Chicago hip-hop has become synonymous with Kanye and Common, but there is a different side to the Windy City story.  Enter David Cohn, a.k.a. Serengeti.  On his first solo release Family & Friends, Geti runs the gamut of emotions, but spends most of his time on the darker side of the tale.

Minimal beats and straight-forward rhymes, Family & Friends is hip hop without all of it’s current effects.  Forget the bling and the entourage, this is Geti stripped and on point.  Whether he’s rhyming through a blues riff or a plucked violin he never loses sight as to why he’s here – to tell the story the way it went down.

While Serengeti and former partner Polyphonic have currently parted ways, he has brought a few new friends along for this ride.  Yoni Wolf from the group Why? and Owen Ashworth have delivered the beats on Friends & Family while members of the Australian group Otouto have given vocal support.

When the time comes for all true hip-hop heads to be counted, Serengeti will be standing at the front of the line.

TAGS: Reviews, Music Reviews

As a product of the 80’s, I often lose interest when I hear the rehashing of sounds from yesteryear.  And at first listen, you may think that’s what Portland’s Soft Metals are getting at.  But listen harder.  On their debut release, this moody duo goes deep.  Deep in to the sounds that inspired the new wave and industrial scenes, but with a uniquely modern twist.

With a “strange nostalgia for places not yet visited,” Soft Metals have crafted synth-driven love songs and soundscapes for the Roman Polanski, Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch set.  Reveling in the “transformative power of love, knowledge and imagination,” Ian Hicks and Patricia Hall have created a ten-track ode to a time when music really was being explored and reinvented.

Inspired by the sounds of Laurie Anderson, Patrick Cowley and Devo to name a few, Soft Metals are destined to re-imagine the electronic music scene one byte at a time.  So bust out your 808’s and your Casio’s because it’s time to get real again!

TAGS: Reviews, Music Reviews

“Simple.  Sparse.  Immediate.  Fucked Up.  But honest.” No, I’m not describing former girlfriends.  These are the words used to explain the sounds of the dynamic duo of Alex Knost and Christina Keyes, also known as Tomorrow’s Tulips.

With their first full-length release Eternally Teenage, this boyfriend and girlfriend combination nostalgically winds their way through lo-fi fuzz, loose-string garage guitars and a three-piece drum set without missing a beat.  Never contrived and rarely in tune, Tomorrow’s Tulips will have you smitten from the very first blast of feedback.

Produced by Matt Mchugh of The Black Lips and Vivian Girls fame, Eternally Teenage is 32 minutes of heart-on-the-sleeve, naked and unashamed indie pop music.

TAGS: Reviews, Music Reviews

I don’t know if Beck and Paul McCartney ever met, much less jammed together, but if they did, my guess is that it would have sounded a little something like the self-titled debut release from Unknown Mortal Orchestra.

Described by founding member and New Zealand native Ruban Nielson as “alien beatnik pop music,” UMO explores the boundaries of 60’s psychedelia and 90’s hip-hop breaks.  Raw in style and ingenuous in production value, this record is how every overly ambitious musical premier should sound.

Now based in Portland and performing live as a proper three-piece outfit, Unknown Mortal Orchestra is primed for success.  On tour this summer with Yuck and the Smith Westerns, UMO is laying the foundation for an incredibly bright future.

TAGS: Reviews, Music Reviews

What do you get when an indie hip-hop producer from Brooklyn moves to Los Angeles to make a “contemplative and melodic” computer-centric record?  A pretty good fucking listen if you ask me!

On his latest LP KEVINSPACEY, Cassettes Won’t Listen, AKA Jason Drake, combines the best of his hip-hop past with his electronic future to deliver big beats with tons of musical experimentation.

With the title a nod to his new home in L.A., CWL pushes the boundaries of genres and steps in to the world previously owned by Cut Copy and Hot Chip.  But regardless of how you categorize this record, KEVINSPACEY is going to end up on heavy rotation in your headphones as soon as the first track drops.

TAGS: Reviews, Music Reviews

Recently, KISS front man Gene Simmons was quoted as saying that “technology was ruining the world.” He clearly hadn’t listened to the new Little Dragon album when he made that statement because this little electronic record is making life better all around it!

In the past year, this Swedish quartet has toured with Gorillaz and De La Soul, leveled an appreciative crowd at SXSW, made a believer out of ?uestlove and wowed Outkast star Big Boi so much that he invited them to appear on his next LP.  Needless to say, these kids have been busy.

Their third album Ritual Union is killer.  Mid to uptempo synth beats and drum loops drive the record, but it’s the dripping vocals of lead singer Yukimi that make this a very special listen.  Dark?  At times.  Moody?  For sure.  Brilliant?  Absolutely!

TAGS: Reviews, Music Reviews

Photo by Pat Bradley

You get three clues to guess what went down last Thursday: binary amplification, video art, and an electric toothbrush.

No, this wasn’t an exhibit at the New Museum, but a multimedia concert at Galapagos featuring new music collective Transit.  Here in DUMBO, a few blocks away from the Theme headquarters, we experienced what’s au courant in the new music scene today: music with video and electronics. Tristan Perich, known for his 1-bit symphony, presented Woven, a piece reminiscent of varying repetitive textile patterns that literally weave into one another.  Everything Perich does is pretty high-tech (Googled ‘binary gated amplification’--got nothing) so we won’t even try to explain exactly what was going on.

In a less cyclical nature, with video and music working together to illustrate ideas, So Percussion presented three brand spanking new pieces...so new, in fact, that they are only tentatively titled: ‘where (we) live.’ All pieces (toothbrush bit, dancers and dog bit, basement bit) featured videos accompanied by colorful and rhythmic noise-making by So, who made each action itself onscreen seem to contain an auditory expression. So Percussion can make the mundane, such as the hum of an electric toothbrush, capable of music making.

While So Percussion’s sounds played the ‘voice’ for its videos, Daniel Wohl’s music set the tone for the videos presented in Corps Exquis. The work was a true exquisite corpse, with each video referencing a frame from the previous one, and an element from each musical composition providing background material for the next. Six videos were created by different artists, including video art collective Satan’s Pearl Horses, who has done work ranging from art to music to fashion. SPH’s video, Corpus, worked with the music like a mini music-video, showing the journey of a tired, worn, nearly invisible, bleeding figure. In other cases, the videos were like animated abstract paintings with sound accompaniment.

Corps Exquis for our Nanos? With our iPods having video capabilities nowadays, it doesn’t seem impossible to relive the experience all over again. 

TAGS: Reviews, Music Reviews

FANDEN FOR FANDEN - Mouritz/Hørslev Projektet from sandra rengifo on Vimeo.

Mouritz/Hørslev Projektet.
From the album: Blik, Bang Bang.
Madmusic Records.
Playground
Denmark. 2009
Director: Sandra Rengifo.
Location: Bogotá - Villa de Leyva. Colombia.
2010

And here’s an acoustic version of the title track from the album.

TAGS: Reviews, Music Reviews

Young Man - Just A Growin’ (Live) from Nathaniel Gravely on Vimeo.

We absolutely LOVE this track from Young Man (Colin Caulfield) and thought we’d share. 

TAGS: Reviews, Music Reviews

Redbird - Giants of the Forest - Episode One from Amazing Factory Productions on Vimeo.

Here’s a pretty awesome video from Vancouver’s VancouverIsAwesome & Amazing Factory Productions. 

TAGS: Reviews, Music Reviews