“Know Who We Are“. That’s the name of the above song and video by Tidus, an up and coming New York City based producer and rapper. For the moment, Tidus remains shrouded in mystery, revealing only that he is, ”Something from somewhere else.  Tidus is not you.  Tidus is not them.  Tidus is Tidus.  And he’s here, welcome.” Fortunately his raps are slightly more comprehensive.

Hollar at the above video, download his LP Absolute Elsewhere, and get to know Tidus, because clearly that’s what he wants.

ABC is preparing a show based around the saturation of nineties nostalgia in today’s pop culture. My first thought was that this is the best thing ever. My second thought, however, was that it might be the worst.

Helmed by former Seinfeld writer, Jennifer Crittenden, and Scrubs‘ Gabrielle Allan, the sitcom will focus on a fictional 90s alt-rock girl band attempting to reunite after a two-decade hiatus and get gigs, all the while trailed by a documentarian in the same vein as This Is Spinal Tap. Okay, that could be alright. But then: The show will play witness to the “four Gwen Stefanis,” as Crittenden puts it, “wearing Sketchers and mom jeans and they’re trying to pursue this dream.” It was that last bit that really got me.

Got me uninterested, I mean.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m straight up enamored with nineties culture: Nineties Hip Hop, Rock, R&B, 90s fashion, movies — it’s all great! This, unfortunately, is both the least interesting place to take a show about nineties alt-rock culture, and the worst way to go about doing it. From the description, it sounds like the commercial for the show should start with, “From the creators of Two And A Half Men…” At least give me a show set in the nineties, or without the whole Sketchers part. That aspect, just that one piece of descriptor, bums the hell out of me.

Crittenden went on to say, “We’re excited about what happens to a real dream when you have to walk away.” Okay, that sounds like it could be an interesting place to take the show. That’s something that could have some value, or at least do the theme of post-nineties rockers some justice. The whole thing about Sketchers though, just suggests that this is going to be another corny ABC sitcom. There will for sure be at least a couple of little kids present, some oblivious husbands (and one who is a real great guy and encourages his wife a lot), and a guitar-heavy soundtrack a la Friends.

This pretty much sounds like Modern Family with nineties references, and that pretty much sounds awful. Way to go, ABC.

On Thursday September 1st eX will be coming to The Echo in Los Angeles (mere blocks from our LA stronghold) courtesy of local promoter Adam Weiss’ Ham On Everything company. eXquire will be accompanied by some of Los Angeles finest hip hop talent: Young L from the Bay Area’s hit group The Pack; one of Los Angeles’ fastest rising stars Skeme; extended family The 87 Stick Up Kids & last but certainly not least the CBG collective of Jay Ughh & Young Hawaii Slim.

This lineup is going to make for a pretty crazy evening. Additionally, we will be celebrating our good friend Gavin Decantillon a.k.a Deacon’s impending departure from the city of Lost Angels to Actual Pain territory in Seattle, Washington. There will be plenty of goodies from the Мишка camp on top of all the booze and craziness we’ll be consuming. For a cheap night of amazing hip hop music, get yourself over to The Echo this Thursday.

Thursday September 1st, 9pm-2am
The Echo
1822 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, California
$8 Cover | 18+

Case Studies – The World Is Just A Shape To Fill The Night (2011) [Sacred Bones] // Grade: A

Brooklyn’s own Sacred Bones Records is doing all the right things these days. Honestly, they have to be one of the most consistent and ambitious underground imprints I’ve come across, so much so that I’ve made it my personal mission to listen to every album they’ve put out and will put out since I got wind of their early dealings with Blank Dogs and Zola Jesus (cough, hoping to review that new Zola record come October, cough, cough). Anyhow, the label is always on point with the artists they choose to support and it’s in that decisiveness that I knew Case Studies wouldn’t fall short.

Case Studies is Jesse Lortz, formerly of the harmonic, downhome, co-ed acoustic coupling of The Dutchess and The Duke, at his grittiest and purest, brewing Americana folk and adding into it some fine tenderness and grim solitude. I was never much of a listener of his prior harmoniousness with D&D (not Dungeons and Dragons, sorry everyone) but The World Is Just A Shape To Fill The Night nails that which I genuinely appreciate about country, blues, folk, or anything else of that breed and that, my friends, is storytelling.

This folkie play lonesome ditties from the darkened countryside, dusty ballads that reflect a spectrum of experience, fearing not to venture into the unlit corners of man’s desperation as well as rallying forth, blazing new trails through shining fields of grain with a gee-tar on his back. Each track has a history of their own, given a voice through Lortz’s sincere and poetic warbles, sometimes accompanied by fluttering piano or soft taps of a tambourine.

The record is introduced by, “From The Blade of My Love,” a sorrowful piece that sets the stage for the dire realities to come. Skip forward a tad and you’ve got the springy, amorous hymn entitled “You Folded Up My Blanket Like We Were Already Lovers” followed, not so closely, by “Texas Ghost Story” and “Dagger,” haunting and beautiful as they play out. There are no two better requiems to eulogize the end of the album than the harmonious solemnity found in “California Ghost Story” and “The Day We Met.” Case Studies debut’ resounds with unfiltered emotion, go ahead and give it a try.

Warning: this is long as fuck.

The DC relaunch is here. Hide your children. The DC relaunch is here. Jim Lee is ruining your favorite characters’ costumes. The DC relaunch is here. They’re going to treat the Universe’s continuity like a buffet line. Picking and choosing what to keep. The DC relaunch is here. Their talking heads are spitting double-speak corporate nonsense, starring in embarrassing videos. The DC relaunch is here, they’re taking away our handicapped heroine, dragging Wildstorm and Vertigo characters into their orbit. The DC relaunch is here, and they’re going same-day digital and stabbing your favorite crusty old comic book store in the heart with a solid gold stake.

The DC relaunch is here.

And I think it’s for the best.

Since its announcement, I’ve swayed on the high seas regarding the DC relaunch. I’m going to call it a relaunch. They call it a launch, you call it whatever you want. I think we all know what we’re talking about. Right? Right. At first I exhibited the usual geek knee-jerk reaction. Rage! Indignation! I seethed, muttering under my breath about the comic book world being the same cyclical carnival ride of bullshit.

Build, to destroy.

Character development, to only be reset.

There’s a validity to that feeling, and if you’re ready to picket outside Comic-Con upset that Dan DiDio and Jim “The 1990′s Is Forever!” Lee and Geoff Johns and the whole crew is fisting your favorite titles, I don’t blame you. It’s just this. It isn’t going to get you anywhere. It isn’t going to be productive. You’ll get a nice tan and meet some great people, but as I’ve said.

The DC relaunch is here.

It’s time we hug the bomb, guys. It’s time we hug the bomb.

As I’ve said, I have wasted a senseless amount of time spitting into the wind about the news. I’ve had length, white-knuckled bitch sessions with my brother. I’ve taken into the comments section on the site and chatted with fellow fans of the splash-page, groin-shot, and world-threat. Sometimes I was for the change, sometimes I was against it, sometimes I was staunchly in the middle. Riding a fence, a picket banging sphincter. I’d grind a little bit, enjoying the position.

This week I realized something.

The DC relaunch is here.

First blush, the entire enterprise smacked of a desire to drive up sales. To cater to the casual fan. Rope them in with a cleaner continuity, with a fresh slate. In fact, it didn’t smack of that. It was slathered in that fact, the minds behind the grind admitting as much. Who can blame them? Sales have been plummeting, the market shrinking. Clean up the park, throw away the dog shit and shoo the homeless people off the grounds. Right?

Second blush, the idea that Jim Lee was spearheading the project grated my grundel. I don’t personally enjoy Lee. Though I do appreciate his style. I get it, he revolutionized the panel. I get it, he inspired countless clones. DC, so desperate to return to the glory days, was having the Golden Boy of that generation try and resurrect the vibes. One awful costume design at a time.

Still not feelin’ it, still not diggin’ it.

That’s okay. That’s fine.

It was those two facts which got me goin’ all Red Lantern, smashing cans of Diet Mountain Dew off my tits and yelling at my cats to take a run at me. Fuck them and their obvious money grab. Except that who could blame them. Fuck Jim Lee and his awful costumes. Except really how much is that going to affect the individual titles.

Right?

Third blush. The corporate blathering from Dan Didio and Bob Wayne and countless other DC Lip-Smacking Shit Heads has complicated the living shit out of the thing. It’s a relaunch. It’s not a relaunch. They’re keeping continuities. Select ones. It’s not a relaunch. It’s not an event. It’s a new beginning. A new beginning keeping old origins. Remember. Select ones.

All these vapid voices came together to form a fucking Voltron named Senseless Blowhard Wind Tunnel. An endless echoing of proclamations about being new!, and fresh!, and don’t forget jumping on! Phrases turned into phrases turned into phrases, turned into phrases aimed at who exactly? Not me. No way. They have me. I’ve been reading comics since I rocketed blanks out of moi dick-tip. I’m a lifer.

These proclamations have been aimed at the audience that they may or may not ever be able to get. Johnny Casual. I think the average geek resents this. We’re the good child, the one that behaves. We get no recognition, and for our devout purchasing and acquisitions, we’re rewarded with a relaunch we didn’t really ask for. DC tries to cater to the petulant child. That one that probably won’t listen, the one who won’t respond no matter how many Ritalin-spiked ice cream cones it’s offered.

I haven’t said a damn thing positive yet. I will. It doesn’t matter though.

The DC relaunch is here.

(more…)

We’ve had a pretty damn good run of bringing some incredible hip hop releases if I do say so myself. We’re proud of how far and wide all of these artists have gone in such a short time and thrilled we could be part of their rise. Over the past year we’ve given you Das Racist, Stalley, The 87 Stick-Up Kids, Nattymari’s incredible Murdered In Memphis tape and our latest and greatest with Main Attrakionz. And that’s really only the tip of the iceberg of what we’ve got on the horizon. But enough blowing smoke up our own ass and lets get on to our upcoming release.

Next on deck is Brooklyn’s own Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire’s who’s debut album, Lost In Translation we’ll be dropping in September. In anticipation of eX’s first trip out west (more on that later today) we wanted to drop the cover, tracklist and some details for the album. How awesome is that cover? Seriously? And I know you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, but I’ll just say right now, “yes,” Lost In Translation is grimy like that. But that’s actually just the digital cover, as the CDs are gonna have a lil’ something different and Мишка flavored.

I know a lot of people have been eagerly awaiting this one since the video for “Huzzah!” started making the rounds and we’re thrilled to be working with a local talent like eX who is seriously one of Hip Hop’s most promising talents… and we’re not the only saying so. We’ve been listening to it non stop for a couple of months now at the office I can comfortably say this is going to be an incredible return to the much missed gully sounds of NYC hip hop.

Lost In Translation will drop on September 11th as a FREE download and will feature production from El-P, Necro, Esoteric, BoweryBeats, Constrobuz and Charli Brown Beatz. Check out the full tracklist below, mark that date down on your calendar, stock up on some cranberry and Georgi Porgi and get ready to drop “Dunn” back into your daily vernacular.

1. Triple F [prod. by Charli Brown Beatz]
2. Huzzah!” [prod. by Necro]
3. Fire Marshall Bill [prod. by El-P]
4. Chicken Spot Rock feat. Dallas Tha Kid [prod. by El-P]
5. Cockmeat Sandwich/Pissin’ Between Train Cars [prod. by El-P]
6. Weight of Water [prod. by Constrobuz]
7. I Should Be Sleepin’ [prod by Charli Brown Beatz]
8. Maltese Falcon Pt. 1 and Pt. 2 [prod. by BoweryBeats]
9. Michael Dudikoff [prod. by BoweryBeats]
10. Hip Hop Networking 101 (Skit)
11. Lou Ferigno’s Mad [prod. by Constrobuz]
12. Lovesponge
13. Nuthin’ Even Matters (Regrets)
14. Yeahright!.com (Skit)
15. Galactus Redux [prod. by Esoteric)
16. Build-A-Bitch [prod. by El-P]
17. No Time feat. Goldie Glo [prod. by El-P]

In a collaboration out of the leftest of left fields, Jack White has produced a single for the Insane Clown Posse. “Leck Mich Im Arsch,” which translates to “Lick Me In the Arse,” is based around a “lost” composition from Mozart. Probably not the future Mozart had in mind for his passion, but he was insane enough that I’d like to think he’d be down with the Clown.

And as if all of that wasn’t enough of a “WTF!?!?,” JEFF the Brotherhood are the backing band on the track. The single will be released on White’s Third Man Records in mid-September.

Insane Clown Posse – Leck Mich Im Arsch by Third Man Records

So, funny story about the weed in that picture up above. It’s from 1973, and the picture is out of a High Times magazine. And the weed in the picture is currently at Steep Hill Laboratory in Oakland, California. In my strangely enigmatic travels I came across the gentleman whose hand is in this picture, and he took a liking to me. It turns out he was a distributor/rep for one of the earliest publishing companies handling cannabis cultivation.

He was responsible for the delivery of thousands of copies of, as he told me, “The book that taught everyone how to grow sinsemilla. It was a strategy for growers to get more for what they were growing because if there was less seeds, it meant it was more flowers to the weight. But, I feel like there is something very different about weed that’s been able to go through the full life cycle. I don’t know that un-seeded weed is necessarily better.”

Toby (that’s not his real name because I’m not gonna blow up dude’s spot and use his real name) is an older guy, in his late fifties or early sixties. He’s about 5’10″ with a mustache, and glasses. He paints, and drives an old school Volvo wagon. He’s a cool laid back guy. He would fit right into a poster of iconic middle-aged California dudes. If it were a calendar of said fellows he’d probably be June, or September. Anyways, I certainly trust him, and he has no reason to lie to me. So, when he told me that he had cannabis samples from 1973 I immediately thought of Steep Hill. And when I told Steep Hill they took interest immediately. “We’d love to be able to run some tests on something like that.” When I proposed the idea to Toby he was into it.

I didn’t see Toby around for a few months after that and when I finally did catch him again he told that he’d be moving. I was bummed that I wouldn’t be running into him anymore, as we’d had some enjoyable conversations in the past. But, he made sure to get me some of his untouched stash from long ago. When he handed it over he explained that the stuff he was giving me had also appeared in a photo in one of the books he had distributed. He then gave me a copy of the book, and pointed out the page where it appeared. There in 70′s dot matrix color was the same flower almost 40 years ago. He then handed me a copy of High Times magazine and pointed out another more-accurately colored version of the image.

When I took the sample to the lab we joked that if you smoked it you wouldn’t get high, you would just enter into some kind of wormhole through time and have a crazy weed sensei shaman experience. They ran it through a brand new testing technology that I’m not allowed to talk about with any degree of specificity (I signed a non-disclosure agreement to be able to see this thing), but it’s gonna have a serious affect on how testing takes place. Which brings me to what is perhaps the most exciting part of this post: the giveaway.

Of course the whole reason for taking this ancient sample to Steep Hill was to try and get an idea of what cannabis was like at an earlier stage in its genetic development. That development has, of course, been thoroughly affected by the last 40 years of human-helmed breeding. What are the more ancient genetic lines like? And more specifically what does the cannabinoid profile look like? We want you to guess. You don’t have to be exact, and you don’t really have to know shit about anything. With a little bit of basic research I’m sure you can find some accurate estimates, but it’s not gonna be that easy. We need you to guess the THC percentage down to the second decimal. So, for example that would be: “9.99″. Whoever gets the closest–whether you’re over or under–will win a High Times Cannabis Cup 2011 T-Shirt, Tote Bag, and an Incredibowl, the award-winning pipe that took Best Product at this year’s Cannabis Cup.

Send your guesses to: weedzach{ at }g__maildotcom. We’ll announce the winner next week. Contest is over stoners.

Red Hot Chili Peppers – I’m With You (2011) [Warner Bros.] // Grade: C

So, time for another album then. Why not, royalty checks rule! Following 2006’s double heap, Stadium Arcadium, California born and bred funk rockers Red Hot Chili Peppers return with I’m With You, a single-disc victory lap to their most financially successful album to date. If the 2006 set totally passed you by, I’ll remind you of its poke. Outside of being their first-ever number-one album in the States, the record hit the top slot in 10 other countries and went multi-platinum in five. It also (again) marked the departure of guitarist and fan-favorite John Frusciante. Though it’s been long known that Kiedis and Co. have been staples for the commodified American rock import since “Californication” days, if anyone needed a spunky, hook-friendly reminder of it, Stadium Arcadium was definitely it.

After touring for the gorged release winded down, the band broke off to a two-year hiatus in order to regroup. With Frusciante’s replacement found in touring member Josh Klinghoffer, the band, again with Rick Rubin at the production helm, hit the studio. The results are a tame mix of agreeable frat-funk from a band that after 30 years at the game, can succinctly deliver in their sleep. The majority of the quintet are just about 50 and create a release that sounds exactly like you’d imagine: sun-tanned in California, lubed up by Rubin and floating lazily, drunk in the ocean of hearty success. Music safe for both Kohls ads and family BBQs, the greater question here is if I’m With You is worth your record collection.

As much as that’s a ‘fans-only’ answer, there are still a lot of them out there in Chili Pepper land after Stadium, so here goes – I’m With You, is well, just that, just there. The guitar work, which noticeably all are anxious to hear after Frusciante’s departure is part of this; Klinghoffer delivers a relative playing style that’s just enough to throb the songs along but fans will certainly notice that they have a new axe man in the mix. Flash in the pan memories about the record sizzle up but fade with the hook attacks and while the band won’t be racking up any new fans with it, they likely won’t piss off a majority of them either. Much of the album’s most powerful moments are mere weekend relapses into their past and the funky, sexual, comfy confines of their California sound.

For Spin Magazine, bassist Flea mentioned that I’m With You revolved around a major theme of life and death. A serious subject, but no stranger to the band’s catalog, it’s an obvious catch on Kiedis’ bloodletting, “You know I’m almost dead, I’m almost gone” for third track “Brendan’s Death Song.” Eased up to listeners’ ears through acoustic guitar and slow build, the song is ultimately cheapened by the yelping “yeah yeah yeahy” coda close from our singer. I was reminded of South Park’s parodied version of Bono if that means anything. Sure, this is RHCP and they can’t be too serious, but at 50, I’d imagine they’d begin to think otherwise. As the album progresses, toward the back their maturation is found. Take piano-led “Happiness Loves Company” or the Maroon 5-like “Even You Brutus” and include them on that mixtape you were going to make your folks. People do that right? The album’s better tracks are found in the breezier single “The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie” or in “Look Around.” It’s the latter, with its angular atmosphere and “Hustle me bitch and you best beware” lyrics that feels extremely similar, but tamer, to “Californication” proclamation “Around the World.”

Since the band’s second-wave success, it’s been increasingly difficult to take a hard look at releases like this issued under the current industry’s single-heavy climate. Does anything come of these boys, err, 50-year-olds, releasing an album anymore? Stadium gave them five massive singles and besides that, how many more of those 28 total tracks are hobnobbing on most people’s iPods, stitched together after some greater meaning? I’d bet not many. After three decades of existence, a band like this is doing what most expect, taking a middle-of-the-road approach down memory lane, driving their fully-sponsored, air-conditioned car. The body of work these guys have created has certainly been defined and solidified a few times over, landing them at their current state of pitch-friendly arena rock swell, but as most will obviously and immediately point to, their best stuff is long behind them. Being said, the discussion moves away from the band’s releasing potential and instead to the culture of an artist keeping, and maintaining its fanbase. For that they get a passing grade as folks are still buying their albums,  but for everything else, I’m With You included, they land, somewhere around, “Meh, another album, now give me the singles.”

It’s been a little over a year since The-Dream dropped Love King, and a new album from the man couldn’t come soon enough for me. 1977 is credited to The-Dream’s real name of Terius Nash which I’m gonna assume is because his label (Def Jam) ain’t all to pleased about him dropping a free full length while they hold The Love, IV (Diary of a Mad Man) in purgatory. But it’s a new The-Dream album. But now imagine the prospects of two new The-Dream albums dropping this year!!! The world needs more of The-Dream. Don’t deny the world Def Jam. We’ll be a better place with it.

Go download 1977 from The-Dream’s errr Terius Nash right now. It’s free and it’ll get you laid.