On December 11th and 12th KROQ held their annual Almost Acoustic Christmas radio show at the Gibson Amphitheatre. The first night consisted mostly of hard rock bands, such as: A Day To Remember, Anberlin, Bad Religion, Cake, Jimmy Eat World, My Chemical Romance, Social Distortion, Switchfoot, the Dirty Heads, and the Smashing Pumpkins, while the second night consisted mostly of alternative bands: Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Broken Bells, Neon Trees, Temper Trap, Florence + the Machine, Black Keys, Vampire Weekend, and Phoenix. Photos by Lindsey Best

December 11

[View with PicLens]

December 12

[View with PicLens]

Playing their first show at the Hollywood Bowl, Vampire Weekend entered the stage to DJ Kholed’s “All I Do Is Win” featuring Ludacris and T-Pain. The crowd was on its feet cheering the moment the band made their grand entrance. The appropriate introduction ran straight into opening song “Holiday.”  After a couple songs, singer Ezra Koenig addressed the crowd, “I know we’re just meeting each other for the first time.  I don’t want to rush things but if you want to sing along, this is a pretty easy song.  Don’t be shy, that’s what big amphitheaters like this are for!”

Their songs were energetic and lively, keeping everyone dancing.  The show was heavily impacted by the stage production: flashing colors, strobes, rolling lights, spotlights and even chandeliers illustrated the music visually by responding thematically to every note and inflection.  Spotlights directed attention and intensified the individual contribution of each band member. The elaborate array of colorful lights made the stage pulse, incorporating unique sequences like the staccato of hypnotizing flashes of blue and red to create a 3D effect.

Vampire Weekend’s unique qualities, such as Koenig’s quick vocals and Chris Tomson’s spot-on drums, are much more striking live. Seeing the musicians perform their complex sequences and instrumentals, such as Rostam Batmanglij’s piano solo in “Taxi Cab,” makes the music sound even better. The songs were faster-paced and much more zealous than their recordings, livening things up and intensifying the crowd’s response. The set was well arranged, interchanging smoothly between strong danceable beats and slower paced ballads, increasing the stamina of both the band and the audience.  They debuted “I Think You’re A Contra” for the first time in L.A. and got an excited, illustrious response.

Koenig encouraged a lot of crowd interaction, amiably announcing to ‘let inhibitions go’ and just ‘do what you feel.’  The audience excitedly cooperated in the call and return chorus of Blake’s “Got A New Face” and even held their hands in the air wiggling their fingers (as demonstrated by Koenig) for the entirety of “Mansard Roof.”  “This is the largest crowd we’ve ever attempted this with. Thank you. You’ve got some beautiful arms,” Koenig called out at the end of the song.

Each member illustrated their acute musicianship during solos and instrumentals, demonstrating the strength of their current grasp on contemporary music. Despite Vampire Weekend’s strong hour long set, the sold-out crowd still cried for an encore, welcoming the band back to the stage with an ear-piercing roar.  They ended their Los Angeles show with their traditional finale song, “Walcott.”  Producing a wall of sound matched by the crowd’s enthusiasm, Vampire Weekend finished on a vigorous note.

—Britt Witt

—juan velasquez

Abe Vigoda, whose frontman Michael Vidal talked to L.A. Record about being one of 2009′s Most Beautiful People, will tour with Vampire Weekend this spring. Info and dates below:

In addition to the Vampire Weekend dates, the boys will also be playing a handful of shows with Nottingham punks Lovvers, Vivian Girls, Effi Briest and Gringo Star. Abe Vigoda will be debuting some brand new tracks from the yet to be titled follow-up to the Reviver EP, set for release sometime this summer on PostPresentMedium. Listen to a demo of the new track “Crush” here.

## = w. Effi Briest

Concert goers lined up as much as a block against the red brick wall, ringing around the Henry Fonda. All of them waited powerlessly for Vampire Weekend’s sold out release show for their sophomore album Contra under XL Records. Just the previous night, New Yorker’s Ezra Koenig (lead vocals, guitar), Rostam Batmanglij (keyboards, guitar, vocals), Chris Tomson (drums, percussion), and Chris Baio (bass guitar, vocals) performed on the Tonight Show with Conan. It was also the same day that Myspace friends received notifications that Vampire Weekend’s page was about to be deleted. False alarm. Very Be Careful Opened, but soon made way for Vampire Weekend. The quartet looked spiffy in button-down polos. Ezra was post-Christmas preppy in red and green, but was a present nonetheless. They performed amidst the background of their album cover with a mysterious polo-loving muse, looking rather unkempt with dilated pupils and a candid smirk. It’s so Ivy League, which is fitting for the college band, offering their music to the muse. Vampire Weekend opened with “White Sky,” which showcased their traditional sound. “Holiday” elevated the energy level with Ezra’s yelps and falsettos. The drums and guitars riffs then changed pace and range, while Ezra made introductory zoo noises to “Cousins.” “Run” sounds like a nostalgic and bouncy Hellogoodbye theme. Afrobeat was evident in “Diplomat’s Son.” Eventually, Vampire Weekend concocted a cocktail of new and old tracks, taking the crowd back to where it all started with “A-Punk.” Before ending the 80-minute show with “Horchata” and “Walcott,” the crowd was just getting warmed up by the new tunes, since they invested more energy into the throwback songs. Vampire Weekend have proved that they’ve graduated from their college band image.

—Katrina Guevara

Buy Coachella 2010 Tickets Here

Friday, April 16th: Jay-Z, LCD Soundsystem, Them Crooked Vultures, Vampire Weekend, Deadmau5, Public Image Limited, The Specials, Grizzly Bear, Passion Pit, Echo and the Bunnymen, Benny Benassi, Fever Ray, Grace Jones, She & Him, Erol Alkan, The Avett Brothers, Calle 13, The Whitest Boy Alive, The Cribs, La Roux, Yeasayer, Lucero, DJ Lance Rock, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Proxy, Ra Ra Riot, Deer Tick, Wolfgang Gartner, Aeroplane, Iglu & Hartly, Sleigh Bells, P.O.S., Baroness, Hockey, Little Dragon, White Rabbits, Wale, Kate Miller-Heidke, As Tall as Lions, Jets Overhead, Alana Grace, Pablo Hassan.

Saturday, April 17th: Muse, Faith No More, Tiësto, MGMT, David Guetta, The Dead Weather, Hot Chip, Devo, Coheed and Cambria, Kaskade, 2Many DJ’s, Major Lazer, Dirty Projectors, Gossip, Z-Trip, The xx, John Waters, Les Claypool, The Raveonettes, Mew, Sia, Camera Obscura, Tokyo Police Club, Porcupine Tree, Old Crow Medicine Show, Aterciopalados, Bassnectar, Frightened Rabbit, Dirty South, Flying Lotus, Corinne Bailey Rae, Pretty Lights, Shooter Jennings, RX Bandits, The Almighty Defenders, Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros, Craze & Klever, Zoe, The Temper Trap, Portugal. The Man, Band of Skulls, Girls, Beach House, Steel Train, Frank Turner.

Sunday, April 18th: Gorillaz, Pavement, Thom Yorke????, Phoenix, Orbital, Spoon, Sly and the Family Stone, De La Soul, Julian Casablancas, Plastikman, Gary Numan, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Sunny Day Real Estate, Yo La Tengo, MUTEMATH, Deerhunter, Infected Mushroom, Club 75, Matt & Kim, The Big Pink, Gil Scott-Heron, King Khan and the Shrines, Florence and the Machine, Yann Tiersen, Little Boots, Miike Snow, Talvin Singh, Ceu, B.o.B., Babasonicos, Owen Pallett, The Glitch Mob, Mayer Hawthorne, Local Natives, Rusko, The Middle East, Hadouken!, The Soft Pack, Kevin Devine, Paparazzi, Delphic, One EskimO.

Download: BLK JKS “Molalatladi”

(from After Robots out now on Secretly Canadian)

If one more person compares BLK JKS to Vampire Weekend, we might explode. This South African band writes pop songs, rock songs, slow tunes and fast tracks; they get proggy and they jam. There’s a great amount of variety on BLK JKS’ latest album After Robots, but the only thing the band imitates is the sound that reality transmits through their nimble fingers. Guitarist Mpumelelo Mcata breaks it down for Daiana Feuer.

Mpumelelo Mcata (guitar): I forgot my sunglasses on top of the guitar amp there in Los Angeles. It was sucky—they were a gift.
Do you lose many possessions in your travels?
Mpumelelo Mcata: Yes, it happens all the time! Sometimes your mind, sometimes your heart, sometimes your sunglasses.
When was the last time you lost your mind?
Mpumelelo Mcata: I think it was Philly. I am not sure how long ago that was. Maybe I haven’t found my mind yet. The concept of time has been warped. Meeting people, various people, and life on the road, always on the road—you lose your heart and your head. It feels pretty schizophrenic. The days go by like day after day with hardly any rest.
Is that a dream come true? Would you rather be in a studio or a stage?
Mpumelelo Mcata: I like being around sounds and making music and just around art in general outside of music. It’s cool to have these kinds of problems. I don’t have a particular preference—as long as I’m doing it, it’s alright. But in the van for so long, driving for so many hours is what it is. Being in the studio, pressed for time, is what it is. We always have these things to keep us grounded. A little bit of cramped, a little of this and that. Broken amps need fixing. We never really step back to look at what’s going on from outside and say, ‘Well, this is all well!’ The situation, though—how can I say it? I am happy to be in it.
As a musician, do you find sounds or create sounds?
Mpumelelo Mcata: Finding or creating? Receiving. Which is different from those two in some ways. It’s all out there and finding requires one to be looking and looking may be a bit difficult to do in a sincere way. Not saying it’s impossible. But it’s hard to be looking and still do honorable work. I think receiving is key and hopefully one can communicate what comes to them truthfully and be an honest voice. There’s a lot of information trapped or stored in phonics, you know? Besides what musicians put in the lyrics and also what is said in interviews. A lot of stuff is just said in between the sounds—as in between the waves. I am sure music is a form of communication.
How do four different minds or receivers create one sound together?
Mpumelelo Mcata: I think one of the first points that we’d have to—I don’t want to say understand because that’s also a conscious in the mind thing—something that we have to feel is that all is one already. Once the American comedian Bill Hicks said all matter is energy condensed to slow vibrations. There is no such thing as death. We are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. So! That is the basic idea. We are one already. So the individual is allowed to exist completely. We find that conflict to be interesting—experiencing ourselves subjectively. That is the point. If everybody felt this way in the world maybe the world would stop breaking up. Maybe not. Maybe this is just part of the human condition. But we need to accept all parts of ourselves. I think that’s what we do in the music, as schizophrenic as it may seem.
There sure are a lot of sounds going on in your album. A lot of directions. I was intrigued by the emotion and the musical shifts in your song ‘Lakeside.’ What’s the story behind it?
Mpumelelo Mcata: ‘Lakeside’ is basically—OK, all the songs have a bit of a backstory, but ‘Lakeside’ is basically about the taxi industry. ‘Lakeside’ and ‘Taxidermy’ follow each other on the album but ‘Lakeside’ is about this young boy-man-kid who is caught up in a taxi accident. The taxi rolls off the freeway and lands up next to a lake. In his head, he has been trying to escape the city—Johannesburg and the mundane situation that he lives in. And he is very imaginative and kind of in some ways it’s autobiographical on our part. Living in the confusion of Johannesburg. And so he imagines his taxi as a UFO and he imagines himself as having been caught up in a crash-landing situation. It’s a terrible thing that has happened. People are bleeding. He is lying outside on the grass. People are suffering. But at the same time it is a beautiful thing that his mind is doing in the song. That’s basically ‘Lakeside.’
That’s a heck of a story. Does a song that comes out of a story lyrically influence the music as well or is that worked upon separately?
Mpumelelo Mcata: With ‘Lakeside’ it was definitely the music first. We didn’t know what that song was trying to do. We were jamming and somehow it kept coming up in those different directions. So what you hear on the record in the beginning—in the rehearsal room, ‘Lakeside’ was really that Molefi, Lindani, Tshepang, and myself fighting against each other and pulling the song in different directions. Like, ‘We can’t stay here—Molefi’s gone over there so we have to follow him.’ Or, ‘We’re going to follow Tshepang and see what happens.’ That was the nature of most of our rehearsal room sessions. Coming to the center, running to and from all four corners and meeting at the end. So—sound first. Then we listen back to the take and everybody thinks about what it means to them and then we discuss it and feel it out and it comes out lyrically if it’s going to be really elaborate—if that happens. Sometimes it’s just we’ll breathe over it and that’ll be it. Like ‘Molalatladi.’ For that song, the lyrics happened immediately as the music. It’s a different purpose.
What would you like to get out of this experience that will nourish you as artists? Aside from getting to play and seeing the world?
Mpumelelo Mcata: I mean, we’re getting in touch with our faith, more in touch with our faith, which is this miracle. Us being alive, you being alive as Daiana and floating in outer space. To us it is really a miracle. People like to intellectualize or coffee table talk about bands but for us, it’s like—we’re here, we’re together. You can either like a band—you can walk into the room or walk out. People like to say this band sucks, that band sucks. I wouldn’t even say that even when I wasn’t in a band because at the end of the day, who knows what? We’re all just here. To get into different cultures and to see how people react to the sound which is created out of a South African context, us receiving signals and those signals going through our filters. Out of Johannesburg, we’re presenting them to the world, we’re going to Japan—it’s going to be super interesting. And it’s always excellent to see people’s reactions, whatever that is. To us, the fact that the conversation is even occurring in the first place is the point. I think we’ll get a lot from that. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll be like the Brazilian Girls—writing songs in many languages about different places. Our context right now is what it is. This is our introduction to the world.
What’s the last thing that made you smile?
Mpumelelo Mcata: The last thing that made me smile? I know the answer to that but let me mine my thoughts for a second. Let’s see! You know what always makes me smile? At every show the people coming up saying, ‘We like what you do.’ That’s always a pleasurable thing. That makes me smile that it touches them. It makes me smile when the media makes negative comments about our songs. It’s funny because we have the same conversation before we make the song but we go for it anyway. Or when we see something someone says and this guy has no clue whatsoever. That makes me laugh. The whole journey, enjoying the journey makes me smile. Not pining for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow but enjoying the rainbow—that’s what makes a brotha smile.

AQUARIUM DRUNKARD PRESENTS BLK JKS WITH THE GROWLERS AND MACK WINSTON AND THE REFLECTIONS ON THUR., OCT. 15, AT SPACELAND, 1717 SILVERLAKE BLVD., SILVERLAKE. 8:30 PM / $10-$12 / 21+/ CLUBSPACELAND.COM. BLK JKS’ AFTER ROBOTS IS OUT NOW ON SECRETLY CANADIAN. VISIT BLK JKS AT BLKJKS.COM OR MYSPACE.COM/BLKJKS.

Download: The Budos Band “Budos Rising”

(from The Budos Band II on Daptone)

The Budos Band are an eleven-piece (and sometimes larger) instrumental funk-soul-Ethiopiques-style band from Shaolin—Staten Island—who recently had a song appear on Wale’s Mixtape About Nothing and who name all their albums in numerical sequence, although they are considering skipping ‘III’ just to torture people. This interview by Chris Ziegler.

Do you still practice in that former Pentacostal church?
Jared Tankel (baritone sax): Yeah, we do. We have pentagrams hanging on the wall.
Mulatu Astatke said he tries to repurpose religious instruments for secular compositions. Is that connected to Budos band making secular music in a religious structure?
We’ve been in that building for 15 years now at this point. Keep in mind that half the band has come along the way, but that practice space has been inhabited by Budonians for the last 15 years—so I don’t doubt that there had been some repurposing, both intentional and unintentional. The space is just a second home for a lot of the guys. We’ve spent so much time there over the years. It’s been the hang, the party spot, the practice spot and it definitely has that history to it that’s really important. And it stinks like the rest of us, too.
Which is your favorite metal band that practices down the hall?
Oh man, I don’t even know their name. ‘Favorite’ is a generous term. We’re not opposed to metal at all, but we’re the one non-metal rock band in the building so we’re surrounded by—for the most part—pretty bad metal bands. Sometimes they try and cover Metallica or Slayer and—not trying to talk shit on them, but it leaves something to be desired. It’s hard to hear what we’re doing.
Ever consider a Slayer cover?
I’ll tell you what—we actually tried out doing Black Sabbath ‘Black Sabbath’ because a lot of us like Sabbath and there’s a metal thread through our tastes. And it was a little weird—we felt like we weren’t quite doing it justice. Having the horns play—you couldn’t have anybody play Ozzy’s voice for the lyrics and since we don’t have a vocalist so we tried to do it instrumental and it was kind of weird. We had this dream of doing a Black Sabbath cover album—just covering the entire album. We had attempted to initially start with ‘Black Sabbath’ and it just felt weird and a couple of the guys who are more metal purists weren’t really down with it, so we put it on the shelf.
Where did that idea come from?
A couple of us were having dinner one night and talking about how bands do cover songs. We’ve done a couple of cover songs on the album and we stick pretty close to the family of the genre that we are associated with. And we were like, ‘What if we totally did something completely different?’ And Sabbath—like I said, a lot of us are fans and we definitely go for that heaviness and darkness, and we share at least that with them so why don’t we give it a shot? We talked to our manager and he flipped out and thought it was the best idea ever—but like I said, it didn’t feel right.
How was it decided that you’re the guy who takes care of all the Budos money?
It’s funny because I was one of the last guys to join the band—about 6 years ago now. It’s a crew. There’s a couple of guys that started playing with them around the same time as me and aren’t around anymore and quickly got the picture that they were not part of what was going on. I don’t know why but we jive really well. Some people think we’re hard to get along with which I don’t really agree with.
Would you say ‘Screw you if you think we’re hard to get along with’?
Yeah. It’s that pack mentality and a bunch of the guys grew up together so there’s a common brotherhood sort of feeling I think. Sometyimes guys do stupid stuff and things get broken and some of the guys like to drink a little too much beer now and then probably. But like I said—we look out for each other. I’ve gotten really good at talking to hotel managers. I think part of it is—getting back to your first question—since we’ve been able to make some records and be on the road and stuff, somebody needed to step up and do some of the organizational, taking-care-of-talking-to-hotel-manager sort of things.
Is that easier with all your guys standing right behind you?
That depends. Sometimes they aren’t there—they’re still sleeping or they’re in the car. We almost got kicked out of one place last year, but we worked everything out. When it comes down to it, we’re all good guys and we’re not trying to make somebody’s life more difficult but sometimes we do stupid shit so it’s more about finding a common ground. This place that we almost got kicked out of, the people that run it were from Staten Island originally, and that came up and then we were best friends all of a sudden after a couple of guys just destroyed one of the rooms.
How badly was it destroyed? Who-level?
It was pretty impressive. I went in there in the morning and they had made a point to touch every single thing in the room. Beds were flipped over, the tables were flipped over, the mirror was off the wall, the microwave was flipped over, the TV was turned around. It was thought out. I think only one thing was actually broken-broken beyond repair—maybe a lamp and a chair—but besides that it just looked like a disaster zone, lots of broken glass.
That’s good you’re so thorough.
There was another place with a hole in the wall one time.
How important is scholarship and research is to the kind of music you guys make?
The way the band first came to all this was our drummer was a DJ at the College of Staten Island radio station and he came across some Desco records and he was like, ‘Wow this is amazing. These records must be from the ‘60s!’ But no, these guys are making this now in New York. Desco is no longer around—now it’s Daptone.
Do the Daptone guys know this story?
Yeah, they know that the band got our inspiration and the roots of what we’re doing by listening to what they were doing for sure. The ferry rides came into play when the guys started taking the ferry to Antibalas shows in the city around 2000 or a little earlier.
How did you go from zero to deep Afrobeat-Ethiopiques music?
That initial discovery of Desco was big and then just following that train and then once you get into it there’s never an ending—so we got the soul thing and the funk thing and then the Afrobeat thing and then the Ethiopian jazz thing which was huge for us. I can’t remember who was the one who initially brought in the Ethiopique series, but it became required listening and everyone was so heavy into it—we all are to a certain extent, but on that second album, that sound came through a lot in our writing.
Is that the sound you feel most comfortable with now?
We’ll be playing a lot of new songs out there—8 or 9 songs from Budos III. We’re thinking about calling it Budos IV, but we’re not sure.
Budos IV? Not Budos III? Did you have a conversation where you sat around and thought about how you’re going to mess with people?
Kinda, yeah. It was more like—‘I don’t know, maybe we should skip III. Fuck it, let’s just do IV.’ And when people ask, ‘What happened to Budos III?’ we can be like, ‘Oh, you didn’t get that? I guess it was super rare.’ The Ethiopian influence is still very much there, dark melodies and things. Definitely more of a metal influence on this one, too—again, we’re not a Sabbath cover-tribute thing, but heavy guitars and heavy bass lines. Not distorted, but playing in unison and sort of just heavy-sounding music. Especially our bass player and drummer who have a doom-metal side project. They’re still working on the name. For a little while it was called Bog, but I’m not sure if they’re sticking with that name or not.
Where do you guys like to source songs from? You’ve done Motown, Bollywood—
We kind of like to take things that people think they know and put our spin on them and hint at what’s there—so people know what we’re playing but put our stamp on it. The ‘Chicago Falcon’ thing was a fluke in that our guitar player was on tour with the Dap-Kings—he plays with them, too. He was in Holland and this guy in Holland was putting together this Bollywood comp and gave him some Bollywood music and we definitely improvised with it so even somebody that knew the original—which I don’t know if anyone does—they probably wouldn’t recognize it. So that one was a different story. It’s interesting because we’ve been talking about what we’re going to cover on this III/IV album and we’ve had a really hard time. We haven’t come up with any ideas yet. We did the Motown thing and we don’t really want to repeat ourselves like that. The first album had a Sly Stone cover and Sly is amazing—we love him and his songs are perfect for us to cover but we don’t want to repeat ourselves like that.
What makes a song perfect for you to cover?
The certain soulfulness behind it—and there is very much a psychedelic rock thing going on that we get into and I think those elements are what makes it so accessible to us. The first album we had the Ethiopiques cover—‘Aynotchesh Yererfu’—and we don’t want to go there again. We’re having a hard time. We’ve tried a lot of things out and nothing’s stuck yet, so we’ll see. We have that song ‘Up from The South’ that has been taken by a lot of folks in a lot of different ways but especially by b-boys and breakbeat guys as a great song, and we’re thinking of doing another song that goes in that direction. Or maybe we should do a rock song. But we don’t want to do something funky-funky because that’s not where we’re at right now.
What kind of rock stuff are you guys into these days?
It’s a wide wide range of stuff. Somebody suggested an early Floyd song—‘Bike,’ maybe? That was one suggestion.
Do you feel anything is off limits?
Probably folk. I don’t know if we could get down with that. Maybe not modern country, but we could do old country for sure. Some of the guys like surf rock. I think there’s a pretty wide range of stuff and that’s part of the reason why we’re having a hard time with the cover for this next one, having a hard time focusing in on the sound we want.
What exactly is the Budos stamp on a song?
The rawness. We don’t try and sound pretty like a full band would or an Afrobeat band would. Fela is amazing and incredible with the rawness that he had on his recordings but a lot of Afrobeat bands these days are trying to get a polished, pretty sounding-sound, especially in their horns and harmonies and bullshit. We’re heavy and raw.
What did you think of the whole Vampire Weekend ‘Afropop’ moment last year?
About three months before they were on the cover of Spin or whatever their first cover was, they opened for us at a eMusic party.
So do they really sound… African?
I haven’t really listened to their album to be perfectly honest, but I didn’t think so. I don’t really get it, to be perfectly honest. I don’t want to talk smack on another band too much, but I don’t really get it.
Ever think of covering one of their songs?
I think that’d be pretty funny, actually, but the guys wouldn’t go for it. It has to be pre-1980 at least.
Once Reagan got into office, it changed music for the worse?
Maybe. Certainly the music that permeates most of our listening diet is before then.
What year would make you guys feel the most at home?
I think it would vary widely depending on who you ask in the band. Maybe 2012 when supposedly the Mayan calendar calls for the end of the world.
What does Daptone change your song titles to and why?
The one example that I remember from the first album was ‘The Volcano Song’—which was really only named that because there was a volcano on the front of the album—was originally called ‘500 Wolves.’ We thought it sounded like a Ghostface Killa song title, so that’s the one that always sticks out. We come up with stupid names and I’m sure on the new album they’re going to rename one of our songs we titled ‘Super Dirge.’ ‘Plague Wind’ is another one.
Sounds like it all bled over from the doom band.
Our drummer names the songs, that’s why. He wants the album art to be like wolves tearing apart a carcass.
‘THE BUDOS BAND’ dripping blood over a pentagram?
If we can’t get it as album artwork, maybe we can at least make some t-shirts out of it.
What’s the best time you ever had with Inspectah Deck?
Our guitar player played with part of the Wu Tang at SXSW a few years ago and from how he says, he was a genuinely nice together dude who’s really talented and just—for whatever reason—hasn’t got his full due. He’s overshadowed by the other guys in Wu Tang. Maybe he had a little more modestly about him that made him a much cooler dude to play with and also has a talent that hasn’t been fully recognized.
What’s the best time you had with Maceo Parker?
Maceo is a legend and as a saxaphone player, he’s bar-none one of the best guys I’ve listened to a lot over the years. His band is weird. These old funk bands that have sort of a more jazzy funk whatever. They don’t look like dentists but they play like them.We played with him a couple of years ago at a festival in Vermont and just played with him a month ago in Philly. The best time we had around him or associated with him was probably stealing all the beer in his dressing room.
You stole Maceo Parker’s beers?
Shameful. But nothing happened.

THE BUDOS BAND WITH THE BOOGALOO ASSASSINS ON THU., APR. 16, AT THE ECHO, 1822 SUNSET BLVD., ECHO PARK. 9 PM / $15 / 18+. ATTHEECHO.COM. THE BUDOS BAND’S II IS OUT NOW ON DAPTONE. VISIT THE BUDOS BAND AT THEBUDOS.COM OR MYSPACE.COM/BUDOSBAND.

1 Snoop Dogg Ego Trippin
2 Vampire Weekend Self Titled
3 Erykah Badu New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War
4 Bauhaus Go Away White
5 Del Funkee Homosapien Eleventh Hour
6 Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks Real Emotional Trash
7 Radio Head in Rainbows
8 Black Crows Warpaint
9 MGMT Oracular Spectacular
10 Why? Alopecia

01. Vampire Weekend self-titled
02. Raveonettes Lust Lust Lust
03. Radiohead In Rainbows
04. Various Juno soundtrack
05. Mars Volta Bedlam in Goliath
06. Amy Winehouse Back to Black
07. Nick Lowe Jesus of Cool
08. MGMT Oracular Spectacular
09. Hot Chip Made In the Dark
10. Atlas Sound Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel

Quick list of all last week’s previews, reviews, interviews and MP3s!

2MEX @ URBAN UNDERGROUND: PREVIEW

2MEX “Shades Of Orange”

A-BONES AND ROY LONEY @ REAL BOSS HOSS: REVIEW

AFRIKA BAMBAATAA @ DETROIT: PREVIEW

Afrika Bambaata “Metal” (f. Gary Numan and MC Chat)

ARI UP @ PUNKY REGGAE PARTY: PREVIEW

ARI UP @ PUNKY REGGAE PARTY: VIDEO

Click here to watch

BLACK LIPS @ THE EL REY: REVIEW

Black Lips “O Katrina”

DAEDELUS: TRAINSPOTTING Q & A AND PODCAST

Daedelus’ L.A. RECORD Podcast

DAN’S EUROPE TOUR PHOTOS : FEATURE PART 2, PART 3

The Sads “Miniature Moons”

DARKER MY LOVE + MORE @ THE ECHO: PREVIEW

Darker My Love “Summer Is Here”

DEL THA FUNKEE HOMOSAPIEN @ VAULT 350: PREVIEW

Del Tha Funkee Homosapien “Bubble Pop”

DJ VADIM @ LOW END THEORY: PREVIEW

DJ Vadim “Got To Rock” (f. Zion)

EVEREST @ BOARDNER’S: PREVIEW

Everest “Into Your Soft Heart”

HENRY CLAY PEOPLE @ THE ECHO: PREVIEW

The Henry Clay People “Andy Sings!”

L.A. RECORD ANNIVERSARY @ 6TH ST.: REVIEW

Crystal Antlers “Parting Song For The Torn Sky”

LIARS + NO AGE @ THE EL REY: PREVIEW

Liars “Plaster Casts of Everything”

MAGIC LANTERN @ ECHO CURIO: PREVIEW

Magic Lantern “At the Mountains of Madness”

THEE MAKEOUT PARTY @ EL CID: PREVIEW

Thee Makeout Party “2 EZ 2 LUV U”

MANNY NIETO AND THE MATT CRONK BENEFIT: INTERVIEW

Qui “Freeze”

MIKE BONES: LIVE FROM NEW YORK

Mike Bones “Love’s Not Yours”

MIKE STINSON + MORE @ CHARLIE O’S: PREVIEW

Mike Stinson “Take Out The Trash” (clip)

NIKKI CORVETTE + MORE @ REAL BOSS HOSS: REVIEW

Nikki Corvette and the Stingrays “Back To Detroit”

NUDITY @ MOUNTAIN BAR: PREVIEW

Nudity “Nightfeeders” (Concentricks) (clip)

PEANUT BUTTER WOLF: TRAINSPOTTING Q & A AND PODCAST

L.A. RECORD Stones Throw Podcast

PINBACK AND MC CHRIS @ AVALON: REVIEW

Pinback “From Nothing to Nowhere”

SIAN ALICE GROUP: LIVE FROM NEW YORK

Sian Alice Group “Motionless”

ST. VINCENT @ THE ECHOPLEX: REVIEW

St. Vincent “Marry Me”

VAMPIRE WEEKEND: HERU REVIEWS

Vampire Weekend “Walcott”

WAIT THINK FAST + MORE @ SPACELAND: PREVIEW

Wait Think Fast “Lightning”

WEST INDIAN GIRL @ TROUBADOUR: REVIEW

West Indian Girl “All My Friends”

WOODEN SHJIPS @ McCABE’S: REVIEW

Wooden Shjips “We Ask You To Ride”