Tampa Calling

It was fated that one day they’d collaborate. Audioslave (and former Rage Against the Machine) guitarist Tom Morello and Boots Riley, rapper for the Coup, are two of the most stridently radical musicians to ever plug in. Get ’em together and you get Street Sweeper Social Club, 11 songs and nearly 40 minutes of unremitting agitprop set to thunder beats and monster guitar riffs.

Every song rails against something: bosses, politicians, capitalism, materialism, the System. Virtually every song advocates the violent overthrow of oppressive forces, the gathering of guns, the whole ain’t-taking-shit-NO-more thing.

Unless you’re planning to cause trouble at the next G8 summit, this kind of rhetorical and musical onslaught can wear your ass out. But give Morello and Riley big ups for commitment — and big up Stanton Moore for providing the crushing funk-rock grooves.

Rap-metal is a worn-out subgenre, and to some extent the Morello/Riley team (along with drummer Stanton Moore) sags under the weight of stylistic orthodoxies. There are only so many new ways to approach a heavy guitar riff, only so many variations on funk-rock beats. Read the rest of this entry »

VINYL SATURDAY

From the folks who brought us “Record Store Day” comes “Vinyl Saturday.” Once a month, we’ll be waxing you poetic with special, limited releases made specially available on Vinyl Saturday. If you’re interested in any of the limited editions, you may want to get to the store early — they won’t last long! The first Vinyl Saturday is this coming Saturday,  June 20, and will feature:

WILCO
This is a special 7″ single being released 10 days before new album (WILCO, the album comes out on 7/3)! Limited to a run of 3,800, the 7″ includes the tracks “You Never Know” and “Unlikely Japan,” an early 2003 version of the previously unreleased track “Impossible Germany.”

GREEN DAY
The vinyl version of the CD Single “Know Your Enemy” will be available at Vinyl Fever on 6/20. This vinyl is limited to 5000, and is NUMBERED. The b-side is an unreleased studio track called “Hearts Collide.”

MODEST MOUSE
Second in a series of 7″ singles being released. This one is entitled “Autumn Beds” and the b-side is “Whale Song.”

PETE YORN/SCARLETT JOHANSSEN
These two are releasing an album in September through Rhino (not to be confused with the Pete Yorn release on 6/23 through Sony), and we’ll have an advance 7″ with a duet from both of them AND a Pete Yorn demo on the other side.

ALSO, the following artists have vinyl scheduled for a street date of 6/23, but us indie retailer participants are getting them EARLY, so we can sell them to you on 6/20:

Al Green (classic reissues) – Those Darlins – Wolves In The Throne Room – Wino – Patterson Hood – Earth – Woggles – Chesterfield Kings – Cocktail Slippers and more. Read the rest of this entry »

The mid-90’s Britpop feud between Oasis and Blur has become the stuff of legend. Noel Gallagher once famously hoped Blur frontman Damon Albarn would “catch AIDS and die” (he since recanted, blaming drugs for the outburst).  Surprisingly, he’s 100% behind the current Blur reunion: “I’m right into the Blur reunion, ’cause it’ll finish off the Kaiser Chiefs and put them to bed. There’s nothing worse than a shit Blur. And at least the original shit Blur are back to finish off all these other shit Blurs. I’m bang into the Blur reunion.”

From an old reunion to a possible new one: Nine Inch Nails‘ Trent Reznor no longer thinks very highly about former friend and collaborator Marilyn Manson.  Reznor calls Manson “a malicious guy and will step on anybody’s face to succeed and cross any line of decency … Seeing him now, drugs and alcohol now rule his life and he’s become a dopey clown. He used to be the smartest guy in the room.  And as a fan of his talents, I hope he gets his shit together.”

Lots of news on the Flaming Lips, The Cult, STP, Moz, and more after the jump!

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For those as far out of the loop as myself, Street Sweeper Social Club is The Coup’s Boots Riley and RATM/AudioSlave guitarist/Nightwatchman, Tom Morello. They’re currently filling the opening slot on the Jane’s Addiction / NIN tour. (Pictured below playing the May 9 show at Ford Amphitheatre; photo taken by Phil Bardi.)

I saw Boots last year while he was out on the road with Galactic and he totally stole the show. The idea of him collaborating with Tom Morello has me extremely excited. Unfortunately, the three tracks of theirs that my buddy supplied me with last night have done little more than disappoint.

None the less, last Sunday, Boots and Trent Reznor shared the stage and mic duties on a cover of MC5’s “Kick Out the Jams” and I think it turned out pretty awesome.

(VIDEO AFTER THE CUT THAT I’VE PLACED HERE TO INCREASE THE “CLICK COUNT” ON THIS POST)

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