Metal Lungies

Our collabo project continues haters! The finale of the Helio Pool Party series went out with a bang. I wish I could’ve checked out the Baltimore Bass Connection!

Here’s what Tien thought:

Sunday’s McCarren Park Pool Party was the last one for 2007, and possibly the last one ever. With future use of the pool in question (http://gothamist.com/2007/08/15/mccarren_2.php), music fans and artists made the best out of the final show this year under overcast skies and rain. Yacht was a one man show with the artist stopping at one point to field audience Q&A and getting into the crowd to sing and dance. Following Yacht was a group of artists performing with The Baltimore Bass Connection with guests The Cool Kids, Kid Sister, Betty Black, and Pase Rock. The collective was followed (after a dancing banana) by the headliner Ghostland Observatory. While turnout was much smaller than it would have been on a nice day, the crowd was excited for the duo from Austin, Texas. Watching singer/guitarist Aaron Behrens, it’s clear why they say he’s drawn comparisons to Freddie Mercury and Prince. 

Spank Rock (B-more legend.)

Santo Gold

Kid Sister (Signed to A-Trak’s & Catchdubs’ Fools Gold Label, appeared on that little mixtape. peep her.)

Cool Kids (Dope up & comers)

 

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If you are anywhere near Hollyhood Hollywood you owe yourself to check this out. Go out & celebrate the elements of hip-hop people! Plus we’ll be hella jealous of you seeing The Ruler live.

Freestyle Session 10, the world’s largest b-boy break dancing battle, will be taking place at Circus Hollywood on Saturday, August 25th and Sunday, August 26th.
The preliminary battles take place on Saturday and Sunday will crown the winners in the three categories of breaking, popping and locking.  Sunday will also feature will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas as the host emcee with performances by Slick Rick, DITC, One Be Lo and more. The Black Eyed Peas also provided funding for Freestyle Session 10.
Produced by Cros1, Freestyle Session first began as a small b-boy gathering in November 1997 and this year’s competition marks the 10th anniversary of what has now become an annual assembly for hip-hop communities worldwide. Over 100 crews from the US, Japan, Korea, Europe and other countries will be competing over two days for $25,000 in cash and prizes. 
Freestyle Session 10 will be a chance to witness some of the greatest dancers from around the world perform their best routines.  This momentous occasion will also provide a greater appreciation for the art and skill of break dancing and bring unity in spirit to the participant and spectator alike.

Freestyle Session 10
Circus Hollywood
6655 Santa Monica Blvd.
Hollywood, CA  90038
Saturday, August 25th     12 Noon – 8 PM
Sunday, August 26th      2 PM – Midnight
TICKETS ON SALE NOW

Purchase tickets at www.groovetickets.com, Workman’s Outlet and select ticket outlets.  All dates, acts and ticket prices subject to change without notice.

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If you were unable to make it to out this year’s Rock The Bells hip hop festival out in the boondocks of Cali better known as San Bernardino, here’s a recap to fill you in on what you missed, complete with horrible-quality pictures. The Hyundai Pavilion staff definitely called my bluff with their “No Digital Cameras” rule — I found out how easily I could’ve snuck mine in after having walked about a mile away from my car (where I left my digicam), and thus was forced to work with a disposable.

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I also went to the Virgin Festival and saw a load of acts that Lethal wasn’t able to. This is my story. (Apologies for my Crappy Photography).

Day 1:

Cheap Trick- Really put on a good live show, played all the hits, but I think it was kinda lost on the younger crowd. The energy wasn’t what it should have been. The band was definately having fun though. Dude tried to give out his guitar to the crowd (alas, security stopped him).

Petalpushers- I only saw these guys for like 10 minutes but they seemed to be a great dance band that was playing the wrong kind of dance music.

Modest Mouse- I saw half of their show, and it was really good. They played really well, the song list was incredible, but the sound was too damn low. So I went to the Dance Tent.

Sander Van Doorn- He was the final act of the first day inside the dance tent, and he was fucking insane. The dude was playing some crazy coldplay remix when I came in and the shit just kept getting more and more intense. People were dancing, jumping, and drinking like crazy. The light show was crazy. Everything was right. I honestly have to say this was one of my favorite acts of the entire festival.

Day 2:

Girl Talk (Forgot a Picture)- This dude is truely insane. He was jumping around the stage, pulling out the wires on his laptop, and banging his head like a crazy mother. This guy really put up some crazy combos. He mashed up some wild shit. I definately reccomend seeing him live.

Dieselboy and MC Messinian- I know Lethal already commented on this. But I have to say that if this dude ever comes to your town and you miss him, you should be killed for negligence. I can easily understand why this dude is the best selling drum and bass artist in the world. I sweat more during his set than during the entire concert.

James Zabiela- This dude was having a great time, his mixing was on-point, and everyone was having a good time. I just didn’t get into it. I guess its not my type of dance music.

Bad Brains- Unlike Lethal I have a take on Hardcore, and I considered this the second most wild performance of the entire festival. People were actually moshing, and the pit was huge to boot. They played loud, fast, and did all the classics, from “Regulator” to “Banned in DC”. Security sent in mad people to try and stop the mosh pit, but it didn’t work. Even their reggae was good. Looks like they can still rock after almost 30 years.

The Wu-Tang Clan- This was like a dream come true for me. My friend even elbowed Method Man while they were both crowd surfing. I walked out of this a different person. Epic.

Deep Dish- This was like Zabiela for me. Awesome set, great lighting. I just didn’t get into it.

For the Final 3 Acts we split up, one friend saw Pumpkins, two saw 311, and I saw M.I.A.

Smashing Pumpkins- My friend said they were great. They played all the hits and the show was really smooth and crisp. The crowd was really hype and they put on an all-around awesome performance. He really liked the “Star Spangled Banner” rendition, said it was “Super Hendrix”.

311- One of my friends who saw them was a huge fan who had never been to a concert in his life, the other had been to quite a few concerts, and both were in agreement that 311 truly lives up to their reputation of being one of the best live bands. They put on a great show and played every hit my friends wanted to hear. Matisyahu even joined them on stage for some rapping accompaniment. To top it off they encored with “Who’s got the herb?” A good time was had by all.

M.I.A.- For the last act of this epic concert I decided to go with the underdog in the Dance Tent. I was not disappointed. Not only did she put on a great show, she also got the crowd hyped as shit. She was sticking her microphone in for crowd help, getting people on stage, and belting out enthusiasm like there was no tomorrow. It was really the perfect end to a perfect festival.

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After much anticipation, partially based on HM’s 2006 experience, the 2007 Virgin Festival finally rolled around. While we weren’t able to check out all the acts that we would’ve liked (not humanly possible), we did get a well rounded experience. So here is a roundup of what we saw and my personal thumbs up & thumbs down rundown.

Day 1:

Amy Winehouse- Great voice live, great backing band…but putting some energy into your perfomance to make it look like you weren’t already thinking about playing Lollapalooza the next night would’ve gone a long way.

Incubus- A band I used to really like reminded me that I’ve been neglecting them for too long. Came out with great energy, the guitar riff from Anna-Molly is still stuck in my head. Small note: I’m on the fence about Brandon Boyd’s instrumental talents.

Ben Harper-Very talented musician, that would probably be better suited to play at a peace rally, or somewhere you can sit down and close your eyes.

LCD Soundsystem- One of the, if not the single most fun act of the 2 days. If you like cowbell and all sorts of crazy bells the south stage with LCD was the place to be. Randomness was to be expected when James Murphy, the singer/creater of LCD kept reminding us that the guiatirst was Phil. We almost didn’t want to leave early to go see:

Beastie Boys!?!!- Beastie Boys brought the righteous business in their suits (despite the 100 degree temps) when they hit the stage. Clearly not forgetting their beginnings as a band nearly 30 years ago, the Beasties came out as full band, everyone with an instrument in hand. When the instruments weren’t being used Mixmaster Mike lived up to his name by seemlessly switching up the beat on Beastie’s classics (Brass Monkey to No Sleep Til Brooklyn) using everything from Jim Jones’-Ballin, DJ Premier’s Nike Cut-Timeless, to DMX’s-Where The Hood At. This forced me to add seeing a Mixmaster Mike DJ Set on my ‘Must Do List’. In between songs the Beasties played songs off their new instrumental album, The Mix-Up, which I just viewed as interludes. To conclude their set, seeing Sabotage perfomed by the Beasties as a band was simply thunderous.

The Police- Everything went as expected, The Police didn’t do anything to improve or disprove their Legendary status. Belting out most of their greatest hits Sting seemed a little reserved but showed he has pretty good vocals despite his age. Stewart Copeland was no slouch either cleverly utilizing a gong and cymbals on his brief solo. The few baby boomers in attendance were happy as can be.

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[Note: I didn’t even know about this concert until my friend, Julie, got me tickets a week ago (a very thoughtful belated birthday present). Big Up to my boy Nate for the Camera. I Forgot Mine.]

We took the metro there and arrived at opening. The line to get in scretched down the street (full of privilged white kids, as expected). Suprisingly enough we got in and the club was pretty empty. We went up to the balcony to chill and Immortal Technique was walking around unnoticed until these two kids blew his cover after about 2 minutes. We decided it would be better to be stageside so we went downstairs and secured some great spots. And then came the waiting. Seriously, it was like 2 hours before anyone got on stage. Then this dude came out and said we were gonna watch a video featuring Technique, he was really excited that he got to debut it. It was terrible, I almost left. Then the show started…

Akir was the first act to come on. He did a great job of hyping up the crowd and his songs were good too. He sounds like a great lyricist I just don’t know any of his shit yet. He even let his hype man (dude in the green) do two of his own songs (he was actually better lyrically than Akir). When Akir’s set ended there was no long pause between acts. It went straight to Diabolic.

Diabolic put on an awesome show. His raps were incredible, he even dropped a few freestyles. He did some songs he was featured on off of Technique’s albums. Akir came out and did a song with him. He didn’t get the crowd moving as much, but his hypeman didn’t really come through in the hyping department.

Then Reverend Lennox Yearwood came on and started getting the crowd into a fever about impeaching Bush. He had been arrested the day before for a sit-in while trying to impeach Bush . It really got everyone into a mob mentality. I really wanted to break some car windows afterwords. And dismantle the corrupt government… and stuff.

Then came the headliner, Immortal Technique. When he came out all the openers joined him on stage and acted as a team of hype men. He ripped through some of his more well-known material, (Dance with the Devil, Peruvian Cocaine, Bin Laden) as well as some of his earlier stuff. Interspersed between his songs he gave short sermons on different issues, including topics such as:
– The Republican Party (Against)
– Racial Separation (Against)
– Record Industry Corruption (Against)
– Murdering Those Who Abuse Women (For)
He also took every opportunity he could to point out how we were all ignorant motherfuckers, and how incompetant his Dj is. Speaking of which, during the middle of his set he allowed his DJ to show off his skills, and dude is a scratch master. Diabolic and his DJ almost got into a fight after this when Diabolic accidentally sprayed some beverage on his turntables. After a bunch of songs Technique ended a long show and everyone left happy. I would definitely recommend seeing him live.

For more pics Check My Flickr.

Akir Performing:
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=XxQRt8xAjDw[/youtube] Diabolic Performing:
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=ch_XQSCMaUw[/youtube]

Technique Performing:
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We continue to get stronger like Kanye. We have hooked up with freelance photographer extraordinaire Tien Mao. Straight out of Brooklyn, Tien will be snapping up the flyest photos of concerts all around NYC (and the world!). We kick it off with some indie rock at the Helio Pool Party.

Band of Horses

The Annuals

Oxford Collapse

For the WHOLE photo set go to the flickr right now.

Here is what Tien had to share about the venue & the party:

The McCarren Park Pool opened in 1936 and was the 8th out of 11 pools built by the WPA. It had a capacity for 6800 swimmers, but was closed in 1984. After years of being shuttered, the pool was used again in 2005 for a dance performance and then in 2006 for concerts and special events. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarren_Park)

At the Pool Parties, the organizers have areas set up for dodgeball, slip n slide, and volleyball, the later two perfect for yesterday’s warm weather. While there were plenty of people that were standing in front of the stage for the show (most people seemed to be there for Band of Horses, the headliner), many others were content to sit or lay on their blankets in their swimsuits farther away from the stage.

Here are the remaining dates for the Helio Pool Parties;

JULY 29
TV ON THE RADIO
Celebration
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson

AUGUST 5
BLONDE REDHEAD
I’m From Barcelona
The Coydogs
The Rub

AUGUST 12
TED LEO + THE PHARMACISTS
The Thermals
Birds of Avalon
DJ sets by Craig Finn (THE HOLD STEADY)

AUGUST 19
GHOSTLAND OBSERVATORY
Yacht (Jonah of The Blow)
The Rub plus special guests

To RSVP for the shows hit up Going. For more info on the concert series beam up the official site. Also, be sure to bookmark Tienmao.com to keep with his day to day photography.

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Last year we covered the Virgin Fesitval and four weekends from now Metal Lungies will be at this years Virgin festival in B-more. It’s a 2 day festival with tickets still available. If you can only make it out to one day, day 2 seems to be just an iffy better. For more info, and to cop tickets go the official festival site here. Also, be sure to check back here for the full ML’s style wrap up, that is if we don’t become a fulltime groupie, catering to one of the acts.

 

 

 

 

 

The lineup is as follows (in bold are the acts ML will be checking for at the festival). 

Day 1 

    * The Police
    * Beastie Boys
    * Modest Mouse
    * Incubus
    * TV on the Radio
    * LCD Soundsystem
    * Fountains of Wayne
    * Peter Bjorn and John
    * Sasha and John Digweed
    * The Fratellis
    * Danny Tenaglia
    * Amy Winehouse
    * Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals
    * Sander Van Doorn
    * Shout Out Out Out Out
    * Cheap Trick
    * Felix Da Housecat
    * Paolo Nutini
    * Booka Shade
    * Miguel Migs
    * Fiction Plane

Day 2

    * The Smashing Pumpkins
    * 311
    * Interpol
    * Velvet Revolver
    * The Crystal Method
    * Wu-Tang Clan
    * Matisyahu
    * Yeah Yeah Yeahs
    * Bad Brains
    * Regina Spektor
    * Infected Mushroom
    * Girl Talk
    * Dieselboy and Andy C
    * M.I.A.
    * CSS
    * Deep Dish (Dubfire + Sharam)
    * Spoon
    * James Zabiela

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Good Music+Central Park=Win.

Another thing I wish I was in NYC for.

Cinematic Orchestra
RAMP
El Michels Affair
Kevin Michael
DJ Spinna
Saturday, July 07, 2007
From 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Central Park SummerStage
Presented in collaboration with Giant Step

Jason Swinscoe is a British DJ and instrumentalist with an extreme fondness for jazz, movie music and the sample aesthetic of electronica. Cinematic Orchestra is his attempt to blend these obsessions together. The group’s new album, Ma Fleur, is described by its creators as “the soundtrack to a specially commissioned screenplay for an imagined film (which may or may not yet be made).” Britain’s Mojo magazine called it “a raw and overwhelming surge of soul,” while Q magazine praised the group for achieving “a rare kind of poise, hovering between jazz, soul and orchestral soundtrack.” In concert, Cinematic Orchestra creates a beat-driven yet subtle sound as the musicians improvise to samples of bass lines, percussion and airy strings.
Cincinnati band RAMP is one of the great lost stories of the ’70s. The band released one Roy Ayers-produced album, Come Into Knowledge, in 1977, then disappeared. That would have been the end of the story, but RAMP’s music started to circulate among the rare groove and hip-hop undergrounds, its appeal enhanced by the mystery that surrounded the band. In 1989, hip-hoppers A Tribe Called Quest sampled the song “Daylight” for their breakthrough single “Bonita Applebaum” and RAMP’s sound was introduced to a whole new generation. Newly reformed with its original line-up intact, RAMP is back to preach the true gospel of groove.
Brooklyn drummer and organist Leon Michels is in love with the “rare groove” albums of the late ’60s and early ’70s. But rather than just sample those irresistible beats, Michels put together the El Michels Affair to create them the old fashioned way, live on stage. The group’s debut Sounding Out The City doesn’t feel “retro:” it feels “vintage,” like it was actually recorded back when John Lindsay was Mayor. Not that Michels and co. are stuck in the past – they’ve covered songs by hip-hop’s Wu Tang Clan, and worked with Clan rapper Raekwon.
Soul prodigy Kevin Michael is a confident young man, but he has the talent to back it up. The 22-year-old Philadelphia-based singer has already worked with folks like The Roots and Wyclef Jean, and his Sly Stone / Michael Jackson-influenced single “We All Want The Same Thing” features hip-hop star Lupe Fiasco. Michael is known for his live shows: stripped-down sets in which he is accompanied only by rapper Akil Dasan on acoustic guitar and beat-box.

Check out some Kevin Michael, dude might be the male version of Amy Winehouse-

We All Want The Same thing Ft. Lupe Fiasco (Media Player)

We All Want The Same Thing Acoustic (Media Player)

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I have your Saturday night agenda.

Pharoahe Monch teams up with Apple to celebrate Black Music Month with a live in-store performance. Head over the to Apple Store in Soho, NYC on Sunday June 17th at 3pm to catch Pharoahe Monch perform new songs from his new album Desire (in stores June 26th). Space is limited so get their early.
Store Address
103 Prince Street
New York, NY 10012
(212) 226-3126

Who knows you might hear his verse from that remix.

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