Zeus covers Stone Temple Pilots Vasoline (download)

The Toronto based rock quartet Zeus have defined such a distinctive sound for themselves that even the notion of them performing a cover seems somewhat beyond their fiercely self-produced ethic.  Still what's a band with their own studio, still flogging the deluxe edition of their singular Busting Visions LP, to do between European tours then put out an album of covers (the Covers EP is available April 2 exclusively through GalleryAC.com).

While they've played the Gabriel era Genesis cover That's All as a staple of their live show from their earliest performances this is an engaging development for a fiercely independent band whose influences are as hard to peg as their distinctive sound.

Following the spirited choice to cover Big Star's Ballad of El Goodo as part of a Q107 DisCOVERy series, a number of the new covers leave longtime fans wont for more.  As a teaser to the full release they've posted a downloadable version of their cover of Stone Temple Pilots Vasoline.

Zeus Covers EP tracklist

Who Is It? (Michael Jackson)
Vasoline (Stone Temple Pilots)
The Ballad of El Goodo (Big Star)
Ignition (Remix) (R. Kelly)
That's All (Genesis)
Without a Map (Sam Roberts Band)
Fight Test (Flaming Lips)



Mister Lies - Cleam

Mister Lies released Cleam on the Hidden Neighbours EP in 2012.  When you read that he's a Chicago producer, you think to yourself 'oh he must be the Second City's answer to James Blake'.  Sometimes you'd rather not know he's a 19 yr. old named Nick Zanca studying dramatic writing and Philosophy at Columbia College.  Further proof that the Singularity is nigh.

Cleam captured the zeitgeist of 2012 in a way that seemed improbable given the density and variety of releases.   It opens with a plaintive melody and the sound of rainfall that continues intermittently throughout. This Rashomon rainfall is somehow redemptive, while the melody suggests a vague melancholy striped with hope.   It's delicate stride and time stretched quality endear it to the now but the vocals, very slow seemingly male pose a question (if you can make it out): Make a move, it's only human (has been what my ear has always heard). "Make A Move" suggests both stasis and opportunity.  In a move that's past-ironic it turns out Zanca found the moral heart of the song from a brief sample of Brandy flipped to his device.  So it is that Brandy's 1994 Atlantic release  I Wanna Be Down which contains those lyrics became a part of the spirit of the ages:

That your the kind of guy that I should make a move on
And if I don't let you know
Then I won't be for real
 

The Brandy sample appears at :43 seconds into I Wanna Be Down and at :44 seconds into Cleam and throughout.

 

Physical Therapy - Drone On (feat. Jamie Krasner)

Now finally here's some EDM (Electronic Dance Music) with balls.  What sounds like it's just one of countless Brooklyn (yes, Brooklyn!) producer/vocal duos with droning vocals cues an air horn just past the minute mark and shakes loose something verging on a good and proper '94 Jungle beat - bringing the whole piece up a notch considerably. 
Drone On  was released by producer Physical Therapy on his Safety Net EP on July 24, 2012.  A strong remix (for free download)  by Supreme Cuts also plays up the stems of the bed track nicely.

Danny Brown Bruiser Brigade EP (free download)

In 2010 a man named Danny Brown, with fewer connections to Detroit Hip Hop then people would like to imagine,  with a few choice collaborations under his belt (including with Dilla and Black Milk) released The Hybrid.  It took a few years for the adenoid squawk of his voice to gain popularity outside of very limited circles that began with a core following of backpack enthusiasts, radiating out to strip club bartenders, and so on.  But a hybrid of what?  It seemed fairly clear that it was a hybrid of electronic music, of the abandoned building and huge speaker cabinet variety, and hip hop.  On last year's XXX which garnered top honours from everyone from Spin to Pitchfork as one of if not the best Hip Hop album of the year, it was certainly a jagged little antidote to the greasy chutzpah of Drake and his protege The Weaknd.  Danny deserves all of the attention, modelling his prodigious output on Lil B's similar grind and MF Doom's meticulous plotted-out-on-paper assaults, over a very local style of Detroit Ghettotech inspired beats, all with as he will admit a 'hood grade 2 vocabulary'. 

 



The zeitgeist for Danny was right in 2012 his 'crackhead made good' over slick disjointed beats just seemed like a winning formula. In fairness despite missing his front tooth (from a 'nasty bike accident') Danny did indeed sell a good amount of crack (hear Greatest Rapper Ever from The Hybrid) but was not a crack user, he freely admits serious abuse of the prescription drug Adderal (hear Adderal Admiral off XXX, or a more thoughtful take on Prescription Rx from The Hybrid) as well as Molly- a popular name for MDMA that is pure as the driven snow and likely acquired by a reliable source).  Danny's been talking up Bruiser Brigade,  well, since the song Bruiser Brigade appeared on XXX, as his twisted version of something like G Unit or whatever DMX called his crew.  It sounds a bit more like Danny Brown's Tuesday Night Nintendo Club as DB is notorious for not leaving the house and having his small circle of friends and 'collaborators' over to his place.  Bruiser Brigade is: Danny Brown, Chip$ (currently incarcerated), MC Dopehead (Danny's cousin) and their gangly white producer SKYWLKRwho produced the majority of XXX's beats and with whom Danny seems most comfortable if not most challenged by. 

Danny's found the label home he set out to get at A Trak's Fool's Gold imprint.  The Bruiser Brigade EP is available for free download through their offshoot Scion A/V.