DJ A-Trak, in case you didn’t know, is Kanye West’s tour DJ, a top producer, and a general all-round turntabling wizardgod. He won the DMC World DJ Championship at the age of 15, and he’s co-founded two record labels. He’s 26 years old.
That gap just there was so you could swallow down your jealousy. Done? OK, well prepare for some envy reflux, because now I’m going to tell you he’s a very entertaining blogger as well.
While Kanye’s blog alternates between wordless, image/video heavy posts and increasingly unhinged, if extremely style-conscious rants, A-Trak’s site covers some of the same territory but in a more subdued, contented kind of way.
As the younger brother of Dave One from the magnificent Chromeo, his big bro can be expected to show up occasionally, like when they encounter a kosher vending machine in a cinema lobby.
I have a lot of time for Canada, I really do. Those accents! Maple syrup! Corey Haim! So much to love. And now, having just checked out the nominations for the Juno awards, I feel like I want to give the whole nation an extra big hug. Well, the bits that aren’t in Nickelback, anyway. The Juno Awards are what UK papers refer to as “the equivalent of the BRIT Awards”, but let’s be honest, you’re supposed to call any ceremony of this nature “the equivalent of the Grammys”. Like we do with the BRIT Awards.
The list of nominees is verily crammed to the gills with woe, since Nickelback (of course), Celine Dion (naturally) and Sam Roberts (muh?) lead the nommos.
Who knows if Deivis’ “Lietuva” will go on to be scrutinised for drug references like the song he ripped off. One thing’s for sure - eastern Europeans can now scratch early-90s British indiepop from their list of genres to plagiarise.
WE ARE WATCHING YOU, YOU LOT. HANDS OFF OUR POP, ETCETERA.
See NME Video Blog for the full, sordid tale…
Posted by
Stuart Waterman on
Wednesday February 4th, 2009 at
10:25 am
Believe it or not, despite being a passionate music fan, I am not one of those bores who will grumble on about songs being “sacred” and untouchable. If you think you can cover a classic song and give it a decent twist, good luck to you. There are plenty of other folk out there willing to roast you just for considering the idea.
The point at which I start vomming word-bile is if the cover is an insipid, life-draining piece of shit. As is the case with The Attic Lights’ rendering of “I Could Be So Could For You”, which they have recorded to soundtrack the new version of Minder (starts on Five at 9pm tonight, viewers!).
Pretty much all I know about Cam’ron can be summed up by “Hey Ma” and “Oh Boy”, both of which were fun but pretty empty party hits a few years back.
As a result it means very little when I say “I Hate My Job” is the best thing I’ve heard Cam’ron do. But all the same I’d encourage you to give it a listen, as it’s a highly listenable state-of-the-world-today credit crunch lament.
With a different hook it would be the most depressing record ever, but it has a bizarrely upbeat piano line and “yeah yeah yeah”s sampled from somewhere that just make me want to listen to it over and over.
I’ll be honest, I have no idea what the hell the release schedule is when it comes to Walter Meego’s Voyager, which I became a big fan of last year. The new video for one of the album’s highlights, “Girls”, has just surfaced on the internet, so does that mean it’s going to be released as a single soon? Has it been released as a single already? Does it matter?
Not really. It is nice to see the Meego chaps furnished with an official vid for “Girls”, though. In it, they walk around seemingly farting on women, although there’s a chance I’ve misread the director’s intentions on that one. Watch it after the jump.
Gary Go, whether you like it or not, is probably going to be this year’s Damien Rice/James Blunt/singer-songwriter of choice for women who “source” rather than “buy” cheese. From farmers’ markets. Accordingly, this is the last piece of coverage he will receive on this website.
This coverage will consist of this sentence which has a little snigger at his name. And also the below sentences, which snigger at his unintentionally amusing MySpace bio (presumably written by Gary).
Being a fan of upbeat West Coast-style jangle rock, I Was A King’s “Norman Bleik” is proving pleasing to my ears at the moment. The beginning reminds me a lot of Teenage Fanclub’s “Neil Jung”, which is good because I love that song, yet bad because if I say it aloud it is yet another instance of me showing my age.
It totally passed me by that this song’s title probably refers to the Fanclub’s lead singer, “Norman Blake”, until one of Stereogum’s smart-arse commenters pointed it out. Another sign that age is withering my brainium, perhaps.
Hang on, this song title is a sly reference to Teenage Fanclub’s “Neil Jung”, which, as I mentioned, it sounds like! Ha! Take that Stereogummers! You missed that, didn’t ya?!
Anyway, download the track after the jump if you’d like. I Was A King are Norwegian and can be found here.
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Posted by
Stuart Waterman on
Monday February 2nd, 2009 at
12:15 pm
This rejig of Jay-Z’s “Big Pimpin’” comes from Funny Or Die but had me wanting to replace the “Die” with “Icky”. Although, admittedly, if you don’t “awww” at lyrics like the bit where she goes “sleep in bed with one eye open as long as I am snug”, then you’re dead inside.
However, I think you’re legitimately allowed to feel a leetle uneasy at the fact wee Madeline doesn’t look like she’s having all that much fun. Er, and I hate to bring up Minipops, but that bit where she goes “cute behindy”…?
Have you seen BBC3’s Being Human yet? It’s rather good. The vampire man trapped in a suburban life in a nice semi in Bristol does this thing when he’s about to gnash someone’s neck. His pupils go all big and black and take up his entire eyeballs. Well creepy it is.
And look, the lady in Filthy Dukes‘ brillo new video does the same! Only, she does it because she is quite literally “so lost inside this rhythm”. Is being lost inside a rhythm a good thing? A bad thing? Filthy Dukes neatly sidestep this issue, preferring to concentrate on knocking out a top-notch ‘peche Mode-y gothclub banger.
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