As spud says, these dudes are "the homies." For about a year, unbeknownst to the Mowglis and myself, we were neighbors. Like, I knew they were people, and I knew they lived down the block. I just didn't know that they were The Mowglis and they didn't know that I had a Jam Van.
They had a robot statue in their front yard made out of guitars and a small television. It was recently removed. Shame on the new tenant for that. When The Mowglis lived their they used to hang signs from a tree branch that jutted out onto Broadway Ave. and alerted folks to their backyard performances. So I'd stumbled upon parties at their pad, unfortunately never caught any music. I did however know a chick that fell off of their porch at one of the shindigs. Maybe they saw her fall, I dunno, she claimed she snuck out of there real quick-like and wasn't seen. My dog, The RZA, played with their dog, Abby, in the street one day. He's white and fluffy, she's black and fluffy. On one of these fluff-head encounters guitarist Josh Hogan and I introduced ourselves. My take away from that meeting was that he was a nice dude, that's it, never occurred that we'd be seeing eachother again in a parking lot about a year later and he'd be with seven of his friends, and I'd be with a few of mine, and we'd hang out, and I'd finally get to hear them play their "love rock."
That's all to say that they are indeed the homies. They kicked it again with us at Bonnaroo, even filmed another Jam Van session in between beers. That's coming out tomorrow. For now we have this memory from the Roxy, the first time they ever met Spud. He's now the hood's biggest Mowglis fan, and they're now touring the country relentlessly spreading the love. I just hope they still have time to make robot statues.
The Roots hold a soft place in founder Brandon Dorsky's SUPERGOOD heart. Having seen them upwards of 40 times - they capture a special place a top the list of bands he's seen most. Their acceptance of a spot on Jimmy Fallon's late night program meant less touring than their former 200+ shows a year - but hey, the world now gets the treat of seeing them every night - and that is a net positive.
Earlier this week, they really impressed when Robin Thicke joined the legendary Roots crew and Mr. Fallon for a special rendition of "Blurred Lines" with classroom instruments. Which version do you prefer? The video might not be as sexy as the scandalous original, but check it out and decide for yourself.
Its Tuesday, but it already feels like the week is halfway over given that most of America is checking out of work Wednesday for an extended weekend. Before you head out for the fireworks, BBQs and lounging by a pool or beach to cure the ails of these heat waves - check out the stream of AraabMUZIK's The Remixes Vol. 1 on Pitchfork.
As you might expect - the MPC master freaks and reworks popular tracks and dance floor anthems, infusing them with his quintessential hip-hop swagger. AraabMUZIK's release drops on Ultra Music on July 9th - but stream this at your celebration(s) of freedom if you want to see a little extra free expression on your patio dance floor.
The Hebrew Hova, AKA Kosha Dillz, AKA Rami Even-Esh, just premiered his video for "West Coast Flavor" on HipHopDX yesterday and the Koreatown resident is already getting love in the blogosphere. The video - shot and filmed here in LA - features food trucks and shots of Venice, and the song includes Big Pooh plus a solid beat and hook to to cruise around with the top down!
The Dustbowl Revival is playing at The Mint every Wednesday during the month of May. That's the what's up on the what's up. If you're into that, well then it's encouraged that you try your hand at winning tickets for two to every night of their residency. It's pretty easy, unless you're like my mother and turning the computer on gives you issues. If you're on Twitter Tweet: @jaminthevan @supergoodmusic @MintLA @dustbowlrevival and if you're not on Twitter get at us via Email: at contest@supergoodmusic.com with subject Dustbowl Revival Mint Residency.
If for some reason you prefer to purchase a ticket then you can do so HERE.
For more ticket giveaways hit up the aptly named "Giveaways" page on our site...
To hear more from The Dustbowl Revival so that you're good and familiar with the type of fun you'll be getting into, hit up their Jam in the Van Session Page.
So it's BritWeek in Los Angeles and The Echo is celebrating with some sweet billings. If you don't know, BritWeek is "a celebration of all things British in California," so the bands playing are Brit'ish, duh. Whether or not the taco cart down the street is serving bangers and mash is unconfirmed.
Night one (Friday 4/26) features The Veils, they're on Rough Trade Records and they get muchos hits on YouTube. If that isn't enough for you to make this show your Friday evening plans then you should give them a listen and decide after that. They're accompanied by Andy Burrows and Pop Noir.
You can assume that night two (Saturday 4/27) is going to be a fairly crowded event as it's headlined by New Build, a love child hatched between members of Hot Chip and a member of LCD Soundsystem (yes, the LCD Soundsytem, OMG). Expect a sweaty room full of hipsters, I'm not trying to sell it short with that, it will no doubt be awesome. That bill is also packed with other artists, I will leave it to you to Google them. I trust you will. Update: This event got moved because The Rolling Stones scheduled a surprise performance at The Echopl
Night three is Steve Mason with Dark Furs opening. The poster has Beta Band in parentheses so I dunno if that means he's with the Beta Band or performing their songs, or what, but it's on the poster, so there. Update: Steve Mason not able to make it due to Visa issues.
Night four (Tuesday 4/30) passes the reigns to Chad Valley he will coo to you in a Brittish accent while thizzy beats get all dissonant in the background. You will swoon.
They close it out on Night five (Thursday May 2) with Little Boots, who is hot, apparently has small feet, and will make you dance.
In conclusion, GO TO THE ECHO FOR BRITWEEK DAMMIT!
Full Disclosure: I consider myself a big R. Kelly fan. Party anthems, cheesy inspirational songs, tunes about about bonding with homies, baby making music...the man can do it all. You can imagine my excitement when I found out that there was an official petition on the White House website to make "Ignition (Remix)", a true classic in every sense, the new national anthem for these United States of America.
After deep analysis, I'm on board with this petition for the following 3 reasons:
1) The "Let's Be Lovers, Not Fighters" Argument:
Our current National Anthem mentions "rockets" and "bombs"....that's some bleak ish right there. The remix to Ignition invites everyone to "After parties", "hotel lobbies" and proceeds to explain that at 4 am, the lobby will be cleared so we'll all head up to hotel rooms and "freak somebody". That's a message I can get behind.
2) The "Let's Be All Inclusive" Argument:
I'm not that well versed in politics, but it seems like there if a lot of ideas based on exclusion being thrown around in the political arena these days. In the world of Ignition, and other slow jams by Kels, there is no exclusion. He's got "fellas on his left" and "hunnies on his right" and he makes note that he is bringing them all together for "junkin all night". Bringing people together folks. We need more of that.
3) The "Let's Do This For Ethical Reasons" Argument:
Ethics seem to be a thing of the past. In our "me, me, me" culture, no one is polite or courteous anymore (and this is coming from a New Yorker). We need a national anthem that can inspire everyone to start treating each other a little bit better on a day to day basis. Ignition is a courteous and giving jam. He even starts off the song by declaring that he's not trying to be rude (mensch move on Kels part) and that he simply wants to give a lady the "beep beep" while also receiving the "toot toot". Giving and taking is what life is all about. Polite...check. Courteous...check.
We can learn a lot from Mr. Kelly about how to treat people (minus one particular incident, but hey, Kels is human just like the rest of us).
___________________
JT Ripping Fools Off
If you've been in a medically induced coma for the past month you still probably know that Justin Timberlake is back on the music train with his highly anticipated (by who exactly?) new album, "The 20/20 Experience". Justin came roaring back with an old school, 50s soul vibe that left Mayer Hawthorne asking himself, "What the fuck am I supposed to do now?"
In worse news, JT claims to be releasing another album in the fall. Whose look and vibe is he going to steal from next you ask? I don't know. I do love to gamble though so I set some odds on a couple different possibilities:
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes
Odds: 14-to-1
Tell me you can't see JT dressed in shredded clothes, completely disregard the concept of a shower and underwear, and grow a thick beard. I can't either, just the idea of Timbaland dressed in hippy garb makes me laugh. Long shot for sure though.
Riff Raff
Odds: 9-1
JT does loves rap music and is quite well versed in it's history, as we've seen many times on Jimmy Fallon's show. It was hard to decide which rapper's ethos JT would steal from. 2 Chainz and Trinidad James were both strong contenders. Andre 3000 was the strong runner up, but the afro situation does seem to be something that would have to be overcome. So when in doubt, put the money on Riff Raff. I think Riff Raff's wardrobe is quite similar to some stuff JT still has in the closet from his boy band days, gold teeth are everywhere now and Riff Raff loves to collaborate with his contemporaries like JT does.
The Black Keys
Odds: 5-1
What band have more songs on more platforms than the Black Keys at the moment? HBO shows, car commercials, bumpers to commercial breaks on sporting events, these guys are everywhere. This is the easiest persona for JT to rip from elsewhere. Jeans and t-shirts, shitting on the Biebs in the press, hell, the Black Keys even collaborate with rappers like JT does. They also have some street cred for not being soft with their tunes. In most instances, this would be the front runner. This is not most instances though.
Kanye West
Odds: 2.5-1
Kanye came out and said he's still cool with Jigga man, but he don't fuck with the JT "Suit and Tie" bullshit. What's Timberlake do? Does he tell Ye that he mistook his baby mama's ass for Joey Fatone? No. Does he tell Ye that he has better plastic surgeons for his family members? No. So that's why we're giving this the best odds. How big of an F-U would it be to Kanye if come Fall, we saw Jessica Biel with a huge ass and jet black hair being shopped around by her mother like a whore on Game of Thrones while JT goes on live tv to make uncomfortable comments about political figures in the wake of tragedy all while wearing a leather mini-skirt and telling the world that he interned at Yves Saint Laurent, so he knows fashion and if he wears a black mini-skirt, well goddamnit, that's fashion. What would Ye do to retaliate? Start a boy band? We need more "Hip Pop" beef out there like this.
The Allman Brothers Band returned to the Beacon for their annual March residency. I have a special place in my heart for Allman shows at the Beacon as they were my first experience with all things heady. First time I encountered heady people, first time I ate heady treats, first time I saw heady things that weren't really there, all happened at the Allman Brothers Beacon run. It's nice to see the boys are still kicking ass and taking names.
Quick Ones While You Were Away:
My Chemical Romance Breaks Up...I couldn't give a shit about this. I just found it fascinating this got press.
Billy Joel made a kids wish come true at Vanderbilt University. This is just awesome. The onions on this kid though, huh?
The Strokes released their heartless new album that makes me think they all just wanted a payday and threw away the entire concept of "letting your sound grow
Lou Reed cancels tour dates again. This is becoming all to common an occurrence for me. Lou Reed announces that he is playing somewhere, he gets VU fans all excited that maybe he'll put forth some effort and not sound like he just got out of a lobotomy, and then cancels his shows last minute. I guess ole Lou ain't doing too hot these days, but quit messing with my emotions man.
Latest Obnoxious Trend in Hipsterdom: Bands with no vowels
I guess hipsters are too cool for vowels now. At some point the hipster god's that be, got together and decided that from this moment forward, license plate spelling would be the correct form of grammar between Williamsburg and Silver Lake. We got bands with names like TNGHT and DWTWN making the rounds. My English teacher is furious right now.
Latest Obnoxious Music Cruise: Weezer Cruise
So it was announced this month that there will be a Weezer cruise in February 2014. Yes, that's right folks, pasty and pale 30 somethings taking over the Carribean with "The Sweater Song" and "Beverly Hills" blasting on repeat. Rivers must look sexy in a bathing suit.
[caption id="attachment_6585" align="aligncenter" width="250"] Do you really want to see these guys in a bathing suit?[/caption]
Artist to Watch: Hanni El-Khatib
Dude is pretty sick on the electric. Check em out...
Do you like The Avett Brothers? The Lumineers? Heartless Bastards? Tallest Man on Earth? Bands that fall into that overly broad but in a good way "Americana" category? If so, then you may want to jump on The Last Bison bandwagon as soon as possible. Lucky for you we're giving away a pair of tickets to do just that at The Mint LA this Saturday, March 30. To win just tweet at "@SUPERGOODMUSIC, @JamintheVan, @MintLA, @TheLastBison #LastBison, or email us at Contests@SUPERGOODMUSIC.com with The Last Bison in the subject.
There's a good chance that this band, who is signed to Universal Music Group, takes off in the next year, so catching them in an intimate venue like The Mint might be worth its weight in "remember when" stories come next year. Dig on their video for a cover of M83's "Midnight City" as well as their full album over on their Bandcamp.
Hip Hop Heads, the 8th annual Paid Dues Festival is a mere two weeks away, do you have your tickets? If you don't you better get on it, because this year promoters Murs 3:16 and Guerrilla Union have put down on paper one of the most eclectic hip hop festival lineups that you will ever see, regardless of the year, place, or time.
It's going down on March 30th at the San Manuel Amphitheater in San Bernadino. The line-up and schedule are already up. In all there are forty acts participating in the fest including heavy hitters like Macklemore, Talib Kweli, Trinidad James, De La Soul, and Tech N9ne. We here at SUPERGOODMUSIC are pretty stoked about sets from Hopsin, Grouch & Eligh, Swollen Members, Killer Mike, Black Hippy, and of course, our favorite rapper and trippy aficionado Mr. Juicy J!
Let us know if you're going to be at Paid Dues and who you're looking forward to seeing in our comments section or on twitter @JamintheVan, and when you go to the festival, remember to wear sunscreen, cause literally everyone there will be "spitting hot fire!" - Dylon (who will not be on the line up)
What happens when you've got an amazing venue, a great sound and production team, and two weeks until your SXSW show date and absolutely no line up? You call SUPERGOODMUSIC and they come to the rescue like Ghostbusters.
With a couple years of SXSW shows under our belt, and some great family in the G Pen team and Allhiphop.com crew, we've recruited some serious heavyweights as well as emerging artists to perform at the GPEN & SUPERGOODMUSIC Present the Allhiphop.com Breeding Ground Showcase.
Local K. Paul paves the way on the main stage for No LImit Forever, Talib Kweli, Problem and Raekwon to get rowdy and the patio is going to be pretty amped too with the likes of Kosha Dillz, Sahtyre, Watch The Duck and G-Eazy!
If you're looking for a healthy dosage of hip-hop - this is the place to be Thursday night. RSVP to the eventbrite page here. DO NOT SLEEP ON THIS!!!!
