Fresh Off the Griddle - Music News

Instead of speaking to a musician, we thought it would be interesting to switch it up this week and talk to an artist of a different kind - in this case Ken Shipley, a sort of archaeologist of music. Ken’s record company Numero Group unearths long lost or forgotten classics, and gives them a second lease on life by reissuing them as albums and compilations. Though continually busy searching out “new old music,” Shipley was able to give Culture Bully’s Jon Behm some time for this week’s Five Questions.

Jon Behm: Numero Group, called in one of your press releases the “Record label America loves to ignore” releases fantastic “forgotten” music: from ancient Chicago Soul to rare Central American Funk. Everyone I have played your compilations for has loved them, why don’t you think that you have become better known nation-wide?

Ken Shipley: Don’t get me wrong, we’re a known quantity in certain circles, but as a whole the work we’re doing goes largely ignored. Consumers have a ton of choices, now more than ever in the reissue field, and there’s only so much buying of the wildly rare that they’ll do. Like a bout of Jungle Fever, middle America’s fascination with the unknown and obscured is always short lived. Sadly, they’ll walk down the aisle with Fleet Foxes 99 out of 100 times.

JB: Your mission statement reads “to dig deep into the recesses of our record collections with the goal of finding the dustiest gems begging to be released from their exile on geek street.” Are you still getting most of this stuff out of your own record collections, or are you actively out there trolling the vinyl bins for forgotten diamonds?

KS: A collection is only so deep. At a certain point you start looking at other collections to pull knowledge and ideas from. This could be a stash of records hoarded by a greying Gary, Indiana DJ or an indexed library of 45s kept by others in the field. Unfortunately, record stores are one of the last places to look for rare records. The market is over saturated with dudes looking to grip, and the best stuff rarely makes it to the floor anyway. Most of our digging is done in private collections, yard sales, flea markets, and eBay.

JB: When I imagine your offices I see vinyl everywhere - in the bathroom, on top of the refrigerator, bursting through door frames, etc. Is that accurate or is it more like an enormous, temperature controlled vault? Have you ever thought about doing music-geek tours?

KS: People think that our office is some kind of modern day Alexandria, but in reality it’s a pretty modest space. There’s plenty of LPs and 45s all over the place, but it’s not cold or sterile. It’s generally kind of a mess, as we’re constantly pulling out a box of tapes to scour and then quickly abandoning it for a massive shipment that needs to go out. 90% of what we do is not cool or interesting. Research isn’t very interesting to watch (or film according to our documenters), and unless you like hearing one side of a conversation, I think you’d be extremely bored.

When our shipping guy first came over he expected glass doors and brushed metal name plates, instead he found four guys in T-shirts and a broken sink (now fixed) and was a little underwhelmed. I think a tour would meet a similar fate.

JB: I was at the Chicago Blues Festival a few weeks ago and one of the things I noticed is that so many of the musicians were in their twilight years. I couldn’t help but to worry that when these guys (and ladies) die, the Blues will die with them. The same issue might be applied to some of Numero’s most popular genre’s: soul, funk, disco, etc. Do you think that these musical genres are/will be kept alive?

KS: Soul music, as I know it, is nearly dead. There’s a handful of modern interpretations, Sharon Jones, Nicole Willis, etc, but if you want to see the real thing you’re running out of time. Guys like Syl Johnson are still out there killing it, as is Roscoe Robinson, Betty Lavette, and Marva Whitney. I can’t think of any modern takes on disco I like, and I won’t be bummed to see it go the way of the ghost.

JB: There are a lot of hip hop artists out there like Pete Rock or the late great J Dilla who sample extensively from old soul and funk records. Do you find you get a lot of business from artists like these looking for new material? How do you feel about the art of sampling?

KS: As long as there is an equitable split between the artists, and the shit actually gets cleared, I’m all for it. Sampling is a great revenue source for artists getting up there in years, and in the case of a few people (Syl Johnson being another great example), it can completely transform their lives financially. The real problem is that a lot of these cats don’t clear samples and instead wait for the artist to find out about it. Then the artist feels like they’re being stolen from, and it makes it harder for anyone who wants to try and do it legitimately. The same goes for compilations. We pay every day for British bootleggers sleazy ways by having to explain that we are nothing like them.

Numero Group - Official Site
Numero Group - MySpace Site

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"Hey, baby," X, Dave Alvin and Robert Earl Keen have all sung. "It's the Fourth of July." Wow, already? Instead of sitting on the stairs smoking a cigarette alone (nice image, John Doe), why not check out some music? Assuming... Chris Gray

Lil Wayne - Official Site
Lil Wayne - Wikipedia Site
Lil Wayne - MySpace Site

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Previously: Lil’ Wayne, Music Writers and Trend-Hopping
Previously: Four Takes on Lil’ Wayne’s “Tha Carter III”

[Ummm... I feel like I should point out that, unless you were literally born yesterday, you should realize many people could consider the following content extremely NSFW. Like that's going to stop you. Carry on, then.] I have to say,... Chris Gray

With a hearty "here we go, Rothbury '08" from String Cheese Incident keyboardist Kyle Hollingsworth, the latest entry in the burgeoning U.S. concert festival scene got underway yesterday (July 3) in western Michigan. Sets from the Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart and Zappa Plays Zappa highlighted the first day.

"List your favorite record from every year you’ve been alive."


rumours (1977)

Well, this was fun. The following exercise was inspired by this post (which was inspired by this one), and it turned out to be much harder than I anticipated. No set guidelines, but I tried to base my list on some arbitrary combination of which record I liked best then, and which one is my favorite now. Kind of fun to do this with the advantage of hindsight, because this might be a pretty embarrassing exercise otherwise. I mean, not for me of course, but probably for some of yall. Certain years were harder than others, obviously -- see my cheating in '96, '98, and '06 -- but if there's anything definitive about my list, it's that my formative years were completely dominated by hip-hop:

1977 Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
1978 Blondie - Parallel Lines
1979 Michael Jackson - Off the Wall
1980 Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth
1981 Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Mambo Nassau
1982 Michael Jackson - Thriller
1983 Madonna - Madonna (shut up)
1984 Run DMC - Run DMC
1985 L.L. Cool J - Radio
1986 Run DMC - Raising Hell
1987 Eric B. & Rakim - Paid in Full
1988 Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
1989 De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising
1990 Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet
1991 A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory
1992 Dr. Dre - The Chronic
1993 A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders
1994 Digable Planets - Blowout Comb
1995 GZA - Liquid Swords
1996 Outkast - ATLiens | Stereolab - Emporer Tomato Ketchup
1997 Radiohead - OK Computer
1998 Tripping Daisy - Jesus Hits Like the Atom Bomb | Outkast - Aquemini
1999 Ol' Dirty Bastard - Nigga Please
2000 Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele
2001 The Strokes - Is This It
2002 The Streets - Original Pirate Material
2003 Sufjan Stevens - Michigan
2004 Arcade Fire - Funeral
2005 M.I.A. - Arular
2006 Grizzly Bear - Yellow House | J Dilla - Donuts | Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury | The Knife - Silent Shout
2007 Panda Bear - Person Pitch
2008 (so far) White Denim - 11 Songs

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I tried to assemble my list as quickly as possible, but if you decide to waste your 4th of July weekend doing this, you might use this or this as your guide. And, as always, let's see your lists (or links to your lists).

DOWNLOAD: Jane Vain & The Dark Matter - C'mon Baby Say Bang Bang (MP3)

Spin if you like Cat Power. More pics from Jane Vain & The Dark Matter's Saturday show (June 28, 2008) at Sled Island below...

Read more about them @ Chromewaves.

PREVIOUSLY: Of Montreal - Sled Island pics, new album info, tour dates

Lincoln Center Festival’s production of the opera “Die Soldaten” represents a milestone in the Park Avenue Armory’s transformation into a performance and visual arts space.

photos by Rae Holtsabum

I scurried over to the sold-out The Grand Theatre to catch most of RZA's set. The Wu-Tang Clan producer/MC performed as his Bobby Digital alter-ego and controlled the crowd with "Long Time Coming" and "Booby Trap" from the just-released Digi Snacks LP. The set was dominated by material from that album, and RZA turned the gig into a kick-ass block party.

Near the end, he broke out older classics "Wu Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing Ta F' Wit," "Reunited" and "Shame On A Nigga" near the end. They all made the crowd of mostly college kids go absolutely ape-shit, and it was a perfect way to close out my coverage of the fest. [Chart Attack]RZA's tour as Bobby Digital is almost over. He hits Webster Hall in NYC this Saturday July 5th. Tickets are still on sale.

Other artists Rae caught on day three (June 27, 2008) of the Sled Island Festival in Calgary included Broken Social Scene, Tegan and Sara, and Yo La Tengo. The rest of the pics from that day below....

Broken West...

Wet Secrets...

Portastatic...

Ramblin' Ambassadors...

Yo La Tengo...

Elliott Brood...

Tegan and Sara...

RZA...

PREVIOUSLY: Broken Social Scene @ Sled Island 2008, Calgary - pics

Wednesday’s otherwise peaceful performance by the family group Cherryholmes included a powerful, stirring song about war and God by one of the daughters.

Eddie Vedder Embarks on Second Leg of Solo TourTour Kicks Off August 1st in Boston and Ends August 22nd in Chicago

TICKETS ON SALE FRIDAY, JULY 11th

Eddie Vedder will embark on a month-long solo tour beginning August 1st in Boston and ending August 22nd in Chicago with select dates in Canada (full list of tour dates below).

Tickets for the general public will go on sale on Friday, July 11, 2008 through www.ticketmaster.com or at Ticketmaster outlets.

The base ticket price for all shows is $75 plus additional venue, service and handling fees. There is a four-ticket limit for the public on sale.

A special, limited ticket pre-sale for current active members of Pearl Jam's Ten Club will begin at 9 am PDT on July, 7, 2008 and run through 5 pm PDT on July 9, 2008 at www.pearljam.com. There is a two-ticket limit for the Ten Club pre-sale.

Liam Finn will open these shows.


The second leg of Eddie Vedder's solo tour comes on the heels of his sold-out West Coast solo tour in April 2008.

Eddie Vedder Solo Tour Dates:

DATE CITY VENUE

8/1/08 Boston Opera House
8/2/08 Boston Opera House
8/4/08 New York United Palace Theater
8/5/08 New York United Palace Theater
8/7/08 Newark New Jersey Performing Arts Center
8/9/08 Montreal, QC Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier/Place
8/12/08 Toronto, ON Massey Hall
8/13/08 Toronto, ON Massey Hall
8/16/08 Washington, DC Warner Theatre
8/17/08 Washington, DC Warner Theatre
8/19/08 Milwaukee The Riverside Theater
8/21/08 Chicago Auditorium Theatre
8/22/08 Chicago Auditorium Theatre

Black Corners & Culture Bully are giving away a few pairs of tickets to attend Muja Messiah’s CD release party at First Avenue on July 27! Interested? Of course you are!!! THREE winners will receive the following:

(1) Pair of tickets to the CD release party for Thee Adventures of a B-Boy D-Boy featuring:

Muja Messiah - MySpace Site

Black Blondie - MySpace Site

M.anifest - Official Site
M.anifest - MySpace Site

Maria Isa - MySpace Site

DJ Verb X - MySpace Site

DJ Turtleneck - MySpace Site

and hosted by:

Brother Ali “Truth Is” (mp3)
Brother Ali - Official Site
Brother Ali - Wikipedia Site
Brother Ali - MySpace Site

I-Self Divine - Official Site
I-Self Divine - MySpace Site

The contest open to US residents only (sorry international friends!) - to enter simply leave a note in the comments section - maybe how this show is going to be one of life’s beautiful things, or maybe about how it’s going to simply blow your mind! (don’t forget to enter your email address, which won’t be shown publicly, it’s so we can get in touch with you!). THREE winners will be chosen at random & the contest ends Thursday, July 24, 2008 so…if you see this post on Friday, July 25, 2008 and would like to enter…my friend, you are too late.

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Previously: INFLUENZA with Muja Messiah
Previously: VIDEO - Muja Messiah & M.anifest “Paper Planes”
Previously: NEW - Muja Messiah “Amy Winehouse”

The Jonx: Something fishy this way comes. Here are a few MP3s to preview the latest installment of the Free Press' "Recession Thursdays" tonight at Numbers: three from headliners the Jonx's 2006 album No Turn Jonx Red and a... Chris Gray

"From the rocks and waves of the west coast of Sweden Tiedye explores and develops the sounds of dreaming disco, windblowing pop and gruyèresmelling rock."

Sweden's mysterious Tiedye recently joined the likes of Glass Candy, Chromatics, Invisible Conga People, et al., as part of the mighty Italians Do It Better label's highly esteemed stable of cosmic disco phenoms. It's been tough to find any info on these guys, but at least now they have a website, on which they've posted free downloads of their version of Rubies' "I Feel Electric," and this new Balearic "cover" (to use the term loosely) of Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters," and frankly, it's sort of epic:

mp3:
Tiedye :: Nothing Else Matters
Rubies :: I Feel Electric (feat. Feist) Tiedye version

It's been some time since we learned Modern Guilt, Beck Hansen's eighth album, would be some sort of psych rock minimalist '60s trip with Danger Mouse. Since then, we've gotten a look at the old-school jazz/Blue Note-style cover art and a listen to the smeary, phased, chill-out Caribou-on-Brian Wilson sounds of "Chemtrails" along with both the more upbeat "Gamma Ray" (note the Lilys/Deerhunter/etc.-style background vocal echo behind the thwapping groove) and the spaced-out hazy folk of Chan Marshall-guesting "Orphans." There's even a Modern Guilt-teasing trailer. That said, listening to all 10 tracks in a sitting fleshes out Beck and DM's aesthetic, allowing you to spot echoes and overlaps.

Alejandro Escovedo is a survivor in the truest sense of the word. He's not only kept his head above the turbid waters of the music business for 30+ years, but also withstood a near-fatal bout with Hepatitis C, an experience he chronicled in detail on 2006's The Boxing Mirror. With that out of his system, Escovedo is back, and if Real Animal (get it now on Back Porch Records) is any indication, he's ready to turn up the amps and have a little fun.

After enlisting John Cale as producer on The Boxing Mirror, Escovedo has turned to yet another legend for Real Animal, Tony Visconti. If that name is unfamiliar, shame on you. Visconti has helmed many of the greatest albums ever to grace a turntable, including undisputed classics by T. Rex, David Bowie and Thin Lizzy, not to mention more recent releases from Morrissey, Coheed and Cambria and FeFe Dobson.

Visconti proves an inspired choice, as much of Real Animal finds Escovedo looking back at his formative years in the biz, including his early influences and his adoration of Iggy Pop, whose own The Idiot benefited from Visconti's participation. Golden Bear echoes Bowie's Ashes To Ashes, but otherwise, Visconti seems content to sit back and let Escovedo do the heavy lifting. With writing assistance from Chuck Prophet (who seems to be popping up everywhere these days), Escovedo traces a career trajectory that has included stops in punk (The Nuns), Americana (Rank and File), folk and garage rock (Buick MacKane). Fast or slow, loud or quiet, Escovedo's songs are consistently strong, marrying thoughtful lyrics with hooks that most artists can only dream about. His characters, famous and not, are alarmingly human, and he manages to bathe even the most repugnant of them (Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen anyone?) in soft white light. Real Animal is a dazzling, rocking, ride; I find myself reaching for it regularly. Standout tracks are many, but pay special attention to Chelsea Hotel '78 (in which he dismisses Max's Kansas City as "just another bar") and Always A Friend, which I have to believe is a huge hit a some bizarre parallel universe. This one will find itself onto more than a few year-end Top 10 lists.

Alejandro Escovedo - Always A Friend

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Noel Sayre passed away early this morning after being in critcal condition after almost drowning in a community swimming pool. Very sad. RIP.

From ashes beneath a workout bench, dreams of loss, "you leave me out on the steps you dress me up like a boy," and Celine references (Journey To The End Of The Night), Xiu Xiu have never shied from darkness, fragile thoughts, or gender issues in a scene where it takes little more than a fever for someone to verbally abuse you with "faggot" as their ammunition. In the self-directed video for Women As Lovers track "Master of the Bump (Kurt Stumbaugh, I Can Feel the Soil Falling Over My Head)," we see two guys ready to meet up in the park after some sort of Internet relationship. That's when things enter Dennis Cooper territory.

As we pass saturation point for press coverage of Montreal, Portland, Brooklyn and et cetera, it seems Lawrence, Kansas is poised for its coming turn in the music media trend piece carousel. At least from what we're hearing; this marks two straight BTWs from the burgeoning midwestern artistic oasis. We gave the treatment to Rooftop Vigilantes after they hit our inbox with some music, and that inspired another email, this time from one Jordan Geiger, offering a MySpace-linked primer to more of the city's rising talent. But it was Jordan's own project, Hospital Ships, that struck deepest. Jordan comes packing a sturdy CV -- singing and songwriting in Minus Story, playing trumpet and keyboard for Shearwater -- and the Hospital Ships material shows it.

DOWNLOAD: Dr. Dog - The Ark (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Dr. Dog - The Old Days (MP3)

Dr. Dog's new album The Fate is out July 22nd. You can download two tracks from it above. And as previously announced, you can catch them live on the 23rd at Bowery, and one day later at Music Hall of Williamsburg. They have a ton of new shows scheduled after that too. All of those below...

Dr. Dog - 2008 Tour Dates
07-18 - Club Café - Pittsburg, PA
07-19 - Chameleon Club - Lancaster, PA
07-23 - Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY
07-24 - Music Hall of Williamsburg - New York, NY
07-26 - Boulder Annual Music Festival - Rochester, NY
07-27 - Forcastle Festival - Louisville, KY
07-29 - Mojo's - Columbia, MO
07-30 - Bluebird - St. Louis, MO
07-31 - Radio Radio - Indianapolis, IN
08-01 - Lollapalooza (at Grant Park) - Chicago, IL
08-04 - Beachland Ballroom - Cleveland, OH
08-05 - The Basement - Columbus, OH
08-08 - The El Rey - Los Angeles, CA
08-13 - Rittenhouse Square - Philadelphia, PA FREE FREE FREE
09-05 - IOTA Club & Café - Arlington, VA
09-06 - The Earl - Atlanta, GA
09-07 - 3rd and Lindsley - Nashville, TN
09-08 - Bottletree - Birmingham, AL
09-09 - Thirsty Hippo - Hattiesburg, MS
09-11 - Walter's On Washington - Houston, TX
09-12 - Lola's Saloon - Ft. Worth, TX
09-13 - The Parish - Austin, TX
09-16 - Club Congress - Tucson, AZ
09-17 - The Casbah - San Diego, CA
09-19 - The Detroit Bar - Costa Mesa, CA
09-20 - Cellar Door - Visalia, CA
09-23 - Doug Fir's Lounge - Portland, OR
09-24 - Tractor Tavern - Seattle, WA
09-26 - Urban Lounge - Salt Lake City, UT
09-27 - Hi-Dive - Denver, CO
09-29 - The Waiting Room - Omaha, NB
09-30 - The Record Bar - Kansas City, MO
10-01 - High Noon Saloon - Madison, WI
10-02 - Blind Pig - Ann Arbor, MI
10-10 - Middle East (downstairs) - Cambridge, MA

Oct 30 - Night & Day Manchester
Oct 31 - King Tuts Glasgow
Nov 1 - Spring & Airbrake Belfast
Nov 2 - Whelans Dublin
Nov 3 - Glee Club Birmingham
Nov 4 - Borderline London
Nov 5 - Fleche D'or Paris
Nov 7 - Apolo 2 Barcelona
Nov 10 - 59 To 1 Munich
Nov 11 - La Casa Milan
Nov 12 - Luxor Cologne
Nov 14 - Voxhall Aarhus
Nov 15 - Debaser Stockholm
Nov 16 - KB Malmo
Nov 17 - Sticky Fingers Gothenburg
Nov 19 - Lido Berlin
Nov 20 - Knust Hamburg
Nov 21 - Merleyn Nijmegen
Nov 22 - Ekko Utrecht
Nov 23 - Paradiso Amsterdam