EL-P INTERVIEW-TRIPLE ROCK-5.16.08

El-P @ Triple Rock 5.16

Here is video from a fan cam!

Dizzie Rascal got the big beat

The story of Dylan Mills is one you have heard many times before. Fatherless childhood, high school expulsions, pizza delivery man stick-ups, an inspirational teacher and enough beef to feed the entire UK. At 18, Dylan Mills, aka Dizzee Rascal, won the Mercury Prize - the highest music honor in the UK- for his debut, Boy In Da Corner, and in an instant became the godfather of Grime. Distancing himself from the techno laced London Garage scene, he created some of the most original hip hop on either side of the ocean. He also was stabbed 5 times, a mere week after his debut.

Since 2003, Dizzee has put out two more albums. His best and most recent, Maths + English, was nominated for another Mercury, and released last month in the US on Def Jux. The album showcases what he does best - infusing his clever, playful, and theatrical lyrics with scrappy, ultra-aggressive yet still danceable samples. Getting help from UK superstars Arctic Monkeys and Lily Allen, Dizzee also showcases his love for the American South with Houston staple UGK. Whether designed to be his crossover album or not, Maths + English provides his American audience with a more familiar sound in a clearly unique package. Buy it if you haven't.

Unfortunately, the catchy hooks and driving aggression that makes his albums so good, didn't translate well at the Triple Rock last Friday. Diz was energetic and polished, but lacked the improvisation and charisma needed for a live hip hop show. It was great fun to see him, but he might as well have pressed play and let his tape player do the work.

Skinny and pimpled Dylan Mills is not yet 23 - with three great records, one big award, not to mention Dirtee Stank, I think he's doing just fine.

Busdriver at Triple Rock 5.16.08

Crass, aggressive and funny - Busdriver held one audience member hostage with his finger gun as he spat quick witty ramblings on subjects not entirely decipherable. The highly anticipated opener provided Minneapolis with a glimpse of true artistry - someone who breathes in his influences and exhales a perspective entirely his own. With two mics, knobs, some switches, and Antimc on guitar and at the helm, the Los Angeles rapper side-swiped the unknowing Minneapolis crowd with his unceasing energy. Plowing through Sunshower and Casting Agents & Cowgirls, his audience reached their peak of excitement when Antimc wove Radiohead's Idioteque into one of his tracks. Towards the end of his set, Busdriver announced that he wanted his musical, ahem, body part, to, you know, with Minneapolis' opposite body part. All I can say, is that myself and hundreds of others emerged satisfied. Thanks Regan.

Dizzee was busy writing

The Def Jux caravan were playing video games and trading off wearing the infamous weight vest, when Nick & I showed up at the Triple Rock at 7 on Friday. We talked with Regan Farquhar, aka Busdriver, first, and then hung out for El-P & Dizzee's sound checks. Diz had blown off our originally scheduled interview, which to be honest, didn't surprise me much, but what was surprising was that he made headliner and label owner, El-P, do his sound check for him. I gotta say, El-P does Dizzee just about as good as Dizzee does Dizzee. Oh well. Guess he was busy writing. Whatever. Jaime Meline, Mr El Producto, talked with us after supper and gave me a kiss on the cheek, making me miss New York and it's kisses quite a bit.

I took the night off & missed a good show

I decided to take the night off last night - too many nights out in a row. Getting old. Anyway, I guess I missed a great show and my chance to take tequila shots with Jamie & Alison. Thankfully, recently released (hospital not jail) Leif, sent his friends who forgot to take pictures but came back with the set list - in case you were dying to know what they played:

URA Fever
Pull a U
Sour Cherry
Tape Song
No Wow
Alphabet Pony
Wait
Last Day of Magic
Kissy Kissy
What New York Used to Be
Cheap and Cheerful
Fried My Little Brains
Goodnight Bad Morning

Encore:
Love Is a Deserter
Drop Out

Vampire Weekend Charm the Room at Triple Rock

When the average indie kid hears Vampire Weekend, they become giddy and codoned, like a girl scout on oxycontin wafers.

The question is…Why? These Columbia-learned Ivy Leaguers aren’t dangerous, threatening, even impolite for that matter.

They don’t play some new amalgam of Ziggy Stardust and the Rolling Stones that you are the first blogger to know about. But they do sound like Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel had a Bowie/Jagger boy party and abandoned their Blue Blood baby in downtown Johannesburg.
So I guess that is a new sound no one knew about but their gently playful fathers – and it’s so amiable and alluring that every club in the U.S. and abroad is inviting them over to their stage.
The Minneapolis mid-level Triple Rock Social Club was lucky enough to get some face time with VW Thursday, and 21-year-old former girl scouts as well as 50-year-old longhairs were swooned by this month’s hottest boys in the band.

Some indie-elitists claim the sound is too derivative of Simon and Gabriel to be pure genius, but by the third song of the set even the most cynical of the tight trousered crowd was gushing. With the audience at their beck and call, the Vamps invited them to “dance a little.” Oblige they did, as the band – in the face of such hype – shrugged off the challenge, not missing a note through the call and response of “One (Blake’s Got a New Face)” to the skanky jitter of “A-Punk.”

The boys tried a taste of danger as they punkily snarled out “Oxford Comma” – but came off absolutely sober and charming.

A great album, a great effort on stage, a great tour – so what can Vampire Weekend possibly do next to win the blogs and minds of indie kids?

“We’re working on a new album, but it’s hard re-recording Tom Petty’s Greatest Hits," quipped frontman Ezra Koenig.

-Leif