Deer Tick – Born on Flag Day

Upon first listen, the men that form Deer Tick sound as if they have been hitting the road, playing clubs, and living hard for years now. The rock-kickin gravel-tinged vocals and swirling delta blues-y guitars lend to the band a certain kind of road-weariness one would associate with a hard drinking, 2 pack a day smoking, group of guys that have been living it rough and rugged for years. Then you delve a little deeper and find out that these men…are nearly boys; no one in the outfit is older than 23 years old. Do not let that dissuade your opinion on their hard-livin validity, these guys are for real and their twangadelic sound is IT for 2009!

50 Cent Gives Away Eminem’s 1st Release For Free

Eminem’s extremely rare first album is being given away online, but not by Mr. Mathers. Infinite, independently released in 1996, is now available for free download from a website owned by 50 Cent. –Here’s the blog post’s title:

“Eminem: Relapse – The Official Countdown” – Day 24 – Eminem’s 1st Album “Infinite” [1996 RARE Album] [FREE DOWNLOAD – Link Inside]

• Posted by Eminem on May 13, 2009 at 5:00am

hmmmm there has to be more to this (link after the jump)

Del Takes a Page Out of NIN’s Book

It looks like Del the Funky Homosapien didn’t need any of the money that was left in his wallet over in El Segundo…get it?nothing? Well, looks like he has gone with some “indie” album release formula ala Radiohead and NIN and has released his new album (number 14 by our count) for free download. The whole thing, not a mishmash mix-tape of previous releases, or a free stream, nope. The real deal. More after the jump.

DJ Don’t Be a Hero

Well, it looks like the long large arms of the digital music and gaming industry have finally reached out and are preparing to give a giant bear hug to something very near and dear to impossible city: the Turntable. Activision and RedOctane have finally decided to release the first official details on DJ Hero. The press release made no mention of the rumored “mash-ups” between rock and hip-hop mentioned in early DJ Hero reports, nor does it say anything about the supposed inclusion of guitar controller support for competitive DJ vs. guitar battles and virtual Limp Bizkit or Korn flavored horrible-ility that was the early 2000s. It does, however, include the first-ever image of the game’s turntable peripheral (pictured after the jump), as well as a brief rundown of the genres of music you can expect from DJ Hero; a little electronica, dance, hip-hop, R&B, and Motown.

Hip-Hop Blogger Kevin Nottingham Launches Label

Kevin Nottingham, of the aptly titled KevinNottingham.com and recent recipient of an award from Hip-Hop search engine SOHH.com, has announced the formation of a new digital record label, HiPNOTT Records. They will be distributing music exclusively through the Diamond Music Group (parent company to Coalmine Records who recently released The Foundationby Shuko & DJ Dutchmaster). This announcement, the first for a hip hop blogger, could be the an insight into how more and more of the “indie” groups distribute music over the web.

 

Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band and Elvis Costello and Eric Clapton

When one goes from a band or group onto their own solo project, or side project, it seems it goes one of two ways. Over-hyped or under appreciated. Eric Clapton did just fine without the rest of Cream-well they all kinda did, but Art Garfunkel did not reach the same level of success as his partner Paul Simon did after they split. Saying that Elvis Costello would have not been Elvis Costello without the “Attractions” is like saying that Conor Oberst isn’t himself a star without the “Mystic Valley Band.” In Mr. Oberst’s new release Outer South, slated for May 5th, he proves that either way he still has some weird sorta familiarness to his sound that may just pan out or has it already?

Beach Boys vs. J Dilla en Frances

Very few things have floored us here at impossible city. I mean the kind of stuff that has your walking creep to a crawl, mouth agape, scratching your head with a quizzical look on your face to finally stop dead in your tracks with an ear tilted listening to true science. This said moment is one of first discovery; that of stumbling upon a million dollar idea that will save the world. A sound or idea-way of thinking-that should have been yours; it was so simple yet so untapped. Well, this week we definitely had one of those and were completely happy and content on the finding.

Zappa Prophecizes, Invents Filesharing….in the 80s – Zapster??

Reading through Mr. Zappa’s 1989 autobiography can warp one’s mind and it seems to bring the reader to a different time and place all together. The reader gets taken all over the place, much like the space-rocker’s music, but to be taken to the future? Very few would argue that the Freak Out! artist’s musical exploits seemed to be channeling artists from the future, but the digital age…in the 80s?? An exerpt from said autobiography reveals he conceived of music downloads years before the digital revolution even began.