Dub dot dash

Tribute records are always pointless
Ahmir ?uestlove Thompson got his hands on the original master tapes of Sly & The Family Stone’s “Everybody Is A Star,” which his band, The Roots, sampled for the opening track of their recent album, The Tipping Point. Excerpt below from a great interview with the drummer/producer in latest issue of Modern Drummer magazine. Save the drummer jokes, this guy is incredibly talented.

"Sliding faders up and down, Thompson goes through vocal tracks until the only thing you hear is Sly Stone, front and center, crooning for all his life. This is a truly spooky and wonderful experience, like being in a time machine with Ahmir Thompson as your commander. He pulls up more faders: brass and bass kick in, Larry Graham’s thunderous voice booms from the speakers. This is not simply for fun—Thompson is also working on a Sly Stone tribute album.

“Tribute records are always pointless,” Thompson asserts. “And when someone asked me to do the Sly thing, I knew it could be a disaster. But I was so curious about the drum sound; I really did it because I knew they would send me the masters. They even sent me the original engineer’s notes for the session.” Modern Drummer interview here.

Another ?uestlove interview over here.


Via Working for the Clampdown... "It's that time again. It's time for Guardian/Observer Rap Editorial Policy Watch! (Okay, you think of a catchier title.)

I'm pretty sure that Kitty Empire is not stupid. So what on earth possessed her to write, when reviewing the new Roots Manuva album, the following?

Disgust, weariness, self-loathing and the fear of God are not the usual themes taken up by hip hop.

As my partner pointed out, "Even I know that those are all really, really common themes in hip hop, and I know very little about it!" Moreover, they're particularly common themes in the kind of hip hop not normally credited with much intelligence or artistic value by broadsheet music critics. Mobb Deep much?
But it gets worse:

In a genre best known for its posturing and violence, Roots can rap 'Pray for me, Mummy' without worrying about saving face.

Um... It's almost compulsory for those rappers supposedly "best known" for "posturing and violence" (yeah, whatever) to have a song about how their mothers should pray for them. 'Dear Mama' much?

I don't think this can be entirely Kitty Empire's fault. There can only be one explanation. Guardian/Observer Rap Editorial Policy has struck again!


The Beastie Boys last album may have been mediocre crap, but they still got it going on... Rolling Stone reports that "The BEASTIE BOYS have joined Al Sharpton in a PETA campaign to boycott Kentucky Fried Chicken for the chicken chain's alleged cruelty to animals. The group's open letter of protest to the KFC CEO is posted at peta.org" KFC - its Kiwi for Chunder.

ADDED The buzz about M.I.A. hits new highs/lows... "Coolfer has read and heard a lot of great things about M.I.A.'s show at NYC's Knitting Factory, but nothing compared to this blurb over at More in the Monitor:
"On the subway ride home, this guy Tony told me that he had been standing next to an overweight middle-aged couple near the front of the stage, and the woman gave the man a blow job in the middle of the concert. I think that is a bigger and better endorsement of M.I.A. than anything anybody could ever write about her."
M.I.A.s album is getting a local release (YAY!), out April 4 (unless they have trouble with a few uncleared samples).


I was watching C4 last night, and on Homegrown Late, host Clarke Gayford intro'd the show, noting he had lots of giveaways, including the new issue of Real Groove with Pluto on the cover, and told viewers to remember that bit of info for later, then he blathered a bit more, and said they also had a brand new Apple iPod Shuffle to give away, and they had loaded it up with Pluto's new album Pipelines Under The Ocean.

Now, who had the bright idea to load up Pluto's album on the Shuffle? Was it C4? The band? The band's record company? Surely these people know that copying a CD to another format is illegal in New Zealand. Quick, somebody tell RIANZ. Still, I got to watch Clarke announce the new Mint Chicks video, Fuck the Golden Youth; he took particular delight in saying the f-word, he even said the song title twice. Such a rebel.