Album Of The Week: August 25th-31st, 2014

Flatbasset Radio's Album Of The Week for the week of August 25th-31st, 2014:

Franz Diego - Equinox

01. Neo-Archaic
02. Purple City Pioneers (PCP)
03. New Era
04. We Feel
05. Zebra Party

For the second week in a row here at Flatbasset Radio I'm dipping into the Twin Cities hip-hop scene.  Unlike spending last week with relative newcomer Manny Phesto I spent this week with Twin Cities veteran Franz Diego's latest EP Equinox.

If you've done even the minimum amount of digging below the surface of the Twin Cities' hip-hop scene you've inevitably stumbled onto Franz Diego in some capacity or another.  He's a member of scene veterans Illuminous 3, host of the Turnt Up! dance party at Honey, frequent collaborator with fellow Twin Cities rappers, and all-in-all man about town.  If you care at all about the hip-hop scene he's basically inescapable (which I mean as a compliment).

The Equinox EP came out back in the first week of June, but I'm finally spending a week with it.  That actually worked out well since the album is meant to be heard in the summer and, considering the mild temps we've seen this summer, listening to it during a week when we broke 90 made sense.

Producer Xanja constructed the beats for the record, keeping the songs moving without attempting to make a "banger" or resorting to exhausted faux-trap sound (with the saxophone on "New Era" the highlight of his production).  He does a brilliant job of giving the album enough space to breathe that Diego is able to find the style he wants to use rather than having the beat dictate the flow.



To that end, Equinox features something that I'm really growing to love as a I get older: the perspective of older rappers.  While Franz Diego's not "old" by any definition of the word, he's been in Minneapolis long enough and seen enough things to know what's worth worrying about and what isn't.  Where Manny Phesto's album carried a youth-aided carefree air, Equinox is carefree because Diego's wise enough to know not to worry about things he can't change.  He spends the majority of the record representing his hometown and the scene that's given him a voice.  I suppose there's only so much that can be said over (and about) a sixteen minute long EP, and thankfully Diego doesn't try to force five separate ideas into the mix.  The goal of Equinox seems to be to have a good time and that's exactly what Franz Diego & Xanja delivered.

If you'd like to let the album soundtrack this last week off August for yourself, head over to Franz Diego's Bandcap page.  Equinox is available as a "Name Your Price" download.

Album Of The Week: August 18th-24th, 2014

Flatbasset Radio's Album Of The Week for the week of August 18th-24th, 2014:

Manny Phesto - Southside Looking In

01. Reality Check
02. Cedar Ave
03. The Account (w/Mike The Martyr)
04. Rooftops Interlude
05. Eternity In The Cities
06. Standards (w/Metasota)
07. HI LAKE (w/Axel Foley)
08. Goodnight Moon Interlude
09. Full Scope (w/Akrite)
10. To The Sea
11. Rabbit Hole (w/Greg Grease)
12. Fork In The Road
13. Rigamarole
14. Before The Storm
15. Outro

Truth be told I'm actually a week late naming Southside Looking In my AOTW.   I actually spent the entirety of last week with it.  Fortunately, writing this post after spending a week with an album as opposed to while I'm spending time with it has given me a bit more time to digest the record.

Let me tell you, this one only gets better with more spins.  Manny Phesto's rhymes & Mike The Martyr's beats make Southside Looking In a perfect, laid back summer album.

A lot of recent albums from the Twin Cities hip-hop scene have stuck to sparse, downbeat production while rappers vent either anger, confusion, or a sense of surprised contentedness.  While those sort of practical emotions are undeniably Midwestern in nature, Manny Phesto & Mike The Martyr seem to have decided it's time for a bit of a celebration.  Mike The Martyr brings a sturdy set of beats that sound like they've been influenced equally by RZA & Kanye's early "chipmunk soul" sound.  In fact, the only real break in the beats are the interludes, otherwise Martyr continues to do his thing throughout without throwing in the token "slow song" or "banger."  It's just consistently excellent, good time beats.

Manny Phesto matches that energy with a collection of verses that stick to the positives of life.  He spends a majority of the record enjoying his hometown and his friends.  Now, this being an album from a Minnesotan, it couldn't be all party time raps.  However, when Manny Phesto does take a break from the positivity, he still manages to crib his concerns in a mostly positive outlook.  His problems are weighing on him, but he seems confident that they'll be solved before they become overwhelming.

With Southside Looking In, it seems that Manny Phesto & Mike The Martyr have taken up the torch from local legends Kanser.  It's mostly positivity here, and even when the clouds turn grey, the focus is on the silver lining rather than the rain.

Southside Looking In is available as a "Name Your Price" download over on Manny Phesto's Bandcamp page.  I highly suggest you pick it up and give it a spin.  Especially if you have a car.  Or enjoy BBQ's.  Or just need a dose of positivity.

Flatbasset Radio: Episode #43 (w/MinneSarah)

When I've got the music I've got a place to go...

Well hello again, everybody.  Welcome to the slightly remodeled Flatbasset Radio show.

For anybody who's been following along over the last couple of years, you probably know that the show is usually posted over on the Twin Cities blog Newest Industry.  Unfortunately, despite my high hopes for Newest Industry, I'm shutting it down for several reasons.  Lack of interest from readers, lack of participation from contributors, and, most relevantly, a nasty tendency for the site to redirect you to bullshit advertisements when trying to listen to the Flatbasset Radio show on the page.

As such, I'll be posting the show here on the Flatbasset blog going forward.  Here's hoping that the same sort of redirection doesn't begin occurring here as well.  If you continue to have issues playing the show here feel free to hop over to the Mixcloud page to give it a spin (evidently these issues do not extend to that website).  Also, as you may or may not have noticed, I do post the show for download each week.  Click on the title of the show and you can just download the show and listen to it at your leisure.  Either way, it's good to have options.

This also means that the show will no longer be posted on the Newest Industry Facebook page (which is how most people find out about new episodes).  To keep up with the show and the blog, do me a favor and hit up the Flatbasset Radio Facebook page and give it a "Like."  I'd appreciate it.

Now that that's out of the way, let's get to Episode #43.

This week I trekked over to St. Paul to record the show with MinneSarah.  We discussed her birthday, her upcoming trip to England, how Lou Barlow can help people understand the 80's, Australia's Canada, the masculinity of hair metal, the importance of Carlos D. to Interpol, the summer of 1998, the long-term legacy of Death Grips, the definition of greatness, whether Bush is better than Soundgarden, taste testing beer in an effort to make amends with Madison, where Earth ranks within our solar system, the smell of Brooklyn, an averted crisis at the Warped Tour!  All of that plus the Cover Of The Week & the Flatbasset Flatclassic!

Here's how the show plays out (again, click on the title to download the show):

Flatbasset Radio: Episode #43

Flatbasset Radio: Episode #43 by Tcdroogsma on Mixcloud

01. The Moons - Be Not Me
02. Rome Fortune - One Time For
03. DZ Deathrays - Less Out Of Sync
04. Lou Barlow - Round-N-Round
05. Interpol - All The Rage Back Home
06. Death Grips - Birds
07. Summercamp - Drawer
08. Hollow Boys - Spellbreaker
09. Girl Talk & Freeway - Tell Me Yeah (w/Young Chris)
10. Hooray For Earth - Keys
11. Rancid - Radio

There you have it, everybody! Enjoy!

For more TCDroogsma be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma).  Previous episodes of Flatbasset Radio are archived on his Mixcloud page.  Stop by Flatbasset Radio's Facebook Page & give it a "Like" if you have the time.



 

For more MinneSarah be sure to give her a follow on Twitter (@MinneSarah).

Album Of The Week: August 4th-10th, 2014

Flatbasset Radio's Album Of The Week for the week of August 4th-10th, 2014:

Frankie Teardrop - Raiders

01. Raiders
02. 100%
03. No More Drugs
04. She Kept Lyin
05. Personal Hell
06. It Takes Time

This is Frankie Teardrop's second time appearing here as an AOTW.  Back in November of 2013 I spent a week with his debut EP Tough Guy.  Back then I wrote that I couldn't tell if the songs were "garage rock songs polished up or pop songs stripped down."  While that's still the case with Raiders, it's becoming clear that Frankie's pop-rock heart beats strong & clear.

Raiders shows a welcome amount of growth from an artist who's last record contained songs like "Pizza Lyfestyle" and "New Beverage."  The record's opening one-two punch of "Raiders" & "100%," stands as the best two songs Frankie's written to date (if you're a fan of the Flatbasset Radio podcast you might remember us opening with "Raiders" a few weeks back).  Both are energetic, catchy, & poppy and benefit greatly from the addition of a second guitarist.  Lyrically, however, they start hinting at some of the darker subject matter to come.

Flatbasset Radio: Episode #39 by Tcdroogsma on Mixcloud

As you can probably imagine just from the titles of the last four tracks, Frankie's songwriting has taken a turn for the personal (though I'm willing to bet "Pizza Lyfestyle" was personal in its own way).  The band is young enough that emotional turmoil of the second half of the album rings clear.  For example, "She Kept Lyin" is not an angry, detached dig at said liar as much as it is an explanation of mood.  The record ends on relatively positive note with "It Takes Time," which finds Frankie showing the maturity to understand that, well, things take time.

My friend Adam recently described Frankie Teardrop as "Bauhaus covering the Beach Boys," which nails their sound pretty well.  I finally caught these guys a couple of weeks back at the 10,000 Sounds Festival and I can attest to the "you really have to see them live" reputation that they've earned.  The band's trajectory from Tough Guy to Raiders is an encouraging one and I'm excited to see where these guys go next.  Until then, really, you should see them live.

Raiders was self-released by Frankie Teardrop on his brand new No Problem Records.  If you'd like to check it out for yourself head over to the Bandcamp site where the record's available as a "Name Your Price" download.

Newest Industry Presents - Flatbasset Radio: Episode #42

(THIS POST ORIGINALLY APPEARS ON THE TWIN CITIES BLOG NEWEST INDUSTRY)

You need proof? Get brandy...

Hello, podcast fans!  Welcome to Flatbasset Radio: Episode #42!

For those of you who are unaware of the Flatbasset Radio format, here's what you're looking at: TCDroogsma is our resident MP3 junkie. As you've probably noticed in his Songs Of The Week column, he's not always the most positive music fan. In an effort to prove that he is, in fact, a fan of music, we give him an hour each week to play the songs he's digging and talk a little bit about them. Once he's recorded his podcast we put it right here on the website for free to stream and/or download!

TCDroogsma is back flyin' solo for Episode #42.  In this week's show he explains why he's solo, plays a request from one of his regular listeners, declares Purple Rain one of God's favorite albums, explains Flatbasset Radio's DTS policy, discusses the breakout star of the 10K Sounds Festival, struggles to read, laments the passing of the last original Ramone, celebrates one of hip-hop's great hooks, indulges in one of his all-time favorite "summer bands," and talks about his favorite concert ever.  All that plus the Cover Of The Week and the Flatbasset Flatclassic!

You can download the podcast for free by clicking the episode's title or stream the episode by clicking on the Mixcloud player below.

Flatbasset Radio - Episode #42

Flatbasset Radio: Episode #42 by Tcdroogsma on Mixcloud

01. The Rosebuds - Blue Eyes
02. Mos Def - Grown Man Business
03. Fugazi - Smallpox Champion
04. The Twilight Singers - When Doves Cry
05. Dark Time Sunshine - No Worries
06. Chalk - Seatbelts (Live On Radio K)
07. Sylvan Esso - Coffee
08. Ramones - Howling At The Moon (Sha-La-La)
09. Chi Ali - Funky Lemonade (Remix)
10. The Specials - Friday Night, Saturday Morning
11. Wilco - Hummingbird

There you have it, music fans! Enjoy!

For more TCDroogsma be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma).  Previous episodes of Flatbasset Radio are archived on his Mixcloud page.  Stop by Flatbasset Radio's Facebook Page & give it a "Like" if you have the time.

 

For more Newest Industry be sure to give us a follow on Twitter (@NewestIndustry1) to stay up on the work being done by all of our contributors.  More importantly, we have a Facebook page here.  Trivial as it seems, stopping by and giving us a "Like" is a free & legitimate way to support the blog.