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)

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.

Led Zeppelin Live 1972 – Japan

Everything has it’s time and place. Much of what endears us to our favorite types of music has a lot to do with many different variables. Whether it is wher we first heard a particular band or perhaps, what said particular band’s relationship with each other at the time was, or the venue they were playing at. When listening to “live” recordings one should, and most likely does, get transported to the time and place of the show. If it is a particulary great performence one can pickout  diffeneces between that one and similar performences; especially if you have a storyline to go along with it. That being said, we here at Impossible City we are featuring a show from 1972, before we were even founded, that is a true–and unheard of–classic. The rauchous Japanese crowd eats up the dark over-the-top antics of Zep while probably not understanding a word.

Booker T & the MGs and the Memphis-Soul Sound

Booker T. & the MGs were/are the originators of the Memphis soul sound and the house band on many Stax/Volt hits, they became one of the most respected and imitated bands of the mid 1960s. The group forged a soulful sound and backed many of the greatest soul and rhythm & blues musicians of the era, including Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Wilson Picket, Albert King and many others. March Madness has started and our Bracket has Memphis winning it all. In honor of that, today Impossible City will do a focus on the true Originators of the Memphis-Soul Sound: Booker T & the MGs.

Musical Chicken and Waffles

Not knowing what a chicken should dress like or if said well-dressed chicken would  be an authority on Jamaican Roots Reggae was not what we here at Impossible City were thinking would come to head whilst looking for something to stick in our ears out here in the west this weekend. Wow! What a sentence-anyway we stumbled upon this delicious artist and could not be happier.  Dr. Alimantado’s Best Dressed Chicken in Town (1978) has to be one of the finest Jamaican Roots albums we’ve heard in a long time.  It is loaded with dub and aided by the presence of dub legends Lee “Scratch” Perry, King Tubby, and Scientist. With tracks recorded from 1972-1977, the deep-fried dub goodness is finger-licking and finger-snapping good. So if you aren’t anywhere near Roscoe’s or Long Beach you can still feel the vibe. The waffle and syrup musical equivalent accompaniment after the jump.