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This just in from Universal Motown Records...

(New York, NY) Universal Records has signed acclaimed hip hop stylist DJ Shadow, who is currently putting the finishing touches on a new album scheduled to be released later this summer. “I’m thrilled to join the team at Universal. Finally, after years of feeling like an orphan I feel like I finally have a home,” says DJ Shadow (Josh Davis.)
“As someone who has been a fan of DJ Shadow for the past 10 years, it’s an honor to have him join the Universal Motown family. We are delighted that Josh feels comfortable enough with us to allow us to be his partner, and we are incredibly excited for the launch of his new album this summer,” countered Universal Motown Records General Manager, Andrew Kronfeld. Known for his experimental blend of styles and hip hop-tinged production innovation, the new solo disc will be Shadow’s third full length album, but the first to be produced under his own name featuring guest vocalists.

Born in San Jose CA, DJ Shadow first rose to prominence developing the California based hip hop style forged on Solesides Records, melding a variety of genres into mix-culture masterpieces that would eventually garner the attention of London’s trend setting Mo’ Wax Label. The enigmatic producer became an underground legend in the early-to-mid 1990’s with his contributions as writer/remixer and production stalwart to a host of indie classics, including groundbreaking stints with DJ Krush, Dr. Octagon, and the hi-profile collaborative effort, U.N.K.L.E, featuring cryptic guest appearances by Thom Yorke (Radiohead) and Mike D (Beastie Boys), among others. Shadow’s first album, Endtroducing, was released in 1996 to rave reviews which was followed with numerous acclaimed projects (including noted releases with Cut Chemist) released across the globe before his second album hit the streets, 2002’s Private Press. In 2004 Shadow’s feature length DVD, In Tune And Out Of Time also drew praise, capturing the provocative artist/producer’s mesmerizing live show.

DJ Shadow’s upcoming third album, which the artist described in a recent interview as ‘one of the most fun things I’ve ever worked on’ features underground stars Keak Da Sneak and Turf Talk, as well as iconic artists Q-Tip and David Banner among other guests.

Between The Buttons

If you take a look over to the right, I've updated the links list. Some were added, some were taken away, and some broken links were fixed. Check it out.

Un Chien Andalou

Okay, so the first time I saw this, I thought it was funny. That was probably last summer. My friend Dave K has one in a Hitler-style. But I still don't know if it was an actual tattoo or just drawn on. Then, last week, my friend Chris told me that I should come out with him and his friends to get tattoos together. There was one stipulation: everyone was getting the same tattoo. I'm not exactly a bandwagon jumper, and I'm sure as hell not going to jump when it concerns something as permanent as a tattoo. You know what they were getting? Handlebar mustaches tattooed on the side of their index finger. That way you can hold your finger up to your upper lip and have a fake mustache whenever you want. To me, it's something that seems so obvious and funny that it has to have been done before. I had no idea it was a new trend. Check out this video:

I Fell In Love With A Girl

I'm not really sure how I feel about this. There was a time when I used to get a serious bug up my ass whenever a musician I liked/respected would 'sell out'. But you know what? Like Nike and Volkswagen, Coca-Cola has had some truly inspired advertising in the past. Check out Detroit's own Jack White in his new Australian Coke ad:

Good Good Things

file under re-discoveries

A few years ago, some friends of mine who never fail me (then members of Clone Defects, now Valentinos) told me about this new band from Chicago called The Ponys. So the next time they played the Magic Stick, I checked it out. I'd heard comparisons, but none of them fit quite right.

Their 2004 album Laced With Romance was a car-wreck of Roxy Music meets Television meets Joy Division with just a little bit of Suede. Some reviewers would say Tom Verlaine (Television vocalist) meets Johnny Marr (Smiths songwriter/guitarist). I loved it. This was something totally different than what I had been hearing. Yes, there have been plenty of Television wannabes in the past few years, I know, but this was a little different.

Then in 2005, I picked up their most recent full-length Celebration Castle. Don't ask me why, cuz I have no idea, but I didn't let myself get into it. Quickly, I forgot about it.

A few days ago, my friend Chris asked me if I had whatever record has the Ponys covering Good Good Things from the Descendents. I realized that I don't, and decided that I should. So I searched for it on Amazon, and found the Wounded Again EP from The Ponys.

This is good. Seriously good. There are six tracks on it, and one of them is in fact the cover of Good Good Things. One track is from Laced With Romance (I think), but another one really stands out for me. That would be I Wanna Fuck You. Such a simple thing lyrically, but it's powerful and unexpected considering the rest of their lyrics. Rarely does a singer just come out and say it like that. I like it.

So, after I got ahold of Wounded Again, I went ahead and checked out Celebration Castle for the second time. What was I thinking? This shit is so good...any regular readers may remember that I am a serious Joy Division fan. So much so that I refused to give Interpol a chance at first due to all the JD comparisons. But this album is probably the most Joy Division-sounding record I've heard in a long, long time. You can be as dark and 'goth' as you want, but it won't make you sound like JD. There's something much deeper and I can't really explain it. I guess it's more of a feeling than an actual sound. Celebration Castle has that sound, but not completely. The Roxy Music and Television references are still there. It's just so good...go here to check out The Ponys website.

Lopes

Awhile back I announced a contest to win stuff from the Swedish-ish (not entirely from Sverige) band The Envelopes. They have a new album out here in the US called 'Demon' that came out on April 4th.

There were several people who followed the simple rules and wrote in to win. I chose a winner at random, and that winner is...John Gross from Austin, TX!

Click the pic to check out the Envelopes site!

This contest comes to you via Vice Records.

Extrapolate the Meaning

Something to do on a Friday night...

Greatest Hits '84-'87

Coming soon! An updated links section! I know you're excited. Seriously.

Hymn for The Translators

I wanna be a polyglot. Just because I like saying the word. Polyglot.

Ol' Timey Feelin'

A band out of the SF/Bay Area has recently been brought to my attention. When I think of modern music and that part of the country, I think of Gilman Street punk (i.e. Green Day, Operation Ivy, Lookout! Records) and a thriving and diverse electronic scene (Dielectric Records, Gold Chains, Anticon Records, Antimatter). But this is different.

Trainwreck Riders play what they refer to as a very loud and exuberant blend of old-time country music and old-school Bay Area punk rock. What they do with country music (country like Mississippi John Hurt...old old school) isn't quite like what the Dropkick Murphys do with traditional Irish music. It isn't quite so aggressive. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it's similar to The Minutemen with a distinctively different voice. Or maybe you could say their sound is closer to Joe Strummer's pre-Clash band The 101ers, which was more of a street-busker folky thing with a punk edge. Its tempting to compare them to an amped-up Billy Bragg possibly.

Either way, check it out. Click the name of the band up there to get to their site. Ignore the cheap PhotoShopped images and web design circa 1992. Just concentrate on the music. Go here to check out some videos and MP3s.

Beginning From the End

Okay, finally, I have the new Streets single for you. That only took forever. Click the pic to download "When You Wasn't Famous."

(no, I swear that isn't Ian Curtis, it's Mike Skinner. seriously.)

Animal Planet Is For Pussies

Another reason why sometimes nature just freaks me right the fuck out: go here to see a short video of an anaconda regurgitating an ENTIRE hippo. Seriously.

When the Angels Play Their Drum Machines

File under 'discoveries'

Sometimes, I get to a point where I'm bored with music. Roughly 60,000 individual songs reside within my household. At least. Honestly, we lost count years ago. And I still get bored, I feel like there's nothing new under the sun to pique my interest.

So much of what I listen to comes from references. These referrals so often come in the form of music that people I respect and/or trust will play whilst DJing. There are hundreds of bands/artists I've been turned on to in this way. For an example: The Saints, The Troggs, Chrome, Dead Boys, and many, many other 'the' bands as well as others.

A few months ago, a DJ I know who's more or less an acquaintance mentioned the British band Hefner. 534n Melee makes some of his own music (which I highly recommend) and you can check that out here. It's a music of the electro variety, and it's well done. He's also pretty good at skewering the hipster scene that he caters to while DJing.

Anyway, in the past, the music I've discovered through fellow DJs has been mostly older. It's the things that I should have noticed along the way, but had yet to discover. In the case of Mr. Melee, it's often more recent or even very new music.

I remember Hefner's first album, it was called "Breaking God's Heart." I remember it because the cover art was colorful and I kept seeing it in used bins at various local record stores. But I never picked it up.

To tell you the truth, if I had picked it up back then, I can't say whether or not I would've been into it. Chances are, I would've been bored by the record. My mind was steadfast on power pop and punk rock at the time. At this point, I've only heard about half of the album but I love it. I'm still sinking my teeth into these guys. The songs I've heard from this first record are folk on a par with earlier Elvis Costello. Or at least, that's the sound. The wit is closer to Billy Bragg and Jarvis Cocker (Pulp).

I'm just now (today, in fact) settling into their second album, "The Fidelity Wars" from 1999. I've listened to it in it's entirety one and a half times. So far, it's turning out to be a classic breakup record. As I'm sure you know, that's a topic that makes for some of the best songs/records of all time. This time around, their sound picks up a bit more. No matter what, the focus is always singer Darren Hayman's vocals and lyrics. That's a constant that I've noticed all throughout the band's career. But the songs are faster-paced, and there's more instrumentation. The Elvis Costello meets Billy Bragg sound is still there, and I think that's what pulled me in being a big fan of the two Brits.



I should give you a disclaimer right about now that if you can't handle somewhat nasal vocals with a British accent (no Cockney patois), then Hefner may not be right for you. I should also tell you that "The Fidelity Wars" is probably the best place for you to start if you're interested in the band.

In 2000, they released "We Love the City," where their distaste (and disgust) for London was laid bare. I don't know how much modern British music you've heard, but I've definitely noticed this as a recurring theme. Yet they stay there...



Their passion for hating Margaret Thatcher, their country's Parliament's constant tyrannical missteps, the royal family, and everything ugly about London is the theme here. But it's always done with cocky humor. That's the Jarvis Cocker coming out.

The last studio album from Hefner was "Dead Media," which came out in 2001. At this stage in their evolution, the band suddenly took a lo-fi analog electronic approach. By 'lo-fi' I don't mean gritty, just analog. There are samples and and drum machines and keyboards, oh my! For the ADD-afflicted mind, this is probably the easiest Hefner album to get into. Most of the songs are much more upbeat than in the past. But that wry humor and sarcasm is still there in the lyrics. The urban-folk poet sound is still very much alive in "Dead Media."

That's it, that's my brief bio on the English band Hefner. It's somehow comforting to come across bands like this...to know that there always is something new.

If you're interested in the band, I recommend checking out their site, which you can get to by clicking on any of the album covers above.

Paper Lickers

Some people refer to themselves as Anglophiles...they are fascinated by all things British. I get it. Following that logic, I'm a Scandophile - I'm fascinated by all things Scandinavian. Mainly it's the music that gets to me, although they do have some badass tendencies toward modern furniture design and social politics.

So, I was recently turned on to a Swedish band that I've never heard of before. As usual, they're good. It's kind of like all the crazy ballz out rockin' stuff (and avant-weirdo) that was coming out of Japan in the '90s. They've taken a distinctly American music style (in this case it's Indie Pop, whatever that is), and synthesized it into something wonderful.

The band is called Envelopes, and you can click on their name back there to check out their site. Their new album titled "Demon" just came out this week in these here Les Etats-Unis. You can go to Big Stereo to download their new singles "Sister In Love" and "Isabel & Leonard." Then, after that, you can go to Music Is Not Dead to download a remix made by Clor of "Sister In Love." If you go to the band site (previously noted), you can watch some videos and check out tour dates and all that.

If you're interested in obtaining a copy of the album, a 7", and buttons, you can win them here! All you have to do is email me and I'll randomly choose who to give it to. Note that by entering this contest, I'll be submitting your email to ADDvice marketing (aka Vice Magazine). If you still want to enter, but don't want your email submitted, that's cool, just let me know. Enter the contest either by leaving a comment or by emailing the email address you see over there on the upper right.

Solid.

Gimme Reciprocity

Coming soon to an as yet undetermined location:

This isn't really my gig, I was just asked to help out with some writing and graphics stuff. If you're interested in what the big guy up there is probably blathering on about, go here.

The Lead Made Us All Go Insane

I'm at a bit of a loss here. This is a newer band. They're called the Guillemots. That's pronounced 'gill-eh-motts'. Which doesn't look right to me. But that's the three years of French talking. I just do what Vice tells me.

From what I've been told, this is a group which has a background that ranges from jazz to classical piano to pop. "Studded with broken rhythms and mini-keyboard orchestras, the British based group produces a quirky and catchy sound that is refreshing even to our jaded ears. Their music is reminiscent of bands such as Broken Social Scene, The Dears, Rufus Wainwright, and Arcade Fire. Their mini album dropped March 14th and is aptly called from the cliffs."

That's what Vice told me. They put out good records and magazines and other items that catalog pop culture. You love them. You know you do. You can find a review of the album on Music (For Robots) here. There's also a review of the first single "Trains to Brazil" available on You Aint No Picasso.

Here's a quote from Fyfe Dangerfield, the singer guy: "We want to make the sort of music that reveals something new about itself each time you listen to it, but that doesn't need to be at the expense of it being accessible. Head music's all well and good, but it's got to hit you in the heart and feet too."

Touched By the Hand of God

So last week I was at the CVS drug store by where I work. There were some things I had to pick up. It's Easter time, and like any other chain drug store in America right now, CVS has an aisle completely dedicated to Easter candy. I was trolling for Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs. These are one of my favorites when it comes to chocolate and candy and all that.

They sell them in packs of six, and just one wouldn't do. I needed the six-pack. And you have to buy them almost as soon as the drug stores start stocking them or else you get stale candy, and no one likes that chalky-tasting chocolate with the white patina on it. The peanut butter gets all dry and nasty, too. So, I was walking down the aisle and something caught my eye. I saw the words "Reester Bunny," and right away, I knew what it was. A chocolate Easter bunny filled with Reese's peanut butter! Right away I bought two because I knew of a friend who would want one, too.

Chris, the friend who I gave the other one to ate ALL OF IT on Saturday night. The 6" x 1.5" x 1" bunny is a whole lot of Reese's. According to the 'nutritional' information on the back, it's to be consumed as four servings. Each serving contains 20% of your daily saturated fat. That's a whole lotta animal fat. At least the cholesterol and carb counts are pretty low...but the calories are high: 190 per serving.

So I brought my Reester Bunny to work today. I'm hoping that it will last all week, but the head is already gone. Five ounces of pure Reese's goodness.

You know you want one.

Weak Become Heroes

So the new Streets album is due out April 25th, titled "The Hardest Way to Make An Easy Living." Yet again, this album finds him tellin' us what he knows best: himself. Go here to check out the video for "When You Wasn't Famous."

Oh, Inverted World

It's been awhile since I've given an update on the 'experiment'. I should probably stop calling that, considering I see it as a permanent thing. At the very least, my intention is permanent.

These are my recent findings: I have no problem hanging out at a bar with friends who are drinking and just talking, drinking water, playing tabletop-shuffleboard, or whatever. I got closer to the root of my problem this weekend. Friday night, I needed to escape, and that I did. I needed friends, but more than that, I needed to escape my head and what my heart was screaming at me. Good times with good people should be enough. Okay, just good people, that's all you really need to escape. But I took the easy way out. Around 1am, I threw on some clothes, texted a couple friends to see where they were, then headed straight to the GB. In the period of one hour, I threw back six vodka/sodas. Somehow, I did feel a good buzz, but I didn't feel wasted. Then I drove out to a friend's house, and had another beer. Still didn't feel falling-down drunk.

I went home, passed out in bed, and woke up around noon the next day. A close friend told me awhile ago that alcoholism is a progressive disease. Meaning you could go five years without a drink, but as soon as you do, you go back to where you left off. Your body goes into physical withdrawal right after you stop drinking. Even if it's just one beer. I get it now. I believed her and understood what she was saying when she told me, but now I really get it. It happened to me.

All day Saturday, I felt like total shit. No, let me re-phrase that, I felt like total shee-ite. Shite. Crap. It was Saturday night, I was supposed to DJ at the GB, and I was on the verge of calling my roommate to ask him to do it. Then I had the brilliant idea to eat something. I hadn't eaten in 24 hours. I'm at a point where I'm so accustomed to being out late and going home, and not feeling like I have to eat something to 'soak up' the alcohol. So I didn't eat Friday night, and I hadn't eaten Friday afternoon out of situation. Saturday afternoon, food didn't sound very good. Nothing sounded good. Laying in my bed all fetal sounded like the best thing, but I couldn't do that. I know it's not right.

Full disclosure: I went through something really emotional and difficult Friday night, which contributed to wanting to lay in bed all day Saturday, and provided an excuse to escape to the warm embrace of vodka. Thank dog there was no Jameson involved...

So it's back to zero for me. The counter started over on 3/4/06. I am now two full days sober. Do over.

This weekend's experience was a relapse. It's a natural part of the process. I know this, and see it as a stepping stone.

The Past and Pending

Remember that Canadian band The Stills from a couple years ago? They were one of those big hype bands with a somewhat gloomy single that sounded remotely like Radiohead doing Gang of Four.

Okay, they're back with something different. In their own words, "fuck the effects - just plug in and feel something." The new album is called "Without Feathers," it's on Vice Records, and it's in stores May 9th.

Go to their MySpace page here to check out their new song and upcoming tour dates.