Artist: The Staxx Brothers
Album: We Are The Blaxstonz
Release: May 2009

A personal favorite of mine from Bumbershoot 2008, Seattle’s The Staxx Brothers are just about to release their second album, We Are The Blaxstonz.  Their first album, 2008’s 12th Street Blues, was a very soulful collection, but the band returns with a tighter groove and more focused effort this time around.

The band, which features four vocalists and four instrumentalists, makes it apparent from the start that vocals are more than something to sing along with for this band.  DP Staxx, lead vocals for the group, trades off with the lady vocalists like they’ve been doing it since childhood, and seamlessly pass the ball off to MC Decurrian to break the tracks down and bring out the group’s hip-hop side.  “Westsound Union” starts off the album with a jumping-house-party-type vibe, “G-Spot” slows the tempo down and somehow manages to gloss over some ultra-racy lyrics with Rolling Stones-esque blues riff.  The album heads back into house-party territory with “1992,” whose chorus will certainly get stuck in your head at least once after a couple listens.  “Almost Got Shot in North Minneapolis” sees the band flex MC Decurrian’s aforementioned rhyming skills.

However, just as easily as the band keeps the upbeat tracks coming, the band shows its versatility with stand-out tracks like “Oh Carolina.”  Somehow the band manages to slide one of the best new country songs I’ve heard in a long time in between two of the album’s most hip-hop influenced tracks.  The track caught me off guard the first time I listened to the album, and I’ve been back to listen to it again many times since then.  “Game Recognize Game”  and “On Ice” keep a laid-back vibe, and “Little Big Time” and “Jesus in Adidas” finish off the album with the full on energy the albums started with.

The band shows off the new album with a release show Friday, May 8th, at the Nectar Lounge in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle.  Be sure to check out the poster below for more information on that, and check out the two mp3’s below for a sampling of the album:

We Are The Blaxstonz Track Listing:

1. Westsound Union
2. G-Spot
3. MP3: 1992
4. Almost Got Shot in North Minneapolis
5. MP3: Oh Carolina
6. Name Dropper
7. Game Recognize Game
8. On Ice
9. Little Big Time
10. Jesus in Adidas

You can find more information at their website, StaxxBrothers.com, and their previous album, 12th Street Blues, is available on Amazon.

This just in, get your own real-life, non-downloaded copy of Aaron Schroeder’s most recent CD, Black & Gold, for just $5.99 shipped straight to your door. I’ve only written briefly about his last album, Southern Heart In Western Skin, but it was quite amazing and is still a staple in my road trip selections, between Boston self-titled and Van Morrison’s Greatest Hits. Anyways, I assure you it’s well worth your $6, so go get it:

Link: aaronschroeder.com

If you’re still not convinced, check out this song from the album:

MP3: Aaron Schroeder – “What We Don’t Know”

For those of you here in Champaign-Urbana, Santa will be making their triumphant return from abroad to release their new CD, My Bones , on March 7th at 10pm at Canopy Club.  Tickets are cheap ($5 in advance) and well worth your money.

And for those of you that can’t make it to the show, I’m delighted to be able to present one of the tracks I’ve got stuck in my head off of My Bones, enjoy.

MP3: Santa – Hashish

————-

Link: myspace.com/santamusic 

 

It’s been a long time since I have contributed to the Contrast Podcast.  For those who don’t know, it’s something of a meta-podcast of music bloggers.  If you take a look at the blogroll on the sidebar of the website, you can see just how extensive the list of contributers has become.  The theme of podcast #63 happens to be a song chain.  Three different podcasts were made, starting here, proceeding to here, and ending in our current episode.

If you haven’t caught on, Person A picks a song, Person B picks a song based off of the previous song, etc, etc.  The song preceeding mine was The Walker Brothers, “Deadlier Than The Male”, picked by ZB from So the wind won’t blow it all away.  While I know nothing of The Walker Brothers, whose music sounds like a theme song from a long lost James Bond movie, I do know of The Walker Brothers Pancake House, in the Chicago suburbs where I grew up.  My immediate reaction:  Jack Johnson’s “Banana Pancakes.”

While these podcasts are always unique and interesting due to Tim’s editing and the wide variety of music and contributers, this episode is particularily fun to listen to because of everybody’s explanation of why they picked the song they did.  Without further stalling, here’s what you need:

MP3: Song Chain Part 3

Contrast Podcast iTunes Subscription: Click Here

Contrast Podcast Website: Song Chain Part 3

After setting up camp and a little sprinkle on Thursday night, and then checking out some music at the Sunshine Stage, I closed the night out with Future Rock on the camping stage. If you’re the type to listen to Disco Biscuits, Sound Tribe Sector 9, !!!, or whoever else, this will whet your appetite for certain.  I recommend starting with an amazing opener, “Da Funk.”  “Airplane Traintracks” has a very solid jam after a cool Pink Floyd sampled intro.  “Die Junge Ein” has some great drumming at the start and jams through into “Gears,” which has a happier and majestic techno vibe to it.  “FM 1″ was a funky track off of their upcoming album.  “Torture” is an all around good song that was featured here a couple weeks ago in the Summer Camp Artist Series.  “Zipper Front” sadly ended early due to a power outage, but the band managed to pull it back into a drum solo to close the night.  Definitely a great set by the band, they’ve got me hooked.

Future Rock
May 24th, 2007
Summer Camp 2007
Camping Stage 9:30pm
Files via Archive.org
Taper: Matt Nicgorski

1) Crowd Noise
2) Da Funk
3) Pulsewidth
4) Airplane Traintracks %
5) Die Junge Ein
6) Gears
7) FM1
8) Torture
9) Broken Glass
10) Zipper Front*
11) Drum Solo / Crowd (After Power Failure)

% Pink Floyd sample for intro
* Power Failure