May 28th, 2009

Boyz II Men Establish Scholarship, Rep Philly

Damn, it’s hard to believe our own Boyz II Men has been around for more than 20 years now. I remember — back when I worked at Listening Booth at the Oxford Valley Mall in the very early ’90s — that for a couple months there, it was like every other cassette we sold was Cooleyhighharmony. It was crazy. I also recall one afternoon, someone came into our store shouting that one of the guys in the group was shopping at the mall (might have been at Oaktree, the clothes store directly above us) and there was a mass exodus of screaming fans heading for the escalator to find him. Ahh, memories. They’re the best-selling male R&B vocal group of all time, and while it seems like they haven’t had a hit in some time (at least not with an original song; 2007’s Hitsville Motown covers album did okay) — and they’re more likely to pop up on Dancing With the Stars than the pop charts — their legend is secure, especially here in Philadelphia. Earlier this week, the group was at the internationally renowned Institute of Production and Recording in Minneapolis to announce their new R&B/hip-hop scholarship and talk about their two decades in the music biz, and, reports AllHipHop.com, they gave Philly plenty of love:

“A lot of people don’t know that we went to the high school of Creative and Performing Arts out in South Philly. We grew up with a lot of guys that are in the business right now,” explained Boyz member Shawn Stockman. “From ?uestlove and Black Thought from the Roots, [to] Amel Larrieux, we all went to the same school…We consider those the magic years because most of the artists that came out of that time got gold records and Grammys and things of that nature.”

The group also spoke of two well known artists that most people underrate as groundbreaking emcees: Will Smith and MC Hammer.

“Before Will was the Fresh Prince, him and Jeff used to do a lot of house parties at Temple University and Drexel,” Stockman explained. “How cats do it now with the buzz, Will was doing it in Philadelphia. He’d kill shows and used to be a beast, especially when Jeff was on the records.”

May 28th, 2009

Tonight In Shows

Cracker
8pm, $25. Sellersville Theater
Well, you can’t say David Lowery has ever shied away from a challenge. In the early ’80s, when everyone around him was into punk and hardcore, he instead blended folk, pop, rock, country and world music in Camper Van Beethoven and in the process helped pioneer “college-rock” (which eventually bloomed into the bazillion-dollar alt-rock/indie-rock industry). In the grunge-obsessed early ’90s, he defied trends and formed the jangly CVB-ish rock band Cracker and scored several huge radio hits. And last year, during a lull in his music career, Lowery—a skilled mathematician—went to work for a derivatives trading firm right the middle of our huge economic meltdown. Lately, his challenge has been to revive both CVB and Cracker and keep them from turning into nostalgia acts. Find out how he fares tonight when Cracker comes to town behind its new album Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey. (Michael Alan Goldberg)

Wolves in the Throne Room
6pm & 10pm, $12. Kung Fu Necktie.
I first caught America’s sexiest black metal band at a private gig at the Narayanhity Royal Palace in Nepal. They started with the 10-minute-long “I Will Lay Down My Bones” and after 90 seconds of annoying prog-rock noodlings, my date for the evening, the actor Samuel L. Jackson, quipped: “I am motherfucking sick of the motherfucking Wolves in the Throne Room in this motherfucking throne room.” We laughed. But then song burst into a Euro-pop-themed thrash fest (with barking), which was unexpected. But not quite as unexpected as when pissed-off Crown Prince Dipendra charged in carrying a machine gun and started shooting anything that looked even vaguely royal, including the king and queen who were also his mum and dad, effectively destroying the Nepalese monarchy forever. And while Wolves and the rest of the black-trousered scallywags playing tonight probably can’t promise the same level of regicidal mania, I’m sure they’ll be trying. (Steven Wells)

Also, Moog-y, polyrhythmic dance-pop septet Math the Band bring the fun to Danger Danger along with Prussia, Lima Research Society, and the National Rifle [8pm/$8]; rootsy stompers Hoots & Hellmouth celebrate the release of their new album The Holy Open Secret (read about it here) with a two-night stand at Johnny Brenda’s starting tonight [9pm/$12-15; $20 for both tonight and tomorrow night's show]; Philly singer-songwriter Matt Duke brings his tunes to Tin Angel [8:30pm/$10]; and local indie-rock and post-punk (and bizarre band names) reigns at the North Star with a four-band bill that includes Algernon Cadwallader, Anders Manly, Dangerous Ponies, and White Noise Supremacists [8pm/$8].

May 27th, 2009

Disco Biscuits: Significantly Less Jam

It occurred to me today that I never write about Philly’s own Disco Biscuits here at MMM. I know they have a really devoted following around these parts…it’s not that I hate DB, or dislike the whole jam-band scene they’re more or less a part of … actually, oh wait: I really do dislike jam bands. A lot. Again, as with my extreme dislike of Jimmy Buffett, feel free to call me a snob or a “fun-hating idiot,” but jam-band music — at least the Phish/Dead/etc. kind with its noodly, pointless guitaring and endless, improvised “grooves” — makes me as ill as odors from a waste treatment plant. So it’s gratifying to learn that Disco Biscuits — who I suppose are a bit more electronic/trance-y than most of their peers — are purposely steering themselves even further away from jam-band-ism on their as-yet-untitled new album, due in a few months. Says bassist Marc Brownstein to Billboard:

“It’s totally different for us,” Brownstein says. “For one, we don’t improvise on the record. There’s no jamming. What we do is we jam live and what we do in the studio is compose. So this album’s worth of stuff that’s coming out is just a really interesting-composed record. It’s like electro, it’s got influences by a lot of music we listened to over the past few years like Chromeo. There’s also [British psy-trance band] Younger Brother, with Simon Posford and Benji Vaughan being producers on the new record.

“So there are all kinds of crazy influences, and it’s also influenced by hip-hop, with two Philadelphia-area producers (Don Cheegro and Dirty Harry) have been working with us nonstop. They have a lot of production input for us, which kind of sets us in a different direction right off the bat. So it ends up sounding different and that’s just how musicians evolve.”

Some of the new songs, which they’ve been playing live, are being compared to Massive Attack, Ween, and Weezer. Which bodes well for DB, in my opinion. I caught a little bit of their set last year at Jam on the River and it wasn’t awful. It didn’t make me ill. Who knows, maybe I’ll even grow to like them.

May 27th, 2009

Another Chance To Catch Marshall Allen And The Sun Ra Arkestra (Sorry, It Involves NYC)

The past couple days, an acquaintance of mine who was in attendance at the sold-out Sun Ra Arkestra gig at Johnny Brenda’s Sunday night — which celebrated current Arkestra leader Marshall Allen’s 85th birthday — has been making me feel mighty regretful for missing out on what sounds like the year’s best festivities thus far. I just may try to rectify that — and if you also missed the JBs show, you might want to, as well — by heading up to New York on June 10th, when Allen receives a Lifetime Achievement Award during Vision Festival XIV, the city’s annual celebration of avant-jazz.

Allen, who still lives in the Germantown house where the late Sun Ra and his cosmic Arkestra first established their Philly homebase in 1968, will mark the occasion with two sets at the Abrons Arts Center (466 Grand Street):

7:30pm
Special Set
Marshall Allen – reeds
Kidd Jordan – tenor sax
William Parker – bass
Henry Grimes – bass and violin
Hamid Drake – drums

9:30pm
The Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen
Marshall Allen – alto, EVI, flute, clarinet, vocals
Knoel Scott – alto, vocals
Charles Davis – tenor sax
Yahya Abdul-Majid – tenor sax
Danny Thompson – baritone sax
Rey Scott – baritone sax
Fred Adams – trunpet
Cecil Brooks – trumpet
Dave Davis – trombone
Dick Griffin – trombone
Bill Davis – tuba
Dave Hotep – guitar
Farid Barron – piano, organ
Wayne A. Smith Jr. – drums
Elson Nascimento – surdo
special guests Billy Bang – violin
John Ore – bass

Meanwhile, there’s a nice piece about Allen over at JazzPolice.com, in which he talks about keeping the Germantown Arkestra house alive:

“If you’re here, you got a place to practice 24 hours a day,” said Allen. “You can create, and you can get the spirit, and you can build a nice band. And then fulfill your own potential and your own career.”  Allen sees it as his responsibility to preserve the music and philosophy of Ra and the Arkestra for future musicians and music fans. “I’m carrying it on, and keeping the spirit rolling, and keeping the music rolling. For the next generation, they wanna know what the last generation done, we got the music and things like that for them to see here. So we’re carrying on the tradition.”

May 27th, 2009

James Iha Talks Tinted Windows

Just got off the phone with guitarist James Iha — who’s probably best known for his long stint in the Smashing Pumpkins — who comes to the TLA on Thursday, June 18th with his new power-pop supergroup, Tinted Windows, which also features singer/keyboardist Taylor Hanson (yes, from that Hanson), drummer Bun E. Carlos (Cheap Trick), and bassist-vocalist Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne/Ivy). A seemingly unlikely lineup, but here’s some of what Iha had to say about that:

“I guess it’s like, to me, it’s not surprising — I’m a working musician and I work on all different…lots of different kinds of projects. Remixes and producing and working with indie bands. I dunno, I don’t really think of my identity as being just with one band anymore. I feel like the Pumpkins broke up a while ago and it’s just like, I’ve moved on, working on whatever I like and whatever works for me.”

And on the notion of “supergroups”:

“We decided that’s something we’re not gonna call ourselves [laughs]. If somebody else wants to call us that, that’s cool. But it’s definitely a bad idea to throw that term around.”

Keep on the lookout for my full interview with Iha as we get closer to the Tinted Windows show!

May 27th, 2009

Breaking News: Jimmy Buffett Sucks.

I have never liked, “gotten,” or appreciated Jimmy Buffett. Call me a snob or a “fun-hating idiot” if you like — even though I plenty enjoy beer, tropical beaches, palm trees, and breezy, summery pop songwriting — but I’d rather be slowly digested by a large sea creature than subject my ears to “Margaritaville” or “Cheeseburger in Paradise” and the rest of the dude’s insipid catalog. And his faithful “Parrotheads” are about as annoying and mockworthy as Deadheads and Juggalos. I guess I’m in the minority, since Buffett and his “Coral Reefer” (har har) band are coming to town next month (June 18th and 20th) for what’s almost certain to be two very well-attended shows at Susquehanna Bank Center. However, I’ve found at least one kindred spirit in the Phoenix New Times‘ Craig Outhier, who recently penned the hilarious, insightful (and gloriously titled) takedown “Jimmy Buffett Killed Vacationing.” An excerpt:

It’s meaningless to debate Buffett’s merits as a musician. We might as well discuss L. Ron Hubbard’s legacy as a science fiction writer, or pile on John Wayne Gacy for his shitty animal balloons. No matter how valid our arguments, they would miss the larger truth, the real story.

The real story is that Buffett has sunk his silly little three-chord hooks into America’s collective conscience and won’t let go. The 62-year-old tropical-rock pioneer is no longer a mere musician; he’s a lifestyle guru, a canny opportunist who’s branded and co-opted the “island escape” fantasy so many times over and in so many different mediums that he’s effectively inserted himself into the fantasy itself. And that’s fucking criminal, amigo.

Think about it: When was the last time you took a trip to Mexico and didn’t hear “Margaritaville” blare at some beachside bar? Or a friend didn’t download Havana Daydreamin’ on iPod and unwittingly use it to befoul your docking station? Because, hey, we’re on vacation, and what could be more apropos than Buffett?

I was forced to confront this unfortunate line of thinking several years ago, during a sailing trip in the Caribbean. It was a great time, but the captain insisted on playing Buffett during dinner, and it was galling — much like being forced to dine at Olive Garden while vacationing in Rome. Why listen to some mediocre folk singer warble on about warm trade winds, stiff drinks, and all-night conga lines when the genuine article is right here?

May 27th, 2009

Today In Philadelphia Music History: Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes

On this day in 1971, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes of the R&B trio TLC was born at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital. Lopes spent her early years in Philadelphia and a number of military bases in other states before moving to Atlanta in her late teens and eventually forming TLC, which enjoyed multi-platinum success in the ’90s with such hits as “Waterfalls” and “Creep.” Lopes was killed in a car crash in Honduras in April, 2002.