I love this album cover.  If you ever take a band photo and one member is missing, forget trying to photoshop them into the picture realistically.  That never works anyways.  Just blow them up real big and put them in the background like you meant it that way.  Instant awesome.

Listen to the sample track too.  That Tony Allen-inspired drum beat? Siiiick.

As hard as the music business is, I’ve seen with my own eyes that there is one business that is harder: the restaurant business.  My gf’s parents had the grand opening of their San Gabriel restaurant last year just as the world economy began to tank.  From that point on it was struggle after struggle, financially, emotionally, and spiritually.  There was a glimmer of hope when they converted the menu from a Hong Kong Cafe style  to one centered around Vietnamese Pho.  It immediately became the premiere and only place in LA to find authentic Northern-style Pho.  Unfortunately, even that modest success couldn’t prop up the business enough to survive.

This weekend will be the last days you’ll be able to try the most delicious Pho (in my and many of my friend’s opinions) in the LA area.  The restaurant closes on Monday.  Goodbye Pho Bac.

I’m not posting this video so that you can enjoy an awesome Ray Charles song on Sesame Street during its heyday.  That’s a side benefit.  But the fact that this is classic heyday Sesame Street does have to do with it.  Back then there was no heavily over-dubbed and autotuned kids singing (I haven’t watched any recent Sesame Street, so I’m not sure if they do it, but have you seen Glee? Ouch!).  If you observe closely you can see that the sound seems, for the most part, recorded live.  And because of that, you can see and hear the one hip kid who starts to spontaneously clap along on beats two and four.  If you’re a musician you’re well aware of this already, but clapping on beats one and three instead of two and four is a huge faux pas and deems you totally unhip.  The joke goes that white people clap on beats one and three, while black people clap on beats two and four.  While I’m the last one to support racial stereotypes, a quick listen to a Paul McCartney album (think Ram) versus any gospel choir won’t offer any discrediting evidence.

Anyways, this soulful little girl suddenly gets overcome by the music and starts clapping along, and even turns around to see if her comrades will join her.  They don’t.  But wait, in the final chorus they do start clapping.  Only it’s on beats one and three!  What’s worse, the claps aren’t even consistent and syncopated against the singing–they just follow along with the rhythm of the words.  And finally, to add insult to injury, the hip little girl, finding it too hard to be the lone sophisticated clapper, succumbs to the crowd and starts clapping along with the others on beats one and three.  As if to offer commentary on the tragedy, Ray says at the end, “Aw man, it’s terrible.”

It’s interesting to note that our heroic little girl is probably Puerto Rican while the offending squares are a multicultural front of Caucasian, African American, and Asian.  So there goes that theory.  I’d like to think that if I had been one of those lucky kids I’d be clapping along with the cool girl, but who knows.  I hope she became friends with the other cool girl who danced on the balcony in the Stevie Wonder Sesame Street video.

This is so awesome I almost cried when I watched this.  I’ve finally found the Space Club theme song.  (btw I do a stupendous Carl Sagan impression, ask me about sometime, you won’t be disappointed)

On second listen I realized that there is a percussionist partially hidden behind Flea’s amp.  So it’s not just one human creating this monstrous beat.  But still.  Joey Waronker.  Sick.

I know it might sound like hyperbole, but I’d say at this very moment Sweden’s Little Dragon is one of the best bands on the planet.   While many claim an unclassifiable and unique sound, this band actually has one, and a good–really good–one at that.  Singer Yukimi Nagano’s melodies (beautifully haunting, soulful, and catchy all at once) immediately draw you in, but its the subtly sophisticated musical arrangements and great lyrics that keep the songs sounding fresh after repeated listening.  Above is a video created by Yukimi’s dad!

A bandmate of mine originally told me to peep these “cats from Sweden,” after my ear perked up during a DJ set while our band took break.  Since then I’ve been listing to their amazing debut album, and eagerly anticipating their latest album which dropped a few weeks ago and which I got in the mail last week.  I’d highly recommend both.

What excites me the most about this band is that they are badass musicians who use their musical chops for good and not evil.  In other words they use their skills to service the music, not self indulge (in a similar way that made the Beatles and Miles Davis so great).  Their songwriting and musical arrangements are filled with all these subtle bits of awesomeness, but it never takes away from the simple artistry of the song.  Nagano is such a captivating performer and Erik Bodin’s superb drumming hints that he’s been studying ?uestlove and Dilla.  You can really hear this in their live performances, and damn would I sure love to see these guys live.  Below are some great youtube moments.  Check out how they incorporate electronics into their live setup while staying a true “live” band, with rhythmic hits as nasty as the J.B.’s and breakdowns as organic as any classic jazz group.

Rather be a bandit than a lover / Rather be a man with the other / to run the mountain down run it down

Rather be a whisper in heaven / then a daughter locked in your prison / so run the mountain down run it down

While checking out this new 8-bit Miles Davis tribute album, I discovered through the comments a link to a YMCK song which demonstrates that Chiptune music and Coltrane Changes go together quite well!

If your ear is unfamiliar with what Coltrane Changes sound like, this is a good frame of reference.

And as a side note, who was one of the first, to my knowledge, to include ‘Trane Changes in hip hop? Why, none other than Dilla, who, in Q-Tip’s Let’s Ride, masterfully chopped up jazz guitarist Joe Pass’ take on Giant Steps (thanks to Kevin Nottingham for info on the sample).

This is a revalation for me.  The lyrics “mamase mamasa mamakoosa” have been a part of my vocabulary for as far back as I can remember (Thriller was one of the first albums I ever had as a kid), yet they are as mysterious as they are irresistible to sing along to.  The mystery is over now for me thanks to this article that was pointed out by my friend @ArjayV.  Read the article and then listen to the video below.  It’s the Manu Dibango song that is the subject of the article, and it’s absolutely incredible.  I really want to check out more of this cat’s music now.

After returning home from a 2-week grassroots tour of much of the Western Continental US with Mouse Kills Tiger and My Imaginary Friends, I expected some adjustment in getting back to the daily grind of things.  To my surprise and to the delight of the gods of irony, I realized that my life was actually more structured, and I got better sleep, while on tour than back at home.  But that’s only because lately my daily life is so utterly unstructured and my normal sleeping habits are so poor.  It takes a whole LOT of discipline to be a self-employed artist, so I am going to have to go back to writing a daily schedule, short & long term goals, and weekly review (which I never should have abandoned due to laziness in the first place).  Some of my friends may remember that several years ago I was an early champion of the Getting Things Done book and the “carrying around a stack of notecards” school.  What happened?

But back to the tour–it was definitley an amazing experience and well worth it.  Denver was an unexpected highlight for me, with great record-shopping, tasty food, and a really cool venue.  The Pacific Northwest was as lush and green as I had imagined it, and Seattle wins hands-down for the coolest looking and most vibrant city.  The most surreal scenery was probably the drive through the Utah salt flats accompanied by a thunderstorm.  Although I tweeted a handful of pictures, you’ll find a whole slideshow of photos taken on my trusty cell phone camera here.

I never thought applause could be hostile.  Last night Mouse Kills Tiger played the El Cid in Silverlake.  It was the opening slot.  The El Cid, unlike a lot of venues, has an actual “real” stage.  Like, with hardwood floors, a raised stage, a red curtain, you know, the works.  We loaded in through the back and set up on stage behind the closed curtains, so the whole time we didn’t actually see the audience.  Just before we were to start, the promoter/manager turned to me and asked, “hey, are you like, a hard hitter?”  I shook my head, “no I’m not…”  “Because,” he explained, “people are still finishing up their dinners, so sometimes if the band is loud we wait to let the grandmas leave.”  Well, schedule didn’t permit us to wait.

The curtain opened, and instead of a standing-room-only dance floor, we looked out at a bunch of folks sitting at dinner tables, staring at us.  After our second song, which climaxed in a thunderous-hells-yeah roar of guitar noise, overdriven electric piano, and smashed cymbals, we started playing our quiet, atmospheric song.  And a bunch of people at one table started clapping ridiculously loud, in time, but not in time with us–like some sort of effed up collegiate home cheer.  It was pretty bizarre.  After the gig was over Patrick, our bassist, commented on the strange episode–he thought it was on some sort of heckling tip.  I just thought they were celebrating and didn’t give a fuck, but who knows.  At any event, after we finished playing the dining crowd cleared and the place became the kind of boisterous rock club you’d expect.  Y’know, Flight of the Conchords don’t make this shit up, it really happens.

Regardless, it was a fun night.  We played well, including the brand-new tune we tried out.  And My Imaginary Friends, who played after us, tore shit up with their catchy-yet-epic folksy songs and excellent singing.  Oh, and did I mention, this was the first night of our West Coast TOUR?

Yes, we’re going on TOUR.  Mouse Kills Tiger and My Imaginary Friends are embarking on a tour up and down the western region of our nation.  We are leaving for San Francisco on Tuesday morning and from then on it’s Bay Area to Oregon to Washington to Utah to Colorado to New Mexico and then finally to Vegas.  I probably won’t be blogging (what else is new) but I’ll try to keep constant updates of our shennanigans via tweets, hopefully with pictures.  I may have to upgrade my bare-bones cell phone plan for this but it could be worth it.  I’ll make it worth it.

I’ve listed all the dates on my website, so if you know any folks in those cities please help spread the word!