Nighttiming: December 2010

December 8, 2010

DJ Premier

Works of Mart Productions- Disc 1&2

by DJ Premier

DJ Premier

Genre- Hip Hop

Location- Brooklyn, NY

Other Works- Way too many to list...but one major one is the group Gang Starr.

More Info- Born on March 21st, 1966 in Houston, TX. His name is Christopher Edward Martin, but is known by DJ Premier or Primo to name a couple. DJ Premier has been making music since 1984, and is arguable hip hop's greatest producer. One main project of his was Gang Starr in which he did the producing and instrumentals along with MC GURU. See my post on Gang Starr as well.

Links- Allmusic
Wikipedia
Amazon


DJ Premier

The Knife

Deep Cuts (2005)

by The Knife

Genre- electronic, indie pop, synth pop, electro pop

Location- Stockholm, Sweden

Other Works- Silent Shout, 2006

The Knife, 2006

More Info- The Knife is a brother sister duo from Sweden. Olof Dreijer and Karin Dreijer Andersson make up the band and run their own label Rabid Records. The Knife has won many Swedish Grammis, but the two refuse to accept them and even go as far as boycotting the award ceremonies. They once sent two people in gorilla suits to the ceremonies in boycott, angered that the awards favor male musicians. They often wear masks of bird's beaks as well. Karin has a side project named Fever Ray. And Olof has other works under the names DJ Coolof and Oni Ayhun.
Links- Allmusic
Wikipedia
Pitchfork
Amazon

Olof Dreijer & Karin Dreijer Andersson

Common

Like Water for Chocolate (2000)

by Common

Genre- hip hop

Location- Chicago, Illinois

Other Works- many...see Common on allmusic.com, or wikipedia

More Info- Born on March 13th, 1972 in the South Side of Chicago. Common was previously Common Sense. He had his debut album, Can I Borrow a Dollar? in 1992. He is an artist and an actor and has won many Grammis. He used to be a vegan, and is a supporter of animal rights.

Common

Links- Allmusic
Wikipedia
Pitchfork
Amazon

ESG

Come Away With ESG (1983)

by ESG

Genre- electronic, R&B, dance, electro

Location- South Bronx, NY

Other Works- ESG, 1991

Step Off, 2002

Keep on Moving, 2006

More Info- ESG stands for Emerald, Sapphire, and Gold. The band consists of the 4 Scroggins sisters...Deborah (bass, vocals), Marie (congas, vocals), Renee (guitar, vocals), Valerie (drums). ESG formed when the girls were just teenagers with the help of their mother, buying them all instruments originally to keep them busy and out of trouble. They based their sound out of their love for James Brown, Motown, and Latin music. ESG was very influential on the following genres of music: post punk, no wave, hip hop, house, and disco.

Links- Allmusic

Wikipedia

Amazon

Kanye West

808s & Heartbreak (2008)

by Kanye West

Genre- hip hop

Location- Chicago, Illinois

Other Works- The College Dropout, 2004

Late Registration, 2005

Late Orchestration: Live at Abbey Road Studios, 2006

Graduation, 2007

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, 2010

More Info- Born on June 8th, 1977 as Kanye Omari West in Atlanta Georgia. At the age of three he and his mother moved to Chicago, IL. His mother, Dr. Donda West was an English professor, and his father was a former Black Panther and photojournalist. His mother passed away on November 10th, 2007 after complications of surgery.

Kanye has won many awards and Grammys for his work. He runs his own record label, GOOD Music, which host such artists as Common and Kid Cudi.
Links- Allmusic
Wikipedia
Pitchfork
Amazon

The Skygreen Leopards

Gorgeous Johnny (2009)

by The Skygreen Leopards

Donovan Quinn & Glenn Donaldson

Genre- folk-pop, alternative, indie pop, indie rock

Location- San Fransisco, California

Other Works- I Dreamt She Rode on a Pink Gazelle & Other Dreams, 2001

The Story of the Green Lamb & the Jerusalem Priestess of Leaves, 2002

One Thousand Bird Ceremony, 2004

Child God in the Garden of Idols, 2005

Life & Love in Sparrow's Meadow, 2005

Disciples of California, 2006

More Info- The band formed in 2001 in San Fransisco. The members are Donovan Quinn and Glenn Donaldson who is the founder of the Bay Area experimental folk label, Jewelled Antler.

Links- Allmusic
Amazon

Takako Minekawa

Roomic Cube (1997)

by Takako Minekawa

Takako Minekawa

Genre- electronic, electro pop, j-pop, shibuya-kei

Location-Japan

Other Works- Chat Chat, 1995

Roomic Cube, 1997

Cloudy Cloud Calculator, 1998

Fun 9, 1999

More Info- Minekawa is from Fukuoka, Japan and was born on June 3rd, 1969. She is a Japanese musician, composer, writer, and child movie star. She is married to musician Cornelius. Minekawa is a fan of Krautrock, especially the German band Kraftwerk. She forms her music around cats, keyboards, french pop, her girlish voice, as well as other things.
Links- Allmusic
Wikipedia
Amazon

Ducktails

Ducktails III: Arcade Dynamics (2011)

by Ducktails

Genre- psychedelic pop, indie pop, indie

Location- Ridgewood, New Jersey

Other Works- Ducktails, 2009,

Landscapes, 2009

Ducktails/Dracula Lewis Split LP, 2010

More Info- Ducktails is Matthew Mondanile from the popular band Real Estate (see Real Estate Post). Other side projects of Mondanile include Predator Vision and Parasails.
Links- Allmusic
Pitchfork
Amazon

Matthew Mondanile

December 6, 2010

The Notorious B.I.G.

Ready To Die (1994)

by The Notorious B.I.G.

Genre- hip hop

Location- Brooklyn, New York City, New York

Other Works- Life After Death, 1997

More Info- Biggie was born as Christopher George Latore Wallace in Brooklyn on May 21st, 1972. He was murdered on March 9th, 1997 by gunshot wounds in Los Angeles, California.

Links- Allmusic

Wikipedia
Amazon

Shout Out Louds

Howl Howl Gaff Gaff (2005)

by Shout Out Louds

Genre- indie pop, indie rock, indie, Swedish pop

Location- Stockholm, Sweden

Other Works- Our Ill Wills, 2007

Work, 2010

More Info- Band members include:

Adam Olenius-vocals, guitar

Ted Malmros-bass, percussion, backing vocals

Carl von Arbin- guitar, backing vocals

Eric Edman- drums

Bebban Stenborg- keyboard, accordion, glockenspiel, moog, backing vocals

All members have been friends since childhood.

Links- official site

Spoon

A Series Of Sneaks (1998)

by Spoon

Britt Daniel

Genre- rock, indie pop, indie rock

Location- Austin, Texas

Other Works-Telephono, 1996

Girls Can Tell, 2001

Kill the Moonlight, 2002

Gimme Fiction, 2005

Transference, 2010

More Info- Formed in 1993 in Austin, TX.

Band members are:

Britt Daniel-vocals, guitar

Jim Eno-drums

Rob Pope-bass, guitar, keyboards, backing vocals

Eric Harvey-keyboard, guitar, percussion, backing vocals

A Series of Sneaks was first released under the major record label, Elektra. Elektra failed to promote the album, so the band left the label and joined Merge Records.

Jim Eno

Links- official site

allmusic

wikipedia

Amazon

Bachelorette

My Electric Family (2009)

by Bachelorette

Genre- electronic, indie, indie pop, indie rock

Location- Christchurch, New Zealand

Other Works- The End Of Things, 2005

Isolation Loops, 2006

More Info- Annabel Alpers, who is Bachelorette is from Christchurch, a city in New Zealand that produces many a musician. Alpers enrolled in the University of Auckland's post-graduate music studies program. For the album showcased here, she upgraded to have a full band adding Andrea Holmes and Mick Elborado.

Links- allmusic

Pitchfork

Drag City

Amazon

Nas

Illmatic (1994)

by Nas

CSS

Cansei de Ser Sexy (2006)

by CSS

Genre- electronic, indie pop, indie rock, new rave, baile funk

Location- Sao Paulo, Brazil

Other Works- Donkey, 2008

More Info- CSS is an abbreviation for cansei de ser sexy meaning "tired of being sexy" in Portuguese. The band formed in 2003 and consists of Lovefoxxx- lead singer, Iracema Trevisan- bass, Luiza Sa- guitar/drums/keyboard, Ana Rezende- guitar, Carolina Parra- guitar/drums, and Adriano Cintra- vocals/producer. Their song, "Music is my hot, hot sex" was featured in an apple ipod commercial.

Links- official site

Ladytron

604 (2001)

by Ladytron

Genre- electronic, electroclash, electro pop, synth pop, indie pop, indie rock, new wave

Location- Liverpool, England

Other Works-Light & Magic, 2002

Evil, 2003

Softcore Jukebox, 2003

Witching Hour, 2005

Velocifero, 2008

More Info- The band is two DJ's from Liverpool who play keyboards (Reuben Wu and Daniel Hunt), as well as singers Helen Marnie and Mira Aroyo (who met the two DJ's on a train trip in Bulgaria, where Mira was born). The band gets the name 'ladytron' from a Roxy Music song.

Links- official site

Santigold

Santogold (2008)

by Santigold

Genre- electronic, dub, new wave, dance, indie pop, indie rock

Location- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Other Works- no other full albums

More Info- Santigold is the solo project of songwriter, producer, and singer Santi White. Originally she went by Santogold, but an infomercial with the name Santo Gold threatened to sue so she changed it to Santigold. The name originates from a nickname Santi White was given by her friends. White was formerly the singer for the Philly punk-rock band called Stiffed. Co-band member, John Hill from Stiffed co-produced the Santogold album. White attended Wesleyan University where she majored in African American Studies as well as Music. Santigold is featured in many hip hop songs as well.

Links- allmusic

wikipedia

Pitchfork

Amazon

Jay-Z

The Black Album (2003)

by Jay-Z

Genre- hip hop

Location- Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY, in the Marcy Houses housing project originally

Other Works- too many to list, see allmusic

More Info- Jay-Z is the most successful hip hop artist out there, his net worth in 2010 was over $450 million. He is married to Beyonce. Born on December 4th, 1969. His full name is Shawn Corey Carter. He was raised in the Marcy housing projects of Brooklyn, NYC. The name Jay-Z comes from the name Jazzy, which he was known by in his childhood neighborhood. Also, the J/Z subway lines had a stop at Marcy Avenue in Brooklyn. If you want to know more about Jay-Z or his life, just listen to his music...he will tell you it all.

Links- official site