The quest for authenticity is often mocked in the cynical swamp of 21st century Internet existence, but honesty remains a cardinal virtue. In contemporary rap, few voices call out nonsense better than Freddie Gibbs. The Gary, Ind.-bred, L.A.-based artist speaks with a candor that makes him the rare rapper whose interviews are as compelling as his tunes. Although most rappers mumble off-the-record asides, Gibbs offers an unflinching and unfiltered perspective.
Last year, XXL magazine named Gibbs one of the 10 Freshmen for '10, and his ability to pair chronic-dense lyricism with smooth country rap cadences has made him a darling of both backpackers and those with Pioneer speakers in the trunk. And Bill Simmons. His live performances bring a similar ferocity -- they're raw, unruly and unpredictable. Right now, as far as live rap shows go, there's Yelawolf, Odd Future, Gibbs -- and then the rest. His songs and videos are too profane to post on the Los Angeles Times' site (as was much of this interview, which required much editing, as you'll see below), but you can find plenty of tunes here.
Some things defy easy explanation: crop circles; the enduring popularity of the "Big Momma's House" franchise; and why a grown man would tattoo an ice cream cone onto his cheek. Go ahead and file Tonetta in that category.
Tonetta is the stage name of a Toronto native named Tony Jeffrey, who has been recording a variety of sleazy and cheap lo-fi pop songs for the last 28 years. Roughly three years ago, he discovered the wonders of YouTube and realized the medium's potential to propel his singular brand of bizarre to semi-stardom. Since then, he's become a video celebrity of sorts, thanks to his outre guitar pop and outlandish videos. Song titles include "Lady Gaga," "Jewish Girls," "Hitler," "Jesus" and "Drugs Drugs Drugs."
Often appearing nearly nude, he's been repeatedly banned from YouTube for flouting their censorship rules. When he does clothe himself, costumes can include anything from white face, bikinis, fright wigs, dresses and leather -- lots of leather. His only analogue is the Oakland avant-weirdo Lil B, who has cultivated a fan base through prolificacy, shock tactics and sheer entertainment value. Both write songs about random celebrities and Jesus, and seem as though they'd be fun to invite to your party.
In a local electronic scene so deep that it's often tough to keep track of, the impact of last year's spring album "Only Mountain" was partially drowned out by the maelstrom of attention lavished on the other Low End Theorists.
Indeed, the Alpha Pup Records debut of Tom "Take" Wilson merged an early Warp Records worship with the disembodied beats endemic to Wednesday nights at Lincoln Heights club the Airliner. Yet he was able to create a mood of his own: mercurial and eerie but deceptively head-nodding. Accordingly, it's a welcome development for his label to strike back with this month's "Only Mountain: The Remixes."
Enlisting scene staples Dibia$e, Mono/Poly, Tokimonsta and Free the Robots, along with other nascent bass artists, Take's songs receive a new life. Few more so than "Begin End Begin," the choice for the lead single of the new record.
Raised in New Orleans but based in Los Angeles, the Knux have kept it relatively low profile for the last few years. While most of their rap peers flood the market with constant product, the Lindsay brothers have never released a mixtape -- though they came vaguely close with last January's expletive-titled EP.
Instead, they've toured relentlessly, rocking most of the major domestic festivals and quite a few international ones. They've touted the merits of pizza on Twitter, and posted narratives of psychedelic journeys, experimental films, and Neil Young and Stooges videos on their Tumblr pages.
So, the news of the Interscope group's first single from their still-untitled sophomore album ought to be cause for celebration. At least that's the intent of "She's So Up," an uptempo party rock tune that finds the brothers veering away from their psychedelic hip-hop experiments into something more Billboard-friendly. After all, the forthcoming full-length will be released on Cherry Tree, the alternative-pop division of Interscope responsible for the massive success of Lady Gaga and the Far East Movement.
About two years ago, the Roots made the somewhat head-scratching creative decision to take a steady gig as Jimmy Fallon's house band. It was a decision that frontman Black Thought proudly acknowledged as the venerable Philadelphia crew rocked the Music Box in Hollywood till the early hours Sunday at their seventh-annual Roots Jam.
Where it inevitably made dollars and (fiscal) sense, the gig seemed as though it would effectively end the group's roughly 20-year run as a dynamic recording outfit. Instead, the countless hours of rehearsal time and being forced regularly into close quarters galvanized its members as a unit. Last year's "How I Got Over," was the Roots' strongest effort since 1999's "Things Fall Apart," and netted them a Grammy nomination for rap album -- to add to the three they got for "Wake Up!," a collaborative album with John Legend. On Sunday night, "Wake Up!" took all three of those awards: R&B album, traditional R&B vocal performance for "Hang On in There" and R&B song for "Shine."
So, the seventh-annual Roots Jam had an even more celebratory vibe than in previous years. The group moved the venue from the Key Club to the Music Box, and with it, a larger crowd that continued to pour in past 2 a.m. as the Roots jammed on. In an almost self-effacing decision, the jams have historically featured the Roots playing other people's songs, and at times, it felt like guests were watching the world's greatest wedding band with the most expensive guest stars that money could buy.
The event kicked off with Fallon doing a spot-on cover of Willow Smith's "Whip My Hair," as performed by Neil Young. What followed was an all-star lineup that not even the producers of "Glee" could've wrangled.
Following a lengthy bidding war that reportedly included Interscope Records, Tyler the Creator, the fountainhead of ballyhooed local rap collective, Odd Future, has signed a one-album deal with XL Recordings. According to sources within the Odd Future camp, the 19 year-old rapper/producer will receive "full creative control and will eventually receive his masters back." The sources didn't specify when the latter would occur.
The British-based home of Radiohead, Vampire Weekend, and Adele, XL will release "Goblin," Tyler's commercial debut at an undetermined date this spring. At the moment, "Yonkers," its first single is available for sale at iTunes."
Last Friday, Odd Future released the "Yonkers" video, which has gone on to become a runaway viral smash, with roughly 375,000 views in its first 72 hours. The startlingly evocative video's success reflects the partial culmination of a massive wave of attention that has surrounded the teenaged crew since its emergence last summer.
Currently in the midst of a short run of dates throughout the East Coast, the group's next local appearance will be at the Coachella Festival in April.
Over the last several years, the span between Feb. 7 and Feb. 10 has become an unofficial rapper tribute week, with the anniversary of the late Big Punisher's death falling in the same week as J Dilla's birthday and passing.
On Monday, DJ HouseShoes hosted a star-studded tribute at Little Temple, which featured sets from a who's who of Los Angeles DJs, including Rhettmatic, Gaslamp Killer, Mayer Hawthorne, DJ Nu-Mark, Mr. Choc and DJ Babu. On Wednesday night, Gaslamp took a portion of that set to the Low End Theory, where it received a rapturous reception from the crowd. Beyond the world of hip-hop, Dilla's presence has been widely felt in the world of indie rock, with artists such as Javelin and Star Slinger applying his inspiration in vastly different directions.
Deadening any discussion about it being a one-hit wonder, downtown L.A.'s Far East Movement has scored its second top 10 national hit with the Ryan Tedder-collaboration "Rocketeer."
At the moment, metaphors of flight seem apt for the Cherry Tree/Interscope signed group, whose "Like a G6" topped the Billboard Hot 100 last fall. But unlike the Walt Disney-produced box office turkey that it shares its name with, FEM's "Rocketeer" has racked up sales of 668,000 units, an impressive figure to stack up alongside "Like a G6's" triple-platinum sales.
"Rocketeer" is currently positioned at No. 9 in the Billboard Hot 100, No. 8 on the Digital Songs Charts and No. 6 on Power 106's playlist, and the Koreatown-bred group recently released the "LA Dreamer Short Film" for the song, featuring a more stripped-down and less glossy version of the hit single.
According to a statement from the group: "When we did the song Rocketeer off our 'Free Wired' album, it was inspired by how we grew up in Downtown LA as LA Dreamers living on a dream and never knowing where it would take you. We wanted to paint a portrait of where we live, from where we started, to the free wired mashed up community of dreamers that make up LA.
"We linked up with our neighbor, DPD of Transparent Agency, and went around with a camera to capture our home... then hooked up the same sound setup of old mics and amps we first used to rehearse on, and recorded this live remix in the old backroom to give it a sound like when we first started making music. Made this for dreamers world wide."
The video underscores the group's slow and steady grind -- as depicted in this 2009 Times feature. What appears as overnight success is the result of both stylistic evolution, pop savvy and a decade of tirelessly rocking every venue in Los Angeles. Accordingly, the "LA Dreamer" film is a paean to the band's hometown, including the Santa Monica Pier, Korean barbecue restaurants, Melrose Boulevard and downtown Los Angeles. Even Snoop Dogg, Los Angeles' rap patron saint, makes a cameo.
With an appearance on "Conan" last Monday and promises of a marquee soundtrack placement, the group has lived up to the hook of its song. It's hard to get much higher than this -- unless Snoop helps the band out in that category too.
Amid an excellent performance by Aaron Rodgers and a noble failure by Troy Polamalu's hair, Madison Avenue and corporate America combined to spend $100,000 per second on Super Bowl ads. Because a love of Doritos and pugs can only take you so far, one of the more interesting commercials was Eminem's shill for Lipton's Brisk Iced Tea. After all, nothing says cool and refreshing like a man who once wrote a song called "Puke." That's brisk, baby.
Reports claimed that the firm forked over $1 million for Eminem's services -- and now he can afford that platinum-plated ivory hoodie that he's always craved. While the wedding of the controversial hip-hop star and the innocuous iced tea makes for unlikely bedfellows, hip-hop is no stranger to such bizarre pairings. In the interest of senseless entertainment (this is a Super Bowl-related post after all), Pop & Hiss takes a look at five of history's weirdest rap ads.
Michigan-bred songwriter Benji Schneider records music under the moniker Lord Huron. He's so committed to the guise that he has requested that the press call him, "Lord"-- a hilariously bizarre move that wins him appreciation among lovers of aristocracy and Lord Finesse alike. *
Currently based in Los Angeles, his tropically-tinted and pastoral pop occasionally recalls Fleet Foxes, "At Dawn"-era My Morning Jacket and Panda Bear. Merely reciting the litany of those names may cause your eyes to roll -- after all, indie rock is replete with singer/songwriters with a hard drive full of esoteric third-world sounds and falsetto voices swathed in reverb.
What delineates the Huron from the flock isn't the sort of thing that can be quantified. He's less interested in novelty than he is in conjuring an Arcadian aesthetic. His recently released "Mighty EP" is the sort of record you expect to hear upon entering a national park, a soundtrack to the ordinary world at its most extraordinary. There's little studio wizardry, just bongos, beautiful guitars that churn like cataracts and Schneider's big sky voice, a salient reminder that the universe is not composed strictly of concrete and steel.
Friday night at the Echoplex he opens for Tennis, a married duo who wrote a bunch of songs on a boat. They're pretty and pleasant, but if we're talking nautical anthems, I vastly prefer this. Early arrival to see Lord Huron is strongly recommended. Pop & Hiss is premiering "The Stranger" in advance of the performance. It's the sort of song that will make you want to get more familiar.
* Lord Huron would like to clarify that he's joking about people calling him Lord. Unless you want to call him Lord, in which case there's not much he can do about that. Either way, it worked for Lord Jamar.
The White Stripes announced their break up Wednesday, triggering the (St. James Infirmary) Blues among Internet comment sections, your cool uncle and lovers of primary color schemes and electric guitar everywhere. For purposes of posterity, self-aggrandizement and potentially alienating my editors, this writer's eulogy can be found here.
1,200 words can't sum up the impact and influence of Jack and Meg White. In a rock era in which commercial and critical fortunes are starkly divergent, the Stripes were the rare adhesive. They were outliers capable of earning airplay on KROQ, MTV and NPR. Maybe the only band under 35 capable of getting play on classic rock radio. KIIS-FM probably even spun "Seven Nation Army" a few times.
One of the best measures of a band's versatility is its ability to perform cover songs. With the exception of My Morning Jacket, none of the White Stripes' peers could match their necromantic art of reanimation. In the process, the band exposed a generation to the old masters. In the interest of celebrating the band's stellar run, here are five of the White Stripes' finest renditions.
Observe the crowd at the Low End Theory these days and you'll immediately notice that a substantial percentage is 21 and under. The demographics speak volumes about the weekly beat night's vibrancy and emergence as a nerve center for a tangible and young bass community.
More than a locus for heavy low end bass, the beat mecca has birthed a generation of talents barely out of their teenage years, who are already creating waves nationally. From Shlohmo to Baths, to the Non-Projects crew profiled last week in Brand X, a generation weaned on Flying Lotus, Nosaj Thing, the Glitch Mob and Daedelus are rearranging the ideas of their predecessors to their own warped rhythms. Even stranger is the velocity with which it has occurred, considering that Low End Theory has been around for only four years.
But that's been plenty of gestation time for Virtual Boy, the latest Alpha Pup act to emerge from the packed dance floors and earthquake bass of the Airliner. A pair of Chapman University students who channel Stanley Kubrick scores, Bach and Mozart as readily as their more propinquitous inspirations, Nosaj Thing and the Glitch Mob, Henry Allen and Preston Walker craft a sort of extraterrestrial church music for androids or Andrew Lloyd Webber rendered weird and funky enough for underground ears.
