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Upcoming Sunday's Racer Session Is Still On

Posted by Megan Seling on Thu, May 31, 2012 at 4:20 PM

Every Sunday night Cafe Racer hosts Racer Sessions, a weekly open mic, of sorts, which was always curated by different artists and musicians. And they don't plan on stopping now—this Sunday's Racer Session is still on. This went up on their Facebook page earlier today:

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Watch the Racer Sessions Facebook page for updates.

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Upcoming / Love Benefit Shows for the Families of Yesterday's Shooting Victims

Posted by Megan Seling on Thu, May 31, 2012 at 3:47 PM

Greg Garcia of the Tractor Tavern just wrote to let us know that the Tractor and Conor Byrne are teaming up to put together a couple benefit shows to raise money for Cafe Racer and the families of yesterday's shooting victims.

The shows will take place Tuesday, June 19th, at both the Tractor Tavern and Conor Byrne and any bands or musicians who are interested in participating can e-mail Greg at booking@tractortavern.com.

Another benefit show will happen this Monday, June 4th, at Hale's Palladium. There will be "representatives from Circus Contraption, the Bad Things, Beefcake, the busking community and the circus community across the board." It starts at 7 pm, goes until 11 pm, and admission is by donation. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the families of all victims, as well as the survivor of yesterday's shootings.

My heart feels really heavy today. But to see the community quickly pull together, to help in any way they can, definitely helps a little bit.

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The Stranger Suggests

FILM/MUSIC

‘Rhythm on My Heels’

Josef Škvorecký was born in Czechoslovakia in 1924 and died in Toronto earlier this year.

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Win It! Win a Pair of Tickets to This Weekend's Grammy MusicTech Summit

Posted by Megan Seling on Thu, May 31, 2012 at 2:29 PM

This Saturday the EMP is hosting the Grammy MusicTech Summit, which is an all-day event featuring discussions, workshops, and demos from folks like DJ Spooky, Sean Horton of Decibel Fest, Aaron Starkey of KEXP, and more. Tickets aren't cheap—they're $100 if you're not a member of the Recording Academy (it's free if you are and your $100 can be put towards a membership), but we've got a pair of tickets to giveaway!

To enter, just e-mail your first and last name to freetickets@thestranger.com with MusicTech Summit in the subject line.

You can learn more about the event here. And see what the day's schedule looks like after the jump:

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#1 Fan Y'all Know What This Thursday Needs?! Some Hound Dog Taylor

Posted by Mike Nipper on Thu, May 31, 2012 at 1:43 PM

Its funny, not ha-ha funny, but kinda sad, when contemporary blues guys get all upset when they don't get taken seriously. Even if they can PLAY, bro...but, but.....BUUUUUTTTT no one seems to come at the blues like they once did, wide goddamn open like Hound Dog Taylor. His playing was ALWAYS a party. I can't imagine this song, "Funky," NOT going all night long.

Blues ain't meant to be sacred, the blues is meant to be profane. If you need more proof dig this LIVE Hound Dog from Ann Arbor, 1973. Sorry for the shit video quality, the sound tho...dead on for the Hound.

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Shit Talk Corned Beef: Pusha T Vs. Lil' Wayne

Posted by Larry Mizell, Jr. on Thu, May 31, 2012 at 1:37 PM

(A far better history of the tensions between between Pusha and Wayne can be found here.)
Pusha T, formerly of the Clipse, is these days a solo artist on Kanye West's GOOD Music imprint on Def Jam, whose parent company is Universal; he's been unsuccesfully trying to spark a beef with Lil Wayne since 2006 or so (y'know, the exact moment that white indie rock bloggers fell in love with the Clipse and started jocking coke rap). Back then, Pusha was streamed that Wayne was wearing the same clothes as the Clipse, which is kind of Oscar night of him. But he just recently started it all back up, going after Wayne and Drake—who is an artist signed to Wayne's imprint on Cash Money Records, who are also part of Universal. The reason I point out all this about their record companies in such, is because rappers, to paraphrase Shabazz, really believe in their labels.

Pusha, in his song "Exodus 23:1," taunts Drake about his record deal:

contract all fucked up/I guess that means you all fucked up/You signed to one nigga, that’s signed to another nigga, that’s signed to three niggas/Now that’s bad luck

Ironic, seeing as Pusha, whose old group was famously plagued by label problems (crackers not playing fair at Jive and all) is not in a situation that is at all different. In fact, what's really bad luck, historically, is being fucking signed to Kanye West's label—while artists on Lil Wayne's label, such as Drake and Nicki Minaj, have seen mega-success.

To me it, like just about every so-called beef that happens nowadays, all sounds like a pre-fab wrestling storyline cooked up in some Universal boardroom to trick teenagers into buying mp3s. The OG Andy Milonakis treats the beef with all the seriousness it merits:

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Album / Upcoming / Video The Making of Dark Time Sunshine's ANX

Posted by Dave Segal on Thu, May 31, 2012 at 1:30 PM

Tune in as Dark Time Sunshine (Seattle MC Onry Ozzborn and Chicago producer Zavala) talk about the process of creating their forthcoming album, ANX, which they've been mixing in Alaska with help from engineer Jack Rylands. It's illuminating.

Dark Time Sunshine's record-release party happens July 21 at the Crocodile.

Hear The Plot Against Common Sense here.

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Album Listen to the New Future of the Left Album

Posted by Megan Seling on Thu, May 31, 2012 at 12:35 PM

...and decide for yourself if it deserved that 6.0 Pitchfork review. (And, if you haven't already, read FotL's Any Falkous's response to that 6.0 review.)

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Win It! Win Tickets to Tomorrow's Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band Show

Posted by Megan Seling on Thu, May 31, 2012 at 11:59 AM

Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band are celebrating the release of their new EP at Columbia City Theater tomorrow night, and you can go to the party for free! To enter, send your first and last name to freetickets@thestranger.com with Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band in the subject line.

Wintersleep and You Are Plural are also on the bill and tickets are still available here.

Good luck!

(Also: if you need a good laugh [who doesn't right now?] you can also still enter to win tickets to Reggie Watts!)

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Sasquatch Last Sasquatch Recap Ever!

Posted by Bree McKenna on Thu, May 31, 2012 at 11:39 AM

Post submitted yesterday morning but published this morning due to editorial resources being dedicated to yesterday's murders. —Eds

Sasquatch App had some pretty hideous artwork happening

Sasquatch App had some pretty hideous artwork happening

The Sasquatch App was really helpful for schedules, band bios, maps, and info, but you had to look up what you wanted to see pretty quickly because after 30 seconds it would promptly crash. Also, the cartoony artwork for the app and adorning the sides of every stage is kind of terrible.

Hospitality is a K Records band from Brooklyn that I found out about from impatiently skipping around the Sasquatch festival website's media player of bands playing the festival. I was so pleasantly surprised by their song "Friends of Friends," that I made it a point to check them out. They were fun and charming live, plus the wind was blowing so hard during their set on the Bigfoot Stage and it reminded me of the music video for Blur's "Song #2."

Kyle Johnson
Hospitality

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Block Party / Video Blouse - "Time Travel" (and More)

Posted by Kathy Fennessy on Thu, May 31, 2012 at 11:07 AM

Captured Tracks
Misty Marie

Though they hail from the Northwest, I haven't been keeping up with Blouse,* in part because of that twee name—really, Blouse?—but I decided to give the video below a try, and I'm glad I did. Based in Portland, the band started out as a trio and now features singer/guitarist Charlie Hilton, drummer Paul Roper, keyboard player Misty Marie, and bassists Patrick Adams and Jacob Portrait of Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Captured Tracks released their first full-length last fall.

* Not to be confused with drummer Benjamin Thomas-Kennedy's Blouse (u.s.a.) persona.

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Song Hear Codeine's Previously Unreleased "Median (Peel Session)"

Posted by Dave Segal on Thu, May 31, 2012 at 10:58 AM

The great Numero Group label is reissuing slowcore heroes Codeine's Sub Pop catalog, along with many previously unreleased songs, including "Median (Peel Session)," which you can hear below (expect no major deviations; this is as methodical and gravely poignant as you'd expect). The retrospective, titled When I See the Sun, comes out June 19.

Codeine play the Triple Door July 9-10.

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Song / Shit Talk "It sounds like a farting robot": Th' Mole's "I'm Over Dubstep (Splatinum Remix)"

Posted by Dave Segal on Thu, May 31, 2012 at 9:43 AM

Th’ Mole’s “I’m Over Dubstep” (remixed by Seattle duo Splatinum) expresses the feelings of many with this meta-takedown of a genre that’s winning over the naïve hearts and addled minds of young America. Th' Mole drops many memorable couplets here, but “It’s the kind of music I can take a shit to/It’s the kind of music I can slit my wrists to” takes the disco biscuit. Runner-up? "I would rather listen to a psytrance Beatles cover/I would rather listen to my parents yelling at each other." Your move, dubstep.

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Tonight Tonight in Music: Bo$$ Fam, Boombox Massacre, Second Family, Peta Tosh, Awall, Catch Hell, Death by Steamship, SAYS, PotatoFinger, Girl X, Flave, Dash EXP, Illmaculate, Cool Nutz, Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground and Sounds Major

Posted by Elena Buckley on Thu, May 31, 2012 at 9:20 AM

Bo$$ Fam, Boombox Massacre, Second Family, Peta Tosh, Awall

(High Dive) See My Philosophy.

More Info

Catch Hell, Death by Steamship, SAYS, PotatoFinger, Girl X, Flave, Dash EXP

(Electric Tea Garden) See Data Breaker.

More Info

Illmaculate, Cool Nutz

(Nectar) See My Philosophy.

Buy Tickets

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RIP Guitar Deity Pete Cosey, 1943-2012

Posted by Dave Segal on Wed, May 30, 2012 at 4:36 PM

Phenomenal guitarist Pete Cosey passed away this morning of unknown causes. He was 68.

The Chicago-based Cosey was best known (but criminally under-recognized) for his work with Miles Davis’ dynamite early-/mid-’70s ensembles and as a crucial session player for the Chess/Cadet Records stable (Rotary Connection, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, etc.). Cosey’s fiery, intricate yet powerfully torqued style played a major role in elevating Davis LPs like Dark Magus, Agharta, Pangaea, and Get Up With It to classic status. He was the best possible successor to the departing John McLaughlin that Miles could've hoped to have landed. In his later years, Cosey played with Gary Bartz, John Stubblefield, and others in Children of Agharta, a group that kept the torch for Davis' mind-blowing electric years repertoire burning.

Chicago Reader posted a fine obit on its blog today. RIP, Pete Cosey.

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Mischief What's the First Record That You Shoplifted?

Posted by Derek Erdman on Wed, May 30, 2012 at 3:19 PM

Most mornings I spring out of bed with the bass line from the Dead Milkmen's "Serrated Edge" going through my head. Today was different though; I woke up to the intro of Hüsker Dü's "Friend, You've Got to Fall," for whatever reason. I was compelled to dig that record out and listen to it, when I remembered it was the first piece of music that I shoplifted.

I'd guess there are some people who've never stolen a thing in their life. Is it common practice as an early teen to go though a phase of theft? Stealing from friends is certainly a total bummer, but is shoplifting a recognized rite of passage?

I remember stealing the copy of Hüsker Dü's Warehouse: Songs and Stories. I found myself in one of those mostly tapes music shops of the late 1980s, I think it was called Tape World or maybe Tape Land. It was at Great Northern Mall in North Olmstead, Ohio. I was into skateboarding and girls and I think I was with my friend Tony. The copy that I stole was in a cassette anti-theft plastic keeper, but Tony assured me that we could tear it apart when we were outside. I jammed it into my shirt and we bolted out of the door.

Aside for that, I took a handful of Jam singles from a record store in Kent, Ohio. Also, there was a Fall 7" box set that I took from a record store in Cleveland, Ohio, owned by a really grumpy old guy who would yell at customers almost all of the time. I guess I took that out of spite.

Now I'm feeling pretty awful for contributing in my small way to the collapse of the music industry. What was the first piece of music that you shoplifted?

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I'm Still a Virgin Bill Cosby Is Always Bill Cosby

Posted by Mike Nipper on Wed, May 30, 2012 at 3:02 PM

Photo crud: Nipsh

I've written about Bill Cosby's musical adventures before, but today as I was looking through some records I came across his album Silver Throat, Bill Cosby Sings. It was the first album on which he actually attempts to sing, like all proper. The results were, are, if considering it today at least...meh. Uh...he tired and I'm sure got paid.

The best song on the LP, "Little Old Man," was pulled as an 'A' side. It's obviously a funny Bill Cosby story vamped over Stevie Wonder's "Uptight." It went gold, tho' the story is muddled and the track clocks in at OVER four minutes, and can still be heard playing at some soul nights.

So...it's okay, RIGHT? I like it. The flip,"Don' Cha Know," ain't too bad, either. Cosby also got writer credits for that 'B' side. Some of the other LP tracks, uh...not so much. His attempt at Jimmy Reed's "Big Boss Man"...fails, but a track like"Mojo Workout" fares better. The stereo separation on the LP actually works against Cosby as a singer. His voice shoulda been buried a bit more, like on the mono mix of "Little Old Man" 45, for it to work better. My complaining aside, this is a good "found it at a thrift store" record; never pay more than a couple bucks for it!! It's STILL a Bill Cosby record! By the way, the group backing Cosby was indeed the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, if you're trainspotting.