Bachmann Hilton overdrive
By MATT ASHARE | August 23, 2006
The late J Dilla |
After over a decade of hiding behind band names – first Archers of Loaf, who were a real band, and then Crooked Fingers, who really weren’t – Eric Bachmann has finally come out of the name-game closet to record his first album under his own name. It would be one thing if To the Races (Saddle Creek) were a significant departure from the four discs he’s put out as Crooked Fingers. Thankfully, though, it’s not: Bachmann remains one of the indie’s most accessible, poetic, and brilliantly broken outsider artists, and an Americana genius is right up there with the late Chris Whitley. Punk rock taskmaster Bill Stevenson of Black Flag/Descendents notoriety is apparently so down-to-business that he got Evan Dando to make a decent Lemonheads album. In other words, anything’s possible when Bill’s in charge. So, who knows, maybe he’s taken the veteran NYC hardcore band the Casualties and turned them into something other than just another loud, fast, angry bunch of men pretending to be boys on their new Under Attack (Side One Dummy). After all, Stevenson is the man, and the Casualties have never been a bad band.
Sadly, beatmaker J Dilla passed away from complications arising from Lupus just days after the former A Tribe Called Quest production team member’s first real shot at solo commercial success – Donuts – was released back in February. But, given that he was a prolific beatmaker’s beatmaker who’s gotta have hundreds of unreleased tracks on the racks, we’ll probably be seeing new Dilla discs hitting shelves for years to come. The new one is The Shining (Bbe): don’t buy it if you haven’t already checked in on Donuts.
On the indie front, someone apparently didn’t check to see that everyone had new discs due on the 22nd. So we’ve got Slint star David Pajo doing his best Palace Brother haunted Americana as Pajo on 1968 (Drag City); confessional singer-songwriter John Darnielle reaching new peaks of somberness on the Mountain Goats new Get Lonely (4AD); Jon “Blues Explosion” Spencer hooking up with Luther and Cody Dickinson as Spencer Dickinson for some garage-punk jambanding on The Man Who Lives for Love (Yep-Roc); and yet another Broken Social Scenester, Stars singer Amy Millan going solo on Honey From the Tombs (Arts & Crafts). And that doesn’t even take into account Eric Bachmann’s new disc. Oh, well, we all know that the big gotta have disc of the week is sweet Paris Hilton’s Paris (Warner Bros.). . . or is it that new Lamb of God disc Sacrament (Epic). . .
Related:
Who I am, The Estate’s first, The Hottie and the Nottie, More 
- Who I am
She answers my questions in a Valley Girl vixen voice, with a languid aplomb that characterizes the way she approaches life.
- The Estate’s first
She’s the 21st century’s best example of someone who’s famous for being famous, but she’s also a good sport and, up close and semi-personal, kind of sweet.
- The Hottie and the Nottie
It’s a shame you can’t auto-tune acting talent the same way you can manufacture vocals in the recording studio.
- Pent-up genius
According to the New York Daily News , Paris is planning to keep a prison diary for publication later this year.
- Discovering Dilla
As with so many other figures in pop music, death has been good to hip-hop producer and MC J Dilla.
- Random forecast
One thing that’s sure to happen in the coming year is that people will make erroneous predictions about what will happen in the coming year.
- America’s next musical genius
Can Paris the album win over the haters who wrote off Paris the person ages ago? Paris Hilton, "Stars Are Blind" (YouTube) Hate club: Ten celebs more objectionable than Paris
- Rhythm for days
Jay Dee didn’t make music, he made movements. If it knocked in the late ’90s, he probably had a hand in it.
- Mind boggling
The article “ Rethinking 9/11 ” offered some provocative, well-written food for thought. But what I ultimately found most “mind bending” was that you could run a piece like this without including the voice of a single Muslim or Arab.
- Portland scene report: September 8, 2006
Make Me an Idol, Zachary Oberzan, Weird Weeds, Covered in Bees, and more.
- Dancing with the devil
Regarding the August 18 issue’s cover “ America’s Next Musical Genius ”: have you all lost your souls?
- Less
Topics:
Music Features
, Celebrity News, Entertainment, Hip-Hop and Rap, More
, Celebrity News, Entertainment, Hip-Hop and Rap, Music, David Pajo, Underground Hip-Hop, Evan Dando, Paris Hilton, Socialites, J Dilla, Less
