so i downloaded 'Grape Juice city' not that long ago and it's as hot as the sidewalk on a summer day. if the album is anything like this single, than it will certainly be what you bump while being burned by your hot leather seats in mid-July traffic jams.
For all you twatters out there I just dropped a tweetomic bomb of links and things you should check out. I'll repost them here so that everything's in one place.
1) Rob Roy's King Lover Magician Warrior Album Download- he's seriously the next big thing waiting to explode. Actually, it's more like he's a supernova that exploded and we mere earthlings can only wait to be showered by his nebula (does that sound sexual?). I had the chance to meet the guy during the 2009 CMJ festival and he was so hyped to do a show that his heart was trying to pop out of his chest. Literally. But he killed it nonetheless without killing himself. Outkast influenced, be prepared for some serious stankonia. download here
2) Mike Del Rio's interview with ourstage.com- happened over twitter, you can trace it by checking out both of their pages. Del Rio has recently be picked MTV as their needle in the haystack artist. Guy's been on a serious hustle for 4 years now, but you could say it started when he started teaching himself music at 12. Hard work pays off. If you haven't yet, you will see him soon, somewhere in NYC or probably your local stage.
3) We Stole the Show's thursday networking nights and special appearance at the Nasty Jam party: More hustlers to admire, the hip hop duo and blogsters extrodinaire, We Stole the Show has an added bonus to their weekly music networking night this thursday at Home Sweet Home lounge, which is the delight of having TWO spinning dj's: their own hurryupnbuy and dj nique. They also will be playing live at the nastiest party this side of Brooklyn, the Nasty Jam (see video below)
4) last but not least, because it would be wrong if I didn't, please check out my man Brandon Sheer. Another young hustler's he's been pimpin' and promoting his own stuff so hard, that its impossible to not download it and subsequently love it. Because its fresh.
You must be living under a rock of Gaga glitter, Nicki Minaj's pussy on your sideburns, and Drake pop culture references if you've missed the coming of the hipster national anthem, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zero's folk ensamble love song "Home". With it's tamborines, whistles, and charming lyrics ("Alabama, Arkansas, I do love my ma 'n paw, but not the way that I do love you....home, let me go home. Home is wherever I'm with you.) the song is an instant sing-a-long sensation. But it's more than just that. "Home" hits the hearts of anyone who hears it. I must confess, after hearing a cover at a TSW party in Brooklyn, I ran all the way to the L train back to manhattan and the one I love, whistling till the doorstep. Lovers or friends, folks love to dance to the tune, kick their fake cowboy boots, and pretend their somewhere sunny. The music video embodies this feeling. Shot somewhere in Texas or California or Arizona or some...deserty like place, the official music video feels like Arthur Penn'sBonnie and Clyde, glorifying the journeys of two runaway youths in love and their gang of vagabond-like young friends. Watch it and try not to get captivated by its grainy footage, western allusions, and sunny skies that make us want to get up and go...some place....home? No, not that.
The truth is, "Home" speaks to the young, mustached, and feathered haired misfits of today because it and its accompanying video are the only home these kids know. Home is wherever a loved one is, or somewhere in the middle of nowhere and that speaks to the aimlessness (or abandonment?) of a youth culture that seems to find residence only within itself (and the L line).
Hipsters and the young have an obsession with living in the past, and I'm not talking about rocking gold chains like it was 1980. I'm talking all the way down to lifestyle and image quality. We kids of the late 80s to early 90s have grown up with only the baby boomer's memories of the 60's and 70's and our parents non-stop references to the good old days when things were just, for whatever reason, better. It's actually kind of sad. It's like we're always trying to live up to something. Our musicians are trying to be the new Jim Morrison's or Hendrixes, our activists aim to fall somewhere in between MLK and La Raza but fail miserably, while our fashionistas wear anything that was either made in 2010 to look like it came from 1968 or was made in 1968 and cost $210. And any relics from that era are quickly gobbled up into the vintage-culture machine and spit out in a way that some how retains its old soul ( see the new Gil Scott-Heron album, very appropriately called "I'm new here" on XL Recordings or Bobby Womack's and Lou Reed's guest appearances on the Gorillaz's new project Plastic Beach). Meanwhile, we squeemishly run away from anything that is too present, jadedly seeking adventures in cultural memories that we ourselves are too young to have even watched someone else experience.
I'm not sure what our problem is, or if we have run out of vision and creativity other than this kitsch-like rehash--but I do know that some great stuff is coming out of it. And holy moly oh me oh my, this song is the tip of the iceberg.
