I got a filín

It’s one thing to discover some burgeoning indie band with 2 songs and <150 fans on their myspace, and it’s another to stumble upon
a band dating 50 years back and entering a gateway to a whole genre of music you never knew existed. Today, I’ve fallen in love and had my heart broken, all due to one 1960s Cuban close-harmony vocal group called Los Zafiros.

Thanks to Said the Gramophone for turning me on to
La Luna en Tur Mirada, a beautiful tune that sent me feverishly digging through YouTube for more. In those digital stacks I found the following gem of a video for “Y Sabes Bien,”
a song indicative of the Cuban filín (feeling) movement that weaves bolero and bossa nova with doo-wop and R&B.

Thanks to Andrea for the inspiration.

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All The Dead Girls Dance

It’s guys like Brad Oberhofer that James Murphy was singing about in I’m Losing My Edge. “The kids are coming up from behind,” says Murphy. At just 22, Oberhofer’s creating at a level far beyond his years, but he’s no prodigy,  he doesn’t have to be. It’s his effortless blend of  scream-sung lyrics, skip-along whistling, erratic percussion, and unexpected song dynamics that many bands attempt to pull off but can’t because, simply put, they sound forced. Oberhofer’s music feels effortless, his approach genuine, and that’s precisely what draws you in.

Oberhofer – I Could Go
Oberhofer – Dead Girls Dance

Much respect to my boy Phil for the tip.

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Do it, Do it Roger, Do it!

1999- 5 days after the Columbine horror left the nation licking an open wound, 5 shots from a .357 Smith & Wesson echoed in the alley behind Roger Tee Enterprises, and funk machine Roger Troutman was dead at the hands of his older brother Larry, who saved the 5th and final bullet for himself.

1996- Tupac needs a hit to launch his first album since Suge bailed him out of jail. Dre cooks up “California Love” which features Roger freestyling the now iconic hook.

1980- More Bounce to the Ounce gives a generation of khaki creasing, house shoe slidin’ ridahs something to bump out the back of the lac, as they scrape through the streets of Compton and Long Beach.

1970-1977- After learning to play the guitar from a local bum in exchange for food, Roger soaked up the funk from his fellow Ohio natives: Slave and The Ohio Players. Roger first saw the talkbox (or as he called it the ghetto robot) between Stevie Wonder’s gums on a 1973 episode of Sesame Street, and started using the technique to sing hits originally recorded by women.

2010- Dudes like Dam-Funk and DJ B. Cause are keeping the Troutman legacy alive with muthafunkin mixes like this here
DJ B. Cause – Playin’ Kinda Ruff

Tracklist, videos, and a super dope 90’s slow jam mix from Hudson Mohawke awaits when you Read More »

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Free Shit Friday

Ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you how much I truly love free shit. Call me crazy, but when they say the best things in life are free, I believe em’. So from now on, every Friday, I’ll post my favorite finds, and fingers crossed, they’ll soon become yours, truly.

Sean Hayes – Fucked Me Right Up
Hello floor, can I stay awhile?

1,2,3 – Can’t Bribe God
Expect big things from these dudes.

The High Wire-Leave Me in Love
These lads and lass as well.

Electric Wire Hustle – They Don’t Want
Killer Kiwi soul.

Aloe Blacc – I Need A Dollar
I’m sayin’, for real though.

Janelle Monae – Tightrope
The funky future, seriously, she’s been there, it doesn’t sound this good.

Lindstrom & Christabelle-Baby Can’t Stop
I miss MJ.

Jay Electronica – Exhibit C
Eatin’ wack rappers alive, shittin’ out chains.

Samuel & The Dragon – Rising Up
Soundtrack to a really cool nightmare where the bad guy loses, but you still wake up in a sweat scared to death.

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Best Coast x Yours Truly x P4k

Around 11am, Best Coast emerged from their hotel dressed entirely in black, which made me wonder if their sunfuzz pop was merely a mask they wore to disguise some deeper turmoil. My gut had it that Bethany and Bobb were the quiet types, while their friend –Ali of Vivian Girls, with her crimson lipstick–would be the chatty one. Appearances can be deceiving. Despite her dark wardrobe and inside-looking-out pop songs, crafted atop the crumpled sheets of her bed, she really is quite the talker. And, in the best way possible -a funny, honest, and engaging person whose personality makes you pull her songs closer.

We had some breakfast together and bumped into the owner
of Rooky Ricardo’s Records (home to our Dusty Fingers Series). Although he wasn’t planning to open the shop for several hours, he let us in to dig for records and hang out.

*Note* Keep an eye out for Ali’s fall, which we totally would have cut out, had she not insisted on keeping it in for your laughing and pointing pleasure. You’re a good sport, Ali.

A great performance of “When I Am With You” awaits you… Read More »

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Ask Beavis, I get nuttin’ Butthead

February 15th marked the 11-year anniversary of Big L’s murder from 9 gunshots in his hometown of Harlem. L never had a hit, or the kind of lasting legacy that comes from rap martyrdom. What he had was skills: battle tested punchlines you don’t come up from, internal rhyme riddles that’d make even Eminem envious, rough and ready for whatever swagger (what the fuck is swag?), a flavor for razor blade reality, menacing metaphors, and the kind of comic relief you see in good slasher flicks -laugh to keep from shitting yourself.

Here’s some select evidence of L’s microphone mastery

“I’m far from broke, got enough bread
And mad hoes, ask Beavis I get nuttin Butt-head”

“I got styles you can’t copy bitch
It’s the triple six in the mix
straight from H-E double hockey sticks”

listen to L make Jay-Z look like a rookie with this line:

“Big L is the nigga you expect
To catch wreck in any cassette deck
I’m so ahead of my time, my parents haven’t met yet”

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Pianist Envy – The Not So Silent Killer

Gonzales, the shadow on the curtain of Jamie Lidell’s Multiply, Feist’s The Reminder, and his own Solo Piano, is warming up for his upcoming Boyz Noize produced album with a new mixtape and the moniker to match.

He says, “I am Chilly Gonzales, the sad musical genius. Some of you may know that I was born Jason Beck, but Jason is dead to me now. I have permanently and legally changed my name to Chilly Gonzales.

To celebrate me becoming me, I offer to you the first-ever piano mixtape “Pianist Envy,” my declaration of defiance to the rappers and beatmakers who, unbeknownst to them, leave space for my musical imagination.

You know those rap beats and electro songs – the ones with almost nothing in them? Tipsy, A Millie, Grindin’ Rollin’ and Scratchin’, Single Ladies? Well, I go all Liberace on these beats with my piano and my orchestra.”

Chilly Gonzales- Pianist Envy

Still thirsty? Sip on 6 more mixes by Big L, Holy Ghost, Friendship Bracelet, XXX Change, Raven Sings the Blues, when you Read More »

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Shake Some Action + Pure Ecstasy


Yours Truly, in collaboration with Weekly Tape Deck, Transparent, Friendship Bracelet, Indieverse and Underwater Peoples, are aiming to leave our mark on Austin with a 3-day throw-down of Bands, Booze, Bros and Ethiopian sponge bread at Karibu Ethiopian Restaurant (1209 East 7th Street//Austin, TX 78702) March 18-20, 2010. The video above hints at the lineup, but you can check out the full list of bands AND a brand new 3-part series on Austin natives Pure Ecstasy –who just happen to be playing the party– when you Read More »

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Cut From A Different Fur: The Morning Benders “Excuses”


The Morning Benders, and a rag-tag click of San Francisco’s finest guitar pickers, string ticklers, drum kickers and ooh ahh singers–who go by The Echo Chamber Orchestra–are caught here at Different Fur Studios performing “Excuses,” the first song from the band’s momentous new album, Big Echo. And keeping with custom, the boys wrote a little letter, to Mr. Phil Spector.

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Pen friends forever: Best Coast & Yours Truly

There’s something about handling an envelope with your name etched in ink across the front. An all-over warming begins in the fingers as they slip tips up against the glue, paper pulling apart paper, all the while wondering, who’s it from? what’s it for? it’s not my birthday… There’s alot to love about letters: the taste of stamps, sore forearms from lack of practice, shredding the packaging, but more than anything, sharing ink with someone you love is just fun. That’s why YT started asking artists to write us letters, and why I’m starting something new…Pen Friends Forever. This first letter is from Amber to Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino.
When I’m With You
Sun Was High (So Was I)

If you love love letters, and wanna write one to someone you love, send me an email and i’ll do my best to have them hit you back.

ps, thanks to Chris for the mp3’s.

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