If you have any taste for whatever good hip hop there still is in mainstream, then the name “Child Rebel Soldier” (CRS) should already ring a bell. CRS is a hip hop supergroup consisting of Lupe Fiasco (the Child), Kanye West (the Rebel), and Pharrell Williams (the Soldier), and given the level of these artists’ independent success, I don’t have to point out how much of a big deal this is. The only song that they have out so far is “US Placers” which was released on Kanye West’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” mixtape last year, and was performed by Lupe Fiasco at last year’s Lollapalooza.
According to interviews with Fiasco, they’re planning to release an album by September of this year… all they have to do is to find some time to start working on it (read: expect delays). And, of course, there’s also the issue of Lupe Fiasco announcing his retirement after his third album “LupEND”. If he’s serious about that, this probably means that Child Rebel Soldier is just going to be a one album project… which is sad, but there’s no point crying about it until we see what this supergroup can accomplish on their first album. But if it’s anything like “US Placers” in its originality, which samples from Thom Yorke’s “Eraser,” then it’s sure to be exceptional.
Although the song US Placers doesn’t have an official music video yet, it’s getting a lot of attention on YouTube. Especially this one particular video that’s so well done, it could have even been the official video. It was directed by graduated film student Vashtie Kola, who is a close personal friend of Mr. Williams and is the stylist of the Skateboard P’s clothing lines Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream (find out more about this Downtown Sweetheart here). The video was filmed on an absolutely zero budget. The actors did it for free and the props were either all hers or borrowed from friends. The concept for the video is just as original as the song itself, portraying kid versions of the artists rapping over the song. Now without much further ado, here’s the unofficial video for CRS’s “US Placers” by VA$HTIE.
Today is such a wonderful day. My favourite record label, Ed Banger Records, is turning 5 years old!! Yay. And to add to this wonderfulness, some hardcore Justice fans made their own music video for Phantom II — one of my favourite songs on the album — and it’s kind of good. The whole video concept is some little girl’s birthday party. Her cake says Justice on it and the pictures on the wall dance — like in Harry Potter. I posted la chanson a while back but here is the video for your viewing pleasure.
And in keeping with the theme of little girls in videos……
I am OBSESSED with Larry Tee’s new song, I Love You. Check out the video. Some people are totally loving it. Personally, I don’t understand why little girls in electro videos are all the rage right now….I guess being 7 is like the new ‘in’ thing.
Here is one of my favourite remixes from les Ed Bangers, tis slightly old…(way back circa 2007)…but I still love it and it’s never been cavacooled before.
I have to include this last song because it fits perfectly with the ‘cool 7 year old girls’ theme of my post. This girl, Cerise, was a French child pop star in the 80s. And she had really cool crimped hair.
It seems that I only really find out about classic artists from before my time through those who cite them as sources, like so many Wikipedia links in the footnotes of so many papers failed by so many irate Professors. Interpol cite Joy Division, The Arcade Fire cite The Boss (who, as previously stated by Will, is not Rick Ross), Bloc Party cite Mozzer, and Bright Eyes cites The Cure.
Such was the way I stumbled upon Daniel Johnston. Curt Cobain was a huge fan. Sonic Youth had him open for them. He did a record with Jad Fair from Half Japanese. Brand New (I can see your smirk through the screen, they updated their sound - its much more Nirvana than Nineteen-year-old-mall-punk) named their latest record after a conversation regarding this singer. One of my favourite records from the summer, M.Ward’s Post War, contains an excellent cover of “To Go Home”. Further, Matthew Good has put out a fine rendition of “True Love Will Find You in the End”" (a truly heartbreaking song due to its simplicity and directness) on his latest record. After all of these tangents converged, I began to wonder, who is this truly exceptional songwriter that I have never head of?
Daniel Johnston is a manic depressive, borderline schizophrenic visual artist from West Virginia who believes that God and Satan are engaged in a battle over his soul. I watched the documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston last night, and it simply broke my heart. Read the Wikipedia entry on him for further backstory. Johnston’s recordings of his own songs are, for the uninitiated, a little jarring (read: They suck). However, when placed in the hands of more talented performers, the beauty, honesty, and simplicity of Johnston’s songs become apparent. Everyone has covered him, so if you have some favorite covers, throw some links into the comments section. I’ve also picked out one of the better performances of Johnston’s for your listening pleasure.
That’s right kids, The Long Blondes will be releasing the follow-up to the truly excellent modern classic Someone to Drive You Home. The new album, Couples, will be preceded by the first single “Century” on March 24. Once again, it’s sure to be packed with references to old hollywood movies and 1960s fashionistas, with edgy, rocking guitars to boot. I haven’t found any of the songs yet, so enjoy “Swalloo Tattoo” from the debut and the hidden gem “Fulwood Babylon”.
And since it just wouldn’t be a Daniel post without something Swedish, I’m happy to announce that El Perro del Mar (Sarah Assbring) will be releasing the little sister (I could have said giving birth, but this metaphor is bad enough already) to 2005’s Look! It’s El Perro del Mar, which was simply self-titled in North America. The first single from From the Valley to the Stars is “How Did We Forget.” The horns kick ass, I’m talking “I Don’t Want to Cry” by Chuck Jackson kick ass. I’ll just throw that one in too.
And since I’m missing home ever so much from France, I’ll throw in a Canadian announcement too. Montreal rockers Islands will be releasing their second album Arm’s Way sometime in the first half of this year (that’s some good journalism for you). Islands are good, great even, but nothing compared to The Unicorns which guitarist Nicholas “Nick Diamonds” Thorburn and drummer Jamie Thompson were both in. Seriously, listen to Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone. It’s one of the best Canadian indie releases ever, up there with Sloan’s Smeared. It will be especially liked by anyone who has ever looked back on when The Strokes used to rock as “the good ol’ days.” Listen to it a lot, you’ll thank me later.
Is it me or is every day Super this week? In any event, I’m super, thanks for asking. Actually I was in Montreal over the weekend sitting in my new favourite little resto in the world, La Faim du Monde, and decided that all I ever wanted to hear from now on was quiet, interesting folk music from all around the world. But fast-forward to later that night and I find myself in the middle of a hipster dance club introducing myself to THIS FELLOW (warning: explicit everything), and two days later I’m back to blasting power ballads by Roxette on repeatte all day. Le plus ca change?
Unfortunately, probably the only thing I have in common with David Byrne is that we both like occasionally dropping French phrases for no apparent reason. I meant to share this track by White Girl Lust with you a while back, but I just plum forgot. Psycho Killer has always been one of my favourite songs and he does some fun things with it, including slipping in a little bit of everybody’s favourite French duo. No, not Tintin and Milou… Daft Punk.
This track is absolutely hulking out on the information superhighway, but I figured I’d post it up anyway in case you’ve been sleeping on it. I don’t know the first thing about PNAU but Ladyhawke is an amazing artist who I stumbled on last summer when I confused her with a Vancouver band I really like, Ladyhawk. The other reason I threw this in is so I don’t get crucified by Brat Kimono, housemate and charter member of the Boy Luck Club, who loves this song more than he loves nature documentaries.
This is just a modern mashup, but it’s a really rad one. Seb Tellier came out with the fantastic “Sexual Sportswear” last year, and now it’s been mixed with Eric B & Rakim’s seminal hip-hop classic, “I Know You Got Soul”. If I’m not mistaken, the Kleptones also made a fantastic track out of these rhymes on their album of Queen mixes, A Night at the Hip-Hopera. But I couldn’t be bothered to go dig it up and find it again.
The top ten have been released for Yelle’s remix contest for her track “Ce Jeu”. I don’t know who will win but my favourite is the Twelves’ take on it.
I gave a brief shout-out to this contest and others like it in a paper I wrote on digital music, which is now about two months old, but I had intended to post up and forgot to. So, here it is for anyone interested. It’s in PDF format, so you shouldn’t have any trouble reading it, unless you never learned how, in which case this sentence really isn’t necessary, is it?
If you haven’t noticed yet, I like ending with something a little funkier and older. In honour of yesterday being Mardi Gras and me feeling nostalgic, here’s the track that drove us the whole way down to New Orleans this time last year. If this doesn’t warm your soul you might want to get that checked out.
