1. “Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables”: This was my introduction to Jello Biafra and gang. Biting sarcasm and raw guitar riffs. Great music to practice slappy grinds to. Watch “Kill The Poor”:
2. “The Reptile House E.P.”: For darker moods. Close the drapes, turn the black light on and crank “Kiss The Carpet”:
3. “The Hammer Party”: Guitar that sounds like glass breaking, furious bad-ass bass and Steve Albini screaming at the top of his lungs.
We couldn’t make Embedded without a huge team of people each doing their part. A huge thank you to everyone who helped bring this special to air.
Producer
Alex Simmons
Douglas Caballero
Camera
Justin Mitchell
Alex Simmons
Sound
Dan Peterson
Editors
Barry Penland
Ashley Wilson
Writer
Peter Grumbine
Narrator
Emily Foster
Designers
Michael Beynart
Arian Tibbs
Production Coordinator
Lauren Mendoza
Tour Stop Producer
Alex Simmons
Tour Stop Editor
Ashley Wilson
Tour Stop Camera
Daniel Gahr
Finish Editors
Carla Garcia
Mike Horn
Audio Mixers
Mark Behm
Matthew Patterson Curry
La Blogotheque “Fleet Foxes ” Producers
Chryde and Vincent Moon
Music Supervisors
Travis Kirschbaum
Manoj Gopinath
Director of Music Licensing
Charles Raggio
Music Licensing Coordinator
Jen Pray
Online Producer, Music
Shana Naomi Krochmal
Vice President, Design
Micah Hahn
Executive Producer, Current Music
Mark Rinehart
Vice President, Current Music
Davis Powers
Sr. Vice President, Programming
Justin Gunn
President of Programming
David Neuman
Ben Harper and Relentless7:
All songs performed by Ben Harper and Relentless7
Courtesy of Virgin Records
Under license from EMI Film & TV Music
“Shimmer and Shine”
Written by Ben Harper
“Number With No Name”
Written by Ben Harper, Jason Mozersky, Jordan Richardson and Jason Ingalls
“Keep It Together (So I Can Fall Apart)”
Written by Ben Harper
“Fly One Time”
Written by Ben Harper and Jason Mozersky
“Why Must You Always Dress In Black”
Written by Ben Harper
“Boots Like These”
Written by Ben Harper, Jason Mozersky, Jordan Richardson and Jason Ingalls
“Lay There and Hate Me”
Written by Ben Harper and Jason Ingalls
Except:
“I’ve Handled Myself Wrong”
Written and performed by Grace Woodroofe
Pet Project – Nick Harmer:
“Cath…”
Written by Benjamin Gibbard
Performed by Death Cab for Cutie
Courtesy of Atlantic Records
By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & Television Licensing
Impromptu – Fleet Foxes:
“Blue Ridge Mountains”
Written by Robin Pecknold
With Special Thanks To:
Shelby Meade
Sandee Gardner-Fenton
Brittany Pearce
Jordan Kurland
EMI Film & TV Music
EMI Music Publishing
The Masses
Aja Pecknold
Making fun of Britney Spears is easy. It’s speaking sincerely about her that’s difficult. We all know she can’t sing, and we’re all pretty confident that she is legitimately bat shit crazy. Furthermore, it’s pretty obvious that she’s merely a pawn in the hands of producers and executives.
I’d like to ignore her and not constantly be reminded how fucked up her life is and, even more, I’d like to not be constantly reminded how fucked up our country is because we keep buying this generic, over-produced, tripe merely because Britney had a sweet rack when she was 17.
However, when a mother of two sings a shitty song about threesomes and it goes straight to the top of the charts, you can’t just pretend the situation does not exist.
Oh, and astonishingly, I think this is the first video I’ve ever made that I didn’t cuss in. Weird.
Our music programming supervisor Manoj Gopinath represented for Team Current at the Common & Friends Benefit this past weekend in LA. Here’s his recap and some (shaky) YouTube clips we found. —SNK
Hip hop’s finest all came out to flex their performance muscles at a great concert this past Saturday at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, CA. The concert, curated by rapper/actor (and friend of Current Music) Common, and supporting his Common Ground Foundation, brought out a diverse group of performers, including himself. The event was organized by Jodie Blum, the executive director of the Common Ground Foundation, and Common gave all the props to her for getting all the artists to come out and perform. I was lucky enough to have a chance to check out the show, which I would rate as one of the best I’ve seen in a while. That’s saying a lot, as I’ve been to a pretty fair amount in the past two years working at Current.
Hosted by KCRW’s Garth Trinidad, a good friend of Common, the show started off with a bang when he introduced hip hop underground royalty De La Soul, who performed a couple of their hits, including “Buddy,” “Stakes is High,” and “Oooh.” One of the early surprises was when a masked MF Doom showed up to drop his verse on “Roc Co.Kane Flow.” I’m not sure most of the skinny-jean wearing hipster crowd knew who he was, but the true hip hop heads in attendance were definitely bobbing their head ferociously.
The man of the night then appeared, as Common came out and rocked with De La Soul, performing a couple of their collabs. Common then took over the stage and went on to perform one his staples of all his live shows lately, “The People,” shouting out President Obama and the new generation of our diverse population. He then segued into a version of “Come Close” set to the live band’s rendition of D’angelo’s “Brown Sugar,” a definite highlight for the ladies in attendance. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, ?uestlove and Black Thought came to the stage to rock the drums and mic, and launched into an impromptu freestyle session with Common, while DJ Dummy—Common’s DJ and the house DJ for the night—was searching for their collab record to throw on. It was a great moment where three amazing artists went off the top to give the crowd what they expected. Real hip hop!
Next up was an unusual guest in the mostly backpack/conscious line-up, none other then ATL’s own Ludacris. You wouldn’t be able to tell by the crowd though, as the energy was definitely lifted a notch when Trinidad brought him out. Luda took us back with his classic hits “Southern Hospitality” and “Move B#$&%.” But the theme of the night was not forgotten, as he thanked Common, who he mentioned as one of his favorite rappers, and thanked hip hop, then fittingly launched into his current collaboration with Nas, “I do it for hip hop.”
And wouldn’t you know it, Mr. Nasir Jones then came out to spit his verse. He then took over the stage, as the band’s keyboard player dropped the inspirational “In the Air Tonight” riff from his hit “One Mic.” Judging from Nas’ performance, his energy level was definitely off the charts, even forgetting some of his lyrics, as the crowd cheered him on. As he performed “The World Is Mine” and “NY State of Mind,” Common played hype man, even helping him out with some of the lyrics, fittingly changing NY to LA on the hook, which the crowd loved. Common even rapped one of Nas’ verses, paying homage to the Queens Bridge legend. The two hip hop icons then joined forces to introduce another surprise guest, one of their personal favorites, none other than the overweight luva himself, Heavy D. Most of the younger crowd probably did not know the history, as the energy digressed a bit, but I myself was taken back to my days in elementary / middle school, a lovely time in my life:), as he performed “The Overweight Lova’s in the House” and “Nuttin’ But Love.” I have to admit, while watching the sound check earlier in the day, and seeing Heavy D run through his set, I was pretty excited, as I’d never seen him live before—so added bonus for me, not so much for the skinny jeans crowd.
Just when you thought the night might be winding down, Common hit the stage again, while DJ Dummy dropped the instrumental for his collaboration with Black Star, “Respiration.” Could it be? Could both Mos Def and Talib Kweli be in the building. Judging from how the night had gone so far, it was pretty much a given. Right on cue, Mos’ melodic voice blared over the PA, launching into his verse… The crowd was at an all time high! When Talib appeared, you knew the night was a special one for hip hop. Mos and Talib each did their respective solo cuts too, “Umi Says” and “Get By,” with the latter getting a crazy response from the crowd. Common even admitted to the crowd that Talib and Mos were last-minute additions, who called him the night before and said they wanted to rock at the show. I was thinking to myself, now that is what hip hop is all about!
This seemed like a perfect avenue to bring another guest in, huh? Common took to the mic to send his apologies from Mr. West, for not being able to make it, as he was trying to stay out of the spotlight, and also took a minute to defend his brother. For a split second, I actually believed him, but as the adrenaline level in the crowd seemed to increase, and Common chanted “the only way to get up from this was to ‘Get em high,’” the instrumental for his collaboration with Kanye and Talib dropped. As Kanye appeared, rapping his verse, the crowd pretty much exploded, and the energy in the Palladium was at an all time high. Kanye might have been taken aback a bit, as he forgot some of his lyrics, but Common and Talib stepped in to back him up.
Kanye then went on to perform “Good Life,” probably the all-time high of the show for the crowd, and “Flashing Lights,” with Mos Def filling in for Dwele’s soulful hook. Common and Talib played his hype men, and did a fine job if I might add. You would think this would be the fitting end to an already amazing show, but just as “Flashing Lights” was coming to a close, a female voice was heard over the speakers—none other than Queen Latifah. Assisting Mos with the hook probably wasn’t a good idea, but in any event, the Queen herself closed out the show, as Common and Kanye backed her up. She ended her set with her classic cut “U.N.I.T.Y.,” a fitting end to an amazing night. Unity was definitely the theme of the whole show, as an eclectic group of performers came out for a great cause. This was definitely 2.5 hours of my life that wasn’t wasted, and I’m sure everyone in attendance would agree with me. Props to Common, Jodie , the Common Ground Foundation, and everyone who supported the show.
These songs come from a period when the Truckers had three of the sickest guitar players and best writers around, all in the same band. Any band working today would shiv their frontman and curb their guitar player backstage to have Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley, or Jason Isbell in their band, and for a while they were all in the Drive-by Truckers at the same time. (Check out Jason’s work with his new band the 400 Unit. It actually justifies leaving a bandthat good).
It’s easy to stand in awe of the Trucker’s guitar work. It’ll knock you on your ass, and then buy you a beer for roughing you up by accident. But believe me when I say these guys are amazing writers. You could print up their lyrics, bind ‘em together and sell it as a collection of the last great Southern Gothic poets, and I guarantee it would be better than whatever crap you’re reading now.
Here are a few clips of live performances of songs from this collection.
“Play it All Night Long”
This is a Warren Zevon cover, but it fits so perfectly into the Trucker catalogue that you’d think it was straight off Southern Rock Opera (if you don’t own that, you should). I love the line “there ain’t much to country living: sweat, piss, jizz, blood.” It’s nasty, but about as true as it gets, and that’s Rock ‘n’ Roll.
This clip is from a New Year’s Eve show. Around 2:55, Jason Isbell picks up a balloon and uses it as a slide. No shit. Suck on that helium.
Also I’d like take a moment to write a note to Kid Rock. Dear Robert Richie, this is how you do a Zevon song, douchetard.
“TVA”
Only Jason Isbell could so eloquently explain the significance of and provide contemporary context for the Tennessee Valley Authority as an early arm of FDR’s New Deal while also singing about rounding second base for the first time in the same song.
If you’re one of those peoplebitchin’ about the government being a bunch of socialist, Nazi, commie gays that are out to destroy America, listen to this song, and be glad you have the electricity to make it happen. Don’t get me wrong, I hate the government too, but occasionally they do something helpful, before the projectgrowstoobigandcorrupt.
“Uncle Frank”
Of course there’s always another side to the story, and leave it to the Truckers to provide both. The TVA made a bunch of dams and lakes in the South in order to produce electricity and bring us into the 20th century (not to mention the massive need for energy in Oak Ridge to build massive weapons for the war effort), but when you build a lake, you gotta put it somewhere. Unfortunately there were a good number of people that lived down near the rivers that became lakes, and they got screwed when the government gave them pennies on the dollar for their land. It wasn’t really an option: the lakes were coming. You either got out of the way, got wet, or got dead. And that’s pretty much what happened. Cooley, explains it much better than I can. So just listen.
You can stream the Fine Print all free this week on Spinner. Listen to it now, than go buyit. And if you don’t already have everything else the Truckers have released, go get that too. If you’re short on cash, just pick one, and I swear your life will be better for it.
I was on cnn.com/live again this morning talking about new releases and trying not to mispronounce any British slang. (Mispronouncing American words is a given). The segment was around the same length as usual, but my coffee was much larger, and I felt like there was a lot I didn’t get to say, so here are the extended liner notes:
“Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood Live from Madison Square Garden,” Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood
This is one of the quintessential Rock ‘n’ Roll recordings of this millennium. I would almost call it the epitome of Rock ‘n’ Roll in its truest form: two extremely talented, absurdly skilled, and well-seasoned pale, white dudes playing old black music. The combo of Clapton’s blues guitar and Winwood’s R&B background is rock in its purest, most simple and deconstructed form. (Plus or minus some Anglo and Scotch-Irish influences).
Clapton and Winwood were old friends all the way back to when they were teenagers in London. The two were always in a bunch of separate bands including Cream and Traffic. When those two acts dissolved, Winwood and Clapton got together to form Blind Faith. That didn’t last long and they went their separate ways shortly afterwards.
Winwood reformed Traffic, and Clapton joined an ass load of different bands and sang a song called “Cocaine.” A lot. Like every night. Then in the mornings and at lunch too. God, he loved that song… so much!!! “Let’s sing it again!!! Right NOW!!! Cut that track up or you’re fired bitch!!!” he’d shout.Then Clapton started singing songs about fucking George Harrison’s wife. (He was kind of a dick.) Flash forward 30 some-odd years and the two reunited on stage for a charity show in 2007, as Clapton was no longer being a dick, and the groundwork was laid for this tour and live album.
Now, everyone knows that Clapton is one of the greats (he’s not God but he is one of the greats); however, Winwood’s the real gem on this record, and he clearly elevates Clapton’s playing, as Clapton does his. Before these shows, Winwood basically called bullshit on Clapton for having other guitarists playing identical Strats right behind him at every show and said it’s just going to be you, me, drums, bass, and some additional keyboards. Not sure how Winwood got to bring backup, but either way, this combo rocks hard and is full of soul. There’s no hiding behind a chorus of studio lifers and background vocalists.
The last time Winwood and Clapton played in Madison Square Garden together, it was 1969, a riot broke out ON STAGE, drummer Ginger Baker got knocked out by a cop’s billy club, and Winwood’s piano was smashed. Five weeks later Blind Faith broke up after only one album and a six-week tour. That’s rock-n-fuckin-roll.
There are a lot of standout tracks on this recording.Traffic’s “Glad” with Clapton shredding in place of the tenor sax solo is as badass as it sounds. So is Winwood joining Clapton for dual guitars on “Dear Mr. Fantasy.” The two of them even manage to do justice to Hendrix’s “Little Wing” and kill a 17-minute “Voodoo Chile.”
My favorite track is probably “Them Changes” by Buddy Miles. Without even knowing he was ill, ClapWood recorded this just days before Miles died. Apparently, a friend at one of the shows held up a phone for Buddy to hear their cover, and he loved it. More or less the same thing happened right after Clapton and Duane Allman laid down “Little Wing” as Derek and the Dominoes, just days before Hendrix died. Thanks Eric. It’s a wonder JJ Cale is still alive today… well, for lots of reasons.
You probably know all the great stuff Clapton has done with Cream, Blind Faith, Derek and the Dominoes, Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, and as a solo artist, but if you’re not familiar with all the bands that Steve Winwood played in that shaped the landscape of modern music, here are a fewchoiceclips.
“A Beginners Guide to Blur,” Blur
If you’re not very familiar with Blur’s catalogue, it’s only partially your fault. British music that sounds British has never been big on American radio or MTV or whatever other commercial crap takes up most of our bandwidth these days.
Blur are essentially the godfathers of Britpop. Granted, it’s impossible to ever give one band credit for an entire subgenre, but if you had to pick one group, it would be Blur. After their first album, Blur toured the US, to mixed results, and by the time they got back to England, the Seattle grunge scene was exploding like the back of Kurt Cobain’s head all over the UK. Damon Albarn was sick of hearing foreign music dominate the British airways, so he set out to create something distinctly British, and more or less, that’s when Britpop entered the scene in the ’90s.
Blur and Oasis had a pretty big feud. Granted pretty much everyone had a feud with Oasis, hell — they even feuded with themselves. But Blur and Oasis were always competing for the #1 slot in the UK, often with Blur winning. However, Oasis was doing more of a Lo-Fi, American alternative sounding thing, and that caught on much bigger over here. But remnants of the rivalry still exist. If you ever see a drunk British guy in his mid 30s, which is fairly common, run up to him and shout “BLUR OR OASIS!?!” and then vehemently disagree with everything he says after that. It’s a blast.
Kid British pull off a pretty slick combination of most every genre of music using some sweet harmonies, live instruments and well-placed samples. Don’t be angry just because they’re better at it than Americans.
To old school rockers who shit on sampling all together: sampling is nothing new. It’s been around forever, and the greatest sampler of all time is probably Jimmy Page. Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about, and if you actually don’t know, look it up. Sampling’s not just unique to music either. No one called Jasper Johns a hack for lifting from Betsy Ross.
Kid British are getting bigger across the pond, but for some reason no ones is really pushing them over here, which is retarded because these guys are a goldmine. If I had the cash, I’d invest in an American PR campaign, and then retire from the royalties of their next album. Whoever decided not to get behind them here is a fucking moron. Do yourself a favor and get in on what they’re doing now, so you won’t have to buy “A Beginners Guide to Kid British” in 18 years.
You can buy the first half of their album here, watch some videos here, follow them on twitter here, and do a little bit of everything here.
It seems to be a day of hip-hop news here at Current Music:
+ Rapper C-Murder (now known as C-Miller) has been denied a trial postponement request for the alleged shooting death of 16 year old Steve Thomas in 2002. The denial now leaves Corey Miller’s prosecutors only two weeks to investigate Juan Flowers’ claims that he is the one responsible for Thomas’ death.
+ And speaking of Iran (and to offer something for those of you not in the hip-hop mindset), the Huffington Post has an interview with musician Fared Shafinury, an Iranian-American based in Austin, Texas. He discusses the problems he encountered as an artist during a two-year stay in Tehran.
Got more great music stories for Current? Submit them here and be sure to tag with the artist name for consideration to be featured!
+ If you were planning to attend the Treasure Island Festival in San Francisco and thought, gee, it would be awesome if The Decemberists played the entirety of their new album there, then your luck is the best luck. Set to the second night during the two-day, October festival, The Decemberists recently announced that they intend to play through all the songs from “The Hazards of Love.” No word on whether they intend to use the opportunity to release some sort of live album, but maybe some dedicated YouTube enthusiasts will at least document the whole thing for those of us who don’t have it as good as the person who wished this into existence.
+ Lastly, but also importantly, be careful when you post music, bloggers! You could end up like Kevin Cogill: sentenced for leaking a Guns ‘N Roses album. Wait, never mind, the punishment is just more time at home where you can just get back on the internet.
Got more great music stories for Current? Submit them here and be sure to tag Music for consideration to be featured!
So, I was supposed to be on cnn.com/live again today, but due to some technical difficulties, it didn’t work out.These things happen, but it is kind of annoying that I trimmed my beard, put on a clean shirt, and showed up to work sober. Anywhoo, here’s the music I was planning to push today.
Levon sounds like classic Levon on this album, with his Southern Arkansas melodic growl, but the real beauty on this record is his studious blend of classic American musical styles. Just when you think he’s given a song the Appalachian treatment, a crazy funky New Orleans tuba bounces off the back of your head (in the good way). You can preview the album here, and buy it here.
And in case you’re about 40 years late to the party, and have never heard The Band, go get The Last Waltz as an introduction. Martin Scorsese filmed their final concert and the were joined by the likes of Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Neil Diamond, Dr. John, Muddy Waters, Joni Mitchell, Emmy Lou Harris, Ronnie Wood, Van Morrison, Ringo, Ronnie Hawkins, and your mom. How awesome was that party? Well, MGM had to spend thousands of dollars airbrushing a booger brick of cocaine out from under Neil Young’s nose, so yeah, it was a good time.
PS: to whomever represent’s The Band’s catalogue, you better get on some search engine optimization, or The Band could disappear from history in 30 years.
“Wilco (the album)” Wilco
I love Wilco—always have, always will. I probably would have given this album four stars before I even heard it, and fortunately, I would have been right. Anyone who has spent any time listening to Wilco knows how great they are, but if you haven’t this is a good album to start on.
EachofWilco’sprevioussixalbums have had their own sound corresponding with the bands stage of evolution, but for the first time, this album brings all those sounds together. There are a couple of songs that sound like they’ve been pulled from each previous album Wilco has done. While this may sound strange, in effect, Wilco has essentially created a completely original greatest hits album.
If you don’t consider yourself the world’s biggest and best Wilco fan (most Wilco fans think they are the one person that truly“gets it”) go buy this album and then watch the DVD I am Trying to Break Your Heart. However, if you do consider yourself the penultimate Wilco fan, please stop getting in semantic arguments over grammar in the comment section of all their album reviews. And it probably wouldn’t kill you to stop motionlessly staring at Jeff Tweedy like a he’s an original Warhol, and actually get up and dance at a show.
“It Was This or Football” Kid British
I guess it was a good thing I was bumped on CNN this morning, considering this album doesn’t actually come out today, which means I get to save my review for when it does come out and I don’t look like an feckin’ eedget—wait that’s Irish slang, not English, ah feck it.
Anyway, instead of writing about them, I’ll just embed a few of clips from singles these genre-bending Mancies have released.
