Tag: anticon.

Mini-Feature: Calling All Kids Calls it Quits

Hand in hand.

Hand in hand, the way it should be.

It bums me out something fierce to learn that this week’s installment of Calling All Kids will be its last. The Hyperion Tavern-hosted Friday-night hang has been a go-to for lovers of progressive music and cheap ale since it started up 15 months ago. Particularly, those who are involved with the good fight — writers, editors, publicists, artists, promoters, DJs, Dublabbers — seemed to take a shine to the place. Frankly, it felt like home.

So as I was taking a blog-powered trip down memory lane, I realized I’d never posted this little nugget on Funny Ha Ha. It’s really just a news piece about CAK’s one-year anniversary back in January, but since it includes a chat with the event’s creators Sodapop (Shaun Koplow of Anticon) and Matthewdavid (of Leaving Records), it seemed appropriate.

It also serves as a reminder that while the weekly may be called off, there’s undoubtedly more in store for the Calling All Kids name.

Read it here.

Q&A: Sole Discusses Leaving Anticon

A week and a half ago, Anticon co-founder Sole announced that he and the label he started are officially parting ways. At that time, I spoke to label manager Shaun Koplow about the change, but wasn’t able to reach Sole. We finally linked up, and you can read what he had to say over at LA Weekly‘s West Coast Sound.

skyridaz

Sole And Skyrider as insurgents.

Q&A: Anticon’s Sole Leaves The Label He Founded, Label Manager Shaun Koplow Responds

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Bum. Out. First Def Jux goes on hiatus, and now Sole leaves Anticon to go his own way. Make no mistake, the label soldiers on, but it’s a bit nail-in-the-coffin for the good old Oakland days — which, granted, took place a full decade ago — when the collective was truly that, a group of fresh-faced outsider artists building themselves a plywood castle to shoot arrows from. Here, I share Sole’s parting message, and talk to label manager Shaun Koplow about the fallout.

Deep Puddle Dynamics: Dose, Slug, Alias, Sole

Apocalyptic Urban Visions: E-40, Gil-Scott Heron

No words for this.

I had no words for this, but a second video tip-off from the Pedestrian, a.k.a. the good evangelist J.B. Best (check out the first two tracks on the Lala player, screen right), revealed a second gem in addition to the incredible new E-40 video. Eerily similar in its visual theme is the just-released clip from spoken word heavyweight Gil-Scott Heron. Two of the hip-hop’s biggest DNA-providers crossing paths in the night.

The Best Albums Of 2009

Everyone’s gotta have a list, right? Well, we critics for The A.V. Club were given the opportunity to write on any of our personal favorites that didn’t make the publication’s official countdown. Despite the presence of Fall Out Boy on said countdown, it was assembled democratically, with each critic having received 100 points to distribute as she/he saw fit on up to 15 records (with no more than 15 points for any single album).

The individual ballots have been published, and this link goes directly to mine, which includes writeups on game-changers like Neon Indian and Fool’s Gold, overlooked moments of greatness from DM Stith, Wallpaper, and Themselves, quieter things like Tiny Vipers, and creepy stuff like Fever Ray (plus a few others).

DM Stith, 'Heavy Ghost'

Roundup: Flying Lotus Leaks, Fool’s Gold + Mariah, Anticon, Nite Jewel + Stones Throw

Quick bloggy bits* from around the L.A. underground (and up).

  1. Flying Lotus Leaks New Songs, Lil Wayne Remix
  2. Fool’s Gold & Mariah Carey – Love at First Screech (MP3)
  3. Indie Rap, Live Comedy & Short Films, Oh My! Anticon Hosts A/V Event at Crane’s Tonight (MP3)
  4. Nite Jewel Plays Free Show Tonight, Leaks New Song, Signs To Stones Throw?! (MP3s)

    5. (all stories via West Coast Sound, via LA Weekly)

*If you like it, then you better put a tweet on it.

INCHES SF Edition: Lazer Sword, Tempo No Tempo, Themselves, Young Prisms (MP3)

Howdy ya’ll. Just cooked up a fresh new installment of the INCHES column. This week we take a trip north to the Bay Area (land of my upbringing) to cover some face-meltingly hot vinyl releases from Lazer Sword, Tempo No Tempo, Themselves, and Young Prisms. Free MP3s, videos, awesome photos, awesomer words. Check it.

SF Edition: INCHES reviews Lazer Sword, Tempo No Tempo, Themselves, Young Prisms (MP3)

New Magazine! Plus, Words on Cool Kids, U-N-I, Themselves, and Anti-pop Consortium

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Print ain’t dead, it just shrunk. To wit, Blink Media has just started up a brand new, free L.A.-circulated magazine dubbed Poptimist. It just so happens that said mag could fit into one’s back pocket, and without the classic rolling method that’s loosened so many perfect bindings. I haven’t held a copy in my hand yet, but I do have experience with these things, and I’d guess Poptimist‘s specs to be roughly 10 inches high by 6 wide. Though, if you click here, it can be however big you’d like it to. Once you’re firmly ensconced in those digital pages, you may want to turn to:

– Page 24, for an update from Chicago hipster hoppers The Cool Kids.
– Page 26, to explore the fabric of Compton’s fashion-forward U-N-I.
– Page 45, for a critical take on Anti-Pop Consortium’s Flourescent Black.
– Page 47, to read an overdue lauding of Themselves’ latest, CrownsDown.