The English
Last night Funkmaster Flex debuted the soon-to-be released Amy Winehouse - Nas collabo "Like Smoke"
and it is fire. Straight, hot, Camden-to-Queensbridge fire. Makes me remember how much I'm going to
miss her voice and just how ill(matic) Nas can be when he wants to be. They "bodied" this.
Apparently Viva La Vida wasn't a one-off and it looks like Brian Eno is now 100% down with
producing songs whose potential for fist pump-house remixes is as high as his fee for going into
the studio. I do enjoy upbeat, happy people music but I think Eno's best when he or the artist he's
producing is being all maudlin, moody and mildy experimental.
FYI if you are in the NYC area and need a 'lil something to get into after the RSL-Columbus CCL
match I've got a suggestion. TOR favorite Jamie XX is spinning at LPR tonight and you should go
because A) he's dope and B) my 18 year-old sister called me over the weekend to see if I could
recommend any good Dubstep to her so go see one of the genre's big names kill it before the whole
thing is declared "over".
The Friday night anthem. I'm spinning at The Annex tonight and this will be ON BLAST.
In addition to having the most absurd name in music since Test Icicles, Totally Enormous Extinct
Dinosaurs have a new video out. But it totally sucks. This one from the beginning of the summer is
much better. Enjoy it. Or not.
Ricky is back. And he works, unconvincingly it would seem, at Target. He may not have the shoppers
completely fooled but he does make me laugh so. Chuckle chuckle y'all.
Recently many American soccer teams have begun their season ticket renewal campaigns. Some of them
have been met with derision. Some have been welcomed by The Don. And others involve dinner dates
with Steve Zakuani. Can you guess which one is funnier?
One of my favorite records of last year was Mark Ronson & the Business International's "Record
Collection." The title track features Simon Le Bon (Duran Duran) on the hook and a verse by U.K. MC
Wiley. Everytime I listen to that song I actually imagine Steve Zakuani doing Wiley's verse and
after hearing him rap I feel like I was a visionary.
Y'all mess with Muse? It's not for everybody but the former record store geek in me can't resist
the arena-destroying, prog-rock preening that these guys somehow get away with. They are my
generation's Rush & Queen but without the Canadianism or gay stuff (not that there is anything
wrong with either).
Becks has no regrets about coming to America. Not even this haircut. But in all seriousness, this
is probably the most MLS-centric interview with our David we've seen since his first season here.
But why do they have to bring on the chicken?
The debut full-length from SBTRKT comes out on June 28th. If you haven't heard it head over to the
Hype Machine and get your head nodding. But only if you can deal with the fact that he let Drake
remix "Wildfire" and his insistence on wearing Jamiroquai-gone-tribal masks.
You may be shocked to know this but I have a soft spot for Gallows. Don't know why but maybe
because their brand of Brit-punk is artsy/glossy enough to let my 30-something Dad-ass pretend that
I can still appreciate hardcore even though I couldn't make it through a Rorschach or Heroin or
____ album right now for all the gear in the Red Bull Arena gift shop.
Y'all know I'm down with U.S. Soccer and all but you know there is no way in high hell that we
would ever do something as interesting as having Peter Saville design our kit like England did. No.
Way. This is America and for reasons unbeknown to me the mixing of high-art and high-level sport is
damn near verboten.
A couple of year's ago I predicted, wrongly, that crying on the dancefloor would become "a thing."
At the time there was just a ton of these remixes coming out that were all maudlin & mopey but
somehow club-ready at the same time. Seems like Jamie XX & Gil Scott-Heron are trying to bring that
sh*t back and I'm feeling it; wondering if Carles is wondering if 'emo-house' will 'save' 2K11.
Long live the legend of "the soccer truce."
His milkshake brings all the Rooneys to the yard...
500 different types of awesome.
A TOR late-night special. If you're down with brown liquor and the use of a lot of negative space
in music, James Blake is your guy. He's somewhat reminiscent of Jamie Lidell and really influenced
by both The XX & D'angelo so he's instantly "my dude"...even if he is the Michael Bublé of
glitch-hop.
BTW if you like studenty, British music Palace, the debut album from Chapel Club, was released in
the U.K. today. You should get it by whatever means you use to obtain your music these days.
They've also got a handful of U.S. dates coming up in March so cop some tickets as well. And just
to complete the trifecta download Ewan Pearson's glitchy, techy remix of "Surfacing" for the ride
home tonight.
Heading to Ft. Lauderdale in the a.m. (aka Spring Break for MLS coaches) and this will be ON BLAST
in the rental car all weekend. Ususally I'm not one for Adele's warbling but this remix has a "See
Line Woman"-vibe about it that helps it rise above her usual Amy Winehouse-meets-Kate Nash routine.
If you hate this song and are offended by my inclusion of it in today's programming send all
complaints to Kevin FFSS. It's his fault that I am stuck on this like a Jabulani on Messi's right
foot. But if you you find that you like it as much as I do then I will happily take the praise. See
how blogging works?
It must be nice to be David Beckham. Dude can get on stage and receive a major award from Sir Bobby
Charlton with his outlandishly attractive family filling the front row and damn near cry and no
one's going to say sh*t. Or at least I won't say say sh*t because I'm an artist cotdamnit, and I
know what it's like to be all sensitive and whatnot.
This is the best 2:15 seconds I've had all day; it just screams Friday night good vibes and it's as
good as "Too Numb" but far less doomy. Shame that this is going to be Mikey Streets' last
record...such a unique artist.
I feel compelled to share this photo of RBNY's Luke Rodgers and Brian Nielsen getting it in at
NYC's Marquee club. I don't know why really. Maybe it's Rodgers' cardigan-no shirt-shaved
chest-bottle service combo; that one gets me everytime.
Henrooney has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Much better than Brangelina or TomKat. Either way I
don't think these two will be on the cover of US Weekly nearly as many times as the other
conjoined-namers but I'm far more interested in seeing their upcoming work than I am in seeing
another Tomb Raider or Mission: Impossible flick.
According to this Dateline-esque video Luke Rodgers is coming to New York. No word from RBNY yet
but you can bet Sky will be disappointed for breaking out such a romantic fireplace on the first
date if there isn't a real possibility of Rodgers gettin' it in.
John Rooney's brother --yeah that right, I'm turning the tables-- with a strike for the ages today
at Old Trafford. It'll be an eternity before we see another goal like this but I can guarantee you
we'll be seeing this particular goal with regularity from here until to eternity
So it looks like Wayne Rooney's kid brother is going to be a part of the 2011 MLS Combine and will
be available for selection in the upcoming SuperDraft. Which is great. Not because I've seen him
play and think he's the second coming of his talented-but-chavtastic brother but because his
talented-but-chavtastic brother owns a house in Florida and I'm hoping for a post-Combine
afterparty at Shrek's place.
The Rest
Hats off to England for finally out-Americaning us. Watching sports on TV while shopping for
chemicals disguised as food is pretty much the end-all, be-all of modern, information-age excess so
I applaud Sainsbury's and Sky Sports for making this miracle happen just in time for the final day
of the transfer window.
Leave it to ESPN Los Angeles' Scott French, who incidentally looks like a hybrid between Terry
Richardson and his excellence David Hirshey, to knock out probably the lengthiest written piece on
Goldenballs since The Beckham Experiment. It may not be a book but make no mistake this is a long,
damn near ginormous article that might actually be worthy of being described with the much-overused
adjective "epic.
Allegedly there is an offer on the table for David Beckham to host Saturday Night Live. Apparently
Lorne Micahaels' people saw that Ellen bit from a few weeks ago and think he'd be a good fit. Also,
he can't be any worse at it than Deion Sanders was. As a fan of the sport of soccer and SNL I have
nothing but the highest hopes that this will come to pass.
