[MusicRatty] tag: keith

DJ Fusion's Stop Beefin' Start Eatin' Radio Mix - Week of October 1, 2008

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 08:12:00 +0000

What's good BlackRadioIsBack.com and FuseBox Radio Broadcast Supporters!

Hope the week is starting off well!

Starting this month, we will be having weekly 1 hour Black Music mixes from yours truly being podcasted via our peoples at Stop Beefin' & Start Eatin' Radio (check out all of the cool free mixes and music singles up on there when you get the chance).

This week's mix is a bit Hip-Hop heavy, but will be dipping into all sorts of concentrated Black Music area specturms that folks usually are not able to get into as often with the weekly FuseBox Radio Broadcast as often as I personally would like in the future(Soul, Rock Jazz, House, Old School, Reggae, Electronica, etc.).

Check out the first show that has been done below - hope you enjoy it! Like the radio show, these mixes are clean/radio friendly to blast off at the 9 to 5, in front of the parents and children, etc.

Direct mp3 Download (right click and "save as")
This Episode's Website Link

DJ Fusion's Stop Beefin' Start Eatin' Radio (October 1, 2008) Tracklisting:

1. Swizz Beats feat. Rick Ross/That Oprah RMX/White Label
2. Mr. Lif feat. Akrobatik/Presidential Report Vol. 2/Bloodbot Tactical Enterprises
3. Gang Starr/Jazz Thing (Video Mix)/Noo Trybe, Empire Records & Virgin
4. Q-Tip feat. D'Angelo/I Believe/Universal Motown
5. B.O.B./I'll Be In The Sky/Atlantic (http://www.myspace.com/bobatl)
6. Kid Sister feat. David Banner/Family Reunion/White Label
7. G-Dep feat. Keith Murray/Transmitter/White Label (http://www.myspace.com/thereturnofgdep)
8. The Returners feat. El Da Sensei, Dan Johns, Skyzoo, Don Cerino, King Magnetic, King Magnetic & CP/Do You RMX/Asfalt Rec (http://www.myspace.com/returnerspurehiphop)
9. Sadat X/This Is Your Life/MySpace.com White Label (http://www.myspace.com/sadatx)
10. Killer Mike/The Devil Is A Life/Grind Time Official
11. Choclair/The Essence/Never So Deep Records
12. Young Jeezy/Circulate/CTE & Def Jam
13. Hell Razah/Indian Giver/Hell-RazahOnline.com
14. Herbie Hancock/Wiggle Waggle (Mr. Scruff RMX)/Verve
15. Diggz/Berry White/MySpace.com White Label (http://www.myspace.com/diggzdc)

Recalling Time in Middle Earth

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 06:51:00 +0000

It’s funny, the things that stay with you from your youthful fascinations.

When I typed in today’s date – October 6 – at the top of the file I use to write the posts for this blog, I looked at it and nodded. “October 6,” I thought. “The date when Frodo was wounded under Weathertop.”

The reference is, of course, to an event in The Fellowship of the Ring, the first volume of the fantasy trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. Seeking to take the One Ring to perceived safety in Rivendell, Frodo and his companions – three other hobbits and Strider, the Ranger – are attacked by night in a small dell on the side of the hill called Weathertop. I don’t believe there is a mention of the specific date during the narrative at that point, but near the end of the massive adventure, the date is mentioned as an anniversary, and the date is also mentioned in a chronology in one of the many appendices that author J.R.R. Tolkien devised.

When I thought about Frodo and Weathertop, I pulled my battered and tobacco-contaminated copy of the trilogy from the shelf and spent a few moments verifying what I knew: October 6 was the date of that fictional event.

There was a time when I immersed myself deeply enough in Tolkien’s chronicle of Middle Earth that it felt at times like the history of a real world. I sometimes wished – like many, I assume – that it were real. I first read the trilogy when I was a freshman in high school. I’d read its predecessor, The Hobbit, a couple of years before that, but when I tried the trilogy, the shift to a more serious tone and more complex ideas put me off. But when I picked up the first volume of the trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring, as a ninth-grader, it grabbed me. And for about six years, I guess, until the middle of my college years, one of the three volumes of the trilogy was always on my bedside table.

Oh, I wasn’t always reading it sequentially. I mostly browsed through it a bit at a time, either reviewing favorite scenes or poring over the appendices. I read plenty of other books – science fiction, history, and mainstream fiction – but I still took time to sift through Tolkien’s tales, probably not every day, but maybe once a week. Beyond that, I read the entire trilogy from the start once a year, generally in the autumn.

I’m sure I wasn’t the only one. I don’t recall knowing anyone else in high school or in college who was fascinated as I was by Tolkien’s world and its inhabitants. But I’m sure they were around, members like me of the second generation to have discovered Middle Earth since the three volumes were first published in the 1950s. And, like those others, I assume, I urged my friends to read it. Some did, but most didn’t. I even managed to find an English copy of the trilogy during my year in Denmark to give as a birthday gift to the American girl I was seeing. (Oddly enough, I recall her birth date, which also happens to be during this week.)

I could quote at length from the trilogy, and I frequently drew upon that ability to offer bits and pieces of advice or explanation or inspiration to friends and lovers. I’m sure that was, after a brief time, annoying. When I was planning my time in Denmark, I pored over the atlas, seeking place names from the trilogy; I ended up spending a day in the city of Bree, Belgium, a rather dull place, simply because it shared its name with a city in Tolkien’s world.

Sometime during the mid-1970s, the obsession ended, as such things generally do. The paperbacks stayed on the shelves. My love for the tales didn’t go away, but I no longer immersed myself in their world. When I joined a book club as an adult, I got a hardcover set of the trilogy to replace my tattered paperback copies. Now that I no longer smoke – I quit nine years ago, another anniversary that falls this week – I may get a new, clean set of the trilogy. And, as it’s been about fifteen years since I last read the trilogy, I’ll likely read it once.

Millions of others must have similar tales and memories, especially since the release of Peter Jackson’s trilogy of films earlier in this decade. There are many websites devoted to the trilogy – both the books and the movies – with discussions and arguments and assessments of the value of the works and the meaning of their tiniest details. It may be a good thing that such sites and associations weren’t available thirty-five years ago, or I might never have come back from Middle Earth. Given the opportunity, I fear I might easily have become lost in my obsession, and as much as I love Tolkien’s world, I’m pretty glad to be a part of this one, too.

Given today’s anniversary of the attack under Weathertop, I thought I’d start a Walk Through the Junkyard with the piece “A Knife In The Dark” from Howard Shore’s soundtrack from The Fellowship of the Ring, the first film in the trilogy, which came out in 2001. After that, we’ll pull a random selection from the years 1950-2002.

A Monday Walk Through the Junkyard, Vol. 7
“A Knife in the Dark” by Howard Shore from the soundtrack to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 2001
“Poor Immigrant” by Judy Collins from Who Knows Where the Time Goes, 1968
“Pictures Of A City including 42nd at Treadmill” by King Crimson from In The Wake Of Poseidon, 1970
“Jock-O-Mo” by James "Sugar Boy" Crawford, Checker 787, 1954
“It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry” by the Grateful Dead in Washington, D.C., June 10, 1973
“Havana Moon” by Geoff & Maria Muldaur from Sweet Potatoes, 1971
“Shootout on the Plantation” by Leon Russell from Leon Russell, 1970.
“Long Walk to D.C.” by the Staple Singers from Soul Folk In Action, 1968
“Busy Doin’ Nothing” by the Flowerpot Men from Let’s Go To San Francisco, 1967
“Restless Farewell” by Bob Dylan from The Times They Are A-Changin’, 1964
“She Said Ride” by Tin Tin from Tin Tin, 1970
“See Him On The Street” by the Jayhawks from Tomorrow The Green Grass, 1995
“Borrowed Time” by J.J. Cale from Closer To You, 1994
“Tried To Be True” by the Indigo Girls from Indigo Girls, 1989
“I Wanna Talk About Me” by Toby Keith from Pull My Chain, 2001

A few notes:

Every other version of the Judy Collins recording, as far as I know, uses the full title: “I Pity the Poor Immigrant.” It’s a Dylan song, of course, from John Wesley Harding, and I don’t think Collins quite gets to the center of the song. I get the sense that she was still a little too reverent toward her source.

The King Crimson track has some fascinating moments, but, as often happened in the genre called progressive rock, what seemed special many years ago now seems to go on a couple minutes too long. (On the other hand, as a writer, I know how easy it is to keep going and how difficult it can be to be concise.)

The Grateful Dead track comes from Postcards From The Hanging, a collection of the Dead’s concert performances of the songs of Bob Dylan issued in 2002. It’s a CD well worth finding for fans of both the Dead and Dylan.

Soul Folk In Action, the Staple Singers’ album from which “Long Walk To D.C.” comes, is an extraordinary piece of work. Backing the Staples are MGs Duck Dunn, Al Jackson and Steve Cropper and the Memphis Horns, with Cropper producing. The song “Long Walk To D.C.” is a moving piece of work, too, written by Homer Banks and E. Thomas (though once source says Marvelle Thomas), commenting generally on the struggle for civil rights and specifically on the March on Washington, which was part of the Poor People’s Campaign in the spring of 1968.

Tin Tin had a hit in 1971 with “Toast and Marmalade For Tea,” a frothy ditty that went to No. 20. Surprisingly, “She Said Ride,” from Tin Tin’s self-titled album, rocks some. The album was produced by the late Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees.

Toby Keith’s “I Wanna Talk About Me” is one of the funniest songs I’ve ever heard. Written by Bobby Braddock and performed perfectly by Keith, the song was one of the first I got to know when the Texas Gal began to introduce me to country. If you ever get a chance, catch the video. It’s a hoot!

Fried - part 4

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 19:26:31 +0000

In September Steaknife played with SPUD at The Venue, a concrete bunker bar in the New Station Hotel, opposite the Auckland Railway Station. We spent the August holidays practicing in a shed in a Kiwifruit orchard outside Katikati. Scott, Marcel, Stu and I and a big bag of pot from a hippie house truck on the ridge above the Te Puna Tavern. An old Marcel contact. We were working up a set for the show. Four songs – Scrapheap, Screaming Through The Gorge, 1989, and Vincent. In marked contrast the show was a disaster. We were well gone by playing time, dakked out after a day smoking head. The only review described us a mutant R&B group from the Waikato. The only laugh we got. The year wound down and Scott headed south to Dunedin and art school.

Marcel found us a new guitarist in 1990, Steve McLennan, host of the Contact FM hardcore show. Our new practice rooms were in industrial suburb, Frankton, in a spray shop customised by old friend Patrick Balani, and rented to bands. Steve would pick us up in his VW beetle, and we’d spend the evening learning the still small Steaknife songbook. We never played any shows, and midyear, my degree finished, I packed my gear for Auckland.

Steve would later be elected a city councillor in the mid 1990s. When the Waikato Times entertainment section asked him for his top five albums he included Can’s Tago Mago, The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, and The Beatles’ White Album.

I lasted barely six months in the big smoke living with a thousand cockroaches in Bond Street. It cost too much even then and the company was weak. More than that music was beginning to suck. The scene was stiffled with vindictive geeks and spacy girls. Mac knew them all. We flatted with a few in Bond Street and across the Northwestern motorway in Eden Terrace.

Mostly I’d hang with old friends, the Zombies, at their suburban Onehunga retreat. I'd catch the bus out on dole day. Suck up the booze and dak, and on one occasion, acid, where we spent a whole day on One Tree Hill’s slopes, moving slowly around the banks of the dead volcano, drinking, and listening to the spiralling sound of Spacemen Three. We had The Beatles’ lysergic cartoon Yellow Submarine on the box when we got home. Everyone planeing down after a sweet shimmering day.

Karl, Zip and I went down to get some takeaways, but the shop was closed. As we turned for home three homies stepped out of the darkness. “You bin hasslin’ my mate,” one said. That old line. I thought I could reason with him, turned to say something, and saw a two by four heading toward my face. Karl and Zip were already sprinting away. I joined them.

There was one last trip south in September to see Zooper - Steve, Stu and Marcel’s trio - perform in Frankton club Rockafellas. They were playing with my Auckland drug buddies’ Zombie Boy - Zip, Karl, Burt and Mac - and Crunchy Something. I went down on the bus, stayed with Marcel in a flat by the river, and attended practice in the old bank building on the corner of Victoria Street. Marcel leaning over the piece of shit kit. Stu standing bass framed in the high arched windows of the main drag practice room. The Beefeaters scene playing out below in a manic Friday night ritual of black t shirts and big cars. There must be hundreds of cities like Hamilton in America, I thought.

Frankton was blue collar. A rail junction town overtaken by Hamilton’s suburbs. Rockafellas the nightclub in the main street. The Hamilton scene came out in numbers and Zooper played a loud proud set. Five songs including Doomed Destiny, Digger, and Tryst which they’d recorded at Tandys Studios with Zed Brookes in October.

Zombie Boy were gritty as always. New singer Keith Serious was a bonus. Afterwards I ended up at a party with a scene girl I had a mad crush on in an office block on the main street. Lotsa of Hamilton scene jetsam floated around. Kegs littered the office space which was clearly being lived in. Turns out it was being rented for bogus research into the para normal (ghosts etc.), and the tenants are milking a government grant for beer and digs. I ditched the girl at the Mill and ended the evening spotting hash on tin foil with Crunchy Something. Head oil.

Toby Keith's 'That Dont Make Me A Bad Guy' Is Out Oct 28th

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 18:00:00 +0000

Toby Keith's 'That Don’t Make Me A Bad Guy' is all set to be released on October 28. Check out the first single, "She Never Cried In Front Of Me," which broke the digital record with first week sales for a country artist

Keith Jarrett's Köln Concert Transcriptions & MP3s

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 08:14:36 +0000

Jarrett-Koln transcription part 1
Jarrett-Koln transcription part 2
Jarrett-Koln transcription part 3
Jarrett-Koln transcription part 4

Audio of Part 1
Audio of part 2
Audio of part 3
Audio of part 4

New Country Songs on the Radio - September 2008

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 07:45:00 +0000

New songs recently receiving airplay on country radio stations in the U.S.:

Dierks Bentley - Sweet and Wild
Whitney Duncan - When I Said I Would
Josh Gracin - Unbelievable (Ann Marie)
Julianne Hough (pictured) - My Hallelujah Song
Alan Jackson - Country Boy
Joey & Rory - Cheater, Cheater
Miranda Lambert - More Like Her
Jake Owen - Don't Think I Can't Love You
Brad Paisley duet w/ Keith Urban - Start A Band
Rascal Flatts - Here
Sugarland - Already Gone
Taylor Swift - Change
Josh Turner - Everything Is Fine
Darryl Worley - Tequila On Ice
Eli Young Band - Always The Love Songs

- THO's New Songs Google Gadget
.

Dandelion Radio - Festive 50 - 2008

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 06:24:00 +0000

The fab folks over at Dandelion Radio continue to run the Festive 50 (first started by John Peel back in 1976). It's your chance to vote for your top three songs of the year. There are loads of contenders too - for me it's gonna be hard to decide between The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, The Tartans, Pete Green, The Manhattan Love Suicides, Keith John Adams, Sarandon and many others.

You can vote for your three favourite songs here.

In theory they could be anything, but tracks played on Dandelion Radio (including session tracks and live recordings) or on BBC Radio 1's special interest shows are what you should have in mind. Visit Dandelion radio's tracklists pages to see what DJs have played this year.

RENAISSANCE - Live at Carnegie Hall (1976)

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 01:00:54 +0000

This is a review that I put together about two years ago when this album really grew on me. Hopefully it will stand up to the cause now that I'm two years more maturer than I was before. But anyway- here we go:

This album is the only Renaissance I can actually get my hands on! For now. One of my best friends parents are lovely Proggers like myself, who actually got to see Annie Haslam and Renaissance live back in the day!...along with many other bands, such as Genesis. (Oh that I had their memories...) So I managed to borrow this album from them.

Prologue: Do-do-do-doooo Sounds very much like 60s lounge-jazz. One is reminded of Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell singing the overtly CUTE 'Dida' actually. Haslam shows her gorgeous vibrating, high-range voice to the audience without falter- This is a good song for that as the melody goes all over the place and that aim seems to be to use the human voice as the main instrument. Watch out for a funky bass reving up before shakers come in. This leads to a Tango-like beat- something very typical of Renaissance. John Tout plays a fast minuet on the piano before we go back to Haslam's soulful voice again.

Ocean Gypsy: John Tout (I believe) introduces the band. Then into the song: the first time I heard this piece, I found it somewhat depressing, in a mystical way, if you listen to the lyrics. But depressing music tends to be good! (I can write a whole essay on that one. Contact me some time if you disagree and we can have a philosophical discussion.) The violins lead to fantastic piano-playing. This song definitely swings in and out of moods: from quiet to a good and moderate beat. A man and woman are singing in harmony and it doesn't sound cheesy at all (as that convention is wont to be, often.) We hear an except from one of Rachmaninov's famous Piano Concertos in the piano. This is, afterall, a classically-inspired prog band. They bring out the best in it. This carries on into the vocal Aaaaah!s so typical of the 70s (Yeah, sorry- I still can't help pointing that out!) After the last verse, the piano ends on an unexpectedly MAJOR chord....I love it when that happens!

Can you Understand: Now this track is my favourite... Before this song, the piano does a bit of fast jumping which is backed up by drum and bass...and shakers! Then a harpsichord-sounding instrument takes over its melody-sounding extremely cool. My lack of vocabulary here is simply the result of there being no other way to describe it IMO. Then back to the piano which builds up to a catharsis... in a very slow way. After a few solem chords, this leads to the song, and the crowd cheers- for Haslam stands up to them again! Annie sings one of the most beautiful melodies I have ever heard the female voice sing. After such a gorgeous start, the guitar plucking turns to blue-grass style. Her voice sings a faster melody: Open up your eyes and make the day shine sunshine now. When she stops, the violins and piano turn the music into what sounds like the soundtrack for a movie with cowboys. Then a few falling chords threaten to turn it into Curved Air's Piece of Mind' (first thing to pop into my head anyway) After Annie sings the most beautiful melody from the beginning again. Purple mist around your hair; Eyes are fading blue. The orchestral ending is very much like Tchaikovsky and one of his Piano Concertos.

Carpets of the Sun: Annie verrry timidly states that this is one of her favourites and acknowledges the orchestra. This isn't the most charismatic of Renaissance's songs but one thing to look out for is how she quickly 'twirls' her voice at the highest notes she sings in the chorus.

Running Hard: The piano introduction of this reminds me of Keith Emerson- it really uses up the whole piano! After the orchestra makes its 'bang', the drums and piano convey the idea of 'running hard' quite well. Annie becomes quite strong-sounding and passionate for this song, probably because of how fast it is. Later- this becomes a very orchestra dominated piece but that doesn't undermine the wonderful complexity of its compostion.

Mother Russia: Annie tells everyone who this song is about: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. (Ooh! Must research more this man who was punished for his fame.) This is one of the songs I've heard the album recording of. I have to say- Live is much more atmospheric. Yes- thank you Little Miss Obvious. I guess, what I'm trying to say is that it sounds so much better this way. The orchestra adds some great percussion to this, though the bass, thumping like a giant towards the start of the singing, is a bit kitsch. The only weakness of this song is that you can *tell* what decade it was written in! And, of course, that in itself cannot really be a bad thing. This is also one that the sudience loves the most- we hear cheering as the flute and clarinet come in. The drums start one of those 'what is to come' beats as the piano slowly works up. Annie does her sweet siren-singing at this point. And the the whole band altogether now!: Red blood; White snow. He knows frozen rivers won't flow. Haslam is greatly affected by this performance- we can just hear her voice breaking a bit before the last long note. Or perhaps I've being too sentimental; perhaps she was only striving to achieve singing-perfection!

We're going to take a short break for a few minutes- See you soon.

Scherazade: Again, we hear the orchestra tuning up and the audience settles down. The reaction of the audience lets us know when the band are back onstage. John Tout explains the outline of the basic story' of this famous epic. He's a good story teller and it's interesting to hear cheering at absurd places. I don't want to start a raid-war or something! You would think Renaissance would just take Rimsky Korsakov's ballet music and turn it into a rock song....but noooo. This is a completely original compsition. The start is so orchestral and farflung that I would be mad to try and analyse it. It eventually drifts into an Aaah-ooh choral introduction to the actual song-part and John sings by himself for the first time. He sounds like a folk-singer in my opinion. I like the way they've made the melody 'orientalised'. The chord-progression turns into an apocalyptic one after Scherazade and the bass-melody has a snippet to play by from Korsakovs original music before the piano starts up. Up into a different melody now. Violins are especially prominent. You would cause the sun to see the light and then be shed... Oh my love. 'The Young Prince and Princess' is what this is referring to. All string instruments at first, guitar...even a harp He vowed to love her for the rest of all his days. Plucking, echoing, violins... then bone percussion as the violins quiver... all very scary, But the happy chords signal a happy ending. Annie's melody sounds rather like the background music to a 60s crime movie (I'm thinking of MAX in 'Get Smart'...the *original* not the god-awful remake!) I love the way they show the change in the Sultan's attitude: insane laughter out of nowhere then a scream of surprise. A flute with an acoustic backing makes for a nice change. This is the Sultan's wedding you see.Scherazade- your life you've won. This eventually leads to the same apocalyptic chord progression and melody that we heard when the charater Scherazade stepped into the epic. Scherazade! Haslam sings at last: impressive siren high-note!

Then they thank the audience tenfold... and Haslam introduces their most popular song. Ashes are Burning: As I said before with Mother Russia, this Live recording is far more atmospheric than the album recording. More drawn-out piano improvising. One thing to look out for is the bass-improv as well. Jon Camp really does take this opportunity to show how he can stand out. Adds a jazz touch to the scene... Bass and tambourine that is.. Yep- it's a very long bass-solo. He even gets the audience clapping in time with the beat. The bass is certainly synthed by an echoing-effect pedal. The audience cheers when they know it's getting back to the song. The piano goes back to the reved-up beat and brings us to the rest of the song. And people call out Annies name. Imagine buring embers...she sings. finally entering into the scene again. She draws the last line out (on Away!) and the emphasis makes her voice all the more gorgeous. which causes the audience to cheer even louder. And then ending goes on forever it seems- Annie wastes no time in flaunting her voice wherever she can- pushing her voice to its' limits. God- the musicians don't want to stop playing! This is afterall, the end of a concert,

Thank you vry much- hope to see you again soon. Thus ends the concert.

by Starette

RENAISSANCE Music Online:
recommended progarchives.com worldwide prog rock stores

GEMM, Vinyl Records & CDs Rare Albums (Out of Print and Imports)
AMAZON, find cheap, used and new stuff with the marketplace
eBay, used or new | bid or buy now

More about RENAISSANCE at Progarchives.com

Ayo - Gravity At Last [2008]

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 15:35:00 +0000

1. I Am Not Afraid
2. Maybe (Ayo Blues)
3. Slow Slow (Run Run)
4. Love And Hate
5. Get Out Of My Way
6. Better Days
7. Change
8. Piece Of Joy
9. Lonely
10. Sometimes
11. What's This All About?
12. Mother
13. Thank You

Her debut album Joyful (you can find it on this blog), which was first released in 2006, reached Double-Platinum status in France, Platinum in Germany and Poland, Gold status in Switzerland and Italy and Greece.Given that critics in Europe are calling her the next Sade or Corinne Bailey Rae, fame could easily have gone to her head. But this seems less and less likely, the more you find out about the upbringing and background of this reggae-soul singer-songwriter.2008 sophomore album from Ayo (Joy Olasunmibo Ogunmakin). Like her debut album, Gravity At Last was recorded in March 2008 in only five days under live conditions. All songs on the album were composed by Ayo. She is co-producing the album with Jay Newland. Her band includes Keith Christopherson (bass), Larry Campbell (guitars and other string instruments), Lucky Peterson (keyboards), Sherrod Barnes (guitar/vocals) and Jermaine Parrish (drums).Ayo absorbed the musical traditions of her parentage as well as influences including American soul, reggae, and Afrobeat, all staples of her father's extensive record collection.

Kool Keith in Stores and on Tour

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:08:19 +0000

Before Lil Wayne decided he was a martian (which, according to XXL, was a gimmick inspired by Cee-Lo), emcee Kool Keith was already preaching his extraterrestrial status to Earthlings. His claim as Dr. Octagon in the seminal 1995 single “Earth People” (”Earth People, New York and California. Earth people, I was born on Jupiter”) seems much more justified than Weezy’s, given his ridiculous lyrical orbit over the past quarter-century. A founding member of groundbreaking hip-hop group Ultramagenetic MCs, Keith has been spouting rhythmic nonsense via a variety of absurd aliases and M.D. monikers. He’s still ragingly prolific, with two new records fresh on the shelves: his second full-length as Dr. Dooom, and a new collaboration with Tim Dog and Marc Live as Project X, who are appearing live tonight the 9:30 Club.

Keith may have killed off Octagon at the beginning of First Come, First Served—his debut album as Dr. Dooom—but apparently he wasn’t quite dead; the madman was resurrected with 2006’s The Return of Dr. Octagon. On the sequel, Dr. Dooom 2 (released last week), Keith lyrically ensures Doc Oc is officially D.O.A., quickly elaborating the tactics used to finish the job. Check the new video below for details:

The record continues in B-movie gore and horrorcore surrealism, with Keith dispatching a cool lunatic flow over dreary horn samples and creepy beats. But the gruesome imagery on Dr. Dooom 2 seems quite a contrast from his material in Project X. From the samples I heard on their MySpace, the incarnation sounds more gangstafied than Dooom, harping on thug topics with touches of boom-bap. The new album, Iconic, officially drops on October 15th, and the trio is in the middle of their worldwide tour, which just took them through Australia in September. Their appearance at 9:30 tonight should at least tie you over until the Dr. Dooom tour, which is scheduled to kick off in February 2009, according to Threshold records.

Project X
Oct. 3rd
9:30 Club
815 V St. NW
Late Show — doors @ Midnight
$20