Remix of kids, good production. I’m not matt forrest, but I think the flow’s kind of sophomoric.
http://www.myspace.com/chiddybangphilly
chiddy bang…
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Tag Archives: Hip-Hop
Women | May 8 | Terrace
I had the pleasure of seeing Women at SXSW this year at the Ground Control Party in an Urban Outfitters parking lot near the University of Texas campus. They were one of my must-see bands and I was highly anticipating their performance. We stumbled out of bed a little bleary-eyed and a little late and didn’t think we were going to make it for the beginning of their set, but luckily everyone else in Austin was in the same boat as us as Women took the stage 45 minutes late. Upon the first discordant noise from stage and the slam of a drum, the whole crowd moved forward, showcasing something a Madison crowd could aspire to. Many journalists and tastemakers have compared them to The Velvet Underground and I can see that a bit more after their live performance, although it is still a stretch. Most of the set was marked by transitions and contrasts from jangly guitar rock to noisy post-punk. The Terrace performance this Friday should be no different before they meet up with Tortoi
se in Milwaukee the next night. All in all, Women provided a great SXSW memory and hopefully will leave Madison with a pleasant taste in its mouth to cap off our spring schedule.
- Patrick Tilley
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one of the bands that i saw at SXSW with pat and truby of whom i actually enjoyed. their show is pretty apathetic, not some much as others i have seen, but their drummer keeps it pretty lively. my personal favorite was when he threw a tambourine on the snare and played that and made it sound good for about a full minute (which i think i referenced in my post from SXSW on this band). not a bad way to end the semester with a pretty relaxing band where you can stand and sway to the music in front of the stage without moving your feet. ahaaaaaa. can you tell i go to rap and djay shows? here is my favorite song of theirs none the less.
meet me after the show. i’ll be doing the westside percolator. maybe patrick will too.
- matt forrest
Who’s ready to get arrested?
i am not. but some folks are at mifflin this weekend. so to all those 300-400 people who plan on spending their saturday afternoon with their wrists closer together than an awkward night at the KK we salute you. enjoy yourselves and you time on that madison metro bus. definition of a hutlah.
i joke. just dont step on the sidewalk kidz. have fun yall. get down to this shit.
also don’t get the swine flu 
for the kids who just want to hang and holistically enjoy the weather:
for the REAL money makers:
et pour les francophones:
yay.
- matt forrest
27 Dresses
DRESSES!
Sometimes, in the spare moments surfing the internet you come across truly amazing. Ladies, the song 27 dresses by Peshtigo is one of them.
But on a side note, the movie is great: it features James Marsden (a fine man who looks good in sneakers) and Katherine Heigl (contemporary Hollywood’s analogue to the average woman, if only they would just capitalize on her classic features) and a paper thin plot that doesn’t encumber this movie’s simple intent. I’ve watched it four times.
Anyway. 27 Dresses by Peshtigo plays at the movie’s level. Understated and simple, it nails the movie’s thematic elements into a soft echo–with a danceable beat, naturally.
Peshtigo Holding it Down
Peshtigo—check it
Heiruspecs
How was Heiruspecs you ask? I’d be happy to enlighten you.
Minneapolis and Chicago natives and First Wave favorites PhoneticONE and Dizne opened up with a really fun set. The floor was about half full, which is pretty good for an opener (putting 9:00 on all the posters and then starting at 9:40 may have helped that a bit). In an exclusive facebook chat interview with PhoneticONE he said “the show went really well and the crowd was dope.” They seemed to be having a really good time and got bonus points for dropping references to Dizzy and Bird.
PhoneticONE
I don’t have much to say about DLO. It was pretty standard hip-hop, nothing too exciting. The crowd seemed to be getting a bit bored during their set, I saw more than a few people texting and talking out of boredom. It was decent though, and a lot of people may have just been getting antsy waiting for Heiruspecs to come out.
St. Paul natives "Heiruspecs"
Heiruspecs was as some might say (Matt Forrest) a “live ass show”. The whole floor was pretty much full and there were quite a few people behind the stage as well. They played a good variety of old and new tracks. People were getting really into it, but nothing got too out of hand (no drunk douchebags bum rushing the stage) and for once I don’t think we had any problem with security intruding just because it was Hip-Hop. There were a fair amount of older people that, at the very least, didn’t leave when they realized it was a rap show. What makes Heiruspecs so cool is that they bring so many different influences into their music, blending elements of punk, funk, and old school hip-hop into a really distinct sound. One of my favorite parts of the show was when Felix said that they were gonna play something for “people who are into some real ass music”, and they did a short instrumental jam with Peter and Twinkie Jiggles kickin out some funky ass grooves.
Overall I would say the show was a success. I’d definitely love to have them again, so stay posted next year to see if they come back.
-Todd O.
Gett Down
Day 3 kicked off for me at the Pitchfork/Windish Agency Party. Well technically it kicked off at 5am with intense side cramps from sleeping on the floor but the part you cared about started at this really neat venue called Emo’s which basically looks like they found a pit, poured concrete in it, put up a fence and some shamble roofing, and when something breaks they take some 2×4 and plywood and slap that over it.
I waited through a lot of indie bands the only one of which was really memorable for me was the Dirty Projectors. Their guitar sounds are truly unique (sounds something like what you think indie music in the medieval era would be) and their three front women create some damn good harmony, I mean it is really beautiful (of which Truby is in love with the bassist).
But the main attraction for me was the duo performance of A-Trak and Diplo (who will be in Madison April 11th). What was really interesting about their split bill is that you really could tell the differences between their styles. Diplo started it off with his worldwide gutter shit (meaning sort of electro world type beats with a banger twist) and A-Trak who started off in hip-hop (and rose to the level of Kanye’s DJ) but then made the move to more of a hard electro style but as he showed us he still has that solid hip-hop base with some perfect beat jocking and the best scratching I have seen in a while…on some electronic shit (Abilities and him should square off). Hearing these two styles go back and forth was great and seeing the whole room dance unrestrained was something that doesn’t happen too often. Whats great is that they do what the like and have been before this got popular. That’s what makes it work for them.
Tilley, Truby, and I had some excellent dinner at the Ironworks BBQ which almost made us fall asleep but not enough to miss Hollywood Holt (before the side journey to the wrong venue for some Mexican punk band Pat wanted to check…turns out the venue was next door and the one we were in looked like something out of Blade II). Holt had apparently been crunkin and doing shows all day but that didn’t mean he didn’t give us a damn good 25 minutes of a show. He somehow always manages to give out a ton of energy and even crowd surf with the 30 or so people he packed into the front of the venue. He may be loud and obnoxious but once again in an age where hipster rappers are starting to come from everywhere he is legit and this is what he loves. Its hard to knock that. Plus his shows are just too much damn fun. From lessons in juking to “gold chains hanging low” its hard not to enjoy yourself when Nigel is on stage.
This also made me realize one of the shittier parts of the experience: that there is so much going on, so many of your favorite artists appearing that its impossible to catch every little thing that happens. From what was most likely a wild afterparty with Kid Cudi, to the secret Diplo shows, to Holt’s 5 other performances which weren’t listed that day
I then ventured off to see another one of the “Freshman 10 of Hip-Hop” Mickey Factz, but not before passing the big story of the festival thus far, Metalica‘s appearance at the Guitar Hero party. I guess people had been in line since 5am but with my magic badge I got to jump ahead of them just to catch a glimpse of these folks only to say that I was there…and I was. I couldn’t tell you what song they were playing nor do I care that much. Its just one of those things I can say I did. Church.
Anyways I got to the AM Only party which was at the worst run venue I have been at thus far the Beauty Bar. It took everyone about two minutes just to get into the seemingly half full venue. I made my way to the patio to see Mickey. Not impressed. No Supras performance. He spent the set yelling over electro beats and Daft Punk, bringing girls on stage to dance, telling one to “crawl on the ground like a mouse gurrrrl”, and more yelling. I know he has some legitimate music but its hard to be impressed when you see that shit show.
I was hoping this show would redeem itself with some Tittsworth but despite him putting all his energy into it the awkward ass crowd was just too much to overcome. His set was more electro based than I expected it to be based of the hard B-More club stuff I have come to know but I will hopefully see that live another day.
All in all this was the downer party I went to this week. Terribly organized by both promoter and venue and strange performances from otherwise great artists. Epic fail.
I wandered back to where I was originally to catch the end of Amanda Blank‘s set who I was quite impressed with. Her music isn’t too hardly rooted in hipster electro like the rest of the artists that night like Thunderheist who set was good but had no up’s and downs and never drew me in. Blank is a talented singer and above all a really good emcee. This girl can rap. She varies her lyrical style with speed and precision and its something unique in the emerging realm of hipster-hop. She is definitely an artist to keep an eye on and I’m bummed I wasn’t able to see more.
The next up was Lady Sovereign from dA UK who was quite loud and in your face. Not bad but maybe just a little much. She performed he main song Love Me or Hate Me (Fuck You) to a sea full of middle fingers. Other than that it was an up-tempo electro British rap set to a crowd of drunk UT kids, old brosephs looking to slang, the occasionally hype beast, and chubby hipsters. Yay. Church.
Asher Roth was up next and I will say this: he has come a ways from rapping over Milli beats which tons of kids do in their dorm rooms anyways. He came down hoping to start a revolution of some sort, which ended in him roaming the streets looking for pizza at the end of the night. As stated in the previous article he did perform some new songs and is starting to gain a more legitimate sound and in my mind some actual credit for his raps not just someone who I think I could battle over an old Beastie Boys beat because he is too high. Of course he performed his hit I Love College but the highlight was his new stuff which should produce a semi-decent album. You can tell the industry has gotten a hold of him though since he got on stage with no acknowledgment of his gracious host Hollywood Holt and was backed by a drummer, some dude as his hypeman/pusher, and a djay to throw in some scratches all in the set of a pretty planned out set. He is good and he does what he like I am not here to knock that, but the fact that he is so packaged up does two things: one it makes him loose some of his very connective (to the 20 something masses) nostalgia that got him to where he is anyways, and two once his niche closes he is going to be chewed up and spit out…he will just be the first white boy to have it happen. Hopefully he can keep pulling something together like Soulja Boy has.
Kid Sister was the final performer of the evening and was accompanied by her boys Flosstradamus. Her set was live. Her set was short. All was well. She always puts on a very interactive and hype show but this one was just a little too short. Its hard not to get into it when she hits you with Damn Girl then Switchboard followed by Pro Nails and then ends with a Flossy-D Act A Fool live performance. Shit is banging. Also got to end the night with a little duo tag team djay set of Hollywood Holt and Autobot. Juke dem hoes.
One finaly big ups to Holt for hosting the entire night and doing a smash up job djaying. Gotta love some new Orleans bounce followed by Dunn Dunn by Shawty Lo not once but tree times just to get into it long enough so the crowd could got “Got Damn! Must be Two SIDE!”. See why:
Off to the Mikey Rocks and Chuck Inglish. And my deadly 7:00am flight. FML.
- Matt
Ahhhh Rap Music
And the second day in Austin has come to an end with some excitements, more hiking near the Hook em Horns campus and late night surprises (aka Pat Tilley CREEEEEPPPIN! not.)
We started the day where all self-entitling hipsters should, at the back alley of an Urban Outfitters with our BFF from the Ill Mill at a PBRty. Yippee.
The first band I saw and the only one I feel like mentioning from this venture was the band Women from Canada. From my limited experience with Indie bands all I can say is that I did really enjoy their drummer. He carries the melody of the group quite well and has several creative approaches to his rhythms including placing the tambourine on the snare and making some strange yet well produced noise.
After a healthy hike back to the downtown area from the UT campus (about 23 blocks more or less) we made it back to the main downtown stretch where I broke off from the main group to help promote the Rhymesayers showcase that eve. The main promo was done at a day party with radio djays where some interesting events took place. Mainly the never to be seen again freestyle on the street collaboration between the Yay Arena’s Mistah Fab and the South MPLS emcee Eyedea of E&A. I shit you not. I wish I had video. This never to be seen again unless a parallel universe opens between the ghost riding king and the long winded fast rapper may be one of the strangest and more epic events I have seen thus far.
The evening show for RSE started at the Havana club with Toki Wright who has just been signed to the label under what appears to be a ‘Showcase Series’ of artists from maybe just the Twin Cities or all over. Or maybe he is just on the label. Well have to see. He played a lot of new tracks which didn’t really differ stylistically from his previous work but still sounds like it will make up a good album.
I Self Devine was the next artist up also playing material off the new album to come “Sounds of Lower Class Amerika”, and also similarly sounding to the previous release “Self Destruction”. He continues to be one of the under-represented artists by the label since every time you catch one of his shows it is one of the livest and most memorable performances you will see.
E&A were up next and performed a few new songs and some of the classics like Now and Birth of a Fish. And of course one of my favorite parts of the whole experience is to see Abilities do a scratch set. Shit is bananas and always something new. This time it was the Mr. Me Too beat and scratching “Yeah…I’m Back” for about 5 minutes straight.
I ran over to the Back Alley Social about 10 blocks away to catch Pac Div the F.A.T. Boys from sunny LA. The 20 minute set was highlighted by 5 minutes of the Mayor dance in the half full venue and only about one verse of their hit F.A.T. Boys. This wasn’t the greatest show but you caught enough of the idea of what they are trying to do so it all works out. And in the end what they are trying to do is somewhere between the Cool Kids and U-N-I. Not quite just hipster rap but pretty close.
I caught the beginning of the POS show back at Rhymesayers before heading off. It was pretty much the same set except a curtailed version as in Madison so you can just read all about that.
Finally it was off to Ace’s Lounge for the final act I was going to try and catch that night, Kid Cudi. But it appears the dreams of the room were to be slashed as the rapper appeared to be a no show. The venue manager from SXSW came out to announce the news and was quickly greeted by a beer bottle being thrown on stage and hit back with a very stern look and mean pointer finger at the culprit. Then the actual owner of the venue came out to try and calm folks down but was also greeted in a similar fashion and a stream of people leaving.
About two minutes into his speech however a flood of people came back into the venue and 30 seconds later Kid Cudi jumps on stage, a sigh of relief passes over the club owner, and Cudi yells out “Sorry Ya’ll we flew into Houston!” After a brief sound check the show started which can apparently be seen on Carson Daly’s Late Night programming.
The show itself was quite good. Whenever a new rapper following in the Cool Kids steps (more or less but you know what I mean…hipster rap) comes out its always hard to tell if the can rap or not. Cudi appears to be one of those individuals who actually can. He may not rap fast or show you ten different styles in a night but lyrically he can tell a story and that is more than the Cool Kids can say save the Basement Party track. He broke up the set with short “smoke” breaks on stage and bringing his party girls on stage. And he of course closed with the “popular” radio station hit Day & Nite and then throw on the Crookers remix of the same song to “keep the party going”. And the party did keep on going. More girls came on stage, Million $ Mano started dancing around, and guests from Rhymesayers who I was surprised to see there (Brother Ali, Jake One, Freeway, Siddiq, and others) and the guys from Pac Div showed up even after the main sound was turned off and the monitors were the only music going.
So yeah that show was interesting. We apologize for the lack of photos since our internet is terrible in the hotel. They will be up when we get back. Stay tuned for updates from Day 3 (Hollywood Holt, Diplo + A-Trak, Mickey Factz, Tittsworth, Amanda Blank, Asher Roth, and Kid Sister) and from what should be a good Day 4 (Cool Kids and MSTRKRFT).
- Matt
Remember when Lil Wayne had hair?
No disrespect to my dogs.
P.O.S. at the High Noon (16 Feb) Review
P.O.S. is a show that you go to and generally expect something a little different each time. And that is what we got. Starting off with some guitar playing and ending by rapping in the the crowd. I wouldn’t go on a limb to say it was a roller coaster but it was…a roller coaster lots of folks have been on several times and know the parts where you make a face for the camera pics at the end.
The set was well strung together with good transitions between songs like using the beat box he brought along to transition into Savion Glover by more or less producing the beat on stage. But also some abrupt transitions like ending Accident, transitioning into a new song about Doomtree’s exploits the past year (a “history” track which we have seen from fellow Rhymesayers’ artist Brother Ali) and then having DJ Plain Ole Bill throw on some Rick Astley and cordially telling the crowd that they had been “Rick-Rolled by Plain Ole Bill).
The set was constructed pretty much as I expected. Starting with some new tracks, throw in the oldie Half-Cocked Concepts by teasing the crowd with the beat intro for about 2 minutes, bringing some of the new Doomtree tracks with “guests” Sims and Mike Mitclan (who both had decent sets earlier in the night), throw in some Basics and ended on some of the down tempo new songs. Then actually ended by rapping Stand Up (Let’s Get Murdered) in the middle of the crowd.
P.O.S. enjoyed the newcomers to his music that graced the audience and revealed the theme of the album to be doing what you want with your life, regardless of how much ca$h you make. All in all a good set.
Audience was a different matter. The thing about rap shows in Madison, specifically any Rhymesayers show is that you get the same group that can be semi annoying if you really want to watch the show. Surrounded by several stumbling drunk kids, people yelling at the performers, a couple of almost fights, smoking in the crowd, and a slew of Minnesota Twin hat sporting bros that Sims so graciously pointed out earlier in the night isn’t the most conducive to watching a good show. But that is where we are at now. P.O.S. has followed the trend of the label the last year by putting out a critically well received album that cuts across demographic lines in terms of its listening audience and the “eclectic” group of concert goers reflected it.
K’Naan at the Annex | 10 Feb
So what sort of music was this supposed to be? Going into the show I thought it was going to be some sort of hip-hop sound (granted I did not do my research) but I felt more like I was going to some summer reggae concert and more importantly that the show should not be indoors.
For the most part the crowd at the Annex on Tuesday night was well into the concert and at the beginning it appeared that they would be more invested in the show than K’Naan himself. Early on in the night he said to the crowd “You know, I’m not sure that I am really feeling it…” followed by a ironic reverb from the sound system. I have heard this hype-up strategy used by rappers before, but for some reason he seemed sincere about this one.
It turned out that he was indeed joking and as the night went on we drew the crowd in with a variety of hip-hop mixed with reggae mixed with African melodies mixed with Coldplay (I love gimmicks, and playing “Viva la Vida” in the middle of a set got me). Ultimately I didn’t do my research going into this concert and did not know much about this guy, and his style and why he is rapping is hard to figure out in the middle of a show, but in the end it made sense and seemed to work out quite well.
It appears at first that he has no distinguishable style. By that I mean there is nothing that would distinguish him if he was from the US. Not only his style but also his lyrical content seems to sit in a valley somewhere between Rap, Reggae, Personal Story, and Stylistic Rap. In any given song you get a combination of these.
Even though it can be a little difficult to distinguish the hype around him at first it quickly becomes evident that this merger of styles and lyrics along with the fact that it is different that US rap of a similar style is what makes it work. What do I mean by this? A lot of conscious rappers like to get in your face now and again. A lot of spoken word likes to get in your face. K’Naan just says what it is and plays what he wants.
It might seem like a low key show at first, and that was my first reaction since I didn’t really know the songs. But after going back and checking it out for a second time it makes sense. I would rather have K’Naan tell me his personal story with his own stylings than have a spoken word poet wrap it up in too many metaphors in a room full of people who say “Mmmmm” after every profound statement they may or may not understand.
K’Naan put on a good show with an eclectic mixtures of sound and a blunt but honest message, but didn’t forget to add some not so serious tracks on top of that too. But what made the show was having a crowd drawn from all corners of the spectrum. Kids in wolf shirts to people waving the Somalian flag, old hippies to new hippies, the whole gang was there. You don’t get that a lot in Madison and when it happens, its refreshing.
Sorry I don’t know the order of the songs. If you care you can read about it here at the Decider’s review.
