This Just In Wu-Tang Clans New Album!

The long awaited follow-up album to ‘Iron Flag’ will be hitting store shelves soon. This is the first time all remaining members of the Wu-Tang Clan have been in the studio since the untimely death of Ol’ Dirty in 2004.  ’8 Diagrams’ is scheduled for release on December 11th while the legendary Gods tour. Forget the snippets and leaked versions floating around the internet and get ready for crispy clean beats by the RZA who handles the majority of the production, while Mathematics and Easy Mo Bee jump on a couple tracks. The M-E-T-H-O-D man starts the album off with the first verse on “Campfire,” and the psychedelic track “The Heart Gently Weeps” features vivid storytelling and RZA’s signature analogue sound. On “Life Changes” a tribute to Ol’ Dirty Bastard, features members of the group  weighing in on his life and it’s rumored that one of the verses was recorder in the same studio where he passed. “Take It Back” is exactly what the track name claims. One of the most influential Hip-Hop groups, is ready to be back on top. ‘8 Diagrams’ features the same Kung-Fu clips we’ve all gown to adore, and any die hard heads will be smiling ear-to-ear. Tracklist For 8 Diagrams: 01. Campfire 02. Take It Back 03. Get Them Out Ya Way Pa 04. Rushing Elephants 05. Unpredictable 06. The Heart Gently Weeps 07. Wolves 08. Gun Will Go 09. Sunlight 10. Stick Me For My Riches 11. Starter 12. Windmill 13. Weak Spot 14. Life Changes

November Concerts

Del Tha Funky Homosapien:Nov.  2nd @ CervantesNov. 4th @ The Fox  TheatreGhostface Killah, Rakim, Brother Ali, and Rhythm Root Allstars:Nov. 8th-  @ The OgdenKRS-One:Nov. 8th @ The Fox TheatreFeist:Nov. 14th @ The OgdenOpie Gone Bad:Nov. 18th @ The GothicBuck 65:Nov. 27th @ The Fox Theatreand as always more updates as they become available! 

Nirvana’s ‘Unplugged’ concert finally sees DVD release Nov. 20

Following Nirvana’s lackluster box set and greatest hits record, which were released more for Courtney Love’s purse than Nirvana’s legacy, comes news that Nirvana’s “Unplugged in New York” will come out on DVD. The news comes from Billboard, who reports that MTV finally got off their ass and will let us own what’s probably the best in their series of “Unplugged” concerts.

From their site: “Like the CD, the DVD will include the songs ‘Something in the Way’ and ‘Oh Me,’ which did not appear on the original MTV broadcast. The DVD also sports four tracks from the band’s soundcheck and previously unreleased behind-the-scenes footage.”

I don’t remember ‘Oh, Me’ being left off the TV broadcast but I’m glad they included it on the DVD release–it is one of the strongest songs in the concert. Owning this DVD will be a great nostalgic trip for fans of Nirvana and grudge rock, and the DVD will gladly join both the CD and tape versions in my collection.

Interesting fact: Billboard notes that “Unplugged in New York” was the first Nirvana product to come out following Kurt Cobain’s suicide. Full track list after the jump.

Hip-Hop shows in October

Atmosphere:

Friday Oct. 12th @ The Ogden Theatre 8:00 PM

Saturday Oct.13th @ Belly Up Aspen 10:00PM

DJ Qbert:

Wednesday Oct.17th @ Cervantes 8:00 PM

Aesop Rock:

Wednesday Oct.17th @ Black Sheep (CO Springs) 9:00 PM

Thursday Oct.18th @ Cervantes 8:00 PM

Friday Oct.19th @ The Theater Boulder 8:30 PM

Lyrics Born:

Tuesday Oct. 23rd @ Cervantes @ 8:00 PM

Little Brother:

Tuesday Oct. 30th @ The Blue Bird Theatre @ 8:00 Pm

Breaking News on ‘The Cool’

Chicago born rapper Masalu Muhammed Juco, more commonly referred to as Lupe Fiasco, looks to duplicate his debut success with The Cool which, if it isn’t pushed back, will drop December 18th. The self proclaimed nerd is set to release a “dark” album over reportedly poppy beats in this, his sophomore effort. For the most part, news on the follow up to Lupe Fiasco’s Food and Liquor has been kept under wraps. But good news isn’t always accessible.

In an interview with MTV, Lupe partially disclosed the concept for the new album. Hidden in the title is an almost obvious hint. On Food and Liquor, Kanye West produced a track entitled ‘The Cool’ which chronicles a bodied street hustler who digs himself out of the grave and retraces his steps to the hood as if it were business as usual. Being as how the song ends without any conclusion, Lu decided to pick up where the track left off and go almost comic bookesque. He chose to create two additional characters around ‘The Hustler’ to form a rarely, if ever considering the avenue, used tactic to enhance his already prolific creativity on the upcoming LP. ‘The Game’ (not to be mistaken with the rapper) will personify “Whatever the game may be – the hustle game, the pimp game, the mack game” he says. To fill out the trio ‘Streets’, a female character, will personify street life and show how easy it is to fall in love with the lifestyle and so forth.

The album will have said storyline educed with said trio but DO NOT mistake it for a concept album. “I didn’t do it heavy ’cause I didn’t want to get caught up in chasing a storyline and sacrifice me doing real records, like a single.” Lupe told MTV. Expect about five tracks to creatively cover an assuredly interesting sub plot. Speaking of singles, there are two available at the time being. ‘Superstar’ is available exclusively courtesy of Atlantic Records at www.lupefiasco.com and the video for ‘Dumb it Down’ can be viewed at www.youtube.com/lupefiasco or, for readers partial to internet based social networking, on his MySpace page (www.myspace.com/lupefiasco). Both tracks are currently available in a package deal through iTunes.

As far as production and features go it’s hard to say at this point. Look for Lu’s fam First and Fifteenth to contribute quite a bit to both. Hopefully, Kanyayo and Pharrel will contribute to some extent but, sad to say, don’t expect the God MC to wreck a verse as he did on Food and Liquor. Furthermore, there is no full track listing available of yet although six tracks have been confirmed. They are as follows:

• ‘Superstar’ featuring Matthew Santos
• ‘Paris, Tokyo’
• ‘Dumb it Down’ featuring Gemini
• ‘Intruder Alert’
• ‘The Coolest’
• ‘Untitled’ featuring Patrick Stump

With a plethora of exceptional hip hop albums released in August alone it won’t be easy for Lupe to replicate the breath of fresh air he conjured on a semi arid hip hop climate last year when Food and Liquor hit. To that, fans of hip hop and anybody who enjoys great music alike can only hope Lupe will simply reply “I gotcha”.

New Radiohead album, ‘In Rainbows,’ available Oct. 10

A few days ago Radiohead fans were teased when a website, RadioheadLP7.com, counted down to a Saturday morning release for the band’s new album. Before the timer could hit 0:00, a Radiohead spokesmen said the site wasn’t official and the release date was a fake. Knowing that, it’s hard not to be wary over the news that the seventh album is coming out so soon when previously we heard it wouldn’t be released until sometime in 2008, but this latest date comes from the band members themselves through their website and it’s actually incredibly good, and, well, sort of bad too.

First off, the band are out of their EMI contract and are releasing the album independently on October 10th. It’s perhaps the most unprecedented move in the recording industry yet; not because it’s a band releasing an album exclusively through the Internet, but that it’s a band of Radiohead’s stature doing it. That’s good. But the album perhaps making history is called In Rainbows, and that’s almost unforgivably bad.

Listeners can get the album as either a digital download (where you set your own price!) or a ‘discbox’ that includes the album on CD & Vinyl, along with an extra CD & Vinyl of new music, digital photographs, album artwork and a lyrics booklet all in a Stanley Donwood-designed hardback book and slipcase. Very good! What’s bad is that it’s £40.00 (including postage) worldwide, meaning $81 for us Americans, and that’s to buy an album called In Rainbows. So it’s a steep price, but it’s going entirely to the band. Sadly, there won’t be the experience and instant gratification of buying the album in a music store, but then again, I don’t know if anyone really wants to be the one in line holding an album called In Rainbows anyway.

You really hope Radiohead is trying to be ironic and tongue-in-cheek with the album name, and not getting all cutesy Coldplay on us, but who knows what Yorke & Co. are thinking. Now that I think of it, it sounds more like a Zwan album.

So here it is, the final tracklisting for… In Rainbows:

01 15 STEP
02 BODYSNATCHERS
03 NUDE
04 WEIRD FISHES/ARPEGGI
05 ALL I NEED
06 FAUST ARP
07 RECKONER
08 HOUSE OF CARDS
09 JIGSAW FALLING INTO PLACE
10 VIDEOTAPE

CD two and vinyl (only w/ ‘discbox’ purchase):

01 MK 1
02 DOWN IS THE NEW UP
03 GO SLOWLY
04 MK 2
05 LAST FLOWERS
06 UP ON THE LADDER
07 BANGERS AND MASH
08 4 MINUTE WARNING