Category Archives: Jam of the Day

September 30, 2009 · 10:00 PM

Jam of the Day – The Slew and Ardi, Caught in the Middle of Two Worlds

Later this week, Science magazine will report the finding of the fossil remains of a “woman” who lived and died at the dawn of humanity in Ethiopia. “Ardi,” who lived some 4.4 million years ago, seems to be the earliest known ancestral human fossil yet (sorry, Lucy!). But while Ardi did walk on two legs on the ground, the species also clambered about on four legs in the trees (as evidenced by her opposable big toe), meaning that Ardi is essentially an ape caught in the act of becoming human, straddling both worlds. More will be up on Thursday at this site for the special edition of Science that will reveal the findings.

In a way, The Slew, a project conceived of and executed by Kid Koala and Dynomite D, is sort of in this no-man’s land. Not exactly turntable electronica, not exactly rock, The Slew’s record 100% is partly an attempt by Kid Koala, aka Eric San, to gain some cred for turntables in the rock universe. As he told Wired.com in an email interview recently, “I think rock kids who hate turntables may listen to The Slew and get over their preconceptions pretty quickly.”

The album is definitley a lesson in dope production and rocking hard, and you can download the whole 100% album free from Kid Koala’s official website.

theslew_100

The Slew is playing at the Music Hall of Williamsburg tonight, and from what we’ve heard, this live show is going to be off the hook and REALLY LOUD. For the tour, Kid Koala will be joined by DJ P-Love on 6 turntables and backed by a live band comprised of the former members of Wolfmother’s rhythm section – Chris Ross and Myles Heskett – on bass and drum duties. They just posted some pics from the show in San Francisco on September 25 if you want a preview of what this might look like live, or you can check out the video below for the track “It’s All Over” from 100%, which appropriately begins: “Back in the beginning, when the ape became a man…”

The Slew – It’s All Over:

-Drew

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September 30, 2009 · 2:00 AM

Jam of the Day – Sunny Day Real Estate on Jimmy Fallon

Sunny Day Real Estate @ Terminal 5 (photo courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan)

Sunny Day Real Estate @ Terminal 5 (photo courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan)

I had to wait until really late to write today’s jam, in anticipation of posting a video of Sunny Day Real Estate playing live on Jimmy Fallon. Ever since news of their reunion with all four original members broke back in June, almost everyone that I know has been eagerly anticipating a chance to see them play again. Luckily, the Seattle band that basically invented emo did not disappoint, delivering a stellar performance of their song “Seven,” from one of my favorite albums of all time and their first back in 1994, Diary.

Here’s the video of the Jimmy Fallon performance from last night.

Sunny Day Real Estate – Seven (live on Jimmy Fallon):

And if you’re a huge SDRE fan like me, you’ll definitely also want to check out Brooklyn Vegan’s piece on the Terminal 5 show they played last night after the Fallon taping. There are tons of photos and great videos of “Seven,” “47,” “Shadows,” and “In Circles” !! And while you’re at it, you might want to also pick up copies of the remastered Diary and LP2 records from Sub Pop, which include some bonus tracks and new liner notes.

-Drew

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September 28, 2009 · 7:16 PM

Jam of the Day – Animal Hands Shape Audio Lakes

animalhands_bandphoto

Our friends from Brooklyn-based Animal Hands just released a free, 3 song EP titled Suntan on their website, and they’re playing a show tonight at Pianos to celebrate! Come on out and party with them – Leo O’connor and P.D. Brennan on vox and guitars, T. Stephen Farrell on keys, Kiernan Moriarty on bass, and Thomas O’Connor on drums – and wash away your Monday blues:

Animal Hands_Pianos

Later this week we’ll be writing up a review of their full-length Unrealists, set to be released really soon, but in the meantime here’s a tasty little preview of the forth-coming LP, called “Lavender Lakes.”

Animal Hands – Lavender Lakes:

-Drew

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September 25, 2009 · 7:13 PM

Jam of the Day – Flaming Arrows from Jupiter

jupiter_one_logo You may never have heard of Jupiter One, but after hearing their new album Sunshower, you might experience the same sort of “this sounds familiar” reaction that I did. Which is not to say that J1 is derivative, but rather that this group of songs is so diverse and touches on so many genres and bands that as I was listening to the record today, my co-worker asked me about 5 times, in disbelief, “is this really the same band?” As the press release for the record states, this is “a brazenly positive, unapolegetically upbeat pop record that simply can’t fail to put a smile between any set of ears.” With a whole slew of good songs on there, including “Volcano,” “Anna,” “Flaming Arrow,” (which kind of sounds like Guster to me) and “Find Me a Place” (is this a lost Police song or something?), the disc does not disappoint, and I recommend checking them out.

Jupiter One, from Brooklyn, which is made up of members K Ishibashi, Zac Colwell, Mocha, David Heilman, and Pat “Panda” Dougherty, have a lot going for them right now: They’re about to open a bunch of shows for Regina Spektor, and tonight they play their “record release party” show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg (I’ll be there if you want someone to hang out with). So go check them out before they get too famous.

Although my favorite song from the album is probably “Simple Stones,” I could only find this relatively poor quality video of them playing it online. So for today’s jam, check out the pretty fun animated video they just released for “Flaming Arrow,” the first single off the record.

Jupiter One – Flaming Arrow:

-Drew

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September 24, 2009 · 8:19 PM

Jam of the Day – Ghostface Visits Emerald City, Brings Back Baby-Making R&B Record

ghostface-killah-wizard-of-poetry

It’s been about three months since we posted up “Forever” and Ghostface Killah’s comments about his upcoming R&B record, Ghostdini: The Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City. Here’s a little recap:

“How long you gonna be 40 years old and actin’ like you still sellin’ cracks and you on the block and you doin’ this and you doin’ that when times is more serious, man. We in a fuckin’ recession, B! Ain’t nobody gettin’ no money, man! We gotta stop lyin’ to ourselves and lyin’ to the fans. And the fans gotta stop bein’ so dumb and ignorant, and know it’s time to talk about grown-man situations. Shit that happen in the real life, inside your household, your love life, your personal life…”

The album, GFK’s last for Def Jam, is set to drop next week on September 29, 2009, but it’s already been getting some rave reviews, and today Ghostface actually teamed up with imeem to offer a streaming version of the whole record free online. 2dopeboyz has it up also in case you don’t have an imeem account.

All I can really say is that this whole album is dope; Ghostface really delivers on his promise. My man has a whole rap about being paranoid fantasizing about a new man enjoying his ex-woman! Real talk. But I’m a sucker for a slow R&B jam, and Tony Starks (AKA Ghostface Killah), so I guess it’s not surprising. Early favorites from the first few listens are opener “Not Your Average Girl,” “Guest House,” “I’ll Be That,” and “Goner,” and even though the “Back Like That” remix was originally on More Fish, it really pops here in the smooth R&B, love song context. This record will be spun for many a baby-making session/fireplace cuddle this winter, fo sho. If you think that I’m sweating the album too hard, I would say to you just pardon my gangster, a line from what I assume is the first official single, “Baby.” Check out the video for it below. Run, Ghostface, run!

Ghostface Killah – Baby (ft. Raheem “Radio” DeVaughn):

-Drew

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September 23, 2009 · 7:55 AM

Jam of the Day – Too Soon To Ignore The Rising Oceans

In New York this week, the ongoing UN meetings are covering a range of topics, one of the most important being climate change. For policy makers, as the Times reports, this debate has been “an intricate challenge: building momentum for an international climate treaty at a time when global temperatures have been relatively stable for a decade and may even drop in the next few years.” Seriously, this is a challenge? Of all of the important issues being debated in these meetings, one would think that the future survival of the planet would trump them all. Skeptics that are trying to stall these discussions and treaties to further their own political agendas are being incredibly short-sighted, and it won’t be long until they are going to be faced with a disastrous climate situation and rising tides that they can’t ignore.

heyocean_band_photo All these doubters need take a queue from the name of Vancouver-based jazz/pop band Hey Ocean!, and deal with the issue head on. From what I have heard of Hey Ocean! so far, they are pretty adept at blending various musical styles into some solid pop-tracks that they showcased at SXSW this summer. Band members Ashleigh Ball, David Beckingham and David Vertesi released It’s Easier To Be Somebody Else in 2008, a fusion of playful, lyric-driven ballads. Today’s jam is the first track off of It’s Easier To Be Somebody Else, “Too Soon.”

Hey Ocean! will be in NYC soon, playing two nights at Piano’s on October 8th and 15th, so if you like what you hear, mark your calendar.

Hey Ocean! – Too Soon:

-Melissa

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