Los Campesinos! are a relatively unheard of Indie band from Cardiff, Wales. The seven pieced, mixed gender, indie crew combines together to make music that is unique, different and quirky.
With song titles such as “You! Me! Dancing!” and “We Throw Parties, You Throw Knifes” the band reveals it’s unconventional yet loveable sounds through their titles.
The ensemble of voices, instruments and lyrics mix together to make the perfect recipe for songs, yet the band have not headlined in the charts.
Today those joining the music industry struggle due to the fact that a constant influx of new sounds generates much competition. It takes a dedicated Indie lover to come across a completely different sound and a rare talent that will really survive and conquer competitors in the charts.
With acts such as Florence and the Machine and Cold War Kids many music lovers still have faith that the ‘good stuff’ will get sieved out from the bland.
I guess everything has it’s time and I can only hope that Los Campesinos’s loyal fan base will help increase the band’s success amongst Indie lovers across the world.
By the time my editor gets to this, the Superbowl may have come and gone, and this story may seem extremely outdated. However, at the time of its conception and all the while that it was being written, it was extremely up to date, and by that I mean the day before the Superbowl. The story, which I have so elusively spoken of up to this point, is a story about a song that has come to define this 2010-2011 sports season. Steeler’s tribute “Black & Yellow.” The song by up and coming rapper Wiz Khalifa has received quite a lot of attention, peaking at number three on the billboard hot 100, going double platinum, and having nine remakes made about other sports teams alone (with countless other remakes and remixes done as well). Most predominately Lil’ Wayne’s newly released Packers tribute “Green and Yellow,” which marks the coming Superbowl (which, for those who don’t yet know, features both the Steelers and the Packers). The buzz these songs have caused has brought a new intensity to sport’s fans love of their hometown and its teams.
The style of these songs has changed the way people relate to sports, or, more accurately, broadened the way people relate to sports. The idea of using the influence of a musician to promote a cause of theirs is becoming a trend, and more and more people are catching on. When it comes to so many people using his song, Wiz doesn’t seem to be complaining. The extra press has only sent the song upwards on the charts as has the Steelers success this season. When interviewed by VIBE, he said, “People can’t box my sound in anymore… I’m just happy that my music reflects that.”
A big surprise came this month when Gregg Allman came out with his new solo album, “Low Country Blues“. This album is a mixture of blues and, well, country. The key track is “Floating Bridge”. This is a slow smooth southern blues song, that, of course, is about someone drowning. It’s pretty happy stuff.
Another key song is “Rolling Stone.” The producer, T Bone Burnett did a great job with the album, but especially this song. The drums are great at the beginning, and add to the tense effect.
All in all, this is a great album. It shows Gregg Allman’s talent as a solo artist. Allman’s voice is key to the success of this album. So if you are in a Barnes & Noble or a Starbucks anytime soon, be sure to pick up this album.
I smile over my left shoulder at my friend who is hunched over his bass guitar, creating a progression we had only dreamed of. He stops for a moment after letting the last E note ring out from the depth of his instrument. Glancing up at me quickly, a huge smiles envelops both of our faces and we know: We’ve got it.
Mackin playing bass during a soundcheck.
I quickly put my guitar down on the stand next to the amplifier I was sitting on and dive for the open notebook and pen that are lying on the floor.
“What was the progression you just did, Mackin?” I ask, my eyes gleaming with excitement.
“E, E, G, A and on the fourth I added the high D,” He said, playing the notes as he dictated them for me.
“Brilliant,” I tell him, sitting down with the paper in front of me, “I’ve got all the lyrics down, should we take it from the top?”
“Absolutely,” he says, placing my microphone in front of me before he grabs his own.
My brother is a college freshman. He acts like one too. He goes to classes, listens to dubstep and hip-hop, and tries desperately to get into frat parties. He, being the older of us two, has always been ahead of me in most aspects of pop culture, with me trying desperately to stay as cool as my big brother. Well, when it comes to music, he managed to beat me again. He showed me a website called thissongissick.com, and it makes sense he would know about it. It’s a website that dedicates itself to finding the newest songs from dubstep and hip-hop artists that are relatively unknown, or in some cases, just really good. Wiz Khalifa has been featured on there, as well as artists like Sam Adams and Skrillex. Well worth a look, “this song is sick” has become a standard in what a lot of college and high school kids listen to.
Albert King called him “the greatest white blues guitarist I’ve ever seen.” Rightfully so, his own unique style in a genre that innovation is hard to come by is recognized by thousands of adoring fans 20 years after his death in Alpine Valley. After a show where he played with his brother Jimmie, Eric Clapton, and Robert Cray, Stevie Ray Vaughan walked off stage the final time and onto a heaven bound plane in the middle of the night.
He was barred from local guitar competitions in his native Texas because he was deemed “too good” by the competition holders. He was the lead guitarist of one of the 90’s most influential heavy metal bands in Pantera. He too had a style all his own topped off with his trademark harmonic squeals and shredding style. Cowboys from Hell, Cemetery Gates, Mouth for War, and Walk showcase his work to perfection. His career and life ended with a bang in Ohio when a deranged fan shot and killed him on stage. Pardon the dark pun please, I’m just trying to lighten the mood. Darrell Lance Abbott known to the music world as “Dimebag” has been and still is unreplacable.
His incredible bass solos and riffs fooled two members from Metallica into believing what they heard was a guitar solo. Rather, it was the shredding of Cliff Burton. Renowned as one of the greatest bass guitarists metal has ever seen, he was with Metallica from 1983-86, their period of complete greatness and utter world domination. He provided the gut churning riffs and rhythm that has been the basis of “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” “Master of Puppets,” “Seek and Destroy,” and his famous bass solo “Anesthesia.” In the middle of the night, on their Master of Puppets European tour, he was thrown out the window of the tour bus as the bus hit a patch of black ice. He was crushed under the weight somewhere on the road by Ljunby, Sweden.Read More »
Sing loud.
Keep your back straight.
Don’t look at your feet.
You move stage right, not stage left.
It’s step-ball-change not ball-change-step.
You’re que is before the beat, not on it.
Cheat out and never look upstage.
Memorize all of Act Two by Friday, no exceptions.
Instruction after instruction and command after command is what it takes to put on a production. Whether it be a production of Shakespeare or the newest and hottest musical out there, without the proper director, any show is doomed.
Every time I meet new challenges that must be conquered, and every time it is a struggle. But there is no feeling that is even remotely comparable to opening night, when the curtains first fly open and the opening song starts. The feeling of being someone else for an hour or two. It’s irreplaceable.
Performing on stage is a hobby I’ve come to love, and it is a joy every time I open a new script to start highlighting my lines for later memorization. Each performance is a journey, and one that always ends too soon.
Just think, had it not been for a serious surfing accident that cut his career short, we would have never heard the disarming, quietly soulful, and bluesy chorus that creates his trademark mellow sound.
The Hawaiian singer/songwriter graduated from UCSB with a degree in film. He directed the popular surf documentary “Thicker Than Water” in 2000. He also directed surf film in 2002 called “September Sessions” in which he also appeared on the soundtrack.
He was quite the surfer as he was the youngest invitee to make the surfing finals at Pipeline Masters on Oahu’s North Shore at the age of 17. Hawaiian surfing culture? A trend with musicians is that wherever you live has a certain mark on your music as if the sound is innate.
Other than that, he a devoted family man who puts his three children and his wife Kim before fame and fortune as he explains in Men’s Journal. Thanks to his friendship with fellow musician and lovable mellow head Ben Harper, as well as Harper being my neighbor, I got to meet him in person. He’s a hell of a nice guy.
For months now there has been a quiet, subtle battle going on between female rappers Nicki Minaj and Lil Kim. But just recently it has turned into a dirty fight in lyrics.
Lil Kim has been a successful rapper for over 10 years while Nicki Minaj is just breaking into the business. Lil Kim has noticed Nicki Minaj dissing her in a few songs such as “Hoodstars” and “Roman’s Revenge,” but has chosen to ignore it and be the bigger person. Lil’ Kim thinks that Nicki Minaj is copying her look and attempting to steal her fame which I agree with.
It wasn’t until “Roman’s Revenge” came out and Nicki Minaj called out Kim’s name in a song that Kim fought back. Nicki Minaj had an interview about her song and when asked if she meant to call Kim out, she denied it and acted very “fake”. She went on to apologize in case she might have made it seem like she was speaking negatively of Kim. Little did she know that this would start a fire.
When Lil Kim fights, she doesn’t play around. In response to Nicki Minaj’s disses, Kim made a song called “Black Friday”, which is a knock in itself on Nicki Minaj’s album entitled “Pink Friday.”
Lil Kim starts this song with the interview in which Nicki Minaj speaks out on the battle. The audio is cut off and Lil Kim starts the song by yelling “Shut the f–k up b—h”. Kim goes on to rap
Shut the f-ck up
Who the f-ck want war
FedEx beef straight to your front door
It’ll be a murder scene
I’m turning Pink Friday to Friday the 13th
Aight you Lil Kim clone clown
all this buffoonery, the shit stops now
time for you to lay down, I’m sick of the fraud
I put hands on this bitch like a spa massage
we all know your last name is what got you a job
you use to put together gimmicks something like a collage
since you putting on a show, you gon’ get the appaulse
clap clap, lift your frame like a f-cking garage, yeah
this hood sh-t you and Drake ain’t built for
this the same sh*t the other bitch almost got killed for
I’m still counting what hardcore generated
bet my sh-t keeps spinning like it’s syndicated
corny broad I’ll you bloody like you menstruated
your hot air ass bitch should have been deflated
this aint a championship fight I’ve been the greatest
see the fact is, what you doing I did it
lames trying to clone my style, run with it
thats cool, I was the first one with it
you deluded kim wannabe you just hate to admit it
I’m the Blueprint you aint nothing brand new
check ya posters and videos, you’ll always be number 2
I seen ‘em come, I seen go, I still remain
sweety, you going on your 14th minute of fame
I’m over 10 years strong still running the game
cut the comparisons, I’m in the legendary lane
fighting for ya spot, y’all please, I’m solidified
with my hands tied, you couldn’t beat me if you bitches tried
either you high, or sipping that sh-t Wayne on
I get top dollar for whatever my name on
go stick your head in a tornado, brainstorm
I drop bombs, FLex, Napalm
black and yellow, will pull up in your ghetto
Giuseppe’s when I step out, posted up in stilettos
p-ssy so pink like my kitty saying hello
if I whistle, they’ll pistol whip you in all five borough’s
I’m in Brooklyn, I’ll be everywhere comfortably
who pumped you and told you to come rump with me
you the type to run your mouth and then run from me
I’m poppin’ off in your hood with no company
come on, Queens aint showing you no love
I was there the other night poppin’ bottles with the thugs
you like Washington Heff(?) I’m Benjy.
You got a buzz right now, an’ I had a frenzy
oh yeah, welcome to the fam’, Fendi
you need to stop, you’re not hot, you’re a burning match
that means the end is near soon, copy that
oh I see, they really got you gassed like
I’mma think of the past
better slow down dummy, you bout to crash
stink p-ssy hoe, I’m giving you a bath
thermometer in hand and I’m coming for your ass
who you think you getting past
I see right through you, you’re whole sh-t is made of glass
[Nicki Minaj]
You see right through me
How do you do that sh…
[Lil Kim]
I draw back, I’m a Brooklyn thorough bred bitch
rep for my borough bitch
never been the type to have beef and try to settle sh-t
I ride out till the wheels fall off
and my n-ggas squeeze til the last shell go off
f-ck ya whole team, all I see is a bunch of weirdo’s
you’s a airhead bitch, scarecrow
haha, aint nothing old but my money bitch
hahaha, this is grown liquid assests
Benjamin’s my daddy you Young Money bastards
you and Diddy, sorry bunch of swagger jackers
I mothered you hoes, I should claim you on my income tax
Bobby Fischer in the flesh, taught by the great
so on my next move, I’m yelling checkmate
I smell a massacre
Charles Manson you don’t stand a chance with her
Jeffrey Dahmer you looking like lunch to me
I’m bout to kill all you bitches like Ted Bundy
leave you’re whole head red like Peg Bundy
you’re hilarious, thanks for all the laughs
you’re garbage so I’m taking out the trash
you sh-t on me, come on baby girl
ain’t enough ass shots in the World
you’re a nuisance, you porbably steal my new sh-t
but you could never f-ck with me so chuck it up, Deuces
all around the World I ball like a ball team
I stack chips, call me Mr’s Rosteam
tricks is for kids, silly rabbit, your my offspring
Kim more anticipated than a Lebron ring…
The music festival, Coachella, has just released its tentative list of performers.
It’s big news in the music world. The concert that has now been going on for nine years and has hosted the most famous artists including Pearl Jam and Rage Against the Machine.
In the hot and dry Indio, California, the concert lasts a total of three days each year with at least 20 artists playing on one given day. Thousands of people of all ages flock from across the country to see the spectacle and believe me it’s worth seeing.
Personally, I have never attended the concert, but I have had dozens of friends who have. I haven’t heard a single bad review. Although I only found out about the concert three years ago, there hasn’t been a year where I wish I couldn’t have gone. Hopefully this year will be the first.
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