All together under one (small) roof at the Orange Peel in Asheville…
"One Two (tickets) Oh My God!" We got in to see the Beastie Boys.
How ridiculously lucky can you get? This show was at a club that only holds a little over 900 people. It was announced only a day before tickets went on sale, and week before the show. I started loading the ticket page on a couple different computers right before 4 PM, along with a lot of other people. For the most part the site would not load at all after 4. Then, when it did I would get an error when I tried to buy tickets. About 10 minutes later it started saying “SOLD OUT.” I could not believe it. Took a minute to complain/tweet about it. Then, went back at it. Finally, I got through! And it was NOT sold out. Yes!
I wanted to go pretty bad, and my son Mars even more so. Mary said he got so nervous when I was trying to score tickets he couldn’t watch. He went to play his drums for a bit. That didn’t help my concentration.
I got the tickets. You want a shirt, bring money.
We got there over an hour in advance, and the line was already long. The cool thing is it appears the promoters and club did everything they could to keep it fair, and minimize ticket scalping. You could only buy two. Everybody’s tickets were “will call,” even if you got the few they had at the box office. You had to bring the card you used for the purchase and another picture ID. Once you got your tickets you had to go straight into the club. Despite all that I heard people in line with an extra ticket were getting offered crazy money.
I had no idea Biz Markie was going to be there. He DJ’d for about 20 minutes and it was awesome! He totally owned the crowd. His set went through a ton of old school hip hop from the ’80s and ’90s. And somewhat to my surprise the crowd was extra hip hop literate. The Biz kept fading the mix to let the crowd a capella through lines of Grandmaster Flash, LL Cool J, even some Bob Marley, and bunch of other stuff I can’t remember. Massively entertaining. “If you remember that one, I know you’ll remember this…”
Of course, he couldn’t finish without giving us a little from “Just a Friend.” Make SURE to watch this video again.
When the Beastie Boys finally came out it was to Biz Markie doing “The Biz vs. The Nuge” (Check Your Head). Perfect.
And I couldn’t believe they had Money Mark with them. Money Mark’s records get played as much as anything in my collection. He’s been a hero of mine for years. Later in the set Mike D asked Mark to come out from behind the keyboards to play “Mark on the Bus.” Brilliant. (Clip from a different show.)
And what about the Beastie Boys? Well, I don’t how it could have been any better. They were fun, funny and funky. They played everything from their earliest punk stuff to a couple brand new songs with something from just about every record, save for License to Ill. I loved every bit of it, but I was especially glad they did a bunch of their instrumentals like “Pow” and “Ricky’s Theme.”
Mix Master Mike put on an impressive show and really turned it out with a scratching solo to open the encore. They finished strong with “Sabotage” and it was time to go home.
A couple other highlights include AdRock giving the crowd dance lessons for the “Jerry Lewis” and the “Funky Penguin.” He’s got skills. And I’ll never forget Biz Markie joining the band to sing Elton John’s “Benny and the Jets.” The Biz took his shirt off and every person in the house pulled out their camera phone to capture the big man going natural.
The latest Plastilina Mosh record came out just in time for my birthday a few weeks ago. After the first full listen of All U Need is Mosh I was stunned that is wasn’t the greatest record ever made, because I’m huge, huge fan. I guess it’s bound to happen, but it’s always a downer when a band seems to take a step backward. I know, it’s all in my head. After several more complete listens I do love more than at first. There are a large number of great tunes and the whole world should buy it. My favorites in general are the more electronic stuff, but the punk-pop single “Let U Know” is totally fun. Other standouts include the slow electro-funk “Paso Fino” and the pretty “Pervert Pop Song.”
G. Love and Special Sauce have put out a bunch of records since this 1994 debut. Even though I love this album I never bought any of their other stuff. I don’t know why, and I’m not very familiar with their later work. This self-titled debut is a classic in my opinion. I love the combination of blues, beats and hip hop. The musicianship is crazy good, and so are G. Love’s singing and lyrics. The big hit was “Cold Beverage” but my favorite is “Garbage Man.”
I never beg ba-by
I never get down, on my knees
I’m gonna get you just the same
I’ll get you just the same
New Wyclef Jean coming out next month, Carnival II (Memoirs of an Immigrant), December 4 to be precise. This single “Riot” is intense, with more riffs and breaks than most albums. And if you can believe this, it features Serj Tankian (System of a Down)… rapping. Listen to it.
It’s Cinco de Mayo time! Today we celebrate Mexico sticking to the French in 1862, and Plastilina Mosh. We’ve reached the end of my Plastilina Mosh collection. Tonight we have a DVD titled simply, DVD. And the only thing I like better than Plastina Mosh’s music is their music plus video. After seeing a couple PMosh videos on MTV3 I knew I had to get a hold of this. I’ll admit that I haven’t seen the entire thing. There are a bunch of album documentaries and extras. But I have watched all twelve music videos and they are so damn good I give it a rating of 10 just for those.
By now you know I’m a complete fan of their music, and that I think they are geniuses. Their videos just take all of that creativity, fun, funk and hard rocking to another level of entertainment. Every one of these music videos is excellent, and no two are similar. “Mr. P Mosh” borders on being Dali-esque in it’s silliness.
As I understand it, this was released as a companion to the double CD collection, which explains the matching artwork. I love the pic of the guys in tuxedos inside the case. Is it me, or do those heads look pasted on National Enquirer style?
Happy Cinco de Mayo eve! The only thing better than a Plastilina Mosh album is a Plastilina Mosh double album. And that’s what we have with Tasty + b sides. It’s considered a “best of” of sorts, but a slight majority of the songs on the two discs weren’t on any of the first three albums. On the Tasty disc there are four brand new songs and those alone make it worth the price. I love all of them, but my favorite of that batch is “Nalguita.” You can check that one out at the PMosh MySpace page. It’s too good for words. And what’s with that song at MySpace called “Babasonicos remix”? That’s not on any album I have! Curses!
The b sides disc curiously has a number of songs from previous albums, but it also has some really heavy stuff. “Quiero Mi Pastilla” is a hyper-speed punk piece, and “Purrum Pum Pum” is a metallic dirge. Who would think a chorus of “Purrum Pum Pum” could sound so heavy? I don’t think it means anything, but it sounds cool. I’m surprised most of these weren’t on the other releases. The All Music Guide has a good review of this collection, and short clips of all the songs, if you want to know more. Tasty + b sides is a great place to start if you’re looking to get some of their music.
As usual, the album artwork and packaging are excellent. The jewel case comes in a cover with sketches of the fellas. The booklet has a bunch of great photos, and the front cover pic of a couple kissing in the park is fantastic. It evokes the same emotions as their music. The inside of the back of the jewel case contains the words “Happy Listening.” That’s as much a description of the music as instruction for using it.
For a long time I was unable to find the Plastilina Mosh albums I was missing. The first one, Auqamosh, can be especially expensive and I’ve seen listed in numerous online stores for $80(?!). For real. I found Hola Chicuelos used at Secondspin. For this one they moved to EMI Latin. All notes are in Spanish.
Hola Chicuelos is another piece of music greatness from the genius duo. Like the first two it’s stylistically all over the place. I think a few songs made it to the Latin charts. “Peligroso Pop” is maybe the most poignant sounding pop song I’ve ever heard. Now, I don’t have any idea what they are saying. The lyrics could be his grocery list but the total sound kills me. “Garret Club” is sort of like a jazz dance number, with real horns and strings. I love that one too. “Te lo juro por Madonna” is a rocked out tune with a great guitar riff. I believe that one was a hit. Another hit was “Enzo.” After “Peligroso Pop” this is my favorite. It’s mid-tempo, uses a lot of megaphone, some quick rapping (Or is that sportscasting? I can’t tell.), and a great sing along, or at least hum along chorus.
The album art is again quality stuff. The pages show Jonaz and Alejandro in their individual hotel rooms and, well, it’s just funny when you flip through it.
Juan Manuel is the second album by Plastilina Mosh and the first one I bought. It’s named for a good friend of theirs. I stumbled upon it when reading reviews about another Mexican group I was interested at the time, Titan (pronounced tee-tahn). This record is a little less rocked out than their debut but it’s my favorite. With the exception of “Supercombo Electronico” there isn’t much hard rocking here at all. There are some jazzy funk and funky jazz tunes like “Saint Tropez is not Far”, ethereal numbers like “Shampoo”, and plenty of great dance stuff like “Human Disco Ball.” My absolute favorite song is the super-chill, slow tempo, vocoder vocaled “Baretta ’89.” I don’t think I’ve ever heard such a essentially mellow song that is this exciting.
Also included on this “enhanced CD” is a great video for “Human Disco Ball” depicting the “enchanting story of a boy and his pinball machine.” Like I said yesterday, I’ll get back to the videos later. Another music hero of mine, Money Mark, has a production credit on the record. At first I thought his fingerprints were on everything, but it turns he only did three songs. And great album art is not dead! For one funny tidbit look inside the tabs that hold the CD center. I think that face peeking out may be Juan Manuel himself.
The album is bookended by two beautifully strange instrumentals, “Nordic Laser” and “Good Bye Happy Farm.” The latter ends with the sounds of horse hoofs slowly clip-clopping off into the distance. What could be better than that?
In celebration of Cinco de Mayo this coming Saturday I’m going to spend the week posting about some Mexican musicians who are my favorite band. And I don’t mean my favorite band from Mexico; I mean favorite band, period. Ladies and gentlemen… Plastilina Mosh!
I would like Beck as much as PMosh if he were twice as energetic and half as moody, and the Beastie Boys as much if they were as consistent. There is a connection there, but they are no imitators. They use Spanish and English, and other languages, in the same songs. They play songs in styles ranging from pure hip hop, rock and roll, punk, disco, lounge, noise, stuff I can’t explain or have never heard before, jazzy Stereolab-sounding things, and more. They appear to have no rules other than making good music. All that from only two guys, Alejandro Rosso and Jonás González.
Plastilina Mosh has had some real commercial success, especially in Latin markets. If you’re lucky you can catch one of their videos on MTV3, or MTV “Tr3�?s.” This is the one MTV that actually plays music videos. Isn’t that what MTV2 was for? Or, for that matter the original MTV? Anyhow, even their videos are great. I’ll get back to that later in the week.
Auqamosh is their debut album, but I didn’t get hip to them until their second release, Juan Manuel. My favorites from this one are the slamming rock hip hop opener “Niño Bomba”, “Afroman”, the hit “Monster Truck.”
Copenhagen, London, Paris, Stockholm, Tel Aviv, New York, ASHEVILLE! That’s not just where Balkan Beat Box is touring, it’s what they sound like. They’ve been here a couple times before, but this is the first time I’ve seen them. It was an excellent show. And maybe I’m guilty of grade inflation lately, or maybe I don’t get out enough, but I thought this show rocked. Even the crowd rocked. This stuff is just so fresh, fresh, fuh-resh. I’ve been listening to their first, self-titled album constantly for the last few months, through their web site. I finally got around to buying it at the show, along with their brand new release Nu Med. I’m not going to try to explain the sound. Just go to their site. I recommend beginners start with “Cha Cha” and then maybe “Try Rai (Shushan).”
They came out on the dance floor with drums and saxophones to get the show started. Excellent! Then, they made their way to stage and by the second song, “Cha Cha”, (which Tomer Yosef did a lot of rapping on, unlike the studio recording) the entire crowd was jumping up and down. I have never seen so many people going off with their own crazy dance moves. Maybe the music demands inventive steps.
Opening act Golem also put on a solid show. I enjoyed them but I didn’t already know their music. After a while it all started blending together. But their playing and stage presence were great.
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