Tonight’s Hootenanny will be taking place at The Beat Coffeehouse in Minneapolis (Hennepin & 28th), and the free event will include the Mad Ripple (Jim Walsh), Jason Shannon and Suzanne Vallie. As always, expect the unexpected with these things, bring a flask, and donations are accepted. The evening kicks off at 6:30(ish) and will run for about three hours.
In one of Nate Patrin’s many great lines from his Pitchfork review of Justice’s A Cross The Universe, he points out, “What’s there to do now that they’re already pushing a live album right after their debut?” I think that’s the point of the album, to keep the fire burning somewhat until they try to figure out what the hell they’re going to follow up their debut. While being one of my favorite albums of 2007, † wasn’t universally received by the DJ community as earth shattering, DJ Magazine going as far as ranking the duo 73rd in terms of the Top 100 DJs of 2008. And on Universe, “Phantom 1.5″ is essentially a segue between “Phantom” and “D.A.N.C.E.,” not to be confused with “Phantom pt. 2″ which comes later. Despite adding various diversions to the track, hinting at what’s to come in the set even, “Phantom pt. 1.5″ does little to expand on anything that the French pair of knobtweakers have done. In that sense it’s the perfect representation of what A Cross The Universe is, a reflection of what we know the duo is capable of, but not necessarily a recording that gives any indication of what is to come.
One of my favorite documentaries of 2008 was Jason Kohn’s Manda Bala (Send a Bullet) an in-depth look at kidnapping and corruption in Brazil. It also featured one of the year’s best soundtracks, digging out some old Brazilian Tropicalia and Bossa Nova gems from the likes of Tim Maia and Os Mutantes. The one track I can’t get enough of is Tom Zé’s “Ma,” a downright sinister brass and keyboard jam that seems like it could be Brazil’s answer to Link Wray’s “Rumble.” The track features Zé’s always unusual percussive style, classical guitar, and vocals that sound like they came right out of the Temple of Doom. In my mind’s eye I see tough Brazilian street kids preparing for warfare in the favelas every time I listen.
The Bird and The Bee are releasing their sophomore effort, Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future on Blue Note this month. The title of the record was influenced by the U.S. military’s recent invention of the functional ray gun, and on a wider scale: the frightening fact that the sci-fi inventions of our past have become the present reality (Segways anyone?). On a lighter note however, the duo of Inara George and Greg Kurstin have also taken some of the less scary aspects of our past (Tropicalia, Psychedelia, etc.) and have rolled them into something lighthearted and danceable, and most importantly: non-lethal. (more)
Culture Bully is proud to present The Absent Arch, Suzanne Vallie & Les Ourses @ the Acadia Cafe Thursday, January 29, 2009. Supporting the band’s recently released album, Keep Calm and Carry On, The Absent Arch are playing a number of dates in January leading up to the Acadia show including A Paper Cup Band’s January 9 release show at the Hexagon Bad and a set at Eclipse Records on the 24th.
Additionally, Will Markwardt of The Absent Arch has compiled his list of the Top 25 Albums of 2008:
#25) Titus Andronicus Airing of Grievances
While I think the album is great, if it wasn’t for their live show, Airing of Grievances would not have made it on the list. While nothing beat seeing Patrick Stickles hanging from the ceiling at the Entry back in July, the energy of the show really does translate to the album. Not to mention “Joset Of Nazareth’s Blues” is one of the best songs of the year. (more)
If one could buy stock in musical futures I would have mortgaged the farm to invest in Janelle Monáe after seeing her open for Jamie Lidell at Minneapolis’ Varsity Theater last fall. The young pompadoured singer from Kansas City was unbelievably larger than life, and her combination of energy, looks, and musical talent couldn’t possibly put her anywhere else but on the road to mega-stardom. Her hit “Many Moons” is the first single off of The Chase Suite EP, and one of my favorite tracks of 2008. Generally I don’t go in much for today’s blend of overproduced Hip-Hop/Soul jamz, but this track is on another level. The production is reminiscent of Outkast (whom she has worked with) and the lyrics are like a post-apocalyptic nightmare. Monáe comes off like a smarter, sassier Beyonce, proving that intelligent lyricism doesn’t necessarily have to be absent in so called “club music.”
Top Five Backstage Moments of 2008 by Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater
#1) When our US tour with Clinic passed though our hometown of Austin, we wanted to do something nice for the Liverpudlians, maybe show them around a little bit, if there was time (which, on tour, there almost never is). But after sound check, I was a little surprised when they all lit up at the prospect of riding in the back of my little Mazda pickup. I loaded them in and took them on a little cruise to Thor’s house through the back streets of East Austin, opening the window in the cab so we could shout to one another. Every time I glanced in the mirror, I saw Brian, Clinic’s affable bassist, beaming back at me. “This would be completely illegal back home!”, he exulted.
#2) A fall east-coast tour ended in New York, and I drove the van back to Texas alone, playing a few puzzling solo shows along the way. One was in Asheville, NC, where it was cold and raining, and everyone seemed to be half-asleep. I don’t remember the show very well, but I stopped in to Harvest Records and picked up some new music – Robbie Basho, James Blackshaw, another of the Secret Museum of Mankind series (North Africa), and the new Mount Eerie mini-album, “Lost Wisdom.” I liked them all, but it was Mount Eerie that stayed in the player for the next few days, through the Appalachian foothills and the deep south. The leaves were turning, the weather was half-rainy and unsettled, and this beautiful, sad album seemed to have grown out of the landscape.
#3) The handful of shows we played with Coldplay were surreal, to say the least. We all started giggling the first time we drove our little van into the bowels of the LA Forum and pulled up next to five tour buses and six tractor-trailers. It was like mooring your motorboat to an aircraft carrier. Everyone on their team was very gracious, and CP sent us champagne on the first night and kindly let us crash their after-parties, but I kept feeling like we were stowing away. When the house lights went out and we walked up the ramp to the stage, I couldn’t believe they were letting us get away with it.
The audiences were funny. At first, I think some of them thought we were the main event, and cheered accordingly, but when they realized their mistake they settled in to their cell phones and screened us out. The last night was in Las Vegas, at the MGM Grand - a place I never thought I’d see, much less be playing inside, and I was overwhelmed, onstage, with a feeling of how borrowed and strange it all was. After the third song, I sat down at the keyboard, looked out at the crowd, and yelled “Hello Las Vegas!”, because why not? I figured I’d probably be jeered. But they roared, and after that moment I felt like a lot more of them were with us for the rest of our set. I had never realized how much an audience, at a show on that scale, just wants to know that you can see them.
#4) One of our last shows in New York this year was at Le Poisson Rouge, a dark, elegant but un-stuffy club with great food, great sound, and an excellent piano. (Kevin: “It’s like this place was designed by friendly vampires.”) We shared the little dressing room with Eric Carlson and William Harvey, two droll, close-cropped, bespectacled violinists who seemed to have stepped out of the early 20th century for the evening. They played Bartok’s 44 duets for violins before we went on, which is kind of like “double nickels on the dime” in that each duet lasts about a minute. After each song they announced the title of the next one (“Jeering Song,” “Pillow Song,” “Matchmaking Song”), which gave the dark but spirited melodies a whimsical, narrative quality. I’d never heard these pieces performed live before, and something about William and Eric’s demeanor suited them perfectly. Or was it the other way around?
#5) Winter 2008 seems a long time ago, but Thor and I spent a few weeks of it touring the southeastern and southwestern US with Bill Callahan. It was one of the oddest and most peaceful tours I’ve ever been on; even the tour manager spent a fair amount of the trip asleep in the back of the van. I remember little moments: swimming in a spring in Florida while it was six degrees in Chicago, a grim drive through eastern Kansas to Tulsa, where thousands of trees had snapped and burst in an ice storm, and, best of all, a stop at the Petrified Forest national park in Arizona. We pulled over at a parking area overlooking the Painted Desert and got out, shivering in the wind. A raven flew over the lip of the canyon and peered at us from above, calling in a weird, tentative way, and Bill suggested that maybe it wanted some pita bread. I went back to the van, rummaged in the box of last night’s rider, and tossed a few scraps into the parking lot. Sure enough, the raven landed, picked up the piece of bread in its huge bill, and made a different call; at which its partner appeared from down in the canyon, and the two flew off together. They were just working their beat. So were we.
I finally got to the debut album Does You Inspire You from Chairlift—a hype band that I had managed to avoid, forget about, and altogether miss earlier this year. Their album came up on a lot of year end lists, which gave me an extra motivation to finally explore it beyond their iPod single, “Bruises,” that helped gain them recognition. They fall comfortably into the “dream pop” genre that included a few of the better bands that put out discs this year, including Beach House, Fight Bite and Grouper. They are musical kindred spirits with MGMT and were touring partners with Yeasayer, which may positively or negatively affect how you feel about them right off the bat. Their songs, both delicate and beautiful, may not be for everyone, but Chairlift were successful in making a strong debut album of shimmering pop music. (more)
Even if you hate tits and ass, the strip club isn’t going to be a bad place to be tonight as Gay Witch Abortion hosts their CD release show at Deuce Deuce. From what I hear the band won’t actually be performing on the stage with all the “action” (but that would be awesome-o and I would pay cash for video footage of it), but the combination of one of the best local albums of the year with a whole lot of skeezyness sounds like a perfect night regardless!
Five of My Favorite Music Things in 2008 by Dave Fischoff
#1) Dave Tompkins
Dave Tompkins is a music writer I found out about this year. I was at the Printers’ Ball, a once-a-year Chicago event where you can check out bands and DJs and load up on all the free magazines you want. I picked up an copy of Stop Smiling, their “Hip Hop Nuggets” issue, and there was a story in it by Mr. Tompkins called “The Night Time Master Blaster.” He starts by talking about the time his friend collapsed on the front lawn from an asthma attack, then explains how this led to his discovery of electrofunk. It’s a personal essay that also doubles as a brief history of the Vocoder. Which, of course, couldn’t be more appropriate reading in 2008, the year of the Autotune.
#2) Playing the Building by David Byrne
This was a musical instillation that David Byrne set up in the Battery Maritime Building in New York this year. He put an old church organ in the middle of an empty warehouse and ran wires from the back of the organ to the windows, radiators, plumbing and other surfaces inside the space. The organ was set up so that any time a key was pressed, an electrical signal traveled down one of the wires to a little machine that would tap on a window, buzz in a radiator, or blow air through a pipe like a giant flute. Anyone could come in, sit down at the organ and literally play the building.
#3) Cassette From My Ex
Jason Bitner, one of the guys who started Found Magazine, has a new website project he’s calling Cassette From My Ex. The idea is simple and great: he asks various musician/artist/writer types to pull out that mixtape from an old flame that’s still tucked away in the bottom of a shoebox or the back of a desk drawer and share it with the rest of the world. Each mix is streaming in its entirety on the website, along with the homemade artwork and handwritten tracklistings that make these things still beautiful for the ears and the eyes. And the person sharing gives a guided tour behind the events that led to the tape being made in the first place. Mostly, they’re stories of young love, when relationships are funny and sad and awkward and wonderful and summed up perfectly in pop songs.
#4) Mark Ronson’s Authentic Shit show on East Village Radio
This isn’t a 2008-specific thing, but it’s the first year I started listening regularly to this podcast. Mark Ronson is a big time producer (Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, Kaiser Chiefs), but there’s absolutely nothing slick or professional about his radio show, and I mean that in the best way possible. He hardly ever lets a song play through without breaking in to make some comment, and sometimes when he realizes he’s been talking too long he’ll just start the track back at the beginning. I know this sounds like it could be completely annoying, but I find it really endearing—he’s just so damn excited about the music he’s playing and he wants you to be excited, too. It’s like that friend you had in middle school, the one who’d come over with a new record for the stereo, put in on, and proceed to give a riff-by-riff analysis, never missing a note on his air guitar.
#5) Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell
I moved to New York this year, and one of the first things I did was head over to the MoMA for a screening of this documentary about Arthur Russell. I first got into Arthur Russell’s music through his cello songs, where he uses his cello to accompany his voice the way most people would use a piano or a guitar. It’s such a beautiful and unique sound, but it’s only one of the musical personas he came up with in his short but very prolific life. I don’t think he saw many boundaries when it came to genre, and he seemed to think it was perfectly natural to float between pop, rock, disco, folk and modern classical. There’s a scene in the film of him walking around New York with his Walkman and I can only imagine how excited he’d be if he’d lived long enough to have an iPod. A whole world of shuffling, blurring genres, all of it equally exciting and good.
Seattle duo Katherine Hepburn’s Voice released Unlimited Nights and Weekends this year, an album that can be maddeningly difficult to track down and purchase. The pair of Shannon Perry and D.W. Burnam creates lo-fi experimental Dream Pop, that reminds me quite a bit of local Minneapolis band (former band?) Coach Said Not To. The comparison particularly comes across in this track, “Out Like This” a whimsical piano driven melody with just a hint of melancholy. This song is among their more conservative, but I love it for its lovely hook and almost childlike singalong vocals. Also, as a bonus, here is the unreleased “Elevator.”
Fuck Knights is a Minneapolis based band that has a sound that is nearly as abrasive as their name would lead you to believe. More accurately, they sound like a local version of the great garage rock band Black Lips. The band, who is offering a free live album on their Myspace page, from a show they played at Big V’s earlier this year, is a great up and coming band that have been playing a lot lately around the Twin Cities. I can’t think of a better venue for this scuzzy, garage rock provocateurs than the decrepit St. Paul venue Big V’s. The very sub par sound quality does not take a lot away from the general feel of their songs and actually is a good medium to present these fuzzy freak outs.
Saturday night at The Cedar Cultural Center there was a show that brought together a Minneapolis music institution and a young up and coming band that he recently recorded with. Dosh, who played drums on a number of tracks on Dark Dark Dark’s debut full length, welcomed them to a sold out Cedar for a show (dubbed “Dosh and Friends”) that displayed two unique, but equally excellent bands at one of the best local venues. (more)
If your knowledge of Minneapolis hip hop begins and ends with Atmopshere, Brother Ali and Doomtree, now is the time to update your CD collection. Saturday night at the Entry there was a release show for Mill City Scene, a brand new print and online publication that is dedicated to the Minneapolis and St. Paul hip hop scene. To celebrate the release of their first edition, they brought together an embarrassment of riches that showed both the strength and the diversity of local hip hop. (more)
Culture Bully proudly presents this retrospective mix, combining elements of the year that was, represented by the collected efforts of a hodgepodge of producers from around the world. 2008 Mashed is an album that utilizes the popular, the outrageous, the kitschy and the underappreciated. So as history welcomes the pop music of 2008 and accepts it as its own, we thank you for listening and hope that you enjoy this collection.
In addition to the stand-alone tracks which are offered below as individual mp3s, there are two additional links that lead to different versions of the album. The first zip mixes the songs together in the order which they appear below, dovetailing the tracks and eliminating dead-space. The second is a zip of the 19 stand-alone tracks - none have been altered.
In addition to Culture Bully’s annual list of the year’s best mashups, we’ve asked a few friends to join us this year by sharing their lists as well. In addition to the lists and commentaries we’re offering mp3 downloads of each of the mashups listed below. Thank you for reading Culture Bully, and I hope you enjoy these lists.
