Academik

Vampire Weekend is that outgoing, well-traveled hippy friend of the opposite sex you think is a little spacey, but whom you always look forward to spending time with. If you’d let him/her, they’d infect your life with zany adventures and rituals that might make you feel uncomfortable at first, but eventually you’d come to appreciate their positive impact (And their attention to grammar).

Perfect for wind-blown trips and Sunday afternoons in the sun, Vampire Weekend are 4 young chaps who mix African, Indie, and Pop music. While I’m no expert on ethnic music, I definitely hear hints of Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel who have both been greatly influenced by the music of Africa. Already dubbed “The Year’s Best Band” by Spin Magazine, Vampire Weekend’s garnered attention for making music fun to listen to again. More specifically, their songs like “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” are upbeat, universally appealing, tongue in cheek and impressionistic enough to let anyone find some meaning (or meaninglessness) in the words.

Driven by drums, guitars, and organs the album’s tracks are speckled with extra-curricular instruments including violins, violas, cellos, chamberlins, harpsichords, synths, and shakers. One member plays 8 different instruments on the album - should Sufjan be worried? The band describes their, “ideal avatar [as] preppy African with equal parts of fresh and clean. Preppiness with West African guitar pop, a perfect fusion of happy world music with Western, New England preppiness.”

If that ’s what it takes to get great rhythms like this then I say, “Give them a trip to Africa, a LaCoste gift certificate, a Guitar, and drums. They’ll work out a second album in no time.”

Tracks:
Vampire Weekend - I Stand Corrected
Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa

I sat on the #71 bus this morning in the last row, precariously perched between two older gentlemen who warmed me with the sides of their bodies pressed up against mine. I opened my book, Business Unlimited, by J. Gunnar Olson, and began reading its first pages. Olson is the Founder and Chairman of the International Christian Chamber of Commerce, an extraordinary man for the impact he’s had on the world around him.

I noticed in front of me that there was a woman reading passages of scripture from a handout and I instantly felt a connection with her. Here I was reading a book about Christian business ministry for the work I’m to do in May, and here she is reading the Gospels for a class or exam. I said a prayer for her as I do for many people on the bus while I ride quietly reading or listening to music in the morning. I used the departure of the man next to me as an excuse to sit across from the woman. As I sat down we made eye contact and smiled. She was well into her 30’s and this was not a flirtatious smile, but more an exchange of peacefulness.

We continued reading and I felt like I wanted to reach out and tell her something. Tell her I had prayed for her, and that I wished her a wonderful day. I wanted to share some joy with her to help her coast through her morning meetings. I wanted to be her Starbuck’s and her Happy Donut - that little treat we allow ourselves that helps us get going in the morning. Montgomery passed and I descended at 1st street - a mistake that has now serendipitously led to visits from two friends on their way to work - got off the bus and turned to look at the woman from outside.

I was safe from rebuke now, with a pane of glass between us and the final moments of our safe passage together now ticking down I unzipped my sweatshirt and proudly outed my chest like pigeon in a mating dance. “I {John Cusack holding a boombox over his head} YOU”

She smiled, laughed, and pointed at the one of a kind T-shirt a friend had recently given me. What a great way to start both of our mornings : )

When I was in Australia I spent a lot of time thinking about my future. I had a dream I followed. Then I received another dream, a better one that I’m working on now. There’s a lot of preparation involved, but there are so few movements in the lifetime of this heart that I can’t turn my back on them. Oftentimes we let head rule heart making bodies work like serfs to indentured banality. We hang our hopes on the day we’ll “be able to” do what we want, but why not right now?

We are never satisfied with the present because it seemingly doesn’t hold the mystery and hope of the future nor is it as good as the knowns of the past. It simply is itself, and so too often we waste it. This present.

This season of gifting reminds me once again about this gift that we’ve all been given.

It’s funny how there are people in our lives we always miss. Even when they are with us we know eventually they’ll leave. We know there will be an end to each conversation… each meal… each phone call… each car ride…each day and each night. If you’re smart lucky, you experience each goodbye as it comes. If not, you experience them all at once, over and over again.

The word ‘goodbye’ becomes a dull ache that drools across your lips; your lungs too weak to expel enough air to punctuate the space between now and then with anything more than longing. A longing your body feels like thirst or hunger; only ever temporarily satisfied.

I watch from both sides and take note.
Image from Deviant Artist Pesare

Jenny Lewis, lead singer of Rilo Kiley, stares down at you from her throne of indie rock princess… but will she stay there? There are tons of new albums from some of the best indie (and other) artists this week! A lot of new albums have bands taking different directions like Rilo Kiley’s Under the Blacklight, an album that shows Jenny Smith and the crew are no longer the awkward artsy misfits that we had them pegged for (and fallen in love with). VHS or Beta shies away from their 80s style vocals but keeps the driving guitar riffs - not sure if I’m quite down with that. Federico Aubele shines on his new album Panamericana - one of my favorite downtempo albums in a long time. San Diego’s Pinback also comes out strong with ‘Autumn of the Seraphs’ staying true to their melodic guitar backings and the unmistakable vocals from frontman Rob Crow.

They’re all in the podcast this week so check it out… Click on podcast and follow the directions for some aural pleasure.

Check out the latest podcast for a trip down memory lane with 9 of the best film scores, and 9 songs associated with those special moments in some of our favorite movies.  Post your comments here on which songs are from which movies and if you get the answer right, you’ll be able to continue your week with pride and satisfaction of being both a musical and cinematic renaissance (w)o)man.

Tracklisting:

Sweet Dreams are Made of Seven Nation Army - DJ Poly
Smack my Sexyback - Bass211.com
Young Folks Rehab - DJ Topcat
Toop Toop Groove - Loo & Placido
Promiscuous Lola - DJ Earworm

Feel Good Roboto 2 - Victor Menegaux
Hella Dare You To Smoke - Party Ben
Close to Konichiwa Bitches - A Plus D
Pour Some Hot Sugar On Me - A Plus D
W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E. - Wale

Check out each of these artist’s pages for some crazy mashups - these are the top people in the scene right now and they’ve got a ton of banging tracks.

Come support your favorite blogger/podcast/friend on August 30th at RX Gallery.
Hip-Hop, Mashups, Remixes, Dance, Electro Pop, Electro House…deliciousness all around.

Wale is one of the best new hip-hop artists on the scene. Mastered by Nick Catchdubs, his mixtape “100 miles and running,” is a great way to start your weekend, your morning, or your workout.

I will admit that the first time I listened to the album I was nonplussed. The beats could have used a little work: the melodies needed more depth and layering. I had heard his flow and running commentary on pop culture, D.C. hype, and self-promotion all before. But I had jumped to conclusions.

After listening to this mixtape, in its entirety cranked up in my headphones, I got hooked. All the things that I wasn’t smitten with suddenly became idiosyncrasies that worked perfectly for the song. The extra time to let the songs marinate in my head really helped me appreciate it. This isn’t some pop album that you’ll fall in love with for a minute and then leave behind - like a good woman it grows on you, you can’t help but love her even more after the 15^th listen. That says something.

Wale is the next best thing in hip-hop, no exaggeration. You give this guy access to the same resources as Kanye and Jay-z and he will turn out some amazing tracks. He’s a simmered down intensified version of a lot of the artists in the pop hop world, but he’s got the reality check of most backpack rappers like Common and Kweli. He admits that his cars are pieces of junk, but he rocks fly sneakers. He has wit to spare, flipping off jokes like Ludacris, “My climate is way higher than Lindsey Lohan’s nostrils on powder”, Wale raps on WALEDANCE. He knowingly pokes fun at the lame aspects of hip-hop. It’s a nice change.

He ridicules the stupid excessive trends that have come on, but at the same time salvages the original core of some trends that were worthwhile. For example he rips on the frequent use of lil’ and young in artists names, as well as the excessive breathing that rappers throw on the breaks in tracks. The hyperventilating that is supposed to convince us that talking fast is the hardest thing they have ever done. Isn’t that their day job? He lacks pretension and really, Wale’s just having fun – and that’s what makes him so easy to love (he’s not a businessman or a business, man). Something that seems lost since the early days of hip-hop (De La, Tribe, Pharcyde…).

The mixtape samples current hits and turns their beats into simple infectious background for Wale’s flows - twisting them just enough to make you wonder why the original artists didn’t think of it first. A few examples: Lily Allen’s “Smile”, Justice’s DANCE, The Gorillaz’ “Dirty Harry”, and Amy Winehouse’s ubiquitous “Rehab”. The Gorillaz is one of my favorite tracks - intro’d by an unassuming simple commentary on the eternal conquest for a Grammy and local representation for DC. Out of nowhere the beat hits and your hips assume a life of their own. DC Gorillaz (produced by Best Kept Secret) moves then from a straightforward sample of the original beat, to a chopped and screwed version.

Smile is slimly affected in comparison, but it fulfills a completely different purpose. Wale turns Smile into a conversation between Lily Allen and himself about her schadenfreude, cheating antics, and his desire for a lil Lily lovin’. He makes this sugary pop lollipop lighthearted and listenable. His two-person dialogue gives the story a more theatrical quality. Meanwhile most of his peers don’t seem like they have even listened to what the song is about when adding to a pop track, i.e. T.I. on “My Love”. Wale is paying attention to the subtleties of the pop realm, not putting down the genre.

You can feel this admiration for his reworking of pop hits because every website that recommends 100 Miles and Running provides a different sample song. No one agrees on just one hit from the album because too many of the songs stand out. Some of my favorites are tracks DC Gorillaz(2), ,Breakdown(3), Ice Cream Girl(4), WALEDANCE(12),Good Girls(13), Work(14), Smile(16), and Rehab(19).

Conclusion: If you are driving a car this summer, or going to a party, or working out, or just working, or trying to wake up, or trying not to go to sleep then you should have this mixtape – it’s free! It will liven up your life, make your friends appreciate you more, give you better luck with the opposite sex, and create envy for your vibe. Get this album before your friends do. Get on the front of this wave; it’s going to be huge. It’ll Wale on the nation.
- Quinn

You remember the first time that you heard Kanye West and you thought, woh, this is dope. I haven’t heard productions like this in a while. Where Chicago’s Kanye took old school samples and re-worked them to create his sound, D.C.’s Wale takes the latest and greatest producers/beats and flows over them on his latest mixtape, 100 miles and running. Enlisting one of the moment’s hottest producers/remixers, Nick Catchdubs, to mix the tracks, Wale rhymes over Justice’s DANCE, Gorillaz’ Dirty Harry, Camp Lo’s Luchini (my ringtone) and works with producers like Mark Ronson, Judah, and Best Kept Secret.

His rhymes range from played out bling to funny pop culture references to insightful lines on human behavior. My favorite so far is on WALEDANCE, “Acquire more bras than Zachary Morris, y’all all screech to me, you’ve unleashed the beast, and I’ll play you little brothas like Lisa, shit.” He doesn’t take himself too seriously which is nice considering how many huge egos there are in the game (Kanye, Diddy, Jay-Z, Nas).

Check out the mixtape here and his MySpace. Standouts are DC Gorillaz, Daytona Squared, and WALEDANCE, but listen and make your own decisions.