Blog-achella Goes to '11: There's a New Superhero in Town...

It's a beard... it's a plane... it's a muthafuckin' badass beatboxer... it's...

Beardyman



Who he is: He goes by Darren, I believe. Lovely chap... but don't you think he should be required to have a beard at all times? Calling yourself Beardyman and walking around sans beard? The fuck's up with that?

What he sounds like: Jamie Lidell's live looping x Rahzel's beat boxing x a half-decent stand up comedian to boot. Homeboy does not have an album yet, but it drops in March. So you'll just have to deal with this half-hour live set from his Soundcloud. Prepare to have your earholes fucked in the very, very good way...

And just in case you were wondering, there is a wee bit o' Dubstep in there, keeping the streak alive...

Beardyman live @ Reading Festival 2010 by Beardyman

What I think: Holy shit, right? Remember how I said a couple posts ago that Jakes was my new fave? Well fuck that guy. My borderline-inappropriate man love is now being rightly slathered all over the (curiously not) bearded one. This video only cements it. It's also an entire set, so grab a Shasta, some pot brownies and your favorite furry pet and enjoy...



Holy holy shit fuck, right? Wow. How did I not know of this guy before?

Full disclosure... I actually kinda did. So did you. We just didn't know it yet. Go to the new Facebook page and have your memory jogged. See what I did there? Cross-promotion, bitches!

Blog-achella 09: Wonder (what it will sound like) Twins

Sometimes at Coachella, in order to be heard, you need to make some noise!

So I'm going to skip past singer/songwriter-type M. Ward because as I've said before, a dude and an acoustic guitar don't work at Coachella, no matter how good it is. The Sahara Tent eats 'em all alive. Don't believe me? Just ask Beck. Ward's not bad though... give him a listen...

But these two won't be drowned out...

Patton & Rahzel



Who they are: Mike Patton of Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Fantomas, Lovage and 53 other bands I don't feel like listing and Rahzel, formerly of The Roots and probably the best beat-boxer alive.

What they sound like: That's where it gets tricky. Mike Patton is so weird, who knows what'll happen. These two supposedly have an album coming out... but it hasn't, so the only way we'll know what to expect is from evidence on the YouTubes. We'll get to that in a sec, but here's one from Patton's Peeping Tom project to hit your mp3 fix with...

Peeping Tom - Mojo (ft. Rahzel & Dan The Automator (ysi)

What I think: ... but that Peeping Tom record was supposed to be Patton's idea of Pop. Here's that live footage I was talking about, and it don't sound nuttin' like "Mojo"...



... so yeah, Rahzel's insanely amazing and Patton's insanely insane. There's another clip from this show out there where they cover "Milkshake", so... should be pretty interesting to say the least...

... oh, and Happy Friday the 13th & Valentine's Day (which one is scarier?) and have a great weekend!

Fuck Shit Stack!

Super duper busy today, so no time for a real post... BUT I will give you a short assignment. Go familiarize yourself with the immensely talented Reggie Watts. Beat-boxing, live looping and comedy all wrapped up in one. This dude is my new hero, for real...



There's lots more where that came from on the YouTubes, so go crazy. Back to a full post tomorrow.

The Management

Odd Career Choice #462

Yesterday we talked about crawling down the rabbit hole. Today, we'll talk about crawling up... one's own arse...



... because frankly, when you decide to make the move to "Free Jazz improvisation", that's pretty much what you're doing. And that's exactly what Spring Heel Jack did. The duo started out as one of the more interesting acts in Drum & Bass, just two guys and a grip of gear, but then apparently decided they'd rather just learn some "instruments", pal around with "live musicians" and do that sort of thing... hey, whatever floats yer boat, dudes. You know I kid, but you gotta admit it's not a musical path many folks follow. The results are... well, they're not bad. It's free jazz with odd electronics... you could draw similarities to the Kieran Hebden/Steve Reid collaborations, but since Reid is a drummer by trade those records are steeped in rhythm. This stuff is very ambient and disjointed and yes... somewhat wanky (as Free Jazz tends to be)... but on the more cohesive numbers, it's actually quite nice...

Spring Heel Jack - Track One (ysi)

Loooooooong way from the dancefloor, that. I remember seeing them live as a D&B act back in the day and I certainly didn't see this coming... but then again, who would? Life, she has many twists and turns, like a big... twisty-turny... thing...

Glen Miller did not have this in mind...

At this point I'm just waiting for a report to surface that claims Sarah Palin killed a hobo... but I digress. Hey there! Welcome back! It's been three long days... let's get back to it... I'm sure you're just dying with anticipation...



A few years ago, certified wacko/musical genius Matthew Herbert decided he was gonna make himself a Big Band record. And so he did. But of course, the Herbert method of making a such a record was to record a big band, take that stuff to the studio and cut-up the shit out of it, reconstructing it into something completely different and adding electronic skull-duggery. It still feels like jazz... just really weird-ass Jazz. You gettin' the idea this is a tricky record to explain? Listening is a much better idea...

The Matthew Herbert Big Band - Follow The Meaning (ysi)

Sounds kinda like if you took a swing orchestra, threw it into a wall smashing it to pieces, then just picked up the pieces and started pulling 'em out of a hat... or something. And then he did it live...



Yep. Wacko. Love it. New one by the Matthew Herbert Big Band coming out this fall... don't miss it.

Mouf Soundz!

This here is one of those groups that, in addition to making good music, possesses the extra "Wow" factor when it comes to method, and the fact that the group is made up of a bunch of white Austrian dudes... that beatbox... gives it even more "WTF?"...



... and that group is the so-called "vocal groove project" known as Bauchklang. And yep, the song you are about to hear was made nothing but the human voice, some good compression and reverb. Maybe these aren't the only folks that do that sort of thing, but I've never heard it done so well... credit mad skeelz and good songwriting...

Bauchklang - Don't Step (ysi)

Just so you know, I first got tipped to Bauchklang by the excellent blog Comfort Music, which posted a couple tracks a while back, and I liked it so much I went out and got me the album. So suck on that, RIAA!

Here's a little YouTubes look at the boys in action...



Incredible stuff... come to America, Bauchklang! Of course, if you did, some record label putz would probably insist that you change your name to something like Mouf Soundz... on second thought, just keep doin' what yer doin... :P

Blog-achella 08: Oompa Loompa mosh pit!

People have been saying that this year's Coachella lineup is certainly a bit odd, but I think I've figured out what the deal is... I've figured out the exact demographic they are catering to...

Battles



Who they are: A New York band.

What they sound like: I've seen the term "math rock" used. That term is gay. That term does not come close to properly describing this music. This music is Heavy Metal for Oompa Loompas. I dare you to listen to it and not see that...

Battles - Atlas (ysi)

What I think: Man, that's feckin' awful, innit? But certainly the Oompa Loompa dance party at Dan Deacon will make it's way over to these guys for some headbanging... yep, these guys are all over this shit...



"We've found a suitable whore! Let the triple penetration commence!"


I just calls 'em as I sees 'em, folks...

Dirty hippie music

I hope it doesn't stink of patchouli in here too much this morning...



Now, I hate hippies as much as the next guy, I promise... but despite that, here's what popped up on the shuffle this morning. Tranquility Bass was the nom de plume of one Michael Kandel, a large and well-bearded man whose album Let The Freak Flag Fly signaled both the beginning and end of the genre of Hippie-tronica. Now, as horrible as that sounds, it's an oddly compelling listen. It's very weird and psychedelic, of course, but-- you can in fact dance to it. Just do the hippie dance, ya know... spin around and shit...

Tranquility Bass - Five Miles High

Strangely good, huh? But remember... hippies are not good. Hippies are dirty and smelly and will try to sell you beads for pot money. Then they'll sell the pot for tickets to a Phish show. But then they'll sell their Phish tickets for more pot. And trade some of that pot to another hippy for beads. Hippies are a very confused bunch...

Blog-achella '07 - CocoRosie (Sat.) / The Comedians of Comedy (Fri.)

Today in Blog-achella '07...

Funny-weird vs. Funny-ha-ha.

CocoRosie

Who they are: Two weird sisters from Weirdville. Seriously, though, the bio is one of those where you have no idea what the hell they're talking about or how much of it they're making up, so your guess is as good as mine.

What they sound like: Pretty weird. But kinda interesting. I've been trying to figure out someone to compare them to, but I keep coming up just short. Matmos on Estrogen injections, perhaps?

CocoRosie - K-Hole

What I think: The title sure fits. Basically, if the vocals were a little better, I might really dig this. But they're not. So "meh".

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The Comedians of Comedy

Who they are: Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn, Zach Galifianakis and Maria Bamford... four of the funniest stand-up comedians around.

What they sound like: If they had a band, they would suck, but lucky for the world, they don't. I looked on the YouTubes for some snippets of their acts, but most of the videos were kinda crap - little 30 second snippets with bad audio. Curse Viacom and their cracking down on the Interwebs pirates ways! But this little clip here kinda sums it all up nicely...

What I think: I worked with Patton for three years on Mad TV and can tell you that he is easily one of the funniest motherfuckers on the planet and a cool dude to boot. I could tell you stories of antics and shenanigans for days! If you haven't seen the "Comedians of Comedy" show on Comedy Central, definitely check it out. It's like "Tourgasm" but with humor. (btw, it is my personal opinion that Dane Cook should be shot out of a cannon into a brick wall covered in dog poo... and spikes... big pointy spikes) If you want to give your ears a break from all the loud music and laugh 'til you pee in your pants a little, go check 'em out. Oh, and if the Coachella folks are smart, they'll be doing their act in the beer tent :P

Blog-achella '07 - Lily Allen (Sun.) / Anathallo (Sun.)

Ambivalence, followed by confusion...

Lily Allen

Who she is: A saucy British bird

What she sounds like: Hmm... kinda like a girl version of the The Streets with singing and some ska thrown in and lyrics about blowjobs and how much everybody but her sucks, from what I gather.

Lily Allen - Friday Night

What I think: I know she's all the hype and whatnot, but I can't say that I'm really on the bandwagon. Can't quite put my finger on it (but ya know, I never really did get The Streets), and upon reading reviews, there are some that are crazy about her and some that think she's the suck... but she's definitely fun and more interesting than 90% of pop. See, I say that, but before I said I wasn't quite feelin' it. So which is it Tone? Make up your mind, waffle-boy!

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Anathallo

Who they are: A bunch of apparent weirdos from Michigan... who love Jesus (but hey, who doesn't?)

What they sound like: Just weird, man. Their Myspace page says Folk/Experimental and their lyrics are supposedly heavily Christian, but I say just weird. I mean check this out, and yes, that's the real name of the song... something to do with some Japanese folk tale or some shit...

Anathallo - Hanasakajijii (Four: A Great Wind More Ash)

What I think: As Moe from The Simpsons says, "Whaaaaaaa?"

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And a great interwebs find I must tell you about, the music blog called Loronix. If you loves the Brazilian and particularly the Bossa Nova, you have just hit the mother lode. They specialize in full albums (!) of Brazilian goodness, all out of print, from the 50s on up. And they post like 5 a day!! Since finding it last week, I've already picked up albums by Jobim, Astrud Gilberto, Deodato and Dom Um Romao to name a few. Essential! Their file host kinda blows because it makes you wait like an hour between downloads, but that is a mere quibble! Mere! Get at it!