Wu Tang’s RZA will celebrate 20 years in the game by unveiling an art piece on January 1st. The man at the helm of one of the most original movements on Hip Hop culture says “When you see the piece we’re making right here, you’re going to know what I’m talking about. We’re about to rewrite and change history“. Fans will be able to buy 360 limited edition prints of the canvas. Visit www.whenartimitateslife.com for more info and watch this clip about the project here.
Sick of hearing or seeing status updates of your knobhead mates talking about XFactor? Even Xmas hit hog Noddy Holder spoke out about how crap it is this week as it prevents his shite tracks that have dominated the charts at this time of the year going to the top of the charts too.
It seems he is not alone as Rage Against The Machine fans are going that one step further by preventing the winner of this year’s X Factor from going to Number 1 in the UK charts this Christmas by getting RATM there instead. Vote for Killing In The Name by buying the MP3 from itunes now and view the petition now.
Following the release of stellar album ‘Chasing Hamburg’ this year, Crossfire favourites Polar Bear Club will be over in the UK again next year. The line-up for their headline tour is completed by Shook Ones and Title Fight.
Dates are as follows:
FEBRUARY
13 – DUBLIN The Exchange (all ages matinee show at 2.00pm)
15 – MANCHESTER Moho
16 – NORWICH Marquee
17 – NEWPORT Le Pub
MARCH
02 – LEEDS Cockpit
03 – GLASGOW Captain’s Rest
04 – NOTTINGHAM Bunkers Hill
05 – LONDON Underworld
Cross Kings, London
4th December 2009
It’s a cold, wet night in Kings Cross and I’m here off the back of someone with good ears mentioning this band have to be seen to be believed, and that only.
There’s no more than 30 people here to witness a band that are about to make history as the best band performance this pub has ever seen, a quote that was heard from one of the bar staff who sold no drinks in the 35 minutes that Cincinnati, Ohio’s Foxy Shazam took this venue apart at the seams.
Singer Eric Nally had everyone’s attention as he hit the stage with a dose of commanding spiel akin to a ringleader drunk on meths. His emotive display of showmanship is fueled by humourous skits that leave your facial muscles stretched to the hilt but his overall nervous disposition that follows this high can drag those emotions back down to basement level at the speed of a burning lift. Lyrically and in spoken word between songs the man with mustache has a lot to say as he works his mic stand like a snakecharmer before dropping to his knees with a clap. It’s actually quite a unique experience in a modern day music scene where star frontman rarely exist.
The band that backs Nally’s quest for this madness create the perfect backdrop for their fame seeking frontman. Alex Nauth‘s horns and backing vocals accentuate the chaos over a medley of traditional rock riffs. These are cut up with Sky White‘s manic piano and keyboard trickery that are often played by his feet that accentuate this rollercoaster to light speed. It’s a concoction of mayhem and showmanship, theatrical and frantic, it’s broadway and the bigtop clashing with punk rock and 70’s good times but most of all it’s the sunshine that the UK needs as 2010 greets us with a big fat smile on its face!
The bottom line is that Foxy Shazam live will blow you away and leave you happy at the same time. Don’t bother even hearing them on the web first, just go to a show and have an experience and if it doesn’t make your cheeks hurt and make you happy then we will gladly send you your money back.
Photos and words: Zac
Lightspeed Champion‘s new single ‘Marlene’ is out on the 25th January on Domino Records. Check out the new video from the man who was in Test Icicles here as it’s Death Valley-tastic
Maluca has posted a new video online.
The track El Tigeraso is produced by Diplo and is on the always brilliant Mad Decent label. Boom!
Pendulum are set to go even bigger in 2010 after announcing their new tour.
The band will play a number of dates including London’s Wembley Arena on the tour in May, the tickets for which go on sale on December 4th. Before that, they will head to London’s superclub Matter on January 22nd to showcase tracks from their new album, which has the working title Immersion. Joining them on the bill are, amongst others, Herve, Sinden, Noisia, Sub Focus, Glitch Mob and Alix Perez.
The full tour dates are:
17th – Ulster Hall, Belfast
18th – Olympia, Dublin
20th – Corn Exchange, Edinburgh
21st – Empress Ballroom, Blackpool
22nd – Dome, Doncaster
25th – Centre, Brighton
26th – Academy, Birmingham
28th – Wembley Arena, London
29th – Arena, Cardiff
30th – Pavillions, Plymouth
31st – Oasis Centre, Swindon
So the legendary far covered Ginuwine’s classic track ‘Pony’ and Bright Antenna are releasing a limited edition picture disc of the track on 14th December. It was a massive hit in the States and has had almost 5 million plays on the band’s MySpace. This edition is limited to a mere 500 copies so get yours quick here – www.brightantenna.com. What a way to herald a comeback!
Check out an acoustic version here –
The latest in a long line of great releases from Rhymesayers is Freeway & Jake One‘s The Stimulus Package.
Coming out in February next year, the Philly rapper has teamed up with Seattle’s producing machine Jake One, the tracklisting is below. The album will come with Freeway and Jake One money with lyrics and notes on the reverse and the digipak [get this!] comes built like a wallet and held together with a treasury style bellyband.
Get hyped by clicking here to download Know What I Mean.
Tracklisting:
1. STIMULUS INTRO feat. Beanie Sigel
2. THROW YOUR HANDS UP
3. ONE FOOT IN
4. SHE MAKES ME FEEL ALRIGHT
5. NEVER GONNA CHANGE
6. ONE THING feat. Raekwon
7. KNOW WHAT I MEAN
8. THE PRODUCT
9. MICROPHONE KILLA feat. Young Chris
10. FOLLOW MY MOVES feat. Birdman
11. SHO’ NUFF feat. Bun B
12. FREEKIN’ THE BEAT feat. Latoiya Williams
13. MONEY feat. Omilio Sparks and Mr. Porter
14. FREE PEOPLE
15. STIMULUS OUTRO
Rhythm Factory
14.11.09
Can’t beat a Saturday night on Brick Lane – followed by some Shots of Smirnoff – The Rhythm Factory in Aldgate is the venue, UK HipHop is in the house – but where the fuck is the crowd? Danny Spice gets the tiny crowd moving a little with some witty lines – and once he hit his flow, there could have been 1 or 1000 people crammed in there and it wouldn’t faze him a bit – a set deserving of a crowd.
After a DJ Premier beat had looped for a good 15mins, Ramson Badbonez walks out to a growing crowd and busted out a healthy barrage of lyrics and got the place truly bouncing – and finished off his set with a tight accapella – guys got energy, but the night still needs to up a gear.
The main event takes a few minutes to set up, thankfully it allows a crowd to swell while the dj sets up alongside the guitarist, two back up vocalists, drummer and keyboard player. That makes up the Focused Few and the front man we all came to see swaggers on to stage with a huge grin.
Kyza, aka Mr.SaySo is up for this – shades are on and that familiar from the albums laugh rumbles over the mic and through the Rhythm Factory, the band kick in and we are off. Kyza has deconstructed his beats and had the Focused Few assemble them with a funkier, more soulful twist without compromising his urban edge.
Street classics like Lucozade Bottles are given a very different vibe with the live instruments, but still bounce. Murder, utilising the Welcome to Jamrock hook gets everyone involved, the live band start to get looser and it’s a proper jam session, with Kyza happy to let the band showcase themselves. The finale is the hardcore FightKlub, the reworking with instruments feels less confrontational and positive – Kyza doesn’t want this to end – but looking at sweat soaked emcee on stage its time to call it a night. Live hiphop can be a disaster, but all the acts tonight have spent plenty of time working on their sets and it paid off – just wish more people would get out to these shows – Kyza wont leave you disappointed.
Words and photos by Phil Proctor.
