The go-go is basically a black rave. Partying until the wee hours in the morning, people passing out, repetition, drugs (probably?). Tomorrow night that connection will get a little more explicit with the first (probably?), oh yes, LIGHT SHOW GO-GO at Landover’s De La Swan Auditorium.

Now I’m not sure if it will be a full scale, Pink Floyd-style laser light show or just two kids holding glow sticks. Or maybe they are just being mad metaphorical and referencing their jewelry ala the titular Gucci Mane hit. There is one way to find out – drive to Landover tomorrow night.

Amongst the obvious big draws, there’s no shortage of strange and unfamiliar names on the bill at this weekend’s Sonic Circuits festival. But I wanted to take a moment to highlight one in particular: Finnish experimental music hero Pekka Airaksinen.

Though he lacks the mythology of Jandek or the skull crushing musical legacy of krautrockers Faust (who he is billed alongside -some might say under, I say alongside – this Sunday at the Black Cat), Pekka is considered a pioneer in his homeland and might just be the only artist to turn up twice on the infamous Nurse With Wound list – once under his government name and once as a member of late 60’s avant rockers Sperm. Read More “Sonic Circuits Pick: Pekka Airaksinen” »

Here’s a strange example of Go-Go resonance for today. A chunk of the score to Super Nintendo’s hover car classic F-Zero bears a striking resemblance to the lead melody from Trouble Funk’s 1982 classic “Let’s Get Small.” Was Japan cranking Trouble like that? Did composers Yumiko Kameya and Naoto Ishida import a hold of a subtitled copy of Good To Go? Or is this merely a coincidence? You be the judge, after the jump. Read More “Go-Go Bites #2: Mute Chocolate City” »

Just when you thought it was safe to mark your calenders…

“Major major major tour” dates forthcoming. (via TSS)

Ask anyone in the industry about go-go music and they’ll tell you the same thing: it plays exclusively to the the greater DC area. This new series is an attempt to refute that claim by presenting hard evidence of Go-Go’s influence throughout the music world. It’d be hypocritical to complain about biting since most of the great bands are essentially cover bands, but it’s still worth noting that there is sometimes a two way street of influence. Read More “Go-Go Bites #1: Overbite Scenario” »

On Wednesday night Wonderland Ballroom will take some time out of their busy schedule of awkward ex-hipster dance parties to host a fundraiser for Landy Thompson’s gang prevention organization In Da Streets. Though the event is billed cryptically on the Wonderland website as simply “Landy Thompson Fundraiser” it will also serve as a showcase for actual rap performers.

The flyer, which I ripped off of a telephone pole to share with you, is a charmingly out-of-time affair. From the power fist (at Wonderland?!) to the dot matrix style shadowing and border effects, the whole thing is very 1997. I am interpreting that as a good sign. The lineup represents a solid cross-section of less publicized local rappers from both the more street oriented side of things (Garvey The Chosen One, invited guests the Circle Boys) to the open mic/conscious side of things (Bomani of scandal inducing “Read a Book” fame and the hardest working man in DC, Flex Matthews). If you’re uptown tomorrow night and you want to hear some rapps and support a good cause you should fall through.

IllRoots.com has the just released artwork from DC’S GREAT RAP HOPE’s Interscope debut Attention Deficit. It reminds me of Videodrome. The album now now has an official release date as well: October 20th.

And for those of you less concerned with music than trivialities, several prominent gossip blogs have spotted Wale spending time with Beyonce’s little sis Solange Knowles. In a park, no less. The seediest of these sites, Media Take Out, has announced that they are, in fact, dating. But that site is so seedy that they sometimes just make things up so take that with a grain of salt. On your seed. At the very least the duo has recorded together before – last year Wale jumped on a remix to Solange’s “Fuck The Industry.”

Ah love and rebellion and Videodrome. To be young again.

Related: Wale Watch: Go-Go Out, Perez Hilton Raps In

Whining about invisible haters has become an empty cliche but when Insane Clown Posse calls themselves “the most hated band” it’s hard to argue. On a critical level ICP might genuinely be the most loathed musical act of our generation. I don’t even think Tom Breihan likes them. Which is odd because they’ve always struck me as simply inoffensive and serviceable rock-rappers who found an incredibly loyal audience and catered directly to them. There’s no fault in that, really. But self proclaimed smart people hate them in the purest sense of the world. This is mostly because they and their very loyal fans are guilty of being poor and wearing face paint and building a community and all those other anti-intellectual and unironic fun things that bands used to do with/for their fans BPF*. Basically they are the Kiss of today, it’s just that the demographic that is willing to buy into that type of world has narrowed dramatically. I blame the internet.

ICP’s tenth studio album, Bang! Pow! Boom!** dropped on Tuesday and it warranted further investigation for a couple reasons. One, their recent festival turned internet meme The Gathering of the Juggalos seemed like the greatest place on earth, despite ill informed derision from certain poverty demonizing stuff white people like type elitists. (If drinking cheap soda and listening to is Scarface is wrong then I don’t want to be right.) But, perhaps more interesting than that was the wikipedia claim that Violent J “listened to music by the psychedelic rock band Gong for inspiration” while making this album. Which means he has better taste in music than Jay-Z.

Hit the jump for some quick thoughts on my first ICP full length. Woop woop! Read More “Posse On Clownway: ICP Reviewed” »

For those of you who don’t have nice enough shoes to get into Love but still want to see rapps tomorrow night ex-Cash Money Millionaire and lifelong Hot Boy B.G. will be holding down DC Star along side Backyard, UCB and Reaction. Check out some classic B Gizzle clips after the jump. Read More “Saturday: B.G. @ DC Star” »

A while back I bought a big stack of Nigerian highlife 45s. It’s a genre I can’t profess to know very much about and many of these artists are nigh-ungooglable. Still they sound good. I ripped them into my itunes because 7″ vinyl is a frustrating format that will destroy your life with carpal tunnel syndrome. I then decided that the next logical and generous step would be to share this music with you, the internet. So here it goes. Be prepared to suffer through some pops and crackle, it puts hair on your chest. And if you were expecting me to post more about rap, we can split the difference and you can go learn about the first decade of Nigerian hip hop at Africanhiphop.com. Tracklisting and download link to the highlife comp after the jump. Read More “Mixtape: Noz in Nigeria” »