So I’m sure all of you cool kids have already heard of these guys, but my ears just got hip this past weekend. Now I am totally head over heels for The Black Keys. After getting my tiny hands on Attack and Release I went straight to the record store to buy another album. They are now streaming through my work computer, car radio and bedroom stereo. I highly suggest you give them a listen, just in case you’re as uncool as I am… http://hypem.com/artist/the+black+keys
How about some more rap? I heard about this group from those two knob-jobs, Gregg Kot and Jim Derogatis, from Sound Opinions on NPR. (Sound Opinions is not that bad of a show, it’s just these two rock critics always end up saying something that really aggravates me.) This week they talked about a two guys, Rah Almillio, Krispy Kream, who call themselves the KNUX. They write, produce and play their own instruments on their own songs and have started to get big.
Since that show I heard them on Entourage, and have a read a little bit about them and the “blipster” movement. Yes, black hipsters. They, along with groups like Kidz in the Hall and Cool Kids (the band Kevin Garnett refers to in the NBA 2K9 commercial), are a different kind of hip hop in that they dress like a mix between Run DMC and indie rock or nerds with their music sounding the just like that also. Passion of the Weiss, a great blog worth checking out, has a pretty good story about it.
I don’ t usually type that much in a post, so sorry if you read all that thinking it was going somewhere. Basically, check out the KNUX at their myspace or through Hype Machine.
Never being into rap much growing up, I have never really listened to A Tribe Called Quest. The first time I heard of Q-Tip was on the Chappelle Show with the vd muppets. On the recommendations of a friend and Ellen’s NPR listening, I listened to a few songs off of his new album, The Renaissance, and they are good. Check em out for yourself via myspace or hype machine.
Can’t remember how I first heard Ida Marie, but I can’t get these songs out of my head. Also, can’t tell if thats a good thing or bad thing; I do have a weak spot for girl singers. She sounds like the crappy ska and girl punk music that Joan listened to and loved in high school. Like it should have been on the “10 Things I Hate About You” soundtrack. Myspace it or Hype It
Being unemployed is gives me a lot of time to read more music blogs. A new one that I like a lot is Rollo & Grady. They have a couple posts a day, with very listenable music. They have a lot of posts about the Rolling Stones, My Morning Jacket, Radiohead, and The Whigs. The Whigs are another great rock band from Athens, Georgia. The most recent post about the Whigs included an interview with the lead singer, Parker Gispert. Check ’em out. Here is a video from my favorite song of theirs from letterman:
The actual video is pretty cool, but not embedd-able.