It’s official. The title for Zoroaster’s forthcoming album is Matador, which is now scheduled for a summer release date later in June via E1 Music.
In the meantime the group is playing the Action PR showcase at SXSW with High on Fire, Priestess and more at Mohawk on Wed., March 17.
Matt Whipple, second from left
Who are you?
Matt Whipple
Describe yourself in three words.
Sex On Legs
Who — dead or alive — would you most like to meet?
Paul McCartney
Who would you most like to slap in the face?
I wouldn’t slap her, but if we say “pie to the face,” Sarah Palin. Little girls in America deserve better as far as potential role-models go.
What song do you wish you had written?
“Party in the USA”
Elvis Costello or Elvis Presley?
Kim Gordon
LP, Cassette, CD or MP3?
LP
If you could start one trend, what would it be?
People buying records again.
If you could end one trend, what would it be?
People saying “That’s so gay” when they mean “That’s so lame.”
With whom would you most like to play a game of spin the bottle?
Neil Patrick Harris
Cymbals Eat Guitars, Bear in Heaven and Freelance Whales play the Earl Thurs., March 11. $10. 404-522-3950. www.badearl.com.
(Photo courtesy Tell All Your Friends)
ONE-DICK PONY: How low can Luda go?
If Bill O’Reilly’s anti-Luda rants taught us anything nearly a decade ago, it’s that crotchety old conservatives can’t take a joke. The Atlanta rapper’s stage name is a synonym for zany, for God’s sake.
Likewise, while just about every MC rhymes about the female body, it almost goes without saying that Luda’s constant references to strippers, booties, and strippers’ booties have always been about humor even more than sex. As deplorable as some might find the idea of him bragging about sticking it to a bunch of “hos in different area codes,” as he did in his 2001 single “Area Codes,” the fact that he referred to himself as “the abominable ho man” pretty much made his sins forgivable.
Continue reading “Ludacris fights a losing Battle of the Sexes” »
This album cover has its own website.
>> The Beastie Boys have delayed the release of their new album, Hot Sauce, until September so that Buddhist Beastie Adam Yauch can continue his recovery from salivary gland cancer.
>> Awesome news for fans of the scores of Tom Morello: He’s scoring Iron Man 2. I guess this means you can look forward to hearing lots of heavy guitar sounds that don’t sound like traditional heavy guitar sounds while a CGI version Robert Downey Jr. flies around and beats up airplanes and stuff.
The Decatur-bred MC’s major label debut, The Adventures of Bobby Ray, is scheduled to drop April 27.
Hurry Up and Wait trailer from Hurry Up and Wait on Vimeo.
Dallas-based Malone Pictures have recently completed a short, documentary film on Gringo Star called Hurry Up and Wait. The film chronicles the group’s April-June ’09 European tour, and is debuting with a sneak peak at SXSW on Thurs., March 18 at 5 p.m. at the Landmark Dobie Theatre.
In Other Gringo Star news, the group signed a deal with Cargo Records today to release their album All Y’all on LP/CD on April 23, in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg.
By L. Michael Gipson
Who knew KeKe Wyatt could bounce back from domestic violence, a media bloodbath over her stabbing her then-husband, and three record deals gone sour? Apparently, Wyatt knew, because the Indiana songstress got up, dusted off and kept right on pursing her dream of stardom. Wyatt’s sophomore set, Who Knew?, makes you grateful for the church-reared alto’s faithfulness. Fans of SWV and ’90s quiet-storm R&B will cheer Wyatt’s pristine, roof-climbing vocals laid against urban AC production by Harvey Mason & the Underdogs, Troy Oliver, L. Young and True Storee. Despite playing it safe creatively, the melodies are addictive. Wyatt may have hits on her hands with the no-holds barred “Without You” and “Never Do It Again,” and a bona fide classic in Rachelle Ferrell’s spare “Peace on Earth.” Who knew her star could shine brighter the second time around? (Shananchie) 4 out of 5 stars.
EMOTIONAL WRECK: The Girls at Dawn
Brooklyn trio the Girls at Dawn play sweet and lazy ramshackle rock songs that inject punk primitivism with a healthy dose of morphine. It gives rise to a pretty but dreary sound on the debut 7-inch single “Never Enough” b/w “Every Night” (Hozac Records) and the subsequent 12-inch EP (Captured Tracks), inevitably drawing comparisons to acts ranging from the Shangri-Las to the Vivian Girls. And while it’s true that their blend of lo-fi recordings and wistful narratives about love and change cover the same emotional real estate staked out by girl groups of the ’60s, there’s an indelible sense of discovery that surrounds the songs.
“Beyond being a girl band, we’re just a band and don’t really think about the fact that we’re girls,” says drummer and Atlanta expat Sarah Baldwin. “Most of the lyrics are hopeful, and a lot of our songs are about moving away from home and trying to prove to your ex or other people that you don’t need to come back.”
With Worn in Red, Predator, Dinosaur Feathers. $5. 9 p.m. Thurs., March 11. 529, 529 Flat Shoals Ave. 404-228-6769. www.529atl.com.
Continue Reading “The Girls at Dawn wanna have fun”
(Photo by Eric Fischer)
Waka
Last week, the AJC reported that the Waka Flocka Flame brawl and shooting that took place at Walter’s Clothing Store near Georgia State was between members of Gucci Mane and Young Jeezy’s crews. We refrained from reporting the details on Crib Notes because at the time the writer couldn’t substantiate who from Jeezy’s crew was on site. Waka Flocka is a Gucci protege. But Waka has confirmed it himself via trash-talking on Twitter about people from Jeezy’s crew who were there.
“shout out to shawty who ran up wit the lumps on his face that look like Martin Lawrence …… lol”
Seriously, there is something inherently ridiculous about things like Twitter and “lol” being part of a street-hardened thug’s vernacular.
Read more about the peace accord between Gucci and Jeezy that was brokered by DJ Drama last December, but may now be compromised.
The title of Zoroaster’s forthcoming LP will be announced today (Tues., March 9), so stay tuned for details. The album is due out in late July/Early August on E1.
Last week the group finished recording the drum parts for their album at Glow in the Dark studio, and have now moved over to Living Room studios to continue recording with producer Sanford Parker (Minsk). “It’s going to be a pretty straight-forward rock album and I think it’s what we wanted to create with both Dog Magic and Voice of Saturn rolled into one,” offers drummer Dan Scanlan. “There will be a lot of shorter tracks that are very straight forward and hard-hitting — it’s a lot less of a droning record than what people are expecting.”
Today marks the third attempt of a New York judge to sentence Dwayne Michael Carter on a 2009 weapons charge. He’s expected to get a year, but will it happen this time?
All I’m sayin’ is that New Yorkers better take cover, because some crazy natural disaster is likely on the horizon. We’ll return with an update when (if) the sentencing is carried out.
UPDATE: Wayne was sentenced to one year today by Justice Charles Solomon of the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, according to the New York Times. He begins serving his sentence in Rikers Island today and will be eligible for early release in eight months if he maintains good behavior.
Watch Tony Yayo tell Wayne how to sneak drugs into prison (hint: take ’em beforehand!):
Continue reading “Will Lil Wayne finally be sentenced? UPDATE” »
Not the new issue of Rolling Stone
>> Those silly Deleos in Stone Temple Pilots are still putting up with Scott Weiland’s crap! In fact, they’ve put up with it long enough to record a new album and pencil down some soon-to-be-canceled tour dates. If I could be so bold as to offer a possible album title with multiple meanings: Beating A Dead, Stuffed and Mounted Alt-Horsey.
>> Everyone’s favorite fighters of foo, the Foo Fighters, are writing new material and almost ready to head back in their shiny, perfect studio and record some stuff, in between orders of take-out sushi.
>> New Drake jam. First rule of Thumb Club: You love Drake, hence therefore you love Drake’s new jam.
>> Ted Leo library of cover songs. Also, don’t forget to stay up for Ted Leo and the Pharmacists on Fallon tonight!
>> Frank Black talks to the Quietus about dark, creepy stuff, I presume.
>> Phish3DMovie: Fetch the blue bong, make the connection.
(Rolling Stone cover circa ’90s)
Mon., March 8 – This week, the Five Spot’s weekly Acoustic Monday finds local blues troubadour Mudcat holding down the stage. Free. 9 p.m. The Five Spot. 1123 Euclid Ave. 404.223.1100.
Tues. March 9 — Trainwreck (featuring Kyle Gass From Tenacious D). 7 p.m. (doors). 8 p.m. (show). $12. Vinyl. 1374 West Peachtree St. 404-885-1365.
Tues., March 9 — Chickens & Pigs are playing a show with the Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band. Chickens & Pigs singer/guitarist Jeff Evans often says that his songs are mostly about food or animals, which is a bit misleading. Sometimes a pig is a pig, but in “Green Lights” it’s a metaphor for any number of characters. $10. 8:30 p.m. The Earl, 488 Flat Shoals Ave. 404-522-3950.
Continue reading “Chad’s concert picks Mon., March 8-Thurs., March 11)” »
As further proof that trouble follows Atlanta rapper Waka Flocka Flame wherever he goes, eight people were shot at his Gary, Indiana show Friday night after Flame’s hype man revved up the crowd with a bunch of East Side/West Side talk. Flame is best known for his rather uninspired radio hit “O Let’s Do It” (video above).
In January, Waka Flocka (born Juaquin Malphurs) was shot in the arm at a car wash on National Highway. Then, just last week, he was involved in a shooting at Walter’s Clothing in downtown Atlanta.
The lesson? Stay away from this dude, unless you got a death wish.
How much did you love Vampire Weekend on “SNL?” Pretty good, right? Don’t be a party poopster, just say yes. That one song, “Cousins,” is so peppy and infectious! And that other song, “Giving Up the Gun,” is just asking for a locked-arm front-row sing-along.
Fans of minimalist composers like John Cage will find much to love about Ecstatic Sunshine’s latest, Yesterday’s Work. That isn’t to say the music is delivered with any pretense of being high art – the Baltimore group has always operated with a populist stance, more party than presentation. Guitarist and co-founder Dustin Wong left the band a couple of years back to play with fellow B-more art-punks Ponytail, allowing Matthew Papich to completely retool the group’s focus: Dueling guitars have been replaced by glitchy synths and atmospherics. Papich has said that the record is an auditory tribute to the sounds we hear in passing every day; it’s a lofty idea, but one explored to awesome effect on Yesterday’s Work. The minimalist approach the band has taken allows different aspects of the sound to shine through – it still sounds like sunshine, but now it’s more cool daybreak than hot high noon. (Hoss) 4 out of 5 stars.
WHO'S THE MASTER? Dam-Funk
Dam-Funk (pronounced dame-funk) is Damon Riddick, a thirtysomething Los Angelino whose love for the funk permeates his platelets. “During high school I liked a lot of music, but I [realized] that funk was what ran through my veins,” he says. “The other stuff was just kind of in my head.”
Raised in gangland Pasadena, he was able to avoid getting caught up in any nonsense by devoting his waking hours to the groove. His granddad and father were musicians, and straight out of high school he won gigs as a session keyboard player and later recorded with such West Coast rappers as Mack 10 and MC Eiht. His various day jobs included piloting a truck for the Red Cross; he’d make his music at night, and during the day would study the recordings on his boom box while driving around delivering blood. “Some of these trucks didn’t have a radio, but that wouldn’t stop me,” he says.
With DJs Daz-I-Kue, Karl Injex + CAZ. RSVP only: damfunk@thesoundtable.com. 10 p.m. Tues., March 16. The Sound Table (formerly Over Da Edge), 483 Edgewood Ave. www.thesoundtable.com.
Continue Reading “Dam-Funk delivers the sho-nuff uncut”
(Photo by Mathew Scott)
Vonnegutt frontman/Purple Ribbon MC Kyle Lucas connected with 2dopeboyz to release his new mixtape, It’s Always Sunny in Marietta. You didn’t know cats from Marietta could rap, huh? Well, if he has a co-sign from Big Boi (Daddy Fat Sacks actually hosts the mixtape), you might want to pay attention. Hit the jump for the link to this 27-track mixtape as well as a preview of his EP with Captain Midnite, I Brought Dead Flowers to a FUNeral.
Continue reading “Kyle Lucas, It’s Always Sunny in Marietta” »
Now that T.I.’s a short-timer (his sentence ends March 26), his campaign to reclaim the streets has officially begun. The King’s first post-prison release, “I’m Back” (hint, hint), drops tomorrow. To build anticipation, DJ Drama premiered a teaser of the single Saturday night on his Hot 107.9 (WHTA-FM) radio show, dropping Funkmaster Flex bombs and spinning it back at least five times before cutting the track off midway through.
Six duos compete tonight at Fadia Kader’s Perfect Attendance showcase for the ultimate publicity: a trip to Austin, Texas, to perform at SXSW. Throughout the week, five duos dropped freestyles for Atlanta blogger Miss Solow Dolow, which you can view at her YouTube page.
Perfect Attendance: Return of the Duos. $8. 10:30 p.m. Sat., March 6. 529. 404-228-6769. www.529atl.com.
