Pages tagged “public enemy”

It’s a Tuesday night at 2Kolegas, a squat, rundown bar at the edge of an anachronistic drive-in movie theater. In a joint packed with local denizens and cigarette smoke, it’s a crush to find standing room, much less a deep breath. Tonight’s bill includes Islaja, a Finnish electronic loopmaker, recently off of her tour opening for Animal Collective; a red-draped Japanese-Korean duo named 10, which deploys a laptop and a bevy of toys for its sound; and Knyfe Hyts, a mask-wearing sludge-rock trio from Brooklyn. A Chinese saxophonist named Li Tieqiao joins the latter band on stage, the resulting sound not unlike something off The Stooges’ Funhouse: raucous, noisy and full-bore. The crowd goes nuts. Just another night in Beijing.

If you really think about it a battle of the bands is really passé; who wants to watch one band at a time, when you could hop between four? What’s cool these days is a battle of a group of bands, maybe over several days with sets running concurrently. Lo and behold, the summer music festival battle royal, and Pitchfork Music has recently entered into the fray.

This year the Pitchfork Music Festival starts off nostalgic as they team with All Tomorrow’s Parties to bring Hip-Hop legends Public Enemy performing the entire It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back album (take that Roger Waters and Coachella). Other artists confirmed for the three day event in late July include Animal Collective, Vampire Weekend, !!!, M. Ward and others.

The news is especially a boon to Chicago Natives, where the Pitchfork Festival will again be held in Union Park, as Lollapalooza happens only 2 weeks after in Grant Park. Even without a full artist listing fans of music will appreciate the cost, a mere $65. The downside is with today’s gas prices festival goers will have to sacrifice a limb to the great deity Oi!-Yll just to get there. Tickets go on sale March 12th.

Related links:
PitchforkMusicFestival.com
PitchforkMedia.com
PublicEnemy.com

Have news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com

If you think about it, a battle of the bands is really passé; who wants to watch one band at a time when you could hop between four? What’s cool these days is a rumble between a group of bands, maybe over several days, with sets running concurrently. Lo and behold, the summer music festival battle royale—Pitchfork, a recent entry into the contender field, recently announced the heavy-hitting headliners for the third annual Pitchfork Music Festival.

This year, the Pitchfork Music Festival starts off nostalgic as they team with All Tomorrow’s Parties to host hip-hop legends Public Enemy's performance of the entire It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back album (take that, Roger Waters and Coachella). Other artists confirmed for the three-day, late-July event include Animal Collective, Vampire Weekend, !!!, M. Ward and others.

The news is especially a boon to Chicago natives, where the Pitchfork Festival will again be held in Union Park, with Lollapalooza happening only two weeks later in Grant Park. Even without a full artist listing, fans of music will appreciate the cost, a mere $65. The downside is, with today’s gas prices, festivalgoers will have to sacrifice a limb to the great deity Oi!-Yll just to get there. Tickets go on sale March 12.

Related links:
PitchforkMusicFestival.com
PitchforkMedia.com
PublicEnemy.com

Have news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com.

There's a deep generational rift that splits wide open when the words "Flavor Flav" are mentioned in conversation.

On the one (younger, VH1-worshipping) side: Flavor Fla-"aaaaaay"-av, the lovable target of dozens of cheese-chasin' ladies on Flavor of Love seasons 1, 2 or the impending 3.

On the other (aged, album-listening) side: Flavor Flav, the clock-sporting Public Enemy co-founder who, according to fellow founder Chuck D, "created the hype man in hip-hop and rap music" for good or for ill.

The two Flavs will be one and the same this May, when he and the rest of Public Enemy—Chuck D, Professor Griff, DJ Lord, Brother Mike, James Bomb and Pop Diesel (groundbreaking original DJ Terminator X has retired from the stage)—head to the U.K. for three performances of their seminal 1988 album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.

The trio of shows are part of the All Tomorrow's Parties nostalgia-inducing/killing Don't Look Back concert series, which has successfully hosted similar gigs in the U.S. (Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation, GZA's Liquid Swords and Slint's Spiderland at last year's Pitchfork Music Festival) and Australia (Sonic Youth, Low's Things We Lost in the Fire).

Paste's 50th best living songwriters will be joined on all three nights by Dr. Octagon (Kool Keith and Kutmasta Kurt), Anti-Pop Consortium, and Edan + MC Dagha. Tickets go on sale this Friday, Feb. 8 (unless you're the epitome of impatient enemy—in which case, there's a pre-sale starting today at the official Public Enemy site). Stuck in the States without the dough to get overseas? Snag some Public Enemy action figures, drop the needle on your copy of Millions and voila: your own mini-Don't Look Back. Hey, it beats reality television!

Rebel with a raised fist:

May
23 - London, England @ Brixton Academy
26 - Manchester, England @ Manchester Academy
27 - Glasgow, Scotland @ ABC1

Related links:
PublicEnemy.com
Public Enemy on MySpace
Paste: Q&A w/Chuck D

Got news tips for Paste? E-mail news@pastemagazine.com.

Legendary hip-hop group Public Enemy puts out a new album today, marking its 20th anniversary. How To Sell Soul To A Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul features production from former Bomb Squad member Gary G-Wiz, as well as a track (“Can You Hear Me Now”) produced by Redman. The album also boasts a guest appearance from old-school bone crusher KRS-ONE on “Sex, Drugs and Violence.”

Gary G-Wiz reworked classic Public Enemy beats and cuts to give the album a retrospective flavor. The album’s first single, “Harder Than You Think,” features a bit of nostalgia from clock-wearing-PE-member-turned-reality-TV-phenomenon Flava Flav.

"Flav pays homage to his ‘Public Enemy Number One’ vocals and the song [‘Harder Than You Think’] welds two eras together with uncanny precision," frontman Chuck D said in a recent statement.

Public Enemy has made a few appearances on the Rock the Bells tour this summer, and while only a few California shows are scheduled for August, more concert dates are expected soon.

Related links:
RockTheBells.net
PublicEnemy.com
Flavor of Love website

Got news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com.

Twenty years after transforming hip-hop and conquering America, Public Enemy is out to capture new territory: the hearts and minds of electronica fans. Two of the group’s legendary hits, “Bring The Noise” and “Give It Up” will be remixed by world-renowned DJs Ferry Corsten, Benny Benassi, and Don Diablo.

Ultra Records’ remix project will aim to bring Public Enemy’s unmistakable sonic and lyrical assault to a new audience, and frontman Chuck D is excited about the possibilities. “I am pleased to acknowledge that Public Enemy’s words and music are both considered classic and timeless,” he said in a recent statement. “Here it's split in half so the lyrics and rhythms can move the dance floor with new sounds from the sonic wizards of today.”

And while the DJs will undoubtedly make these tracks their own, the collaboration has a historical logic: “This is an appropriate and exciting project, since Public Enemy evolved from the same elements of DJ diversity that helped formulate dance and electronica in the first place.”

The new remixes of “Bring The Noise” and “Give It Up” will be released on August 21, just in time to start another revolution.

Related links:
PublicEnemy.com
Public Enemy on MySpace
UltraRecords.com

Got news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com.