It turns out Jon Brion of Eternal Sunshine…/Late Registration fame has a weekly show on La Cienega within walking distance from my crib (the fact that I can walk to anything of note from my apartment is, in itself, astonishing). It took a visit from my friend and Whale Vagina (aka Bear Hands) guitarist Ted Feldman for me to discover this. So we stopped by this past Friday to witness Mr. Brion performing in a setting that resembled a piano recital more than a rock concert. I showed up late, as I am apt to do, and upon arrival, I was instructed to turn off my cell phone and stealthily find my seat in the back of the theater. Sheesh.
Brion’s set included a saloon-style, upright piano, a bunch of CD/DVD turntables, a guitar plus octave pedal (i.e. bass), harmonica, drums, and a couple synths; These were all hooked up to a loop machine and apparently controlled via pedal board. So, in a typical song, he might play an 8-bar loop, let it ride, move to the piano, play a 16-bar loop, move to the guitar, etc. etc.— pretty cool for a while, but since a majority of his set was played this way, the limitations of not having a band became increasingly stark. At the end, Fiona Apple appeared from backstage for an extended session plus band.
Some notes from the show:
Jon Brion doesn’t always write the most intricate music, but he is talented as fuck and can shred on the keys
He can (obviously) play a bunch of instruments competently, and he alternates between jazz, lounge, pop, rock, and bluegrass with great ease
Fiona Apple’s voice is not the result of production tricks; she sounds incredible live
I interviewed Chali 2na three nights ago at Harvelle’s in Santa Monica following a one-hour performance he did in front of small crowd of yuppies. Not only did he kill the set, but he made for a very interesting interview (humoring me while I nerded the fuck out), talking about his new album, chillin’ with J Dilla, and the Jurassic 5 break-up (apparently, not completely amicable). We got it all on video at Zebra is Food, so head over there to check it out. Also, his album, Fish Outta Water, drops on July 7th, so go cop that shit.
The Brazilian newspaper EXTRA hit the stands this morning with the above image gracing its cover and noheadline. This is a thousand times the cover that the NY Post or the Daily News could ever come up with. Respect.
Ironically, my favorite Michael Jackson moments are from before I was born or old enough to appreciate his music. I will never get over how dope and timeless Off the Wall is. I’ll leave it at that. Rest in Peace, Michael.
Seems Nas is just steady pumping out tracks on a song-by-song basis like it was ‘92 or something. First, there was the that Swizz Beatz joint “Be Worried” and now, “Film,” produced by some beat contest winner C-Sick (apparently, some skinny, 18 year-old white kid). Nas comes real heavy-like with an emphasis on cinematic storytelling and vivid imagery.
The beat fits Nas really well and goes along with the melodic, mafioso mode of It Was Written… [EDIT: Hmmm...Maybe more like The Lost Tapes now that I think about it] But what struck me most upon listening to this song earlier today was how clownish it is that he’s the most poetic emcee in Hip-Hop but can’t string a sentence together in prose. He was on the Colbert Report a while back talking about his street single “Sly Fox,” and he couldn’t convincingly articulate his qualms with FOX news despite having written a four-and-a-half minute song on the topic. Interviews with Nas should henceforth be conducted in the format of a freestyle battle with 30 seconds each for the question and response. The Bill O’Reillys of the world will be as out of their element as Nas is in their sterile “news”-talk show setting.
The story behind this video is that in 1969, a 14-year-old aspiring reporter named Jerry Levitan snuck into John Lennon’s hotel room in Toronto with some bulky recording equipment apparently strapped to his chest (this was the ’60s, after all). In a bizarrely “Almost Famous” moment, he was invited to sit down with John and Yoko and conduct an interview. Using the original audio from that recording, Levitan enlisted the help of director Josh Raskin and illustrator James Braithwaite to weave the above animated short, which is appropriately called “I Met the Walrus.” After being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short in 2008, Levitan went on to write a book about his experience, which you can find over at Amazon.
Marco Polo seems like a really laid back guy, smoking cigs around his equipment, pounding away on his grimy-ass MPC, and, most importantly, letting the public into his studio (via the internet, anyway). Most producers of his caliber would probably front like they were running modules into circuits blah blah blah and integrating something or other into the final mix, which no one will notice, anyway. But, no. That’s kind of the charm of his, quote, “Pete Rock-influenced” style of production. It’s all about the technique and ear, and his stripped-down setup is just the enabler. It’s really a thing of beauty.
Synthesizers are a vice like any other; I have several vices already but i’d like more synths. A Res Ed survey @ Oberlin College once estimated how much my weed habit was costing me in terms of another desirable commodity. They determined that I had smoked away a winter vacation for four. Well, my consumption has been comparable in the last couple months, and I’ve only copped one sack since I got out here. So, fuck you, Res Ed; I found your loophole.
No, not as in the Somali pirates that Obama had gatted; We’re talking pirates as in piracy of copyrighted materials. Results from the recent Swedish elections revealed today that the Piratpartiet (or Pirate Party) secured 7.1% of the total votes, guaranteeing 1, and, perhaps, 2, seats at the European Parliament. After Swedish courts dismantled the Torrent portal Pirate Bay, the Pirate Party, formed in 2006, saw its membership triple in size. Their platform calls for major reforms of European copyright laws that would decriminalize non-commercial dissemination of these materials, as well as a 5-year maximum copyright term. According to their website, “Culture and knowledge are good things, that increase in value the more they are shared.”
Certainly a blow to record companies worldwide, although, lobbyist culture is so entrenched on this side of the Atlantic that I can’t see anything remotely similar happening in the U.S. On one hand, I do feel that it is within the artists’ rights to see the proceeds from record sales. But, at the same time, record labels have a majority of artists locked into shitty contracts where the musicians are pocketing mere pennies from each unit sold. Some equitable medium is possible, but until the recording industry undergoes an overhaul, that day is far off.
The Skilled Labor Blog is not dead! I will keep updating here with my personal ruminations as usual, but you can stay up with your boy Ak-in-Jelly at various places on them internets, as I have begun contributing to a handful of sexy and reputable sites/blogs. You’ll find me laying lines over at The Daily Swarm, Zebra is Food, as well as the Musikvergnuegen Blog. I know that all of you are concerned that I’m stretching myself thin, but each has a different type of content, so worry not.
Look out for the latest volume of the “5 O’Clock Free Crack Giveaway” coming soon.
Be sure to check my album "Party With A Drumkit" via the Search field
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It turns out Jon Brion of Eternal Sunshine…/Late Registration fame has a weekly show on La Cienega within walking distance from my crib (the fact that I can walk to anything of note from my apartment is, in itself, astonishing). It took a visit from my friend and Whale Vagina (aka Bear Hands) guitarist Ted Feldman for me to discover this. So we stopped by this past Friday to witness Mr. Brion performing in a setting that resembled a piano recital more than a rock concert. I showed up late, as I am apt to do, and upon arrival, I was instructed to turn off my cell phone and stealthily find my seat in the back of the theater. Sheesh.
The Brazilian newspaper EXTRA hit the stands this morning with the above image gracing its cover and 
Dear Friends, Strangers, and Lion Lovers,