Monthly Archives: October 2010

Why Barbra Streisand?

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Why her? Why her of all people? In the latest in a series of sample heavy electronic tracks coming out, we present the duo Duck Sauce – comprised of Armand Van Helden and A-Trak – and their track “Barbra Streisand”. Now, for those who haven’t somehow seen the video that’s been released for it? I’m gonna show it to you.

First of all, that woman is beyond annoying. More annoying than Barbra Streisand, herself. And Armand, you’ve got Boston roots, and do everything in your power to ignore that, now. What a fucking joke, man. The showing off of who’s who in this video is incredibly irritating, also. I don’t care who you guys know. Seriously. I know some cool and talented people, also, but I would never feel the need to boost my ego by showing it off. Some may say, “Well, they’re showing what’s what in New York City.” Fine. New York is one of the largest cities in the world. I would hope that they had some talent. Again, don’t shove it down my throat.

Now, how about we tell you where these guys snagged the sample from? Boney M‘s “Gotta Go Home” is the winner in this department. Check the video below, also. Seriously. Have producers gotten this lazy? Can’t you people use samples in a creative way that’s still catchy? No? Okay, I hear the message loud and clear. Armand’s foray into samples isn’t new, either. He’s done this for the better part of a decade, now. While it was cute to start off, it’s getting tiresome. A-Trak isn’t helping matters, any, by throwing his hand into this. Is this track catchy? Yes. But so is the Boney M tune it ripped off. And now we see a plethora of “remixers” doing nothing more than using programs like Ableton to lay down an acapella over it and viola! A remix! One of those “remixes” is here. While it still takes some talent to do this stuff, and a little ingenuity, doesn’t it smack of cheap when you do this to a tune that blatantly rips off another one?


Download Duck Sauce – Barbra Streisand


Download Duck Sauce – Barbra Streisand (Just Banks How Low remix)


Download Boney M – Gotta Go Home

And you may want to grab these quick. God knows how long before we get a nasty email wanting these off the site.

Keep walkin’, let the foot leave a track

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Friday October 1st, Minneapolis rapper Slug and DJ/Producer Ant took the stage as the group Atmosphere for their Las Vegas stop of the “To All My Friends” Tour. The openers, all fantastic, were Blueprint, Grieves & Budo, and DJ Rare Groove.
A predominately white crowd was wrapped around the escalators, waiting to get in to the House of Blues inside the Mandalay Bay. This was a relatively early show, with doors opening at 5PM.  All-ages shows must often start very early when the venue is inside a casino!
Ant and Slug

This is the first time Atmosphere has sold out the House Of Blues in Las Vegas. I’ve seen a ton of shows at this venue, but it’s been a long time since I have seen a sold out show here. In this bad economy, concerts have suffered. To sell out the House Of Blues is a testament to the popularity of both Hip-Hop and of Atmosphere. It doesn’t hurt that the group takes such good care of their fans. Slug was walking outside the venue, thanking fans in line for coming to the show. Ant was upstairs out front of the merch desks during the opening acts to take pictures and sign albums for fans.

It takes more than a handshake and an autograph though. You must be able to deliver the goods on stage. Deliver they do.
When Atmosphere hits the stage, they start the show with “Trying to Find A Balance”. This was a perfect track to start a packed-to-capacity show. It’s a song about Slug’s struggles with getting the respect he felt like he deserved early on in his career. It’s a song that speaks volumes about the tough road as an artist and a rapper.
Slug and company are all rockstars.  Obviously, I say this loosely, since I am talking about a hip-hop group. Although it is not a huge stretch to say they rocked, since on stage there were a guitar and a keyboard player. If we think of DJ Ant as the drummer then the picture is complete. The performance is what earns Atmosphere the “Rockstar” title. Sluggo brings such a passion and energy to the stage. He stirs up the crowd into a frenzy, so much so that a fight breaks out. Slug admonishes the security for kicking out the wrong person, then goes into a slow jam to mellow out the audience. That’s all the mellow we get, when the group puts the foot back on the gas pedal for the rest of the show.
Atmosphere played a lot of great cuts from some of their older albums, but there were a few songs off the new album, To All My Friends, Blood Makes The Blade Holy.  It’s a great album that shot up to #2 on iTunes top 10 album downloads the week of September 11, 2010. Among long time fans, it seems to be a bit of a disappointment. Many felt that it’s not as serious and heavy as previous efforts. I think they are wrong though. It’s an album by a group in a different state of mind. Now that the band no longer needs to work multiple jobs in between tours to pay bills and raise families, there is no fire and drama in the lyrics of Atmosphere’s rhymes. Instead we have a group who is thankful for their success, but still executing their music and art at the highest levels. I hope after seeing some of those songs live Friday night, that the fans on the fence about this new album might have had their opinions revised. The new song “Freefallin'” was one of the highlights of the show for me.
Atmosphere were a long way from home, but the crowd treated them like hometown heroes. I’m sure this won’t be the last time Atmosphere sells out a venue in Las Vegas.

  

the great white hope

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Whitey (aka N.J. Whitey), one of my favorite artists, was supposed to release his newest album, Canned Laughter, Vol. 2, on September 2nd. I hopped onto his myspace page that day to find the following message:

“‘CANNED LAUGHTER Vol.2’ delayed indefinitely due to lack of funds, press, food and rent. Canned Laughter 1 is now available free from over 100 torrent sites. Help yourself. It’s possibly the last you’ll hear from me.”

I haz a sad.

I stumbled across Whitey’s work over the summer and almost immediately fell in love. His twisted pop sensibility struck a chord with me. He loves fuzzy basslines, I love fuzzy basslines. He likes swingin’ beats, I like swingin’ beats. He’s a bit misanthropic, I can dig that. I just like the guy’s style.

Whitey has had a bit of a rough ride. His 2004 album, The Light At The End Of The Tunnel Is A Train, was a striking release that got him a decent amount of acclaim as the Next Big Thing. In 2007 he was working on his followup release, Great Shakes, until it was leaked to the internet. Consequently, the album was not released and Whitey’s label dropped him. That’s what wikipedia says, and it has to be true if you read it there, right?
Here’s my confession: I’ll admit I have downloaded the tracks from Great Shakes. Regardless of the fact that it’s three years after the whole label debacle, I feel a bit guilty for that. However, if the album were ever officially released I’d buy copies for all my friends. I like it that much. If it had hit the radio when it was supposed to it could have been a game changer. At least I think so.
Whitey seems to have had more trials along the way, including another unreleased album, and ultimately released Canned Laughter, Vol. 1 on his own this year. It was exciting to hear him back in form and I was optimistic about Canned Laughter, Vol. 2, thinking maybe it would all work out this time around. Apparently not.
I hope it’s not true. I hope to see more releases from Whitey in the future. I wish I could do something, so I’m doing the best thing I can: letting you know he’s out there. Give him a listen. If you like him, get his albums and play them for your friends. At least enjoy the guy’s music, what we have of it.


Download Whitey – Dinosaur


Download Whitey – The Up Sound For The Down People


(Again, I feel a bit wrong linking to a track from Great Shakes but it’s just so good.)