Tonight at Music Hall of Williamsburg: Guilt By Association Vol. 2

Hey Kids:

JS-NYC will be out at Music Hall Of Williamsburg  for The Tripwire tonight, courtesy of Samantha at Tell All Your Friends. Robbers On High Street are playing, along with Jukebox The Ghost, Takka Takka, and Lowry. It's a record release party for Guilt By Association Vol. 2. 

 

Look for a review on The Tripwire early next week. 

Thanks to Derek at The Tripwire and Samantha at Tell All Your Friends.

R

Aldenbarton debut a gang of new songs at Fontana's

I'm still waiting on photographic proof, but I saw Aldenbarton play with Spray Paint Star at Fontana's last night. I only caught the end of the SPS set, but suffice to say they are representing the Spirit Of '88 in a way that only H20 has in recent years. They aren't hardcore, but the sure love themselves the pop from that era. It was ok, made more notable by the presence of my ex-bass teacher (and Springsteen Seeger band player) Jeremy Chatsky and sometime Sandusky  fill-in drummer Timmy in their ranks. Good guys, and I guess they are opening for They Might Be Giants tonight in Rhode Island, so good on 'em.

Aldenbarton played next, as sort of unknowing openers to a surprise performance from what appeared to be Joe and the Hot Dogs in their Mott The Stupid incarnation. Aldenbarton heated up the room with a couple songs from their I-tunes debut Exodus Of The Eldest, then proceeded to floor everyone in attendance with a gang of new tunes that they've been cooking up in the studio. Good stuff, especially that New England song (not a Billy Bragg cover, douchenozzle). They are back in the studio next month, hopefully we'll get those tracks out and in our earhole soon. In the meantime, check them out next Tuesday (2/3) at temporal wormhole Cake Shop with The Visitations and get the Exodus EP on I-tunes..

Katt Williams - It's Pimpin' Pimpin'

I always enjoyed Katt Williams. His Comedy Central specials were a good time and I guess have spawned a bunch of film work for him. Or maybe vice versa?

Speaking of vice, our Katt seems to be indulging a bit more than he should be as of late. He has been quite the tabloid darling: missing a Conan O'Brien appearance, having gun charges levied against him, shit talking about Steve Harvey and recently being slapped off a stage. And that's just in the last couple of months. While the shit is being stirred up, scuttlebutt is that perhaps that the Diplomats chain he's sporting on the cover is a bygone affiliation, as well, and that KW may be retiring from stand-up? I smell a Martin Lawrence turn in the future, but maybe it's all Interweb conjecture.

Williams' personal issues aside, he's managed to release a new CD and DVD called It's Pimpin' Pimpin'. It's a live recording from DC. If the title doesn't already tell you, it's business as usual for him. The usual subjects are covered: his son (assumably biological and not one of his alleged 100+ foster kids), weed (this time, via the vaporizer), and self-reliance (look up 'star player' in the Katt lexicon). It's all pretty hysterical, as are the stories about him finally getting a motorcycle and his commentary on Oscar Pistorius' Olympic medal bid. Comedy Central has been airing this a bunch, but you can get your own copy here, if you'd like. Pick it up and pay for Katt's retirement, or at least his legal bills.

R

William Elliott Whitmore - Animals In The Dark

I met Whitmore at Twangfest in St. Louis a couple of years ago. I ended up talking with him and the guys from Backyard Tire Fire while they soundchecked and took solace in that fact that even if their bands ended up sucking that night, they sure seemed to be good people. During our chat, William mentioned that he lived in a shack in Iowa without heat or running water, but so genuinely that it didn't seem to be just dropped to impress. He played an early set later that night to a real Hank III kind of crowd ranging from trainhopper crust kids to grey-haired purists, all of whom seemed to enjoy a drink.

Whitmore played solo, as is his custom, with only sparse banjo and guitar to accompany him. He was in good voice and the crowd was really into him, especially that ladies. I remember liking him, but listening to Animals In The Dark, I would have thought a guy who sings like he does would make me pay attention. Frankly, I'm not sure how I feel about his voice. My first thought was that it was way too Chambers Brothers and maybe a tad affected. At some parts it even gets a little Darius Rucker and I'm not sure that's really the best idea if you're playing to the Anti- set, but what do I know?

My shitting on him aside, Whitmore is definitely talented in the playing and singing departments, and for his Anti- debut he's fleshed out the tracks a bit, embellishing the tracks with spartan string and steel parts to burnish things up. I really need to check out his older recorded stuff (six records) on Southern. The rawer stuff like Hell Or High Water reminds me of Preston Long in his Young James Long incarnation and you don't get much better than that. In poking around, Whitmore seems to be a solid guy with a soulful voice and a populist bent. Hopefully the move to Anti has prompted a move to more winter weather friendly habitation. My misgivings aside, Animals In The Dark is well worth checking out, do that here and maybe even buy it from the good folk of Anti- if you see fit. If you get bitten by the bug, keep track on Whitmore's current whereabouts here.

R

New Kurious Jorge Record!

Whouda thought, Kurious is back! You should remember I'm Kurious and Mansion And A Yacht from back in the day, or if you were a Purchase kid from the early 90s maybe you saw him at parties. Either way, he was a good guy to drink a 40oz with and had some fun tunes, a lot of which were produced by the mighty Beatnuts. The Beatnuts pop up behind the boards here, as do VIC and Dame Grease. If you're into such things (and I am) MF Doom and MC Serch pop up on the old school compliant Benetton, too. Pick up Kurious Jorge's II from Amalgam Digital on 3/24 here. Track listing is below. Crate diggers can rest assured that there will be hard copies as well. You can check out the first single Back From Up Under (feat. Max B) here.

R

1.) Take What is Given (produced by Dame Grease)
2.) Back with VIC (produced by VIC)
3.) Work It (produced by 88-Keys)
4.) Sittin' In My Car (produced by Ed Noodles)
5.) Drinks In The Air f/Vanessa Liftig (produced by Boola)
6.) Animals and Horses f/Kadi (produced by Yogi)
7.) Rubberbandz (produced by The Beatnuts)
8.) Benetton f/MC Serch & Mf Doom (produced by Sosa)
9.) Rain On f/Co Campbell (produced by Dame Grease)
10.) Wake Up f/Vanessa Liftig (produced by Team Demolition)
11.) Smiling (produced by Domingo)
12.) Brand New Day f/Dave Dar & Co Campbell (produced by Hi-Tek)
13.) Mysterious (produced by Boola)
14.) New Heights (produced by Oner)
15.) Back From Up Under f/Max B (produced by Dame Grease)
16.) Is This the End (produced by Sosa)
17.) Prosperous (produced by Fyre Dept.)
18.) The Magician f/ Del The Funky Homosapien
(produced by James Strong)**** Amalgam Digital BONUS TRACK

Hot Chillin' presents The Juice Crew EP

First off, all props are due to the mighty Unkut.com for the heads up that this even exists.

Robbie over there is a connoisseur of hip-hop old and new, but his love of the mighty Kool G. Rap shines through. The Juice Crew EP features two unreleased KGR and Polo, plus three more unreleased Juice Crew cuts from the vaults of Marley Marl himself. It's vinyl only, with four possible colors and an $80 price tag. Horribly enough, it's probably already sold out, but if you are a fan of the era, you would do well to start trolling the interwebs and trying to find some mp3s of these tracks.

Kool G. Rap and DJ Polo come out the gate swinging with I Declare War. It's a leftover from the Road To The Riches record. KGR sets a formidable rhyme pace from the opening lines and bobs and weaves for almost four minutes, rocking the beat while Polo weighs in with some nasty, nasty scratches. KGR is pretty much unfuckwithable here.

The next track is from Super Kids, who had a young Tragedy Khadafy in their ranks, although back then he was Tragedy The Intelligent Hoodlum. Frankly, I'm not sure how many Super Kids there were, or if any of them were female, but while all of the MCs comprising said Super Kids have skills, their pre-pubescent voices also sound a lot like Roxanne Shante in cadence and register. I actually thought it was Shante the first time. For young kids, though, they come hard. Don't get these kids mixed up with Another Bad Creation.

Now I'm as big a mark for Big Daddy Kane as Robbie at Unkut is for KGR. That's no disrespect to G. Rap, just a statement of preference. KGR is a true rhyme animal, but Kane sets it off on side two with For Your Own Concern, where he simply tears the Marley track the fuck up. Kane is just a beast. He rhymes with swagger and authority over the mid-tempo beat, decimating all rappers in his path and taking time to clear his throat and mock other rappers while he does it. The track was recorded for and left off Long Live The Kane, If you hear this, compare it to anything in the current hip-hop Top 10, then consider the track is over 20 years old and deemed unfit for release. Kane is at the peak of his powers here, but even today in his 50's, Kane is harder and more hip-hop than most of the chumps in the game today.

Coming off the opening track, you would figure G. Rap couldn't have have two amazing tracks that ended up on the cutting room floor, right? I mean, what are the chances? Consider those odds beaten: while a crappier version of this was released previously, Enter The Dragon lives up to it's namesake, kicking ass without mercy for 5 :10. KGR doesn't even seem to pause to take a breath for the duration, but never rhymes fast for the sake of showing off. How anyone can listen to Twista or B.O.N.E without losing their mind is beyond me, although I can give begrudging props to the Ohio contingent's ability to harmonize. I don't want to hear it, but they kinda do it ok. This KGR cast-off is better than either of those crews entire recorded output.

The five songs close with a surprise track from Craig G, who drops some old-school science over some disco-infused boom-bap. It's up there with any of his big singles, but is still one the weaker (ie not Kane or KGR) of the five tracks here. That's like saying that GZA is the fifth best rapper in the Wu, while his rank may be in question, he's still nicer than most, and Craig G still brings it.

While these five tracks are total bangers, $80 seems more than a little ridiculous, but while things are murky in this regard, it seems like maybe Marley is behind Hot Chillin', which takes the moniker from dumb to a pretty awesome fuck you to the Cold Chillin camp. If all this is going in Marley's pocket, more power to him. Makes me think that the limited numbers are an attempt to keep those royalty checks to a minimum, but pop on over here and try and figure out who the mastermind of this is.

R

La Coka Nostra - Brand Name Dope EP

For the uninitiated, La Coka Nostra is a supergroup of sorts, featuring the gents from House Of Pain, along with Ill Bill from Non-Phixion, Slaine from the criminally underrated Special Teams and some guy named Big Left. Of course, there are also guest spots from Cypress Hill, Psycho Realm and (ahem) Danny Diablo. I can't say that I'm really feeling Brand Name Dope, though. I always liked HOP, even as late as Truth Crushed To Earth Will Rise Again, but after Everlast's unexpected solo career it seemed like we'd seen the last of the Irish triumverate. I can't say that any of the gents in LCN seem to be bringing their A Game to the table on Brand Name Dope, but maybe you'll feel differently. Ill Bill and Everlast are co-executive producers of the project and it seems to be coming out on Ill Bill's Uncle Howie Records in conjunction with Suburban Noize (run by Daddy X, sXe guy from Doggy Style and Kottonmouth Kings). Keep up on the goings-on with the La Coka Nostra here, and look out for the full-length called A Brand You Can Trust in the next couple months.

R