shins are too lazy to make their own video or they are really into Web 2.0.   And if you're a big enough nerd to know what that means, you really should get involved in this because "I just shot the new Shins video" sounds way cooler than "I'm into social networking sites, wikis, and user-generated content."
More info here.

Lil Wayne: Wikipedia Entry Fun Facts

Damn I love me some Wikipedia.  And I've really been taking a shine to Lil Wayne lately (I just got The Carter II and it's consistently good, which is pretty much a miracle for a rap album these days).  Who knows if any of this is true, but there are some real gems buried in here:

• At the young age of 13, Wayne would drop out of school to fully pursue a rap career.
  Precocious! 
• It should be noted that Wayne didn't rap about adolescent issues, unlike most child rappers who perform bubblegum rap until their late teens. He did, however, refrain from swearing in his rhymes at the behest of his mother, which has contributed to his rapping skills.
  This is probably crap.
• In 2006 Lil Wayne released his critically acclaimed sequel to his Dedication mixtape with DJ Drama called Dedication pt. 2. On it, he included an outro track entitled "Georgia....Bush" on which he addresses the problems surrounding the government's response to Hurricane KatrinaNew Orleans, Lousiana and also places a large amount of blame on President George W. Bush. Throughout the track, he claims that theories of the government sabotoging the levees of New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward were indeed true.
  Not only was this song great, it was 10 times better than that "George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People" song by The Legendary KO (I think he is some shitty Houston rapper).
• Lil' Wayne has one daughter, Reginae Carter, by his stylist.
  Is she still his stylist?  Is this why he rocks dreads?
• On August 14, 2006, Lil' Wayne was arrested on charges of possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana and possession of a controlled substance. Police claim the rapper was in possession of several unlabeled bottles — one containing 60 pills of Alprazolam, a generic form of Xanax that is used to treat anxiety disorders and panic attacks; another containing 59 hydrocodone pills.
  Jeez, Wayne, get a grip - you're practically carrying an entire pharmacy in your trunk!    

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lil_Wayne

Enter the '06 Summer Jam

Don't sweat the disco pitter-patter intro; you'll be over it in two shakes.  The bassline and the whistling start what the Lennon-style voice confirm: you're hooked.  I want to go swimming in these vocals; they're dripping off the notes.  When the girl's voice eases into the first verse you'll pause and let out a sigh where you're trying to not be in love with her by the end of the song.  The chorus is the same dreamy vocals, bongos, and dancehall horn stabs over a bed of vintage keyboards.  I don't know how they figured out how to make this work.  What I do know is that I love this song and I think you will too.  Who are these guys?  And why have they been hiding this gem from us all summer?

Peter, Bjorn and John
myspace.com/peterbjornandjohn

"Hey ya" cover #234465867645

Iron and Wine some guy covers Outkast. Imagine: your friend says, "You've got to watch this!  Some college guy just did a wicked version of "Hey Ya" at the local coffeeshop!"  Yeah, me neither.  But amazingly, this is actually pretty good. 

The Pitchfork Effect

How a tiny web outfit became the most influential tastemaker on the music scene.

Pretty good Wired article; it's nice to see the camera lens facing the other way for once.  My feelings about Pitchfork are love/hate:  Sometimes they are navel-gazing blowhards; other times, I'm thankful for them steering me to music like Girl Talk.

Noise, Hooks, and Harmonies

Just think: If Teenage Fanclub had caught on instead of Nirvana during the 90s, grunge music never would have happened.  And then we never would have had the imitators.  What does that mean?  Creed never would have graduated from the Florida club circuit.  I always thought Teenage Fanclub was melodic and accessible enough to make it big, but they never did.  So instead of the pop genius of these Scottish lads, Creed took over modern rock and the rest is tragedy history.

Teenage Fanclub's "The Concept":

Bruce Schneier: "Protecting Copyright in the Digital World"

Bruce Schneier (pronounced: Shah-nigh-her) is one of the world's leading technology/computer security experts; I was reading over some of his comments on this subject from a few years ago and they are as applicable as ever.  Amidst the constant debate of artists and businessmen, it's interesting to hear what a scientist/technologist thinks of it all:

Protecting Copyright in the Digital World

Every time I write about the impossibility of effectively protecting digital files on a general-purpose computer, I get responses from people decrying the death of copyright. "How will authors and artists get paid for their work?" they ask me. Truth be told, I don't know. I feel rather like the physicist who just explained relativity to a group of would-be interstellar travelers, only to be asked: "How do you expect us to get to the stars, then?" I'm sorry, but I don't know that, either.

I am a scientist, and I explain the realities of the science. I apologize if you don't like the truth, but the truth doesn't change because people wish it would be something else. I don't know how authors and artists will make money in a world of easy copyability. I'm an author myself, personally concerned about protecting my own copyright, but I still don't know. I can tell you what will and won't work, technically. You can argue about whether my technical analysis is correct, but it just doesn't make sense to bring social arguments into the technical discussion.

If I had to guess, I believe companies will find a way to make money despite the prevalence of digital copying. Television stations figured out how to make money despite having to broadcast their programming to everyone. There are lots of financial models that don't require selling individual units to make money: advertising, patronage, pay-for-performance, pay-for-timeliness, pay-for-interaction, public funding. I started Crypto-Gram when I was a consultant; I gave the newsletter away and charged for my time. The newsletter was free advertising. The Grateful Dead gave away concert recordings but charged for live performances. Stephen King kept writing chapters of his electronic book as long as a sufficient percentage of his readers paid him to.

I don't know what model will become the prevalent one in the digital world. But I do know that technical methods to prevent digital copying are doomed to fail. (This is not to say that social methods, or legal methods, won't work.) Those companies that have business models that accept this reality are more likely to succeed than those that have business models that reject it. Complain all you like, but reality is reality.

Link to the source document here.
Link to his earlier more in-depth analysis of this topic here.
Bruce Schneier wikipedia entry.

From McSweeney's: Bedtime Stories by Thom Yorke

Ok, these bedtime stoires are not really by Thom Yorke but the author hits the nail right on the (radio)head.

Here's a sample:

The Happy Little Bunny

Once there was a little bunny who had a little furry tail and a little shiny nose. But the electrodeath cloud of commerce strangled it and its foxhole was converted to a parking lot, a parking lot, a parking lot. Ample parking asphalted over bunny bones. Everyone everyone everyone get in.

BEDTIME STORIES BY THOM YORKE

Soundteam, Not Diddy, Invented the Remix

When you mention Soundteam around here we start to blush and get a little hot under the collar.  They make us feel like a 12 year old girl with a huge crush; they're just that good.  And all that Pitchfork hate makes us feel even more love for them.  We are eager to see these boys go as far as we know they'll go, and we know they'll have the last laugh (this was just the beginning; the music will do the rest).

I was checking out their website and noticed something cool.  When you visit www.soundteam.net, click on "Recital".  After it loads, you get a little app to control the mixes on five of their songs.  Want more drums on "Back in Town"?  Turn it up.  Less vocals on "No More Birthdays"?  Crank it down.  What I'm waiting for is someone to take this to its logical conclusion: turn all the instrumentation down so all that's left are Matt's vocals.  Record the acapellas and drop it on top of some seriously gangsta beats or whatever; before we know it we'll have a new Grey Album, Blue Eyes Meets Bed Stuy, The Black Chronic, or 80 cent.  Now someone go get on this shit so I can bump this instead of Dem Franchize Boys, "Lean wit it, rock wit it" is hella played out.

www.soundteam.net
myspace.com/soundteam

How you gonna talk about flipping cakes when you softer than a muffin?

Battle rap clips usually suck (even moreso if they're from Smack).  These are greatness.

Serius Jones vs Murder Mook - Smack Battle Round 1:

Round 2
Round 3

Top Billin': They Rock the Party that Rocks the Body

I still can't get enough of these cats.  I download shitloads of dj mixes because they're great to play at parties and they are a great way to find out about dancehall/indie/rap artists you've never heard of.  While many of these mixes are vomitacious, Top Billin's "Still Retarded" mix is super great.  This is some party-rockin rudeboys comin with the dopeness right here.   It's almost 3 months old (which is ancient by internet standards) and it sill moves me like those speeches Bob Saget used to give the Olsen twins about choosing right over wrong when I was but a lad.

Download their latest mixtape here.  Tracklist:

01. Top Billin' Gets High Intro
02. Jack Mayborn: Music People
03. E-40: Yay Area
04. Ghettoblaster Sound: Eye Of The Tiger Riddim
05. The Mysterions: Count Success Instrumental
06. Howard Jones vs Spank Rock: Pussy Can Only Get Better
07. Spank Rock: Put That Pussy On Me
08. Missy Elliot: Lose Control (M.A.N.D.Y. Remix)
09. High Powered Boys: Hoes Get Down
10. Ratatat: Seventeen Years
11. Sizzla: I'm With The Girls (ABCDEF Remix)
12. Rockwell: Somebody's Watching Me
13. Zdarlight: Digitalism (Lovelette Remix)
14. Hugh Masakela: The Boy's Doin' It (Carl Graig Remix)
15. Mad Cobra: Gi Mi Gun
16. Bounty Killer: Ghetto Gladiator
17. Burro Banton: Ya Dun No (Remix)
18. Sizzla: Smokin Herbs
19. Mad Stuntman: I Like To Move It (Dancehall Remix)
20. Cosmo Baker: Papa Applause Remix
21. Uffie: Ready To Uff (Tv Track)
22. Ruffy & Tuffy: The Pound Of Rock
23. Optimus vs The Wannadies: Love To Dub You
24. Connie Case: Get Down
25. Chaka Khan: I Feel For You (Turntable Edit)
26. Purple Ribbon All-Stars: Kryptonite (Million Dollar Fingers Remix)
27. Tittsworth: Stay Fly Remix
28. Plastic Operator: Folder (Styrofoam Mix)

myspace.com/topbillinmusic
(btw, I found these guys on the consistently great discobelle)

Crazytalk in Japan: Even Nippon Has Love For Biggie

SOUND Team's Capitol Records Debut: "Movie Monster"

SOUND team's "Movie Monster" is this Crazytalker's most anticipated album of the year.  The verdict?  It delivers without a doubt. For the uninitiated, SOUND team falls under "indie rock" that is dance-able and uptempo, heavy on vintage synths, great melodies with substance, textured layers of sound.  Whereas their (excellent) early work had to compress layers of noise and texture into a tighter space, the improved production on this album allows these attributes to shine that much more.  Singer Matt Oliver's voice sounds more "produced" than previous releases, but not in a bad way: he is just as assured as ever, and continues to emote in a raspy voice that sounds like an old soul in a young man's body.

(Partial) track breakdown:

"Get Out" [MP3]: A gripping opener.  Too short to be anthemic, leaves you wanting more.  Poppy, bouncing lead-off that invites you into the rest of the record.

"Movie Monster" [currently on myspace]: New Order-ish synths and Amnesiac-era Radiohead beats.  Tense.

"TV Torso": Choppy, pulsing cadence where the song never seems to rise up and get where it needs to go.  Feels like a b-side to me.

"Back In Town": Synths don't sound as warm as on earlier versions, but that's a minor gripe: this song is pure heat.  Upbeat, killer synth lines and breaks.  Oliver's delivery is haunting and loaded; he kills on lines like "You don't need to look for trouble, trouble will find it's way to you."

"Afterglow Years" [MP3]: Greatness.  Cinematic, swooning; captures their signature sound.  Guitars and synths drift in and out of each other beautfully.

"Shattered Glass": Agitated, dark song with a chorus of "We're safe now" that sounds intentionally unconvincing (this is only worth mentioning to show that the vocals are complex and nuanced, no one-dimensional uninspired rawk vocals here).  At times, this song is reminiscent of Television (the band).

"You've Never Lived Lived a Day": Minor-key, lilting epic with synths steering the song into darker waters.  Well-placed machine-gun drums on chorus.

"Handful of Billions" [MP3]: Great song closing out a great album.  Some of the early verse parts sound like early U2, rocking and anthemic with a fist-pumpin' mid-song breakdown.  More lines that grab, like "The more you understand, the less prepared you'll be".  This music makes you want to move, people, so put a glide in yo stride and a dip in yo hip!

Previous soundteam post here.
www.soundteam.net
myspace.com/soundteam

Comes out Tuesday, June 6th.  Go buy it.  If you don't like it Crazytalk will gladly refund you 100% of the purchase price of the album!*

*please note Crazytalk's bank account balance sits at -$5,453.25 and counting so participate at your own risk.

Domo Aregato, Mr. Roboto: Crazytalk in Japan

The scene: I'm fresh off of 17 hours of planes and buses to Kobe, Japan and my friend Zack shows up half-drunk.  We throw my bag in a subway locker (a bag that caused some controversy with Japanese customs officials, who thought some vitamins meant I was ridin' dirty) and emerge into the city lights.

Almost immediately, we turn a corner to a city square-type scene where some young Japanese rockers are setting up   The band is called "Jack the Ponette".  I ask them the origin of the name; the lead singer says something unintelligible, I nod my head as if I understood, and then we move on to this colorful exchange:

Cam: "Who are your influences?  Who do you like?  Uh..." *start playing air guitar and making guitar face*
Japanese rocker: "Rowsith"
Cam: *confused look*
Japanse rocker: "Rowsith!" *makes rocking-out hand sign*
Cam: "Aerosmith!"
Japanese rocker: "And Row-ring Stones!" [I figured that one out]

If you would to experience your own version of this bewilderment, here's a screenshot from their website:

The band plays catchy radio-ready rock/pop. The lead singer is a cute, miniature female with a very high voice - lyrics are in Japanese so I have no idea what the songs are about.  I'd put my money on love-lorn woe fuelled by high school angst.  The drummer is tight, and the bassist makes rock faces at the guitarist, who is talented and is all about the epic I-am-a-lead-guitarist-therefore-I-sway-alot.  I thought it was pretty great: catchy music in the beginning of a beautiful evening in Kobe, Japan.  We also sipped on some sizzurp shozu, a Japanese spirit that tastes like mezcal, which probably only rings a bell for the Texan Crazytalkers.

 Serious photoshop filters on their album cover give it a nice dentist-waiting-room quality:

If you're interested: Jack the Ponette website

Bling as sound fiscal policy

Former Cash Money rapper B.G. started it all, or at least gave it a name:

    Bling bling
    Everytime I come around yo' city
    Bling bling
    Pinky ring worth about 50

I love rap, but it certainly encourages some dumbass lifestyle choices (This is not limited to rap. Poison: thanks for the fashion advice).  Rappers, however, have never been renowned for their financial acumen.  They are famous for blowing large amounts of cash; case in point, MC Hammer was selling used cars shortly after his 15 minutes. 

But maybe blingin' rappers are smarter than I think they are.  One cannot separate the concept of bling from gold, silver and platinum - these precious metals are required for the chains, watches, jewelry, and grills that living a bling lifestyle requires.

The value of these precious metals has been skyrocketing.  Bling originated in late 1999; the following chart compares the Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index (which tracks a large basket of national metals and mining companies) against the S&P 500 (which tracks a broad swath of companies, representing overall stock market health).  While the stock market has stayed flat, the precious metals companies are up 150%!

So all of those chains, watches, and jewelry are going up in value.  Not only that, those valuations are rising faster than the stock market as a whole. 

At one point in his career, Master P owned a gold-plated tank.  He probably sold it; why else would his shitty-rappin' ass appeared on "Dancing with the Stars"?

More on rappers and crazy money hi-jinks...

In Atlanta strip clubs, rappers throw bundles of cash in the air: "Making it Rain"

Closing thoughts: Wu-tang Financial

Reason #637 to get excited about SXSW in Austin: Frodo is in the house!

Soundteam Video: "Fastest Man Alive"

Soundteam continues to spit fire: if the band hasn't swayed you yet, this video will do the trick.  The band plays SXSW again this year and if their effing album would come out we could all breathe a sigh of relief and move on to anticipating Christmas and birthdays.  I don't know who made this video; whoever it was really did a  fantastic job, exhibiting the band in both the familiar (lugging drum gear around) and the exotic (sprinting through the Marfa desert).  Soundteam is just a bunch of young guys driving around the world in a van trying to put their mark on it, and the video just makes you want to cheer them on as they move towards accomplishing just that.  And I haven't even mentioned the song yet; It's classic Soundteam: melodic, intense, jagged, and inspired. 

Soundteam.net
myspace.com/soundteam
Practice Letting Go (another Soundteam video: good lo-fi song, long but clever intro)

P.S. Guitarist Sam: Please stop looking like Kenny Loggins in your band's music videos.  Seriously, man: Know when to fold'em...

Making Sense of SXSW: See You in The Pit

So many bands, so little time.  That is the problem (if that even counts as a problem) with SXSW every year.  That's why I'm glad See You in the Pit exists:

See You in the Pit is an MP3 blog exclusively featuring artists who will be playing the SXSW Music Festival, because the best way to learn about music is to hear it. This weblog will self destruct on March 22nd. You have been warned.

The fine ladies of See You in the Pit have been doing this for the last few years, and their site has really helped me get the most out of SXSW.  When you are rocking your ass off to some uber-obscure cool-as-shit band at SXSW this year, flash a gang sign and big up these girls.

www.seeyouinthepit.com

Email meditations on LL Cool J

From: Cam H [mailto:cam@_______.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2006 3:44 PM
To: 'John Portman'
Subject: Why LL Cool J sucks

The remix of Craig Mack's "Flava in your Ear" is awesome.  What's not awesome about it is LL Cool J.   Seriously, who raps about cous cous?  And what is this "tongue kiss a pirahna" business?   

[LL COOL J'S VERSE]
Heesheeee,
Uhhhhh...blowticious,
Skeevee [mmmmmm] delicious,
Gimme cous cous love me good,
Uhh damn,
Hollas to Hollywood
but is he good?,
I guess like the jeans...Uhh,
Flava like pralines,
Sick daddy iaaamean?,
Papa love it when he does it,
Ni**as buzz it,
But tell me was it really just the flava that be clogging your ears,
The most safest behavior is to stay in the clear,
It's all for you...It's really all for you,
{Now what?}
Punch back,
Close your eyes try to munch that,
Oil up your ankles let your Tims tap,
Bite the flava it reacts to your gold caps,
Word to mama,
I tongue kiss a pirahana,
Electrocute a barracuda...I'm here to bring the drama...

---

From: John Portman [mailto:johnp@________.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2006 3:49 PM
To: 'Cam H'
Subject: RE: Why LL Cool J sucks

In his defense, pralines can be very delicious.

 

Checking On Destiny's Child

I am just as eager as you are to hear about Jeff Tweedy's last visit to the dentist, but sometimes you just need a critical glance at the new Destiny's Child single.  Look no further, my dear readers, because today is your lucky day.

"Check On It" (lyrics) featuring Slim Thug is a banger, ladies and gents. Destiny's child has really dropped the ball ever since the dismal, subservient-female anthem "Cater 2 U" (lyrics), so it's nice to see them bring some quality this time. 

"Check On It" rolls out with familiar hiphop beats, 1980s synths and hand claps.  The subject matter is ostensibly about guys watching girls shake dat ass.  Beyonce is only too happy oblige us, and frankly, I think it would be downright wrong to deny Beyonce the pleasure of seeing her audience enjoy her shake the junk in the trunk.

We'll address Slim Thug's contributions first:

• He will keep his hands in his pants and he needs to "glue'em with glue".  While it's glad to hear he will refrain from inappropriate touching, saying "glue 'em with glue" violates International Lyrics Statute #34c sec 2 article iii about ridiculous usage of a word that is both a noun and a verb in the same line.

• Contrary to popular belief, Slim Thug proves that the words "mine" and "H-town" rhyme.  Only some syrup-drinking drawled-out Houston rapper could get away with this shit.

• In addition to using the word "wanksta", Slim Thug continues to cop Fiddy Cent by reminding us that he too frequents the club on a regular basis, but he does not in fact do any dancing in it.

A few words on Beyonce and Co.:

• They continue to sing about out how things look like other things as opposed to how things actually are.  I'm not talking basic similes here, I'm saying these girls actually sing about how things look.  In "Check on it", clubgoers are "lookin' like ya like what ya see."  In "Crazy in Love", Beyonce was "lookin' so crazy in love."  Well, what is it, ladies?  Do we actually "Like what we see"?  Is she actually "so crazy in love"?  These girls need to make up their minds and let us understand what is appearance and what is reality. But the ambiguity continues...
  

• It's unclear if the Destiny girls are gonna hook up tonight.  Note these cryptic lines:
  • You can look at it, as long as you don't grab it
    If you don't go braggin, I'm-a let you have it
  • You think that I'm teasin, but I ain't got no reason
    I'm sure that I can please ya, but first I gotta read you
  It's lyrics like these that made Andre 3000 say "Don't pull the thang out, unless you plan to bang."

• BEYONCE PLEASE CALL ME I KEEP LEAVING MESSAGES YOUR ASSISTANT BLOCKS MY CALLS WHY IS SHE GETTING BETWEEN US CALL ME OR EMAIL ME PLEASE

Destiny's Child - Check On It (Windows Media)
Destiny's Child - Check On It (Real)
Destiny's Child - Check On It (Quicktime)

(Coming Soon: "Law Enforcement Automobile Searches, Interstate Commerce and Chamillionaire's 'Riding Dirty': A Legal Perspective")

The Soundtrack to Saturday, November 19 in Hyde Park, Austin, Texas, USA

Music heard from my porch in the course of one day in Austin, TX:

1. The shitty band in the house across the street doing some shitty jam band noodling.  Seriously, guys, would it kill you to try some vocals every once in awhile?
2. The Bagpipe Bandit: there is an individual who practices his bagpipe out in the open in broad daylight in the middle of the afternoon.  And I thought I only needed earplugs back in my band days.
3. A Pathfinder rolled down my street bumping "The Humpty Dance".  Although it was the briefest of today's musical encounters, it was long enough to hear the immortal words of Shock G saying "I like to rhyme / I like my beats funky, I'm spunky / I like my oatmeal lumpy."

"Live Music Capital of the World" indeed.

I eagerly await future posts from other Crazytalkers describing your area's soundtrack.

Love,

Cam

What Made Milwaukee Famous rocks PBS

If the members of Austin band What Made Milwaukee Famous were robotic lions who had formed like Voltron, Voltron would probably be exhausted right now: in addition to opening a sold-out Stubb's show with the Arcade Fire and the Black Keys, the band played the massive Austin City Limits Festival and recorded an in-studio taping for the legendary Austin City Limits PBS show.  I was able to attend this last event, so here is the story...

We walked to the studio in the heart of the University of Texas-Austin campus at seven o'clock.  A line had already formed along the east side of the building, mostly indie kids, some random austinites, and some Franz Ferdinand obsessives (This Scottish band who Kanye calls "white crunk" comprised the other half of the taping this evening).

After what seemed like forever, we were allowed in and the nervous tension of wondering whether or not we would get to see this show evaporated.  The walk into the studio winded through crowded elevators, dark hallways, and most importantly, a few tables over-laden with full glasses of Budweiser (In our generosity, we eased the burden on that table on several occasions).  The studio was intimate and comfortable.  Please note, my dear readers: the panoramic background of the city of Austin is a sub-hobbit sized, 2-d profile of the city, not a stage literally on the city limits.  Fortunately, we were able to forgive this grave oversight thinks to the prompt replenishment of the beer table.

Franz Ferdinand was tight and fast.  The sound was good and they played their hits and a few new ones, all proud marching and pleasant accents.  They looked good in their suits and played well.  Not really a huge fan, I began to wonder if the guitarist has a Star Wars-type mystery surrounding the identity of his father, and that if he does, he should start with the guitarist from the monkees.

What Made Milwaukee Famous made the stage shortly thereafter.  In case you are new to them, they call their sound "indie pop-rock" on their website.  I see them as some weird mix of Jeff Buckley vocals, Radiohead-leaning production style, and Strokes melodies.   The band bolted out of the gate into "Almost Always Never" and right into "Mercy, me".  Things went off without a hitch, which was a relief - I never doubt just how good this band is, but I wasn't going to blame them if they had butterflies in the stomach while performing on one of the the most famous music programs in the history of television (Especially as they're the first unsigned band to appear on the show in year). But this wasn't the case:

This band was in tune and on time.   They were confident and collected, tight on the transitions and never unsure.  They were excited and wide-eyed, but they sure weren't sweating their ability to play well.  The set was very clearly the sound of the band full of talented members who play great songs and have been busting their ass for the last few years: it was business as usual, and business is great. 

And then things got crazy.  The last song, "Building a Boat from the Boards in Your Eye" broke into a massive, stage-crashing sing-along.  The band was surrounded by audience-members-turned-backup-singers, and the voices were loud and true as the players pounded through the song.  I'm not sure how many people were on stage; what I do know was that I was one of them and it felt like an army.  Just how crazy was it?  Tune in in mid-november (no exact date yet) when it airs.  Especially if you're interested in seeing:

a) a great band
b) me screaming my ass off on public television. 

This is definitely not the PBS of some dude painting watercolor trees.

Why "Battles of the bands" suck, or "He couldn't reach the top in a bad game of Tetris"

Ladies/gents players/pimps:

Have you ever been to a battle of the bands that was even halfway decent?  I sure haven't.  When I think of this concept, I imagine the yesteryear days of my boy Howard