And without further ado, here is the brand new installment of INCHES, my vinyl column for LA Weekly. If you like your boundaries pushed, this is the one for you. German doom-steeped slow jazz, funky electro jams, tribal grooves and avant garde twosomes abound. As do, of course, all the reviews, photos and free MP3s you’ve come to expect.
I Heart Lung / DWMTG split
DOOM… the notorious hip-hop villain pulled another bait-and-switch in late November, sending his goons to lip-sync in his stead for an advertised appearance at the Grand Star in Chinatown. But Stones Throw… may be making attempts at amends. In a recent DJ set for BBC 1Xtra, J.Rocc leaked a brand new song from the unreleased second Madvillain album.
A short list of recommended L.A.-area shows for the coming week (plus videos for instant gratification). Click “details” for descriptions.
Bonus round! Read the whole thing here (West Coast Sound, LA Weekly)
THIS JUST IN: Leimert Park nu-funk pharaoh Dâm-Funk has leaked, via Twitter, an unreleased epic titled “The Lone L.A. Funksta”… Hard to believe the prolific fella has any extra material considering he’s released five mini albums this year, and yet, “Funksta” isn’t just a free song — it’s 12 minutes of free song. Perfect for Friday-night boulevard cruising.
Hello. Here’s some news.
Earlier this week, Kill Rock Stars announced that it’d acquired the rights to Elliott Smith’s first and last records — 1994’s Roman Candle, originally on Cavity Search, and 2004’s posthumous ANTI- release, From A Basement On A Hill — and that reissues are scheduled for April 6, 2010… [The label also] releas[ed] a free MP3 of a heretofore unheard Smith track… “Cecilia/Amanda”… But despite the usual tendency of the blogosphere to swallow whole all things downloadable and gratis, at least one writer has taken issue with the track.
Read on here, on West Coast Sound (via LA Weekly).
A short list of recommended L.A.-area shows for the coming week (plus videos for instant gratification). Click “details” for descriptions.
Something less, erm, bawdy from the L.A. music universe.
Friends Of Friends — friends of ours responsible for a growing crop of exciting releases — has just announced its signing of L.A./S.F. beat music artist, Shlohmo, a.k.a. 19-year-old Henry Laufer, a former intern at Dubab. […] Shlohmo’s glitchy, bass-heavy soundscapes are already drawing comparisons to the output of Flying Lotus and Nosaj Thing, both of whom are part of the Alpha Pup family, so dude should fit right in.
Read more, and download an MP3, here, via LA Weekly.
The latest installment of INCHES is now live on West Coast Sound (via LA Weekly). Click here to read about new vinyl from Long Beach folk-pop crew Avi Buffalo, New Wave revisionists Psychic Powers, scuzz-surf garage “group” Nerve City, and Stones Throw beat etherealist Koushik. Free MP3s and glorious photos accompany each, of course. Dig in!
Avi Buffalo, "What's In It For?"
As readers of pop culture journalism are well aware (and perhaps lamenting), the dawn of a new decade means twice the list-making. If culture can’t be quantified, well, I’m out of a job. Thus, its in the spirit of thankfulness, nostalgia and horizon-gazing that I offer to you, dear overstretched reader, the “Artists Of The Decade” as determined by myself and the good editors of Poptimist. Read it online (page 34), or pick one up ’round the streets of L.A. Huzzah!
Poptimist, Issue 2
Quick bloggy bits* from around the L.A. underground (and up).
(all stories via West Coast Sound, via LA Weekly)
*If you like it, then you better put a tweet on it.
Chris Writes Things 