Tag: TTT

Music, Print, Reviews

Top Tunes Thursday: Will Butler — Policy

December 3, 2015

As the year comes to a close, all us music geeks can finally start openly discussing the “best of” lists that have been taking up valuable storage in our brains. Best EP’s, best albums, best singles, best artists; From the months of October to January, the inside of your average music junkie’s brain is a tiny imaginary Grammy’s, rewarding and unrewarding as new albums put their name on the ballot. This week on TTT, I take a look back at one of my favorite records of the year, one which almost definitely appear on my own year end list (the official laminated one that I show people). The record is Policy, by Will Butler.

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Music, Print, Reviews

Top Tunes Thursday: Edge of Daybreak — Eyes of Love

October 22, 2015

In 1979, a group of musicians bound by circumstance gathered in earnest to craft their first album. Calling themselves Edge of Daybreak, the album that was recorded, while finding little commercial success and almost no financial returns for its creators, was (is) absolutely laden with the sounds of the day from which it came. The players behind this record, a record brimming with vitality and an urgency for life, were all inmates serving out sentences at the Powhatan Correctional Center in Richmond Virginia. Reaping the benefits of a liberal prison music program, band mates Jamal Jahal Nubi (drums, vocal) Harry Coleman (adt. vocal) James Carrington (keys), Cornelius Cade (guitar), McEvoy Robinson (bass), and Willie Williams (percussion) crafted Eyes of Love on a budget of $3,000 and a little less than five hours studio time. Now, almost 40 years later, the Numero Group has re-released the record for our listening pleasure. Lucky for us.

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Music, Print, Reviews

Top Tunes Thursday: Denzel Curry — 32 Zel / Planet Shrooms

October 8, 2015

Two weeks ago, while I was researching the newest Little Simz record (review here) I came across a list of “rappers to watch for.” Little Simz was featured for her E.D.G.E EP and AGE 101 series, while a young Miami Rapper, Denzel Curry was featured for his debut album, Nostalgic 64. After inhaling the hallucinogenic trap flavorings of his debut, I was happy to find his new effort (which had not been released at the time of the record) had been out since June! Normally, on TTT I like to bring you my favorite release from the week, but this week, we’re taking some time for an excellent record that I missed. This article is an effort to make sure you don’t make the same mistake. The record, or “double-EP,” is 32 Zel / Planet Shrooms.

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Music, Print, Reviews

Top Tunes Thursday: Big Grams — Self Titled

October 1, 2015

I’d like to see the “to do list” for this record. It must read something like: “1. Make awesome music. 2. See #1.” Yes, it’s simple, but it’s simply fun. If Big Grams set out to make music to dance/copulate to, I think they hit the nail on the head. Phantogram released their most recent record last year, and the last time OutKast put out new music, I was a Junior in highschool. (Wow, I’m old.) While there doesn’t appear to be any tour dates in Big Grams’ future, I guess you’ll just have to settle for playing this record on repeat.

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Top Tunes Thursday: Little Simz — A Curious Tale of Trials + Persons

September 24, 2015

Imagine you know someone who wants to be a world renowned rapper. Regardless of talent or ability, how many challenges lay ahead of this person? Find/compose beats, write verses, record said verses, produce record/mixtape/single, and somehow get that content out to the people, whether that be through radio, concerts, or some manner of digital dispersion. Now imagine this person is a woman, and lives in the UK, a locale as synonymous with hip hop as it is with hardcore death metal (which is to say, not very). This is the monumental task Simbi Ajikawo set for herself at the tender age of 9. After dabbling in the movement and screen disciplines, Ajikawo dedicated herself to rap, donning the moniker Little Simz. 4 mixtapes, 6 EPs, and 1 independently created record label later, Simz has garnered adoration from ravenous listeners around the globe, including some of rap’s biggest names, including J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, and Jay-Z.

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Top Tunes Thursday: Beirut — No No No

September 17, 2015

When I find a new artist (whether it be a new single, a new album, or by recommendation) if I can, I like to start at the beginning of their discography. If I’m really going to get a feel for the art being created, I think an important part of that is knowing where they started from. This holds particularly true for this week’s subject of TTT, Albuquerque bred pop outfit, Beirut. Though their name might betray their more worldly senses, there’s not much you can do to prepare yourself for the jangling gypsy chorus this is Beirut’s debut record, Gulag Orkestar. The record does enough to make you scratch your head, and becomes even more confounding when you find out it was recorded almost completely by Beirut frontman and founder, Zach Condon.

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Top Tunes Thursday: Travis $cott — Rodeo

September 10, 2015

When your first public appearance has you labeled as a protege of Kanye West, it’s safe to say you travel with heavy expectations on your shoulders. When Travi$ Scott was revealed as one of the top producer’s behind West’s blistering thrash-rap opus, Yeezus, the countdown to his solo album began. While his debut EP Owl Pharaoh failed to impress, his follow-up Days Before Rodeo did much to increase the appetites of Scott’s swelling fanbase. Now, two plus years after the source of his fame, Travi$ Scott has released his highly anticipated solo record, Rodeo. Without giving too much away, it lives up to the name.

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Top Tunes Thursday: Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats — Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats

August 27, 2015

In the early summer of 2010, my best friend bought me tickets to see one of my favorite performers at the time, Tallest Man on Earth. In line, before the show, two men stepped out the front doors and both lit up smokes. One, short and petite, who I recognized to be Tallest Man, and the other, only slightly taller, with a bushy handlebar mustache and a round gut held in by denim, who my friend recognized as a performer who knew as Nathaniel Rateliff, the night’s opener. The show that followed that evening lived up to the praise my friend had given him. He sang in long, sad shouts. And when he did, he would kick and shake. He was a livewire jammed into the ears of his audience. While I have enjoyed his particular brand of rock-folk every year since, I have been waiting for the self titled debut from his new band for approaching five years now. Following a standing ovation on The Tonight Show and years of buzz (from people other than myself) the group has finally dropped the record, consequentially making every second of waiting worth it.

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