MP3: DJ Jaguar Skills: "1979-2006: A Hip Hop Odyssey"

A lot of people have taken the title of Nas' new album personally. And while we tend to agree with those who maintain that interesting things are happening all the time in hip hop, we're intrigued by one enterprising DJ's attempt at a history of the genre.

DJ Jaguar Skills' "1979-2006: A Hip Hop Odyssey"-- a retrospective mix recently featured on BBC 1Xtra that boasts 800 tracks in 48 minutes-- is now available for download via station DJ Mistajam's blog. That's an average of 3.6 seconds given to each track, which means even the ones you do recognize, you won't recognize. It's schizophrenically assembled, with little attention paid to the careful blending of tracks or the featuring of particularly noteworthy lyrics. Thus, those listening for a history lesson can learn just as much by paying attention to omnipresent host Lord Basis Supreme's shout-outs.

Though Mistajam's blog has a very helpful complete tracklist for the mix, we have composed a randomly sampled paragraph approximating the finger-on-the-skip-button effect of actually listening to the whole mix in one sitting: [MORE...]

MP3: DJ Jaguar Skills: 1979-2006: A Hip Hop Odyssey [MP3]

Low Hit the Road

Okay, not really, but it sure is funny to think so. Anyhow, Drums and Guns-- the previously reported 13-track follow-up to 2005's The Great Destroyer-- arrives March 20 via Sub Pop and features production from Dave Fridmann.

Come April Low kick off the first prong of a two-pronged tour assault, which has them drumming up love in the Eastern and Midwestern U.S. Phase two launches in June and covers the West Coast-- where, mysteriously, Low play every venue exactly twice.

Fellow Sub Popper and Swede sensation Loney, Dear opens a handful of dates on the first leg of the tour. His Sub Pop debut, Loney, Noir, hits the streets February 6.

Low's Alan Sparhawk, meanwhile, hasn't simply been grumbling about all the violence in the world these days-- he's been out there making a difference. Sparhawk visited Namuncha, Kenya recently, where Low are helping fund the building of a school. Read all about the project here. "I saw beautiful things and met beautiful, inspiring people," wrote Sparhawk on Low's website. "I still shake my head in amazement." [MORE...]

MP3: Low: California [from the The Great Destroyer LP]

Video: Hot Chip: "Arrest Yourself"

Hot Chip? H0t Ch1p's more like it. In their latest video, for The Warning track "Arrest Yourself", the London crew visually answer the question, "What would Hot Chip look like in ASCII?"

Here, the band does its thing utilizing only zeros, ones, commas, apostrophes, and periods. The result is a flickering, fuzzy dance episode that gets an A for effort, even if our continually waning interest in the clip did force us to alt-tab over to our WOW game every once in a while. [MORE...]

Video: Hot Chip: Arrest Yourself

MV/EE Hit the Bummer Road

Ecstatic Pacifists MV/EE and the Bummer Road-- aka Matt Valentine, Erika Elder, Michael Ehlers, and friends-- will take their self-described "lunar blues" to galleries, churches, museums, and regular old clubs all over North America beginning January 31. The kickoff show, at Northampton, Massachusetts' Iron Horse, will feature label head Thurston Moore as the opening act.

The tour is in support of the group's newest album, Green Blues, which Ecstatic Peace will release January 23. [MORE...]

Stream: MV+EE: East Mountain Joint [from the forthcoming Green Blues LP]

Stream: Modest Mouse: "Dashboard"
James Mercer guests on LP

Modest Mouse will release "Dashboard", the first single from the forthcoming We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, on January 16, but you can stream it today from their MySpace page. UPDATE: AVOID RUPERT MURDOCH BY CLICKING HERE.

Though Isaac Brock is still writing half-nonsense witticisms like "We talked about nothing, which was more than I wanted you to know," the band are at their bounciest and most hi-fi on "Dashboard". The echoey electro passage a little over halfway through is especially good, though the rest of the track's bright horns, steady four-to-the-floor beat, and occasional touch of disco strings almost had us convinced this was a Franz Ferdinand song.

Brock doesn't seem content to have just one star collaborator in new Modest Mouse member Johnny Marr. The Shins' James Mercer guests on three We Were Dead tracks: "We've Got Everything", "Florida", and "Missed the Boat". Other song titles include "Fire It Up", "Steaming Genius", "Parting of the Sensories", and "Spitting Venom".

Modest Mouse wrap up their mini-tour of Australia with a January 6 date at the Southbound Festival in Busselton's Sir Stewart Bovell Park.

BONUS: CHECK OUT THIS PHOTO FROM THE "DASHBOARD" VIDEO SHOOT:

Stream: Modest Mouse: Dashboard [from the forthcoming We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank LP]

Stax Returns!
Isaac Hayes, Angie Stone are first signings

Stax Records is back. Concord Music Group, the company that acquired the legendary Memphis soul label in 2004, will reactivate Stax this year in coordination with the label's 50th anniversary.

Former Stax-ster Isaac Hayes and nü-soul singer Angie Stone are the reincarnated label's first signings, though its first releases will come in the form of compilations.

Interpretations is a tribute to Earth, Wind & Fire songwriter/bandleader Maurice White. ?uestlove (listed as the Randy Watson Experience), Meshell N'degeocello, gospel-hopper Kirk Franklin ("Do you want a revolution? Whoop! Whoop!"), and Chaka Khan all contribute covers of EW&F songs to the album.

The other release currently planned for the label is a double-disc, 50-track anthology titled Stax 50: A 50th Anniversary Celebration and featuring original Stax hits by Otis Redding, Booker T. & the MGs, Isaac Hayes, the Staple Singers, and Sam & Dave, among others.

Stax plans to release over 20 CDs and DVDs this year, including digital releases and remixes, and there are also plans for a feature-length documentary on the label and its history. Of his own re-signing, Isaac Hayes said, "Stax always has been and always will be Soul Music. I am coming back to Stax because there is still so much to do. It's like coming home."

Welcome back, Stax.

The Knife Remixed by Dave Sitek, Booka Shade
Cutlery item of choice for the discerning gift-giver

"Marble House", a duet between Karin Dreijer and guest co-writer Jay-Jay Johanson-- and perhaps Silent Shout's most accessible offering-- arrives February 19 in the UK courtesy of Brille Records. It's a significantly more beefed-up version of the "Marble House" singles issued in Sweden last year (via the Knife's own Rabid Records), collecting the previously released Booka Shade, Rex the Dog, and Planningtorock remixes of the song along with reworkings from the Emperor Machine and TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek. 

UPDATE: The EP will be out in the U.S. on February 20. 

Last but certainly not least, Brille has designs on a deluxe re-release of Silent Shout in the near future. Details forthcoming. [MORE...]

Video: The Knife: Marble House [from the Silent Shout LP]

Sparklehorse Announce North American Tour
Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter to open

February 2 will mark the start of Sparklehorse's first full-blown U.S. tour in five years. And it's a big one, covering sea to shining sea for a month straight. Seattle's Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter are tagging along for the entire ride.

The trek is in support of Sparklehorse's Dreamt for Lightyears in the Belly of a Mountain, which landed last fall via Astralwerks. Danger Mouse (who helped produce the album) and head horsie Mark Linkous recently began recording together again in Los Angeles. According to Sparklehorse's website, "When asked just what kind of sound they're going for, [Linkous and Danger Mouse] replied 'hummmmmmmmmmm.'"

Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter have some new material in store themselves. Their forthcoming LP, Like, Love, Lust & the Open Halls of the Soul, will land on Barsuk in all of its mouthful-of-a-title'd glory come February 6. [MORE...]

Stream: Sparklehorse: Don't Take My Sunshine Away [from the Dreamt for Lightyears in the Belly of a Mountain LP]

Video: Jarvis: "Don't Let Him Waste Your Time"
New single out January 8

That advice, of course, is "Don't Let Him Waste Your Time", which not-at-all-coincidentally happens to be the latest single from Jarvis' self-titled solo debut. Leave it to the Brits to stretch our wallets thin, however: "Don't Let Him Waste Your Time" comes in three exciting formats, one CD and two different seven-inches, each with different B-sides. The CD version even includes one of Jarvis' charming storytelling podcasts, several more of which are presently streaming at the man's Jarvspace. Rough Trade delivers all three singles on January 8.

[MORE...]

Clap Your Hands, Wrens Play NYC Benefit Shows
...Separately

New York City is full of feminist indie rock do-gooders these days. On January 23, the Bowery Ballroom will host the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls' second annual benefit concert, featuring performances from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and camper bands.

A live auction will precede the concert, featuring items like a private party at the Brooklyn Brewery, a guitar and lessons in how to play it, celeb autographs, Marc Jacobs and Anna Sui threads, and more.

At the Knitting Factory on January 19, the Wrens, Takka Takka, and the World Without Magic will team up with Planned Parenthood of New York City to celebrate the 34th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Now, we know all you women have the right to choose whether or not to attend so we won't use force or anything, but please note that all proceeds go to Planned Parenthood.

MP3: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: Love Song No. 7 [from the forthcoming Some Loud Thunder LP]

Video: Kleerup [ft. Robyn]: "With Every Heartbeat"

We do know, however, that it's a crying shame about the video. The Fredrik Skogkvist-directed clip follows a mustachioed hipster type in a Dark Side of the Moon t-shirt (aka Andreas Kleerup) around the gritty streets and trams of some urban environs, all hand-held jitters and navel-gazing via camcorder lens. It's not unlike a (mostly) daytime companion piece to David Holmes' "Don't Die Just Yet"-- except that where Holmes served up a moody, grounded instrumental, Kleerup and Robyn are reaching for the stars with "With Every Heartbeat", or at least the luster of the disco lights. In the bland light of day, however, everything feels frustratingly dulled.



Low budget, sure, but you can do a lot more with a little-- and especially with a song that's priceless.

Blur Not Reuniting With Coxon

MP3: Graham Coxon: Standing on My Own [from the Love Travels at Illegal Speeds LP]
Stream: The Good, the Bad and the Queen: History Song [from the forthcoming The Good, the Bad and the Queen LP]

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