
Tonight at Arclight Cinemas Hollywood catch THE BEST movie of the year with a special Q&A with producer Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World) & electrifying new star John Boyega following the 6:10 Saturday screening! Get your tickets HERE!


Hundreds of people lined up early as early as 4am Thursday near Hollywood & Highland in the hopes of getting just a glimpse of Lady Gaga. The Amoeba Army was there too, having a blast and giving out goodies in the proce

The pop diva, along with her two guitarists and several dancers, performed live on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Show and gave the thousands that later turned out a show of shows.
Gaga played five songs from her new release Born This Way.

1) DJ Khaled We The Best Forever (Cash Money/Universal)
2) Tyler the Creator Goblin (XL Recordings)
3) Eminem Recovery (Aftermath)
4) Aesop Rock Labor Days (Definitive Jux)
5) Lil Wayne I Am Not A Human Being (Cash Money/Univ.)
The top selling hip-hop release at the Amoeba Hollywood store this week is the fifth studio album and the major label debut from DJ Khaled. This latest from the established DJ/producer/radio personality is titled We the Best Forever - so titled after his own label We The Best - and it features some of the best known in the rap game these days. The album's packed guest list includes such heavyweights as Kanye West, Nas, Jay-Z, Fat Joe, Chris Brown, Keyshia Cole, Cee Lo Green, Rick Ross, Birdman, Lil Wayne, T.I., Akon, Drake and Nicki Minaj. The first single "Welcome to My Hood" which features cameos from Rick Ross, Plies, Lil Wayne and T-Pain became a major radio hit and grabbed everyone's attention when it dropped earlier in the year to help build anticipation for this release which debuted at number 5 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart this week. This anticipation for We The Best Forever has been further fueled by the other 3 singles (yes four singles total for the


via Matador Records /WFMU
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#41 - The Beautiful South - Miaow - 1994 Evidently The Beautiful South were threatened with a lawsuit by HMV for this cover for using "their dog". The cover was replaced by a cover of 4 alsation dogs stranded in a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean. |
#4 - Moby Grape - S/T - 1967 Columbia realizes too late that a certain middle finger is showing. Efforts to airbrush out the finger don't quiet the controversy. |
#6 - The Bob Seger System - Ramblin' Gamblin' Man - 1969 |


After getting word of her devastating (and costly) plight Too $hort and fourteen other Bay Area hip-hop artists, including Hugh EMC, San Quinn, Rappin 4-Tay, Big Rich, Roach Gigz. Equipto, Napalm, Gold Toes, Baldhead Rick, Voice, Young Mind, Gullie, DJ Lazy Boy, Epicenter Sound, and CoBlooded the Great, all agreed to perform in a special benefit concert on the Labor Day Weekend to raise money for Juliana's rising health care costs. Luckily her father, Jesus Pena, is good friends with SF rapper CoBlooded the Great who took it upon himself to organize and produce this worthy benefit concert. “When I saw the pain she was suffering and the toll on the family, I knew I had to help,” CoBlooded said, noting how, despite the bad rep that rap artists so often get, that this is another example of positivity within the Bay Area rap world. “We can show you that these rappers are doing positive things in the community,” he said of the benefit show that is the Labor Day Shakedown and will take place at Space 550 in San Francisco.
I didn't think that I could actually like this new album as much as I did that last album. Another one of my favorites from a couple of years ago was the debut album from The Teenagers. I am still waiting on that second album. It has been way too long. But I sort of doubt that it can really be as fantastic as that first album. I do love the new album by Pictureplane. The new album might even be a little more accessible than the last album.. It is still weird and all mixed up. But the songs seem to flow a little better. I am posting the video for "Post Physical" below. This is one of the best tracks on the album. Another one of my favorite songs on the album is "Trancegender." The song features vocals by the great Zola Jesus. If you have not already checked out the amazing albums of Zola Jesus. I suggest that you do so now. These are the kind of records I love for the summer months. They are still dark and weird. But they are also fun and dancey. This is pop music. Just not your normal pop music. I am very happy to have Pictureplane back in my life. This album is helping me get through the summer.


Though not a household name outside of New Orleans and circles of New Orleans Rap fans, he was one of the undisputed pioneers in the city's scene. Like a hip-hop Zelig he seemed to exist in the eye of the city's musical storm, never to break out nationally but always respected by musicians around him. In a violent era that saw many of New Orleans' musical talents cut down at a young age, Smooth collaborated freely and frequently with members of warring camps, always appreciated and always relevant. It was with especially cruel irony that Smooth, a rapper gifted with both lyrics and flow, was felled by cancer of the mouth and tongue.
Tim Smooth was born Timothy Smoot west if New Orleans in the Kennedy Heights area of Waggaman, on the West Bank in Jefferson Parish. He took the title “the Knight from Kennedy Heights.” and began


Also below are LA's brilliant Surf Punks and their song "My Beach" which had several video versions including the one in the 1982 music documentary Urgh! A Music War. The one below is the video that was shot a bit later in 1983 for the KABC Los Angeles' video show "Goodnight L.A." Other videos below include Swedish duo Air France's "Beach Party" (although only a small part shot at the beach), Washington DC's Slickee Boys' 1983 summer anthem "When I Go To The Beach," The Wavves' "King of the Beach" (unofficial fan made video by YouTuber CuppinNuggets), and one of two video versions of "Boys On The Beach" by UK satirical fictional (but very entertaining) rap character MC Devvo.
The Embers "I Love Beach Music"
I've also included the video for NorCal group the Surf MCs who were signed to Profile Records for a minute back in the 80's and marketed as a rap/rock surf/skater ensemble. This song and video, which could fall under the so-bad-its-good category, came out in 1987 and the video, while not shot at the actual beach, conveys the feeling of being down at the beach on a summer's day like today.


Although the nickname "The Bay" is often employed (rather self-centeredly, I might add) is often used by North Californians in reference to the San Francisco Bay, California actually has many bays, including Anchor Bay, Bodega Bay, Emerald Bay, Estero Bay, Granite Bay, Half Moon Bay, Meeks Bay, Morro Bay, Soda Bay, San Pedro Bay… you get the idea. And I'll admit, in Starship's "We Built this City," when the DJ says "the city by the bay, the city that rocks, the city that never sleeps," as a naive teenager in Tampa I thought they were celebrating Tampa Bay… the city that was built by Death Metal - God's honest truth.


Pendersleigh & Sons' Official Map of LA County Pendersleigh & Sons' Official Map of the South Bay

The project's title is a combo of Fugazi's 1990 album 13 Songs (the cover art resembles it too) and the Wu's 36 Chambers. It includes such Wu Tang acapellas as "C.R.E.A.M." (aka "Cash Rules Everything Around Me") from their aforementioned landmark 1993 debut album Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) which becomes "S.C.R.E.A.M." as in "Sleep Rules Everything Around Me." And it also includes solo Wu member acapellas too such as Ol' Dirty Bastard's "Shimmy Shimmy Ya" which becomes "Forensic Shimmy." Both songs, as well as "Suicide Surprise," are below to play back. For more info and to download Wugazi: 13 Chambers visit the Wugazi website.
Read about the contest on the SF Station blog!
"Like" SF Station on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sfstation
Amoeba is proud to once again sponsor the Treasure Island Music Festival!
Head over to www.treasureislandfestival.com for full details
or buy your two-day pass HERE:
http://www.

Today, Monday July 25th at 6pm, the amazing group Battles will be doing a free, all ages performance at

Bituaya’s first show in Los Angles wasn’t met with much fanfare. Roughly sixty people came to their show Saturday at Tropical De Nopal gallery, hosted by Eclectica deejays Reyes and Glenn Red. After their seventy five minute set briefly stalled by power outages and a complaining neighbor who called the police, I can gladly say that I was there to witness one of the best shows I’ve seen this year, if not in the last few.
Bituaya hails from Venezuela, a country known by most Americans more for their oil, baseball players and of course, their leader Hugo Chavez, who is overly hated by the right and overly loved by the left. Venezuela has a rich music history, from the Joropo music that reminds me of Mexico’s Son Jarocho, to Latin Pop stars Richardo Montaner and Jose “El Puma” Rodriguez. In recent years people all over the world have been getting down to the alterna-house sounds of the legendary Los Amigos Invisibles. Venezuela also has a rich history of great Salsa artists such as personal favorites, Oscar D’Leon, Federico y Su Combo, Los Dementes and La Dimension Latina. One cannot deny the influence of Caribbean music on Venezuelans or for that matter, on Bituaya as a band. Bituaya continues the trend of recent Latin America artists perfecting the mixture of Merengue, Salsa, Cumbia, Reggae, Hip-Hop and Electronica effortlessly and without sounding contrived.

Joe Johnston's Cap is a symbol of America, but more of our foreign policy than domestic issues:
As Steve Rogers, he starts off small and frail ("a 90 pound asthmatic"), but unwilling to back down from bullies. One pummels him in the alley, but he just keeps getting up to be hit again until his virile buddy Bucky Barnes chases the bully off. Adolf Hitler is a bully, and Steve won't back down from him, either, nor should America. Thus, America is never the bully, only the bullied or the defender of the weak from the bullies.
Steve might be weak, but what's really important to his status as a hero is his heart and soul. Not just anyone could've been made into the superhero Captain America through the injection of the super-serum formula. It took someone with a truly good heart, intrinsically anti-bully, to wield all that superpower in the correct, moral direction. The Red Skull was injected with the same formula, but look how ugly he turned out. That is, America is a benevolent superpower (and better looking than our enemies), intrinsically deserving of our power over others, since it's not our nature to use force wantonly.
Steve repeatedly lies, but only for a just cause, to get himself in the military to serve his country and vanquish evil. Despite his 4-F status, he's sure that his country needs him to fight as a man, not as a scientist or with some other skill set that doesn't involve muscle. Dr. Abraham Erskine, the German inventor of the formula, recognizes the determination of Steve in his willingness to lie for a just cause and enters him into the super soldier program. Realpolitik might make lies necessary, but that's not a problem as long as you remain true to yourself and your cause is just. We lie for good reasons, our ends are justified, and we are necessary for those ends to be realized. When the time comes, we'll jump on the grenade to protect you.

Glider 2LP
Ghostly
There’s a beating heart buried in the cold landscape of Glider, a warm 4/4 pulse that enervates the album’s echoing, looped drones and pulls the listener swiftly through the snow. By pinning barely-there electronic beats to his wisps of guitar melody, the Seattle-based producer turns ambient music into a hybrid strain of breathtakingly intimate, small-scale dance music. There’s a separation of elements in The Sight Below’s songs that’s almost meteorological in nature: Tendrils of treated guitar trail lazy patterns in the sky like the Aurora Borealis (“At First Touch”), flicker in the distance like heat lightning (“Dour”), or expand and contract like time-lapse cloud formations (“Life’s Fading Light”); running along beneath, nearly obscured by the airborne phenomena, is an ever-present beat, which ranges from the mud-puddle throb in “Without Motion” to the tiny, insistent high-hats in “A Fractured Smile.” The tracks evolve at a deliberated pace, but as the tones overlap and the rhythms build, time oozes to a halt and hangs in blissfully frost-bitten suspended animation. With Glider, The Sight Below has created a work of vertiginous sonic depth and exquisite melancholy: techno music for a dark, brooding night.
Purchase Glider here:

Iron Curtis
Goma EP– San Soda / Mano Le Tough 12"
Kolour

1) Beastie Boys
Hot Sauce Committee Part Two
(Capitol Records)
Claiming the #1 spot for God-knows-how-many-weeks and counting is the new Beastie Boys' album Hot Sauce Committee Part Two which continues to rope in old fans and new fans alike with its lo-fi old school aesthetic and prominent guest features. About as popular as new rap records get, and pretty dang good to boot!
2) Vakill Armor of God (Molemen Inc.)
Resurfacing after a 6 year absence from the game is one of Chicago’s finest MCs Vakill, who ropes in Jake One and his long-time affiliates the Molemen for his grand return. Vakill is known for penning vicious punchlines



Have you ever sat slumped at your miserable computer at your excruciating job, staring blankly at an Excel spreadsheet that mocks your very existence but really secretly hoping that a heavy metal band would come and whisk you away to a magical land of booze and Satan? Sure, we all have.



Amoeba is excited to help sponsor the largest independent design show in the country!
Attendees get the rare chance to meet and shop directly from over 250 hand-selected designers and artists. The exciting two-day shopping event makes it easy for you to buy local and support LA’s economy, discover great design and deals, join in community, and have a blast!
At the Barker Hangar (3021 Airport Avenue, Santa Monica, CA).
More info. http://uniquela.com
On Sunday, August 7, Amoeba makes a repeat appearance at one of the Southland's biggest and best record swap meets, Pasadena City College's Flea Market and Record Swap. With over 500 vendors, the Flea Market features antiques and collectibles, records, tools, clothes, toys and much more, not to mention food and good company. The Flea Market and Record Swap is from 8am-3pm. Look for the Amoeba booth located in the Bonnie St. parking structure (Lot 5) on the 3rd Level. We'll have a great selection of vinyl, so come out and enjoy your Sunday with us!
The LA Weekly calls the show “the best source for used records in all of Southern California.” Come on out and enjoy your Sunday with us! More here.



Truth be told, there are many places you can hear music like Omar Souleyman across the Los Angeles area. In various Arabic restaurants in Glendale, Alhambra and the West Hollywood you can find someone like Souleyman’s collaborator Rizan Sa'id on a couple of keyboards playing behind a group of belly dancers or at a wedding reception. However, comparing Souleyman to those restaurant musicians is the equivalent of comparing Junior Kimbrough to some hack wearing a fedora playing slick Chicago-style blues. Sure, they both play blues music, but with Kimbrough, you felt the blues.
I had a feeling what an Omar Souleyman audience would look like: The hipster boys who travel to places like Indonesia and buy cassettes of local artists with their ambiguously ethic girlfriends? Check! Arabic people, mostly Syrian nationals, checking out a guy from their home country? Check! The “way too cool” musicians and deejays, who never say anything to you even though you see them everywhere you go? Check! Aging hipsters, still on the brink of discovering something new? Check! Ok, we can proceed.
I wasn't much of a fan of this other major creation, The Brady Bunch, but I wasted a whole lot of my summer
vacations watching Sherwood Schwartz's Gilligan's Island (for which he wrote the theme song's lyrics).
I just learned of his death. He was 94.
Programmed by George Chen, L@TE: Friday Nights @ BAM/PFA is a three-part summer series is sponsored by Amoeba Music.
The series kicks-off on Friday, August 5th:
C. Spencer Yeh / David Horvitz
Friday, August 5, 2011
Doors 5:00 PM / DJ (Matt Thompson) / Performance 7:30 PM
Tickets available at the door - $7
Join us for an evening of sonic exploration and social engagement with artists C. Spencer Yeh and David Horvitz. Brooklyn-based Yeh (who also performs under the long-running identity Burning Star Core) is a solo artist and improviser who uses violin, voice, and electronics. He has collaborated with Tony Conrad, New Humans with Vito Acconci, Thurston Moore, and Jandek among many others. Yeh will be performing solo improvisations on violin and voice utilizing the open space of BAM/PFA’s Gallery B. Horvitz, also based in Brooklyn, is a photographer and performance artist whose activities include the 241543903 project, A Wikipedia Reader, and guided food tours. In the prankster tradition, he stages surprising interactions that replicate the online experience. His absurdist social-practice approach to art making will take full advantage of BAM/PFA and the L@TE audience.
More info: http://bampfa.berkeley.edu/exhibition/late080511
Facebook invite: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=203129313073278


"A Hierophant is a person who deciphers arcane knowledge. On this album Casual's wordplay demands your attention while his vocabulary inspires thought," is the accurate description of the word Hierphant that inspired the title of talented longtime Oakland emcee (and high profile Hieroglyphics member) Casual's highly recommended new album The Hierophant - according to the official website for the artist's latest release in a career spanning almost two full decades - releasing his debut album Fear Itself back in 1994 following hot on the heels of his much acclaimed, most impressive cameo appearances on albums by fellow Hieros Del Tha Funkee Homosapien and Souls of Mischief.

Sark Island Acid EP
L.I.E.S

Always telling stories with his songs the prolific Danny Wolfers' latest offering the ''Sark Island Acid'' EP once again brings the listener into his shadowy world where the sounds of Chicago and Detroit meld with a demented dreamworld in which woodland creatures attempt space travel, lonely middle-aged men cast off by society perform circuit bending experiments in their parents suburban basement and autistic fans of late night talk radio call in from the outer-reaches to discuss world politics. Three tracks with the A-side being the bubbling, subduded and beautiful title track Sark Island Acid and the B-side containing the smudged out 808 ghetto compression of Backwoods Fantasies and the epic piano driven Sea of Nuhuhu. Strictly limited!

Newworldaquarium
Dead Bears 2LP
NWAQ

Above is the Strive Films produced video for the new track "Dope" by underrated Bay Area hip-hop crew BPos which is dedicated to the late great Dub Star (aka Rick Flare/Kwanz/K-Dub) of Bored Stiff fame (fellow Bored Stiff member Equipto is among the many folks making cameos in the above video). "Dope" is

Serengeti's anticipated new album, Family & Friends on Anticon, had its release date pushed back to August 9th when both CD and vinyl versions of this excellent album will arrive in Amoeba. Look for an Amoeblog interview with the unique Chicago area emcee on that same date. Also coming next month is a hot new collaborative project called Flash Bang Grenada which is the combined forces of LA alternative MC Busdriver and Low End Theory MC Nocando. Their 10 track album 10 Haters will drop August 23rd and should be a popular item with fans of underground hip-hop. As well as production from such Low End regulars like Nosaj Thing, Free The Robots, and Shlohmo there will be guest mic spots from Del the Funky Homosapien and Open Mike Eagle.
Midtown is a small but bustling area of Los Angeles surrounded by the larger regions of Hollywood to the north, the Westside to the west, South LA to the south and the Mideast side to the east. As the crossroads of Los Angeles' population, the once whites-only region has long been one of its most ethnically and economically diverse areas, not only home to the largely Jewish Fairfax District and the ethnic enclaves of Koreatown and Little Bangladesh; it's also LA's only African-American enclave, Little Ethiopia.
The loosely-defined districts within Midtown include the areas of Mid-City, Mid-City West, Mid-Wilshire and Wilshire Center. Within them are numerous and distinct neighborhoods of varying sizes and character that collectively define Midtown's diverse nature. Sometimes Midtown is referred to as Wilshire, after Henry Gaylord Wilshire, the father of Midtown.
DEVELOPMENT OF MIDTOWN

The line up for this year's bigger and better, eight edition of the Decibel Festival (full name Decibel

Performers in this year's ever expanding annual festival include Amon Tobin, who will be performing his latest piece/current seventh album ISAM (see concert trailer above) Moby, Ladytron, Bonobo, Zomby, Quantic, Mad Professor, Holy Fuck, Martyn, Motor City Drum Ensemble, DJ Krush, Green Velvet, Araab Musik, Ulrich Schnauss, Chateau Flight, Girl Unit, Bok Bok, Atlantic Connection, Egyptrixx, Blondes, Matthewdavid, Salva, and many more.
This year's expanded variety of venues will include The Paramount Theater, The Showbox Market, The Crocodile, Fred Wildlife Refuge, The Baltic Room, Sole Repair, and The Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya. For more details and tickets for the 2011 Decibel Festival, visit here.

Recently uploaded on Facebook and YouTube under the description Want to buy a record with Mel Blanc at Wallichs Music City / "Vinage Los Angeles" on Facebook the above 1951 promotional film (half-hour in length) reportedly was never shown to the public until now, been used six decades ago for promotional use only among record executives. Check it out if you are an avid record collector or fan of the recording industry's history including the record pressing process, or if you are interested in seeing some classic Hollywood landmarks from sixty years ago including Capitol Records (the producers of

As noted in the YouTube description Mel Blanc, "plays a record dealer who is desperately trying to sell anyone a record at the corner of Sunset & Vine streets in Hollywood, California while pestering several people, (including Yogi Yorgeson!!). Billy May approaches playing a regular guy walking down the street, Mel takes him into his record store, (Wallichs Music City) & proceeds to pitch everything in the store to him. In the end Billy won't pay the 85 cents for a record & Mel decides to show him exactly how records are made! They go over to the Capitol Records recording studios on Melrose Avenue & meet with Alan Livingston who takes them on a tour, here is where they run into several famous folks while getting into a little bit of mischief along the way! We get to see rare footage of Dean Martin in the studio actually recording one of his hit records! they run into Les Paul and Mary Ford, a vocal group, a country & western singer (Merle Travis?), and even Bozo the Clown!"

Mastodon's anticipated fifth album The Hunter may not be released for several more months but the ever popular Atlanta heavy metal band's label Reprise/Warner have just unveiled the forthcoming album's arwork (above) which was by done by contemporary American folk artist AJ Fosik. Still in production the band has announced that new album tracks will include the songs "Blasteroids," "All the Heavy Lifting," "The Octopus Has No Friends," "Stargasm," and "Curl Of The Burl." Slated for a late Summer/early Fall 2011 release The Hunter is the follow up to their March 2009 studio album Crack the Skye and their CD/DVD live concert package Live At The Aragon which was released in March this year.
The members of Mastodon are longtime fans of Aqua Teen Hunger Force. In 2007 they performed the opening song ("Cut You Up with a Linoleum Knife") of Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters, and more recently they contributed to the Adult Swim the previously unreleased song "Deathbound." The song, which is from the Crack The Skye sessions, can be found for free download on adultswim.com. The Mastodon track as well as the video clip is part of the ten week, 2011 Adult Swim Singles Program. This summer the band is part of the Sonisphere Festival touring Europe. For more touring and general band info visit the Mastodon website. And below is the just released official album trailer video featuring the new album track "Black Tongue."


We realized that people are more than just curious about the works of certain directors; some look to their work for a distinct and consistent vision that caters to their tastes and standards. In film criticism they call this the "auteur theory." Certain directors have developed a reputation and a prestige that transcends generations. Many see directors as a film's primary artist, using an assemblage of talented cinematographers, musicians and editors to bring their image to the screen. And while some may disagree with the concept, opting to praise a screenwriter or producer instead, who can deny the feeling one gets from a certain director's work? We recognize that film is a collaborative process, but we'd also like to recognize many directors whose technique and style has influenced more than just cinema.
Horror


We now have over two-dozen autograph bin cards throughout the Latin section, most of them, acquired by Paul Vasquez, World Music employee since 2006. I asked him a few questions about why and how this happened.
What was the first autograph bin that you had signed?
It was Rodrigo Y Gabriela. They did an in-store performance and I thought they were so cool that I wanted an excuse to talk to them. By then we had a few autograph bins that Joyanne and other World Music employees have gotten so I told them it was a tradition, which it is now.
Some are, but most of them come from the artists themselves shopping at the store or people they are with introduce us to them. For instance, a friend of Los Tres Reyes introduced the members to me while they were shopping at the store. I love their music but I wouldn’t have recognized them.
Was there anyone that refused to autograph the bin card?
Check out last year's gallery here.

This blog entry is about Huntington Beach, a beach city in North Orange County. To Huntington Beach's southwestern edge is the Pacific Ocean. To its north are Seal Beach and Westminster. To the east is Fountain Valley. North and east is the Little Saigon area. To the southeast are the towns of Costa Mesa and Newport Beach.

It's the largest beach city in Orange County. Accompanying me on this installment was a mysterious new traveling companion and HB resident known only as Bao. As is usual, we being with a bit of history.
EARLY HISTORY OF HUNTINGTON BEACH
The area that now constitutes Huntington Beach was for thousands of years a border territory shared by the seafaring Tongva people to the north and the smaller Acagchemem nation to the south. At the time the area was an isolated mesa surrounded by a soggy expanse of bogs and shallow marshes fed by estuaries and artesian wells. At the western foot of the bluff was a large tidal lagoon.
We all know that vinyl was supposed to be long dead by now. But it ain't; far from it in fact. Neither CDs nor MP3s managed to kill off records like we were told that they would. Rather demand for, and sales of, vinyl has grown increasingly in recent years. The Nielsen Company reports that in 2010 US vinyl sales reached 2.8 million units while in 2006 they were only at 900,000 units - a significant increase that is continually growing.
Just recently Nielsen reported that vinyl sales for 2011 are already up nearly 40% over the same time period for last year. Not surprising then Amoeba Music has been expanding its vinyl sections accordingly to accommodate this increasing demand for records. Recently the vinyl section at the Hollywood Amoeba store grew by about 20% to make room for both used collectible albums (a hot commodity) and the influx of new LP pressings and re-issues of older music.
Similarly to the misguided pronouncement of vinyl's demise, the more recent premature talk of how physical books are fast becoming an obsolete medium - replaced by Kindles and iPads and other digital devices to read E-Books on - is also proving to be an incorrect prediction. Yes it's true that, like with music before it, digital downloads of books are the preferred format for the masses. But, as with music in a physical format vs a digital one, the rapid growth of E-Books is actually helping create a new demand for books and a new smaller, specialized niche market for them; especially certain types of books like reference books, art books, music history books etc. - the sort of book that one likes to pore over its pages. Again Amoeba Music is responding to this new growing niche by slowly but steadily increasing its book sections. At the Hollywood Amoeba the book section (new and used) is gradually expanding and deepening its genres (art, culture, politics as well as music related books) and Amoeba is encouraging more of its customers to bring their cool music and art and film books to sell or trade for this growing new wave of book appreciators.

1) Curren$y Weekend at Burnie's (Warner Bros)
2) Shabazz Palaces Black Up (Sub Pop)
3) Pete Rock/Smif-n-Wessun Monumental (DuckDown)
4) Philthy Rich & Messy Marv Neighborhood Superstar Part 3 (Town Thizzness)
5) Matthew Shipp/Beans/William Parker/Hprizm Knives From Heaven (Thirsty Ear)
6) Raashan Ahmad For What You've Lost (PID)
Big ups to Luis at Amoeba San Francisco for this latest hip-hop chart that includes in the number one slot the anticipated new release from one of hip-hop's most buzzed about (albeit under the

Our first Amoeba field trip to the Bowl was back in 2007, also to see Hall and Oates, and it became the stuff of legend around the store.

Amoebite Tuna brought some blue face paint to help us get into the 4th of July spirit. By the time the bus pulled up to the Bowl, most of us had shiny blue paint somewhere on our faces. An unintended, but pleasant side effect of the paint - it helped us identify each other in the sea of people entering and leaving the bowl. Look for the blue paint! Tuna even befriended the people in the rows around us, painting their faces blue as well.
Hall & Oates performed most of their classic hits, opening the show with "Maneater" and closing it with "Private Eyes" accompanied by the LA Philharmonic. We danced, we sang, and we danced some more.

And then there was the fireworks show - most definitely a spectacular, as the Bowl promised. Set off directly behind and on top of the Bowl itself, everyone in the ampitheatre had a fantastic view of some pretty fabulous fireworks.
New 12"s @ Amoeba Hollywood 7/7 - John Beltran, Move D, Nicolas Jaar, John Tejada, Jason Fine & more

John Beltran
Ambient Selections 1995-2011 3LP
Delsin
Delsin is proud to present this best-of ambient compilation by one of their all-time producer heroes, John Beltran. The 16 tracks presented here include "Collage Of Dreams," as featured on HBO's Six Feet Under series, and other material from his sought-after albums originally released on Peacefrog and R&S. Beltran is a staple of the Detroit techno scene, releasing records on the Retroactive label that would later develop into his trademark contemplative, melodic style. Includes cuts from Earth & Nightfall (1995), Ten Days Of Blue (1996), Moving Through Here (1997), Going Home (2006), The Sky EP Series No. 2 (2000), his Placid Angles release The Cry (1997) his self-titled Indio release (1999), Americano (2002) and Human Engine (2006). With extensive liner notes from the artist himself.
Purchase Ambient Selections 1995-2011 3LP

Move D
Workshop 13
Workshop
Crafty upbuilding disco.esquer house EP from the Hardwax camp.
Purchase Workshop 13 here:
My interview with KRS-One this time last year at the Hollywood Amoeba has just recently been edited and uploaded (above) to the Amoeba video archives. The interview and audience Q+A session that followed at Amoeba was based around KRS-One's book The Gospel of Hip-Hop which you can buy in store or online from Amoeba.com for just $9.99. The in-depth book, whose full title is The Gospel of Hip Hop: First Instrument presented by KRS One for the Temple of Hip Hop and is published by Powerhouse Books, was written over several years by the veteran hip-hop artist, activist, educator, and author. After spending even a short time in the company of KRS you quickly realize that the man lives and breathes hip-hop culture. His famous line, "rap is something you do, Hip Hop is something to live," are truly words that he lives by. In conversation he mentions Hip Hop (his spelling of the words) continually and clearly never stops thinking about it and its ramifications.
"I think Hip Hop is the savior of American society; Hip Hop itself brings cultures together because it gives people a chance to talk and to really see what the other guy is thinking and in a peaceful way," he told me when I asked about the real meaning of Hip Hop as a culture and a lifestyle in the six-part series of The Gospel of Hip Hop According to KRS- One Amoeblogs with him leading up to the in store interview above. A regular on the lecture circuit KRS-One was never a loss for words or opinion during the unique Amoeba instore (usually artists perform music not talk). And afterwards he stuck around for quite a while signing copies of his book, posing for photos and chopping it up with folks who wanted to talk to the man known as The Teacha. Below is the What's In My Bag video of KRS-One shopping for music with his son Lil Kris aka DJ/producer Predator Prime. Pick up The Gospel of Hip Hop online for only $9.99 while supplies last.
Aloha, bitches! The boyfriend and I have just returned from a luxuriously lengthy leisure-time in Moku’āina o Hawai’i – specifically, the islands of Maui and Moloka’i. What will follow, over a course of weeks, is my travelogue. SPOILER ALERT: I survive to write this paragraph you’re reading.
Thursday. June 16, 2011.
Nothing makes me wistful for days gone by like traveling by plane. I’m old enough to remember a time when you could escape your reasonably comfortable seat for a small, smoking lounge and make small-talk with other passengers. Meals were included and expected, complimentary playing cards were practically forced on you, and bathrooms were more than one square inch larger than my skeleton.
Traveling by plane was a luxury, like taking a limo, pre-ordering a soufflé, or soaking in salt crystals made from blood diamonds. There was an implied dignity – it was something to look forward to: to be seated and be served.
Before the terrorists won.
Cut to: me and my boyfriend frantically racing to gut our backpacks and pockets of anything shiny and throwing them in large, grey tubs – Will my lip balm set off the alarm? Better throw it in, just in case…; stripping ourselves of shoes and spectacles, praying to a God that doesn’t exist we aren’t targeted to be put through the x-ray, knowing we’d refuse and have to succumb to the most unfulfilling massage imaginable; finally making it to our gate to find the two flights before us have been delayed since dawn, so the terminal is as absolutely packed with weary bodies, looking like some alternative concentration camp where people actually gained weight.


The day long (10am to 10pm) event also features several fun sessions throughout the day. These sessions include the all ages, family friendly Picnic in the Park and the Family Fun Day respectively from 10am to 1pm & 2pm to 5pm, and the 21+ Date Night from 6pm to 9pm. Each of these events are limited to 1500

There are very few artists who four full decades into their careers are still consistently making riveting

Not surprisingly Eno's artistic output and his approach to music continues to influence generation after generation of new electronic artists. So it makes sense that for Eno's latest release, Drums Between the Bells, that the electronic music innovator should again join




I don't know why the Farrelly brothers' Hall Pass wasn't more successful. It's no worse than Kingpin or There's Something About Mary and is about the same thing: men trying to get it up. If you found the previous efforts funny, then there's a recommendation. It was, for me, like spending two hours with a couple of pot-bellied sports radio listeners in a Dallas elevator. Not that I have to like the protagonists in a story, but I do have to find them interesting in some way. And there's nothing interesting about the particular strain of the bourgeoisie know as the sports aficionado. I moved thousands of miles to get away from him. To their credit, I guess, the Farrellys have captured, with a cinéma-vérité authenticity, this khaki-clothed repressed memory of mine ("the 'Boys are back in town": shudder), and without ever explicitly discussing sports. They do, however, frequently turn the camera to old pictures of the leads, Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis), in their glory days as high school football stars to reinforce the effects of domesticity on male potency: use it or lose it. The husbands aren't getting enough from their respective wives, Maggie (Jenna Fischer) and Grace (Christina Applegate), which regularly erupts in pornographic disquisitions on what they'd be capable of if not for the ball-and-chain.
After hearing their husbands natter on about sexual defilement one time too many, the wives grant them hall passes at the suggestion of a psychiatrist friend. For one week, the men can pretend not to be married without any repercussions for whatever might happen while the women are away on vacation. For most of the week, the husbands drink with friends and continue to dream about molesting young women while young men are actually flirting with their vacationing wives. If you've seen any romantic comedy about infidelity from the past 80 years, you'll recognize Hollywood's reduction of the hedonic calculus to a ratio: cheating isn't bad so long as (1) the betrayed lover is an asshole, (2) the jilted one is given a replacement, or, as in Hall Pass, (3) both parties are equally unfaithful. Marital bliss (a.k.a. love conquers all) is defined through parity: Rick and Maggie resist the temptation to cheat, while Fred and Grace both give in (but feel awful for doing it afterwards), with both couples renewing their vows by the end. What's perverse about this resolution is that it isn't some satirical undermining of romantic love using utilitarianism, but a moronic conflation of utilitarianism with romantic love. These couples are the libertarian base, supporting any candidate who romanticizes capitalism as naturally just.
“It’s refreshing not to hear the juvenile whining that’s so prevalent in alt rock…”
To check out extensive LP label and price guides, head to the Vinyl Beat website!
I realize that country music doesn’t resonate with everyone. The primary reason for that is because mainstream country has been pretty vapid for the past thirty years. Country radio caters to the lowest common denominator, and insults our intelligence while abusing our musical standards. And if that isn’t enough, the twang of the older better stuff is difficult to deal with if you weren’t raised with it. I understand the barriers. In fact, when I was a kid my friends and I thought that “Buck Owens” was about the funniest name we’d ever heard.
All that withstanding, it was country rock music and steel guitars that caught my ear a few years later and lead me on a quest to find the “real” stuff. I found a goldmine. For some obvious starting points, try Haggard’s honky-tonk music, Bill Monroe’s bluegrass, Hank Williams country blues, Bob Wills’ western swing, George Jones’ white man’s soul and Ray Price, Patsy Cline and Waylon Jennings. If that works for you, delve a little deeper and dig Johnny Bush, Wynn Stewart, The Derailers, Wanda Jackson, Porter Wagoner, Laurie Lewis, Johnny Paycheck, The Texas Troubadours and many more.

Without even trying Marc and Zack are just naturally funny and, unlike so much of hip-hop these days, do not take themselves seriously by any means as they trade quips, one liners, and so corny they're funny jokes. Included in the deliberately silly (including canned laughter) clip are such jokes as Stewardess: "Have you ever been in the Navy?" Prozack: "Well.. I used to work at Old Navy." Ba-da-boom!
And below is the brand new video for "The Hex" by Random Axe, the latest outing from the rap supergroup comprised of Sean Price, Black Milk, and Guilty Simpson. The song is one of the many audio treats found on the new fifteen track CD simply titled Random Axe that is available at Amoeba and is featured in the new Hip-Hop Top Five found immediately below the video


Conrad Schnitzler
Live ’72
Further
Fantastic Live recording from the Cluster founder.
Beautiful handmade gatefold sleeve.
Purchase Conrad Schnitzler Live '72

Holger Zilske
Acid Test 04
Absurd Recordings
Part 4 in the “ACID TEST” series from ABSURD RECORDINGS drops from Berlin’s HOLGER ZILSKE. “A pure analog jam using just a 303, 101 and a 808″ its a slow pulsing bass heavy acid work out. Comes with remixes from JOHN TEJADA and Stockholm’s AXEL BOMAN. Initial pressing comes with download codes in handpainted sleeves.
Purchase Acid Test 04

Deadbeat
Drawn And Quartered 2LP
BLKRTZ
Scott Monteith aka Deadbeat releases an album for his own label BLKRTZ. It has been 12 years since Monteith quietly launched his Deadbeat music project with an unassuming performance on the street outside a Montreal café as part of the first edition of the city's now internationally-lauded MUTEK festival. And while the venues and audiences have grown steadily and seriously in the years since, the crackling dub sonics, deep grooves, and rumbling bass which characterized that performance have remained a constant in his live and recorded work, and earned him a substantial number of devoted followers the world over in the process. Having worked with a virtual who's-who of the most respected labels in the industry over the last decade, Monteith now takes the plunge into the murky depths of labelhood, launching his BLKRTZ imprint with no less than a full album of new material. "When I received the news a few months ago that ~scape was officially closing its doors, I was incredibly sad to hear it." says Monteith from his new home in Berlin. "Though I hadn't worked with them in a few years, I always saw ~scape as the natural home for a very important part of my work. Not necessarily the more listening side of things per se, but certainly the most unconcerned with genre or function, from a creative standpoint the most free, I guess. Barbara and Stefan worked very hard to promote a great deal of quite marginalized material over the years and did a lot to help me and many other artists out personally who otherwise would have had a much harder time of it. Though I'll be concentrating on my own work for the first few releases, it's my hope that BLKRTZ can serve a similarly honorable purpose in the years to come." In celebration of the label's inaugural release, Monteith has teamed up with long-time friend and world renowned video artist, Lillevan, to create an immersive audio/visual performance quite unlike any other.