The TVD Storefront

TVD Radar: Joe Cuba Sextet, Vagabundeando! (Hangin’ Out!) reissue in stores 5/10

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Craft Latino celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Joe Cuba Sextet’s classic Tico Records debut, Vagabundeando! (Hangin’ Out!), with the album’s first vinyl reissue in nearly 50 years.

Freshly remastered from all-analog sources, the 1964 LP is pressed on 180-gram vinyl and housed in a tip-on jacket, replicating the album’s original designs. Vagabundeando! features an all-star line-up of talent, including legendary Puerto Rican vocalists Cheo Feliciano and Jimmy Sabater, plus such fan favorites as “El Ratón,” “Nina Nina,” “I Need You,” and “Oye Bien.” Set for release on May 10 and available for pre-order now, Vagabundeando! will also make its debut in 192/24 hi-res digital audio. In addition, a Lemon Yellow color vinyl exclusive with an exciting bundle option that includes a commemorative Tico Records T-shirt is available for pre-order at Fania.com.

Celebrated conguero, bandleader, and “Father of Latin Boogaloo,” Joe Cuba (1931—2009) was a foundational figure in New York’s Latin soul scene. A native of Harlem, the Puerto Rican artist (born Gilberto Miguel Calderón) learned to play the congas as a teenager while recovering from a broken leg. Before long, the young percussionist was booking gigs across the city and, in 1954, founded The Joe Cuba Sextet.

Playing alongside such stars as Tito Puente, Machito, and Tito Rodríguez, Cuba and his bandmates quickly gained a following with their swaggering showmanship and stood out from their peers with their unique instrumentation choices—including adding a vibraphonist and doing away with horns (which was unheard of at the time).

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The TVD Storefront

Graded on a Curve:
Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis with Shirley Scott, Cookin’ with Jaws and the Queen

Remembering Shirley Scott, born on this day in 1934.Ed.

Credited to tenor saxophonist Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis with organist Shirley Scott, Craft Recordings’ 4LP/4CD/digital set Cookin’ with Jaws and the Queen: The Legendary Prestige Cookbook Albums offers 23 tracks cut during three 1958 sessions recorded by Rudy Van Gelder and first released as three separate Cookbook volumes and the Smokin’ LP between ’58–’64. The 180 gram vinyl is limited to 5,000 copies with the records housed in individual jackets replicating those original sleeves. The CD edition has three bonus tracks from the same sessions. The music is early soul jazz personified.

A curious jazz newbie might be wondering if this set is an overabundance of goodness. To which I will retort that Cookin’ with Jaws and the Queen offers thorough documentation of a sharp as brass tacks quintet from inside a concise timeframe; the first session occurred on June 20, the second on September 12, and the third on December 5 of 1958, with Davis and Scott joined by Jerome Richardson on flute, tenor, and baritone sax, George Duvivier on bass, and Arthur Edgehill on drums.

For this reissue, Davis and Scott are given equal credit, and deservedly so, but on initial release it was the saxophonist who received top billing, which is also understandable, as Scott was relatively new on the scene while Davis had been a member of Count Basie’s orchestra twice, along with cutting a string of records as leader or co-leader, as was the case with The Battle of Birdland with fellow tenor Sonny Stitt, issued in 1955 by the Roost label.

But in fact, Scott was indeed given a “Featuring” credit on two prior albums with Davis’s trio (with Duvivier and Edgehill), one released by Roost and the other by Roulette, both in ’58. What this imparts is how the addition of Richardson deepened a core that was already rock solid through experience. This is vitally important, as the group knocked out 26 tracks in three days spaced out over half a year.

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The TVD Storefront

TVD Radar: Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion 2LP 15th anniversary reissue in stores 6/28

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Animal Collective will celebrate the 15-year anniversary of their seminal album Merriweather Post Pavilion with a deluxe vinyl repress due out June 28 on Domino.

The album will be pressed to color vinyl for the first time, available as a 2xLP in Translucent Green and Bluish, and comes in a reflective foil mirrorboard gatefold jacket. A Domino Mart exclusive variant will include a 10-inch of their iconic single “My Girls” with a B-side featuring a live recording of the unreleased track “From A Beach (BBC Session)” from a 2007 BBC Radio 1 session. Merriweather Post Pavilion was universally acclaimed upon its release in 2009 and was named the #1 best album of the year by Pitchfork, Entertainment Weekly, Spin, and KEXP.

“Every once in a while, musicians sweep away the existing musical landscape to create something new,” stated NPR at the time. “Animal Collective is such a group, and its new Merriweather Post Pavilion is such an album.” It has since been recognized as one of the most influential records of the 2000s. “When it comes to 2000s indie, Merriweather stands as the era’s alpha and omega,” Pitchfork has written, “a diamond-cut reflection of the era’s eccentricities, seemingly impossible to replicate in form or format.”

The 15-year anniversary deluxe editions of Merriweather Post Pavilion are available for pre-order NOW.

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The TVD Storefront

Graded on a Curve:
Meiko Kaji,
Gincho Wataridori

Meiko Kaji is justly celebrated by fans of international genre cinema as the star of the 1973 film Lady Snowblood and its sequel from the next year. Alongside a sizeable filmography, she recorded an extensive body of work as a singer that amassed a dedicated following. The Wewantsounds label has been catering to her fanbase with high-quality reissues, and they’ve just released her 1972 debut Gincho Wataridori in an attractive gatefold sleeve deluxe edition with an insert and an OBI strip. It’s a musically swank affair, sturdy as pop but with cinematic sweep. Aficionados of global sounds, step right up.

Due to its outsized impact on Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill double banger, Lady Snowblood is Meiko Kaji’s most well-known film with the international audience, but she was busy before and after, and reliably in the role of a single-minded vengeance seeker; if Meiko Kaji starred in a film, it was a cinch that bloody mayhem would be part of the scheme.

Debuting in a supporting role in Retaliation (1968) billed as Masako Ota (her birth name), many standalone films and series followed. Regarding the latter, there was the Stray Cat/Alley Cat Rock series (five films, 1970–71), the Sasori series aka Female Prisoner Scorpion series (four films, 1972–73) and the two Gincho or Wandering Ginza Butterfly films (1972), the first of them giving Kaji’s debut LP its name.

Although the title song and “Ginchou Buruusu” from the film Gincho Wataridori are included on this album, it is not a soundtrack. The record also includes “Koini Inochio” and “Jingi Komoriuta” from Blind Woman’s Curse (1970), the final entry in the Rising Dragon series, and notably, the film where Masako Ota became Meiko Kaji.

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A morning mix of news for the vinyl inclined

In rotation: 3/14/24

Beijing, CN | A guide to Beijing’s record stores: Beijing’s music scenes are tight-knit and dedicated. From futuristic club-heads to gutter punks and everything in between, Beijing’s tune fanatics often have to deal with a variety of societal roadblocks, bringing those with a true passion together to create its unique interconnected web of sound. Live venues, restaurants, cafes, bars, and clothing shops are often shifting and expanding their definitions, open to hosting events and collaborating with each other. The amorphous nature of these spaces is best shown in the city’s record shops, great places to meet the weirdos of the city, importing bizarre Cambodian metal or putting up a poster for a gallery event-cum-acid techno rave. Below is an introduction to some of Beijing’s best places to pick up a record, give it a spin, have a cup of coffee–or a gourmet hot dog–and delve into the myriad sounds of this megalopolis.

Southsea, UK | Independent record store resurgence: Pie & Vinyl’s success mirrors the industries growth: The owner of a popular Southsea record store looks back on it’s success as independent record stores reach a 10 year high. Steve Courtnell, the owner of Pie & Vinyl in Castle Road, has spoken about his shops success as it was revealed that there are more independent record stores nationwide than there were ten years ago. The unique pastry and music based shop opened in 2012 and since it began the industry has seen an upturn in fortunes. …Having sat on Castle Road for over a decade, Pie & Vinyl has become a fixture of the city, renowned and revered by many. However, that description still takes Steve by surprise. He said: “When people say, everyone knows Pie & Vinyl it never fails to warm my heart a bit. Obviously there has been an incredible amount of hard work to nearly get to 12 years old, there has been lots of challenges and there continues to be lots of challenges. What we try and offer is something unique, and it does stand out in a way.”

Valdosta, GA | Founder of Stokeley’s Records switched to pop-up sales to spread the joy of Black music: Le’Shawn Taylor bought his first vinyl at Goodwill in 2012. He said he was inspired by Questlove after seeing a video of the artist’s collection on YouTube. “I don’t think at the time I had a record player,” he said. “I was just buying.” It has been over a decade since he purchased that first vinyl that planted a seed. Record-collecting has blossomed into a near full-time passion for Taylor. From 2018-2020, that passion manifested in Vibes and Stuff, a brick-and-mortar in Taylor’s hometown of Valdosta, GA. The name of his store was an homage to the song off A Tribe Called Quest’s “The Low End Theory.” Taylor said he knew he was different growing up in Valdosta. His store was an extension of that eccentricity. “[I was] just into like the opposite of things that were cool,” he said. “I’m probably like the only person in bell-bottoms in like a hundred-mile radius.”

Mansfield, OH | Operation Fandom & Blackbird Records moves to former Uncommon Nostalgia: Mansfielders will still be able to shop for collectibles, music and games at 36 W. 4th St. but from a different business. Following the closure of Uncommon Nostalgia, Operation: Fandom and Blackbird Records opened their store on Friday. Owner Josh Lehman said the new space nearly doubles the floor space they had between City Grille and The Clubhouse. “This will become the largest store of the three we have,” Lehman said. “It was our smallest store before. We have two different 1,000-square-foot stores in Wooster, and about 2,400 square feet in Medina. “We had tall ceilings at the old place, but only 1,400 square feet. Here, we have 3,000 square feet.” Lehman said the extended space will allow for more records, games and spread-out shopping aisles. “I think we’ll have more space for Record Store Day,” he said.

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TVD Chicago

TVD Live Shots: Two Door Cinema Club with Joywave at the Riviera Theatre, 3/7

Two Door Cinema Club sold out the Riviera Theatre in Chicago on Thursday, March 7th in support of their 2022 album Keep On Smiling. Joywave was brought along to provide support for this leg of the tour.

Fresh off the release of their new single “Brain Damage,” Joywave stormed the stage to an audience full of fans dancing along to their catchy tracks. Looking into the crowd, you see attendees instantly start bobbing their heads, whipping their hair, and letting their hands fly up. Some fans have even put on the tie-dyed shirts that they freshly purchased at the merch table. Starting off their set with the dance heavy “Somebody New,” Joywave instantly proves that they’re here for a good time. Towards the latter half of their set, they announce that they will be back in Chicago on a headlining tour in September, and tickets go on sale in May.

Two Door Cinema Club was up next. With riffs that make it feel like it’s summer, it’s hard not to dance around and have a carefree mood while their set goes on. They open their set with a track off their most recent album, followed by a track from their first album. They play this back and forth through their entire set, mixing in old with the new, perfectly balancing their body of work for all to enjoy. They even performed their recently released single, “Happy Customers,” for the first time live, which was promptly followed by deep cut “Costume Party.” Both tracks elicited a positive response from the crowd, with many attendees trying to push forward so they could get even closer to their favorite band.

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The TVD Storefront

TVD Radar: Freaknik: The Wildest Story Never Told premiering 3/21

VIA PRESS RELEASE | In celebration of the SXSW world premiere of entertainment company Mass Appeal and streaming giant Hulu’s newest documentary Freaknik: The Wildest Story Never Told, they’ve joined the SXSW lineup to bring the essence of ATL’s most infamous event to Austin for one night only!

Today, March 13, at Stubb’s BBQ the all Atlanta showcase will feature a screening of the highly anticipated documentary and guest performances from beloved Atliens who helped develop the sound and style of Hip Hop’s Southern Capital. Co-hosted by legendary Hip Hop architects Jermaine Dupri and Luke “Uncle Luke” Campbell, the showcase will include sets from iconic rapper Big Boi, Flo Milli, Ying Yang Twins, 21 Lil Harold, DJ Drama, KP The Great, DJ Jelly, and a special guest.

The announcement comes days after Hulu dropped the trailer and artwork for the much-talked-about documentary. Freaknik: The Wildest Story Never Told is a celebratory exploration of the iconic Atlanta street party that started as a Black College cookout but grew to draw thousands annually throughout the ’80s and ’90s, defining Atlanta as a cultural hotbed.

Freaknik soon became known for its lurid tales of highway hookups and legendary late-night parties that ultimately led to the festival’s downfall. At its height, Freaknik was a traffic-stopping, city-shuttering juggernaut that has since become a cult classic. Though it ceased over two decades ago, the infamous legacy still resonates through nostalgia and a new generation’s longing for a carefree platform that celebrates and promotes black excellence, joy, and fortitude.

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The TVD Storefront

Graded on a Curve:
U2, Rattle and Hum

Celebrating Adam Clayton on his 64th birthday.Ed.

For the longest time I had no use for U2—they were too sanctimonious and self-righteous was my opinion, and Bono stuck me as a frustrated Sunday school teacher. But as the years passed they loosened up, Bono became less of a tight-ass, and I discovered I enjoyed some of their songs, a lot. But there were plenty of haters to take my place, and they emerged from the dank caves we music critics inhabit to litter guano all over the band’s 1988 studio/live LP Rattle and Hum, the soundtrack of a rockumentary released the same year.

To cite just two of the album’s critics, The Village Voice’s Tom Carson called Rattle and Hum an “awful record” by “almost any rock-and-roll fan’s standard.” He went on to add that the LP’s sound wasn’t “attributable to pretensions so much as to monumental know-nothingism.” Meanwhile, David Browne of the New York Daily News said Rattle and Hum “just prattles and numbs.” The phrases “sincere egomania” and “the worst album by a major band in years” were also bandied about.

Rattle and Hum’s chief problem is it’s a dog’s breakfast, and lacks even the cheap glue to keep a model airplane in one piece. But I simply can’t bring myself to hate it—it includes some of my favorite U2 songs. Unfortunately they all happen to be the LP’s studio cuts, rather than the ones recorded during U2’s The Joshua Tree tour of the US.

To begin with the absolute low points, the only thing to be said for the forty-three second snippet of Jimi Hendrix’s “The Star Spangled Banner” is U2 had the common decency not to play the whole thing. As for the thirty-eight second snippet from “Freedom for My People” by Harlem street duo Sterling Magee and Adam Gussow, I guess you had to be there. And the live version of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” is ham-fisted, and haven’t we heard the song seven million times too often already?

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The TVD Storefront

TVD Radar: The Cannonball Adderley Quintet, Live in Montreal May 1975 in stores now

VIA PRESS RELEASE | The great Julian “Cannonball” Adderley rose to prominence in the hard-bop era of the 1950s and 1960s.

After a successful stint with Miles Davis’s sextet—including being featured on the seminal Davis records Milestones and Kind of Blue—Adderley formed his own quintet with brother Nat on trumpet and cornet, and soon became the driving force behind the soul-jazz movement of the ‘60s and ‘70s. No one would have guessed that the 46-year-old DownBeat Jazz Hall of Famer was in the last few months of his life when he stepped on stage at Montreal’s In Concert Club on May 3, 1975.

And nothing about the performance suggests that the sax legend was anything but at the top of his game. The lineup for the quintet here is Cannonball Adderley (alto and soprano sax); Nat Adderley (trumpet); Michael Wolff (piano); Roy McCurdy (drums, percussion); and Walter Booker (bass). Out of print since its original 1977 release on Dobre Records, this title now makes its official CD debut alongside a 180-gram vinyl repressing and download.

The packages will feature liner notes by music historian Cary Ginell who wrote the book Walk Tall: The Music and Life of Cannonball Adderley. The notes include interviews with quintet members Michael Wolff and Roy McCurdy. Pre-order on Bandcamp.

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The TVD Storefront

Graded on a Curve: Samuel Prody,
Samuel Prody

As detailed in the booklet accompanying the Guerssen label’s new reissue of the sole LP by Samuel Prody, there’s an eventful backstory that precedes the formation of this obscure British band. Rather than recount it all here, it suffices to mention that this four-piece outfit grew out of Giant, a gigging group that briefly featured Viv Prince of the Pretty Things on drums. The sturdiness of Samuel Prody’s material makes this edition, remastered and officially rereleased for the first time, a worthwhile acquisition for hard rock fans. The set is available now on vinyl and compact disc.

Samuel Prody (altered from Samuel Purdy) featured Tony Savva (guitar, bass, lead vocals), John Boswell (drums, vocals), Derek “Morty” Smallcombe (lead guitar, vocals), and Stephen Day (bass, vocals). Once these cats came together, they recorded an LP’s worth of material that was released eponymously only in Germany in 1971, and unbeknownst to the band until much later, after the album had been reissued a few times; originals have sold in the ballpark of $500.

Engineered by noted hard rock specialist Roy Thomas Baker, the contents of Samuel Prody are, when the band gets down to business, legitimately heavy, and the instrumentation is consistently sharp. The band travels down a handful of psychedelic avenues in the record’s less heavy moments, and to largely non-detrimental results, but neither are they particularly adept at getting expansive. But it should be added that all seven tracks on this LP do find the band kicking it into heavy gear, though in opener “Who Will Buy” it does take a little while.

Had they chosen to not swerve from (and lean into) the path of heaviness, my assumption is this LP would be held in even higher retrospective esteem. Sometimes compared to Black Sabbath, Samuel Prody’s strong suit is more accurately a hard edged boogie (see the manic “Scat’s Shuffle”). Importantly, they groove but never choogle. There are a few spots reminiscent of first album Sabbath, but it’s necessary to differentiate that Samuel Prody don’t cultivate a dark, downer vibe.

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A morning mix of news for the vinyl inclined

In rotation: 3/13/24

UK | Vinyl records return to UK inflation basket for first time since 1992: Strong sales of Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) help format make an impact, as air fryers also join list. Not since Simply Red’s album Stars topped the albums chart in 1992 have vinyl records been included in the basket of goods used to calculate annual inflation, but a rise in sales over recent years has brought them back as a marker of UK shop prices. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the “resurgence of popularity” in vinyl records meant they should be included among the 744 items used to calculate inflation each month, in its latest annual shake-up of the basket. Sales of vinyl were given an extra push in the UK last year by Taylor Swift’s album 1989 (Taylor’s version), which was the biggest-selling vinyl record, while the Rolling Stones’ Hackney Diamonds ranked as the highest-selling vinyl record by a British artist.

RI | 7 Local Record Stores to Lend an Ear: Record stores—a reminder of the slower pace of times past—are experiencing a resurgence with new generations of vinyl enthusiasts. From vinyl records to CDs, cassettes, band merch and more, record stores in Rhode Island are teeming with vintage finds and unique collectibles. While online streaming services provide our favorite tunes at our fingertips, the experience of visiting a record store is about more than just the music—it offers a sanctuary and a sense of community for music lovers. Here are some of our favorites from around the state. Analog Underground: This record store lives up to its analog namesake—the music playing throughout the store comes directly from a record player and the walls are lined with vintage vinyl and cassette tapes. Owner Dave Lifrieri frequented record stores as a child and wanted to create the same community atmosphere when he opened his store in 2010…

Portland, OR | Owner of North Portland record store helps arrest burglar who hit shop twice: The owner of Vinyl Resting Place jumped in a car with another local business owner and followed the burglar. Vinyl Resting Place was broken into twice in the span of a few days. The owner said it was the same burglar who did it both times and he helped take them into custody. The first burglary happened early Thursday morning. Steve Cook, who owns the North Portland record store, got a call that his front door was shattered. “The front door was busted out,” Cook said. “I could tell the (point of sale) system had been yanked out.” Cook said the burglar walked away with the cash register and all the money that was inside. He estimates it was about $5,000 dollars. “That wasn’t even my money,” Cook said. “I had sold that stuff on consignment for somebody else, which was the hard part, telling them, not only was I burglarized but I lost your money.”

Rio de Janeiro, BR | Rio’s Best Party Happens Once a Month at This Tiny Record Store: Vinil do Mustafa is a treasure trove of 1970s Tropicalía music. …Before Mustafa inhabited his current digs, he kept a shop nearby in the same neighborhood—a subterranean space that turned into an exclusive club every Thursday night. After the pandemic, however, the owner “wanted to see the sky.” In his new location, Mustafa boasts an impressive collection of everything you might expect, but he doesn’t say no to the odd ‘90s hip-hop album or movie soundtrack. It’s more important for the owner to keep his collection tight than to be picky about genre. “I don’t want to sell records in bulk,” he says. “I don’t want to have thousands of records, where you step into the store and you can’t find what you’re looking for.” Instead, he carefully curates his selection, some of which he sells on the cheap, though especially rare titles can bring in much more. “I’m aiming for all kinds of crowds,” he says.

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The TVD Storefront

Graded on a Curve:
Raspberries,
Starting Over

Remembering Eric Carmen.Ed.

It’s a miracle that anyone survives adolescence. And I’m not talking about drugs or driving 110 mph while on drugs or any of the other healthy activities normal teens engage in—no, I’m talking about potentially lethal sperm build-up. Speaking just for myself, I was a lusus naturae of unsated lust, and often found myself leering at vacuum cleaners. One day I discovered that my skull was producing an oily discharge, and it took a physician to inform me that I was literally secreting sperm through the follicles of my hair.

It was a lonely and demeaning condition, but fortunately I had the Raspberries. They were more than just the greatest power pop band ever—they were the Masters and Johnson of Rock. No other rock band has ever given more eloquent voice to the victims of adolescent hormonal overload. In such ardent and urgent songs as “Go All the Way,” “Tonight,” “I Wanna Be With You,” “Ecstasy,” and “Let’s Pretend,” The Raspberries spoke to the only subject that really mattered to poon-crazed teens like me—namely getting some, and preferably tonight.

The Raspberries formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1970, the year after the Cuyahoga River caught fire: an ill omen in hindsight, for despite their polished Beatles and Mod-influenced sound, irresistible melodies, arresting guitar hooks, and heavenly vocal harmonies, the Raspberries never scored a No. 1 hit on the singles or album charts before breaking up in 1975. The band’s first single, 1972’s brilliant “Go All the Way,” rose all the way to the No. 5 spot. They were never to come as close to the top of the pops again.

While the Raspberries’ first three albums (1972’s Raspberries and Fresh, and 1973’s Side 3) contain all of the odes to teen lust the band is most famous for, I have always preferred their farewell LP, 1974’s Starting Over. Disappointing sales of Side 3 led to the replacement of bassist Dave Smalley and drummer Jim Bonfanti by Scott McCarl and Michael McBride, respectively, and McBride’s Keith Moon-like drumming in particular lent the band a much harder kick. Starting Over also has a slightly—and I do mean slightly—scruffier sound than its predecessors, and the combination of McBride’s drum pummel and less glossy production gives the album a sound that is more power than pop.

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TVD Radar: Hip-Hop
Is History
from Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson
in stores 6/11

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Academy Award-winning director, Grammy Award-winning musician, and New York Times Bestselling author Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson shares details on his brand new landmark book Hip-Hop Is History. Set to debut on June 11th, via the author’s own AUWA Books imprint, this is a book only Questlove could have written: a perceptive and personal reflection on the first half-century of hip-hop.

In the incredible new book, written with Ben Greenman, Questlove skillfully traces the creative and cultural forces that made and shaped hip-hop, highlighting both the forgotten but influential gems and the undeniable chart-topping hits—and weaves it all together with the stories no one else knows. It is at once an intimate, sharply observed story of a cultural revolution and a sweeping, grand theory of the evolution of the great artistic movement of our time. And Questlove, of course, approaches it with not only the encyclopedic fluency and passion of an obsessive fan but also the expertise and originality of an innovative participant.

When hip-hop first emerged in the 1970s, it wasn’t expected to become the cultural force it is today. But for a young Black kid growing up in a musical family in Philadelphia, it was everything. He stayed up late to hear the newest songs on the radio. He saved his money to buy vinyl as soon as it landed. He even started to try to make his own songs. That kid was Questlove, and decades later, he is a six-time Grammy Award-winning musician, an Academy Award-winning filmmaker, a New York Times bestselling author, a producer, an entrepreneur, a cofounder of one of hip-hop’s defining acts (the Roots), and the genre’s unofficial in-house historian.

Hip-hop is history, and also his history.
PHOTO: DANIEL DORSA

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The TVD Storefront

Graded on a Curve: Hüsker Dü,
New Day Rising

Celebrating Greg Norton in advance of his 65th birthday tomorrow.Ed.

Hard and fast rules so let’s dispense with the long instrumental intro and get right down to the nitty-gritty; on 1985’s New Day Rising, St. Paul, Minnesota power trio Hüsker Dü permanently set themselves apart from the hardcore pack by leavening the genre’s speed freak aesthetic with increasing dollops of real melody.

The results are still bracing, but New Day Rising is friendlier than most hardcore, and more welcoming too. Parts of it are even nice, nice in the way that the iconic album cover (two dogs, one beautiful body of water, a sunrise) is nice.

Most of the “nice” comes to us thanks to drummer/vocalist Grant Hart, who was the Jekyll to Bob Mould’s Hyde in what amounted to a schizophrenic division of band labor. Hart provided the melody, sweetness and light. Bob Mould provided the buzz saw guitar and angst; he may not have doing the fashionable by spitting bile at Reagan’s America, but his personal life sounded a hot mess. As for Greg Norton, he had a very cool mustache. And he played bass guitar.

New Day Rising is a sonic world away from Hüsker Dü’s 1982 debut Land Speed Record, a landmark in speedcore that more than lives up to its bragging title. But like their SST label mates the Minutemen and Meat Puppets, Hüsker Dü soon chafed against the formal constraints of hardcore.

Unlike said bands, however, Hüsker Dü didn’t abandon hardcore altogether. Instead they set themselves to the business of expanding hardcore’s horizons by employing catchy riffs and hooks, and the results are to be heard on such sweet (and bordering on silly) Hart-penned cuts as “Books About UFOs,” which features a piano of all things. Betcha Ian MacKaye didn’t see that one coming.

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TVD UK

UK Artist of the Week: True Strays

Bristol favourites True Strays bring listeners an infectious blend of blues, rock, and Americana, and in April 2024 will be embarking on a full band UK tour.

Hailing from Bristol, England, True Strays inject a modern edge into classic blues-rock, delivering a sound that’s both timeless and contemporary. Their music channels the spirit of legendary acts like Muddy Waters and Fleetwood Mac, while infusing it with their own distinctive flair.

With a reputation for their captivating live shows, True Strays have been winning over audiences across the UK and beyond. Whether they’re playing in intimate venues or commanding festival stages, their performances are always electrifying and bound to get your feet tapping and your heart racing.

Made up of lifelong friends Joseph James and James Cameron, True Strays are not just a band; they’re a force to be reckoned with in the world of blues and rock music. Keep an eye on them as they continue to make waves and redefine the sound of modern blues-rock. See for yourself on their UK tour—tickets here.

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