Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Published in The Blog. Tags: Music, Twin Cities.
“Musicology” (2004): I believe I will find myself in the minority in this situation, but the only Prince song that I’ve really spent any amount of time with is ‘Musicology.’ Having not been born, raised, or nurtured in Minnesota, my musical tastes were developed with different circumstances of favoritism and bias than that associated with Minnesotans […]
Published in The Blog. Tags: Music.
Context: Though his last few releases have been hit or miss Ben Harper’s 1997 album The Will To Live carries itself as a strong set, one which introduced Harper to a wider audience as it was his first ever charting release. One of the most touching and inspiring songs on the album is “Glory & […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Music.
HipHopMusic.com founder Jay Smooth recently started the world’s first official video blog and the site has hit deep this week with Jay’s most recent post “Truth, Poets and Money.” After familiarizing myself with the site last week I quickly became a fan. His latest commentary reconfirms my initial thoughts that Jay’s thoughts are well constructed […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Music.
Jesca Hoop’s voice sounds something reminiscent to that of a sweeter Neko Case on her track “Intelligentactile 101,” with one distinct tone exposing itself throughout the entire song. Growing up as one of five children in a traditional Mormon household Hoop’s tastes and interests were defined by the options given to her by her parents […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Canada, Music.
Montreal-based producer/MC Josh Dolgin (aka Socalled) approached his sophomore album, Ghettoblaster, as a sly satirical look at the world around him. Wielding his emotions without caution – the opening line to his “(These Are The) Good Old Days” blasts, “My God’s gonna kick your god’s ass.” He continues the track, likening modern Western society to […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Music.
“Stronger” acts as Kanye West’s best attempt at a self-inclusive mashup and in the process he has once again created a relevant image for himself; despite past criticisms, who doesn’t want to hear Kanye rapping over Daft Punk?! At any rate the song stands up, and the video for the track was just released. Now […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Music.
It’s odd to think of Common as a socialist, but after taking some time to look closer at his lyrics for “The People” it’s hard not to think of him as such. Throughout the song his lyrics reflect that of a deeper unsettling feeling, describing his motive in life as one to uplift those around […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Music.
BoingBoing recently pointed out a refreshing interpretation of Gnarls Barkley’s long since stale (most people’s view, not mine) record breaking hit “Crazy.” Primarily performed using the Theremin, musician Randy George, performing under the pseudonym The Ether and The Aether Experiment, constructs a glowing rendition with a fascinating use of vibrato, one which replicates Cee-Lo’s vocals […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Live, Music, Twin Cities.
Praising, “this is the best crowd we’ve ever had,” before continuing the night’s set, White Light Riot lead singer Mike Schwandt and his band were faced with a unique set of circumstance this past Saturday at the Fine Line Music Café. The night’s event was in commemoration of the band’s first full length album, Atomism, […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Music.
From what will appear on the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ upcoming Is Is EP comes a sensational track, “Down Boy.” The band’s attempt to capture and sustain suspense throughout the live video is becoming one of the key reasons the band has grown on me as like it has. Ever since “Miles Away” I’ve been hoping […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Music.
The current makeup of Leroy Smokes would be hard to recognize if you had seen the group in its beginning. After a decade making music there are few original members remaining as a result of musical differences and label problems. With the release of 2006’s Love, Hustle, Heater on Smokesignyl Productions however the group hopes […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Canada, Music.
While I played the role of a mere casual listener when it came to Feist’s 2004 record Let it Die I’ve come to greatly enjoy a variety of the releases included in this year’s The Reminder. With my increased interest I figured it couldn’t hurt to learn a little more about the woman whose music […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Film, Music.
It would be nice to think that Les Claypool is becoming more accessible, both personality-wise and musically, but fortunate for his fans he’s not. If anything the Fancy Band is a step in a completely opposite direction from a possible stab for mainstream attention that some may feel he should attempt; again, let’s be thankful […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Music.
Recently wrapping up production on the group’s debut album with the help of Gred Fidelman (Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Greg Gordon (Oasis) The Wildbirds seem to already have already a jump on things; one might say they’ve already become the most successful band ever to come from Appleton, Wisconsin. There’s a wild […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Music.
Guru’s recently released Jazzmatazz Volume 4 has received a strange mixture of poor reviews including one such from XXL, “Lacking the legendary instrumentalists, such as Donald Byrd and Roy Ayers, that anchored previous Jazzmatazz projects, Vol. 4 plays out more like a scattershot compilation than a fully realized thematic disc.” Without having listened to the […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Music.
Hard driving Seattle-based trio Akimbo will return later this summer with the first of two upcoming albums, Navigating The Bronze. Joining the band recently was be Aaron Walters, the group’s eleventh guitarist in its almost decade long history. Considering that the band, if put in the right context, could pass for a hard driving southern […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Music.
UNKLE’s War Stories, the group’s third album, drops next month and like its predecessors it will feature a rich line-up of collaborators; many including Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme and Massive Attack’s 3D have already appeared on previous albums . In typical UNKLE fashion however, fresh unexpected faces are added to the mix […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Music.
Def Squad presents the first track from Erick Sermon’s upcoming album, “Give it to ‘Em” has a flow far closer to EPMD than anything I’ve heard from the man in years. “I’m back well rested,” Sermon begins, and after hearing the track one can’t help agree with him. In between likening himself and Vic Damone […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Music.
When the buzz started breaking about a possible collaboration between Kanye West and John Mayer many people were more confused than impressed. I can’t help but think Dave Chappelle had something to do with the pair hooking up; lord knows it probably wasn’t Mayer’s stand-up that Kanye was impressed with (though it’s not that bad). The […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Mashups, Music.
“R.I.P. Mash-ups, we’ll miss your forced titular ironies.” So began yesterday’s “Mash-up Genre Raises Hell in Heaven” article on Idolator. Not long ago I was invited to help out as an infrequent guest editor over at Mashuptown, one of the web’s leading bootleg sites, and I feel that I’ve been able to keep at least a casual […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Music.
“Familj” offers itself up as one of the most harmonic tracks from Dungen’s recent Tio Bitar release. The song maintains a psychedelic posture reminiscent to that of modern documentarians attempting to recapture history and the video backs up the sounds without disappointing. Possibly the most enjoyable part of the track is the non confrontational battle […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Music.
Klaxons recently released a video for “It’s Not Over Yet” from the band’s Myths of a Near Future album; one which still stands up as one of the finest of the year thus far. In the video the group dawns fantastical warrior garb to combat flying 3D triangles which are apparently set on the boys […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Music.
The recently released video for Arctic Monkeys‘ “Fluorescent Adolescent” brings a couple of unusual thoughts to mind. I’ve never been one to have an outlandish fear of clowns but when they’re kicking the bloody hell out of your friends, all the while grimacing, I can’t help but feel like the last thing I want to […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Canada, Music.
After taking some time extensively purging my hard drive of one time jukebox necessities I came across The Headstones‘ catalog, one of my all time favorite bands. Having not lived in Canada for the better part of a decade now it had been a while since I had the opportunity to catch up on the […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Music, Twin Cities.
Formed in 1997, the Unknown Prophets began as two MCs Big Jess and Mad Son, friends who went to school together in Northeast Minneapolis. A year later the duo added Willy Lose, one of the Cities’ best DJs, to the mix and in doing so completed the group’s lineup. With four albums, an EP, and […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Music.
The new Polyphonic Spree video was just released and it reflects a dearly underutilized method of visual arts. The director Hal Samples took over 70,000 photos over the span of ten days and used the collection to create a still motion effect. Though the technique isn’t new it is given new light when presented as […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Music.
Though I myself am not entirely certain on what post-Renaissance rock may mean, it is possibly be the best way of describing Rasputina’s cello-centric brand of arena rock. Having been a fan of the group for a number of years I’ve grown familiar with getting in long winded arguments in which I am forced to […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Album Reviews, Music.
My attempts at avoiding the hype throughout the blogosphere surrounding Voxtrot ended last fall when DJ Neverforget aired a track on his Little Radio show – I was unexpectedly surprised as the song (its name slips my mind) was subtle and fantastic. Though my reaction at the time was that of a positive one, I […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Music, Twin Cities.
Having recently produced the track “Black Out on White Night” for Sage Francis‘ heavily acclaimed new album Human The Death Dance, Minneapolis talent Big Cats! proves that you don’t need the fashionable nonsense in order to create some strict beats. That track in particular underscores Francis’ unique flow while singer Jolie Holland does her best […]
Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: Film, Music.
There are two defining pieces of history that have helped me understand what Icelanders are indeed capable of. The first was my introduction to Björk roughly a decade ago, introducing me to a different classification of music and one that I still stubbornly associate with the country. The second, which at the time had a […]