Back in aught aught eight, New Jersey Hipster Association President Jason approached college newspaper editor Bassey with a plan to create a website where they might recommend their favorite media. Bassey countered with his vision to create a blog where he could spread vicious rumors about musicians who had attracted his envy.
But I should start at the beginning –
Originally A&SB was made to spoil the endings of movies for people. Then it became the number one source for vintage Pog trading back in 1995. It was grossly unsuccessful. After that it became eBay. It has now evolved into a media blog.
Thusly, A&SB was formed of the molten iron of wills that girds its WordPress dashboard to this day. (Note to WordPress: Thanks for getting all that molten iron off our dashboard.) Then in aught aught nine, Bassey approached Jason with a plan to create a website where unpaid, underemployed writers could create blog posts based mainly on uninformed speculation. Upon being told by Jason that The Huffington Post already exists, Bassey went about recruiting a team of writers who, for the price of a biweekly turkey sandwich, would do all of his work for him.
In conclusion, welcome to Air & Sea Battle.
Here is your programming schedule:
Sunday - Tim Williams (Column) Monday - Joey (Movie Monday), Nick (Review) Tuesday - Spanky Rodriguez (Hip Hop review) Wednesday - David Debiak (Springsteen Wednesday), Ashley (Review) Thursday - Mark Rowan (Brooklyn Scene) Friday - Jameson (Review)
Varying Weekly:
Vanessa Sorenson (Music Video of the Week)
Justin Ryan (Art and Design)
Lauren (TV Watch)
Chief Bloggers/Editors:
Jason
Bassey
Record Label & Exclusives:
Jason & David Debiak (we will be posting more soon about the new A&SB Records!)
It is not yet proper Minnesota winter on a balmy Monday night in late November. I am playing third wheel to my friend and his lady friend, who are on a movie date. The rendezvous is a brand new, all-digital projection movie theatre in a suburb of Minneapolis. I read about their recent opening in the local paper when I stopped in at the library for a “print fix.” (The eyes can grow quite tired scanning these pixels for news and insight, don’t ya think?) No worries finding a parking spot in this would-be mall complex that surrounds the theatre; the kind of place that probably has a Chili’s, Applebee’s and a T.G.I. Fridays. While maneuvering through the various corridors from parking garage to theatre lobby an eerie feeling begins to set in.
Before I go any further, let me introduce myself. I like movies. I like people. I like art. I like my girlfriend. I like politics, but the people’s movement kind, not the circus show of the two-party system. I like a freshly made Wendy’s five-piece chicken nugget. This blog will mainly concern itself with two of those things, movies and politics. Movies have nothing to do with politics, you say? Tell that to the Vatican and the Chinese government. They saw Avatar and found a threatening agenda amid the visual spectacle. It is the contention of this writer that good movies comment, in one way or another, on the world they inhabit. A political message, whether directly relating to government or something else in the cultural landscape, can be read from quality works of film. Considering the message of a film is one thing you can expect from this blog.
As the escalator ascends towards the theatre lobby I notice that there are more employees than patrons. Before purchasing my ticket I am asked by the clerk to select my seat from a display on her computer screen. After receiving the stub I wander over to the concession stand. I am in awe of the giant row of high definition flat screens displaying the same exact menu. Besides a couple and a small family waiting in line, the place is empty. Another employee takes my ticket and escorts us all the way to our seats. In the theatre there are maybe six other people. The plush chairs are comfy as shit and the picture onscreen is vibrant and clear. The 21st Century movie experience appears to be well-worth ten dollars. Then I start to notice the pixels on the screen. Read more ›
It’s understandable that in 2010, the idea of a band being lo-fi might ring a bit false. With the ascension of band’s like Vivian Girls, Wavves and No Age, to be in a band identified as lo-fi (or, even worse, “shit-gaze”) is in some circles equivalent to being in a dance-punk band in 2003 or Sebadoh in 1991. Not a good business decision so to speak. And while lo-fi will always rub some the wrong way, it will also always find an audience with those who value youthful enthusiasm over chops.
To that end, The Beets’ “Spit In The Face Of People Who Don’t Want To Be Cool” is a record that is bound to attract its fair share of admirers and detractors. Full of ramshackle stand up drumming, spare guitar, and an outlook that can best be summed up as “truculent,” Spit In The Face is at it’s best when the band’s carefree attitude doesn’t get in the way of the songs. In many ways, the Beets’ remind one of the Violent Femmes on their first record, or the Feelies without the Glenn Mercer guitar heroics. The songs are little more than playground chants about hating school, being confused, and hanging out with your friends.
I mean, I’m not going to lie, if you don’t already know what new music you want to listen to, you are just straight-up lazy.
But in case you are lazy AND singularly devoted to us, starting today and each week until I stop doing it, I will cut you off some wheat from the auto-blog chaff. (Unless you have a gluten thing, too, in which case I think we should see other people.)
Today I will order your selections by the complexity of their carbohydrates:
Hibernation-Grade: Fink – This is the Thing
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Apparently I have a thing for European guitarists, because once again the thing that starched my heart-collar today was this. The lyrics are vapid singer/songwriter whatever, but there is direction and twisting and suspense in the chords, instead of vague strumming, so this wins.
Somewhere Between Breadstick and Fruit Snack: Alex Metric – It Starts (Primary 1 Remix)
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I am old and only slightly less lazier than you and have no idea what an Alex Metric (name sounds so uncreatively narcissistic it has to be faux-ironic) or a Primary 1 is, but these sweet synths seemed like they maybe they would like some tea and Fink (they certainly have the repeating-meaningless-line-ad-infinium thing in common). All I know is, the non-remix is pure teenage corn syrup and will not be going in our tea, that’s for sure.
Aspartame with a side of Olestra: BonoJay-ZThe EdgeRihanna – TELLING YOU HOW MUCH THEY REALLY HAVE ALWAYS BEEN FOND OF HAITI
Also, terrible, awkward French. No link, just do the right thing without bad (or good, really) musical incentive and donate directly here or here or, heck, even to Wyclef’s CASH4GOLD4HAITI fund instead. (Just don’t listen to his song, either.)
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College is David Grellier, the man responsible for this track and also the Valerie Collective. Valerie is a blog consisting of several artists mostly from Nantes, France (Russ Chimes hails from London though) but it’s also—and I know this sounds really really cheesy—a bit of a vision. All of the artists involved have a certain feel to them musically and the art direction by The Zonders ties it all in together. Just imagine if the 80s had the time and I suppose the reason to film Knight Rider in space. Valerie would do the soundtrack. They somehow pull off being retro and futuristic at the same time.
Well after a couple EPs and his full-length Secret Diary, College is back with A Real Hero EP. The digital download can be found just about anywhere you’d buy music online, but here is a remix of the title track by Paul. And as I type this, I’m just realizing that Electric Youth did the vocals on here. They also did them on “She Never Came Back”, a standout track off of Secret Diary. I might as well embed it below if I’m going to sit here and sing its praises. Goodbye, weekend.
With his Conjure cognac about to hit the nationwide market, Ludacris dropped the A Hustler’s Spirit mixtape this week to help promote the liquor he has taken a strong personal investment in. If the yak is as good as the mixtape then definitely go grab a bottle when it hits the shelves.
As usual, the Atlanta-bred rapper spits some lyrical fire. Mixed in with some four “Conjure Commercials,” Ludacris’ main goal on this mixtape is to simply let know about his new liquor, but he does it with some clever rhymes as well.
When I get a remix Imma rip this song / I dedicate this flow to the conjure cognac that I’m sipping on/ Four fours Im tipping on/ Wood grain Im gripping on / If ya girl don’t like my music, tell her leave my dick alone, lone, lone, he raps on All The Way Turnt Up, a remix of the popular Travis Porter that has been making its waves around the internet.
Luda’s beat selection doesn’t disappoint, either. Mainly the tracks are taken from fellow ATL residents’ recent hits, such as Gucci Mane’s Wasted, Wacka Flocka’s O Let’s Do It, and Rich Kids’ Patna Dem, among others.
Ludacris included the single ATL, GA that he appears on with Shawty Lo and The Dream, which is worth the download itself.
DTP label mate Lil Scrappy appears on a number of tracks and sounds refreshed after essentially being out of the mainstream limelight since his Money In The Bank single in 2006. Scrap and Luda definitely made Addicted To Money a banging hit on this mixtape.
You should definitely go cop this mixtape and after listening, you’ll probably want to grab a bottle of Conjure (don’t worry, the retail price is around $30).
Vampire Weekend is so easy to hate. They are gentrification in musical form, unabashed cultural exploiters. Sure, they aren’t the first clean-cut, intelligent white guys to appropriate “world” music (Brubeck, Simon, Byrne), but they are certainly the most annoying. And now they are #1 on the Nickelback-affirming Billboard charts.
I should state up front that I thought the first Vampire Weekend record was refreshing. There was very little of it at the time. A-Punk was a great pop tune. The record had good hooks, crisp production, and simple instrumentation. Some have suggested that the Vampire Weekend project is really just a tongue-in-cheek take on white privilege. If so, with Contra, the joke has gone too far.
Listening to Contra is like having a hangover on a sunny day. I don’t care how happy it is, it’s too much. Slow down, try playing in a minor key, use your natural voice. Who are you, really?
Perhaps I’m overthinking the whole thing, but to me this album sounds like the byproduct of an ethnography thesis. This is a conscious appropriation of cultural styles not their own, both African/Caribbean and experimental.
First, there’s the “world” music (a loathed genre if there ever was one). The clear first point is that this music is not something that comes out of the natural noodlings of a well-off 13-year-old learning guitar.
These two brothers from Nashville, Jake and Jamin Orrall, received plenty of buzz during this year’s CMJ, but if you have not had the chance to listen to JEFF the Brotherhood yet, this is where I tell you to do so. They just upped this video for “The Tropics” alongside the announcement that their third full-length, Heavy Days, is now available for purchase in CD form. The vinyl is in its second pressing now and was originally released in October.
Heavy Days is easily one of my favorite records in my rotation right now. Just ask anyone who has had the unfortunate experience of swapping bands we’re both in love with. What is perhaps the best thing about JEFF the Brotherhood is that while sometimes you can throw them alongside a contemporary like Kurt Vile and at another time think back to something like early Offspring, what it really comes down to is that it just straight-up fucking rocks. Call it psychedelic grunge/punk or whatever, but it’s really just rock n’ roll and that unfortunately is something that’s not being done and done well as of late.
Lucky for all of us who missed them during CMJ (or for those of you not located in NYC), the band is about to embark on a massive tour the lasts until April. They will be stopping by the Bowery Ballroom on February 6th, but make sure you check out the other dates on their MySpace too. In the meantime, I’d recommend purchasing Heavy Days (it’s out on their personal label Infinity Cat Records) so you can yell the words with me when they come to town.
Clocking in at a minute and fifteen seconds and consisting of solely the couplet above, Titles’ “Fuck It” keeps it simple. Titles is an indie band from New Haven, CT with two albums under their belt and a third, Dirt Bell, on the way.
The reason this song stands out to me is not just its pithiness, but the fact that it – among a wasteland of bands attempting to ‘beachify’ their sounds – actually succeeds in channeling the whimsy and experimentation of Brian Wilson’s finally-finished Smile. “Fuck It” drapes its 3/4 stomp with kazoos, organs, triangles, dog barks, and god only knows what else, creating a simultaneous sense of playfulness and escape.
And the video combines these two elements to great effect. It follows a red-shirted, red-haired bicyclist from the streets to the shore, keeping a cool distance as he dodges cars, races other bikers, and lands, ultimately, in the Long Island Sound.
“Fuck It” provides a great soundtrack for mild weather weekends, as we all begin to bore of winter and become anxious for the change of seasons.
A&SB is a music & media blog (and sometimes record label) run by some fine writers as well as the folks over at Paper Tiger. Sometimes we review records, sometimes we just post articles about new music we love, and sometimes we post about new happenings surrounding Paper Tiger artists.
Please contact us for more information or if you have some new music to send out way.
The A&SB Jukebox
Here is the Music Player. You need to installl flash player to show this cool thing!
Fuck it, I’m gone.
