Allah-Las visit Red Light Radio
Los Angeles garage rockers Allah-Las spent the last few weeks touring Europe. Between gigs at Utrecht’s Le Guess Who? Festival and Amsterdam’s Paradiso, the band dropped by Red Light Radio – an online radio station housed in a former prostitution window – to take over master controls for an hour-long set that showcased the band’s encyclopedic knowledge of rock’s present and past. Much has been made of the band’s formation in 2008, while three of its four members worked at longtime bastion of American musical commerce Amoeba Records in LA. Initially, it read like a convenient storyline: dudes bond over vinyl on the record industry’s most hallowed turf / dudes start band embracing the best of ’60s psychedelic garage rock / dudes cut a record / everyone loves it / The End.
Fortunately, Allah-Las LP surpasses the prosaic narrative behind its origins. The boys don’t disappoint as disc jockeys either, despite their less than magnetic on-air personalities and a fumble at the outset. Musicians are routinely asked about their influences, and we’re often fed a short list of generic responses. Here, we get to listen first hand. It’s a rare opportunity to listen to a band spin records as a group. The Allah-Las’ set leans on the oldies but peppers in a handful of new bands worth your attention as well. I was particularly taken with Gap Dream’s “Generator,” recently released on Suicide Squeeze Records. Listen to the set in its entirety below.
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Written by Rob Peoni
Stream: Willie Green ‘Days of Future Past’
Willie Green has remained the best producer in hip hop since 2010. His drums always crisp and rugged, his samples always chopped and flipped to perfection, and a musical range that allows him to craft songs for R&B and soul artists as well as rappers. When you factor in his reputation as one of the better studio engineers in the game, it becomes clear why he’s been able to become so prolific in such a short time.
I became familiar with Green through his work with the Super Chron Flight Brothers and later billy woods, but he has continued to branch out and work with all different types of talented artists. Keeping track of everything Willie Green has produced in the past couple of years would be overwhelming for any listener, so thankfully, he has assembled a “Best of” compilation – expertly mixed by DJ Mo Niklz. The sampler features names like billy woods, PremRock, Roc Marciano, and Open Mike Eagle, Days of Future Past is a great way to get familiar with several Thought on Tracks favorites while enjoying some of the best and most varied hip hop production around.
The compilation is free on bandcamp and the download comes with liner notes that detail the stories behind each of its 38 tracks. If you pay attention to hip hop and you’re not familiar with Willie Green, you likely will be in the near future. Use this free comp to get up to speed before his official album We Live In The Future drops next year.
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Written by John Bugbee
Video: Tom Haney “Home”
Around this time last year we featured a video entitled “Boxcar Fair” that showcased a collaboration between Atlanta’s Little Tybee and kinetic sculptor Tom Haney. Haney has returned with a new video called “Home.” This time the musical accompaniment comes from Jónsi, the singer and guitarist best known for his work with Icelandic post-rock outfit Sigur Rós. It’s a solo track entitled “Helinglás” that finds Jónsi’s abandoning signature falsetto for a more reserved tenor set against lush arrangements on strings. The video for “Home” is much less complex than “Boxcar Fair,” but no less interesting. Watch as Haney displays the end result and his process below.
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Written by Rob Peoni
Thought on Tracks 