In short, Gotta Groove was nothing like I expected. I suppose had I taken the time to contemplate what it takes to press a record I would have imagined something a but more industrial, but in my fairytale mind, I imagined a magical place, filled with smooth, agile machines, carefully etching grooves on round mats of plastic. Instead, I was greeted to a room of these hulking, brutish things, reclaimed from an era when vinyl was still king and cutting edge technology actually involved cutting.

Great photos too!

Dear Cleveland Enthusiast:

…

The Rockometer is a uniquely designed and themed retro-tech banquet and multi purpose events facility to further interrelate with Cleveland’s rock music legacy.

Here’s what it will look like.

My mind is blown.

(This is also the guy who sent a cease and desist letter to a local music blogger for using the term Rockometer.)

Self Destruct Button’s new album, Juice Tiger, is pure Cleveland progressive rock. It is closer to Mastodon than The Mars Volta, but fortunately refrains from the over-indulgent omphaloskepsis that those bands are known for. More melodic and less menacing than 2006’s Natural Selection of Accidents, the songs on Juice Tiger have a vigor and cunning that well merits the album’s title.

Where it might take Mastodon or The Mars Volta 10 to 15 minutes to make their point, Self Destruct Button usually gets it done in around 2 1/2. We’re talking bunker-busters here instead of carpet bombs. This decision allows SDB to impart an agency to their music that extends beyond the band itself. Instead of imagining transcension, the songs on Juice Tiger just go ahead and transcend the motherfucker already.

The album clocks in at just under 25 minutes; the first 15 are a hardscrabble reminiscent of Stan Brakhage’s Dog Star Man Part 1 (and obviously crafted with the same innate eye for detail that Brakhage exhibits). But ‘Justwestern’ reevaluates this effort in a moment of satori that defines the listening experience for the rest of the album. The point is that enlightenment isn’t something you sit around and think about, it’s something you hunt, tooth and nail. Fleeting. (Like the album itself, which, thankfully, you can always listen to again).

Juice Tiger will be released in September and will be available at discriminating music stores all around Cleveland. Keep an eye out.

He’s the kind of guy who reads Ezra Pound the same way a bored housewife reads romance novels, and it’s time to give him a little shine.

I sat down with Rafeeq and had a great half-hour conversation. The tangents and digressions I’ll post another time, for now here’s what he’s got to say about his label Cleveland Tapes, other great talents in Cleveland and his new album PASTICHE (reviewed below).

Mentioned in the interview:

• Latoya Kent - Sweet Oil
• DeLoFi
• BLK TYGR
• New Surah Orchestar
• Cleveland Tapes videos

Album Review - PASTICHE

PASTICHE rattles and decays in ways reminiscent of abandoned warehouses along the lakefront of east Cleveland. The intimacy from the vinyl crackle samples paradoxically resounds in cavernous tones, the sound of a man shrunken inside his head, wrestling existential and holding a hostage dialogue with his musical ancestors (most blatant on the snarky “just you”).

The samples are chosen with an eclectic aesthetic simultaneously profound and tongue-in-cheek, further fulfilling the promise of the album title. leRoi da Moor isn’t making hip-hop so much as post-hop, perhaps a subconscious influence from Washington’s friend Efrim Menuck of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and the various incarnations of A Silver Mt. Zion.

What comes out of the wash is an amalgamation that, while not completely about Cleveland, has all of the flavor of our cultural patchwork city. What exceeds the stereotypical Cleveland apathy is leRoi’s self-awareness, literary chops and determination to wring as much as he can from whatever he’s got.

My favorite tracks are “boutique” and “cuyahoga”, but the entire work is best appreciated as the whole of its parts. Pick it up, and other Cleveland Tapes issue at Moor Musak.

Download LiveLocal0708.zip (86MB)

• (The) Giants of Gender [MySpace]
• Chum
• Emer­alds
• Low Lamps [Brian Straw]
• Muamin Collective
• Post­cards From For­eign Shores
• Pro­le­tar­ian Art Threat
• Scarcity of Tanks
• Soft Spots
• Swayze All Over
• The V E RY K N EE S
• The X Bolex
• Theodore Vril
• Uncle Scratch’s Gospel Revival

Tremont’s own Corissa Bragg released her first CD This is Everything That I Own at Lucky’s in Tremont last week.  Joining Corissa was Joey Beltram of Good Morning Valentine, (follow Joey’s motorcycle US tour of insanity this summer at his blog, I Like That Bike) Sarah Nowicki, and Chelsea Ryan.  Great crowd on a beautiful Saturday night in Tremont.

If you’re looking for some gutter bumpin’ party tunes, the first three songs (Claptadis, 4tha, Horizontal) are sure to get feet moving and hands bouncing. If you want to know what honest, self-reflective hip hop sounds like, a trio of tunes from Zion in the latter half of the album will surely catch your attention (By Your Side, This Is Love, Any Other Way). The album is a well-balanced offering of everything you might want from hip hop, complete with plenty of earworms. It’s homegrown, organic and Fare Trade.

The technical work the album hit targets that most other hip-hop offerings don’t bother to care about. Where commercial hip-hop relies on AutoTune, and a variety of smoke and mirrors (not the least of which is the artificial confection that is the commercial rapper) and ends up overproducing just about everything, aLive and e.react’s production methodology is a scaffolding to hang the lyrics off of. The absence of artifice enhances the authenticity of the lyrics.

Y’know what, just listen to how the beat pops in “Ponzi Scheme” like the first syllable of the title. It’s the sound equivalent of the collapse of Wall Street:

And here’s some lyrics that could only come from Cleveland on “Bus Stop”:

I be that mooley
eating tabbouleh & pita
waiting for RiTA
by the side of the Market
I park it, put my feet up
people watching me, people watching
I spark the weed up & open a copy of
Amiri Baraka reader

My favorite song is “Grandiose” and features a vintage (like fine wine) sample of Mavis Staple from The Staple Singers on the Curtis Mayfield produced “A Whole Lotta Love”. I also particularly like the Leon Russell/Mary McCreary sample in “4tha” and the original beat (that I originally thought was Ratatat) created on “Horizontal” by aLive’s Microkorg and MPC.

As good as this album is, Muamin Collective’s live shows are not to be missed. They’ve got a couple shows lined up in August, but you can keep track of ‘em at their MySpace. You can pick up the whole album for a 7 dollar bill at the Muamin Collective website. You can even pay for individual tracks if you want. You can also dig through their back catalog, pick up those tunes and have your own Muamin Collective-driven house party.

They wouldn’t have it any other way.

And if you missed it the first time, watch the BLACKHEART Cleveland interview with Muamin Collective:

Buy the album! Support Cleveland! Get some great music!

I sat down with the Muamin Collective the other night to talk about their inspirations, their upcoming album World B. Free (named after the great Cavs player), and what the hip hop scene is like in Cleveland. World B. Free has an internet release date of July 14th at MuaminCollective.com, and a physical release (complete with release party) sometime in August.

You can listen to and purchase their back catalog at their website, or visit their MySpace for further information. BLACKHEART Cleveland even has an exclusive sample track from World B. Free called Ponzi Scheme. We’ll also have a full review of the album once we get a grip on it.

Listen to Ponzi Scheme: