Live: The Copyrights, Jonesin' @ Tommy's Tavern 11.6.9

An early Fall night and The Copyrights are two of the great tastes that go great together. I stopped off for a pre-game with 2/3 of the aldenbarton rock franchise and posted up in time to hear the end of Nude Beach. Literally, but I ran into the newlywed Dan of Deadly Board Games and Dirtbike Annie and whiled away the dead time til what I assume was Jonesin' played. They played in the punk-optimized power trio format and rocked some noisy gems that crossed Husker Du with newer NYC indie-punk upstarts like Get Bent and Iron Chic are putting out. They were good, but sadly in the unenviable role of opening for The Copyrights, who are definitely the top tier of the current Mid-Weas-tern punk bands. They have a new 7" on No Idea that I guess they are touring behind. I could have cared less, as anytime The Copyrights are playing, one would be smart to be there. They were without one of their guitar dudes and somewhat limited in their selections but still knocked out a solid 10 or 15 tracks, including the delightfully appropriate (and JS-NYC euphoria inducing) This Ain't Broadway. They managed to cough up a couple more tunes as an encore at the behest of Dan and what appeared to be some rogue Steinways, but as awesome as it was, it was over way too soon. Big up to Tommy's and their bizarro smoke/light treatments. It reminds me of old times at The Charleston. Keep tabs on the tail end of this post-Fest junket and other Copyrights goings-on here. Snatch up the new record (a split with The Brokedowns) from No Idea here.

R

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