Yesterday Chidera Anamege aka “Chiddy” of Chiddy Bang, broke the world record for longest freestyle as he rapped for over 9 hours straight…!! The previous record was held by M-Eighty at 8 hours, fifteen minutes and 15 seconds. I don’t think I could even talk for 9 hours straight, much less rap. Good thing he had wings. Be sure to check back to www.redbullusa.com for a free download of Chiddy Bang’s newest single “Mind Your Manners”!
“It all started as a passion project.”
This is “Dick” Thompson speaking here, one-half the wedded duo that is responsible for newest in music video candy: The Wilcox Sessions. “Hard to believe that our first Session was only a year ago, and now here we are about to have a baby on our stage.” The “stage” in this conversation is actually just the living room in their mod condo just a dollar bills throw away from Cheetahs in Hollywood. “I don’t think so,” his partner Menaka counters. “This will be one thing done usual.”
You see, “usual” is not a good term to describe what goes on around these parts. This set is more of a rock ‘n’ roll cocktail party where some serious cinephile short form material just happens to get down. The pro-bono crew has racked focus on nearly 20 musical ensembles who stopped by for a beer, took their shoes off, and hummed a few bars in front of some the nicest looking cameras available. Acts ranging from Dead Henry, featuring Robert Downey Jr’s junior, Indio Downey, on bass. The Growlers stopped by for a special bourbon-fueled psychedelic haunting, captured by the world’s first Goldfish Cam. I just so happened to be in attendance for a recent taping featuring Moby, who, sans laptop, strummed out his hit “Porcelain” on a nylon classical guitar with a violinist accompaniment. Watch Moby’s performance here, then read up on the Sessions after the jump.
Between Death From Above 1979, the Bloody Beetroots, Lightning Bolt and Green Velvet, you knew the forecast for Coachella Day Three was going to be mostly heavy with an 80% chance of mosh. One of the bands most responsible for that late afternoon deluge of noise was LA rockers HEALTH, who decimated the Mojave Tent with a 14+ song set that included hits like “Die Slow,” “USA Boys” and “Crimewave,” in addition to underground favorites like “Zoothorns” and a cover of Pictureplane’s “Goth Star.” If you’ve never seen HEALTH live, you’re missing out, though your hearing is probably more intact than mine. These guys thrash around on stage like deep water fish on the end of a long line of 50-pound test, and they don’t play their instruments as much as abuse them. (The photo gallery tells the story.) They’re currently writing material for a new record—the follow-up to 2009’s Get Color—so we caught up with bassist John Famiglietti after their Coachella set to find out more.
How many times can you truly say, “I’ve never heard anything like that before?” Maybe it’s a band’s particular sound or the way a player tunes and plays his bass guitar. (Rest in peace, Mark Sandman.) Maybe it’s the way a programmer routes his drums through all his guitar pedals, then triggers hits with an MPC while outputting through a talk box. (You laugh now…) In the fickle, tweet-happy blogosphere, it’s become increasingly difficult to leave a lasting impression with your listeners.
Unless you sing like Frazey Ford.
After an intriguing interview with Linda Perry back in January, we’ve been looking forward to seeing what Deep Dark Robot is all about. Perry’s new collaboration with Fasto Jeston drummer Tony Tornay has peaked the curiosity of everyone, from the slew of platinum selling popstars she’s collaborated with to music industry aficionados.
When asked about Coachella in a recent interview, Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian stated his feelings in no uncertain terms. “Metal bands have never been invited or been able to be part of the cool kids, and I like it that way.” Then, for extra emphasis: “I don’t want to have anything to do with you, I don’t like your music, I don’t like your scene, I don’t like your ironic mustaches, and I don’t like your stupid hats.”
In the country, hell, the world, few other music stores know how to have as much fun as Amoeba. You go there, you remember why there’s no more Waxie Maxie’s, no more Tower. You have an Amoeba, you’re gold.
And what began as a novelty in 2007 — hardcore vinyl fans uniting to officially salute the lo-fi music of their youth — has grown into a global phenomenon, with Amoeba in Hollywood possibly among the best places to go and celebrate. This year, Henry Rollins was on hand to DJ, sign some stuff, talk with fans, and even inspect tattoos.
New ones to watch: Dedaelus has a new gem out called Bespoke, Emmylou Harris career keeps chugging along, and Bootsy Collins establishes that he is still the king of modern funk. Of Montreal’s getting bigger and bigger, and that’s all that’s really worth mentioning…
Airborne Toxic – Event All At Once
Emmylou Harris - Hard Bargin
About Group - Start & Complete
Dedaelus - Bespoke
Lions!Tigers!Bears! - Shallow Waters, Endless Depth
Girl Names - Dead To Me
OfMonteal - Thecontrollersphere
Kode 9 and the Spaceape - Black Sun
Emile Simon - The Big Machine
Thao & Mirah - Thao & Mirah
Rachel Platten - Be Here
Bootsy Collins - The Funk Capitol of the World
Explosions in the Sky - Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
The Wombats - This Modern Glitch
Kort - Invariable Heartache
Antony And The Johnsons - Swanlights
Dennis Coffey - Dennis Coffey
Younger Brother – Vaccine
Cass McCombs - Wit’s End
Memphis May Fire - The Hollow
Julian Lynch - Terra
Holy Ghost! - Holy Ghost!
I wouldn’t normally suggest jumping on stage during a Cisco Adler set to spit versus written in the yard of your Malibu mobile home park. But for Aaron Smith, “That shit just kinda went down,” and now here I chill in the greenroom of the ROXY on Sunset with Shwayze Pt.1. We await the shirtless half of the improbable Shwayze Pt.2 (Mr.Adler) to finish up his solo set so that I might snap a quick pic of this now quite NORML duo before they themselves, toke to the stage on this celebratory 4/20 eve.
There’s a lot of you out there (you know who you are) who long ago consigned yourself to the age-old credo “punk is dead.” You’d probably be hard-pressed to believe that even Social Distortion‘s recent Music Box performance could be the best argument in years to such a hastily-conceived notion. In addition to the debut of their newest and most raucous album in years, Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes, the boys really raised that punk bar a bit more: it wasn’t just a great concert with a tight band, it was a glorious punk rock/rockabilly/cinematic spectacle.
