Wednesday, May 11, 2016
With one record already under his belt, Tucson rapper and artist Badio is ramping up to release his sophomore album in fall 2016. But, you'll want to check out his new video for the song "2nd Coming" before then.
Shot in the sand dunes of Yuma by Thierry Nzeukou through their collective Les Gars, which primarily focuses on fashion photography, the video serves as a cinematic bridge to Africa. Badio himself is originally from Liberia, but has lived in Tucson since 2009 after moving from Virginia.
"It's about who I am, but the video was strategic," he says. "I wanted to mimic the migration of the first groups of blacks in the Sahara desert. We migrated as a means of necessity and spread around the Africa."
When asked what the message behind the video was, Badio sent over one of his art projects, an image with the words written over:
In essence of all that is black Second Coming depicts the "NOW" mental disparities of Africans as a result of cultural misappropriation, appropriation, displacement and institutionalized self-hate.
"I made the record as an attempt in bridging the gap between blacks in America and Africans in Africa," Badio adds. "I wanted to explain more so how our self hatred was created. So, for example, our people's displacement from their origins caused a somewhat, let's say, disconnect from their true history, so if you don't know your history you don't know who you are or what you're capable of."
"That should be a persons main source of motivation," he says. "Blacks don't know their history so they've succumbed to what society has told them or taught them to be."
Though it's going to be a few more months until WhatsbadioII is released, something tells me that, with powerful lyrics like,
My momma she nine to fivin' - till she 95, still broke as a record no time to pay me mind, distracted by Bills, damn - Cosby keep raping us how can I chill.this album is going to be something to look out for.
Until then, check this out:
Tags: badio , second coming , music video , release , tucson , rap , les gars , art , yuma , Video
Monday, May 2, 2016
In the Feb. 25 issue of the Tucson Weekly, we explored the reasons why it seemed local rapper Lando Chill was poised to blow up on a national level with his debut LP For Mark, Your Son. Now the artist is one step closer to that, having been signed to indie hip-hop label Mello Music Group. Chill will be in good company as the label backs Open Mike Eagle, Oddisee, L'Orange, Kool Kieth and more.
However, with the announcement, Chill also released a music video for his new single, "Coroner," which is a crowd favorite at live show and was produced by Headlock's Tom Johnson. Johnson also makes a cameo in the video as a liquor store clerk, along with some familiar venues like PDQ Records and the 4th Ave. pedestrian bridge.
"Coroner" visually paints the picture of heartbreak through some pretty intense (and surprisingly realistic), gory special effects, while the mellow tune is as smooth and earworm-worthy as any of Chill's most recent work.
The video, which was directed by Malcolm Critcher, is also up for the $1,000 cash prize at Loft Cinema's Golden Gong Year End Showdown. The event will pit the year's best locally made shorts against one another on Friday, May 6 beginning at 9 p.m.
Tags: lando chill , signed , mello music group , new , music video , coroner , mild west productions , tom johnson , Image , Video
Friday, April 29, 2016
Eight years ago, Aaron Defeo, who was then running Hotel Congress' bar program, sought to create an event unlike any Tucson had seen before. He wanted to give pros and guests alike the opportunity to sip spirits, rub elbows and learn more about the liquor world through a place-centric tasting event.
"There just weren't any opportunities for people to taste a wide variety of curated spirits," Defeo says.
What's more is many of the tasting events that did exist were sponsored by one specific brand, which meant little diversity in the selection.
Flash forward eight years and Defeo's original single-day tasting event at Hotel Congress has exploded into a full week of seminars, tastings, concerts and more and become the Agave Heritage Week. Congress' general manager Todd Hanley wanted to expand the event this year, including off-site venues and more to grow the festival.
Tags: agave heritage week , tucson , festival , mezcal , tequila , dinner , janos wilder , aaron defeo , todd hanley , sergio inurrigarro , hotel congress , carriage house , rialto theatre , roger clyne , la ley , saul hernandes
The heralded Austin, Texas instrumental post-rock quartet—Chris Hrasky (drums), Michael James (guitar, bass), Munaf Rayani (guitar) and Mark T. Smith (guitar)—had recorded three soundtrack projects since the last studio record and deliberately set out to explore uncharted territory.
“We went into this knowing we wanted to push as much as we can to not do the default settings that maybe we’d developed for a few years,” Hrasky says. “We definitely wanted to feel like it was exploring different things and trying different things and make all that work in terms of songs.”
Tags: Explosions in the Sky , Rialto Theatre , tucson , concert , live , music , interview , the wilderness , Video
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
With a steadier lineup—most crucially multi-instrumentalist and lead guitarist Mat Mitchell and vocalist Carina Round—Puscifer set out to make Money $hot a bigger, stranger, tighter, more expressive, more focused and more collaborative record.
“It’s what you’ve heard before, but there’s more of it in a way that’s more perceptible,” Keenan says. “The characters you’re familiar with in this project, they have more of a story to tell, so it ends up being a further extension of what’s already been going on.”
Tags: puscifer , maynard james keenan , tucson music hall , live , concert , interview , Video
Monday, April 25, 2016
Three of the best stages in Tucson are teaming up this weekend to celebrate the life of Prince.
On Friday, the Loft Cinema will be screening Purple Rain as a sing-a-long and Club Congress will be hosting a Prince-themed dance party. Then on Saturday, there's a big ol' Prince Party at the Rialto Theatre.
Here are the details, as penned by Rialto boss Curtis McCrary:
The respective staffs of The Rialto Theatre/Tucson, Arizona, Hotel Congress and Club Congress, and The Loft Cinema, along with Tucson bon vivant Kitty Katt McKinley, were, like most every sentient music fan, deeply saddened at the unexpected passing of Prince, an artist who has left an indelible mark on music and popular culture for over four decades. After shaking off the shock and tears, the three organizations joined forces on a combination of events intended to pay our respects to Prince, his life, legacy and unparalleled greatness.
To that end, we are announcing I Would Die 4 U: 2cson’s Tribute 2 Prince Rogers Nelson.
Things will kick off at The Loft Cinema on Friday, April 29th, with a 7 p.m. sing-along to Prince’s classic cinematic debut Purple Rain, widely regarded as one the best rock films ever made. Regular Loft Cinema admission prices and policies apply.
Later that same night, at 9 pm, Hotel and Club Congress will transform itself into a southwestern Paisley Park, Prince’s famed residence and studio in Minneapolis, for a wild, unrestrained and funky dance party hosted by DJ Herm. Dance your sadness away until the wee hours, or just dance and cry like we all plan to do. If you come dressed like His Royal Badness (and make a real effort), you will be admitted for free.
Friday, April 15, 2016
So off to the studio Foals went, just to try a couple things, but instead the band found itself jumping right in, creating the first pieces of what would become What Went Down. Released last August, the album became the band’s highest charting U.S. release and earned the Foals the prize for “Best Act in the World Today” at UK’s Q Awards.
“We didn’t actually intend to do it that way,” says guitarist Jimmy Smith. “We were all totally knackered, but it turned out that musically we were on fire. We took a couple weeks off and then went back to our studio in Oxford and were just trying out ideas with no real intention of starting to write a record. But they were good ideas and there were a lot of them, so it just rumbled on from there and before we knew it we were recording.”
The album kicks off with massive, heavy riffs of “What Went Down,” a single that Smith says was a conscious effort to top the frenzy the band had unleashed on Holy Fire.
“The main riff for that song was there from the beginning and the middle section came together just before we went into record,” Smith says.
That riff came from singer and lead guitarist Yannis Philippakis, but as the band moved forward with What Went Down, the songwriting balance between Philippakis and Smith brought out the nuance that makes the record Foals’ top-to-bottom best work.
“We really liked that sound but we definitely weren’t going to make a whole album sounding so heavy like that,” Smith says. “We like to explore all the other sides of our band as well. That’s what we did on Holy Fire, that balance of heavy and quiet and we basically continued with that.”
In an interview with NME, Philippakis says he was channeling his “inner madman” for his lyrics and vocals for What Went Down, which was recorded at Studios La Fabrique in the south of France, in the same village Vincent Van Gogh was institutionalized after cutting off his ear. Smith says he only heard the “inner madman” comment after the record was finished, but that spirit definitely impacted the album.
“With him singing the way he was singing on that record in the practice room, I guess it made us play slightly harder on some songs. We channeled into his inner madman in a way a guess,” he says.
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Haggard, who pioneered the signature bluegrass, California-country Bakersfield sound, passed away last Wednesday, April 6, due to pnuemonia-related complications at 79 years old, according to CNN. To say a final goodbye on Tucson's behalf, local musician Hank Topless and his band will play a "foot-stompin', hootenanny" of a tribute to Merle at Club Congress.
Admission is free, but donations are encouraged. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Find more concert information here. Maybe leave the bud at home and just share a Budweiser or two with a couple pals.
Tags: merle haggard , club congress , bakersfield sound , tucson music
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
After trading the desert for Portland and the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest, Benjamin Blake’s music grew into a denser, heavier sound.
Young Hunter, the brooding psych-metal band Blake founded in Tucson in 2011, returns to town Friday, April 8 with a new album, a new lineup and a sound that’s not too far removed from the band’s debut, Stone Tools, but with added layers.
“Your surroundings really affect what you play and what comes through,” Blake says. “In Tucson, the desert was such a huge presence in Young Hunter. That’s kind of what inspired the whole project. I felt like the land was coming through me in a way. Moving to the Northwest, I really connected to this place. It’s definitely there, but there are less tropes to pull on to create a ‘foresty’ sound. You can evoke the desert more easily with the musical language.”
After moving to Portland from Tucson, Blake sought to continue Young Hunter, recruiting a new lineup to flesh out his songs. First to join was bassist Sam Dean, who Blake knew from Tucson. Within six months, Blake had rounded out Young Hunter with Grant Pierce on drums, Sara Pinnell on vocals and keys and Erik Wells on guitar.
“I just feel really lucky it all fell into place as swiftly as it did,” Blake says. “We’re still exploring how we write music together. When we started out, it was more the way I did Young Hunter in Tucson where I would write all the parts, more or less. As we’ve been playing together, we’ve gotten to a place where I’ll just bring a small piece of a song and we’ll spend maybe six months working on it.”
The band is a continuation of the version of Young Hunter that Blake began with, but it is now a project with its own distinct identity built on the greater contributions from all its members. So when it came time to give a name to the band’s new record—released March 20 in time for the band’s spring tour down the West Coast—the name Young Hunter felt most appropriate.
“I felt like the band had come into its own in a new way. It’s a new understanding of what that means and what our vision is,” he says.
Tags: Young Hunter , Night Collectors , Ohioan , tucson , hotel congress , live , music , free
Friday, April 1, 2016
The center will host a guitar recycling and restringing event on Thursday, April 7. All you have to do is bring in old guitar strings, and event sponsor D'Addario's people will restring your instrument—electric or acoustic—with NYXL or nickel bronze acoustic strings for free.
The event is part of Playback, D'Addario's national program that helps guitarists recycle their strings at no charge. The initiative, which D'Addario's press release writes is the first of its kind, is the result of partnership between the company and international recycling giant TerraCycle—D'Addario does the gathering, TerraCyle does the physical recycling.
D'Addario is also trying to give back to the music community through the restring/recycle event. Members of D'Addario's Player's Circle—the company's loyalty program—will receive a code at the International Music Center for loyalty points which they can donate to the D'Addario Foundation, a nonprofit that supports music education in lower socio-economic communities in the United States.
The event starts at 1 and runs until 7:30 p.m. Get more information here.
Tags: d'addario , terracyle , instrumental music center , guitar , earth day , international guitar month
