Kid Koala presents: THE STEW

This is technically not a CD review but it's so good I couldn't let it go unwritten.
I caught word of it through semi-daily emails I get from Terrorbird (thanks to my other blog Today In Art Class. I'm not sure how many times I'm able to log in and listen to it...but here are the link and password, if you feel so inclined! Which you bloody well should!
Click here!
and type in: XtVz38Om

Kid Koala presents: THE STEW
100%

This is a one off in every sense of the word. A one-time collaboration between Kid Koala, Dynomite D (Dylan J. Frombach) and Chris Ross and Myles Heskett of Wolfmother fame. A one-time tour of a 70 minute set featuring six (!!!) turntables, bass, drums and keys. A one-time, explosive, hard-hitting, all encompassing ride through every genre and instrument at sound-barrier-breaking speed.
But let's start at the beginning. Koala and Dynomite had been asked to score a documentary film and after that project was canned, they played some samples for Ross and Heskett. Next thing you know, the four of them are planning a tour and maybe, if we all pray super hard, an eventual album release.
But thank god there's digital tracks! 100% is way too good to have gone unheard.
Kid Koala has long been known for his incendiary turntable skills and when partnered up with Dynomite D, who has collaborated with the Beastie Boys (among others) and the lo-fi fuzz of the former Wolfmother rhythm section...well....it's like capturing the sound of all hell breaking loose and the devil partying on top of Mount Fuji.
Seriously. This album is badass.
Opening with title track "100%," Koala and Dynomite are audibly all over their turntables, bringing in earth-shattering soul sound bytes and impeccable drops and scratches, while Ross and Heskett layer shred after shred on the guitar.
The notion of the devil making an Earthly appearance for a good ol' volcano-top party becomes even more apparent at the close of the disc with "Battle of Heaven and Hell." The longest track on 100% has the perfect amount of drum-solo build-up, eventually exploding into all out deep and driving turntable warfare complete with records being spun backwards into "satanic subliminal messages."
What in god's name was this documentary about? Maybe one day we'll be able to answer that, but for now, it's the devil rocking out on a volcano.

The tour kicks off in September and while the foursome won't be making it to Calgary, there is a stop in Vancouver on the 23rd.
If you're lucky enough to see it...I hope you can feel my jealousy radiating from here.

Beck - Irrelevant Topics

It's been known for years now that Beck is a special breed of human. One that borders on and frequently topples into genius, adventures into territories unknown, takes the road less traveled and, all around, really doesn't seem to give a fuck what anyone has to say about him.
More than all that...Beck has one of the best websites I've seen, and not just for a musician.
He has a series of "mixtapes" called Planned Obsolescence. I love mixtapes/mixcds/mixes in general and these ones are phenomenal! The first few have been removed but No. 6 and 7 are still great. No. 7 is the "Summer Tapes" and features Al Green, Marc Bolan and T-Rex, Girl Talk, like 8 covers of Summertime Blues, Jimi Hendrix, Animal Collective...basically any song that has "summer" in it is probably on this. 20 minutes of sweet, sweet summer jams!

But back to the reason I started this post...

Beck has started something new...something fantastic...something totally my cup of tea...something I'd like to see more of...

IRRELEVANT TOPICS!

Interviews with "celebrities," so far Will Ferrell and Tom Waits, that aren't about their movies or their career or anything to do with why they're famous really. It's just random questions in more of a conversation format and I really fucking love it. There's not much more to say since it's really self explanatory but here's a couple bits for an example...if you really need one...

Beck Hansen: I was born in the McArthur park area.
Tom Waits: You remember when they drained McArthur Park, the lake?
BH: I do, yeah...
TW: They found unbelievable things: Cars, human bones, weaponry.
BH: They should have done an exhibit.
TW: I don't know why they didn't. I thought that's why they drained it.
BH: I'd always heard that when they drained the Echo Park Lake they found an amateur submarine.
TW: Oh, my God.
BH: I don't know if that was lore.
TW: You mean a homemade submarine?
BH: Yeah, I think it was older too, from the early days of "home submarine building." I don't know if that subculture still exists?
TW: That was the East Kids.

---------------------------------------------

Beck Hansen: And you have to watch out for that kind of security because they’re even more committed to their job than any border patrol.
Will Ferrell: Anyone! You put a yellow jacket on a part time police officer, look out! They’re ready to go. But here’s the irony, we used to sneak in and then I found myself years later during college being one of those yellow jacketed security people.
BH: Really? And did you feel a....
WF: I was not very effective.
BH: Did you feel empowered?
WF: I did a little bit because you just had the jacket and a little flashlight. They had no idea that I was a previous renegade. And I worked a Bon Jovi concert and my job was to keep like the center aisle of the orchestra clear of people just sitting or hanging out and it was pretty easy, you’d just flash your light and they’d get back in the row, until...Who’s the guitarist of Bon Jovi?
BH: Uh, Richie Sambora.
WF: Richie Sambora on that song Wanted Dead or Alive, he flew out on his guitar solo on a wire and everyone just ran into the center of my aisle. I was like “Back in your seats! Back in your...” and it was like 1,000 people and I just realized that I couldn’t do anything. So I just let 'em do that.
BH: Yeah, the flashlight was...
WF: The flashlight was NOT EFFECTIVE at that point, yeah, when they’re trying to reach for Sambora as he flies above them.
BH: (laughing) Some Peter Pan maneuver...
WF: (laughing) Even I got wrapped up in it! I didn’t realize it was going to happen, but...
BH: But it stirred something.
WF: It did!
BH: See that’s the thing when you’re playing a show. As a performer, if you connect with the security guards, you know you’re playing the show of your life, cause it’s very difficult to move the security guards.
WF: Yeah, they cut through that night. Bon Jovi cut through to me.
BH: And was that mid-80’s Bon Jovi period?
WF: That would have been late '80s.


Bonus: check out Beck's "Record Club" for musicians, artists, actors and friends covering the Velvet Underground and Nico.

Blues Fest Photos (Aug 6-8)

The Blues Fest has come and gone, but to remember it, here are some of the weekend's best photos! All photos by Keven Fedirko.

Rita Chiarelli's band

Rita Chiarelli

Colin James

Colin James

Colin James

Elmer Ferrer

Elmer Ferrer Band

Tim Williams

Mike Brennan of A Little Voodoo

Claude Godin of A Little Voodoo

The Lovely Bones trailer

This could possibly be one of the very best book to film adaptations of all time. No big surprise since it comes to you via the incredibly talented mind of Peter Jackson.
Based on the book by Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones is a touching story of a young girl who has been murdered. That might not seem very dynamic but when you throw in the twist of the young girl narrating the book as she is in the "inbetween" (or Limbo I suppose), visiting her family and desperately trying to help them find the man who killed her...it turns out to be a pretty incredible story.
I read the book quite a few years ago and never thought about it in terms of a feature film and, initially, I was a little hesitant when I found out it was going to be put onto the big screen but this trailer looks AMAZING! I'm going to be a bit unprofessional here and flat out say...I am absolutely going to see this in theatres because I think it will seriously be fucking brilliant. I get goosebumps when I see what Peter Jackson saw when reading about the "inbetween." His creativity is nearly unmatched in the film world. One more time...AMAZING!
Thank P. Jackson!

Oh yeah...side note....Mark Wahlberg!

Fake Puppies For Sale

Last month we kept getting these spam emails from people looking to advertise litters of puppies for sale. We only fell for it once and ended up going as far as getting this cute little ad designed before realizing it was a scam. I thought it was actually pretty funny though and deserves to be seen.

Just remember, the puppies don't exist... The puppies don't exist.. The puppies don't exist.

Broken Social Scene - Love Will Tear Us Apart

So, apparently...Broken Social Scene make somewhat of a cameo in this new movie "The Time Traveller's Wife" which I don't think I'll go see. I'll Movie Central it.
But they've also covered the Joy Division track Love Will Tear Us Apart for the sound track so I might check that out.
Head over to Pitchfork to listen!
It's lovely.

BeatRoute - August 2009

New issue of BeatRoute Magazine on the street this week!

West Coast readers make sure to look for your own copy throughout Greater Vancouver, Victoria and Nanaimo.

August AB features Lethbridge garage rockers Myelin Sheaths and August BC boasts the lovely Josh and Amber from Lightning Dust on the cover!

Thanks for reading!!