Old Crow Medicine Show @ Henry Fonda Theatre

So last night I went to the Henry Fonda Theatre  to check out the Old Crow Medicine Show. I picked up on their sound just this year through singles like "Wagon Wheel" and "Tell It To Me". I loved their sound, and I had never been to the venue before, so I was eager to check it out. 

The band rocked out hard. While most blue grass bands don't have a percussion section you could hear the entire floor shake with boot-stoppin'. They played a few cuts off their new album, and of course some crowd favorites (including the two above mentioned songs). The entire show was super energetic, and they seemed to be having such a good time given the crowd's eager responses. And just when I wasn't sure how much better the show could have gotten the band drug out Jacob Dylan to help them close out the encore with a cover of "The Weight". An incredible night of music, and it was especially nice to see that LA has some solid blue grass fans. 

As far as the venue goes I had a great time. Two bars, open standing room in front of the stage, and a generally laid back feel by the staff. Right next door is a bar for your pre-show whistle wetting, and it's conveniently located just off Hollywood. My parking beta would be park on Sunset. It's only a block South, and all of the metered parking was open. Overall a cute little venue with very reasonable ticket prices. Look out for Mason Jennings coming on 11/14.

Mashing it Up

I know they've been around forever, but recently I've discovered the wonderful world of mash-ups. I'd heard of remixes, medleys, and samples, but I had never really come across the strict genre/world of mash-ups. 

For those who don't know what a mash-up is, it's basically the combination of various tracks from various pieces of music all placed together to create a new song. Sometimes additional audio elements are thrown in to make the track more seamless, such as additional percussion or synth tracks. An example would be taking beats from Daft Punk's "Da Funk" and adding in the vocals from Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" (making "Another One Bites Da Funk").  If you're still a bit fuzzy here is an excellent video giving a brief demonstration. 

After scanning some mash-ups I've found some can be playful and fun, others transcendental, and even more just plain awful. Some of my favorite mash-up artists include Party Ben, Norwegian Recycling, and DJ Earworm. And a great catch all source is a neat little website called "Mash-up Town". 

Overall I love the concept. I love finding music that opens up my mind, and I've found this subculture has definitely done that. And plus who doesn't love hybrid song titles like "Drop It Like It's a Whole Lotta Love", "Shut Up, American Boy", and  Sweet Mama O'Mine". Check out and support your local mash-up artists, you'll hear music in a whole new way, I promise. 

1 Day away

As Def pointed out elections certainly galvanize this country's creative minds. I wanted to share one of my favorite finds recently. It's a performance by the students of the Ron Clark Academy. I love this clip cause it's an awesome take off one of my new guilty pleasures off T.I.'s "Paper Trail", and it has some great non-partisan lyrics. It's a great reminder that what matters most come November 4th is that you vote, and what makes this country great is that we get to choose our leaders. So like they say, you can vote however you like. 

Election Season Tunes

With the U.S. Presidential election in its final days, it's worth mentioning the amount of fan-generated music that has come to define the 21st century nature of media and politics. From Obama Girl and the Yes We Can video to Raisin' McCain and Vlad and Boris' Song for Sarah (not to mention this silliness), memorable tunes on both sides of the spectrum are now a staple.

What all these things have in common are their ubiquity. We are indeed a YouTube generation. It would seem that Senator Obama has been the most savvy in utilizing the web, as shown through his fundraising success and early adoption of social networking tools like Facebook as part of the campaign strategy. Both campaigns used viral videos to get many of their campaign advertisements out on the web, saving money on television airtime in the process. I'll let the historians debate exactly what effects this non-stop feed of sound-bites, stump speeches, local tv interviews and so on have had on the race, but I don't think anyone would disagree that the impact has been huge.

While I was living in Hungary this summer, a popular tune on disco station RoxyFM was House Music United's Yes We Can remix. Funny enough, most people I asked had no idea who was speaking in the background.

Dead Prez take it (typically) one step further, suggesting on their track PolitricKKKs that "If Obama win it wouldn't be the first black/take your two-dollar bill and turn it over to the back", in this case referring to the myth of John Hanson, the so-called "First President" being descended from slaves.

Finally, from the fresher-than-fresh heads at Mad Decent comes The Vote is In, a free one-track DJ mix of somehow election-themed tunes from Lord Tameil and DJ Tiga. With titles like "Jockin' Jay-Z" and "Head Titties & Ass", I'm not sure what the connection is, other than that we should probably dance more in general - politics is so depressing.

Freestyle Battle: A Translation

Strangely by way of the Freakonomics blog, I was made aware of this hilarious video, in which a rap battle is "translated" into "correct and coherent" English, by a couple of guys named Ben and Ryan. It's quite dope:

Ryan Bingham

If there has ever been a reason for me to adore Pandora radio it's due to the discovery of new music like Ryan Bingham. 

Coming from a rugged living-on-the-road past he sounds exactly what you'd expect: rugged and real. But what you wouldn't expect is such experienced musical chops from a man barely 27. A whiskey and cigarettes voice matched with music melodic enough to be catchy, yet rough enough to be country. He's already turned some heads, playing on both Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien. 

I was lucky enough to catch him at a somewhat underground venue in Topanga, and watching him live only bolstered my love for his sound. So for those Angeleno's be sure to check out his show at the El Rey on December 12th. Check out his album Mescalito, a cheap buy on iTunes for all of the music is contains. A few of my favorite tracks include, "Southside of Heaven", "Bread and Water", "Best of Me", "Don't Wait For Me", "Sunshine", well, as you can tell I kind of love the entire album. 

Check out Ryan Bingham if you love smokey voices, alternative country sounds, and long drives down the dusty open road.  

Apple Juice Kid: Miles Remixed

Okayplayer regular The Apple Juice Kid apparently has the gumption to try and mess with Miles Davis, on his bedroom project Miles Remixed.

As it's a free download (available here), I wasn't expecting all that much, though as I will hopefully show, there is lots of great free music out there if you want it!

Basically the groove is decidedly lounge, with Miles riffs being looped into easily-digestible hooks and overlaid with new drum patterns and some throwaway scratching. Think Thievery Corporation's mellower tracks or the Brooklyn Funk Essentials' down tempo numbers.

I found this "pleasant" but not really attention-grabbing, as Miles Davis truly is. Great music to work to, though. If you're into a more original experiment in hip-hop/jazz fusion, check out The Roots' Organix (if you can find it, that is) or DJ Logic's Project Logic.