R.A. The Rugged Man - Legendary Classics Vol. 1

As the leaves turn and we look forward to giving thanks, let us not forget to make a joyful noise about the fact that R.A The Rugged Man has deigned to grace us with another release. The former Crustified Dibbs has defied the odds (as well as label blacklisting and companion lawsuits) and undergone quite the renaissance in recent years. Sadly, his contributions to Mass Appeal are no more, but the digital age has proven to be a great medium for established indie artists like R.A. He claims that his last release, the pretty damn good American Low Life was recorded for under $5K and sold 400 thousand. Do the math. Thems is some Freddie Foxxx numbers. Even if he did half those numbers, it would be a better showing than most of the hip-hop records that have dropped in the last couple years.

It's been a minute since ALL dropped, but R.A is most definitely back for the attack. Displaying his customary lack of self-confidence, R.A has seen fit to release Legendary Classics Vol. 1 for our pleasure, a limited edition release that compiles a lot of The Rugged Man's early singles from way-out-if-it-was-ever-actually-really-in-print records like Night Of The Bloody Apes. Smithhaven Mall is here, as is Stanley Kubrick. The solo tracks are good, but pair R.A. with fellow grimesmiths Akineyle or Kool G. Rap and you have total magic, if you consider tales of whoring, drugging and otherwise being unproductive to the populace at large to be magical. I sure do. Legendary Classics Vol. 1 adds the legendary Cunt Renaissance duet with Biggie as well as the straight banger 50,000 Heads with Sadat X and a gang of other songs you'll be embarassed to play around your Mom. Any guilt you might feel after listening probably won't keep the Nate Dogg-esque hook from Fucking Your Bitch (When You're Not Around) from haunting you for days afterward. Maybe just hum it to yourself, or consider investing in a better set of noise-canceling headphones. Whatever it takes, you owe it to yourself to check out R.A. and Legendary Classics Vol. 1. Grab it from Nature Sounds here and maybe spring for the limited edition with the DVD and unreleased tracks. Keep track of where the women in your life should be far away from via the Rugged Man web presence here.

Rugged Man? What The Fuck!

R

Iron Chic - Shitty Rambo EP

Iron Chic is another reshuffling of the Long Island punk rock deck, featuring ex-Latterman dude / engineer / cigarette aficionado Phil Douglas and Lubrano from Small Arms Dealer as well as three other whoa-ohing miscreants that like themselves some pop-punk mixed with Braid-y Midwestern 90s rock (who themselves were jocking Chapel Hill pretty hard).

The Iron Chic demo got a lot of love from JS-NYC to Bloomington. I could have sworn that Iron Chic went the way of the Potboiler and the Get Bent, but if they have songs this good I hope they stick around for a bit. All four songs are bangers, but Don't Tell Me Stupid, Don't Show Me Fuck You and Shit/Giggles occupy the number 1 & 2 slots for now, but I'm just into the double digits with playing Shitty Rambo so standings may very well change. My ranking aside, pick this EP up here immediately from Dead Broke Rekerds. Nerds may be excited to hear of limited vinyl options. Yippee.

xo

R

MC Ren - Renincarnated

Of all the NWA members, Ren always was my favorite. He had better tone and flow than most of the other cats, but still always seemed to be batting behind Cube, Dre and Eazy. The first two I could see, but being considered behind Eazy as a rapper is a place in life I wouldn't wish on most people. Not that Eazy isn't head and shoulders above 90% of the shitty rappers that are out today, but the point is that Ren deserves a lot better than that. His skills are definitely on par with Cube and outclass the rest of his former franchise. His solo records haven't sold on the level of Cube or Dre, but are still extremely solid efforts, especially for a West Coast artist. There are equal parts misogyny and spirituality, with the odd weed smoking reference to mix it up. Villianist Tales (sadly, indeed a revisitation of Too Short's Freaky Tales) is a bit of a misstep, but by and large Renincarnated is well worth picking up. Get it here from Ren and Villain Entertainment and check out videos and movies starring the Villain himself. Cops and mark ass bustas need not apply.

R

Sean Price presents Kimbo Price: The Prelude To Mic Tyson

Read the title. Kimbo Price? Come on, you can't front: admit the title is pretty brilliant, especially as a mixtape precursor to a full-length entitled Mic Tyson. I guess that you might be all souped up on the new Jay-Z or Rick Ross records to the point that you might doubt this record's awesomeness, but anyone with even a passing ownership of a set of ears would be an idiot to deny how good this. Interspersed with sound clips from the aforementioned pugilists, Sean gets ridiculous on 23 tracks, mostly for delf but sometimes with the help of old comrades like Ruck, Buckshot and Rusty Juxx but also with newcomers like Flood Diesel, Skyzoo and Torae. If you like hip-hop, you should be picking Kimbo Price up immediately from Duck Down. Here's a link.

R

The Price Is Right

So your man Sean P has got a new mixtape dropping. It's called Kimbo Price and is the precursor to the new full-length (on Duck Down, of course) called Mic Tyson. While Sean comes hard body with it, he still keeps it real on the family and shopping tip. See it firsthand via The Price Is Right, video that may very well be the best thing on the interwebs. Here's a link. Thanks to the mighty Unkut for hipping me to this and big up Dallas Penn for digitizing. Look for a review of Kimbo Price tomorrow.

R

The Hold Steady - live Southern Comfort show download

Hey Kids:

I don't drink it, but maybe you're into idea of seeing one of your favorite bands and swilling some SoCo while you do so?

Evidently it makes The Hold Steady play a bunch of covers, which I guess may have been the point. Hit the link below and hear a couple new tracks taped live this past Sunday at The Crocodile in Seattle, along with old favorites and/or Steve Earle, ZZ Top and Minutemen covers.


http://holdsteady.blogspot.com/2009/10/crocodile-october-22-2009.html

xo
R

Live: Dethklok, Mastodon, Converge and High On Fire @ Hammerstein Ballroom 10.29.9

Life is funny. In a genre as inherently cartoonish as metal (both to the positive and negative), I guess it was inevitable that a metal cartoon band would exist. The idea that they would tour with legitimate bands in big rooms all around this great nation of ours is a little bit more mindboggling.

Presentation was another issue. Was there going to be a live band? Were they going to kick it Gorillaz style and play behind a screen that the animation was projected against? Or maybe split the difference? Metalocalypse musical mastermind Brendon Small plays guitar in the live band and does the Nathan Explosion vocals (as he does on the cartoon), so you would figure that there would be a live band and it would at least get a little bit of shine. I'm told the first tour had the band behind the screen, but this tour had the band backlit enough to see the band a bit. I'll get into the rest of the crew in a sec.

So the crew primed the pump a bit before we headed uptown. For the first time in a while, I (and we) was interested in seeing the entire bill. We circled the wagons at Hammerstein a little after seven and got inside to see the last four or five songs of the Converge set. I've never thought that Converge were the tightest live band and the prospect of seeing them in a place as cavernous as as Hammerstein was not one that bode well. Jake was all over the limited amount of place openers were afforded and there we definitely fans in the room, but I wasn't crazy about the set. I'm sure they are crushed.

Co-headliners Mastodon were up next. While my state of inebriation at the beginning of the set was well into the realms of shithouse drunk, I figured that maybe they would light a fire under my ass. Sadly, I couldn't have been more wrong. Very, very boring. There were pretty decent visuals, but the most striking ones were the stars I'd see when I'd almost fall asleep on my feet and smash face first into Eric or Paul's back. (Apologies, gents). Mastodon played the new record in it's entirety and followed up with some chestnuts at the end, but I was profoundly underwhelmed with the whole set. Suffice to say, Mastodon are not this man's kind of red wine band.

Dethklok were up in short order. If you're a nerd, and I am, the live band is kind of a Stats-Pro wet dream. As I mentioned, Brendon Small helms the band, but he's got ex-Zappa sideguy Mike Keneally backing him up on guitar. Drum God Of Thunder Gene Hoglan is on the stool, paired with SWR product rep/ex-Zappa dude Bryan Beller on bass. Lots of times these fantasy parings seem better on paper, but understand that they fucking killed it. The animation was typical Metalocalypse, but as consistently hysterical. It wasn't synched hard to the music, but the synergy was pretty bad ass. I felt like a fucking 12 year old and loved every minute of it. Plus, they played the Duncan Hills Coffee Jingle and, as luck would have it, I like coffee, so it was pretty win-win all around. See this tour any way you can. If it's a real big room, maybe think about showing up a little late.

Metal.

R