Posts Tagged ‘Tittsworth’
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Sampling the thought streams of D.C. musicians past and present.
-A man has our elevator filled to the brim w/plants. Its like a 2 acre jungle crammed into a cubicle. he’s complaining the door won’t shut.
-i think i just discovered the malkovich floor of my building? what exactly is going on the 3rd floor? :-)
-Mother fucker, I’m trying to watch the lost boys!!
Wale:
-dear ucb..i will go to breakfast w/ yall but i am NOT goin to eat a Dinosaur sized pancake at “The Griddle”
-everybody askin what kinda shoes im wearin…haa
-09 airmaxes http://pic.gd/38d0d6
-is listening to some old songs he wrote and thinking that they are not that good.
-The Whitespace 7″ should in stores soon, but it’s available now here: http://www.dischord.com/release/ws01/whitspace
-My bookbag smells like it’s been eatin chicken behind my back…literally
-Somebody somewhere has candy paint…on their house though.
-I think I’m just gonna say “Jordan!” after I have sex or something from now on.
Shudder to Tweet
Sampling the thought streams of D.C. musicians past and present.
-my pack game is so official. you dont wanna see my tour tetris. forreal, i could fit a family of 6 into a fannypack.
-had my 1st facial (cant wait to hear from my mature ass twitter friends’ reply). attached suction cups&steam machines to the grill. relaxin!
Travis Morrison:
-Can tell when you aren’t playing with your original drummer. Even if he’s not that big a fan. Just sayin in case you were gonna get back …
-Woke up totally nostalgic for the early 80s baltimore orioles and googled lenn sakata.
-There is a “Halloween store” near my house that offers absolutely no costumes for women that aren’t conspicuously sexy. None.
-A 1986(!) Steve Reich interview tape unearthed! Talks about Ghana, Stravinsky, Charlie Parker, Bach. http://bit.ly/x31O5
-Oh man Pandora, what are you thinking? The “demo” version of Freebird? Freebird without the guitar solo is not Freebird.
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–pancakes + hummus, sink or swim? let’s go.
–Apparently my big Asian head is stenciled on trash cans up and down U Street. Foreshadowing? http://mypict.me/nqyT
–wish I’d never discovered toaster oven smores. now I’ll eat ‘em all the time… also, the windmill movie was incredible. highly recommended.
–how can they say mark twain was an ENFP? did the myers-Briggs folks hire a psychic & have him take the test from beyond the grave??
–Driving through Montana at night = terrifying. Driving through Montana during the day = exhilarating!
–My favorite part about portland? Burlesque.
–If you ever get to sit next to Tony Maimone, it means you have won at the game of life.
–Tarantino. Please. No speak. Fermez la bouche. Hushy hush for hush time. Shhhh. Listen! Let’s all enjoy the sound of you not talking.
–Enroute to Blakroc session. Your average Black Keys/Mos Def/RZA/Qtip/Joel Hamilton/Pharaohe Monch collaboration. Psyched to work on this!
–Millions of colors in the world and the color experts at Pantone® can only give us 1,089?
Weekend Picks: Tittsworth, Relay, Chuck Brown’s Birthday, Mose Allison
Friday:
Though five seasons of The Wire exposed the masses to many aspects of Baltimoriana, there are a few things the show failed to properly address—crab chips, Natty Boh, and Baltimore club music among them. Luckily, B-more club doesn’t need David Simon to speak to its ubiquity and versatility when it’s got Tittsworth. The D.C. native, who calls his style “Baltimore-club-inspired,” is best known for blazing DJ sets and remixes. But on his debut album, Twelve Steps, he turns to making original tracks, and the entire production is a dancefloor murderer, mixing hip-hop, R&B, electronic music, and a little bit of pretty much everything else. And Tittsworth does it in a way that erases the “international night” stigma that folks outside of B-more often attach to club music of any kind. “Drunk as F*ck,” featuring Bay Area rappers the Federation, is exactly the sort of ’hood-tested, hipster-approved track that distinguishes club music from white-boy electronica or drag-queen house: Its driving beat and raunchy lyrics make for a smutty good time, tailor-made for after-hours play on 92Q and capable of pulling even the most booze-blistered onto the floor. “Bumpin’” is hilariously built around the House Party (and house party) scenario of some guy knocking his drunk ass up against a DJ setup. But unlike Bad Breath Bilal, Tittsworth makes the most of the situation and works every DJ’s least favorite sound—an unintentional scratch—into the mix. There’s a charm to choppy, mad-scientist splicing, and instrumental tracks such as “4.21” and “Haiku” are dense productions designed to move bodies and induce deep nods of the non-heroin-induced variety. But there’s also a lot to be said for the seamless, collaborative blending of beats and vocal work, and Twelve Steps really soars whenever it pairs Tittsworth’s production with guest singers and rappers. None of the artists on the disc are sampled—they’ve all tailored their work to each track, which elevates the disc above typical DJ mash-ups and remixes. “Here He Comes” features identical-twin duo Nina Sky and Miami rapper Pitbull, who know their way around a dance track. Same goes for the sticky “Almond Joy,” featuring Michelle Bell and Roll Wit Us All-Stars and “WTF,” featuring Kid Sister and Pase Rock. The best guest by far, however, is Tittsworth’s fellow new-school Baltimore DJ-scene standard-bearer Dave Nada, who offers up a mix of the track “B-Rockin’.” It’s a 3-minute shout-out to some of the best dance DJs on the planet. You know, Scottie B, Diplo, Frank Ski—and, of course, Tittsworth. —Sarah Godfrey
Tittsworth performs Friday, Aug. 29, at the 9:30 Club.
Over the last decade or so, My Bloody Valentine frontman Kevin Shields has needed merely to mention the idea of a new album in order to provoke a revived interest in shimmery, fuzzy, blaring early-’90s shoegaze. Now that Shields has made good on his threats of an MBV reunion, a lot of current bands could be considered a little redundant. It certainly puts Philadelphia-based experimentalists Relay in a tough spot. On one hand, a band could do worse than to be compared to My Bloody Valentine, as Relay often is; on the other, Relay is genuinely inventive, taking the Valentine formula and adding a few new tricks to it. The twinkles, twirls, and swells of electronic ambience that sometimes underpin Relay’s sonic atmospheres are delicate and unobtrusive, and the quartet’s yawning surges of sound and understated vocals distinguish it from the comparison du jour. RELAY PERFORMS WITH TIMBERWOLF DIVISION, GIRL LOVES DISTORTION, AND HIMALAYA AT 10 P.M. AT THE VELVET LOUNGE, 915 U ST. NW. $8. (202) 462-3213. —Matthew A. Stern
Friday-Sunday:
If age seems to be one of Mose Allison’s lyrical preoccupations, it’s also one of his distinctions. The 80-year-old singer/pianist was born in Mississippi at a time when jazz and blues were more or less interchangeable—and in his music, they still are, along with R&B and even postwar pop crooning. Though Allison says his genre-blurring has made it difficult to maintain a steady audience, those who’ve remained loyal include Van Morrison, Bonnie Raitt, Leon Russell, and the Who—all of whom have recorded some of Allison’s stellar compositions. But good as those covers are, Allison’s songwriting is best experienced through the filter of the maestro’s furiously rhythmic, greased-lightning piano technique and his wise but youthful voice. He makes the advancing years seem all but irrelevant, save for the years of study evidenced in the musical encyclopedia that Allison squeezes into every performance. THE MOSE ALLISON TRIO PERFORMS AT 8 AND 10 P.M. AT BLUES ALLEY, 1073 WISCONSIN AVE. NW. $25. (202) 337-4141. —Michael J. West
Saturday:
Is there anybody in the District who’s aged better than Chuck Brown? He got his start 40-some years ago, at a time when the local music scene wasn’t the easiest place to break out of. There were plenty of clubs back then—just very few labels and a whole lot of schemers. But Brown kept at it, wringing blues from his guitar in backyards for beer and barbecue. Graduating from the barbecue circuit to soul covers to inventing that go-go beat should have been enough. Now add a few more decades of steady gigs, hard playing, some tragedy, and contending with being called a legend everywhere you go. But as he gears up for tonight’s 73rd-birthday tribute, Brown remains the coolest guy gigging on any area stage. And since making Fenty look soulful at his inaugural ball, Brown can add miracle worker to his list of honorifics. Wind us up, Chuck. BROWN PERFORMS WITH CHOPTEETH AT 8 P.M. AT THE 9:30 CLUB, 815 V ST. NW. $25. (202) 265-0930. —Jason Cherkis
