JUNEBUG: Rip the month
of May off your calendar quick — the painfully slow month for shows
and new releases has finally been put to rest, and not fast enough. Can you
say, “American Idol season 5 encores”? Glad that’s over. Sure, we had
some memories, those tasty musical morsels such as Gnarls Barkley’s St. Elsewhere and Neil Young’s Living with War, but their May
9 release dates seem like eons ago. June signifies the beginning of summer,
Desk Vinyl Static’s birthday, and the release of the highly
anticipated Mr. Lif album. We’ve been looking forward to this month all year.
CD EXCHANGE: These days
it’s fashionable to bash President George W. Bush in song. It’s
kind of like a few years ago, when the trendy thing to do was to push a
corporate product with some not-so-clever placement. (“Sip Bacardi
like it’s your birthday”?) So when Pink name-checks the president in
the same breath as Paris Hilton, it loses the offensive effect intended by
old-school political mutineers such as Steve
Earle and the Coup, and, of course, Mr. Lif. Lif, a Boston-based hip-hop disciple, declared war on the
government and the ruling class long ago, when Neil Young was still touting the
Patriot Act and Pink was hiding from her 2003 tanker Try This. Lif doesn’t like
Bush, and he didn’t like Clinton, either. The Definitive Jux
artist’s new release, Mo’ Mega, drops June 13, and the single posted on the Def Jux Web site,
“Brothaz,” is fiery, poignant, and easy on the ears. As in any
good family, when a Def Jux artist puts out an album, the artist’s
labelmates line up to pitch in. Here, El-P produces, and Aesop Rock and Murs chip in with guest appearances alongside indie hip-hop wonder
boys, including Akrobatik and Blueprint. In
other news: Meet the Procussions. Their new Rawkus Records release, 5 Sparrows for 2 Cents, is heavy on percussion, and
that’s no coincidence; these boys love the drums. The Colorado-born,
LA-based hip-hop trio isn’t just keeping time; the MC duo is
dynamite. 5 Sparrows dropped on May 30.
PROUD MARY J: The first
lady of R&B, Miss Mary J. Blige, rolls down the river to St. Louis’ UMB Pavilion on
July 15 in support of her latest release, The
Breakthrough. Tickets go on sale June 3.
This article appears in Jun 1-7, 2006.
