Revisiting ODB

Hehlew tableau,

For this blog post, I would like to revisit the career of a true hip hop pioneer: Ol' Dirty Bastard. Me and my buds got to talking about crazy rap characters, and the ODB naturally was a topic. Many contest whether the ODB was for real or not. Believe me. The ODB did not f&@@#^ around. At times, he was quite horrible. He rode in a limo to collect his welfare check. He made this song with Macy Gray (possibly the worst/funniest cover in the past ten years). He interrupted the 1998 Grammys, confused Shawn Colvin with Sean "P. Diddy/Puffy/Poppa Diddy Pop" Combs, and even butchered ebonics ("I went and bought a outfit today that costed a lotta money today...") all in one fell swoop.

That withstanding, there has never been another rapper like Ol' Dirty Bastard. Surprisingly, its a lot harder than you would think to sound like you have no idea what you're doing. His schizophrenic half rap/half sing style kept fans listening, wondering what wild lyrical potions would come out of the ODB crack lab for rhymes. His unpredictability broke new ground for hip/hop artists. You knew when he came on the speakers or on TV that you would be entertained. He'd take you places that he didn't even know about, because he either really drunk or really high. In a world of auto-tune and ringtone rap, listening to Ol' Dirty Bastard is truly refreshing to the ear. Screw Lil' Wayne, ODB is the original Martian.

Unfortunately, that same unpredictability became his demise, as he died of a drug overdose in November of 2004, two days shy of his 36th birthday. For his best works, check out Enter the Wu Tang with the Wu Tang Clan (best rap album ever. period.) and Return to the 36 Chambers.

So, the next time you have a forty in your hand, pour a little bit out for the Ol' Dirty Bastard. Because Wu Tang is for the children. They teach the children.

Post written by Rob Molster.

Review: The Prodigy - Invaders Must Die

The Prodigy's latest release Invaders Must Die, is a particularly hard album for me to write about because, unlike most albums I've listened to, I didn't really form an impression about it on first listen. In other words, I didn't know if it was good or not.

To me, The Prodigy have always been a group of relatively likeable hooligans that jump around confessing their crimes of arson and domestic violence while breathing. Beyond that experience though, how they became the best-selling dance outfit of all time is a mystery to me. It just seemed to me that these big beat Brits haven't put out many decent tunes beyond the ones on their third outing, The Fat of the Land.


That is, until I heard the title track for Invaders Must Die. Oddly enough, I discovered both the song and the music video for this track when I woke up one morning to find it sitting on my Xbox 360 after a night of heavy drinking. To the best of my recollection, I didn't put it there (but I must've), so I decided to give it a listen and suddenly got pretty excited about the idea of a new Prodigy album dropping. While the track doesn't really sound like The Prodigy proper, it made perhaps the best use of nu-rave, Hadouken!-esque keyboards that I have heard while also jumping on the electro-meets-rock bandwagon that relative newcomers Digitalism and Justice have been riding in recent years. In fact, had I heard "Invaders Must Die" on the radio, I probably would have had no idea it was them if it wasn't for the robotic voice that reminds you a couple times throughout the song that they are, in fact, The Prodigy. Needless to say, I grew very fond of the track, and really hoped that the rest of the album would be as good.

From here though, I was pretty neutral about the album until I listened to it a few more times. The rest of the tracks largely make use of the nu-rave keys, lots of drums and some nonsense lyrics emanating from the psychotic Keith Flint (and, occasionally, the slightly less crazy Maxim Reality) as per usual for The Prodigy. But, after a few more listens, all of these tracks seemed to become flat and, quite frankly, annoying. A couple tracks in particular ("Run With the Wolves" and "Stand Up") possess drum tracks played by Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters fame, meaning the beats in these songs should be something special, right? Turns out that no, Grohl was brought on to play drums on these tracks for no good reason.

It just seems that, for the most part, The Prodigy just put out all their good material on one disc back in 1997, and have been suffering ever since. Do yourself a favor and just buy The Fat of the Land again if you feel the urge to purchase Prodigy album. It's kind of odd to think that I kind of enjoyed listening to some tracks on Invaders Must Die like "Omen" and "Take Me to the Hospital," especially since the amount of irritation they cause to my ears now is almost indescribable.

Future release of Spiderman 4 looks promising

Spiderman 2 was universally praised for transcending its superhero origins by fleshing out the romance and angst established in the first film. Spiderman 3 was a train wreck: too long, over-stuffed with villains, and plagued by its bored-looking (and weepy) stars. (For a hilarious parody, click here.) The one thing the two movies had in common was that they made an absurd amount of money for Sony, so the question was never: "Will they make Spiderman 4?" but "Will writer/director Sam Raimi and his actors show up again, or are they all creatively burned out?" There were some rumors that Sony would push ahead without Raimi, Toby Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, but (most of) that has been put to bed. Raimi was recently interviewed by MTV where he confirmed that he and Maguire are both on board for the fourth installment. There isn't a finished script, so few details are known but there is a release date of May 6, 2011. Dunst still hasn't confirmed her involvement, but regardless of what she ends up deciding, this movie will happen. The writers, though, probably will have to think of something for her character to do besides once again becoming the damsel dangling from an elevated plane before she agrees to shriek for Spiderman one more time.

Post written by Greg Steinbrecher.

The National promotes AIDS awareness and rocks out simultaneously

Brooklyn-based indie rockers the National have opened their big hearts once again.

Last month, they compiled and released Dark Was the Night, a thirty-two track double album (triple vinyl) to raise AIDS awareness. Proceeds benefit Red Hot, an international charity devoted to raising AIDS funds.

The National created a brand new exclusive track for the compilation, titled "So Far Around the Bend." Other artists billed include Andrew Bird, Bon Iver, Ben Gibbard, The Decemberists, Feist, Iron and Wine, My Morning Jacket, The New Pornographers, Spoon, and Yo La Tengo.

Sunday, May 3rd, many of the artists will be getting together at Radio City Music hall in NYC for an exclusive Dark was the Night show. Acts announced so far include Dave Sitek, Dirty Projectors, Feist, My Brightest Diamond, The National, Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings. Tickets are on sale now.

You can listen to a few tracks online at http://www.myspace.com/darkwasthenight

Post written by Marissa D'Orazio.

That European band you haven't heard of - Dope Stars Inc.

Italian industrial techno-rockers Dope Stars Inc. have been around since 2003, but few outside the European club scene know of the group's existence. In fact, in the US, the band might as well be a non-entity, even though Dope Stars Inc. has received some notable press in industry magazines for their earlier releases, including 10,000 Watts of Artificial Pleasure, Neuromance and Gigahearts.

It has often been said by some folks in the world of music that an artist like Marilyn Manson -- controversial as he may be -- stands alone as the scene's last "true" rock star, willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of pure created art. Dope Stars Inc., one might be sure, wishes to be seen in a similar light. Melding a unique combination of industrial, aggro-tech, techno, synth-pop and rock, the band (from Rome) claims to have been influenced by everything from David Bowie to the Sex Pistols to Nine Inch Nails to the Ramones to the aforementioned Manson. Their style is a veritable mash-up of glam and glitter distilled through a kaleidoscope of hard-core drugs, sonic walls of industrial noise and late-night vampire lust. Basically, this is the type of band conservative forces of the world -- the Church, your parents, the government, MAAD, etc. -- love to hate. They're unashamed of their behavior, too -- and that's precisely why it all works.

Dope Stars Inc. doesn't show any signs of letting up or becoming more "mature" or "restrained," either. The band's forthcoming EP, Criminal Intents / Morning Star features four new songs and a host of previously unavailable remixes from bands like KMFDM, Gothminister, Spiritual Front and Crossbreed. Release date? April 24 on US label Metropolis, with a new full length album coming in June. In the meantime, check out the group's Myspace page and listen to the EP's namesake songs. Absolutely evil.

Beastie Boys - "Shake Your Rump"

I actually picked up a copy of the recently released Paul's Boutique 20th Anniversary Edition over the weekend. Although there's nothing new outside of a richer, cleaner mix and a revised track list which breaks up the epic B-Boy Bouillabaise into its nine constituent parts, it is still worth a listen and, if you're so inclined, a purchase. After all, Paul's Boutique ranks as both the Beastie Boy's best album and one of the most important records to come out of the "Golden Age" of hip-hop. Its impressively dense pastiche of semi-obscure samples (mostly from the 1970s) and cultural references has spawned books, articles and dozens of websites. More importantly, the album simply is really good; the Beastie Boys' lyrical inventiveness (by this point they've basically perfected group rapping) is matched with the Dust Brothers' incredible sample-heavy production. You would be doing yourself a disservice if you passed over this gem.

Post written by Jamelle Bouie.

South by Southwest: Not Just for Music

Before hipsters of all stripes descend on Austin, TX for the SXSW music festival, cinephiles will get a chance to check out some new wide, independent and local releases at the accompanying film festival. Known in part for launching the mumblecore genre (this year's festival debuts the latest from Andrew Bujalski), some more mainstream movies will also be released. The opening night of the festival featured the much buzzed about and incessantly promoted Paul Rudd vehicle "I Love You, Man".

A roundup of some of the movies hoping to find an audience can be found here while day to day coverage of the festival is going on at the AV Club.

Post written by Greg Steinbrecher.

SONG OF THE WEEK

A Flock of Seagulls - I Ran. Super 80s. Super Awesome.