In SYDLHH: Part 1, we looked at some of hip hop’s earliest influential tracks.  As mentioned therein, the DJs ruled the roost in early hip hop, and most artists got their start wanting to be DJs.  In fact, even Jay-Z notes in his memoir/book of annotated lyrics Decoded that he first wanted to be a DJ.  It didn’t take long, however, for MCs to take the hip hop crown, and with just a few exceptions (e.g. J Dilla, DJ Screw, the RZA, DJ Premier) they’ve never given it back.  In SYDLHH: Part 2 we will look at some of the earliest MCs and how they furthered the growth of the genre.  I intended initially to limit this overview to just one post, but there is simply too much to say about the 8 MCs I want to cover, so Part 2 will go up in two posts (and even limiting it to two posts requires me to repeatedly remind myself that this series is just an overview).

Run-D.M.C. – “It’s Like That” (March 12, 1983): Profile Records

Formed in Queens around 1982, Run-D.M.C. was made up of Run, D.M.C., and Jam Master Jay.  While the group wouldn’t break into the mainstream until 1986’s Raising Hell, they began changing the rap game as far back as 1983’s “It’s Like That” b/w “Sucker M.C.’s”.

Produced by Russell Simmons (Run’s brother) and Larry Smith, “It’s Like That” was released by Profile Records and while it didn’t exactly light the charts on fire, it did lay the ground work for a new version of hip hop.  As can be seen in Part 1, hip hop prior to Run-D.M.C. was dance oriented with MCs and DJs using sampled and looped funk, disco, electronic, and other dance beats to rule the clubs and street parties.  Run-D.M.C., however, particularly on tracks such as “It’s Like That”, introduced beats that were not sampled or looped but hit hard while containing a level of minimalism that allowed the beats to breathe.  These harder/minimalist beats would go on to provide the background for most hip hop of the next 25 years and are used almost exclusively in hardcore hip hop.  Similarly, Run-D.M.C.’s look in dress, Adidas track suits with gold chains and similar outfits, and performance set up, with only the three group members on stage, brought both a simultaneously hard and minimal feel to the group’s visuals.  Again, this ascetic became the hip hop standard.

Lyrically, “It’s Like That” extends the conscientious themes of  “The Message” through discussions of poverty and the difficulties faced by those simply trying to stay afloat.  Unlike a lot of similarly themed songs, however, and despite lines like “Won’t you tell me the last time that love bought you clothes”, “It’s Like That” is explicitly hopeful.  After describing the difficult lives of those around them, Run-D.M.C. close with four stanzas exhorting the listener to take the improvement of their lives into their own hands.  Of the four stanzas, my favorite is the call for education, “One thing I know is that life is short/So listen up homeboy, give this a thought/The next time someone’s teaching why don’t you get taught?/It’s like that (what?) and that’s the way it is”, but each of the four demonstrate a hopeful realism that would be central to Run-D.M.C.’s entire catalog.

Schoolly D – “P.S.K. What Does it Mean?” (1985): Schoolly D Records

The first artist discussed in SYDLHH not from the environs of New York City, Schoolly D is a Philadelphia native often credited as the first gangsta rapper.  In fact, Ice-T was inspired to write the first well known gangsta rap song “6 in the Mornin’” after hearing “P.S.K.” for the first time.  Produced by Schoolly D and DJ Code Money as a single on Schoolly D Records, before it was included on his debut self-titled release for Jive Records, “P.S.K. What Does it Mean?” is gangsta to the core.

Musically, “P.S.K. What Does it Mean?” is truly of its time.  Backed solely by drums and scratches (already demonstrating the minimalism Run-D.M.C. inaugurated two years earlier), Schoolly’s flow is molasses slow (unlike later gangsta rap, which tends to have accelerated flow) and, other than a brief sample at the beginning, Schoolly’s is the only voice you hear on the track.  Lyrically, “P.S.K.” includes the stories of sex, drugs, and violence that would become the norm for gangsta rap (P.S.K. itself is a direct reference to the Philadelphia gang the “Park Side Killas”).  The one difference between the stories in “P.S.K.” and the gangsta rap to come is that “P.S.K.” is substantially tamer and less graphic than N.W.A., the Geto Boys, etc.  For the time, however, it was a shocking depiction of life on the streets of Philadelphia in the early to mid 1980, and its influence cannot be understated.

LL Cool J – “I Can’t Live Without My Radio” (October 6, 1985): Def Jam Recordings

These days LL Cool J is mostly known as an actor on a procedural television show, but as a 17 year old in 1985, Def Jam released his debut album Radio, featuring lead single “I Can’t Live Without My Radio”.  With production from Rick Rubin, Radio as a whole is a vital hip hop document due to its status as the first full length release of seminal hip hop label Def Jam Recordings (following singles by T La Rock & Jazzy Jay, LL Cool J, and Beastie Boys, and an EP by Rubin’s band Hose).  Nonetheless, and with apologies to “Rock the Bells”, “I Can’t Live Without My Radio” is the album’s clear centerpiece.

“I Can’t Live…” was written by LL and Rubin and is an ode to the ghetto blaster, specifically one playing LL himself at high volume.  Lyrically, the track is a largely straightforward example of hip hop braggadocio with LL showing off his hard hitting flow, e.g. “My radio, believe me, I like it loud/I’m the man with the box that can rock the crowd/Walkin’ down the street, to the hardcore beat/While my JVC vibrates the concrete”, but LL does include a few Easter eggs for the careful listener.  Included among these Easter eggs are the following lines referencing Def Jam and Rubin: “Let your big butt bounce from right to left/Cause its a actual fact this jam is def/Most definitely created by me/Goin’ down in radio history/I’m good to go on your radio/And I’m cold gettin’ paid cause Rick said so.”

From a production standpoint, Rubin has become famous over the last three decades for his stripped down production style on everything from hip hop to Red Hot Chili Peppers to Johnny Cash.  “I Can’t Live…” is a perfect example of this style, with Run-D.M.C.’s minimalism taken to an extreme: Only a drum machine and a couple DJ scratches back LL.  In fact, there are moments, incredibly brief though they may be, where all sound drops away.  This gives the track a sparse feel and places the focus squarely on LL’s rhyming style for the simple reason that there is no place for LL to hide.  I think it would be intimidating as an artist to have the song hinge so strongly on the sound of your voice, but LL comes through with flying colors, and this is how I’ll remember him no matter how many fake crimes he solves.

Eric B. & Rakim – “Eric B. is President” (January 1, 1987): Zakia Records

Rakim is the “God MC” and Eric B. is as good a DJ as Rakim is an MC, so I’m not really sure what else needs to be said about Eric B. & Rakim, but I suppose…

Eric B. & Rakim met as teenagers when Eric B. (from Queens) began looking for an MC to work with and was introduced to Rakim (from Long Island) by a promoter.  They immediately started working together and hooked with Marley Marl for their first recording session.  Out of that session came “Eric B. is President”, which followed Run-D.M.C.’s lead when it comes to hard hitting beats, but differed in that it continued to use funk and dance track samples to back Rakim’s lyrics.  Whether Eric B. or Marley Marl was actually responsible for creating the music is strongly disputed, but in any event the track combines the bass line from Fonda Rae’s “Over Like a Fat Rat”, the drums from The Honey Drippers’ “Impeach the President”, and of course James’ Brown’s “Funky President”.  It’s a remarkable combination of tracks that creates a truly one-of-a-kind sound, but it’s Rakim that makes “Eric B. is President” great.

Rakim has a remarkable ability for rhyme that knows no equal.  At surface level his flow is incredibly smooth and easy, almost laid back, but a deeper listen shows just how much he mixes the rhyme structure up throughout “Eric B. is President”.  He starts out with some internal rhyming: “I came in the door, I said it before/I never let the mic magnetize me no more.”  Then moves to a line with a triple rhyme: “But it’s biting me, fighting me, inviting me to rhyme/I can’t hold back, I’m looking for that line.”  In the second verse he complicates things further by throwing in extra rhymes both within and overlapping lines: “I made it easy to dance to this/But can you detect what’s coming next from the flex of the wrist/Say indeed and I’ll proceed cause my man made a mix/If he bleed he won’t need no band-aid to fix.”  Listening to Rakim rhyme is remarkably similar to listening to a great jazz musician solo by taking a theme and gradually weaving it throughout a piece.  Just when you think Rakim has lost the thread he brings it back around and makes you sorry you ever doubted his virtuosity.

Some facts about me: I’m white (a full fledged WASP actually); I’m middle class; I’m in my 30s; I’m a father; I live in the midwest; and I love hip hop.  It’s that last one that surprises people.  Due to the first five things listed I’m not supposed to like hip hop, even though I’m a huge music fan.  Nonetheless, whether it’s Golden Era East Coast, hardcore West Coast, southern, indie, or otherwise, if it falls under the hip hop umbrella there’s a good chance I listen to it.

The simple reason people are surprised by my hip hop fandom is it’s not ‘my’ music.  Hip hop, rose from the streets to tell the stories of the street.  Meanwhile, I’m about as ‘street’ as a labradoodle, and can’t pretend to relate to hip hop’s stories through personal experience.  Those stories, or at least the ones many people identify as wholly representative of hip hop, are largely made up of hustling, gang banging, and the like, and involve violence, drug dealing, misogyny, and other things utterly alien to my suburban, midwestern upbringing.  Obviously songs of this type are a subcategory of the broader hip hop spectrum, but the real problem with the assumption that I wouldn’t be a hip hop fan is the underlying presumption that just because I haven’t personally experienced these things I have no interest in the art that is being created as a result.  Good art should challenge its audience in some way and hip hop often does so by confronting its listeners with hard truths.

It’s these twin issues of mistakenly thinking all hip hop deals with violence and misunderstanding the challenging aspects of the parts that do, that make it particularly hard for me to hear other music fans say something along the lines of, “I like all types of music…except hip hop.”  All music fans have certain genres or artists they don’t connect with (art is highly subjective after all), but too often the dislike of hip hop is based on these two issues without further investigation of the genre, and hip hop absolutely requires further investigation.  At surface level some things about hip hop can certainly be off putting, if not downright horrifying, but the art wouldn’t be honest without including the less than desirable aspects of the lives of the artists or their friends/family.  Put simply, you can’t properly document the street without using the language of the street.  Additionally, a close reading of many hip hop lyrics that deal with violence will demonstrate the violence, language, et al., are not in any way glorified, but rather demonstrative of a tragedy at the center of a story.

“So You Don’t Like Hip Hop” is my way of helping music fans navigate the world of hip hop to find that one style of hip hop, or even one song, that cuts through the noise and speaks directly to them.  I will present groups of tracks tied to together by things like era, locations, or style with a very brief description of why the track is important.  This really is a labor of love for me because I truly believe that once an entry point to the genre is found, music fans can follow their song down the rabbit hole of hip hop and emerge on the other side saying “I like all types of music.”  Up first we’ll look at hip hop’s earliest ground breakers:

The Sugarhill Gang – “Rapper’s Delight” (September 1979): Sugar Hill Records

“Now, what you hear is not a test/I’m rapping to the beat.”  The first line of the first hip hop song to chart in the U.S. (I don’t count Blondie’s “Rapture” as it was only partially ‘rapped’), reaching #36 on the pop charts and #1 on the R&B charts, is actually an explanation that Wonder Mike was not just talking to make sure the mic worked, but that his lyrics were actually the song.  Kind of an inauspicious beginning, but one that was needed.  The Sugarhill Gang was put together by Sugar Hill Records in an effort to capitalize on the burgeoning hip hop movement emanating from the Bronx, and the masses that were as yet unaware of the movement likely would have been utterly confused by what seemed to be Chic’s “Good Times” with random talking on it instead of the usual lyrics.  The members of Sugarhill, Wonder Mike, Big Bank Hank, and Master Gee, were basically unknown as rappers in the hip hop community (Big Bank Hank was the The Cold Crush Brothers’ manager, but his verse was ghostwritten by Cold Crush’s Grandmaster Caz), and the community did not take kindly to Sugarhill being the group that first brought hip hop to the mainstream.  Nonetheless, “Rapper’s Delight” remains a wonderfully fun introduction to the genre due in part to its (in)famous hook: “I said a hip, hop, the hippie – the hippie/To the hip hip-hop, and you don’t stop/The rock it to the bang-bang, boogie say ‘up jump’/The boogie to the rhythm of the boogie: the beat.” Other great lines include: “Ya see I’m six foot one and I’m tons of fun/And I dress to a ‘T’/Ya see I got more clothes than Muhammad Ali and I dress so viciously”; “Have you ever went over a friend’s house to eat/And the food just ain’t no good?/I mean the macaroni’s soggy the peas are mushed/And the chicken tastes like wood”; and of course “So you bust out the door while it’s still closed/Still sick from the food you ate/And then you run to the store for quick relief/From a bottle of Kaopectate.”  This isn’t a song with a deep message, or any message at all, but the mix of the “Good Times” instrumentation and fun rhymes are perfect to put on for a Saturday night out.

Funky 4 + 1 – “That’s the Joint” (January 1980): Sugar Hill Records

The first hip hop group from the Bronx to get a record deal (later to be the first hip hop group to perform on national television via Saturday Night Live), at the time of “That’s the Joint” Funky 4+1 was KK Rockwell, Keith Keith, Lil’ Rodney Cee, Jazzy Jeff (no not that Jazzy Jeff), and the first recorded female MC, Sha Rock.  As was often the case in the early days, Funky 4 + 1 was incredibly young with no one in the group being 18 yet when they formed in 1979.  On January 1, 1980, the group released their nearly 10 minute classic, “That’s the Joint” on Sugar Hill Records.  While The Sugarhill Gang’s MCs simply traded verses on “Rapper’s Delight”, Funky 4 + 1 had worked together long enough to create a true crew track, with MCs trading lines within verses and joining in unison at times.  The song was arranged by Clifton Jiggs Chase, an in-house producer at Sugar Hill who later sequenced “The Message” (see below), and part of the track was later sampled by Beastie Boys on both “Shadrach” and “Shake Your Rump”.  The track’s lyrics feature the type of braggadocio that dominated early rap lyrics and still pops up with some regularity.  Braggadocio was, and is, so common in hip hop due to the genre’s roots in battle rapping.  Rapping started on street corners, at outdoor parties, and then in clubs, and if you wanted to get on the mic you had to show you had what it took by standing out.  This was ordinarily accomplished by simply taking on your competition directly in a battle.  As battling really gives the MC two options to demonstrate their superiority, run down the opponent or talk up themselves, battle rappers quickly became proficient at coming up with new, interesting, and continuously more complex ways to do both.  “That’s the Joint” contains countless examples of early techniques and is a quintessential example of the myriad ways MCs could brag on themselves (as well as shout out some other artists they like).

Kurtis Blow – “The Breaks” (September 1980): Mercury

Kurtis Blow, named ‘blow’ by his manager Russell Simmons after a punch not cocaine,  was the first MC to sign with a major label (Mercury).  His debut self-titled album is somewhat scatter shot in style and quality, veering from hip hop to R&B to rock, but second single, “The Breaks”, despite peaking only at #87 on the Billboard Hot 100, was the first rap song to go gold and is a true classic.  The beat in “The Breaks” is original and the lyrics mention many, many types of “breaks”: Brakes on buses, cars, planes, and trains; the bad breaks of losing your job or your girlfriend; and breaks (pauses) in war, to name a few.  The focus of the track, however, is on the breaks that “will rock your shoes.”  The track contains six separate ‘breaks’ (dropping everything but percussion and guitar for a period), which are designed for dances and are really the basis of the song’s popularity.  The development of the break is credited to DJ Kool Herc, also credited with bringing Jamaican sound systems to the Bronx thereby lighting the spark that would become hip hop, who noticed that party goers preferred the breaks that already existed in songs.  Accordingly, in the early to mid 70s he developed what he called the “Merry-Go-Round” (switching from break to break on multiple turn tables), which greatly extend breaks and sent partiers into a frenzy.  Early hip hop artists built upon the “Merry-Go-Round” by creating tracks made up of breaks, and obviously “The Breaks” is a prime example of this development.  Again, there is no larger message to the track, but it is fantastic for parties.

Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force – “Planet Rock” (April 1982): Tommy Boy

1982 was the year hip hop really started to break (to get another use of the word into this article), and Afrika Bambaataa, already a leading figure in the genre, was at the forefront of the explosion.  Bambaataa started to DJ after hearing Kool Herc around 1973 and is one of the most interesting figures in hip hop history (I look at him as hip hop’s Sun Ra).  Bambaataa was born sometime between 1957 and 1960 and prior to getting involved in hip hop was a warlord of the Bronx gang the Black Spades.  After he visited Africa (thanks to winning an essay contest) and as the 70s progressed, however, he became involved in gang peace movements, changed his name to Afrika Bambaataa Aasim, and converted his gang work into the formation of the Zulu Nation (a positive community group in opposition to gangs), using hip hop to grow the Nation.  The Soul Sonic Force were Bambaataa’s MCs and on “Planet Rock” included G.L.O.B.E., Mr. Biggs, and Pow Wow.  On “Planet Rock” Bambaataa and the Sonic Force combined their love of funk and electronic music (the track is built upon the melody from Kraftwerk’s “Trans-Europe Express”) to create a groundbreaking sound that not only still serves as the basis for g-funk, but moves beyond hip hop to be a strong influence on house music.  “Planet Rock”‘s lyrics have had far less of an impact than its music, but they are no less interesting, focusing as they do on a message of peace and using music to bring people from around the world together on the dance floor.  A prime example of Bambaataa’s message are the lines: “You’re in a place where the nights are hot/Where nature’s children dance and set a chance/On this Mother Earth, which is our rock/The time has come, and work for soul, show you really got soul/Are you ready hump bump bump, get bump, now let’s go, house.”

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five feat. Melle Mel and Duke Bootee – “The Message” (May 1982): Sugar Hill Records

Another Godfather of hip hop, and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (whatever that’s worth), Grandmaster Flash also learned how to DJ from watching guys like DJ Kool Herc and was the first DJ to truly master scratching.  The Furious Five, like the Soul Sonic Force, acted as Grandmaster Flash’s MCs (goes to show how much more important DJs were in the early days of hip hop that they were the named party), and were comprised of Cowboy, Kid Creole, Melle Mel, Rahiem, and Scorpio (Duke Bootee was a Sugar Hill session musician).  Just the month after Bambaataa released “Planet Rock” and forever altered the music of hip hop, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five released “The Message” and did the same for hip hop lyrics by creating the first great hip hop story track.  Prior to “The Message”, Grandmaster Flash, like basically all hip hop artists, primarily made party music, but the song’s hook alone (“Don’t push me cause I’m close to the edge/I’m trying not to lose my head/It’s like a jungle sometimes/It makes me wonder how I keep from going under”) was enough to shock the listener through its depiction of living on a razor’s edge.  Add to that the song’s verses (particularly the specifics of the smell of urine everywhere, the party girl who becomes homeless and turns to prostitution, and the horrors of prison after turning to a life of crime to survive) and the horrors of inner city life were truly brought to the masses.  “The Message” only hit #62 on Billboard’s Hot 100, but all the conscious hip hop that followed can trace its history to the track, and it was the first hip hop song added to the United States’ National Recording Registry of historic sound recordings.  I really want all readers of this post to listen to all five featured songs, but if you must only listen to one, make it this one.

As Atmosphere noted in their song “Shhh”, there isn’t a lot to brag about in Minnesota.  It’s cold, there aren’t really any tourist destinations (sorry Mary Tyler Moore statue) and the popular sports teams are varying levels of terrible.  One thing we do have, though, is the Purple Yoda himself: Prince.  Prince Rogers Nelson was born in Minneapolis and while he has lived outside the state, Minnesota has always been his home.  That said, Prince hasn’t performed in Minnesota since a run of three shows at various venues in 2007.

On the morning of Tuesday, January 15, 2013, however, Prince announced a run of six ‘rehearsal’ shows at the Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant in downtown Minneapolis.  The Dakota is a small jazz venue that seats less than 300, so it was initially a surprise that Prince would hold the concerts there rather than his home base at Paisley Park.  Turns out, the band fun. is starting a tour in St. Paul on the 23rd and had rented out Paisley Park as their rehearsal space.  So Prince decided to move his rehearsals to another location, but being Prince he couldn’t let that be the only curve ball he through his fans.  Jaws really dropped when folks learned that the six shows would be over three nights (shows at 8:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. each day), each night would have a different theme, and the shows were scheduled for the next three nights: Wednesday the 16th through Friday the 18th.  The shows were broken down as follows:

Wednesday, January 16, 2013, “Soundcheck”: Prince auditioning a new drummer and performing improvised music.  Gimme Noise’s review can be found here.

Thursday, January 17, 2013, “Jam!!!”: Prince and the band playing an after party vibe.  The Current’s review is here.

Friday, January 18, 2013, “Surprise!! (don’t miss this)”: It’s a surprise, so who knows what is going to happen.  I have serious doubts that even Prince knew initially what he wanted to do at these shows.

Tickets to all shows went on sale on Tuesday, and I was able to navigate the music world’s destruction of the Dakota’s ticket buying website to secure tickets to the Friday Surprise 8:00 show.

As the week went on, speculation was rampant about what the surprise would be, with the popular assumption being that Prince would unveil an all female backing band.  Some, were hoping for something crazier though, including Current host Mary Lucia who noted that with Prince “god only knows who will show up, he could unearth the body of James Brown”.  When Prince took the stage it was clear that the rumors were correct as he was joined in a traditional rock quartet by three females: Donna on guitar; Ida on bass; and Hannah on drums.  As we know with Prince, he likes the women around him to be young and gorgeous and these three certainly qualify.  We also know, though, that he’s not going to let anyone on stage with him that doesn’t have the chops to keep up, and again they definitely fit the bill.  I don’t know where Prince found them (seriously does he have a lab where he creates all these gorgeous and talented women?), but I’m glad he did.

The bigger surprise, though, was that after Wednesday night’s crowd saw bandleader Prince, and Thursday got keyboard jamming Prince, Friday was gifted with the presence of guitar virtuoso/rock god Prince.  The band took the stage and Prince stood silently at the front with his guitar strapped on and his head bowed (wearing pants with one black and one white leg, what appeared to be a purple velour jacket (the lighting at the Dakota wasn’t designed for this kind of show so it was hard to tell for sure), a white puffy shirt open to the chest, and gold chains).  As the crowd whooped and tittered, Prince give a forceful ‘shhhh’, instantly silencing the crowd and drawing a Cheshire grin from the man of the hour.  Silence then fell again for about 20 seconds.  It seemed at first that Prince might be setting the mood, but once the music started it was clear the silence was just the calm before the storm.  The band launched into a raucous five song stretch (“Endorphinemachine” – “Screwdriver” – “When You Were Mine” – “Guitar” – (song that has left my memory)) that didn’t give anyone a chance to breathe.  Thereafter, the show was a wonderful, noisy blur of cymbal crashes, funky bass lines, and screaming guitar solos from both Prince and Donna.  There were only occasional chances to catch our breath when Prince took to the piano.  In short, to quote a friend of mine, Prince and the band “rocked our [word omitted in deference to Prince no longer cursing] faces off”.

Highlights of the set included the funky slow jam “Beautiful Strange”, which may well have impregnated several women in the audience, to close the main set, a solo piano version of “How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore” to open the encore, and the surprise of the night: “Purple Rain”.  To be fair, “Purple Rain was both a highlight and slightly disappointing (if that’s possible).  It was disappointing both because it was one of the few songs where Prince put his guitar to the side and played the piano, and because the band chilled the song out while only playing the first verse and extended outro.  It was a highlight, though, because it was Prince playing “Purple Rain” 25 or so feet away from me, and to be honest it’s hard to be objective about that.

Another happy surprise was Prince’s mood.  He was clearly having a great time on the evening, cracking several jokes including asking if anyone in the crowd was related to him before stating that we’re all related, noting about drummer Hannah, “spell it backwards and it’s the same”, and referring to himself at one point as an “androgynous pirate”.

Put all of this together, and it is difficult for me to say I’ve ever been to a more enjoyable show.  Judging by the smiles on the rest of the audience’s faces as they left the Dakota in a deaf daze, I don’t think I’m alone in this belief.  Accordingly, Prince gets an A+.

Top 20

1. Purity Ring – Shrines: 2011 introduced us to Purity Ring through the singles “Ungirthed”, “Lofticries”, and “Belispeak”, and each of these songs could have made my best of list. Accordingly, I was highly anticipating the release of the band’s debut full length. When news broke that each of these songs would be included on Shrines, however, I grew concerned that Purity Ring didn’t have the depth of quality for a full LP. Obviously, Shrines’ placement on this list demonstrates that my concern was unfounded. With tracks like “Obedear”, “Fineshrine”, and “Crawlersout” added to the early singles, Purity Ring created a dark synth pop gem. The only real negative to the album is the inclusion of the frankly dreadful, “Grandloves”.
2. The Men – Open Your Heart: I’m incredibly hesitant to even make the comparison, but The Men remind me strongly of Hüsker Dü. Both bands came on the scene with a burst of noise rock, but the early material of each demonstrated true pop sensibilities. Over the years, Hüsker Dü allowed more of those sensibilities to emerge, and with Open Your Heart, The Men are following the same script. The album opens with tracks reminiscent of Leave Home and the band’s earlier work, but those soon give way to pop hooks and even an experiment with alt country. The experiment is the album’s lone misstep, but even as a failure it further proves that The Men are going to take chances even at the risk of alienating their audience, and that’s a Hüsker Dü move if ever there was one.
3. Frank Ocean – Channel Orange: So much ink has already been used on Channel Orange, I’m not sure there is any ground left to cover. From Ocean’s preemptive announcement regarding his first love, and the importance of such a confession from a hip hop/r&b star; to the release of the phenomenal “Pyramids”; and finally to the release of the album itself, Ocean has shown he not only can write a massively enjoyable and critically acclaimed album, but that he can play the fame game as well. The last few weeks have begun to see a bit of backlash against the album, but with tracks like “Thinkin Bout You”, “Sweet Life”, “Pyramids”, “Lost”, and especially “Bad Religion”, Channel Orange has earned its place in the canon and isn’t going anywhere.
4. Dirty Projectors – Swing Lo Magellan: Bitte Orca was my favorite album of 2009 and I still love to listen to it today. That said, even I can admit it gets awfully pretentious at times. On Swing Lo Magellan, David Longstreth does an excellent job of toning down the pretension by reigning in his vocal yips, writing more straight pop hooks, and even poking some fun at himself on “Unto Caesar” by leaving in Amber Coffman’s teasing studio chatter. In doing so, Longstreth allows the band’s best attributes to shine through. The gorgeous harmonies of Coffman and co., syncopated beats, and use of space are given room to breathe and create a wonderful album of weird indie pop.
5. Beach House – Bloom: Beach House is a band that knows who they are and does not mess with the formula. Fortunately for them, that formula of shoegazey dream pop is an absolute winner. Before even pressing play on my first listen to Bloom I knew exactly what it would sound like, but that fact didn’t make it any less captivating. The superb “Myth” sets the mood much as “Zebra” did for 2010’s Teen Dream, and what follows is an hour’s worth of lush, contemplative, layered pop, highlighted by “Wild”, “Lazuli”, and “New Year”, that is perfect for both lying in the park on a sunny day or huddling inside while the snow flies.

 
6. Japandroids – Celebration Rock: The fact that two guys from Vancouver can make a racket as fantastic as that found on Celebration Rock is remarkable. The fact they can do it while admitting to hating the recording process, and only doing it so they can continue touring, is mind blowing. Celebration Rock starts strong with “The Nights of Wine and Roses” and doesn’t let up until reaching a massive crescendo with the album’s closing two tracks. Those two tracks, “The House that Heaven Built” and “Continuous Thunder”, are without doubt the best one, two punch released this year, and cap off a truly great album in the way it deserves.
7. Cloud Nothings – Attack on Memory: Cloud Nothings started as the solo bedroom project of Dylan Baldi that fit in well with all the lo-fi indie pop coming out in 2009-2010. So it came as a bit of a surprise to hear that the now four-piece band was recording an album with Steve Albini. Turns out, the band knew what they were doing. While Baldi’s earlier work had a bit of a punk feel there was still a sweetness to his songs. With Attack on Memory, however, the band has fully abandoned that sweetness for a sharper, noisier, and most of all harder sound. In fact, I’ve seen Attack on Memory described as “post-hardcore”, and while I’ve never liked that particular genre tag, I can certainly hear post-hardcore kings Fugazi all over Attack on Memory.
8. Killer Mike – R.A.P. Music: It seems like Killer Mike has been around forever. He made his debut in 2000 on Outkast’s Stankonia, and has been a fixture of the ATL hip hop scene ever since. His southern growl has brought his particular brand of political rap (attacking politics as a whole, while making sure to share his venom in a bipartisan manner) to solo work, guest appearances, and even television and movies. Somehow, though, he’s never quite had a breakthrough album until R.A.P. Music. With R.A.P. Music, however, he has released an absolute classic of political hip hop, highlighted by “Anywhere But Here” and “Reagan”, and finally broken through to a truly national audience.
9. Poliça – Give You the Ghost: I previously discussed Poliça in Dispatches from Funkytown #3, but Give You the Ghost has been released since that time, and it lived up to the hype. The band’s dark synth pop, supported by two drum kits, is at the same time both alluring and somewhat disturbing, and while the autotune on Channy Leaneagh’s vocals can come on strong, its use is understandable in the context of the band. In fact, the album is so impressive the band was signed to, and Give You the Ghost rereleased by, the highly respected indie label Mom & Pop this summer. If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to listen to the album, do so now.
10. Kendrick Lamar – good kid, m.A.A.d. city: good kid, m.A.A.d. city is an album that has already been dissected ad nauseum, has rightfully topped countless year end lists, and likely is the instant classic those lists claim. There’s nothing for me to add to what others have said.

 
11. Brother Ali – Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color: It’s unfortunate that Brother Ali does his best work when life is at its hardest, but with Mourning in America he has certainly turned his pain into our gain.

 
12. Grimes – Visions: With its underpinnings of K-Pop and EDM, Visions could well turn out to be the album of 2012.

 
13. P.O.S. – We Don’t Even Live Here: An absolute banger of an album that seamlessly melds P.O.S.’s hip hop and punk influences with a dash of EDM.

 
14. Metric – Synthetica: The Canadian pop group’s best album yet, highlighted by “Youth Without Youth”, “Breathing Under Water”, and the title track.

 
15. Joey Bada$$ – 1999: I wrote about this brilliant mixtape earlier here.

 
16. Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel…: This album is unmistakably, unapologetically Fiona Apple, and that’s a great thing after such a long layoff.

 
17. How to Dress Well – Total Loss: Ethereal indie R&B that has the one thing most artists of Tom Krell’s ilk lack: actual songs.

 
18. Hot Chip – In Our Heads: “Night and Day” and “Flutes” almost single handedly get In Our Heads on this list, but the album is absolutely chock full of great dance tracks.

 
19. Yeasayer – Fragrant World: This album is missing the top level singles of Yeasayer’s previous work, but lands here based on its across the board quality.

 
20. Bob Mould – Silver Age: I admit to a soft spot where Mr. Mould is concerned, but Silver Age will go down as one of the classics of his canon.

Honorable Mentions (Alphabetical Order)

Bat for Lashes – The Haunted Man
Dan Deacon – America
Dylan Ettinger – Lifetime of Romance
Frankie Rose – Interstellar
godspeed you! black emperor – Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!
Hospitality – Hospitality
John Talabot – fIN
Miguel – Kaleidoscope Dream
The Mountain Goats – Transcendental Youth
Santigold – Master of My Make-Believe

Like all music scenes, the Twin Cities have their own pantheon of local greats.  Prince, The Replacements, The Suicide Commandos, The Suburbs, Soul Asylum, The Jayhawks, and Atmosphere to name a few.  Then there is Hüsker Dü.  Active from 1979-1987, Hüsker Dü is a music typologist’s nightmare.  Initially the band’s work could be described as ‘hardcore’, but over the years both songwriters, Bob Mould and Grant Hart, drifted more and more into poppier college radio territory.  Taken as a whole the band’s catalog can claim, as with a number of other independent ’80s bands, inspiration for all the ‘alternative’ and ‘modern’ rock that was to follow (Kim Deal famously joined Pixies after answering an ad looking for a bass player who liked both Peter, Paul and Mary and Hüsker Dü).  Perhaps more importantly, though, Hüsker Dü was at the forefront of the ’80s DIY movement which helped create the independent music scene (regardless of genre) that we enjoy today.*

It has been 25 years since Hüsker Dü called it quits following its final performance in Columbia, Missouri.  During that time each of the band members has moved on with their lives.  Bob Mould has had a very successful career both as a solo artist and with the band Sugar, Grant Hart has been less commercially successful but has put out some no less excellent music with the band Nova Mob and under his own name, and Greg Norton took his handlebar mustache to chef school and now owns a restaurant in Red Wing, Minnesota.  I decided it would be interesting to explore how the places that were important to the band have changed in that same time period, so I did some research, grabbed my camera, and toured the Twin Cities.  This is the result:

Bob Mould was raised in upstate New York and moved to St. Paul in 1978 to attend Macalester College.  Macalester’s location hasn’t changed, but there have been quite a few buildings added to the campus since he graduated in 1982.  In fact, a large portion of the campus would be unrecognizable to an alumnus who had not seen the campus in the last 30 years.  Pictured here is the corner of Grand Avenue and Macalester Street, and both buildings in this photo existed at the time  Mould attended the school.  The building on the right is Weyerhaeuser Hall and the one slightly visible behind the trees is Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel.

Less than a block to the west of the above picture, this parking lot sits on Grand Avenue.  It wasn’t always a parking lot, however.  In a prior life there was a building here that housed Cheapo Records (the store has since moved about 5 blocks northeast), where Grant Hart worked.  It was here where Mould went record shopping and met Hart.  The two quickly realized they shared a lot in common and decided to start a band.  They still needed a bass player, but Hart knew just the guy.

Greg Norton worked less than 2 miles from Cheapo at Northern Lights Records, 1451 University Avenue.  It was in the Northern Lights basement that Hüsker Dü held its early rehearsals, and the store’s address was the band’s first mailing address.  Today the address is a hair salon, but another record store Urban Lights Music is next door.  If I had to guess, I’d say the store’s name is not a coincidence.

Mould, Hart, and Norton quickly began jamming together, but the first shows they played together were at Ron’s Randolph Inn, formerly located at 1217 Randolph in St. Paul, now also a hair salon.  At the time the band was a quartet called Buddy and the Returnables with Charlie Pine acting as the band’s frontman and organist.  The quartet lasted only a couple of shows, however, and Hüsker Dü was soon born.

The Norton family home, where Greg lived at the band’s formation, is located south of St. Paul in Mendota Heights.  Many early rehearsals took place here, and the address was used as the home address of Hüsker Dü’s own label, Reflex Records (although most of its releases were on SST), until offices and a recording studio were acquired in Minneapolis.  The neighborhood is a quiet middle class one that was clearly built in the ’60s and ’70s, and does not appear to have changed much in the last 30 years.

The band’s first show as Hüsker Dü took place at Jay’s Longhorn Bar, 14 – 5th Street South in Minneapolis, on May 13, 1979.  The part-time steakhouse and part-time punk rock club was ground zero for the coming Minneapolis punk/hardcore scene, hosting everyone from The Ramones to Pere Ubu.  In the summer of 1979, Hüsker Dü played the room constantly after simply setting up during the steakhouse’s lunchtime rush and playing until they were given a gig.  Then they played some more.  Today the Longhorn is a private parking ramp.

Since 1970, First Avenue has been located in Minneapolis’ former Greyhound bus depot.  The site of most of the musical performances in Prince’s Purple Rain, First Avenue is one of the few venues played by Hüsker Dü remaining in the Twin Cities.  The entrance to the 7th Street Entry is visible on the left side of the photograph.

First Avenue’s former coat room, the 7th Street Entry was opened in 1980 as a 300 capacity room.  Hüsker Dü first played the Entry on March 26, 1980, and it was here that the band recorded its debut album Land Speed Record on August 15, 1981.

In 1982-1983, Mould acted as booker and promoter for Goofy’s Upper Deck at the corner of 2nd Avenue and Glenwood Avenue in Minneapolis.  Located 2 blocks from First Avenue and the 7th Street Entry, the room was on the second floor of a bar/strip club and focused on all ages shows for both up and coming Minnesota bands as well as national acts such as Black Flag and the Minutemen.  Reflex Records recorded its live Twin Cities hardcore compilation Kitten: A Compilation at the Upper Deck in 1982.  Today, like the Longhorn, Goofy’s is a parking ramp for Target Center and Target Field.

Located at 250 – 5th Street East in St. Paul, this window is the one featured on the cover of 1983′s Metal Circus.  It’s an empty room at the moment.  Below is the building across the street, which hasn’t changed much since Grant Hart took the album cover photo.

Starting in approximately 1983, 2541 Nicollet in Minneapolis, was the location of Nicollet Studios, Twin/Tone, and Reflex Records.  It was at Nicollet that Hüsker Dü recorded New Day Rising, Flip Your Wig, Candy Apple Grey, and Warehouse: Songs and Stories.  The address was also the inspiration for Hart’s solo track “2541″.  Today, the building’s office area is a Mexican restaurant, but the studio is still in use.

Above is East Cedar Beach in Minneapolis, the beach is featured on the cover of New Day Rising.  With the amount of tree growth over the last 27 years I was unable to determine exactly where the photo was taken, but this is definitely the beach.

In his autobiography, Bob Mould describes what he states was the official break up of Hüsker Dü at the home of Grant Hart’s parents in South St. Paul.  When I was researching the address of the home I learned it had suffered a fire in December of last year, but according to everything I was able to find it seemed the house was still standing.  Much to my surprise, however, when I got to the address I found a vacant lot and a for sale sign.  Like the band, the house is gone.

*  For an in depth look at the band’s history and influence I strongly recommend Michael Azerrad’s Our Band Could Be Your Life, Bob Mould’s autobiography See a Little Light: The Trail of Rage and Melody, and Andrew Earles’ Hüsker Dü: The Story of the Noise-Pop Pioneers Who Launched Modern Rock.  None of these books is a perfect history of the band (the first only dedicates a chapter to the band and the later two both suffer somewhat from only presenting part of the story), but each will give the reader an overview of why Hüsker Dü is important.

Thus far, 2012 has been a fantastic year for free mixtapes and LPs.  While there hasn’t been anything with the widespread impact of The Weeknd’s 2011 trilogy, the depth and breadth of free releases demonstrates that artists across genres are taking advantage of the internet to get their music into people’s hands like never before.  In furtherance of our goal at Music is Good to highlight some lesser known, but no less important music, below are three that should be a part of any music collection:

Domo Genesis & Alchemist – No Idols

Odd Future member Domo Genesis and Dilated Peoples associate and all around top notch producer Alchemist hooked up on what is a fantastic showcase of one of the lesser known Odd Future MCs.  Alchemist’s production provides a perfect compliment to Domo’s lyrics as he mixes up the speed, style, and flow of the album from track to track.  In fact, the beats and samples used here would form a top notch beat tape on their own, but they never overwhelm Domo or otherwise steal focus from Domo’s technical flow (that thankfully avoids the shock therapy for which Odd Future first became famous).  In addition to Domo, there are several guests MCs on the album, Tyler, the Creator, Earl Sweatshirt, and Action Bronson among them, but there is no question that No Idols is Domo Genesis’ coming out party.

I/O – Isolation

Isolation is New York R&B artist of Nigerian descent Ayo Olatunji’s latest release under the I/O moniker (after 2011’s 8 Bit Love), and the title is apt.  The album’s use of space and volume evoke a feeling of loneliness by creating an illusion of distance between the music and listener that can be felt even on headphones.  Somehow, however, this feeling never crosses over into brooding.  Instead, the mix and Olatunji’s silky vocals simply create a meditative mood that is perfect for quiet thought, while the often bouncy synths and low end propel the music to a hopeful place.  This album is highly recommended for fans of The Weeknd and Frank Ocean.

Joey Bada$$ – 1999

Joey Bada$$ is a 17 year old hip hop prodigy and member of The Progressive Era (Pro Era) collective.  With production from other Pro Era Members, as well as J Dilla and MF Doom beats, Joey has created a true throwback to golden era east coast hip hop, which is odd since Joey was born after A Tribe Called Quest’s The Low End Theory, Nas’ Illmatic, and most of the other albums that clearly influenced him were released.  Nonetheless, 1999 is old school New York boom-bap at its absolute best.  In fact, this album is so well done that it almost certainly will be included on my year end ‘best of 2012’ list.  Any fans of golden era hip hop that haven’t already done so must immediately download 1999, as well as its follow up, Rejex, consisting of tracks that didn’t quite make the cut for 1999.

Dirty Projectors brought their new album Swing Lo Magellan to First Avenue in Minneapolis on July 15, 2012, and Purity Ring tagged along for the last of their six dates opening on the tour before their debut LP, Shrines, is released on July 24 via 4AD.  I came home from the show with Shrines (at first listen it’s as good as hoped), and a Dirty Projectors’ tour only 7″ (limited to 1000) that cannot be purchased but is free when you tell the merch booth the secret Twitter word for that show (this time it was “Fuel Vapour Hose”). It has the unreleased tracks “Buckle Up” and “Desire to Love”, and only about 20 are being brought to each show.  I passed on the “Gun Has No Trigger” square 7″ that comes in a hard case with the lyrics to the song etched into the case in cuneiform. My wife already rolls her eyes at me enough so I didn’t drop $15 for that. It was seriously cool looking though.

Purity Ring

Holy [insert favorite curse word here]. I often feel like opening acts get a bit of an inflated grade from me because I go in with lesser expectations. When those expectations are met the band is graded accordingly, but if they are exceeded the grade may not accurately reflect the performance itself.  Grade inflation is not a concern here. I have all the tracks Purity Ring has already released and have been eagerly waiting the LP, so I was anticipating seeing them nearly as much as Dirty Projectors. Despite these elevated expectations, the band blew me away. The duo sets up with a simple backdrop of three fabric color panels (pink, green, and orange), a bass drum on a head high stand played occasionally by vocalist Megan James, and a synth table for Corin Roddick. This was no ordinary synth table, though, as it is set with 8 lights that change color throughout the set and were clearly wired to light up and trigger some of the synth sounds when struck with a drum stick. At first I thought the stick work may just be for show with all the synth sounds preprogrammed.  After all watching some work a table isn’t the most exciting thing in a live setting.  Those thoughts were abandoned, however, when it appeared Corin was having an issue with one of the lights during “Obedear” requiring his attention in between strikes and knob twists.  Megan’s later striking of the lights while Corin worked elsewhere on the table reinforced the appearance that the lights were an active instrument.  Other than the lights on the synth table, the only lighting for the set was an occasional spot behind the fabric backdrop, a light inside the bass drum that went off when the drum was struck and at a few other times, and a small, almost warehouse-like, light that sat on the floor or was held by Megan. None of the house lighting was used, so the band was primarily in darkness. Add this to the throbbing bass synths, and a complete lack of stage banter until a few sentences prior to the last two songs, and the whole show took on a heavier feel than comes through on record.

The show started with a brooding track I was unfamiliar with, but it did the job of hooking the audience immediately. Following that up with “Belispeak” and “Lofticries” while keeping “Ungirthed” to end of the set put them in position to hold the crowd for the entirety of the show, and it worked. I’ve never seen a First Avenue crowd as enraptured by an opening act (especially one without an LP to their name). It was absolutely phenomenal. This is a band that if you have any interest in synth/electronic music you must see, and soon. They are still young enough that after their set Megan was at the merch table interacting with folks, but she won’t be able to do that much longer.

Purity Ring gets the highest grade I have ever given an opening act: an A.

Dirty Projectors

After Purity Ring, I was concerned Dirty Projectors might suffer by comparison, but those concerns were unfounded. The six band members came out in a much more traditional look of drums, bass, guitars, and synths, with a plain white backdrop and standard lighting, but that is where tradition ended. After opening with the odd choice of “Dance For You”, which I question only because of its tempo and lack of excitement, it is a beautiful song and would have fit perfectly later in the set, but led to an unsteady start, they quickly ramped up.  It was absolutely enthralling to watch them create their harmonies and syncopated beats in a live setting. “Just From Chevron” was particularly impressive as the three ladies clapped out different rhythms while simultaneously blending the three part harmonies for which the band is known. I am hardly a musician, but I did play trumpet through college so I can appreciate just how much self control it takes to play outside of standard rhythms, and to do so while singing so purely is remarkable.

The set was dominated as expected by Swing Lo Magellan, with “Gun Has No Trigger” having the lyrics projected behind the band in cuneiform.  “Offspring Are Blank” and “The Socialites” were also highlights. (Amber Coffman really got to show off her voice on “The Socialites”.  Between her and Megan James there was no shortage of beautiful lead female vocals last night.) After “Cannibal Resource” was played third, Bitte Orca was absent until the penultimate song of the main set when they pulled out an absolutely fantastic version of “Useful Chamber”. The bass was ramped up, the guitar was shredding, and the song became truly heavy (a word I never thought I’d use to describe Dirty Projectors). That was followed by “Unto Caesar”, fast becoming my favorite track on Magellan, which is even better without the album’s admittedly hilarious aside from Amber that Dave Longstreth’s lyrics make no sense.

After a brief break the band returned, but had to change course when Amber’s amp gave out before the encore started. They quickly moved to a song with Amber only on vocals and then closed with “Stillness is the Move” (still fantastic) and a lovely rendition of “Impregnable Question”. It was the type of set that ended far too soon, and those are fairly rare. Accordingly, Dirty Projectors also gets an A.

Founded in 1995 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Rhymesayers Entertainment has risen to the top of the heap of independent hip hop labels.  Over the years it has grown from releasing albums solely by its founders, to becoming the home base for most of the surprisingly fertile Minnesota hip hop scene, and finally to being the label home for albums by indie hip hop greats regardless of hometown.  In fact, since its founding, Atmosphere, MF Doom, Brother Ali, Aesop Rock, and P.O.S have all called Rhymesayers home.

Despite this success, Rhymesayers continues to expand as it follows its mission to put its “dreams, passions, and destinies in their own hands.”  One of those dreams is to continue growing hip hop in the Twin Cities area, so in 2008 Rhymesayers founded the Soundset hip hop festival.  Held on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, Soundset started in the Metrodome parking lot, but has since moved to Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minnesota.

More important then the location switch, however, the last five years have seen Soundset grow beyond showcasing solely artists on the Rhymesayers label to bringing both titans and the next generation of hip hop to the upper Midwest.  2012 was no exception as Ghostface Killah & Raekwon and Lupe Fiasco joined Atmosphere as scheduled headliners while Action Bronson, Kendrick Lamar, and Danny Brown played earlier in the day with Rhymesayers’ own I Self Devine and Evidence.

The festival grounds opened at 11:00 a.m. giving concertgoers an hour prior to the first performance in which to explore the non-music part of the day.  Traditionally, hip hop is comprised of four separate pillars: DJing, MCing, graffiti, and breaking, and Soundset provides an opportunity to enjoy all four pillars and then some.  From the time the gates opened, DJs provided a soundtrack to B-Boy/B-Girl competitions, four graffiti artists demonstrated their craft on a specially prepared wall, and MCs were of course front and center.  Beyond these cornerstones of hip hop, however, Soundset also featured skate boarding exhibitions and a custom car competition.

On the whole, the festival was excellent.  Turnout was high (estimated at about 20,000), food options were varied (I even saw a vegan/gluten free both), and the music was top notch.  Brother Ali acted as the host for the day and used the opportunity to perform a few songs, including two off his forthcoming album, and otherwise did a good, if repetitive, job of running the show.  The only real negatives were: 1) Astronautalis playing on a side stage at the same time as the headliners were on the main stages, causing many, including myself, to have to miss him; and 2) 90+ degree weather for most of the day until right before Atmosphere’s closing set when a storm blew in and a tornado was spotted about 20 minutes from the grounds.  Initially it was announced Atmosphere would play anyway, but the organizers quickly reversed that decision and made the right call to evacuate the area.  There have been too many tragedies in the last year at concert festivals, and even though the weather blew through pretty quickly, no other decision could have been made.

As for the specific performances:

Leading off was local Rhymesayers signee, I Self Devine, a/k/a Chaka Mkali.  I Self was joined by two hype men in addition to his DJ, and did his absolute best to get the festival off to a rolling start.  As is always the case at festivals, though, the lead off slot was incredibly difficult.  The crowd was still filing in, and what crowd had already arrived wasn’t into the music yet.  Nonetheless, I Self and crew were tight and did a good job bringing his conscious rap message of being the change you seek to the audience.  Accordingly, I Self Devine gets a C.

Next up was Queens, New York’s Action Bronson, fresh off an Instagram controversy.  Not surprisingly, the firestorm around that picture was not mentioned, and Bronson played a straightforward set backed by his DJ.  Initially, the set was excellent.  Bronson was into it and playing to the crowd, even joking that his weight (320 lbs) was not ideal for the heat.  Unfortunately, the crowd as a whole didn’t seem familiar with him, with even “Barry Horowitz” not getting much of a reaction, and the energy was a one-way street.  Then after Bronson’s initial burst, it appeared that the heat (or the voice issues he mentioned having on Saturday) must really have been getting to him.  He slowed down and was substantially less engaged, ending on a slightly lackluster note.  Based on the first half of the performance, Action Bronson gets a B-.

Prof is not an MC of which I would say I’m a fan.  He has a shtick, calling himself a “Gampo” (“A versatile noun/verb used to characterize the ridiculous and outrageous.”), and doesn’t really say much of anything with his music.  Basically he has always seemed to me to be nothing more than a gimmick.  After seeing him perform with DJ Fundo, however, I think I may just be too old to ‘get’ him.  Prof came out and put on a great festival show.  His energy was in the red for the entire performance and the crowd matched him throughout.  Then at the end of the show he showed what a hustler he is by announcing he was giving away free copies of his album at his merch booth.  Clearly, Prof knows how to promote himself and is earning his following (he recently sold out the First Avenue Mainroom), so while I may be too old to like the music, I respect the artist.  Prof gets a B.

Detroit’s own Danny Brown (he of the crazy hair), took the stage next, and again the crowd seemed to not be completely clued in to him yet.  Nonetheless, backed by a DJ, Danny Brown brought everything he had and in his case that is a lot. With his high pitched, nasally flow, he provided a great change of pace to the rest of the bill, and his talent for rhyme was obvious and very impressive.  “Monopoly” was an obvious highlight, but the set was strong throughout, earning Danny Brown a B.

I missed Grieves & Budo while exploring the custom car show and checking out the graffiti wall, so no grade there.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis were up next out of Seattle and frankly shocked me with their show.  Macklemore is an MC that I’ve always respected for the stands he takes with his lyrics, but I haven’t spent enough time with his work to really get to know him.  That’s going change.  Macklemore & Ryan Lewis took the stage with a trumpeter, violinist, cellist, and back up singer, and they all had a ton of energy.  Climbing speaker stacks, dancing, crowd surfing, each member of the band gave it everything they had and left the crowd with no option other than to do the same.  The music was pretty damn good too, but then again I’m an unapologetic sucker for live brass or strings at any hip hop or rock show.  Much to my surprise going into the day, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis get a B+.

Up next was Evidence.  Evidence is a Los Angeles native and member of Dilated Peoples who released his sophomore album on Rhymesayers in September 2011.  His performance was good.  He’s incredibly talented and has something to say.  That said, the set wasn’t memorable, at least to this reviewer.  Accordingly, while I recommend checking out his work if you’re unfamiliar, this show on the whole was just average and Evidence therefore gets a C.

Out of Mississippi, Big K.R.I.T. is one of the next big things in hip hop, and his performance demonstrated why, while also showing why he isn’t quite there yet.  Backed by DJ and one vocalist, the Def Jam signee, who produces much of his own work, showed off his top-notch lyrics and flow while acting as a commanding stage presence.  Towards the end of his set, however, K.R.I.T. hinted at what is likely his best known track, “Country Shit”, and got a big reaction from the crowd.  Then he confusingly didn’t play it.  This failure to read the crowd and give them what they want drops Big K.R.I.T.’s grade some to a B+.

Kendrick Lamar is another of the next big things, but he has more work to do onstage than K.R.I.T.  Lamar has the pedigree: member of the Black Hippy collective, from Compton, and… oh yeah, Dr. Dre associate, but it takes more than that to put on a good set in a festival situation.  Commanding a stage in front of 20,000 people with just a DJ behind you is incredibly difficult to do, and Lamar has growing to do on that front.  It was almost painful listening to him attempt to interact with the crowd, and sometimes he couldn’t even be heard.  The hardcore rapper is surprisingly soft spoken.  Lamar’s rhymes are freakin’ strong, though, and “A.D.H.D.” is a good enough track that it almost makes up for the set’s deficiencies.  But not quite.  Kendrick Lamar gets a C+.

P.O.S is a local favorite and member of the equally adored Doomtree collective.  He’s put out three top-notch albums, and if his performance at Soundset is any indication his fourth (due in September) is going to absolutely bang.  Backed by his DJ and joined briefly by Astronautalis and Doomtree cohort Mike Mictlan, P.O.S ripped through his most popular tracks while also previewing several tracks off the new album, all the while ruling the festival grounds.  A complaint I’ve had of P.O.S live shows in the past is that he stops and starts songs seemingly randomly keeping the audience from fully immersing themselves in the performance.  That was kept at a minimum at Soundset, and P.O.S therefore gets a B+.

Moving back to an artist from New York, Aesop Rock with Rob Sonic & DJ Big Wiz showed the professionals they are.  There were no gimmicks and no games, just a fantastic hip hop show by guys who do nothing but put on fantastic hip hop shows.  Like P.O.S, Aesop Rock previewed tracks from his forthcoming album, due July 10, 2012, and hit the high points from his discography while showing off the lyricism that has long made him a darling of indie hip hop.  It was an absolute pleasure to watch and gets Aesop Rock an A-.

There are times when you can tell an artist is performing for a paycheck, and their heart isn’t really in it.  There are also times when that doesn’t make a bit of difference.  Ghostface Killah & Raekwon falls into both categories.  The hip hop legends earned their position in the history of the genre with the rest of the Wu Tang Clan through their originality, lyrics, and flow, and the talent on display at Soundset showed exactly why.  Even without giving it everything they had, Ghost and Rae showed they were far and away the most talented MCs on the bill, as well as the best at holding an audience.  The only drawback was bringing up audience members to perform the Method Man and Ol’ Dirty Bastard verses from “Protect the Neck” thereby grinding the performance to a screeching halt and taking much of the pleasure out of hearing that classic track.  Nonetheless Ghostface Killah & Raekwon get an A-.

The last performance of the day ended up belonging to Lupe Fiasco.  As much as I wanted to see Atmosphere, the tornado allowed Soundset to save the absolute best for last.  Taking the stage with a full rock band and dressed in a Bob Marley t-shirt and bolo tie, Fiasco was a whirling dervish as he rocketed through his greatest hits.  It was an inspiring performance that absolutely brought the house down as the dark clouds rolled in.  There wasn’t a better way to end the day.  Lupe Fiasco gets an A.

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A popular act with the MiG staff, Makunouchi Bento is an experimental electronic duo out of Romania that has been active since 2001.  Made up of Felix Petrescu, a/k/a Waka X, and Valentin Toma, a/k/a Qewza, Makunouchi Bento create soundscape stories using organic sounds that are processed, filtered, dubbed and overdubbed until they form a cohesive whole.  When exploring the world of Makunouchi Bento it becomes clear very early on that not only does their sound not fit into any single genre, but that it is music which must be heard to be understood.  While one can discuss the group’s IDM influence, point out that the use of space feels descended from minimalist composers, or note the range of emotions they are able to create in a beatless environment, these words would still fail to adequately describe Makunouchi Bento’s work.  In fact, the above illustration of Makunouchi Bento is probably the best written description of their music I have seen.

In anticipation of the release of Makunouchi Bento’s new EP, Rinbo, we spoke with the group via e-mail and discussed the new album, the group’s influences, both musical and otherwise, and their desire to collaborate with other artists of various mediums.  We also learned how a couple 30-somethings from Romania imagine King Tubby would react to their work.

What is Makunouchi Bento?

Valentin Toma: A mixture of all sorts of exotic ear food.

Felix Petrescu: Our passport to eternal damnation.  Our valve that releases toxic fumes.  Or to be serious (for once) – our anchor in sound abnormality and our way of giving sounds back to this planet’s inhabitants.  And I could go on until my vocabulary will go dry.  Actually – this is Makunouchi Bento: the bridge that starts where our words end.

Where did the name come from?

Felix: Naming anything is a huge responsibility.  Names are handles to everything.  I’m not so keen to words and names lately because they are abused and misused until the letters are transformed to zombie letters.  There is not much magic left in words and names nowadays.  Well – our band name came when me and a good friend (Cristian Savii) started to be interested in Japanese culture and Cristian pointed to some culinary chapter and the cult of bento.  I found this box with culinary diversity so close and explicit to our band concept and way of doing things, so we adopted the syntax enthusiastically.

Valentin: …knowing precisely that we’re going to be subject to atrocious misspelling!

You have a new EP out soon, correct?  What can you tell us about it?

Valentin:  Correct.  Rinbo shall be its name, and, maybe with Masaki Kobayashi’s Kaidan in mind, it tells 4 Japanese tales.  Monster tales.  Nothing new for us (we had already approached the Rokurokubi and Nukekubi legends), but it’s the first homogenous EP of this kind.  A kind of follow-up to Swimé, regarding the ambient cinematic off tempo sound, spiced with lots of field recordings.  The EP should be out soon on Camomille as free download [Ed. note: It's available here.], and maybe a limited edition CD. As a teaser for the EP, we’ve released a few remixes in advance, to have people wonder how the originals sound like:

Wait, I forgot, one of the songs was “leaked” into Gilles Peterson’s radio show by our friend Cosmin TRG. Seek! [Ed. note: Found.]

You’ve described your music as ‘sonic hauntology’ or essentially – and please correct me if I’m wrong here – music employing sounds that are ethereal and hovering around life’s edges.  Listening to Makunouchi Bento the tag certainly seems apt. What drew you to this style?

Felix:  We chose this label/genre because it’s quite impossible to define it in a sharp way.  We want to roam free in the vast orchard of spectral trees.  Also – in our music, past and present and possible future dimensions are blended without much concern about styles, trends and fashions.  Our music is neither alive or dead, our music floats somewhere in between, as free of human judgement as we can…We care equally about the past, the present and future of sound.

‘Sonic hauntology’ has also been used to describe the music of King Tubby and other ’70s dub masters, but you seem to take it a step further by fully dropping anything resembling a percussive beat and creating the entire soundscape out of the ethereal.  Is your work at all related to and a progression of dub?  Or are Makunouchi Bento and dub operating in completely different realms that happened to somewhat overlap?

Valentin:  Back then, when we would mix a record, we would tek it to ‘im and say “Tubby, how’s that sound?”  He used to say it don’t really sound too good… “yuh tuh fass and facety” he said, but his reason for doin’ that is to let you always keep tryin’ harder.  He said “yuh haffi av beat!”, for dub’s BPM was close to his heartbeat (depending on the amount of ganja the King has had that day), and that’s what keeps the music alive.  But since my heartbeat developed in 1981, and Felix got his in 1975, back then in 1973 we had to stick to 0 BPM, and cease trying to be dub superstars.  However, we kept using effects and techniques such as the famous dub delay, deep reverbs, filtering, overdubbing…

In addition to Makunouchi Bento’s releases you also collaborated (among other collaborations) on Jebel Chamber Orchestra’s release Like a Monkey Without the Cuckoo Clock, which you’ve described as ‘free jazz’ and ‘acoustic exorcism’.  What was the idea behind that album?

Valentin:  Rather a free jazz mockery, that is.  There’s a thin line between good limitless free improvisation and monkeying around in a pool of randomness.  Has this genre gone so far, that clueless people going berserk on instruments might pass as free jazz?  We imagined a bunch of mental patients taking over a few instruments (some broken or detuned) and whatever they get their hands upon, and start making what they regard as music.  Mind you, Jebel is a small town in Western Romania, well known for it’s psychiatric hospital.  Together with our mates in USA (whom we’ve never physically met), we virtually entered the madhouse for this Idioterne-esque recording session, and it was so relieving!   Not to mention we had just got a brand new field recorder, and were anxious to use it on whatever instruments or objects that surrounded us. And thus came out our only 100% acoustic, unprocessed (except minimal limiting) project so far.

Felix:  Just being silly and having mindless fun from time to time helps everyone.  Just choose your right moment for that.

In addition to musical collaborations, Makunouchi Bento likes to collaborate with illustrators and video artists, correct? How exactly does that work?

Felix:  It doesn’t work as smooth as we want to.  We are still looking for visual artists and VJs to work with.

Valentin:  Our sound – especially the latest works – is so complex and dense, that illustrating it would take a great deal of work.  Not having much notoriety, and even less money to pay for good visual artists, I guess not many video makers out there can take a few weeks off (if not more) to work with us.  Our most notable collaboration with a video artist was Vali Chincişan’s “Urban Tree”, a short animation for which we made a slightly minimal soundtrack, but not exactly a Makunouchi Bento song.  We’ve also had Vali doing improvisational VJing for a few of our live shows.  “Butter of a Fly” and “Road Eyeland” can give you an idea on what it looked like:

Watch this video on YouTube.

Watch this video on YouTube.

What are you looking for in a collaborator?

Valentin:  Delicious, spicy brain!  We’re looking for resonance and good healthy chemistry.  We should admire his/her artistic output (and vice versa), and our works should complete one another.  Tell you what, we’re toying with the idea of having some jazz musicians as guests on our next album.

You also work on the design and/or beta testing of electronic instruments, what can you tell us about that?

Felix:  Oh – long long story.  I like getting involved in the growth of the tools I use.  I like giving feedback.  Giving and receiving feedback makes you feel alive.  I also can’t afford much of the software I use.  So I enroll as beta tester and helper in a lot of music software projects.  With all my lifetime experience in music related software area (since C64 and Amiga/Atari times) I can provide real help to developers.  And I’m happy to earn the software in a honest way, of course.

We do a series at MiG called ‘Music That Has Influenced Me’ where our contributors talk about 10 albums that inspired them in one way or another. I won’t ask you for 10, but what 5 albums have had the most influence on you, and why?

Felix:
1. Pink Floyd – Live at Pompeii (The most experimental work of Pink Floyd, a seminal recording of their improvisational side.)
2. Rush – Moving Pictures (One of best albums I’ve ever heard, I can even play it in my head… )
3. Sun Electric – Present (My favorite IDM album of all IDM albums)
4. The Modern Jazz Quartet – Pyramid (My 1st serious door into the jazz world)

Valentin:
5. Art of Noise – The Seduction of Claude Debussy.  (It’s a story. A cinematic trip, diverse yet fluent.  Truly what an album should be like.)
Bonus: Squarepusher’s and Aphex Twin’s late-90s works.  (Nowadays we don’t sound anything like that, but they led us to IDM, and IDM was the seed that gave birth to Makunouchi Bento.)

Watch this video on YouTube.

Since that day The Current has held true to its desire to spotlight Minnesota artists through a great number of areas: The Current plays at least two local tracks per hour (usually substantially more); the station presents countless concerts and in-studio performances by local bands, airs a weekly ‘Local Show’; a local band plays each year at the Rock the Garden festival; a 24-hour ‘Local Current’ stream was launched in 2011; a ‘Local Current’ blog was recently created; two volumes of “Local Current” mixtapes comprised of in-studio performances have now been released; and starting with the station’s 5th birthday a party has been held at First Avenue featuring all local acts.

This year’s 7th Current Birthday Party was the first to be spread over two nights (January 27 and 28) and featured the expected eclectic mix of artists.  The 27th featured Night Moves, Low, Dead Man Winter, and Tapes ‘n Tapes, with the 28th presenting Haley Bonar, Sims, Suicide Commandos, and Poliça.  Due in large part to The Current’s strong support of the local music scene, both shows sold out within about 15 minutes of going on sale.  This despite the fact that they were initially only available for purchase by MPR members.  Unfortunately, real life got in the way for a few minutes and kept me away from the computer at the moment tickets went on sale and I was shut out of the Saturday show.  Friday tickets lasted a few minutes longer, though, and I was able to grab two tickets to that show.

The concert opened with a performance by Night Moves (discussed in ‘Dispatches from Funkytown #3’), and it is clear from this performance why Domino was willing to sign them despite their having never ‘sold’ an album.  Musically the group was remarkably tight for being such a young band, and, after what sounded from where I stood like a vocal imbalance during the opening song, didn’t seem to have any issues playing a larger club venue.

The crowd was not as into the music as I might have expected, but I chalk that up to Night Moves being the first band of the evening and the fact that very few people were able to download the album in the brief time it was available.  The Current has been playing two songs off the album, but a majority of the crowd were hearing almost all of the songs for the first time.  The band closed, as expected, with “Horses” (one of the tracks still available on Bandcamp) and it lived up to its status as the best track on the album, but I was particularly impressed with “Colored Emotions” the album’s ‘title track’ that actually ended up not being on the prior release of the album.  According to the band they expect it to be on the reissue from Domino this summer, and as good as the rest of the album is, “Colored Emotions” has single written all over it.

The only negative to the performance was some uncomfortable crowd interaction.  As surprising as it was to see a young band as musically ready to play a show like this, it was equally unsurprising that they don’t quite have their stage presence down yet.  Guitarist/lead singer John Pelant attempted to engage the crowd, but it was clear he didn’t quite know what he was doing and was very uncomfortable with it.  Bassist Micky Alfano appeared a little more comfortable with this aspect of the live show, but whether he was talking too quietly or his mic was simply too low it was nearly impossible to figure out what he was actually saying.

In the end, though, it’s all about the music and Night Moves will have plenty of time to work on the rest of the show.  Accordingly, they receive a B grade from me on the night.

Up second was Low, a band I was shocked wasn’t given the closing slot.  After seeing the full bill, though, I think there were three reasons they went when they did: 1) The band’s percussion set up allowed Dead Man Winter’s drum kit to be in place early and sped up the set changes; 2) The fact that this wasn’t billed as a Low headlining show meant that their ‘slowcore’ may not have played well as the last act; and 3) the ‘surprise’ end of Tapes ‘n Tapes’ set would not have worked with Low’s drum kit (more on the surprise in a moment).

As for the show itself, it is clear that Low has been doing this for awhile and they know exactly what they are doing on stage.  I was very concerned during the opening song that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the set because a lot of the crowd was being terribly disrespectful to the band and talking over the music.  When they moved into their second song, “Try to Sleep”, however, those concerns were put to rest.  Low had obviously experienced this issue before and didn’t let it affect the performance at all.  Most of the rest of the set had enough volume that the talking was drowned out somewhat, the one exception to this being a fantastic rendition of “Murderer” which had me seething at much of the audience.  More important than the volume, though, was that I became absolutely mesmerized by the band.  “Especially Me” and “Nothing But Heart” in particular were utterly gorgeous and left me with no doubt as to who was the best band of the night.  Honestly, the only thing keeping Low from a very rare A+ from me is the fact they were limited to 45 minutes.  I wanted nothing more than to pull up a chair with no one else around and listen to them for hours.  Accordingly, Low receives an A.

The third act of the night is difficult for me to review fully.  Dead Man Winter is a side project of several members of Trampled By Turtles, but leans much more country than the bluegrass of the Turtles and I don’t listen to much country.  Too much current country music simply sounds like bad pop with a twang to me, so when I do listen to the genre it tends to be older Johnny Cash type music.  Dead Man Winter, though, does not sound much like either of these country styles, so my musical knowledge base is rather weak (if MiG authors Kezzie Baker or Bad Thoughts had seen the show I’m certain they’d be able to wax poetic about the music itself).

With that disclaimer, however, the show itself was simply average.  It’s clear even without knowing the technical ability that goes into playing with Trampled By Turtles, that the band’s musicianship is unquestionable.  It was equally clear that these guys are professional performers and have earned their spot on the stage.  The problem was that I didn’t feel any passion from the performance except when the crowd got into it during a cover of the Turtles’ track “Victory”.  This was clearly not a crowd that usually attends Dead Man Winter shows, or even listens to their music with regularity, so most of the performance was fairly flat.  When they started playing “Victory”, though, the immediate crowd excitement clearly had an effect on the band and we got to see what I assume is the real Dead Man Winter live show (this occurred again to a lesser extent when the band closed with “Nicotine” which The Current has been playing recently).

The glimpse I did get of what is obviously a talented band is causing me to seek out Dead Man Winter’s album Bright Lights, but this particular performance gets a C rating.

The show was closed by Tapes ‘n Tapes, a band cursed with the mixed blessing of being an early blogosphere favorite.  Thanks to the buzz surrounding their 2006 debut, The Loon, and the negative reviews of it’s follow up, the band was one of the first to experience the rapid rise and fall now common in the internet age.  Based on this performance, however, the group has not only survived this rollercoaster, but has come through with flying colors.

If Night Moves appeared to lack some stage presence and seem uncomfortable from time to time, Tapes ‘n Tapes commanded every inch of the stage.  From the opening instrumental through “Insister”, which closed their set proper, they blasted from track to track and had much of the crowd dancing (or at least bobbing) along.  Plus, they pulled out some brass instrumentation a couple times, for which I am an absolute and unrepentant sucker.  It was a tight and very good performance that proved the decision to close with the band was the right one.

As previously noted, the need to have Tapes ‘n Tapes close the show was also demonstrated by the surprise ending.  The Current is making it a tradition to close its birthday shows with a group sing, and this year Tapes ‘n Tapes frontman Josh Grier led a surprisingly passable cover of “Purple Rain” (YouTube of a portion of the song is below).  Joined on guitar by Low’s Alan Sparhawk the band came much closer to pulling off such a brilliantly technical song than I ever would have guessed, and my hat is off to them.

On the whole Tapes ‘n Tapes gets a B+ and I advise everyone to go see them when they come to town.  They may not have lived up to the blogs’ hopes in 2005-2006, but they are a darn good band.

Watch this video on YouTube.