Unreality Music

I got an email about Das Racist earlier today, and just have to share this with you. If you like your songs really stoopid, in the tradition of Afroman and Soulja Boy, you will love this.

Das Racist is an art rap/freak folk/world music duo based in Brooklyn, New York, comprised of Queens-born Himanshu Kumar and San Francisco-born Victor Vazquez. The two met at Bard Art College in Massachusetts, where Victor was Himanshu’s resident advisor in a “students of color for social justice” themed freshman year dormitory until he was suspended for a “race-related altercation” in which he slapped another student and told him to “shut [his] cracker ass up.”

Sound like a really nice pair of guys, don’t they? But seriously, Pizza Hut Taco Bell is one of the funniest songs I’ve heard in ages. Check out the remix below, or hit their MySpace or here for the (superior) original version!

The other songs on the MySpace page are equally bizarre but brilliant. You’ve just gotta go and check them out.

OK, it’s the first I’ve heard of this so-called rock supergroup named Chickenfoot. And I’m guessing you’ve missed the newsflash too.

Chickenfoot is a band made up of guitar-whiz and Coldplay-litigator Joe Satriani, ex-Van Halen members Sammy Hagar (vocals) and Michael Anthony (bass). And long-time Red Hot Chilli Peppers drummer Chad Smith. It seems to be a strange, giddy mix, as evidenced by the video on chickenfoot.us, their official website.

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Hip-hop kingpin, Timbaland, is suing his record company Blackground Records for allegedly trying to sabotage his career when he moved into producing records.

He moved from being solely a performer to being hugely successful producing records for other artists. However, he claims this isn’t thanks to Blackground. According to TMZ:

In his lawsuit, filed today in Federal District court, Timbaland claims he just got too damn successful as a producer — and the record label couldn’t contain its jealously and hostility for him.

Timbaland alleges Blackground went on a McCarthy-esque search-and-destroy campaign, contacting various record labels and giving them a million reasons why they shouldn’t hire Timbaland to produce songs.

I’m assuming that because Timbaland is selling records by the truckload all over the world that this isn’t about money. It possibly has more to do with reputation and a little payback for the alleged campaign that could have killed off his lucrative career.

There’s an interesting comment by Justin Timberlake on the EW blog where he says he’s not interesting in making new music right now. It’s quite an interesting piece, because JT is clearly not going to pump out albums just because there’s a record company expectation. Or even fan expectation for that matter.

By the sounds of this quote, it’s all about motivation: he doesn’t have any.

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Mark wrote in to tell us about quarterlifeCRISiS, a relatively newly-formed group from Boston.

All four members are refugees from alt-rock group Stronghold in Siam which folded last year. These days, the band is doing a fine line in feelgood pop/rock tunes that are stuffed to bursting with great hooks.

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This is going to be one of those ‘holy shit’ posts: I got an email from Colby, the bassist with Black Mercies to introduce the band and let me know that they’re planning a short tour of the UK in April.

The holy shit part is that this band is awesome. They rock in all the right ways, if you know what I mean. BB (the lead singer) alternates between cool breathy vocals and impassioned yelps. Musically, I’m reluctant to compare Black Mercies to anyone else. Their brand of rock has a classic tinge to it, but remains distinctive and original.

With a knack for intriguing song names – Ballad Of A Kept Man, The Arsonist, Hellacopters – you’ll want to listen just to find out what the hell the songs are about! And Death 2 Celebrity is probably the best introduction to the band: frenzied drumming and brilliant, melodic guitar work (who’s that, BB again?)

Tour Dates

The UK tour is shaping up as follows, but keep an eye on their MySpace blog for any changes or additions to the schedule.

• 16 Apr 2009 – Jericho Tavern, Oxford, United Kingdom
• 17 Apr 2009 – Club Quattroz, Harlow, United Kingdom
• 20 Apr 2009 – Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
• 21 Apr 2009 – The Leopard, Doncaster, United Kingdom
• 23 Apr 2009 – The Marquee Club, Hertford, United Kingdom
• 24 Apr 2009 – Hope and Anchor, London, United Kingdom

More Mercies

If you want to hear more of the Black Mercies, bounce over to their official website – it contains three songs not on their MySpace player.

Actually – unless the correct me – you can stream their entire Murder It Sweetly album, and if you go to the Media section, there are links to purchase the album at CD Baby or iTunes, depending on your preference.

Don’t forget to friend the band on MySpace and if you like them, spread the word! That’s part of the reason for doing posts like these – so go out and blog about the band, spray their name on walls and stuff like that!

I’ve fallen in love with We7.com, the music streaming service. What’s not to like? It’s a free streaming music service that lets you listen to entire albums online.

The only catch is that you get a brief audio advert at the start of each song. Seriously though, it’s no worse than listening to commercial radio, and you get to listen to complete albums.

Lately, I’ve used We7 to listen to albums by Katy Perry, U2 and other chart type stuff. Better still, I discovered a beautiful album by Beth Rowley called Little Dreamer.

Benefits for members

If you’re a member of We7, you gain the ability to create playlists of your favourite music, which you can send to friends or share with friends.

You can also purchase tracks from the We7 store if you’re a member, and sometimes there are free tunes to download too.

In addition, you get a handy reminder email when new albums go online so that you can keep up to date with the latest releases.

Check out the embedded player below for an example of how We7 can work on your web page:

Little Dreamer

Hide advert

Now, I know this review probably sounds a bit gushy and too good to be true, but We7 is a seriously convenient way to listen to music via the web.

I won’t get into the We7 vs BitTorrent debate, other than to say that what you listen to via We7 is legal. You won’t get a nasty letter from the record industry, and your ISP won’t pull the plug on your Internet connection.

It’s probably the best service of its kind that I’ve seen. Almost the record industry version of Amie Street.

Just go and check it out. Let me know if you like it or not.

You guys are bombarding me with new music lately, and I’m feeling obliged to give a shout out to the best of the bands I’m hearing lately.

Here’s the latest: glasslights or glass.lights as they sometimes spell it. They’re a London-based four-piece making some seriously ambitious tunes.

Check out their song, The King And The Queen, which starts out understated and innocently enough, until the massive chorus bursts forth from your speakers and everything goes mental. I can hear the influence of a stack of classic bands in their sound: a touch of U2 (in the guitar sound on July and Someone Like Me), piano-influenced groups, possibly in the Coldplay/Keane vein.

The thing is, while Coldplay and Keane often leave me cold, Glasslights actually have a pop rock sensibility that’s nowhere near the often-dull sounds of those bands.

Two of the newer songs on the MySpace page, Big Dreams and Brave New Day are an interesting contrast. Big Dreams sees Andy singing in an almost-falsetto and some lush strings. Brave New Day has a strong guitar sound and pounding drums alternating with a whispered verse. Actually, the more I listen to it, Brave New Day is my favourite track so far.

Anyway, I had a brief chat to singer/guitarist Andy to find out more about the band. Firstly, how and when they formed:

The band was formed last summer, June to be precise, when Brian (guitarist) answered my ad in a guildford newspaper. We started rehearsing bits and bobs together, then Brian quickly roped in two of his pals, Harvey (bass) and Dan Kav (drums) to complete the line up. We’ve been writing and rehearsing non stop ever since, and played our first gig at Guildford Boilerroom at the beginning of December last year, which was really fun. We’ve been gigging loads since, and as you will see from the myspace, we’ve got a nice string of gigs planned for the coming months across the country – so it’s all quite exciting.

So, they’ve been writing their own songs? What sort of music influences their songwriting? Andy says:

I know everyone says this, but they truly are very varied with this band. Personally, I’d say I’ve been most affected by classic songwriters – Lennon, Brian Wilson, The Carpenters – all that properly crafted stuff that no-one seems to own up to liking these days! By contrast, drummer Dan is a massive Metallica fan, so there’s a decent mixture of styles going on there.

What’re you waiting for? Bounce over to MySpace and have a listen to Glasslights, and tell me what you think…

I read an alarming piece in The Sun today that suggests Radio 1 bosses may be starting to shop around for the next wave of DJs for the station. All this is based on the claim that DJ’s like Chris Moyles and Jo Whiley are too old for the station’s target demographic.

This won’t be welcome news for Moylesy, who’s somewhere on the slopes of Kilimanjaro right now.

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Look at these six geezers and their oversized branded plane! Who do they think they are, Iron Maiden? Oh, that’s right…they are.

Anyway, Flight 666 is a documentary movie chronicling the band’s world tour and the craziness that surrounds a band on the road.

The tour itself sounds like it was great fun, as the band travelled the globe on their own private plane, piloted by their multitalented lead singer, Bruce Dickinson:

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