Bacardi B-LIVE 2009

I like Bacardi. "Bacardi" rhymes with "party" and the actual meanings behind both words go off without a hitch. So, I guess it makes sense that Bacardi is behind one of the more epic tours of the year, one that includes Santigold, Major Lazer (Diplo and Switch), DJ AM, Jazzy Jeff and A-Trak. It's like a new rave in a box! Leave your glowsticks at home, though.

The FADER is one of the official media sponsors of the tour, so I will be at all of the shows. If you see a short Filipino with a video camera, hopefully that will be me and not some creepy dude trying to get shots of hipster 'tang. If it's me, say "Hi". If not, run like hell. Official tour dates and locations can be seen over at The FADER blog, but make sure to check in at the B-LIVE page to get tickets and see who's playing when and where.

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Clipse + Cam'ron = MASTODON

MTV Shows

Admittedly, my love for Clipse and Killa Cam hasn't been very well documented on this blog, but I've had those dudes on heavy rotation since when Macbook Pros were called Powerbooks. That being said, hearing about the upcoming collabo between three of my dearest coke flow giants got me all sorts of giddy. Needless to say, whatever street cred I can get for listening to them went down the drain once I heard the news and used "giddy" to describe the feeling. Artist's rendering of the upcoming track after the jump.



Mastodon! Check out how many spears of hate that thing took! Nothing can take it down.

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Kutiman Mixes YouTube

Everyone that has ever tried to make it big through user-generated content, all the mash-up dudes, the trailer edits, etc just got owned. Kutiman came out of nowhere an launched his THRU YOU website today, featuring songs he made by sampling audio and video from YouTube clips to make new arrangements. And you thought datamoshing was cool.

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Dead Man's Bones

I'm a card carrying member of the cult of Gosling so take everything with a grain of salt, but what is up with Ryan Gosling being the most awesome dude of my generation? Seriously, dude went from being the slow white cornerback in Remember the Titans to the actor that made me believe he had feelings for a love doll and that someone can not only endure Rachel McAdams, but actually build a house for the bitch with their bare hands. It almost pains me to say that he has a band whose album is coming out soon and they're actually good. Between him being the Bo Jackson of culture while I can't walk and light a cigarette at the same time and LeBron on the road to being Scrooge McDuck by bending space/time while still being younger than me, I'd have to say that I've been really unproductive. Hopefully Dead Man's Bones' album will wash away some of the pain when it comes out. Knowing Gosling, he'll probably make it an album of the year contender just to push me over the edge.

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The Depreciation Guild

If there's anyone who likes free shit any more than me, I haven't met them. It's even more awesome when said free shit is actually something you would proud of owning the next day. New Shoegaze band The Depreciation Guild made their debut album, In Her Gentle Jaws, available for free on their website, making it the best piece of schwag I've come across in a while. Their album is part-Loveless, part-The Radio Dept. jam session, in the end making it the best new album to listen to in a dark room when you've just spent all of your severance pay on opiates. You can check out the video for my favorite track, "Nautilus" after the jump.

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Back(b)log.

It's been a pretty crazy and busy (and crazy busy) week for me, thus explaining the lack of posts here but a number of posts elsewhere. There are a couple of show reviews up on The FADER blog as well as a new episode of "LA Is A Nice Place To Live". Links to the articles as well as the complete set of accompanying photos can be found after the jump. I'm going back to bed.

Friendly Fires at Spaceland. More photos at Flickr.

Little Joy at Detroit Bar. Even more photos.

New video at the recently opened GOOD space on Melrose. Seriously the most positive vibe I've felt at a space in a very long time.

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Thurston Moore @ The Smell

File this one under "crazy, shows that will be". After his stint in Europe for his day job, Thurston Moore will be coming to Los Angeles to play a show at The Smell. Some other bands will play before him, but who cares? Jesus could have come back to front an opening noise band act and that shit still wouldn't be as nuts. Be there or be L7. On a side note, some guy at the No Age show the other night was talking about how witnessing the emergence of No Age and their brother and sister bands is analogous to being in New York at the time that Sonic Youth was blowing up. I wouldn't go that far, but it doesn't seem like a coincidence, seeing as No Age idolizes Sonic Youth. Perhaps its no coincidence that Thurston Moore would take the time to hit up No Age's home base, then?

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Road To 'Till The Casket Drops

I know I'm posting this pretty late in the day: this shit probably went ghetto gold by the time I click "Publish Post", but who cares? Clipse came out with their long-awaited (by me, anyway) mixtape, Road To 'Till The Casket Drops today. Every time I listen to anything from those dudes for the first time, I'm always surprised that I even listen to Clipse at all. Do I secretly want to push 'caine and Gallardos? Of course not. Well, maybe the Gallardo. Get me one of those in black.

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808's & Heartbreak

Me likey. Kanye just has a habit of coming out with the right shit at just the right time. As everyone may know, his new and completely sung and auto-tuned record, 808's & Heartbreak, comes out on Tuesday, but you can stream the entire album at his MySpace starting 12:01AM on November 23rd. Dude held back his usual bag of tricks on this one and managed to deliver his most personal songs yet. Who knew after listening to College Dropout that Yeezy was one artist that you could grow with?

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The FADER: Flying Lotus in Los Angeles

My review of the Flying Lotus/Brainfeeder show at the Echoplex is now up at The FADER blog. Having my shit up at a real publication's online entity really makes me wish that I wrote better and took better photos. Oh well.

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No Age Free at the Troubadour

No Age, my favorite band to come out of the whole Los Angeles DIY scene, is giving back to their fans (with a little bit of help in the form of corporate sponsorship from Hot Topic). The duo responsible for the most tastefully executed rainbow-themed t-shirt ever will be playing a free(!) show with Titus Andronicus at the Troubadour on December 2nd. Tickets can be ordered online here, and will be available for pick up on the day of the show. Get yours soon, No Age fans are almost as nuts as those Twilight devotees.

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