Friday, June 26, 2009

Hip-Hop Fridays: X Clan "Xodus" (1992)


Hard hitting, Afrocentric classic from 1992.

Hijacked from allmusic
"More of the same is hardly a bad thing when considering X Clan's second album. They're still jacking beats -- from Special Ed, D-Nice, and Main Source, for instance -- and they're still spreading their knowledge with righteous, if occasionally vague, verve. The most significant change in the group's sound is the decreased reliance upon Funkadelic and George Clinton samples. This serves them well and shows that they had more going for them than most people gave X Clan credit for. Furthermore, expecting them to come out with some form of party jam or anything less serious than their typical material was just plain wrongheaded -- they wouldn't've worn it well at all. And so, they stick to what they do best: railing against racism and the other issues that hold blacks down ("F.T.P.," which refers once again to Yusef Hawkins' 1989 beating at the hands of a white mob) and bolstering their doctrine with tight, detailed productions. The normally relaxed and somewhat reserved Brother J breaks from his usual playbook on "Rhythem of God" with a blitzing, forceful delivery. On "Cosmic Ark," he rhymes with such authority and momentum that the end of the track seems to make him stop prematurely; the track lasts five and a half minutes but could've gone on into double digits. Not quite as excellent as the debut, Xodus is nonetheless another album lacking dull moments. Unfortunately, the group split before it was able to make a third. "

Xodus Video
Listening to this track, it seems like X-Clan beat Dr. Dre to the use of high pitch synth wails that made "The Chronic" so recognizable. Obviously Dre would be the one to make the distinct sound a must have for rap records for the couple years following "The Chronic".



Download "Xodus" here

Zulu's Melting Wax Sale! Saturday, June 27th and Sunday June 28th


I don't normally post too much about the goings-on here at Zulu Records, but we are having a massive Summer sale this weekend that is not to be missed. As if 20% off all new LPs wasn't enough, we're also dropping 30% off all Collectors and Used vinyl. That's right, all those rare punk 7"s that were somewhat out of reach are now looking a lot more feasible. Plenty of items that I've wholesaled and brought into the store will also be looking a lot cheaper. Come by and pick up Thee Oh See's "Zork's Tape Bruise" LP, Ducktails "s/t" LP, Emeralds "Allegory Of Allergies" 2LP, Sun Araw LPs and plenty of other goodies are now cheap as hell. Break open the piggy bank, kiddies. See you this weekend.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Pop Dr(((O)))nes: Epidsode 7


Plenty of amazing new material to share with everyone this week. In fact, I have so many recent releases piled up and coming through the mail that I'll probably have enough to work with for the rest of the summer. Not that I'm complaining, but my bank account and the limited space in my apartment have been closing in on me. That being said, anyone out there interested in hearing their music on the radio (especially all you local types), feel free to send a CD, cassette, piece of vinyl (!), or an mp3 my way. As long as it fits with the general theme of the show (ie. garage, lo-fi, no-fi, noise, drone, or anything I like, really) then there's a great chance it's gonna see some airtime. Leave a comment on the blog if you'd like to get a hold of me. Or, hell, call me on the air and harass me during my show. Thanks to everyone out there who've already donated music to the cause, and thanks to everyone who's called the show.

Outta this new batch of music played this week I have to say the album that's received the most play is the new one by Nothing People, "Late Night", on the mighty S-S label. Not a huge advancement on their album from last year, "Anonymous", but the hooks are mighty strong this time around, and their cover of Syd Barrett's Late Night is even better than The Cleaner's From Venus' version or Belong's submerging of said version (blogged about here.) Check out the S-S page and snatch a copy up for a mere $10. And while yr there, grab a copy of the new self-released Mayyors 12", which I haven't heard yet, but my copy's on the way. I'm working on a wholesale order of that, so interested parties oughtta drop a comment below.

Also had another great on the air chat with Josh Rose this week. This time around we played local artist/black metal aficionado/Zulu regular/general music lover Sean Coggins, who Josh and I have both known for years. Sean had an exhibit a few months back at the Access gallery, at which there was a cassette for sale. The cassette was basically Sean taking dozens of Black Metal tracks and piling them on top of each other, creating a wall of white noise. Hence the title "Black Metal Makes White Noise." Download the show below to hear the whole story and the cassette. Some pics from Sean's show posted below.

Download the show here. (Right click, then Save As) Disregard the 90 second faux-dub section at the start of the show.

PS. thanks to Grimmertown for the love and the new Pop Dr(((O)))nes logo!



Cresting "Variation On A Variation" Fixture Records Sampler CDR (Fixture) 2009
The Mantles "Don't Lie" s/t 7" (Mt. St. Mtn.) 2009
Reports "Bill Wyman, Metal Detector" Bill Wyman, Metal Detector 7" (Ride The Snake) 2009
Matt K. Shrugg "We're So SOL" s/t 7" (Plastic Idol) 2009
Thee Oh Sees "Rainbow 1+2" Zork's Tape Bruise LP (Kill Shaman) 2009
Yikes! "Carol Ann" Whoa Comas Blood Bomb one-sided LP (Labil) 2009
Nothing People "Stick In The Mud" Late Night LP (S-S) 2009
Teeth Mountain "Live On (Side A excerpt)" Live On LP (Not Not Fun) 2009
Bardo Pond "Eight-Thousanders" Gazing At Shilla LP (Important) 2009
Windy and Carl & Heavy Winged "Monolith: Earth (excerpt)" Monolith: Earth LP (Music Fellowship) 2009
Robe & Allied "KGB" taken from a recording of their last ever live show. unreleased
Sean Coggins "Black Metal Makes White Noise" Black Metal Makes White Noise CS (self released) 2009
THE RITA "Shark Knifing" Shark Knifing 7" (Scratch and Sniff Entertainment) 2009



Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Pop Drones: Episode 6


Awesome episode this week; brand new snappy tracks by Eat Skull and Tyvek, some nice warbled lo-fi pop courtesy of Montreal's Brave Radar (thanks to Fixture for sending that out to me!) and some heavy, heavy psych courtesy of the dream collaboration that is Heavy Winged and Inca Ore. This week was also the start of what I hope to be semi-regular segment wherein my co-worker/co-hort Josh Rose (of Rundownsun, Robe and Allied, Sick Buildings, BT. HN., Blouse, and many more to come...) lends me a record of which I know little about, calls the station, and then proceeds to offer anecdotes or a brief history of the music. This week's record was a brand new one by Endless Humiliation, which is a side-project of Air Conditioning. Easily the most violent, heinous music played on the show thus far.

I also played a few tracks off the most recent Fresh and Onlys 7" on Dirty Knobby in my final effort to hype their Vancouver debut at Pat's Pub on Sunday June 21st. This is an early show and will be done by 11:30, so get there early. Mode Moderne and Sex Church open.

That's it for this week. Stay tuned...

Woods "The Dark" Sunlit 7" (Captured Tracks) 2009
The Fresh and Onlys "I'll Tell You Everything" I'll Tell You Everything 7" (Dirty Knobby) 2009
The Fresh and Onlys "I Saw You Seeing Me" I'll Tell You Everything 7" (Dirty Knobby) 2009
Brave Radar "Gigantic Park" A Building CD (Fixture) 2009
Eat Skull "Stick To The Formula" Wild and Inside LP (Siltbreeze) 2009
Tyvek "Stop Start" s/t LP (Siltbreeze) 2009
California Raisins "Down At The Flophouse" split with Cave 10" (Permanent Records) 2008
Cold Cave "Cebe and Me" Edsel and Ruby 12" (What's Your Rupture?) 2009
Gary War "Don't Go Out Tonight" Zontag 7" (Sacred Bones) 2009
Dead Luke "The Thermostat Has Shorted Out" s/t CS (Sky-Fi) 2008
Heavy Winged and Inca Ore "Obsidian Mass" Ring Mining LP (Not Not Fun) 2009
Brainbombs "Behind A Tree" A Fucking Mess LP (Lystring) 2008
BT. HN. "Le Havre" Vitiated LP (Dogma Chase)
Endless Humiliation "Elevator", "Day Husband" and "Tight Rope" My Wife Is Willing LP (Peel Back The Sky) 2009
Blue Sabbath Black Cheer "Untitled" split w/Dried Up Corpse 10" (Gnarled Forest) 2009

Download Episode 6 here. (right click the link and select Save Link As to download)

Friday, June 12, 2009

Hip-Hop Friday: Wu-Tang Kung Fu Samples

Didn't have time to whip up a proper Hip-Hop Friday for everyone, but below you'll find an awesome youtube video that's compiled all the classic Wu Tang samples taken from the original kung fu flicks.

Enjoy...


Special bonus: here are some links to torrents of my favorite Wu Tang sampled films

FIVE DEADLY VENOMS

SHAOLIN VS. WU-TANG

TEN TIGERS OF KWANGTUNG

Also, here's a link to an interview with the RZA where he discusses some of the samples.
Check that here.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Pop Drones Episode 5: MUSIC WASTE HYPE SHOW


Very special edition of Pop Drones this week mostly dedicated to some of my favorite bands playing this year´s Music Waste fest. Some of the material was sent to me via my own request of the band´s and remains unreleased. The Timecopz tracks, solars jam, and the stunning Sex Church track (apologies to Ejaculation Death Rattle...couldn´t convert the .wav file in time) all remain unreleased, though the Sex Church song will see the light of day on an upcoming Sweet Rot 7"...more on that down the road. Below this week's Pop Drones episode tracklisting is my pick for every night of the fest. Passes are sold out, but most of these shows should be inexpensive to get into.

Vibes "Psychic" Psychic 7" (Not Not Fun) 2009
Wooden Shjips "Contact" Contact 12" (Mexican Summer) 2009
Little Girls "What We Did" Thrills 12" (Mexican Summer) 2009
Fresh and Onlys "Endless Love" s/t 7" (Chuffed) 2009
Wounded Lion "Pony People" s/t 7" (S-S) 2008
The Intelligence "Pony People" Fake Surfers LP (In The Red) 2009
The Beets "Happy But On My Way" Spit In The Face Of Those... LP (Captured Tracks) 2009
Timecopz "Already Gone" unreleased demo 2009
Defektors "Secret Trials" Secret Trials 7" (Nominal) 2008
Sex Church "Dead End" unreleased demo. To be released later this year on Sweet Rot
Modern Creatures "Divorce Yourself" s/t LP (Grotesque Modern) 2009
Twin Crystals "Two Girls" Two Girls 7" (Summer Lovers Unlimited) 2009
Shearing Pinx "The Kiss" Blood Klub 4-way split 7" (Isolated Now Waves/Thankless) 2009
Nu Sensae "Cut Throat Nine" one-sided 12" (Isolated Now Waves) 2008
Sex Negatives "Blindness" split w/Totally Ripped CS (Isolated Now Waves) 2009
Ahna "Water Damage" Blood Klub 4-way split 7" (Isolated Now Waves/Thankless) 2009
solars "Shadow" unreleased demo 2009
Totally Ripped "Pretty Lip Load" split w/Totally Ripped CS (Isolated Now Waves) 2009

(right click and save link as to download)

MUSIC WASTE PICKS:

Since there are so many shows happening and the venues aren´t as close as they used to be, I´m just gonna pick one show for each night. Make sure to check in with Quinn and his picks for the week, as the man is on top of a lot of local music that I´m ignorant of.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10
No brainer here. Two stages will rotate back and forth for 3 hours, featuring some of Vancouver´s finest in improv, noise and experimental.

Cobalt Motor Inn (917 Main Street) Two stages. Bands start at 10pm and go until 1am.
Sex Negatives
Totally Ripped
The Internet
Shipyards
Ahna
Ejaculation Death Rattle
Boogie Monster
yellowtheif

Make sure to head up the street to the Anza after Fake Jazz and check out the mighty B.C.V.C.O.

THURSDAY JUNE 11
This is a must see for myself because it´ll be my first opportunity to check out the freshly opened Rickshaw Theatre and to see 3 bands I´ve never even heard of, which is always the best part about Music Waste.

Rickshaw Theater (254 E Hastings)
Shearing Pinx 12:20-1:00
It It 11:40-12:10
Tigerhead 11:00-11:30
Falcao & Monashee 10:20-10:50

FRIDAY JUNE 12
Tough choice tonight, but the winner is the somewhat garage rock leaning night at the Astoria. The new joints by Timecopz and Sex Church are outstanding, and the live sets by both those bands have gotten better each time they play, which can be a rarity (live sets, that is). Should be interesting to see Mode Moderne and their gloomy take on UK post-punk. The B-Lines are ALWAYS a good time, as well.

The Astoria (769 E Hastings St)
B-Lines 12:30 - 1:00
Mode Moderne 11:45 - 12:15
Sex Church 11:00 - 11:30
Timecopz 10:15 - 10:45

SATURDAY JUNE 13
Gonna have to break my own rule here and suggest two shows: start off the night at Solder and Sons for the always exhilarating solars (check this week´s podcast for a glimpse of their lulling space-psych). Not sure who Glaciers are but the name sure jives well with solars.

Solder & Sons (247 Main St.) (Early Show)
Solars - 9: 30 - 10:00
Glaciers 8:45 - 9:15
Tyr Umbach 8:00 - 8:30

Since the Solder and Sons show is so early, it should leave just enough time to get to Astoria for some of Vancouver´s noisiest punk, with most of the band´s being quite new, at least to me.

The Astoria (769 E Hastings St)

Twin Crystals 12:30 - 1:00
Vapid 11: 45 - 12:15
Pompoir 11:00 - 11:30
No L.A. Kill 10:15 - 10:45



Thank you, Music Waste, for starting the summer off proper.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Hip-Hop Fridays: Juggaknots "Clear Blue Skies-Re:Release" (1996, re-issued in 2002)


Initially released as a vinyl onlyEP on the Fondle 'Em label in 1996, the Juggaknots debut is another slept on classic from the uneven mid-90s turning point in Hip-Hop. The group is based around two siblings raised in NYC, Breezy Brewin' and Buddy Slim, with Slim acting as the main producer. The group dropped their 1996 to quite acclaim and didn't receive much notice until the EP was re-released in 2002 with eleven bonus tracks. "Clear Blue Skies" definitely beat Company Flow, El-P and Definitive Jux to the punch with their dark, bass heavy, and near-industrial beats. It's no wonder Company Flow and Juggaknots teamed up together in 1998 for a track on the first Lyricist Lounge comp. Unfortunately, both LP and CD are out of print, but you can scoop it free below.


Check the Coltrane sampling 'Trouble Man'


Download "Clear Blue Skies" here.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Pop Drones: Episode 4


Another week, another show under the belt. Plenty of recent 7" bangers from the absolutely unstoppable Sacred Bones label, coupla' sweet hum-a-longs from the first batch of Hozac Hookup Klub 7"s, some nu-Gawth in the form of Blessure Grave and Spirit Photography, and one of my favorite tracks from the legendary Vancouver synth no-wavers, Channels 3 and 4. Anyone who took to loving Ch 3x4 should definitely pick up the new cassette release by Isolated Now Waves, which compiles pretty much everything they ever recorded. Limited to 42 copies! Snatch 'em up.

Also managed to sneak in some great "re-issues" of a couple blogged about (well, at least by me) CDRs from last year--we're talking about the two juggernauts that are Seattle's A Frames Climax Golden Twins and Wildildlife. The AFCGT LP is outta print, but you can still snatch up that Wildildlife. Very recommended. Check my original posts on AFCGT here, and Wildildlife here.

I'll also be playing the shit outta all that new Fresh and Onlys action until the band land here in Vancouver on June 21st. When these guys "blow-up" in the coming months, yr gonna kick yourself for missing their Vancouver debut.

You can now subscribe to my podcast via itunes. Subscribe to Pop Drones here.

Listen to episode 4 here. (right click the link to download) ***UPDATE*** Due to the server being down most of the week at CiTR, the show was not recorded. Apologies.


Fresh And Onlys "500 Snakes" s/t 7" (Dirty Knobby) 2009
Dum Dum Girls "Long Hair" Long Hair 7" (Hozac) 2009
Idle Times "Million Miles Away" s/t 7" (Hozac) 2009
Nice Face "Mnemonic Device" s/t 7" (Sacred Bones) 2009
Timmy's Organism "Squeeze The Giant" s/t 2x7" (Sacred Bones) 2009
Spirit Photography "Time Is Racing" s/t 7" (Sacred Bones) 2009
Blessure Grave "90 Plus Days" Unknown Bleasures CS (Night People) 2009
Naked On The Vague "Chitty Chat" Chitty Chat 7" (Sacred Bones) 2009
Channels 3x4 "Nite Out" Rareness CS (Isolated Now Waves)
The Bitters "Princess" Wooden Glove 12" (Captured Tracks) 2009
A Frames Climax Golden Twins "Old Spy" s/t LP (Uzu Audio) 2009 LP re-issue of CDR from 2008
Wildildlife "White Eyelids" Peas Feast 12" (Crucial Blast) 2009 12" re-issue of CDR from 2008
Astral Social Club "Punk Rocker/Mug Cracker" Plug Music Ramoon LP (Dancing Wayang) 2009
Earn "Untitled #2" Their Simple Nature CS (Ekhein)
Sparkling Wide Pressure "Color First" Seven Inside and Out CS (Stunned)