DOWNLOAD: F*ck The Facts - "The Storm" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: F*ck The Facts - "Absence & Despite" (MP3)

Aesop Rock & El-P @ McCarren Pool (more by Jason Bergman)

today in NYC
* FREE STUFF
* Howlies @ Mercury Lounge
* R Stevie Moore @ Cake Shop
* a benefit @ Santos Party House
* Les Paul and his trio @ Iridium Jazz Club
* Jim Campilongo Electric Trio @ The Living Room
* Billy Bob Thornton (makes music) @ Highline Ballroom
* The Walkmen, The Muslims & Frances @ Bowery Ballroom
* The Faint, Anti-Pop Consortium & Shy Child @ Terminal 5
* Fuck the Facts, From a Harlots Mouth & Psyopus @ Knitting Factory

I would get excited about the 'Hedwig & The Angry Inch 10th Anniversary Celebration' happening at Highline Ballroom on Thursday, but it's just a tribute show.

Anti-Pop Consortium keep the reunion going with a performance before the Faint at Terminal 5 tonight.

R. Stevie Moore plays Cake Shop tonight and also opens both of the upcoming (rescheduled) NYC Dr. Dog shows.

Video of Aesop Rock & El=P performing at McCarren Pool below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Monday?"

photos by Jason Bergman

One more free Sunday 'Pool Party' show to go. More pictures from this Sunday (August 17, 2008), below...

Continue reading "Aesop Rock (and El-P), Chin Chin & Panther @ McCarren Pool "

Continue reading "2008 free McCarren 'Pool Party' lineup announced "

by Black Bubblegum

El-P & Aesop Rock @ Webster Hall - May 10, 2008 (jennyapplebaum )

"WHEN I SAY DEF, YOU SAY JUX! DEF!"
.....
"DEF!"
......

Okay, it wasnt THAT bad, but while fellow Cardboard City crew member Shia Labeouf (seriously) was readying his second appearance on Saturday Night Live (with My Morning Jacket), El-P was realizing he was in trouble by the first song. El-P tore into "Smithereens" with all of the frustration made apparent in the video, but when he commanded the Webster Hall crowd "Get the fuck up!" and "Jump!", he only got participation from a couple dozen.... for 30 seconds. Maybe it's all the darkness and post-apocalyptic doom and gloom, or the borderline paranoid "the government is going to get you" John McCain=Barack Obama=Hillary Clinton rants, or that a good portion of the crowd could have come to see Dizzee Rascal (though doubt it), but Saturday at Webster Hall was probably one of the most stoic crowds that I have ever seen at a hip hop show.

Continue reading "El-P, Aesop Rock & Dizzee Rascal played Webster Hall, a new blog & album, Cardboard City, Shia LaBeouf"

El-P @ NYU in April (more by Bao Nguyen)

Aesop Rock @ Coachella 2008 (more by Ryan Muir)

The May 10th Webster Hall show keeps getting bigger and bigger. The lineup now reads "El-P with DJ Mr. Dibbs and The Mighty Quinn / Dizzee Rascal with special guest dj Aaron LaCrate / Busdriver / Kidz in the Hall / Special Guest Aesop Rock". Tickets are still available. All El-P tour dates below....

Continue reading "Aesop Rock added to El-P/Dizzee Rascal show, tour dates"

photos by Ryan Muir

Continue reading "Aesop Rock & Goldfrapp @ Coachella 2008 (day 1) - pics"

Tuesday, January 22
MySpace presents...
AESOP ROCK
8pm doors, all ages
FREE FREE FREE

BMSR @ SXSW 2007, not CMJ (CRED)

They should have though. It's cause they're still on tour with Aesop Rock. Their new video for "Sun Lips" is below....

Continue reading "Black Moth Super Rainbow didn't play CMJ"

DOWNLOAD Aesop Rock - Citronella (MP3)
DOWNLOAD Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass (MP3)

Aesop Rock getting down (cred)

Def Jux is releasing Aesop Rock's excellent new album None Shall Pass on Tuesday August 28th. Such was the occasion that got Undisputed Wes over to the NYC Def Jux offifces last week to sit down and ask Ian Matthias Bavitz - aka Aesop Rock - a few questions....

W: Many of your previous records had a pretty clear concept or theme. Labor Days being the most obvious one. Was there a specific idea that None Shall Pass was born out of?

AR: I guess that would be me turning 30 and freaking out about it. (laughs) I went through a few life changes. Turned 30. Moved from New York to San Francisco. Stopped smoking cigarettes. A bunch of stuff happened and it influenced the writing. The writing on this album is more reflective, for lack of a better word. I didn't want to do any braggadocio, no first person stuff, and get more into stories. Vivid descriptions of a snapshot of a moment in high school, first job, etc. and how all those snapshots add to who I am now at 30 years old.

W: Do you ever think ahead further than one album?

AR: No, that doesn't make sense with my writing process. I couldn't have told you I was making None Shall Pass until I was 3/4 in. I just stay busy, hope something sticks. I couldn't ever plan ahead aside from maybe a theme or name for a song. Usually the way it works is that I just write songs and then there is one song that comes along that will be the first one I'll decide to keep. That one will kind of set the stage for the album's feel. 'Catacumb Kids' was kind of the key record that sparked it for None Shall Pass in terms of it being a snapshot of an era without resorting to the cliche "back in the day" stuff.

W: You did a song ("Coffee") with John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats for this album. Are there any other indie rock musicians whose music you enjoy and you'd want to work with?

Continue reading "An interview with Aesop Rock"

Two albums I can enthusiastically recommend this week are the self-titled fourth album by Liars and Super Furry Animals' Hey Venus!. Other recommended albums include Pseudosix's self-titled disc and Aesop Rock's None Shall Pass (which features the Mountain Goats' John Darnielle on one track).

Notable reissues this week include a remastered edition of Second Coming by the Dickies, and a reissue of the long out of print Modern Lovers self-titled album.

Have I left anything noteworthy off the list? What new music releases can you recommend this week? What should I avoid?

Continue reading "Largehearted Boy's Interesting CD Releases This Week"

DOWNLOAD Common Market - My Pathology (MP3)
DOWNLOAD Common Market - Succor MCs (Mp3)
DOWNLOAD N.O.R.E. - Set It Off" feat. Swizz Beatz & J. Ru$$ (MP3)
DOWNLOAD N.O.R.E. - That Club Ish" feat. Three 6 Mafia (MP3)
DOWNLOAD Sharen Jones and the Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights
DOWNLOAD Aesop Rock - Citronella (MP3)
DOWNLOAD Pieces Of Peace - I Still Care (MP3)

Common Market is one of my favorite recent discoveries. Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings are playing the Apollo Theater October 6th (tix). N.O.R.E. is releasing Noreality in the next few weeks, unfortunately with wack cover art. Pieces of Peace are a soul band from back in the day - with an album that was never released (until now), and they should make for great sampling material for today's rappers.

KRS-One performing in Prospect Park - Aug 3, 2007 (CRED)

On top of the positivity and good times, KRS injected the crowd with a dose of inspirational storytelling. See, before BDP fame, way back in 1980, KRS was homeless. His home of choice was Prospect Park. His bed of choice was the Prospect Park bandshell. The very bandshell he was now performing in! He would sleep at night and during the day hang out at the Grand Army Plaza Library getting his knowledge on. As a young KRS poured through books, thoughts of the future danced through his head. A future that consisted of one day rocking a mic in Prospect Park. The very park his was now rocking! Or so the story goes. Can someone fact check this please? Even if it's not true, and something tells me some of it is, the story connected with most and accomplished its modest goal.[Angry Citizen]

• Apparently 50 Cent had a breakdown and tore up his G-Unit offices while screaming on the phone to his label Interscope Records. Ms. Info had a post up that I discovered through this Nahright post. I then found that Ms. Info's post had mysteriously been deleted - not cached by google either. HipHopDX still has some excerpts from the original Ms Info post up. This all is apparently over 50's next single/video "Follow My Lead" ft Robin Thicke being leaked. I'd link to it, but it keeps getting deleted.
• The Beastie Boys played at McCarren Pool and Central Park SummerStage
• Timbaland + Justin Timberlake's new project: Madonna's new album.
• Lupe, Kanye, and Pharrell are hoping to make a full album as CRS
• David Banner tells Al Sharpton to go fuck himself.
• Weiss shares some thoughts on Cage.
• TSS did a Smoking Session interview with Phonte of Little Brother. Little Brother is playing CMJ with Brother Ali @ Highline Ballroom on October 20th.

Continue reading "Wes' Weekly Hip Hop News Roundup (August 15th, 2007)"

DOWNLOAD: The Octopus Project - Tuxedo Hat (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Octopus Project - Music is Happiness (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Octopus Project - Righteous Ape & Bird (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Octopus Project - The Adjustor (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Octopus Project - The Way Things Go (MP3)

The lineup for this Sunday's free show @ McCarren Pool in Brooklyn: Dan Deacon, Erase Errata & (from Austin, TX) THE OCTOPUS PROJECT.

Tickets are also on sale for an Octopus Project/Stereo Total show at Webster Hall on August 24th. All tour dates below....

Continue reading "The Octopus Project - MP3s & 2007 Tour Dates w/ Stereo Total ++ McCarren Pool Sunday"