One of my fave contemporary dub music artists is Brooklyn’s Dub Is A Weapon. They render dub in its original spirit, but theirs is not a rote interpretation. They have fun with it. The go deep and retrieve exotic dub beasts from underwater sonic chasms. So here ya go – Lee “Scratch” Perry’s top east disciples, with “Leave I and I” featuring the choice vocal stylings of Rob Symeon.

Buy their music here.

Was reminded of K’Naan (who, if ya don’t know already, is the new next) while watching World Cup – since his brilliant “Waving Flag” is the official song of the 2010 FIFA tournament. Last year when I first discovered K’Naan’s music I was properly stunned. He writes beautiful, brave, inspiring songs, which bring together elements of hip-hop, reggae, rock and the kitchen sink in novel ways, creating work that is original yet instantly accessible. This live recording is more on the hip-hop / poetry side, and it tells you more about the man’s background than a bio can, really. If a guy who took the last commercial flight out of Somalia with his mom as a young kid as his country descended into chaos asks “What’s Hardcore?” how do you answer?

K’Naan
“Whats Hardcore?” (mp3)
from “The Dusty Foot on the Road”
(Interdependent Media)

Need more!

Occupying a unique space of the imagination somewhere between Frank Zappa and Ren n’ Stimpy, a young Logan Whitehurst recorded a wealth of brilliant and unique works in his short but hugely creative life. Before succumbing to a brain tumor at the age of 29, he told his family that playing his music for people was one of the most important things to him. Among his many talents, Logan was also a cartoonist (or click on the animated gif for his comics page) in a style that fits his songwriting humor like a glove. The guy was a treasure. His work lives on. It’s genius in both art and craft, original yet instantly familiar, with a rare levity the world could sure use more of. As such, his music is available for download and streaming from freemusicarchive.org, and this is truly something to celebrate. You can buy the CD’s direct from his site, too. Enjoy.

Don’t usually hear of a lot bands from Austria. But lately the power pop and progressive rock stuff has been coming from new corners of the globe, lots of lesser known towns in Europe and elsewhere, so I’m not terribly surprised. This is something gorgeous, a very sweet production and a great big composition. Hmm, coffee setting in as I try to form first sentences of the day. Anyway, I like this song, that’s all. Nice of these gentlemen and lady to share it. <3 to Superfan for the tip.

“STD” has made a lot of brilliant tracks as a solo artist since fleeing from band life in disgust. I first discovered him when a friend (also in a band, naturally) sent me a link to “Your Band” and commented that she had heard every line in the song uttered in earnest at some point, by band guys at the bar at Bottom Of The Hill (the SF club mentioned in the song, no less). Band shmoozing is a frightful business, and I guess it just ate away at our hero Schaffer until he plopped out this hilarious anti-shmooze screed. Not safe for work, this one. No. Not safe in general. But excellent. I added an “Other” category to my blog categories, just for the great otherness of this. Enjoy.

Buy @ CD Baby

Much talked about and rightfully lauded far and wide early in its release, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings’ “I Learned The Hard Way” is every bit the record it’s supposed to be. It has everything that has been largely missing lately from mainstream R n’ B, soul and pop music. You know, things like rhythm, blues, soul, and pop. These are hit songs, played by an air-tight band, sung by the incomparable Sharon Jones. I can’t say enough about it. Have a listen. The whole record generously offered in hi-qual stream here:

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings

Aquarium Drunkard has a thoughtful review and a couple of promo mp3s from the album.

You can buy the CD directly from the label, Daptone Records.

Titus Andronicus are as much a carny of crazed vagabond poets as they are a hard hitting, dangerous sounding punk rock band. Pogues, Clash, Springsteen, Replacements, Pixies and Nirvana influences all prominent, but it’s almost silly to say that, since the voice that shines through this material is so blazingly fresh and sincere. The comparisons also end with their arrangements. This song for example, develops way past your standard three minute power-pop burst, into an epic piece stuffed with simultaneously dire and humorously clever narrative, and relentless musical invention that grows organically and never seems forced. This anthemic track is from their new album, The Monitor, for which they are currently on Monitour. Dates on their myspace. Tip o’ the brim to Tony in Louisville for sending linky. Stumendous.

The phrase “they broke the mold when they made this one” comes to mind when I think of one Piero Amadeo Infante. Piero didn’t just break the mold, he obliterated it into a bazillion still-smoking shards. He is, to borrow a phrase from Hunter S. Thompson, “one of God’s own prototypes” – there’s never been anyone like him, and there never will be again. So, I was delighted to discover this morning that Piero (aka Papamalo, aka Pio) recently posted some unreleased tracks he’s done in various projects over the years, on his myspace page. It’s a great listen, all bold and original work. For the uninitiated, Piero was the lead singer and co-founder with guitarist Michael Maung of The Freaky Executives, and later Los Angelitos, both sensational headlining acts in the SF Bay Area, and his list of musical collaborations and projects is basically endless. Sadtown: Hour of the Rabbit is an autobiographical epic hip-hop rock opera of sorts, featuring Pio’s own alter ego, the “Indestructible Bunny.” Enjoy.

Spunge – “Idols” mp3

Buster the Ska Doggie, with whom I am acquainted, posted a sweet series of ska and ska related mp3s with his own peculiar annotation. It must be a dog’s life, posting blurbs about ska songs all day and night. You can listen to the lot of it @ Buster’s blog on ska4u.com. Here’s one of the tunes, I just have to re-post – “Idols” by UK ska rockers Spunge. Big silly good ska-pop-punky fun, about something I think we can all relate to sometimes. Which idol do I wanna be like? Why Buster the Ska Doggie, of course.

I was thinking today about the Harvey Danger song “Little Round Mirrors,” from their “Little By Little” EP. I was completely gobsmacked by it when they released it in late 2005, and though I haven’t heard it since a bunch of spins back then, I can recall the magnificent hooks in vivid detail and it’s one of those songs that just pops up from time to time in my mental playlist. So this morning I went to their site to see what’s up with them now, only to learn that like many recording artists in this era of severe public apathy about new music, they have called it quits. Their statement about hanging it up is gracious and completely without bitterness, which is about what I would expect from a band of such talent and generosity. You see, what they did with this EP, is they released the whole thing, for free, asking for donations if you felt like giving them something for their efforts, but hoping simply for their music to be heard. They detailed their reasons rather eloquently here. Their conclusion is by no means unique – plenty of bands have realized the same thing, and I wouldn’t bother posting this if not for one thing: the song is magnificent. It deserves to be heard. It’s a beautiful performance of a great pop composition that while difficult to classify, is immensely accessible. The hooks are breathtaking, the lyrics intelligent, poetic, compassionate and heartbreaking. I could go on. Think “Pet Sounds” goes to Seattle or, like, Jellyfish without the clown makeup. The whole EP is great, in fact, as I am just discovering now. Thanks to HD for leaving it up there. As a musician in a band myself, I know the cost in time, money and gear that it takes to write, rehearse, record, mix and master a record this good is anything but trivial. If you like, you can send the band some $ to offset their investment a bit, here. Hey it worked for Radiohead. Or you can go old school and buy a hard copy. Either way I think you’ll really enjoy their music.