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Fugazi Edits

Fugazi Edits by Chris Lawhorn; due to be released on October 30 on Case/Martingale Records, is a new experiment that took 2 years to complete. It’s an entire album with 22 tracks that are composed solely on sampling songs from Fugazi’s discography. Some tracks stay true to the punk roots of the music while others get weird. Anyone who has listened to Fugazi knows how they loved to experiment in their music and this just takes it to a whole new level.

Fugazi are just awesome to sample. Listen to the “Destiny’s Child & Waiting Room” mashup and you should be convinced. But incase you’re not you should check out ’13 Chambers by Wugazi’, it’s a mashup album with Wu-Tang members rapping over Fugazi instrumentals. If you don’t like anything I have recommended, please find a way donate your hearing to a deaf person so they can experience the awesome you cannot.

Getting back on track, another cool thing about the ‘Fugazi Edit’ album is that Ian MacKaye and Dischord Records have been supporting it since it’s production; unlike the Wugazi & the Destiny’s Child mashup which were just made and released by fans (DIY ethic!). Also ALL profits from this release go to charities. One based in Washington D.C that helps out the old folks there, and the other is on an International scale and it helps disaster victims. Both are great causes that help people and make the world a better place. So go buy this album and help save the earth!

Fugazi Edits is Chris’ fifth album and it will be out in late October. More details can be found on Chris Lawhorns website.

Seriously though, check it out. Maybe all this buzz will get Fugazi to reunite, make a new album, & TOUR. Which is what we all want, isn’t it?

Spoonboy or required listening for the radical middle class generation of today

David “spoonboy” Combs is a singer-songwriter activist from DC. He’s a member of the DIY punk band ‘The Max Levine Ensemble’ also located in DC, but I’m writing this to discuss his solo music. It’s catchy folk punk that covers a wide variety of topics like feminism, parental issues, religion from an atheists view point, the failing US economy, bullying, and how kids are learning too much from TV sitcoms. In a nutshell he’s very political, but that’s why I love his music. Our generation doesn’t have enough protest music while our country is arguably worse now then back when Bob Dylan and Neil Young were telling it how it was.

Spoonboy has a very nasally and high pitched voice that might turn you off from listening. Thats a huge mistake though because the messages are incredible and the songs are awesome sing alongs. His albums are all Do-it-yourself as I mentioned before so the quality is a little lo-fi. But do you trust polished up punk records? They usually suck if you couldn’t tell what I was getting at.

The music goes against THE MAN, THE SYSTEM, & THE MAN’S FRIENDS. It encourages you to educate yourself on issues that matter and to protest for what you think is right. Standing up for your beliefs is the important lesson, don’t conform to what you hate, & be FREE!

“We are all the victims of a culture that describes happiness in economics – Spoonboy”. That’s a line from the song ‘Gerald Lee Palmer’ and was my planned high school senior quote until my school scrapped that tradition. It really describes my generation and how they all want to be rich and famous. We can’t help it, we were raised to want that. It’s pathetic and seeing it pointed out so perfectly in a single song line really touched me.

Go download his albums now because they are all FREE. You’ll listen to one of them some day and know why I’m ranting. If your in the DC area go see him or his band one day, it’s a great show and will probably only cost you $10 to get in. If you’re not from DC don’t worry, he always tours!

Check out the music and download it by googling spoonboy or the max Levine ensemble. Have fun!

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“The Newsroom” Season Finale

Aaron Sorkins new hit HBO series ‘The Newsroom’ is having its first season finale air on Sunday and it made me reflect on this show I’ve been watching for 2 months. It’s very awkward, almost to a cringe level for me and the characters get into extremely long opinionated rants all the time. It’s very liberal in its poltical message even though Will is a moderate Republican (which he points out…a lot). He just enjoys bashing the Tea Party (who doesn’t) and bringing REAL news to the masses. The show is news from the last 2 years told in a way that the REAL news should of reported it. That’s the premise of the entire show with a couple love triangles spiced in for drama.

Some of the cast and the acting are great but the story has so many cliches that the plot becomes predictable. If ”fuck” wasn’t said a couple times an episode I would doubt this was HBO.

I guess it’s the rants and political message that make this show popular. I know Will’s rant in the first episode is what had me coming back. It’s also funny seeing Republicans get roasted in a different setting than ‘The Daily Show’.

This show has potential in future seasons but some of the characters in this show really piss me off a lot and like I stated earlier, the plot is really predictable and there really is nothing special about this show.

In conclusion the show is kinda entertaining. But not a must watch program like HBO is known to produce.

Wugazi?!

If you’re from the DC area, I hope and assume you have heard of the local punk legends ‘Fugazi’. If not that’s ok it’s probably not your style, but what about ‘Wu-Tang Clan’? Who am I kidding everyone knows about Wu-Tang, anyone with basic cable has seen ‘How High’ with Method Man rerun on comedy central at least once in the last 10 years and we all know how ODB loves the children (did you know Michael K. Williams who played Omar on The Wire is going to play ODB in a biopic, but that’s off topic). I’m talking about a free album on the internet called ’13 Chambers’.

It’s a mashup with Wu-tang members rapping over Fugazi instrumentals! The album title is a nod to albums by the respective groups. 13 songs by Fugazi and 36 Chambers by Wu-Tang Clan. It’s 13 tracks full of energy, this mashup just works so well that I wanna yell at random people on the street about how awesome it is.

I’m not going to go into detail on the sound of the two groups because both have been out for around 2 decades and I assume you know how they sound and if you’re not familiar then take faith in what this stranger is saying and listen.

It came out in July 2011 by 2 Minnesota producers and should still be free on the website. Wugazi.com
So go check it out if you like 90′s hip hop or don’t check it out, it’s your loss though.