Tonight marks the official release party for DeeJay Tone and Shyste’s EP “Climate Control – Winter Edition” at Bogies. Tickets are $15 at the door and the show will feature performances by DeeJay Tone, Shyste, RA The Rugged Man and PJ Katz and the Fat Buckle Band, with DJ Deuce on the 1’s and 2’s. The first 50 people through the door will get a free hardcopy of the album so don’t sleep.
Masai, local to the 518 and member of super-group Against The Grain, is releasing the final installment in his trilogy of solo albums, right in time for tax season. We’ve still got another month of listening to Turbotax ads on Pandora until the album drops but I figured I’d let you preview what I’ve been listening to now.
“Almost Home” is a 15-track high calibre line-up featuring collaborations with a generous handful of other talented area rappers, producers and musicians including MIRK, JB!! aka Dirty Moses, Sev Statik, Knowle’ge, KassCrook and also members of his own collective, Against The Grain.
In advance of the February 13 release, Masai has made two tracks available for streaming.
“Circles” is a clear favorite of mine (of what I’ve heard so far, that is.) The track features Mike Arson and the two go back and forth about the competitive nature between rappers, of commercial and underground influencers alike, conceptually running verbal circles around it all. The motif of circles is prevalent throughout the song and the chorus has been doing laps in my head since I heard it.
Side note: I nominate this song to be included in a chapter I read in a hip hop book yesterday, which compiled a list of the top mentions of “sweaters” in contemporary rap music. Pretty random and interesting list which included lyrics from Biggie, Kanye West and Pusha T. Listen for it.
The second track is “February Pimpin’ (Tax Money)” and features JB!! aka Dirty Moses, with PJ Katz of Pig Food Records on the production duties. This track will get stuck in your head if you welcome it. Not only do I love the satire but the song itself is done well on all counts. I seriously hope there’s a music video in the works because that’d be fun as hell to witness. From the artists directly, “The song satirically takes a look at how materialism and consumerism, combined with poor decision making, can influence urban workers who foolishly spend their income tax returns.â€
If you like what you hear, make the album yours!
The Lucky Jukebox Brigade just sent over their first music video as a band, for their track “Dollhouse.”
Check it out!
If you like what you see/hear, the Lucky Jukebox Brigade will be playing this Saturday at The Bayou for the annual Guthrie/Bell Productions Hannukah/Christmas Party.
While en route to Croatia, by way of three planes and one bus, I came across a line in the book I was reading at the time (the Best Music Writing of 2009 compilation), that read, “To write is to begin with nothing and hopefully get somewhere.”
Being fully aware that multi-day music festivals are as much of a subjective enigma as anything else in life, with as many different experiences as there are people in attendance, that line struck a cord and has been buried deep within me ever since. I had hoped from the beginning that traveling to Croatia would help me to gain a new perspective – how could it not, really? – but I didn’t realize such a simply-worded outlook could be so influential (and before I even got to my destination, no less).
This newfound insight was reaffirmed in the days following the festival as I began to digest what I had just experienced and thought about how to begin to put it into words for KAB. My goal here is simple: to start with the six scatter-brained notes and the 894 pictures I took on my iPhone, and hope to get somewhere.
Hit the jump for a massive photo gallery and to read more about my take of this year’s debut Dimensions Festival.
First Friday Albany: It’s the first Friday of the month, which means First Friday Albany will be in full force. Recommended that you check out the Carried Away Coffins exhibit at the Dead President Lounge with DJ OFI on the decks all night. Also Ed Cowley features work “Then & Now” at the Albany Center Gallery. You can see the full event listing here. It’s also fun to just walk around Lark Street and see what you stumble upon. For a quality after-party, head over to the Fuze Box with DJ Rana Ransom and Brooklyn duo Faith & Mark.
Valentine’s is also double booked with The Slaughterhouse Chorus, Goldtooth, Charmboy and Black Eyed Betty downstairs and Within the Ruins, Adestria and Erra upstairs.
Over at the Upstate Music Hall tonight is Moombah Method featuring Nadastrom (who is an excellent DJ and producer quite influential to the moombahton genre itself) alongside Static Groove and Lazerbass for support.
Pretty sweet to see a ska show come to the area, featuring Hub City Stompers, New Red Scare and Dead Aces at the Fuze Box.
Planet Eater will be playing their last show alongside Finisher and Maggot Brain downstairs at Valentine’s.
Over at Red Square, Sonus Maximus will have their CD release show alongside Reign of Thought.
The UAG will host a show featuring Belltone Suicide, Cruudeuces, Fossils. I’ve never heard of any of these bands so let us know how it goes if you make it out. The UAG has featured bands in the past that have pleasantly surprised me.
Open mic at the Lark Tavern hosted by Albany’s own Carl Daniels. Go and participate or go and watch.
