Terrible Chris' Fave Albums of 2010, Part the 2nd

i know, i know, you were so blown away by yesterday's list, you're wondering if you can take anymore. All the money i spend up in this bitch, you best believe you are.

6. Alex B, Moments--i dig Alex B's sound in a BIG way. Possibly my favorite beat album of the year.

7. Teebs, Ardour--Or maybe this one. Both were damn fine beat records. 'Nuff said.

8. Grinderman, Grinderman II--i've said it before, and i'll say it again--i can only hope and pray that my mid-life crisis sounds 1/100th this kick ass. This, my friends, is gutter rock blues at its finest.

9. Big Boi, Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son Of Chico Dusty--The until-now-less-heard-from-half of Outkast proves his worth and then some on perhaps the best rap CD of 2010.

10. Erykah Badu, New Amerykah, Part Two (Return of the Ankh)--Ms. Badu continues her perfection of odd funk and R&B.

ED. NOTE: ALL MP3 LINKS WERE REMOVED FROM THIS POST AS DICTATED BY THE MAN.

Live Review: Grinderman at the 9:30 Club, 11-16-10

My apologies about the lack of posts the past few days. God damn real job keeps getting in the way of my flourishing, unpaid life as a blogger. Damn you, all consuming need to make money and live high on the hog! Oh well. i do have a LOT of toys, so what can you do?

Anyway. Grinderman. This past week at the 9:30.

Grinderman is loud,raw and raucous. The music is glorious and fierce and angry and sexy all at once. For a bunch of guys in their 50s, to say they've got more energy than men half their age is to give far too much credit to the younger generation.

Up until recently, Nick Cave had a prominent place on my "get to know his music" list, but i couldn't seem to find an entry point album that did it for me. Well, the debut album took care of that, and the show cemented my new love. Looking like the late night act at Satan's seedier nightclub, the men rocked hard for a good hour and a half. Leaning slightly more heavily on Grinderman II, Grinderman was well represented nonetheless. Following a teasingly tense version of "No Pussy Blues," Cave explained "That song's not about not getting pussy. It's about not having pussy." If that wasn't the highlight line of the night, i don't know what was. The band, particularly Warren Ellis, seemed posessed for the duration of the evening, creating some sort of distorted, future blues that bespoke the follies of growing old and yearning for youth, not wanting to be forgotten and wanting to get laid. Following a nearly half hour encore, the band closed with their eponymous single, closing the night on the same crazed, serpentine note they'd enforced all the night long.

If given the opportunity, go see these old men show what Jack White aspires to and what the world would have been happy with had Bonham lived and Zep took the music to its natural next level. Just leave your young women at home.

mp3: Heathen Child (radio edit) (Grinderman from their website)

Free Music Friday Returns: The Funky, Undecipherable, Tribal, Groovy, Latino, Godless, Denim Edition

Jebus, after seemingly forever, we've finally got enough stuff to make for a pretty damn fine Free Music Friday, if i do say so my damn self. Good things come to those who wait, i suppose. Of course, that saying always makes me think of paraplegics for some reason, which just goes to show that the better the meds, the better the story.

i'm not sure how the Budos Band have managed to fly under my radar for as long as they have, but shame on me. As an old skool Funkateer myself, not getting into these cats sooner was a criminal mistake on my part. Tight horns, mucho impressive rhythm section and an ability to groove with the best of them make this a group that we both should be listening to.

mp3: Unbroken, Unshaven (The Budos Band from The Budos Band III)

i wish i could tell you more about Shugo Tokumaru, but as the Japanese artist's webpage is not in English, i don't have a whole lot to go on here. What i can tell you is that the 20-year-old is making some incredible bedroom tunes, apparently just him, a Mac and a microphone. i'm having a hell of a time trying to classify the sound--it's certainly not J-pop, and i wouldn't call it standard beat music or electro, either, yet it seems to somehow combine elements of all that and more. Whatever, this one is sunny, catchy and perfect to get your weekend started right.

mp3: Rum Hee (Shugo Tokumaru from Rum Hee)

i mentioned that one of my younger sibs recently returned from Africa. Said sib also now works with me at the day job, so i typically play DJ whenever we go to lunch or where ever. When he asked me to hip him to some new cats he might not now about, i quickly went to Sun Araw. i explained that this mofo was making raw, primal sounds, real tribal shit that essentially begs the listener to ingest some hallucinogenics, strip nekkid and dance around a fire. "Which tribe?," my brother replied. Sibs can be a pain in the ass. Regardless, in preparation for the new 12" he's about to drop on Woodsist, Sun's camp sent us this spastic booty shaker from the Mothership.

mp3: Last Chants (Sun Araw from Off Duty 12" (Oct. 12, 2010 release date))

Ever since his appearance on Zero 7's The Garden, i've been a bit of a José González fan. His languid style and hazily romantic axemanship do something for me, you dig? The fact that he's formed a three piece combo called Junip, all hailing from Gothenburg, Sweden (featuring Tobias Winterkorn on keys, Elias Araya on skins and the aforementioned José González on vox and guitar) is Voltron-like in its own sweet perfection. The sound bears González's trademark soft groove, which is nice.

mp3: Rope and Summit (Junip from Rope and Summit EP)

For whatever reason, we get surprisingly few submissions from Mexican bands. In and of itself, that's probably not a big deal, but for a site that prides itself on bringing you the finest in Nigerian speed rap, we are saddened that more of our continental neighbors don't see fit to send things our way. Fortunately, however, Mexico City's indie phenoms, Chikita Violenta, recently signed with the Arts & Crafts label, meaning we were able to get our grubby, little mitts on a couple of singles from their latest, TRE3S. Produced by Broken Social Scene's own Dave Newfeld, if you ever wondered how Canada's finest sprawling sound would play as performed by English-speaking Latinos, well, wonder no more. The short answer is pretty damn good. Cross cultural exchange at its finest, if you will.

mp3: All I Need's A Little More (Chikita Violenta from TRE3S (2011 release date) )

mp3: Tired (Chikita Violenta from TRE3S (2011 release date))

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that i'm getting a bit too close for my own comfort to middle aged myself , but i have a major audio boner for Grinderman. Sure, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are incredible in their own right, but the fire, piss and vinegar that Grinderman puts out there simply is in another league. i, for one, cannot wait for them to finally make it to the 9:30 Club for their upcoming fall tour. Sure, we posted the extended maxi-single for Heathen Child already a while ago, but in case that one was too long, they've just dropped the radio edit for your listening pleasure.

mp3: Heathen Child (Radio Edit) (Grinderman from their website)

i haven't bought a pair of Levi's in i don't know how long, but if they're going to continue to keep putting out their stellar Pioneer Sessions, i might just have to head out to the mall and show my gratitude by way of a pair of boot cut denim purchase. This time around, they've given us the Dirty Projectors and their take on Dylan's classic, "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine." So money.

mp3: I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine (Dirty Projectors from Levi's Pioneer Sessions)