Is It 2007 Yet?

Weekly posts are an interesting concept! This week, amidst all of the nostalgic, reminiscent lists that flurry upon the interweb at this time of year, I feel it necessary to look toward the future. Luckily, our friends at Stereogum share my sentiments. They have produced a collection of upcoming albums for us all to froth over until their release dates. Because we all know how reliable tentative release dates are.

The albums that have me the most excited:

Ted Leo-Living With The Living
Apostle of Hustle- National Anthem of Nowhere
Radiohead-TBD
Lauryn Hill-Khulami Phase
Spoon-TBD
Gnarls Barkley-TBD
The Postal Service-TBD
Arcade Fire- Neon Bible
Of Montreal-Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?

It will hopefully prove to be a good year. Enjoy the next few nights, because its all gonna break come Tuesday.

11 Spring Street

This past Sunday. I took the opportunity to travel to 11 Spring St, orchestrated by the Wooster Collective, to gaze upon the beauty that is street art. My comrade & partner in cultural discovery ventured to SOHO so we could stand in a line that engulfed the entire block. A line who's wait was approximately 5 hours. A line which we didn't stand in. Fortunately for those not fortunate to be aware of such a social commentary, or be blessed with the virtue of patience , a collection of pictures can be found here.
The tale behind this civic monument is simple. The Candle Building has been home to street art since .... a long time. Recently, the ownership has been shifted to a man who's interests will have the building converted to condominiums. The folks at Wooster worked out a 3 day exhibition (December 15-17, 2006) which had artists from around the globe flying in to tag it up. There is no word on when the building will be "revamped", but I shall surly hate to see it go.

Albeit a random post for today, being Christmas and all, Merry Merry nonetheless!

Hell Hath No Fury...Finally

Digital gums have been bumping since the initial postponement of Clipse's sophomore album, Hell Hath No Fury, nearly three years ago. Due to the delay of the album, in true DIY fashion, Clipse were left no option but to release We Got It For Cheap, Vol 1 & 2 to prolong the buzz surrounding their talents. Hip-hop fiends, whether they be blogger, college student, or crack-hop connoisseur, have been "on line" since Jive finally got off their collective corporate asses and gave the go ahead for the album's release late November of 2006. After the delivery of their first album, Lord Willin', The Clipse were met with mixed reviews. The crack game, personified in verse, seemed less like a blessing, and more like a curse for the Virgina Beach natives. Although the beats on which they conveyed their Pyrex parables were of the best Neptune variety, many still argued that the dichotomy of ominous beats and gaudy lyrics still produced a cliché coke story that those in the realm of contemporary hip-hop are all too familiar with. Reinforce stereotypes they say? It's all be done before? Perhaps, but seldom is it done so well. At first glance, yes, Hell Hath No Fury is a perfect example of Bill O'Reilly's most horrid fears. The Clipse sling ye, and pitch base via Bose speakers, and they do it with a flair that could wow any boyo from the hood. There is very little subtlety about Malice and Pusha T's "off season" profession, and they use this album as their lyrical confession. "Dirty Money" provides insight toward life behind the scale. A sinister guitar and ratcheting hi-hat provide the medium for these brothers to impart their wisdom on those unsure of how to spend the ill-gotten spoils of their labors. "Keys Open Doors" may be the most ingenious aspect of the album. With a ghostly ambiance hovering menacingly above the metallic chimes of a Chad Hugo (we speculate) & Pharrell Williams collaboration, Push and Mal continue to pontificate the potency of "base-ballin'" and the future benefits it can potentially provide. The Clipse manage to sustain this scale throughout the album. The production is almost impeccable on this album, and may be the best thing the Neptune's have produced in years. Pharrell's love for obscure instrumentation (there is an blaring accordion nestled to a trunk rattling snare on "Momma I'm Sorry") juxtaposed to Chad's warping, baleful, and dismal synths trump anything else this year, which is sure to leave countless paranoid, or "p-noid", of impending doom. Although Chad is not mentioned in the actual credits, after Pharrell's lackluster showing on his solo project, one can't help but notice the drastic change. All of these aspects, intricately pieced together, is what makes Hell Hath No Fury such an excellent work. The brothers are so simply complex in their delivery, that they overshadow their actual deeds, and give focus to the presentation. It is an album dedicated to narrating the life that birthed late 80's/ early 90's hip-hop, which is still a prevalent option today, albeit a negative lifestyle. Hell Hath No Fury like to brothers with lyrical talent scorn, and the backing of two super producers. We should just consider ourselves lucky that Jive figured out how to market Clipse "correctly" before the Apocalypse. Yugck!

Bishop Allen

We all love originality, or perhaps most of us. Its refreshing, exciting, and expands our tastes each time we have the opportunity to come across it. The major problem with originality is that it's felting and rare in many cases. Bishop Allen, who hails from Williamsburg's North Side in Brooklyn, New York, has boldly dared to give us that innovation that we crave.

Their vehicle of choice, an effort that will result in the production of a new EP every month for the year of 2006. Bishop Allen, currently complied of base elements Justin Rice & Christian Rudder, took time out of their schedule to discuss the important aspects of their group with me. The start of their EP project began when they stumbled upon an abandoned piano outside of a Brooklyn school. They tinkered with the piano until they had a distinguishable product, and then it essentially became "one-upmanship between Justin and I", said Christian. This friendly competition fueled the two co-conspirators into a 4 track EP that was released in January, the free track of which was titled "Corazon."

Now 7 EP's into the year, Bishop Allen is still providing the egger public with these 4 track gems of monthly creativity, even in the midst of tours taking place at venues throughout the Northeast metropolitan area. In fact they use the traveling to help flush out potential ideas before the retreat back to record in Brooklyn. Oh, the beauty of in house recording.

At this point of the year, and this point in the life of the band, Justin and Christian feel that their live performance is really starting to reach its zenith. They haven't toured heavily, but have been doing enough to experiment with their over all sound, while still leaving time to dedicate to their releases. This is significant due to the restructure of band members within the band. “Now we don't always play shows with the same people, but this has not changed our sound much," stated Justin after being asked about the transition of the band since their first album Charm School.

Speaking of tours, BA will be embarking on a west coast stating the 27^thof October and ending November 22^nd. Yay Verily west coasters, let the unrestrained merrymaking commence. If you can hardly contain your joy, whether you hail from the east or west...or in those unnamed middle nether regions, be prepared to become excited further. After this tour, and the monthly Ep projects conclusion, we can look forward to a label released album perhaps as early as spring 2007. Christian revealed that “the full length will have some songs from the Ep's released this year, only with some production touch ups, and hopefully four or five new songs. "We're pretty excited," Justin went on to say about the future of the group, "This is exclusive information that we just settled on."

So what is the best aspect of Bishop Allen? Undoubtedly the structure of the stories that they convey which seems to consume the listener in their music. "We try to create a clear, sparse sound, overlapped with a loose pop makeup. We see our music as point of view story telling with a firm base in the narrative that we construct." Not only this, but naming bands such as the Kinks and the Talking Heads as providing indirect musical tutelage, the bounds on the potential of Bishop Allen are virtually non-existent.

Bishop Allen MySpace