Brown Bag AllStars members Koncept & J57 recently teamed up for their latest collabo project. The NY residents join forces for the new 8-track EP, The Fuel. Koncept comes through with the rhymes, while J57 provides the hard hitting beats. The EP is supplied with features from Dice Raw, Denitia, Akie Bermiss, Andrew Thomas Reid,and more. You can stream it in full, below, and cop it via iTunes. Look for Koncept & J57 to team up again for their next project, Flight, in 2016. LISTEN HERE…
The tale of New York rapper Keith “Koncept” Whitehead and his partner in crime, producer Jimmy “J57” Heinz, dates back to September 2006. Koncept had just returned home to New York after attending college in Vermont and decided to stop into his favorite record store, Fat Beats. When he walked in, J57 was playing his own beats, and some cats were rapping over them. “So I asked if I could jump in the cypher, as the rap guys say,” Koncept tells me. “So I jumped in, and kicked these raps, and then me and J started talking and building, and we exchanged info.” Soon after, the two artists got into the studio and started recording together.
At the time, J57 was working at Fat Beats, and got Koncept a job there, which both describe as a “dream come true.” It was there that they met DeeJay Element, DJ E-Holla, Soul Khan, and The Audible Doctor, and formed The Brown Bag AllStars, bonding over a love and appreciation of New York hip hop. “We’d play all the classic hip hop artists you’d listen to growing up in New York,” J explains. “Like Wu-Tang, Jay Z, Nas, A Tribe Called Quest, Busta. But at the same time, we were also playing UGK and T.I., which I’d get yelled at for,” J laughs. “It wasn’t cool to do that in New York back then.” Over time, they expanded their horizons and started playing a more diverse mix of music, which included artists like Björk and Radiohead. READ MORE…
Twenty-somethings Jacob Morrell (guitar), Jack Shaw (drums), and Mike Shaw (vocals, bass) demonstrate pop knowledge and mastery beyond their years with the Head’s Millipedes EP. The band revisits college radio’s halcyon days with “Jesus,” a song driven by three chords of fuzz and dripping with self-defeat. Upbeat anthem “It Ain’t Easy” comes from an even darker place, as it is about Newtown gunman Adam Lanza’s relationship with his father. Southern indie and Northwestern grunge darkness give way to less gloomy British traditions on the remaining tracks. The most rewarding of these is “Pebbles on the Ground,” a multi-faceted, unpretentious nod to ’80s noise pop giants. There is enough variety and creativity stretched across six songs to set the standards high for the group’s future. ????? READ MORE…
Raised on a farm in Missouri but now based in Berlin, Americana singer-songwriter Ian Fisher released his latest album Nero last month. He’s put together a video for his gorgeous and plaintive title track, which you can see below.
“I wrote the song ‘Nero’ on a lonely guest bed in the 16th District of Vienna, Austria, in the autumn of 2009,” he tells PopMatters. It, like myself and the city in which it was written, is drowned in a type of hopeless nostalgia. A type that is aware of its own fickleness, but persists in spite of its futility. My personal brand of nostalgia that found its way into the song comes from two common themes. The first being youth and, more specifically, that slow climb down the side of the fence that separates it from adulthood. The second being the destruction and subsequent reconstruction of the idea of home. I suppose those are two pretty natural themes for a 22-year-old expatriate.
“This is a special video for me. I made it this summer with some old friends in the city where the song was born, Vienna. It could only have been made there and only with those specific people. It was directed by Jakob Kubizek and filmed by Valentin Wanker. The star of the video is the Austrian comedian Hosea Ratschiller. The three of them were some of the first people to hear the song soon after I wrote it back in 2009. After hearing it one time, Hosea had already given the song its current title and Jakob had come up with the concept for the video. Little did we know then that it would be six years before I’d release the track and we’d make the video. Fortunately, the concept aged well with time. I’m proud to watch it now and see just how deeply the actor and director understood the song. It feels like they made it their own and there’s nothing more beautiful than writing a song that is no longer only yours.” WATCH HERE…
With their East Coast tour wrapped earlier this month, Sydney Eloise & The Palms have been quite busy after the release of their debut LP, Faces. Breakout hits “Sorry, Not Sorry” and “Tell Me What I Want To Hear” highlight the record’s signature sound, think how a Sofia Coppola film looks—brilliantly layered and vivid with a daydreamy, hazy border. Through a seemingly effortless emphasis on detail and build, Sydney Eloise evokes a campy, alt-country twang beside her late 50s, early 60s pop sugar croon. Often compared to Best Coast’s Bethany Consentino and early Rilo Kiley era Jenny Lewis, dare we say Miss Eloise & Co. have managed to perfectly distill their varied influences and inspirations into an evolved new sound just right beside Sydney Eloise’s self-described “disco-earthy” style. The album highlights thoughtful lyrics on perspective and change. Beyond melancholy reflection, however, the songs focus on reclaiming one’s power and reconciling what was then and what is now. For those in the throes of rebuilding after a breakup or accepting past choices, this album is sure to soothe any lingering aftershocks.
Not one to shy from jumpsuits and fringe, we caught up with Sydney Eloise—born and bred in Atlanta, Georgia—via email on her tour essentials and how her musical and personal style has evolved over the course of writing and recording the album. With a quick wit and conversational grace, if you have not yet heard the bright, Technicolor stylings of Sydney Eloise & The Palms, we have no doubt you will soon. And besides, who can resist a fearless frontwoman with a signature marching band top hat? READ MORE…
41. Aaron Lee Tasjan: In The Blazes
It takes unique talent to adapt to playing with artists as diverse as Pat Green, Kevn Kinney and the New York Dolls all before releasing your debut at 27. But such is the shaggy dog tale of East Nashville by way of Ohio and New York bohemian Aaron Lee Tasjan. He takes that experience and unleashes it in a 10-song set that showcases his wry, dryly humorous lyrics atop folk rock caught between the crawling swamp of J.J. Cale (“The Dangerous Kind”), the urban grit of Bruce Springsteen (“Lucinda’s Room”), the self-deprecation of Randy Newman (“E.N.S.A.A.T.”) and the poetic swagger of Elliott Murphy (“Made in America”). Tasjan exudes a scruffy, lovable charm that translates into Americana that’s as charming as it is chiming. Unfortunately, at only 35 minutes, the album is over just as it’s finding that elusive groove. Still, there is enough wily wordplay and effortlessly hummable melodies in these rootsy country folk-rockers to keep you satiated until he can produce the follow-up we’re already waiting for. READ MORE…