WU-TANG Gives WU VS BEATLES Mixtape Official “special edition” Release

January 3, 2011 in Music, The Web

In recent years, the art of the mashup has continued to gain more and more prominence in the music world.  Actually, “art” is probably not the most accurate term to use, considering that it has reached a point of excess in which endless amateur Youtube “deejays” are willing to forcefully press together anything that they feel might get them even the slightest amount of attention.  Generally, it’s all about the gimmick and, unfortunately, there is far too often next to no focus on creating anything of substance.  Like I said, it’s all about quick attention and the sheer novelty of seeing if you can layer somethings like a Beyonce vocal over a track from The Man Machine (hmmm….not a bad idea).  If you think about it, the idea really isn’t all that original in the first place, because stacking tracks is the basic concept behind beat juggling and, although there are genuinely some really good tracks to come out of this genre, most of these mash ups just eliminate the requirement for any skills on the tables.  Another thing that has helped to over-saturate the mashup game is that a large percentage of the people creating these things prove to be one-notes.  If you want to hop in with something to grab attention and then step things up from there, that’s one thing, but if you have little more to deliver after that point, it’s pretty much like telling the same joke over and over again.

With all of this being said, it’s is definitely true that something will occasionally comes through that’s actually worthy of the attention. Read the rest of this entry →

ENTER! : MIKE BIRBIGLIA (“last minute”) Ticket & Book Giveaway [SEATTLE]

October 18, 2010 in Comedy, With Video

CONTEST HAS ENDED!

Do you know the name Mike Birbiglia?  Sound familiar?  How about the guy in the pictures above?  Look like you may have seen him before?  That familiar name goes with that familiar face.  Same dude.  Yeah, he’s that one comedian that you accidentally stumbled across on TV.  It was probably on Comedy Central.  Maybe it was during one of their random standup marathons.  But, wait… there was something else about this guy… something that you’re trying to remember.  Oh yeah!  He was the one that was actually funny.  He was the one who made you turn to your roommate and/or significant other and say, “Woah!  Shit!  This guy is actually funny!  What was his name?  We have to remember this guy’s name this time.

Comedy is like music for me.  The overwhelming majority of the time that I hear new mainstream music, I find myself wondering how anybody could think that shit is worth listening to.  The same thing goes for comedians and 80% of the time they aren’t even remotely funny.  Not unlike Nick SwardsonMike Birbiglia is one of those standups that creates material so solid that it’s been incredibly easy to watch his notoriety make a smooth rise over the years.  From the first time you see him, you know that he’ll be able to stand on his talent alone.  No smashing watermelons!  No, “super cool, ladies man” douchiness targeted to the young college crowd!  He’s more Neil Young than Alice Cooper.  More Jerry West than Allen Iverson.  No flash, just substance and he has that ability to come across like he’s actually talking directly to his audience.  That personal approach is something that I’m sure translates in his brand new book Sleepwalk with Me: and Other Painfully True Stories.

Do you want to see Mike Birbiglia perform live in Seattle this Friday, October 22nd?  How about a copy of his new book?  Do you want one?  How about a pair of tickets to the show and a copy of the book for free?  How about a brand new car, we pay off your school loans, and give you an all expense paid trip to Australia for you and 12 of your closest friends?

Slow down, pal!  You can talk to Oprah about the last few but, thanks to our friends at the Seattle Theatre Group, we can definitely handle the tickets and the book.
(you know how she lost all of that weight, right?  Baby unicorn blood.  She drinks it.) Read the rest of this entry →

AMONG THE GOLD : free album by Cheyenne Marie Mize & Bonnie “Prince” Billy

July 30, 2010 in Music

Last year Will Oldham released Beware [Drag City], the 7th full-length under his BonniePrinceBilly moniker, and set out on a tour in support of it.  Although the album featured Jennifer Hutt, fellow violinist/vocalst, Cheyenne Marie Mize filled her position for the live tour.  Mize also appeared on the four song accompanying EP, Chijimi and, beyond being a very capable violinist, her voice harmonizes beautifully with Oldham‘s, as she was featured prominently in the live performances.  She is also a member of  an old-timey pseudo-bluegrass situation known as Arnett Hollow, as well as working with The Picket Line, a band that Bonnie “Prince” Billy recorded/released his lesser publicized collaborative work Funtown Comedown with at the end of 2009Cheyenne is really beginning to come into her own as an independent artist and, later this fall, her first solo album is slated to be released.  For the meantime, another joint effort between Mize and Oldham, titled Among the Gold, is being offered to tide you over.  This time, the collaboration comes in the form of the pair covering 19th century parlor music as a duet and it’s being offered ABSOLUTELY FREE.  It’s only a 6 song effort but it’s a beautiful album and, if it’s any indication of what we can expect from her debut release, things look really promising.

Here’s what Cheyenne Marie Mize has to say about the backstory and fruition of Among the Gold: Read the rest of this entry →

FREDDIE GIBBS: FREE mixtape / video for “National Anthem (Fuck the World)”

July 29, 2010 in Music, With Video

Those of you who read our previous SXSW-related post about Freddie Gibbs know how excited we are to witness the Gary, Indiana native’s career as it matures.  It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a rapper the likes of Gibbs; one whose career is built off of straight hustle and talent.  Everything about him suggests the complete package of skill, focus, delivery, speed, work ethic, lyricism, legitimacy, etc. etc. etc…  Over the last few years he’s dropped a handful of impressive mix-tapes.  In fact, he dropped 3 of them just last year alone, including the 81 track, The Labels Tryin To Kill Me!.  Even with that much content being released in such a short period of time, it is somehow still all remarkably solid.  After being signed and, subsequently, dropped by Interscope, Gibbs didn’t change up his image and/or shoot for another major label.  Instead, he went even harder, releasing more material, while focusing on quality and creation over hype and marketing.  This guy’s an anomaly, pumping out more and more work just to make room for the next shit.  Last week saw the rapper performing a successful set at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago and, over this week or so, Gangsta Gibbs is making even bigger moves in the way of creating more widespread notoriety for himself. Read the rest of this entry →

Enter Now: ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA Seattle ticket Giveaway!

June 8, 2010 in Music

GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED!

We love Frank Zappa… a lot. This also means that we take it seriously when someone decides to cover his music. We are sure that his son Dweezil loves him too… a lot, but that doesn’t mean that he’s capable of covering his father’s work and doing it justice. When I heard about the Zappa Play Zappa project that Dweezil has embarked on, in which he tours with a group of hand picked musicians to cover his father’s music live, I was incredibly skeptical.  However, after speaking to some of the biggest, most hard-assed, and critical Zappa fans that I know, every response that I’ve heard has been incredibly positive.   It sound like this kid has taken this project as seriously as anyone could have ever hoped and that the resulting effort is beyond what could have ever been expected.  When Zappa Plays Zappa makes it’s way to Seattle on Monday June 14th with a performance at the Moore Theater, it will be our first opportunity to catch this critically acclaimed tour for ourselves and see if it lives up to the hype. T he good news for you is that, we’ve teamed up with the Seattle Theatre Group yet again, to offer that same opportunity to some of our readers, for free!

Our friends at STG Presents have offered us 20 pairs of tickets to give away!   Yep, that’s 40 total, and were’ not fucking around.  This is no joke my friends.  In fact, it looks like we will probably have even more than that, when it’s all said and done, so pay attention to the rules and act quick if you’re interested.   If you do this right the first time we shouldn’t have any problems.

HOW TO ENTER

We’re doing this shit real simple like. Read the rest of this entry →

Win an Authentic It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia DICKTOWEL!

January 15, 2010 in Comedy, Global Destruction, Movies / Television

CONTEST HAS ENDED!

If you’re a die hard fan of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, then you probably already know about the Dick Towel by now.  If you read our November 6th post about the novelty drying devices, then you also know that the Sunny crew actually manufactured the product and constructed an official site to sell and distribute them.  In that post we mentioned that the towel would have made a wonderful Christmas or Hannukah present, but followed it up by asking, “As far as Kwanza?…..TERRIBLE!  Where is all of the dark meat?!

Well, it looks like the folks at Dick Towel are all ears when it comes to concerns as dire as those regarding racial sensitivity in the mock phallus industry.  Beyond just adding hats and T-Shirts to their line of Dick Towel related merchandise, we’d like to present you with their latest addition……

…………. “THE BLACK DICK TOWEL”!

Finally!  This should please a lot of people, except for this guy of course [poor bastard].

The really good news is, in celebration of their latest wang cloth, the people at Dicktowel.com have offered to provide us with a couple of FREE Dick Towels to give away.  This means that we will be picking 2 winners (one for each color).

HOW To Enter:

Read the rest of this entry →