JOHN RIFLE - Fracas Nurture

to be frank, Kevin (the guy responsible for this) is REALLY SICK IN THE HEAD. and i love him for it. fans of sound collage crews like Negativland will be down with this one. melancholy piano work, complex song structures, and chock full of samples from movies, news broadcasts, music, comedy skits, and more. it's a concept album that my good buddy David (who's friends with Kevin) describes as "the rise and fall of an imaginary rock star..." but the album is so much more epic and nightmarish than that blurb suggests. honestly, if movie director Oliver Stone had decided to record an album during his Natural Born Killers period, it might have turned out something like this.

i consider myself a lifelong student of the sound collage, and i can honestly say that even during my finest hours splicing tape, making pause button mixes, or playing around with my four-track recorder, i can only aspire to the "straight outta Bellevue" moments alluded to in Fracas Nurture. this is next level insanity right here...

so, what else is there to say about the man behind this project? oh, yes...he's obsessed with bunnies (as his website proves beyond doubt) and the movie Donnie Darko, which is one of my personal favorites. beyond that, there is a small but rabid "strangecore" contigent within Albany, NY that worships the ground this man walks on.

this one ain't for everybody, but the sonically adventurous can check out his website for more info as well as click here for free and fully authorized downloads of album selections.

Mos Def - "Katrina Klap"

the protest songs look like they're pouring in. and i'm sure that this is only the beginning.

freedom ain't free, folks. this is america. act like you know.

(and even if it was free, it would cost you more for gas to get there...)

TV On The Radio - "Dry Drunk Emperor"

more musical voices of dissent. the natives are getting restless. hell, the natives have BEEN restless. nothing like a national tragedy to kick things into high gear. words fail me when it comes to this song. i imagine that they will be performing this one a lot at their live shows. i love this group.

The Legendary K.O. - "George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People"

what hath Kanye wrought? i suppose it had to happen sooner or later. consider this an extended remix of Mr. West's now infamous quote as pondered by The Legendary K.O., spittin' over the instrumental to Kanye's summer jammy jam, "Gold Digger." it's good for a chuckle or two. totally made me smile today when i heard it.

so how long before the conversative lyricists of the world holla back with an answer defending Dubya and the Bush administration? maybe something by Brooks & Dunn featuring Lee Greenwood?

you and i both know it's coming, so you may as well prepare yourselves...

i've been sleeping on this group for far too long, but Little Brother has been killin' it. Comprised of MCs Phonte Coleman, Big Pooh, and producer 9th Wonder, LB is one of those hip-hop crews that cuts through all of the subgenres we like to place the music in. they have a great underground following, but it's not as if they're against everything that's happening above the surface within mainstream circles. 9th Wonder's production has blessed many albums. in addition to the work he does for LB, it was more than likely the work for Jay-Z that really got his name out there, plus he's even done stuff for Destiny's Child. for me, it was his work on "Church" for De La Soul's The Grind Date that got me open. my introduction to LB occurred through a side project called The Foreign Exchange released last summer on BBE. it was a collaboration between Phonte and Nicolay of the Justus League - absolutely beautiful album. once i heard that, i knew i had to catch up with LB. i heard a few selections from their Chitlin' Circuit mixtape that were pretty good.

today is the release date of Little Brother's major label debut The Minstrel Show on Atlantic Records. one of the singles, "Lovin' It" feat. Joe Scudda, has been permanently etched into my brain. 9th Wonder flips a sample from a Stylistics song for the track - just gorgeous. there's a video for it, but you won't see it on BET: reportedly, they think the video's "too intelligent" for their audience. whatever. support these brothers...they represent the hip-hop nation lovely.

it's almost disgusting how much i'm pleased with the latest edition of Radio BSOTS. i'm on some ol' "more music, less talk" flow and i dig it. plus i think it's just the right length - about 45 minutes. think i'm gonna roll with that from now on.

okay, so some electronic stuff, some random silliness, and some political fodder as well. decent show. currently online and available to stream in mp3 and RealAudio. for heads that choose to listen on the download (so to speak), here you go. feedback's always appreciated.

gotta score some more webspace so that i can keep more archives up. guess that's the next course of action...

(copped this one from The New York Times today...)

"We're getting shown a lot of love, but we're also getting a lot of stares like we're aliens or something. Am I the only person out here with dreadlocks?"
-SHELVIN COOTER, one of 583 people relocated from New Orleans to a National Guard camp south of Salt Lake City.

"don't even try. i'm sleeping inside with a big dog, an ugly woman, two shotguns, and a claw hammer."
-cautionary message to looters spray painted onto boarded-up oriental rug shop.

the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach when i heard that a second plane hit the towers. and relief and severe nausea upon finding out that my father-in-law wasn't in tower two...but was on his way there...

been listening to WFMU a lot lately. they've had some great shows in tribute to New Orleans. so i've been in a blues/jazz/funk/soul state of mind as of late, diggin' on sounds from Fats Domino, Louis Armstrong, Eddie Bo, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, etc. you may want to check the archives from the Aircheck radio program: one hour dedicated to various radio transmissions from around the world. about a week ago, Aircheck played host to a December 2004 broadcast on WWOZ, a community radio station based in New Orleans. Sadly, Hurricane Katrina wiped out this station, and WFMU is trying to help them get an internet broadcast going.

in addition, Aircheck put together a special show this past Thursday called "9/11 On The Air". this show includes various newsanchors reporting on the 9/11 attacks as they first occur. very interesting to hear what was being said on the air from the time the first plane struck until after both towers fell and how people were trying to piece together the motive for the attacks. it's not for everyone, but still an important audio document.

the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has brought forth voices of dissent both far and wide. i am of the opinion that class always trumps race, but any fool should be able to see that race and class often go hand in hand. nowhere is this more apparent than the majority of those who must suffer the most from this storm's outcome. eloquently written articles by William Jelani Cobb and Mark Anthony Neal make that abundantly clear.

meanwhile, Maurice O. Wallace appeals to brothers and sisters of the faith regarding the importance of mourning and acts of compassion. and then there's Kanye. think it's a safe bet to say that Time Magazine's probably regretting giving him a cover story not too long ago?

i quote an email that i recently received from the Complacent Nation: "you deserve to be f**king furious." anytime the media refers to blacks as "looters" while whites are "finding" bread and soda, that's blatant proof that this country is racist as hell.