After his Grammy Awards performance on Sunday, MTV News caught up with, Blink 182 drummer, Travis Barker and threw him through a gauntlet of questions mostly directed towards the bands much-anticipated upcoming album. The word on the street has been that the album was going to release in 2011, while others have heard that it will be coming out sooner. But according to Barker the band has to finish their own side-projects before they start working on the next Blink album.
“We’re about to start working on it. I’m gonna try to wrap up my album and, uh, Tom has his band, he’s wrapping up that album, and then we’ll start working on a Blink record.”
It has been nearly 7 years since the band’s last album was released in 2003, and it will be interesting to see what kind of sound they bring to the table nearly a decade later. Judging by Sunday’s performance with Lil’ Wayne, Eminem, and Drake, I think it’s safe to say that Barker still has the sound that can keep up with the music of today.
All in all, it seems as if we’ll have to play the waiting game until we find out.
Stumbling through i-tunes looking for the perfect music for the perfect beer and perfect night and low and behold what slaps me in the face–Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. At first glance, I’m thinking old 60s band, they had the big bus, the hazy photos, the long, the frivilous clothing and the care free spirit. But no, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros’s first full length release was sometime in July 2009. Double click on the first song. Sounding good. Then the second, the third…the sixth and so on. Hook, line and sinker, I was snagged and reeled in without a fight. An album all to its own with smoothingly catchy beats and clear concise lyrics. The rythmic beats make you tap your foot and beat the wheel. There’s something special about Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. This album without a doubt is a must to check out and they’ll be cruzing through California throughout the next month. I’ve never seen them live, but from the reviews it sounds like a must see. Only fitting way to finish this up would be with a “peace.”
I got wind of the new Mos Def album to be released June 9, 2009 from Facebook with rumbles of the best thing since “black on both sides,” a fucking amazing ensemble of conscious, lyrical, instrumental, soulful, and strick beats of hip-hop at it’s best — all I gotta say is ms. fat booty. Then came “black star” with Talib Kweli and since it’s been a few solo attempts that over-achieved to disaster. ECSTATIC taps into Mos Def’s original recipe — mellow but deep, hard but soft, each song to its own. It’s not overworked. This is not an album to make a buck or just to get back into the studio. This album won’t hit the top of the charts, you won’t hear this on the radio, and it won’t be shoved down your throats by MTV, but it should.  Mos Def is no secret, and nor should he be. He is an artist, and in this realm his canvas is a microphone. Album releasing on itunes, June 9, but if you need an introduction to Mos Def, there is no better introduction than “black on both sides,” $7.99 on itunes. For more on Mos Def, the album and hip-hop check out; www.myspace.com/mosdef .
This is the og of afro-beat-funk. Cool rythmic sections, perpetual beats, with jazz interludes and spoken word that hits the soul. Fela Kuti’s dead now, but his music is more prevalent than ever. It’s what music should sound like–no big headed executives, no money, just pure thought and inspiration.
“The man who would become the father of afro-beat was born into the Yoruba tribe in southwest Nigeria, where his father, like his grandfather, was a protestant minister, and his mother was a prominent feminist political activist. Against his father’s wishes, Fela sang in highlife bands at age 16. During the ’60s he studied music in London, where he formed a highlife band called the Koola Lobitos. In 1969 he spent a year in the U.S., where he linked up with the Black Panthers and others, broadening and radicalizing his political sense, which embraced Kwame Nkrumah’s pan-Africanism.” (From Rollingston.com).
It’s a sound all to its own. With 30 minute songs that never grow old. The music flows through your veins, soothing, yet sparking every nerve in your body. Any album is well worth the while, but lately I’ve been dabbing into “Coffin For Head of State and Unknown Soldier.” Check it out at last.fm.
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