Uncanny

J DILLA’S upcoming album, The Shining, is setting up to be one of the most highly anticipated hip hop albums of 2006. The late hip-hop producer J Dilla's second solo project The Shining, which was nearly completed when he died Feb. 10, will be issued Aug. 22 via BBE. Unfortunately, it took J Dilla’s premature death for the hype to build outside of his extremely loyal, underground fan base. No matter; if the album itself is only half as good as the track listing is alone, it should be a stone cold bangger.

The Shining:
01 Geek Down (feat. Busta Rhymes)
02 E=MC2 (feat. Common)
03 Love Jones
04 Love (feat. Pharoahe Monch)
05 Baby (feat. Madlib and Guilty Simpson)
06 So Far to Go (feat. Common and D'Angelo)
07 Jungle Love (feat. MED & Guilty Simpson)
08 Over the Breaks
09 Body Movin' (feat. J. Rocc and Karriem Riggins)
10 Dime Piece (feat. Dwele) (Remix)
11 Love Movin' (feat. Black Thought)
12 Won't Do

Some links for your reading pleasure:
BILLBOARD
PITCHFORK
PREFIX MAG
STONESTHROW
MY SPACE

LUXE LIFE VEGAS “No sooner did he celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Beach Boys debut record than mellow Mike Love flew to Vegas with his wife and dined at Sushi Roku in the Forum Shops of Caesars Palace.”

DATE ON DISC IS PROBABLY WRONG

PITCHFORK "For this column I'd intended to write an all-encompassing review of both MUTEK and Sónar, but after eight days of shows at both fests…and five cumulative days of assorted afterparties, the idea of presenting a totalizing perspective seems not only impossible, but absurd."

EXQUISITELY BORED IN NACOGDOCHES

If you've seen our numerous PREVIOUS POSTS on Scritti Politti's new album White Bread, Black Beer, you could probably tell that we have been waiting anxiously to receive a promo copy of the disc. Well, the disc finally arrived in yesterday's mail, and it was well worth the wait.

Although the disc was released in UK in May on the Rough Trade lable, White Bread, Black Beer is being released by Nonesuch in late July in the US. (Note - Nonesuch is the label that released SMiLE.)

Several articles in the UK press have compared White Bread, Black Beer to the work of Brian Wilson. The vocal arrangements and elaborate vocal overdubbing on White Bread, Black Beer is somewhat reminiscent of some of Wilson's work. Think the beautiful, layered vocals from SMiLE with the stripped down backing tracks of Smiley Smile and you are in the ballpark. Like Brian did on Gettin' In Over My Head, all of the vocal parts are done by Green Gartside, who is Scritti Politti.

The standout track is "Dr. Abernathy", which shifts from spare vocals and acoustic guitar, in the vein of Elliott Smith, to elaborate pop perfection. White Bread, Black Beer deserves more attention than I can give to it now. I need to let its riches soak into my brain much more. In the meantime, check out these links for more information:
BIBBLY-O-TEK
I LOVE MUSIC
VANGUARD ONLINE
THE SUN UK
SCOTSMAN
SOUND OF THE SUBURB BLOG

RECORDNET "It was weird," lead singer Mike Love said of the event designed to mark the 40th anniversary of Pet Sounds. "We have meetings and stuff from time to time, but we're never together in a public way."

"Brian couldn't have been nicer to me," said Love. "I have actually talked to Brian about writing together, and from there, if we do a reunion thing, I'd like to start with a PBS special. If it turns out to be something people really respond to, we could go on from there."

"Our job, I feel, as performers is to make people happy and take them away from the concerns of their lives," he said. "That's our philosophy - 'Fun, Fun, Fun,' 'Good Vibrations.' We want people to leave having had a good time."

"If your lifestyle is such that you're getting enough rest and you're watching what you eat ... then you're going to be in good shape no matter what age you are," he said. "I can sing exactly those same keys and same arrangements."

BILLBOARD

EQUISITELY BORED IN NACOGDOCHES

If you've paid very close attention, you might have noticed that we have finally gotten around to setting up some Categories for each post. Instead of evey post being an "Announcement," all posts will also be tagged to a specific Category; as of now, we have three Categories:
(1) BRIAN WILSON/BEACH BOYS (Uh, no duh)
(2) ELECTRONIC MUSIC (i.e. techno, hip hop, experimental)
(3) MISCELLANEOUS (everything else).
Just click on one of the Categories, to the left, to see all posts from that Category. Hopefully, this will add some slight additional insight into my musical tastes, outside of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys. Not to worry, Wilson fans, the primary focus will remain "Our Team."

LAS VEGAS LIFE

Do Not Fear Techno
PITCHFORK has a review by wonder writer Philip Sherburne
PITCHFORK writer Drew Daniel (of Matmos?) reviews the track “Paskaa Musaa”
VILLAGE VOICE has a review by Andy Beta
FORCED EXPOSURE is one of the best sources for electronic music
HIGHER FREQUENCY has a third review
THE CAMERA AS PEN has a fourth review

Swimmingpool is Düsseldorf natives Michael Scheibenreiter and Stefan Schwander. On their new album Good Old Music, they make fun, summer sun dance music.

MUSIC FOR ROBOTS has a review and MP3
COMBINATION lists the record
NONSTUFF PODCAST has an OK review
REVIEW IN GERMAN won't mean much if you don't read German

"The album Good Old Music describes the sound quite well; it’s just a play around between friends that never attempts to do anything ground-breaking." -- Nonstuff

ALL ABOUT JAZZ

ROGER OWEN GREEN