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Visiter by San Francisco band The Dodos is their second full length and first for Frenchkiss. Originally formed in 2006 under the moniker Dodobird as a one man acoustic act, Meric Long would gig around SF playing folky guitar w/ a combination of loops and ambient keyboards. Having already studied West African Ewe drumming, Meric got turned onto country blues fingerpicking and sought to create a band where the drumming could be a center role and help bring out the syncopated rhythms coming out of the acoustic guitar. Through a chance introduction by a roommate, Meric met Santa Cruz transplant Logan Kroeber, who had also been experimenting with drumming, but in the area of progressive metal. Eventually the band changed their name to the Dodos, through constant harrowing from first tourmates Peter and the Wolf, and got a rehearsal studio where they'd spend long hours improvising the music that would become their first record Beware of the Maniacs. The band quit their day jobs as a line cook and a printer and hit the road in Oct. 2006.
The names Quasimoto and Madlib have been linked for years, yet they've never been seen in the same room together. In fact, Quasimoto's never been seen in the same room with anyone ? he's The Unseen. But you can hear him - and there's no mistaking what he sounds like. Peanut Butter Wolf first heard him off a dusty old cassette, one of Madlib?s infamous beat tapes ? the kind he?d make to listen to himself, maybe pass around to crew. Madlib and Quas had been up in Lost Gates, somewhere near Oxnard, CA, making music for years fueled by Top Ramen and shrooms without the slightest intention of releasing it to the masses. Wolf got it out though ? after some begging and pleading, and after signing a contract with Quas vowing not to reveal his name. The Unseen came out in 2000 and caught praise by fans and critics alike. SPIN went off on Quasimoto's "recipe for resin-caked jazz and crusty comedy samples as a new flavor for the bland world of mainstream rap" and stuck him smack between Madonna and Outkast in their best of the year list. URB too named the album one of the best of the year. Jon Caramanica (Rolling Stone/Village Voice) wrote an essay called "Blind Faith-Quasimoto's Backdoor Truth? choosing to describe the album as a revelation or ?strange dream? rather than a hip hop LP. In the tradition of artistic "role playing" in black music, Quas was compared favorably to RZA, Kool Keith, and even Prince (City Pages, St. Paul/Minneapolis). Another dude wrote that rap music "hasn?t been this far out since 3 Feet High and Rising" (Sleazenation). And a few commented on the voice. What a voice. Was it a tree-blazin? ghetto chipmunk? A cartoon Martian? Naw, it?s neither - but close. Lord Quas, personally, is more bizarre than Michael Jackson in a playpen, and he likewise demands a high level of privacy. Madlib and the heads at Stones Throw have been dodging questions about Lord Quas for years. Who is he? Why won?t he perform live? When?s the next album? Mostly that last question. The answer is now. Quasimoto is back with 27 tracks and 68 minutes of straight boom music. The Further Adventures find Lord Quas still digging for records, rolling blunts, and smackin? dudes with bricks. Madlib, for his part, appears to have been saving some of his best beats for Quas, and some that others were maybe afraid to touch. Consider the book on Hip Hop thrown out the window. Quas probably smoked it. They?ve got MF DOOM along for a reprise of the Madvillain-Quas collab on "Closer." (Madvillain ? that's where we last heard from Madlib & Lord Quas, on the album named as one of the best of 2004 by GQ, Rolling Stone, Spin, XLR8R, Village Voice, and a long list of others.) They've got M.E.D. from the Lootpack family up on "The Exclusive." Melvin Van Peebles (legendary filmmaker, the "Baadasssss" himself) shows up again on several tracks, as he did on The Unseen, channeled through the officially sanctioned use of a sampler. Madlib also takes the mic for several tracks ? among them "Rappcats," the ultimate ode to 80s hip hop; "Raw Addict Part 2," the ultimate ode to crate digging and sampling; "Another Demo Tape," the track that might result in his never again being given a CD demo from a stranger. Quasimoto's at no loss for words though. With some wild tales of crime sprees, kidnappings, and a fetish for some booty, we can assume he?ll still be known as "the Bad Character." Watch for a video for the lead track "Bullyshit" in May, followed by a short tour, for which Quasimoto may or may not show up.
Josh Wolf makes Guinness World Book of Records
Josh Wolf, an independent journalist from San Francisco, was subpoenaed a year ago. He remains in a Dublin, Calif., correctional facility, holding the record for a journalist held longest under contempt. Supporters hold a rally to mark the 168th day and to encourage a public outcry for Wolf's release. CNET News.com's Neha Tiwari reports.
This is the first music video from the up-and-coming Swedish rock band Blank. The video is directed by Ola Cristensson and Carl-Robert Jonzon.
"The VICE Guide to Travel " DVD trailer
The VICE GUIDE TO TRAVEL is the first installment in VICE magazine's new DVD series. The series will feature short documentaries arranged around a different theme. For this edition we went to the kinds of places that nobody else wants to visit. We traveled to the corners of the world where news is happening, the forgotten locales where strange people and stories lie and where history is being made every day. This is the VICE idea of a vacation. Spec on the DVD: - Places visited: Chernobyl, Pakistan, Paraguay, Rio, Beirut, Congo, Bulgaria -Bonus Footage that includes New Year's Eve in Kabul and David Cross and Gavin McInnes in China -72 page full color book with photos from the countries and interviews with correspondents
Frofar Allstars: "Make It Through the Rain"
Artists defy terrorism and sing out...This video was released after a spate of bombings and terror attacks in London, crippling the transport system and claiming innocent lives, with many still unaccounted for. The track and video had been circulating on the net, generating a lot of attention. A version of this video shows the artists performing individually, spliced together with the current footage from various tragedies including hurricane katrina and wilma, plus pakistan earthquakes.
For many, this is a dream collaboration between two of the most cherished artists in hip-hop, pitting the dusty, wig-twisting originality of Madlib's smoked out sounds capes against DOOM's nostalgic, visual rhyme style. Brothers from another mother, DOOM and Madlib have long admired each others work, first meeting face-to-face in Southern California in summer 2002, and since then they've shared a whole bunch of Cali-green, run through countless bottles of Grey Goose vodka and Heineken (well, that would be DOOM) and assembled over twenty tracks into a superb psychedelic romp of the highest caliber. The closest one can come to describing this beautiful chaos is a sublime companion piece to Madlib's previous evil adventure, Quasimoto's "The Unseen." But, as DOOM himself would ask anyone asking for a description: "He's the villain, so what about it?" In recent years the metal-faced maniac has released albums under the aliases of Viktor Vaughn, King Gheedora and Monster Island Czars. But rewind to 1993: DOOM (then Zev Love X) made his debut with the groundbreaking album 'Mr. Hood' as part of the group KMD, which has since achieved critical acclaim and cited as a key record in hip-hop's "Golden Age." Zev Love X, Subroc, and Onyx had just finished work on the follow up, "Bl_ck B_st_rds", a politicized commentary on the portrayal of race by the media, when their label Elektra decide to shelve the album over the controversial cover art which depicts a 'blackface sambo' character hanging from a gallows. Shortly after KMD were dropped and Zev Love X's brother Subroc was killed in a car crash. Like true-life story from the pages of a comic book, Zev Love X disappeared completely from public view, going back to the lab and fashioning new beats and lyrics, only to reemerge as the masked MF DOOM with the now classic "Operation Doomsday" in 1999. "Zev Luv X still exists, DOOM is a character, neither one of them is really me, they're a fa?ade I use to voice a certain view," Explains the MC behind the mask, Daniel Dumile. "Zev was like you're average nerd cat, might drop a jewel here and there, might tell you something you don't now, humble and modest. Whereas the DOOM character is more aggressive, on some real take over shit, but still trying to play likes he's a good guy. It's not so much I changed; I just took on another character." A string of creatively inspired singles on the influential Fondle 'Em label in the late 90's heralded DOOM's return. "Being from the underground, there's not so much bureaucracy, you can come out how you wanna come out. It's music straight up and down, if you're good you're good." DOOM sees himself as a conduit for his music. "I try not to tamper with it too much, I'm like the narrator or the spokesman. My music is raw, yet at the same time it can be easy listening." The spontaneity in DOOM's working process whether writing lyrics or building beats, calls to mind the spontaneous prose of Kerouac or the 'cut up' techniques of William Burroughs, in its praise of the purity of the original thought. Nostalgia is a central theme for DOOM: "I love cartoons, I still watch them to this day. I have an 8 year old son, he comes home and we just watch them together," smiles DOOM. "Dexter Laboratory, and of course all the Japanese shit, Dragonball Z, all them ill." DOOM's music harnesses the instinctive, inherent power of childlike thought; "There's no in-between with kids, they're so pure they can feel something if it's fat. As you get older you lose that innocence and purity of the original thought, so called 'growing up'," DOOM ponders. "I mean - you gotta keep that, that's the essence right there." Using his music to test the limits of his mind, DOOM finds creative inspiration in everything he does: "Any artistic genre feeds what I do as a musician, I do paintings, but music inspires my painting, and paintings or art inspires my music. Creativity and imagination is the key to what everybody's trying to figure out on Earth, it's the one thing that bridges everything together. It can solve a lot of problems with all this war and retarded shit that's going on." From the mellow keys of 'Accordion' with Madlib's deft tinkling to the bumping bass groove of 'America's Most Blunted' and the soulful beats of 'Fancy Clown' under his Viktor Vaughan guise, Madvillain sees Madlib on top form providing the freshest, most blunted foils for DOOM's ill flows. "Music is a universal language and I'm trying to show that all of us laugh at the same things, I'm trying to bring us all to more of an understanding. We need to bring this whole thing together," explains DOOM. With their Madvillain double-team, MF DOOM and Madlib have made a sure-fire classic sure to take the world by storm - will anyone dare step try and stop them?
Hieroglyphics: "Live in Tempe, AZ"
Rooted in the creative atmosphere of the Bay Area, Hieroglyphics has emerged as a powerful force within underground hip-hop culture. Comprised of Del the FunkyHomosapien, Casual, Pep Love, Domino, and the group Souls of Mischief, this crew is one of the first to successfully forge careers as a collective and as individual artists. Sales for the crew have sailed well beyond 3 million units-- and that?s not even including their various tapes and underground records released in the early days. If you felt the Hieroglyphics camp for the first time when Del emerged on the scene in '91 with the classic, I Wish My Brother George Was Here (Elektra) you had to know that great things were ahead. And on and on, good things came from Hiero, including: Del?s 1993 release, No Need for Alarm (Elektra), Souls? debut in 1993, 93 til Infinity (Jive), Casual's 1994 release Fear Itself (Jive), and Souls? follow up in 1995, No Man?s Land (Jive). In 1997, armed with experience and insight, Hieroglyphics formed their own independent company, Hiero Imperium, and soon released their first album as a collective unit, Third Eye Vision, followed by releases by each of the individual artists on the label. Hiero also built a strong online presence through their award-winning website ? hieroglyphics.com (9 years and running!) and a merchandise line prominently featuring their famous three-eyed logo. The success of the Hieroglyphics Imperium label has enabled them to branch out beyond their own work to expand their musical legacy. In 2002 Hiero released one of Hip-Hop?s first CD/DVD hybrids, One Big Trip, which included a soundtrack on one side of the disc and a movie on the other. Artists within the collective also have collaborated with the likes of Dilated Peoples, Q-Tip, Xzibit, George Clinton, Jurassic 5, and Dan the Automator (Deltron 3030). The most notable of these collaborations was Del the Funky Homosapien?s lead vocal performance on "Clint Eastwood", the smash single off of the multi-platinum selling album from the Gorillaz. 2003 brought about the highest grossing fiscal year ever, along with the formation of a brand-new distribution wing of Hiero Imperium, which showcases the next wave of innovative independent artists. Releases included projects with soul singer Goapele, and hip-hop artists Z-Man and Encore. In 2004, the expansion continued. The Hiero crew has followed up Third Eye Vision with a new release entitled Full Circle , as well as a solo album from Tajai (Souls of Mischief)-Power Movement, and V/A The Building, a budget compilation of things to come. 2005 will bring about forthcoming albums from: Opio (Triangulation Station) Casual (Smash Rockwell), Pep Love (Reconstruction) and Del (Eleventh Hour). Also included in this surge of creativity is the newly formed multi-media branch of Hiero Imperium, set to release a DVD of the recent Hieroglyphics "Full Circle" Tour. Keep your third eye open!
Hieroglyphics: "Full Circle Tour Live" DVD
Rooted in the creative atmosphere of the Bay Area, Hieroglyphics has emerged as a powerful force within underground hip-hop culture. Comprised of Del the FunkyHomosapien, Casual, Pep Love, Domino, and the group Souls of Mischief, this crew is one of the first to successfully forge careers as a collective and as individual artists. Sales for the crew have sailed well beyond 3 million units-- and that?s not even including their various tapes and underground records released in the early days. If you felt the Hieroglyphics camp for the first time when Del emerged on the scene in '91 with the classic, I Wish My Brother George Was Here (Elektra) you had to know that great things were ahead. And on and on, good things came from Hiero, including: Del?s 1993 release, No Need for Alarm (Elektra), Souls? debut in 1993, 93 til Infinity (Jive), Casual's 1994 release Fear Itself (Jive), and Souls? follow up in 1995, No Man?s Land (Jive). In 1997, armed with experience and insight, Hieroglyphics formed their own independent company, Hiero Imperium, and soon released their first album as a collective unit, Third Eye Vision, followed by releases by each of the individual artists on the label. Hiero also built a strong online presence through their award-winning website ? hieroglyphics.com (9 years and running!) and a merchandise line prominently featuring their famous three-eyed logo. The success of the Hieroglyphics Imperium label has enabled them to branch out beyond their own work to expand their musical legacy. In 2002 Hiero released one of Hip-Hop?s first CD/DVD hybrids, One Big Trip, which included a soundtrack on one side of the disc and a movie on the other. Artists within the collective also have collaborated with the likes of Dilated Peoples, Q-Tip, Xzibit, George Clinton, Jurassic 5, and Dan the Automator (Deltron 3030). The most notable of these collaborations was Del the Funky Homosapien?s lead vocal performance on "Clint Eastwood", the smash single off of the multi-platinum selling album from the Gorillaz. 2003 brought about the highest grossing fiscal year ever, along with the formation of a brand-new distribution wing of Hiero Imperium, which showcases the next wave of innovative independent artists. Releases included projects with soul singer Goapele, and hip-hop artists Z-Man and Encore. In 2004, the expansion continued. The Hiero crew has followed up Third Eye Vision with a new release entitled Full Circle , as well as a solo album from Tajai (Souls of Mischief)-Power Movement, and V/A The Building, a budget compilation of things to come. 2005 will bring about forthcoming albums from: Opio (Triangulation Station) Casual (Smash Rockwell), Pep Love (Reconstruction) and Del (Eleventh Hour). Also included in this surge of creativity is the newly formed multi-media branch of Hiero Imperium, set to release a DVD of the recent Hieroglyphics "Full Circle" Tour. Keep your third eye open!
Josh Wolf released from prison
The now-infamous Internet journalist Josh Wolf was released from prison Tuesday after 226 days, becoming the longest-imprisoned journalist in the U.S. Hear what he has to say about his experience and what he plans on doing next.
