Wednesday, January 31, 2007

A Rude Awakening


I feel that commenting on the joys of life's little foibles, via camera lens, is not my forte, and is better left to the professional. However, due to the oddity that is collegiate life, I felt compelled to post something.
This morning, I was awakened by incessant hammering from the floor below mine. It was horrid. Since I worked at 5 am this morning, and it was currently 10:15 am (EST), I was rightfully peeved at being disturbed. I attempted to roll over, and ignore the sound with the aid of two large pillows sandwiching my head, but alas, no success. I then rolled over, only to see a large man staring in my French door*, which also serves as the sole natural light source for my room. More shocking was the fact that I was dressed in only my skivvies , yet this drone, sent by my landlord, was peeping in on me while I was trying to return to my innocent slumber. My camera, which was next to my bed, has captured this horror. Which I will, in turn, share with you.

I believe I shall invest in curtains.

*Note that this is on the second floor, so Its a man, on a ladder, with voyeuristic intentions.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

"The State of Music"

Three posts in one day? I'm pretty beat, but this needed to go up before I go. The post will be short n sweet, I promise.
So music is dying. Nas killed Hip-Hop, Fall Out Boy sold punk to corporate america, and poor sales killed Tower Records. What are we to do? While skimming through Spin, I came across their title article "The State of Music", which suggest 10 key steps for resuscitating our beloved vice. Being in a transitional period, trying to decide whether I like music or film better, and also because I feel its something worth sharing, here is the list:
1. Make Cd's cheaper
- It's not new technology, so make them cost less
2. Stop indulging artists
-This is in relation to double disc's and whatnot
3. Have a TV network launch the songwriting equivalent of American Idol
- Makes sense, maybe MTV could make a comeback?
4. Give up on the Blockbuster album
-this would call for a change of soundscan (YAY!!)
5. Only release certain kinds of music
-Only things people who plan on dying with the technology of Cd's buy them, so give them the music they listen to, in that format.
6. Cut concert ticket prices
-let ebay do the cost inflation
7. Stop making it hard to choose between formats.
-mp3, mp4, flacc, ogg, wav...!!!
8. Fully embrace the web
-its all about exposure
9. Reinvent the record store
-niche marketing
10. Stop releasing crap
-No explanation needed.
Clearly the main problem is format. Even if there were different formats, having a program (Linux), that can convert codec would be helpful. Any other thoughts?

Smokin' Aces


Over the weekend, while recuperating from the educational onslaught that I regrettably signed up for, I had a chance to go see Smokin' Aces. Written and Directed by Joe Carnahn, who is probably most know for Narc (2002), Aces is a classic Las Vegas, Mafioso vs. The law film, with an interesting twist. The movie had an interesting element of illusion, mostly because the main character, Buddy 'Aces' Israel (Jeremy Piven-from HBO's Entourage), is a Las Vegas showman, who relies a little to heavily on card magic and the slight of hand. That aspect was utilized in the flashy and hurried cenimatography displayed during the most intense, high stress moments of the film, when the audiences attention is most sporadic. Most guys will love it, cool girls will like it, my mother wasn't interested.This movie had everyone in it. Aside from Jeremy Piven; Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman (Arrested Development), Common, Ryan Renolds (Waiting) Andy Garcia( Ocean's 11,12,13, etc, etc), and most importantly for me, Alica Keys, also stared. Usually, big famous casts are used with the movie lacks substance. I wouldn't disagree that, but it worked. What more do you need?

Shimmy Shimmy YA


"Wu-tang is for the children", and they will soon be coming back to inform you of this. Not so much the children part, but they will be back. AllHipHop.com posted an article validating the rumors of a Wu-reunion, and their change of label to
SRC Records. Break out your wu-wear, tim boots, and put 36 chambers on infinite repeat. They are back in the studio, with no tentative release date. Its been said that their will be a tribute to the late, great, Ol' Dirty Bastard, on the album. We'll just have to wait and see.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

In love with labels?


Last night, I made a valiant attempt to post before my roommates threw an enormous party. Unfortunately, my laptop deemed it necessary to freeze, taking my fervor for posting away, and my unsaved work with it. Today, I shall retry in hopes of blog success. Its been a while since my last post, so lets bring on the updates!
Firstly, Sure Juror played Piano's, in New York's LES (Lower East Side) last night, and has a few more shows in February. They were also given some play on Brooklyn Vegan's blog. The Vegan also posted on an article from the New York Times discussing the occurrence of "Blipsters" (please note the subtle segue). This word, which is related to indie music fans of a darker persuasion (black people-see picture above). I find the word mildly disturbing, quite unnecessary, and mostly hilarious. It is disturbing because of its unnecessary existence. Blipster sounds more like a rare occurrence, a word who's entomology is associated with a extensive radar system, which would then connect it to how rare black indie fans are. So rare that A& R reps lacked the foresight to market the indie sounds to black markets, and the emergence of such fans was so off the radar, and intermittently placed in the independent segment that, we (I clearly fall into this category) were considered insignificant "blips", mere anomalies. Perhaps I'm just sensitive to this subject? It not a very cool sounding word, either. It doesn't even sound like something that would come from inside the culture. Therefore, I will only accept a label, once it sounds cooler, and will continue to consider myself, and any of my "reppin the streets", indie counterparts as "Indie Hood." Respect.

In other exciting news, hazbro has finally come out with a tooth brush that plays cool, already outdated music! The future is now!

Last bit of regalia, the royal family came to the illadel to take in the sights, and drive around city hall, aimlessly, trying to figure out how to navigate the horrid infrastructure we all know and love. They also came to look into urban development. They also saw the liberty bell, which isn't really all it's cracked up to be (boo, I know).

New things that are awesome, that deserves some time for consideration, and extensive, in depth readership:

Jamie is doing nice things with her "picture a day blog"
JaLisa has joined the game
Matt is attempting to take readership away from exitfare (both are from Boston)

Check those things out!


So February shall be upon us in a few days, which means February show listings, and more civically social commentary. I hope you're excited!

Friday, January 19, 2007

More Previews!

January is a good month. There is less school in this month than in most, American Idol begins (sarcasm) and bloggers are still ecstatic about albums that will drop later in the year. Myself included! This being said, there are a couple of hip-hop albums dropping later in the year that we should all get hyped up to download..err...purchase. About:Rap tells us whats "really good" with 2007:

It would be nice to weed out only the top five albums from this list...but there all so awesome (minus Young Buck) I'll just post all 27, but place stars next to those worth staring:

*27. El P - I'll Sleep When You're Dead

26. Young Buck - Buck the World

25. Eve - Here I Am

*24. Lil' Wayne - Tha Carter III

*25.Timbaland - Shock Value

22. UGK - Underground Kingz21. Papoose - The Nacirema Dream

20. Devin the Dude - Waitin' to Inhale

19. LL Cool J - Todd Smith 2: Back to Cool

*18. Ghostface & MF Doom - Swift & Changeable

17. Saigon - The Greatest Story Never Told ( The Guy from Entourage, the HBO Show)

16. Sean Price - Jesus Price Superstar

15. Chamillionaire - Ultimate Victory

*14. Little Brother - The Getback

*13. Talib Kweli & Madlib - The Liberation

1*2. Lupe Fiasco - The Cool

11. 50 Cent - Before I Self Destruct

10. Pharoahe Monch - Desire

09. Eminem - TBA

*08. Redman - Red Gone Wild

*07. Rakim - The Seventh Seal

6. Talib Kweli - Ear Drum

05. Joe Budden - The Growth

04. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II

*03. Common - Finding Forever

**02. Kanye West - Graduation

***01. Dr. Dre - Detox

Opulent Hip-hop (Kanye), gang violence shoot 'em up anthems (50 cent), and the return of hip-hop legends (Rakim, Dr. Dre, LL Cool J) plus the other potential albums I posted earlier should help make 07 straight bang-a-rang.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

I'm Too Sexy to Share

Kanye is in the most awesome producer on earth. This is in no way related to his skill with the production board, but simply because he feels himself a little too much. The Teriyaki Boyz ( I kid you not), a Japanese Hip-hop group, did a song with our beloved Chicagoan. Kanye then proceeded to cut them off of the track. He's momma would be so proud. It's pretty basic Kanye;blaring horns and chauvinistic lyrics, but this time, the absence of the General Tso's boys makes more of an impression on his ego's history, than a drum machine ever could. Luckily, the boyz aren't that good, so no one is missing out...well, except for them maybe.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Check yo self


Vh1 has wowed us again with the creation of "Ego Trips (White) Rapper Show." Just when the integrity of hip hop was trying to disassociate itself with Flavor of Love, Vh1 serves up another blow to the hip hop culture. This show, unsanctioned by Diddy, is just a making the band on Vh1. It's a good laugh, but not really worth more than that. I'll still watch them desecrate the beloved genre, and flip between it, and the Rolling Stone writer show on MTV.

January Shows-New York

Yay for Nueva York! If you're in the city, these would be worth checkin out:

Cold War Kids; Wednesday, January 17th @ Union Hall
The Hold Steady; Thursday, January 18th @ NorthSix
The Wrens; Friday, January 19th @ The Knitting Factory
Apollo Sunshine; Saturday, January 27th @ Southpaw
The Books; Saturday, January 27th @ Webster Hall
Peter Bjorn; 2 shows- Monday, January 29th @ The Mercury Lounge
-Tuesday, January 30th @ Bowery Ballroom

January shows-Philly Area

The illadel area is pretty charged for tonight's Eagles game. My house, is filled with roast beef and bean dip, and its only a matter of time before those products are followed by noxious man fumes. Therefore, I plan on posting and vacating the premises as soon as possible. This being said, if you want to escape your respective homes, fumes or otherwise, and enjoy a good ole indie show, these are one's I recommend attending:

Fall Out Boy; Sunday, January 14th @ The Electric Factory
Girl Talk; Friday, January 19th @ Johnny Brenda's
Cage (Def Jux); Friday, January 19th @ The First Unitatian Church
Jenell ; Friday, January 19th @ Seedy Store Record X-Change (Millville, NJ)


It's a short list for January, but I'm picky. New York shows to come!


Wednesday, January 10, 2007

omnipresence is everywhere

Ah, the first post of the year! We're only ten days deep into the year, and already there are silly occurrences. One "noteworthy" occurrence is Curtis James Jackson III's, whom we all know and love as 50 Cent, release of a condom line. The candy shop now has all your contraceptive needs, and we should be thankful.
Busta Rhymes is bustin the faces of fans once again. Last week, Busta woo-hahed on someone who asked for an autograph. Make a note.
In the political arena, president Bush has just ok'd the shipment of 21,000 troops to Iraq to help the country "break the current cycle of violence." That's actually a good plan, fighting violence with violence. Why wasn't this thought of earlier? Years of funds, not to mention lives, wasted, when the simple solution was just to get rowdier.
A less menacing confrontation took place in San Francisco, where Lady Sov, Def Jam/Island's sweetheart,suffered her own ambush. Rapper, JellyDonunt, challenged Sov to battle at her show at the Mezzanine, in defense of his homie, a guy who paid $10,000 for a date with the shortest mcee in the game. Apparently, the Sov wasn't having it and poured red bull on him. Busta Rhymes is not a good influence for hip-hop's youth. Tisk, tisk.

Show schedules for the next month in the New York/ Philly area to come.