Name: Adam Bernard Home: Fairfield, Connecticut, United States About Me: Entertainment journalist w/ over a decade of experience. Lover of good music, fringe movies, day baseball & chicken shawarma. Nerdy, but awesome. See my complete profile
Another month has passed and somewhere in the neighborhood of a gajillion albums have found their way to my desk and inbox. Most of them haven’t measured up to my high standards, but as always with Five Albums in Five Minutes, I’m only focusing on the select few that did. There’s no point in telling people about music that’s subpar when there’s great music to tell people about. With that in mind, this month I’m featuring albums by Jon Braman, Weird Al Yankovic, Metal Mother, Foreign Legion and Illus.
Jon Braman Band You And Me
Jon Braman is one of the most interesting anomalies in music. He rhymes, which damned near everybody does (at least that’s what I gather from my inbox), but he also plays the ukulele. Not only that, he does them simultaneously. Braman isn’t some sort of sideshow act, though, he’s supremely talented at both crafts. His flow can be fast paced at times, but his enunciation is so on point you can understand every word. He also has a storytelling ability that is unmatched, truly painting a picture with his words. His latest effort, You And Me, has a Michael Franti-like vibe. It’s feel good music that you can rely on to set your day straight no matter when you play it. Some may paint him as having a little bit of hippie in him, but I love Braman’s views on life and love, and You And Me is an album I’ll be spinning quite a lot.
Weird Al Yankovic Alpocalypse
Let’s not get it twisted, Weird Al is a genius. If he was a simple parody act he wouldn’t have lasted this long, but he’s managed to shift with the ebb and flow of the pop music world and even lay down some impressive rhymes with his versions of a number of hip-hop hits. To put his career in perspective, his first parody was of The Knack’s “My Sharona” in 1979. NONE of the artists he parodies on Alpocalypse - T.I., Lady Gaga, B.o.B. w/ Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus - had been born when that song was released. Alpocalypse is Al at the top of his game. The parodies are amazing and many of the original songs are clearly based on specific artists (“CraigsList” is based on The Doors, while “CNR” is based on The White Stripes). I’ve been listening to Al since my youth (“Eat It,” if you must know), and if it’s possible, he’s gotten even funnier. All hail the king!
Metal Mother Bonfire Diaries
Metal Mother is the latest musical endeavor of Tara Tati, but don’t let the name fool you, it has nothing to do with heavy metal music. In an interview with Soma Magazine she said the name is derived from a Chinese myth about the Metal Mother who holds the world together with her precious metals that are the elements that keep the world intact. With that in mind it’s not surprising that Bonfire Diaries has an earthy feel to it. The album has a downtempo feel to it, as well. At times Metal Mother’s vocals are almost chant-like, and are always melodic while at the same time not being constrained to traditional musical specifications. Rooted in Metal Mother’s spiritual vibe, Bonfire Diaries is odd and beautiful and one of the most musically interesting releases I’ve heard in 2011 so far.
Foreign Legion Night Moves
Night Moves is not just a Bob Seger song about teenagers knockin boots, it’s also an album by Bay Area rap duo Foreign Legion that has some knockin beats. With Night Moves, Foreign Legion brings some of the funk and fun back to hip-hop. Just because you’ll be able to shake your ass to a lot of the music on the album, though, that doesn’t mean you should ignore the lyrics. Prozack Turner and Mark Stretch are both highly skilled emcees, and they both have a great time one the mic. The latter is evident in their rhymes and makes for a more enjoyable listening experience. Nobody likes to hear someone who isn’t having any fun, but when an artist is having a good time, and makes it obvious, it helps us have a good time as listeners. I can’t imagine anyone who loves hip-hop not finding something that they will love about Night Moves.
Illus For Adam
The Adam in the title of Illus’ latest album, For Adam, is not a reference to himself (or me), it’s a reference to Adam Walsh, who was the son of America’s Most Wanted creator John Walsh that was kidnapped and killed in 1981. Needless to say the vibe of this effort is slightly different from Illus’ last album, which was focused on Beautiful Music. For Adam is a more boom-bap inspired album that’s full of aggression and energy. It also features quite a few high profile guest appearances from the likes of Homeboy Sandman, Freddie Foxxx, Gift of Gab, Craig G, and Reef the Lost Cauze. There’s a lot being said on the ten tracks of For Adam, which is why I’m glad Illus kept it a 40 minute album. The shorter length makes the reply value fantastic, and these are the type of songs you’ll want to spin multiple times.
Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is hitting you with thoughts on everything from Justin Bieber’s attempt to be on every girl in the world, to a famous jacket doing very well on the auction market, to Katy Perry doing something that will put her on a list with Michael Jackson, and since it’s Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.
Every month I tell you I have a great podcast for you. I know that has to get old, but have I ever been wrong? Well, if you’re still reading I’m guessing the answer is no, which is pretty awesome. Thank you for the high praise! This month’s edition of the Adam B Experience features nine new songs and quite possibly the dirtiest thing I’ve ever said over the internet airwaves. Enjoy!
C-Rayz Walz - Blvck Red + Black Doug Simpson - I Can’t Call It Creature w/ Just Ice & Mista Sinista - Sucka Games Chaz Kangas w/ Mac Lethal - Scrambled Eggs Illus w/ Freddie Foxxx, Paul Dateh & DJ Johnny Juice - Unstoppable Jesse Abraham w/ Jeanette Berry - Connections Jon Braman Band - Fridays And Saturdays Cavalier - Week 29: My Brown Sugar L.O.W.F.I - The Bullshit
The Ant Farm Affiliates are Connecticut’s largest, and currently most prodigious, crew of emcees. Unfortunately, the crew had experienced some setbacks over the past year. Their annual Hip-Hop Summit, which they held at Westhill High School in Stamford, CT, and featured both performances and workshops for young people interested in the culture, had been cancelled. Cousin Larry’s, the event space where they’d held their monthly Enter The Cypher event for over six years, abruptly shuttered its doors without so much as a phone call to any member of the crew. The AFA, and Connecticut hip-hop in general, needed a shot in the arm, a reminder of its importance and its relevancy. This is why earlier this month AFA member Sketch Tha Cataclysm put together a show unlike any the state had seen before – a full family reunion that involved every member of the AFA. “Things just kept coming about that increased the relevance to me.”
The logistics of putting together this family reunion, which featured over a dozen artists, were fairly insane. Sketch notes he’d tried to make it happen a number of times before, but hit snags with not everyone being able to make it. “When I first came up with the idea of putting together the reunion, the general feeling was ‘well... I'll just take a shot and hope for the best,’” he explains. “Having folks getting incredibly enthused about it, and JK1 The Supernova flying up from Florida, these things were pleasant surprises.”
Taking place on Saturday, June 4th, at the Freight Street Gallery in Waterbury, CT, the AFA family reunion featured every member of the crew. According to The Protege the show “was good for morale overall. I needed to know that my friends were out there working hard and can still rock the house on any given night.” And rock the house they did. The show seamlessly moved from act to act, something that was a well-planned labor of love for Sketch, who notes “the scheduling of an evening like this is fairly difficult. In this situation you have to consider the wants and needs of each act, the flow of the evening to the audience, the opportunities to perform songs that would not get performed otherwise, room for surprises and errors, etc. All of these things needed to be worked out prior with a timed schedule that wouldn't allow for that many people performing to come off as an open mic night or some random hip-hop showcase.”
The main thing showcased at this event was the fact that Connecticut has vibrant, creative, skillful artists in its hip-hop scene. The Protege was extremely proud of everything that happened on the stage that night, saying “I think its a testament to all the material we have put out and all of our skills that we mastered as artists.”
Veterans of the scene, the AFA knows Connecticut hip-hop is a tricky thing. Sometimes it shines brightly, sometimes it hides for months, or years. This is why their family reunion should be thought of as more than just a great show, it should be thought of as a reminder to not give up on a scene even when it looks as though a scene has been given up on. The most important part of any building is the base, and if you can be one of those bricks those who come after you will be forever grateful for the foundation you created. As Sketch points out, “the more quality acts our music scene has performing, the easier it is for other quality acts to get audiences to take them seriously and go to shows.”
It all has to start somewhere, and in the case of Connecticut, and a lot of smaller, relatively unknown, hip-hop scenes, sometimes it has to restart somewhere, sometimes multiple times. The AFA Family Reunion was that restart for CT hip-hop. Now it must be built on.
L.I.F.E. Long and Venomous2000's video for "Mind Over Matter" features two longstanding New York City traditions - Stronghold and the Village Halloween Parade. Stronghold is, of course, the five man hip-hop crew that has been a force in the city since the turn of the century. If you take that dope hip-hop and throw it over footage of one of the wildest parades known to man, like L.I.F.E. Long did with this clip, you get something that's a feast for both the ears and the eyes.
Warped Tour has been around for so many years many of the fans roaming about the event grounds this year weren’t even born when it first started. Launching seventeen years ago, and very quickly growing into one of the premier summer music events, Warped Tour has introduced the world to a long list of bands that includes everyone from Blink 182 to Paramore. The tour has also done an equal amount of work promoting numerous charitable organizations. I caught up with Warped tour founder Kevin Lyman to discuss seventeen years of Warped Tour, as well how ankle surgery led to what he considers one of Warped Tour’s most diverse lineups yet.
Adam Bernard: How much has changed about the tour from year one to year seventeen?
Kevin Lyman: From then, just sheer the number of people. There are more people backstage now than there were in the crowds back then. Just that sheer volume, and really where I’m kind of going with Warped is the sheer amount of things it touches right now. I think it touches kids’ spirits musically. It’s kinda become their outlet of the summer to see new music. They rally around the bands that they’ve supported throughout the year, but also explore new music, so it’s still that point of discovery for the fan. I think what I’m looking at, and it’s gonna be the hardest thing when I stop doing this, is the sheer amount of overall good that the tour has started to accomplish, and that’s been through its association with Music Saves Lives. The average person doesn’t really know that the Warped Tour is the catalyst for 60,000 pints of blood to be donated each year through the blood drives. Music Saves Lives runs blood drives and we give kids opportunities. We used to give em all a backstage pass if they had a ticket to the show, but now we’ve had to narrow that down as the program's grown so big. It’s actually been named the independent blood drive of the year for the last four years from the Red Cross.
AB: How quickly did you realize that charity and rock music were going to be perfect bedfellows?
KL: I think it goes back to the late 80s and early 90s. There were a lot of shows in LA that I worked - the Rock the Vote shows, the Board Aid shows, the Boarding for Breast Cancer shows. I think growing up in LA when there was always a charity, or something, we were always helping out at a show. When Dennis Danell from Social Distortion died way back when, right away the community threw a benefit to raise money for his family. Booking bands is OK. Sitting there listening to music, I love it, I think it’s great, and I think the Warped Tour lineup is really good, but I think what’s keeping me interested is how do we extend the Warped Tour year-round. Keep a Breast, who does the I Heart Boobies bracelet, has grown into one of the fastest growing charities in the country, and we gave them the free booth and a help. That’s cool for me. Things like To Write Love on Her Arms, to give Jamie (Tworkowski) some booths early on, to let him come out and be part of the tour, that’s the kind of stuff that’s interesting to me. We’ve given a quarter from every ticket to charity since the inception for the tour and when you’re doing 600K (tickets) that 150K (dollars) funds a summer camp, it funds a lot of programs for Music Cares. When the tour goes away that goes away. That’s gonna be the hard thing.
AB: Are you grooming anyone to eventually take over the reigns for you?
KL: My daughter’s walking down from school right now to help at the office, (but) I don’t know who’s gonna take it over. The problem is the pressures from the industry right now. Trying to make this work. The ticket price, if you tear apart the Warped Tour ticket price you can see that it’s $27, but then there’s $16 of fees on top of that. Economically it’s getting hard to do the Warped Tour. Trying to bring the caliber of talent you need. What the tour does in overall good for the kids, good for the community... the economy of the Warped Tour gives a lot of people jobs in the summer time. I think that’s important right now. I was over at SideOneDummy Records with Joe (Sib) yesterday. I had ankle surgery this year, I’m getting a knee worked on after this tour, I’m like - I gotta put myself back together because I may have to do this another ten or twelve years. I may need to continue walking. That’s gonna be a big thing.
AB: Yeah, that would be a big help. Changing gears a bit, when you started this tour the CD was the dominant medium for recorded music. How have you seen the shift in how people are consuming music affect ticket sales and fan involvement?
KL: Now we have our association with iTunes. I think it’s funny because I read about the Apple profits and we have a great relationship, but we help fund that to make sure the bands get exposed on iTunes with our free iTunes cards. It’s weird because now people tell me “why aren’t we on the main stage? We sold 20,000 records,” and I'm like, it used to be “we’re selling 20,000 a week,” so it’s hard to gauge that. It’s harder to judge things, but the kids will let you know. It’s a social media thing, but you can’t become so dependent on social media that you forget to put up a poster or pass out a flyer once in a while.
AB: Warped Tour is filled with people who have a two by four with a big poster on it saying when a band’s set time is, and it’s helpful.
KL: Yeah, I don’t want tech to overrun the Warped Tour cuz I still think it’s important for kids to come and learn, so we always have to manage it so that kids come early and wander around and run into a band they might like. We want to try to keep some sense of adventure to shows.
AB: Is that why you don’t post the lineup until around 10am?
KL: I hated that when I worked on Lollapalooza and Henry Rollins would be (scheduled to play at) one in the afternoon everyone would just be like “I’m just gonna come later when Nine Inch Nails plays.” Back when Blink 182 was a little band, if I had just written a schedule ahead of time, people would have shown up later, and the band would have maybe not gotten seen by five, six thousand kids every day. It’s exciting to open doors at Warped Tour at 11 o’clock and you have 80% of the crowd in line. It kind of kicks the energy up a little bit.
AB: When was the last time you were a part of the crowd for a full day of Warped Tour performances?
KL: I’m at every show, but I don’t think there’s been a day where I’ve been able to spend the whole day in the crowd. I try to spend an hour, or two hours, in the afternoon. We have this term “I’m going to Warped Tour,” and that means your radio might not be heard for a while, you might not hear someone calling you. This year there are a lot of bands I want to see. A lot of it depends on the peripheries I have to deal with. I’m dealing with (the) personal problems (of the bands) and trying to help people get through the day. That’s my role now. I’m not a peer to anyone out there. I used to be a peer to more of the bands when it was Bad Religion, NoFx, Offspring, Pennywise. All those types of people, those are my peers, those are the people I grew up working in the clubs with. Now I’m pretty much a mentor or a disciplinarian. That’s pretty much it.
AB: Whoa, are you saying you feel like an old man?
KL: Not old. Trust me, I feel old at around 11 o’clock on some nights when I’m sitting there with ice packs on my knees and my ankles, but not THAT old. The point is, it’s weird for someone that’s 50, you’re not gonna be bro-ing down with someone that’s 21 normally. You have different interests. I’ll go out and pick my moments to go and hang out with everyone. The rest of the time I have my little crew that comes out and visits. It’s just a different time for me.
AB: Warped Tour has an interesting relationship with hip-hop. Why is it sometimes on the bill, and sometimes, like last year, totally absent?
KL: It depends on if I think there’s good hip-hop and if a hip-hop artist that I feel will make sense approaches to be on the bill. Hip-hop artists sometimes have a different financial needs, but going back to Eminem, he went out on Warped Tour because he thought it was a great audience to connect with. Ice-T wanted to be on Warped Tour because I knew him from Lollapalooza and he wanted to reach that crowd. This year I also know that we have some good hip-hop people out there. You got Yelawolf. When I was listening to him in October I went “he would be cool for Warped Tour,” because I was trying to make the tour very diverse this year. I did nothing for two months. I had ankle surgery where I kind of sat up and just had to sit there and listen to music. People would come hang out at my house. It was like a revolving door of my friends in music who I trust coming by and bringing stuff I should hear. I think if you really dig through the lineup there’s some pretty interesting stuff there.
AB: Two years ago the tour caught a little bit of bad press for featuring the Millionaires and Brokencyde.
KL: Yeah, you know what... controversy. Punk rock was controversial at one point. Now, do I think the Millionaires were ready to go out on tour with us? No, I really think that was a mistake. They couldn’t pull it out there live. Brokencyde, they had some fans. My big thing is there is so much going on at Warped Tour. This year we’re getting controversy because there’s this band Blood On The Dance Floor and there’s a group that doesn’t want them there. I’m like well, you got a couple options. One, there are six other stages and three will have bands on them when that band will be playing. That’s one option, go see someone else. Or two, stay home. No one is twisting anyone’s arm to come to Warped Tour.
AB: Is it fun for you when bands have little beefs that aren’t super serious?
KL: The beef thing is funny because they are so minimal and most of them are used to each other’s advantage. You can go back to NoFX and Underoath, there was no beef there.
AB: I remember one act said something like “thank you for checking me out instead of Millionaires.”
KL: Great, that’s cool, but if you’re a band having to compare yourself to the Millionaires at that point then you got your own insecurities.
AB: That set ended and I heard a weird noise coming from the distance and I said “that must be Millionaires. I’m going to go over there and see why this person didn’t want to be associated with them.”
KL: And guess what, by them saying their name you walked over there. They drove people over to check them out. You may not have liked them, but they helped the Millionaires by saying that every day.
AB: Being that Warped Tour is outdoors during the summer you usually have a few heatstroke stories. What can be done to prevent these occurrences from happening other than people just knowing how to hydrate?
KL: One, you have to know how to hydrate. Now, I’m gonna take flack on this from some people, but we don’t control water and food prices at our shows, it’s the venue. This year I went in there and said you need to get the water prices down, let’s figure out how to do this, which usually means me helping finance this. If I want to bring the price down I have to be willing to write a check if that guy doesn’t make enough money. The water was $4.50 last year, which is ridiculous. We got it down to $3. It took a lot of cooperation from a lot of people and a lot of negotiation, but guess what, a bottle of water should cost you three dollars at a show. We’re also bringing Klean Kanteen water filtration stations so you can refill your bottle if you’re willing to stand in line. It’s not going to be endless water, but there’s a place where you can get it this year. The other complaint I heard was about eating. I see kids coming and I know that they don’t have the money they used to have to come to shows, so they’re not eating at the shows. We try to let people bring a sandwich in, but you’re still battling a venue that has different rules the rest of the year. This year we have a pre-paid food program at a lot of our shows. We went to the promoter and they created a lunch - a cheeseburger, or a slice of pizza, french fries, and a drink, for $8.50. You can buy the ticket ahead of time, so if a parent is worried that their kid is gonna take that $8.50 and buy another t-shirt, they can buy that ticket ahead of time to make sure their kid gets lunch. I went in and negotiated that this year. It’s all this process of trying to take care of our fans. We’re trying.
AB: Finally, to end on a lighter note, when was the last time you actually had to spend money on a pair of sneakers?
KL: Guess what, I have to all the time. I can’t wear Vans. I have 50 year old feet, I work 300 shows a year, so I have to wear the old man New Balances with support. I have to buy another pair right now.
Story originally ran on SubstreamMusicPress.com.
Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is turning two! Yes, for the past 104 weeks, without a single missed column or vacation (isn’t that right, editor?) we’ve been bringing you all the news that’s fit to mock. This week, for our two year anniversary, I wanted to do something special. In the past we’ve had blow out parties, but instead of letting everyone trash our house again (Ke$ha never cleans up after herself!), this time around we’re going to thank some of the people who make Pop Shots happen - the stars who continue to make news.
Beautiful women in bodypaint and downtempo music are two of my favorite things. When I first received a link to this video by Metal Mother, however, her stage name gave me visions of neither. I thought I was about to see some over the hill wannabe rocker chick. Instead I was treated to this little slice of awesome. I still can’t get over how creative and cool the entire effort is, from the music, to the singing, to the video.
“From Oakland to Sac Town / the Bay Area and back down.” Every hip-hop fan knows these 2Pac lyrics by heart, but how many know there’s actually been a thriving hip-hop scene in the aforementioned Sac Town since the 80s? Most people only think of LA and the Bay when they think California hip-hop, but when we sat down with n8 the gr8 of the Sacramento rap group The Cuf, which also includes Pete, Crush and Brotha RJ, we received an education in Sacramento hip-hop history. n8 the gr8 also broke down the one very simple thing he needs in order to sell albums, and why after over two decades of making music he only recently just started putting his all into it.
When my buddy Jus Rhyme told me the Art In The Streets exhibit would be running during my short trip to LA I was instantly down to go. As soon as my plane landed he scooped me up and we hit The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA (Museum Of Contemporary Art). Now, having grown up in the NYC area I’ve seen my fair share of street art, and I recently wrote about a graffiti inspired art show that went on in Bridgeport, CT, but I was totally unprepared for the vastness of Art In The Streets.
To truly take everything in would take at least an entire day. There is simply so much there, and it’s all exhibited in really unique ways. The installations are incredible, at times utilizing high walls and tight hallways to create the feel of a crowded city. There’s even a bum by the side of the road at one point. In addition to the areas that are dedicated to individual artists, which include the likes of Shepard Fairey (who, in a bit of poetic symmetry, I would share a flight back to New York with) and Banksy (who, for all I know, could have been on that flight, too, but no one knows what he looks like), there’s a timeline of street art that starts in the 70s and makes its way to the present. The timeline is something that I feel everyone should take a look at, because seeing what many might consider vandalization growing into the Obama “Hope” campaign image is a powerful thing and exemplifies why street art is important.
The artwork featured at Art In The Streets ranges from what most would consider traditional graffiti, to an entire ice cream truck done by Mr. Cartoon, to some truly wild black light work in areas that look like dorm rooms on acid. Then, of course, there’s Banksy, who defies any sort of categorization.
Some have noted that the exhibit only focuses on certain major cities, and while that’s true, the fact that it takes quite a bit of time to take it all in shows that it would have been difficult to include any more. MOCA also did a good job of digging deep into the street art of the cities they included. Seeing the wall of New York City subway cars from the 80s was awesome, especially because it gave me, the New York guy, an opportunity to talk a little NY graffiti history with my LA friend, who then shared stories of LA graffiti history.
Overall, this exhibit is an amazing way to bring street art to the masses. It showcases how street art has grown, and the kind of artwork that is being done now that has been directly influenced by graffiti. It’s not all about cans of Krylon and Rustoleum anymore, although there are still plenty of artists who are doing great work with the original tools.
Street art can be political, street art can be colorful, street art can be thought provoking. Street art can be a lot of things, and all of the things it can be are on display at The Geffen. My only regret is that I didn’t have more time to spend there.
Illus is an incredibly creative dude. Not only is he a talented emcee, he's also an accomplished comic book artist. Both gigs require a person to have a good handle on deep histories. In his song "Old Friends" Illus shows he also has a handle on another kind of history - his personal history. Check out the clip and listen to him reminisce about the past, and the realization that we all grow up. If you've ever grown up, which we all have, you'll connect with this one.
If you’ve ever played Super Mario Brothers it’s a safe bet that you can imitate the music from levels 1-1 and 1-2 without missing a beat. The connection is something that fascinated Brian Mazzaferri as he played his NES. Mazzaferri also plays a guitar, and can sing, and in 2008 the Chicago native decided to combine all of those musical loves to form the band I Fight Dragons. The band’s current lineup includes Mazzaferri, Bill Prokopow, Hari Rao, Packy Lundholm and Chad Van Dahm, and they’re currently working on their first full length album after releasing two EPs. I caught up with Mazzaferri to find out more about the band, including how they fell into the musical genre of chiptune, and the last time any of them actually fought a dragon.
Adam Bernard: Let’s start with your website, which as a very 8-bit feel to it. Are you guys retro gamers?
Brian Mazzaferri: Yeah. It’s funny you say retro gamer. I used to play a lot of Nintendo games and Super Nintendo and I kind of got stuck in that era. It’s definitely still what I choose to play when I sit down. It’s a lot of fun to play the old games. I own a couple of Nintendos at this point, some for musical purposes, but I always have my old one that’s still hooked up for gaming.
AB: You’re talking to someone who still has his NES hooked up, as well. I even refurbished it myself.
BM: They’re pretty solidly built. The Game Boys are, too. I tend to make most of the music on my old Game Boys from growing up and they are so solid for things made in the mid 80s. The later generations of Game Boys break so much more easily than the old grey brick.
AB: You could beat someone with the original Game Boy and it would still work fine afterward.
BM: Somebody showed me a link online to one that had been through a fire, or something horrific, and still played Tetris.
AB: That’s awesome! At what point during all of your video game playing did you decide you wanted to create a band, and you wanted video game music to be incorporated into that band’s style?
BM: It’s a little more backwards than that. I was actually doing solo music back in late 2007, early 2008, and I started working with a friend of mine from high school who I knew was in music, too, who is Bill Prokopow. I had been in a lot of bands and was thinking I was done with acoustic for a while and really wanted to get a band together. For whatever random reason, when he and I got together to make a demo I thought “what if the intro to this song sounded like it was coming out of a Nintendo?” I must have been playing a lot of Nintendo that weekend. He and I played some Mario 3 and listened to the sounds that were being made and mocked something up and loved it. After listening to that, a few months later I did some more research and realized there’s actually a whole gigantic chiptune scene, which is people making new music on old video game cards. It’s been around for many years and I just kind of stumbled into it. From there it was almost a foregone conclusion for me. As soon as I realized that was a thing I knew that I wanted to make a band and have that be an essential element, where it’s rock and pop-rock on one side with the chiptune being all the electronic elements that fill in all the holes.
AB: When you say chiptune, for someone who may not understand older video game systems, could you give them a quick and dirty of what that is?
BM: Yeah. Chiptune is new music made on old video game sound cards, usually the original Game Boy or the NES. People always say it sounds like bleep and bloops because in those old systems they could only make a few really specific sounds because of needing to keep the costs of the chips down. Usually they can only make three or four sounds at a time depending on the chip, so all of the musical lines had to move really fast to suggest larger chord structures and songs. Because that’s how all the video games sounded at the time, because of those restrictions, it kind of defined its own kind of musical mode. As of, I think, basically ten years ago or so, people started writing software to manipulate the sound chips so that basically anybody with a Game Boy or a Nintendo, as long as you get the software, you can write your own music on it. People use all kinds of video games, too, they even use Commodore 64s and Ataris, they go crazy, but I’d say the Game Boy is the most common instrument you find.
AB: I’d love a symphony of Tecmo Super Bowl.
BM: Aw man! For me, and this is not necessarily something shared across the chiptune world, but I loved the old NES game melodies and arrangements. Tecmo Super Bowl is awesome. Arch Rivals is another good one, as is the whole Mega Man series. To me those are games you spend a lot of time playing and those melodies and arrangements kind of engrain themselves in your head. To me that’s definitely a big part of why I like chiptune as a sound, it’s those connections in my brain to adventure and that sort of thing.
AB: Is it ironic that we have a whole subgenre of music that’s using classic video game sounds and now video games aren’t using video game sounds anymore, they’re using soundtracks?
BM: Right, and full orchestras. Ironic is definitely the beginning of stating the post-modern twists that are chiptune as a genre. The other fascinating thing to me is I’m actually in my 20s, but a lot of people that make chiptune are teenagers, people who were born after these chips were already outdated. It’s fascinating to me that the sounds appeal to everyone. I think it’s because they’re so basic. They sound very honest, which I feel, in the world of modern complex sounds, where it’s so easy to make something sound really sophisticated, it’s cool to hear something honest sounding. And in video games themselves I feel like there is a bit of a retro pull at the moment towards old 8-bit games and things on the Wii and the Xbox where you can download all of the old games and play them right on your new console. There’s definitely people that yearn for that kind of simplicity in their gaming.
AB: Before you started the band, were you all lifelong friends, or did this get put together with CraigsList postings?
BM: Well, somewhere in the middle of that. It’s tricky, too, because as a band we’ve had, like a lot of bands, a lot of lineup changes as things have gotten off the ground. For me, I knew right away it was what I wanted to be doing and basically spent all my time on it from day one, and so did Bill, really, who co-produced both of our EPs with me. He was someone I knew from high school. Hari (Rao), the bassist, I knew from playing open mics. Packy (Lundholm), the drummer at the time who would later switch the lead guitar, was someone I had gone to high school with, as well, but just kind of knew from the music scene. The one person in the band who is not an original member, that we did audition, is Chad (Van Dahm), our current drummer, who is basically like Animal from The Muppets. He’s an amazing drummer and amazing to watch. The rest of us, for the most part, are all original members of the band. They’re people that I just asked “hey, you want to play with me,” and they all said yes, or came around to saying yes eventually.
AB: As you mentioned, you have two EPs out, Welcome to the Breakdown and Cool is Just a Number. I hear you’re also working on a new album as we speak.
BM: Yes. The first EP we did basically on our own. Bill and I co-produced it and we released it in 2009. The second EP, which we released last year, is kind of just a pit stop on our way. We’ve been working on this album that is tentatively titled KABOOM! for the better part of two years. Ever since releasing the first EP I've been writing for it, and especially in the last year, since signing (with Photo Finish / Atlantic Records), that’s been the main focus other than a little bit of touring. The second EP is an acknowledgment of the fact that it was taking a very long time and we had a handful of songs that we thought were awesome, but maybe weren’t going to make it on the album, so we recorded em real quickly, Bill and I co-produced it again, and put it out there digital only just so that fans would have some new music to listen to during the long wait for the full length album, but it’s coming along and it’s going to be amazing.
AB: Do you have a potential release date?
BM: We’re hoping late summer or early fall. We’re in the final stretch of the making of the album, so we’re about to start talking release dates and stuff like that.
AB: And it’s called KABOOM! after the Billy Mays product?
BM: How did you know! {laughs} No, it’s actually one of the songs on the album, although I realized after writing the song that there’s an Atari 2600 game that I own called Kaboom!
AB: Did you go back and say crap, we need to incorporate a sound from this game?
BM: No. We don’t incorporate any samples from any existing games, that’s all copyrighted material. All the stuff that we do is 100% original music.
AB: Not to play devil’s advocate, but do you really think the creators of Kaboom! are sitting on the edge of their seat waiting to sue bands right now?
BM: You know, they may be listening to this as we speak, so I don’t want to dishonor them by not assuming that they stand by their own compositions. Although on the Atari it’s really rough. Atari basically has basically one sound channel at a time, plus a noise channel. The only melody that anybody can really remember from Atari is Pitfall. There are a couple of theme games like E.T. and Journey the game have small clips of sort of recognizable melodies.
AB: Isn’t E.T. the one that’s in the landfill?
BM: Yup. Couldn’t beat it. As a kid I always just thought I sucked at it. I still own my copy of ET the video game. I would play with my dad and we just assumed that we were really bad, but apparently you couldn’t beat it.
AB: Finally, close out this interview by telling everyone about your band name. When was the last time you actually fought a dragon?
BM: That's a good question because it depends on size what you’re actually counting because the smaller ones you can fight on a daily basis, and they’ll jump you from the alleys, but the larger ones, it’s more of an annual thing.
AB: So it’s a festival type of deal.
BM: Exactly. You don’t want to do it when no one’s watching. You gotta save it up. We fight metaphorical dragons all the time, but the real ones, it’s been at least weeks.
Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is hitting you with thoughts on everything from Lily Allen celebrating her new marriage, to Jack While celebrating the dissolution of his, to the song that’s been married to my brain for the past week, and since it’s Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.
Last week my buddy Jensen and his girlfriend played this song for me. I told them after the first chorus that it was going to be stuck in my head all day. I was wrong. It’s been stuck in my head for nearly a week and I play it more and more everyday. There are quite a few reasons why “Gucci Gucci” has made it to the top of my playlist. First, Kreayshawn goes in an anti-materialistic direction, noting real swag requires no name brands. I love that. Second, the beat is bananas. It reminds me a little bit of 90s West Coast hip-hop, and being that I was listening to The Chronic in high school (yeah, I’m that damned old), that kind of production makes me feel good. Third, her flow is really on point. Fourth, she uses the term “basic bitches” in the chorus, which I think is hilarious. Normally I’m not a fan of the word bitch, but the phrase “basic bitches” is too great to deny. Fifth, she’s having fun. How many other female rappers talk about ordering, and super sizing, a combo at Arby’s? Now THAT’S real!
Here are two facts about Bad Boy - they’ve only had a handful of female acts in their history, and Diddy has made himself known as a solo entity. This is what makes Kaleena such an original when it comes to both Bad Boy and Diddy. Not only is she the rare female artist on the label, but she’s also, along with Dawn Richard, in Diddy’s group, Dirty Money. Add to that the fact that the Philly product has Russian Grammys to her name, and you have a woman with a resume that’s unlike anyone else’s. I caught up with Kalenna to find out more about her long winding journey, which has included meeting Harry Belafonte on a train, and hangin with Grace Jones at 30,000 feet, and what she did to Diddy that no one’s done to him in a very long time.
Some amazing things happened at Sketch Tha Cataclysm’s most recent show at the Acoustic Cafe in Bridgeport, CT, but they didn’t just happen on the stage. Yes, the show put on by Sketch, Duece Bug, Ciph Diggy and Rabbi Darkside was fantastic, especially Rabbi D’s live programming of a beat using his beatbox skills, an iPhone, and a sampler, but one of the most memorable moments happened in a corner of the Acoustic after Rabbi D had just finished up his set. A fan, Jason “J-Burnz” Bernstein, approached him to compliment him on his set and find out what he had for sale. A package was put together, Rabbi D quoted him a price, and Bernstein then gave him more than the quoted price, saying the extra was “for underground hip-hop.”
It was an act that’s rarely seen in an age when people happily download everything that they can find for free. Bernstein, however, sees the importance of paying for an artist’s work. “Artists that travel to the next state over to share their vibe means a lot,” he says, adding “people need to support local underground hip hop. Whether they do it with cash or by going to more shows, it all matters, and it all makes a difference.”
The moral of the story is pretty clear – fan is not a four letter word. Artists need our support.
A lot of people convince themselves that they show support in other ways, for instance, by “liking” an artist’s Facebook page. Liking a Facebook page isn’t enough, though. An artist can have a million likes, but if none of those likes turn into sales what you end up with is an artist with faux popularity. Odd Future is a perfect example of this. The shock rap group released a ton of free music online, generated a huge buzz, but a week after lead rapper Tyler the Creator’s album debuted at number five on the Billboard album chart it dropped 80% in sales. What this shows us is people love him as long as they don’t have to pay for anything he does. In reality, that’s not loving an artist at all.
A drug dealer will sometimes give a person the first hit for free, knowing a customer will be back for more, at which point the dealer will charge them the going rate. The problem right now with music is there are so many people giving away that first hit for free that many listeners feel there’s no need to ever pay for anything. This has spiraled out of control to the point where artists are having a hard time generating any sort of a buzz if they DON’T give away their music. A line needs to be drawn, and it needs to be drawn by the fans. The fans are the ones with all the power in this situation. Now more than ever, with their dollar they can choose which artists continue on and which don’t. I’m not saying we have to go out of our way to pay our favorite artists’ rent, but if you like someone’s music, showing your appreciation by paying to go to a show, or purchasing an album, is important if we want them to continue with their careers.
For my home state of CT, another end result of showing support is that it leaves the artists who perform here with a positive feeling regarding performing in Connecticut. Even if a crowd is small, a handful of album, or t-shirt, sales can turn a sparsely attended show into something the artist saw a financial gain from. For an artist the math is simple - if performing in CT generates a profit, drawing more people the next time around will lead to an even bigger payday. Do you know what bigger paydays for artists means for the hip-hop fan base in the state? More artists coming to Connecticut to perform. This is something we constantly struggle with as a state as many tours simply drive right through us as they go from New York City to Boston.
If you enjoy an artist’s music, enjoyed their performance, and would like to see them come back and perhaps spread the word to other artists about how your town or city is a great place to perform, all you have to do is take ten of the dollars you were going to spend on alcohol and purchase an album instead. You’ll be supporting an artist you like, helping the state become known as an artist friendly place, and, quite frankly, you’ll probably get home a little safer if you skipped those last two drinks anyway. It’s a win-win-win situation, but it’s up to us, as fans, to embrace that idea of being a fan, and not think of the term as a four letter word.
As a sports fan I detest all things Philly, but as a music fan some of my favorite acts have come from the city of brotherly love. One of those artists is Karma Response Unit emcee Side Effect. One listen to his lyrics and you'll understand why. This clip doubles your pleasure as it features both "Beards" and "Gone Like The 80s," the latter sees Side Effect combining his talents with fellow KRU emcee, and longtime B-Lister, Jake Lefco.
Whenever I pick up a memoir that’s by a musician my hope is that it gives some insight into the particular scene they’re from that no regular person would have. Belinda Carlisle’s memoir, Lips Unsealed, gives a little bit of that, but really left me wanting more.
The Go-Go’s have an important place in music history, and Carlisle, their lead singer, led a wild life before, during and after the group. I can understand why a recovered drug addict wouldn't want to get too deep into the stories of her past, but I would have really loved some more in-depth descriptions of the parties she went to, concerts she attended, and houses she crashed at. When she writes about who was hitting on her I want to know everything else that was going on. When she talks about all the concerts she went to I want a total feel for the scene. Lips Unsealed drew me in when it came to this, but left me feeling like I didn’t get the full story.
Lips Unsealed is also a tale of three Belindas. There’s the young, raucous, Belinda that partied her ass off. There’s the newlywed, but in complete denial about her addictions, Belinda. Then there’s recovered, clean, Belinda. As far as rock star tales go, it’s amazing she didn’t die. That being said, I wish the details she had regarding her time in France, and when she learned Yoga, would have been just as vivid when it came to her wild youth. Perhaps the drugs blurred a lot of memories.
One interesting note I took away from Lips Unsealed, which is written in an easy to read conversational tone, is that Carlisle read seemingly all of the reviews of her work, and still had them on hand to quote. Throughout the book she continues to mention the critical reception given to her performances and albums. Another interesting aspect of the book is her frankness about the music industry. Although payola isn’t a secret to anyone, I was a little surprised by how forthright she was about it when it came to having to do a million dollars worth of promotional work (i.e. radio interviews, etc.) because the label didn’t have the million dollars to spend to get the record played.
Overall, Lips Unsealed is a good retrospective of the life of the Go-Go’s lead singer, but if you’re looking for some added insight into the punk scene you’re not going to find much here. There are a few really fun stories, including one especially crazy one involving Rod Stewart, but it feels like Carlisle only scratches the surface most of the time.
Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is hitting you with thoughts on everything from who picked up a hitchhiking Bono, to how one can pick up Michael Jackson’s leather jacket from the “Thriller” video, to Adele needing to pick up some medication, and since it’s Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.
A gravedigger and the stories of the dead. Those are the topics of Adeem’s first official solo effort, The Volume in the Ground. Don’t think of this as the former Glue emcee becoming unglued, though. It’s really an artistic effort that’s been more than two years in the making. This week I caught up with the New Hampshire native to find out more about the album, why he titled his website “winners never sleep,” and why the members of Glue decided to go their separate ways.
I don’t remember exactly when I came across Matthew Kimberley’s site HowToGetAGrip.com, but I do remember than when I did I spent about an hour going through the archives. The wonderfully in-your-face life advice site had me hooked from the first post I read. Kimberley recently turned the site into a book, and this week I caught up with him to find out more about how he got a grip, how his life has changed since then, and why he feels tough love is sometimes the best medicine.
Adam Bernard: You consider yourself a “recovering workaholic.” How did you beat that, and how has beating that changed your life? Matthew Kimberley: Yeah, funny thing is I probably get more real work done now that I've given up being in the office all the time. There's this insidious and erroneous idea that physical presence should be a barometer of how much work you're doing. For a long time, particularly after I started my first business, I'd spend hours and hours and weekends at the office. It sucked. I beat it through necessity. My son was born, I wasn't getting to see him. I had hemorrhoids from sitting down all day. I looked at different working models and realized the one where I walk twenty minutes along the Mediterranean shoreline to get a coffee each morning was the best, particularly combined with lunch in the sun and an enforced "no-more-than-four-hours-a-day-at-a-desk" (ideology). My personal income shot up since I made that choice, and I get a lot more done.
Adam Bernard: When you hear people talking about how much they work, what are your thoughts? Matthew Kimberley: Work is what you do, not who you are. If you're, say, a carpenter who gets a real thrill from working the grain, and you choose to spend eighteen hours a day at it, then that's great. But for the vast majority of us, the number of working hours we put in is either worn as a badge of pride, or a cross to bear. If you're putting in more hours with your boss than with your family, then you're a douche. If you're pulling sixteen hour days to get a possible promotion in the next five years, then you've got the strength of character to fire your boss and start your own business. So, when people boast about "pulling an all-nighter" in the office, my reaction is always, and only, "why the fuck would you ever, ever do that?"
Adam Bernard: Moving to How To Get A Grip, it started as a website and is now a full length book. What inspired each? Matthew Kimberley: How To Get A Grip was a website first. It was a form of therapy. I was pulling the aforementioned long hours in an industry I had no love for, and I was the owner of the company - go figure. How To Get A Grip was a creative outlet. It had been going for about two weeks when I got asked by a UK publisher to turn it into a book. I thought about it for about three minutes, then said yes.
Adam Bernard: Where does your wellspring of knowledge come from? Matthew Kimberley: Dude, I don't know shit other than what we all know. My take is that we've all got the tools to get unstuck in life, but we don't use them. And I'm as guilty as the next guy. My wife told me yesterday that if I implemented 25% of what's in the book, then she'd be happy. But that's the thing; you can read How To Get A Grip once, or you can read it a hundred times, and it will ALWAYS be relevant because we have all the answers, we're just not saying them out loud. I don't have any advantage, I'm just documenting the stuff that gets lost in the grey swirl of brain matter.
Adam Bernard: With that in mind, do you feel common sense is as common as it should be? Matthew Kimberley: Common sense is overrated. Common sense is too often lazy shorthand for "tradition" or "etiquette." It's too often used as an excuse for not doing something. Common sense dictates that base-jumping, vodka, and free-diving are all bad ideas, but they're not, they're all EXCELLENT ideas. But there is a place for common sense. Base-jumping without a parachute is ludicrous. Common sense is inherent in most of us, and yes, is as common as it should be. It's rarely a lack of common sense that lets us down, that lets us grow fat, or allows us to let our relationships fizzle into nothing; it's ignoring the voices of common sense and not taking action.
Adam Bernard: You have a “tough love” style of giving out advice. What have been some of your favorite responses to this, both positive and negative? Matthew Kimberley: The responses to my style have been overwhelmingly positive. The self-help industry is built up on platitudes and softly-softly approaches to "recognizing your worth" and "being all you can be," which is great for continuing to milk funds from those that are afraid of progress. The drill sergeant's style to getting your life in order is the only one that actually reaps results, but it's not for the faint of heart. For every ten emails I get that say "thanks" I get one from a dickhead. My favorite is here.
Adam Bernard: Other than the portability factor, how does the book differ from the site? Matthew Kimberley: Most of the site is included in the book, but only makes up 35% of the total content. All the rest is brand new. Some people find having a tangible asset they can put in a handbag to be a more effective medium of communication than reading words on the screen. I had a duty to put it out there. Plus, it's fucking cheap. Buy four copies.
Adam Bernard: Why is it that the UK can get the book, but Amazon is making those of us in the US, like me, wait? Is this some indication that Amazon needs to fill a WAY bigger order because Americans are so far gone? Matthew Kimberley: {laughs} I hope so! No, it's more about the vagaries of the publishing and distribution rights. It's been published by a UK publisher who has signed a distribution deal with a US publishing house who has scheduled everything much later. It's annoying, but I'm not high profile enough for them to listen to me. Everything in traditional publishing takes eight times longer than it should. It's a frustrating model, particularly as 90% of my blog readers are in the States. You can only launch something so many times. You CAN get it with free worldwide shipping from The Book Depository, though.
Adam Bernard: You give a lot of information away for free. Do you, at any point, hold back and say “wait, this is something I have to charge for?” What’s the cut off point? Matthew Kimberley: Yeah, I've been thinking about this. The stuff on How To Get A Grip should be given away for free. The book is so cheap it's basically free. For the "real world" work I do I get all of my clients and business offline. I use the internet as a marketing tool, but I don't sell products yet. The higher the quality of the free stuff, the better the quality of my paying clients. There's a strong argument for giving nothing away for free, but information is an infinite resource. For the moment, I'm happy with my business model. I'll certainly start offering paid products in the future, but it's unlikely to be very soon.
Adam Bernard: Finally, what’s the one result you’ve had from How To Get A Grip that you never expected? Matthew Kimberley: The book deal. Everybody wants to get a book deal from their blog. I was one of the lucky bastards who happened to have a commissioning editor take a look at my site at the right time. I couldn't have planned it better.
Socially conscious hip-hop that you can nod your head to isn't some sort of mythical subgenre that only exists in an imaginary land. Division X have been giving it to listeners for over a decade. Their latest is "What You Ridin For" and it's a song that's both smart and something that will make your speakers knock. Forget those R. Kelly and Jay-Z collaborations, this is the best of both worlds.
Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is hitting you with thoughts on everything from Sean Kingston’s watercraft mishap, to Cheryl Cole getting booted from The X-Factor, to U2’s plans for real estate development hitting a brick wall, and since it’s Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.
B-Listers are a select group of artists that were featured in my Artist Of The Week series that ran every Monday from April of '06 to April of '11. All of these artists have two things in common; extreme talent, and a flight path far too under the radar for my liking. They took on the title of B-Listers as they embraced being featured by me, Adam B. Check out the AOTW Archives for all the interviews.
