Rising from the New York underground/independent hip-hop scene and being very close friends with Shia LaBeouf, I think it’s fair to say that Chris “Cage” Palko is a one of a kind rapper.

Cage’s unique styling is progressive rap at its finest. His music is dark, tormented and at times dejected, while on stage he is known to be one of the most energetic and all-out performers in the business. Live, he’s been described as “possessed and jarring”, truly performing his music in every sense of the word. His music reminds me of a Atmosphere/Kid Cudi hybrid, taking the lyrical prowess of the former and combining it with the “solo dolo” loner vibes of Cudder. He’s developed a very strong following in the underground world of hip-hop, developing his own subgenre of “horror-core” while being a main stay on El-P’s independent Def Jux record label for the past 5 years.

A nomination for best rapper of 2009 by SPIN magazine, Cage has continued to make a splash this year in the industry as a collabo on Kid Cudi’s upcoming album Man On the Moon 2. This tour Cage continues to rep his most accomplished work, the 2009 release, Depart From Me, but after tracking in the studio with Cudi, who knows what type of new music he’s going to have in store.

Next Saturday, July 3^rd, Cage headlines the Roxy here in Los Angeles, his first gig in Los Angeles after opening for Less Than Jake at HOB back in early December. This time around he’s going to have his own full set, which means some old material, tracks off Depart From Me and maybe even some brand new stuff.  It’ll be a show you won’t want to miss.

Hate Your Guns opens. Tickets are only $13.50 and can be purchased at http://theroxyonsunset.com/

This might seem a little random, but hey, some of us do things other than school.

And so can you!  It’s the summer, why not write a movie?

These sites should help get you started.

Seriously.

How to Sell Your Screenplay – Since I know most of you want to jump to this site right away before even writing a screenplay, this link will take you to Ashley Meyers’s site that has a lot of great info.  But before that, you

Go Into the Story Blog – This professor REALLY goes into the story.  And everything else about screenwriting.

The Unknown Screenwriter – A ton of great posts on screenwriting.  With attitude.

John August’s Blog – Has lessons, answers questions, goes through it all.  Who knew the writer of Charlie’s Angels and Go was so damn smart?

Script Doctor Eric - When you’re done with your script, send it to Eric. He’s a produced screenwriter.  He’ll give you notes.  He doesn’t charge that much.  Just do it.

What are you waiting for?  Let’s get famous.

Or something…

UCLAradio.com caught up with Ralf Kollmann of Mobilee and Leena records before his gig in Los Angeles to bring you an exclusive DJ mix and interview from the label honcho. Drizzle your eardrums with a copy of the special Mobilee showcase from “Electronic Frequencies” with Charles Fox that aired June 9th as we’ve now uploaded the entire show for your listening pleasure.

Either stream it with the embedded player below,

or visit http://charlie.la for a partial tracklisting and download link

UCLARadio.com will be giving away free shirts for the next two weeks  in preparation for the premiere of the movie Cyrus, starring Jonah Hill. Visit us on BruinWalk or listen to UCLA Radio to win!

Want to watch the movie? It comes out in theatres June 18th!!

For more information or to check out the trailer:

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/cyrus/

Seriously, don’t f**k my mom.

Positioned between a lingering sun and the soft blades of green grass was the 24th annual Jazz and Reggae Festival held over Memorial day weekend at UCLA’s intramural field.  A cool breeze and the smell of barbecue accompanied students, families and Angelino’s as they rhythmically stepped into the summer.

While the two day line-up consisted of artists and musicians like Q-tip, Raphael Saadiq, Barrington Levy and Bilal, it was the appearance of Damian Marley and Nas that drew my immediate attention.  The two performed songs from their recently released project titled “Distant Relatives” which was accompanied by accolades from the hungry fans.

Nas demonstrated his extensive contributions to the hip hop community by performing choice songs from a catalog that spans over 15 years.  The audience seemed dumb struck and confused as the heavy baseline opening to “Represent,” from his 1994 release Illmatic, poured out of the speakers.

Admittedly I was taken by surprise to hear Nas perform such an underground classic. It wasn’t until the chorus that I fully participated, pushing my fist in the air crooning “Represent, Represent.”

It became apparent by the second song that Nas would be taking us on a chronological journey as the soothing vocal opening of “If I ruled the World” carried across the skyline.  With perfect harmony the journey continued as “Nas is like” produced by DJ Premier entered our auditory glands, followed by “One Mic,” “Made you look,” and “Hip Hop is dead.”

Without hesitation Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley fiercely took the spotlight demonstrating lyrical precision, crowd control, and impeccable vocal tonality.  Listeners couldn’t help but to nod heads, swing dreads, pump fists and swing hips to “Land of promise.”

Marley’s massive dreadlocks swung as his song “More Justice” brought to light the importance of youth advocacy and the perils of poverty.  Suddenly there was a roar emanating from the crowd as “Welcome to JamRock” sprang from the sound system, serving as an example of Marley’s musical prowess.

The “Distant Relatives” project highlights the individual talents of both Nas and Marley while illuminating their dedication to social justice.  In a humble fashion the duo ended their set with a perfectly timed rendition of Bob Marley’s “Could you be loved.”

In addition to the many performers that blessed the stage was a variety of vendors and artists that contributed heavily to the overall experience.  Artists like Mear One and Keenan Chapman provided the visual component, as food vendors provided the necessary stimulants to our taste buds.

Overall the picnic style atmosphere unified the diverse audience seemingly transporting our minds bodies and souls into the heart of reggae music.  As sun dresses and sensimilla smoke floated effortlessly in the wind, one couldn’t help but breath deep and enjoy the absence of time.

Until next year.

OUTSCOUT
UCLAradio.com
“ON The UP”
Thursdayz 10-Midnight

Roky Erickson is a walking miracle and a true inspiration to all human beings.  Starting at age 5, the boy picked up the piano and fell in love with music, moving onto the guitar soon after.  His nonconformist attitude got him in a bit of trouble as he dropped out of high school with one month left before graduation for choosing not to cut his hair.  In 1968, he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia upon speaking nonsense at a gig, and since then, his life has been a roller coaster ride in and out of prisons, mental institutions, thoughts of Martian abductions, obsessive mail and letter collecting, and all sorts of other unfortunate mishaps.  He was event sent to a hospital for the criminally insane after having been arrested for possession of one marijuana joint.

After years of spending time with the TVs and radios on at full blast in his house to drown out the voices in his head, Erickson made a comeback that his friends and family thought was impossible. On April 20, 2010, he released True Love Cast Out All Evil, his first album of new material in 14 years. Roky narrates his entire life through this album, lyrically shining light on optimism, true love, and peace.  Along with the pain and loss he portrays in this music, he also sings about hope that has helped him overcome the demons of his past.  This album touched my heart in unbelievable ways and I had no idea that this album would be such a spine chiller.  The man is a poet, as he demonstrates through this album, and we feel with him as he takes us through jail, mental institutions, and the rest of his hardships, as well as his joys and successes.

The music itself is an incredible cross between psychedelic rock with a Western twist, along with melodic blues that’s reminiscent of Johnny Cash, but not quite.  The instrumentals consist of Erickson’s deep, hoarse, emotional voice, along with acoustic and electric guitars, Hammond, pump, and Wurlitzer organs, trumpets, Congas, a Mellotron, a Rhodes and an acoustic piano, a cello, congas, trombones, Saxophones, and violins.  Whether you’re into this style of music or not, you will find yourself feeling awesome about Roky’s success in life and his unstoppable willpower, which is spectacular considering how he pulled himself out of such a deep hole at 63 years old.

It’s albums like these that make me love my job.  It gave me some chills and some smiles; True Love Cast Out All Evil deserves an A in my book.

Michael Kashiktchian

Electronic Frequencies (Wednesdays 10:00PM-2:00AM)

On Tuesday May 25th some friends and I made our way to the Echo in Echo Park to see The Airborne Toxic Event perform and to support the Neda Project. The benefit show that the band was having was in response to the murder of a young woman named Neda who was shot and killed in Iran when she was protesting the limitation of human rights. The band joined forces with Amnesty International to put together a show and a silent auction on Tuesday night.

The opening band was Red Cortez. I’m not sure how well-known this band is but they were amazing. The lead singer had an amazing energy and he jumped and danced around. In between the songs he would talk to the crowd and at one point he told us to always question authority. The crowd seemed to like it when he said that. Their set was no longer than thirty minutes but it was great.

If you’ve ever been to an Airborne Toxic Event concert then you know what to expect. Mikel has so much energy on stage it’s scary. You can’t help but simply close your eyes while he sings. That’s exactly what I did. I closed my eyes and just listened and it was amazing. At one point during the show Anna jumped into the crowd and started jumping around with fans. Mikel talks to the crowd a lot which is refreshing. They played a lot of songs from their debut album but also played new songs that would be released on their second album. One of the knew songs is called “The Kids are Ready to Die.” This song is about young kids who are taught that going to war is a manly thing to do and they only end up dying. The show was overall amazing and after the show they band hung around for a while taking pictures with fans and just talking. It’s impossible to not be able to talk to at least on of the members of this band after a show. They are really good about talking to their fans and just hanging out with them. They continually thank their fans for being there and supporting causes they think are important.

I guess you would think that that was the end of my night but it wasn’t. We hung around for a while and took pictures with a majority of the band. I was wearing my awesome UCLAradio shirt and Steven, the guitarist, looked at it and told me he went to Berkeley. It was awkward but slightly funny. We talked to Anna and asked her were she got her dress. She amazes me. She manages to wear heels and a dress at most of the shows she plays. After a while we realized we were too hungry to go home and sleep. We asked Daren, the drummer of the band, where we could go eat. He gave us the name of a restaurant but it was closed so we found a different one in LA. We headed there and when we were done eating we saw Jonah Hill walk into the restaurant. It was surreal. No one talked to him and he sat down in a booth, ordered his food, and ate.

It was an amazing night and I can’t wait to do it all again soon.

– Laura

Lady-fronted VersaEmerge has uploaded a new track from the 22 June 2010 release Fixed At Zero.  The track (also titled Fixed At Zero) can be heard on VersaEmerge’s MySpace.  Also, check out the tracklisting, and if you’re interested in pre-ordering the album, you can do so here.  Not having really heard VE before, I was skeptical at first, but, I gotta say, it’s actually halfway decent.  Give it a listen!

Fixed At Zero is to be released on Fueled By Ramen (again, on 22 June) and is a follow-up to 2009’s self-titled LP.

So I guess in order to release all of the songs for the 12 May release date of This Sinking Ship, Swedish punk band Splitside has treated their fans to (the final?) two tracks of the album.  Intoxication and Glory Days can be heard on Splitside’s MySpace along with a few other songs to be released on This Sinking Ship.

This Sinking Ship is a follow-up to the band’s 2007 release Our Days Our Numbered, both of which are Knuckle Ride Record releases.  If you live in Europe, they’re playing a heap of shows to promote the new album, so check out Dying Scene’s Shows page for the dates.

Recently I attended the second of two Ben Folds shows at the Music Box. As an ardent Ben Folds fan I was pleasantly surprised with the laid back and humorous atmosphere he was able to create, even though his entire set was done (or at least it seemed) without any setlist or structure other then the fact he did not want to duplicate any songs from the show the night before (according to the 1/4 to 1/3 of the crowd that went to both shows).

He started out the show with “Effington” from his Way to Normal album and was able to transition from his upbeat and dancy songs to his more dramatic songs seemlessly. He even performed “You Don’t Know Me” (orginially featuring Regina Spektor) with the opening act Kate Miller-Heidke (who also was able to put on a fun yet musically sound show). After leaving the stage momentarily, the crowd would not stop cheering and Folds was quick to perform his encore, ending with “Not The Same” where he was able to turn the entire crowd into his own chior; leading them to harmonize at his will. Overall the concert was a very fun expierence and was thrilled with the amount of old stuff (including Ben Folds Five material) and new stuff he was able to fuse together into his show.

With the massive influx of listening to the French band Daft Punk on a everyday basis because of one of my good friends, I have been obligated to be a little more French, and by being a little more French, I mean going to Amandine, in the West L.A. suburbs of Brentwood, conveniently about a 10 minute bike ride away from campus, so us college kids that don’t have a car can get there.

Once you step in the restaurant, you feel like you’ve gone into a small Ethnic enclave, but instead of Chinatown, this could seriously be called Frenchtown.  Upon entering, the rich, sweet, succulent smell of fresh pastries, entered through my stuffy nose,  and tickled my senses. Also,  the rich scent of coffee, emulating like all other Frech cafes were definitely very prevalent.  Other things that were pretty interesting were the interior of the building; it looked like it  could be in France, and the tables and chairs lined up outside. The vibe in the restaurant seemed like more working class individuals, taking a good coffee break on a regular long day in the crazy world of Los Angeles.

As my my senses were being tickled, I felt the obligation of  finally ordering something. Peering into the glass, I saw a pastry called the ” Banana Carmel Danish”, and I must say my mouth started drooling once I saw it- a custard like base with bananas drizzled with caramel sauce over it. Of course, again, I would definitely be obligated to  order even though I thought $3.75 seemed a bit overboard for a pastry. Along with that pastry, I order a generic cup of coffee, so that’s not to amazing.

The coffee was, as I said a cup of coffee. However, the Banana Carmel Danish, was wow…something definitely out of the world. Once I had a small bite, my taste buds were bouncing off the walls. The sweet succulent taste of bananas with fresh new crispy pastry bottom made me go crazy. In addition, the caramel drizzled on the top, topped it off with just the right hint of sweetness.  There was a good medium between the sweetness, not too sweet, and not too bland… just perfect.  Since the pastry was  same day fresh, I would definitely say that made a big difference because you could definitely taste the difference between something you buy at Ralph’s and Amandine.

In conclusion, go here because it’s pretty reasonable for  what you’re getting. go here because you go to to France without the place ticket, go here because pastries are good. just go here and give it a shot!

-Dj Swaggerlicious

For those of who are advent blog readers you may have read my earlier blog post about British parody MC band The Midnight Beast. If you didn’t read it, what the heck man?

Today I bring you a comedian from Australia in Comedic Invasion pt. 2: Tim Minchin. Tim Minchin is technically a comesician (a comedian musician hybrid) whose intellectual style and catchy songs have propelled him to be one of the better comedians in England. Minchin, although classified as a comedian, likes to think of himself as a songwriter whose songs just happen to be funny.

So true. Read the rest of this entry »

Futurehouse 014 Sunday May 30th 2010

Headinghome is proud to present the Memorial Day Weekend Summer kickoff party! Celebrating 14 years of dance music in Los Angeles!

FUTUREHOUSE 014
Sunday May 30, 2010

This year we will be celebrating Futurehouse with a two-part party. From 5pm-9pm our guests will enjoy music and food under the sun!
$20 will cover your admission for the entire party and BBQ.
MENU: Food grilled on outdoor patio • Hot Dogs • Sliders • Sausage Links • Wings • Carne Asada • Grilled Veggies • Green Salad • Corn on the Cob •
Chips • Cookies •

From 9pm-4:00am, the party will continue with the late night dancing ’til 4am with four rooms of music. Plus $1 Tacos all night!

LOCATED AT: The Proud Bird
11022 Aviation Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90045

Limited $10 Presale Tickets available

$20 after (at the door)

18 & Over Ok.
21 + encouraged

DJs

Patio & BBQ Hosted By The Feel Up Starts 5:00pm-4:00am
Steve Loria
Lillyanne & Hawkeye
DJ Buck
Tony Watson
Travis TK Disco
Rick Wren
Cocoe

The House Room Hosted by Philter 9:00pm-4:00am
Nonfiction & Wobs
Eddie B
Josh Heath

The Techno tower hosted by Droid Starts 9pm-4am
Dean Paul
Death By Acid
Fabian

Electro Patio 9pm-4am
James Amato
Bul!m!atron
DJ Minx
Le Apples
AudioPilot

Here’s the original link to FutureHouse: http://futurehouse.net/?p=156

Michael Kashiktchian

Electronic Frequencies

Wednesdays 10:00PM-2:00AM

In an part one of an eight-part interview with Against Me! vocalist/guitarist, Tom Gabel, the singer speaks of his hopes of the fans being able to connect with what the band writes about and that it’s “OK if you’re a little fucked up.”  Check it out here.

Against Me! is currently on tour in the South and will skip across the pond for a couple of weeks before touring the US again.  Check out all of the tour dates here.

Watch the video for I Was A Teenage Anarchist, which can be heard on White Crosses due for release 7 June 2010 on Sire Records.

On Wednesday, April 21, 2010, the only thing that I could think about was sleep. Coachella weekend was the weekend before, I had a midterm on Tuesday, and I had an upcoming retreat the following weekend.  So its not surprising that I nearly forgot that my friend had bought us tickets to see Foxy Shazam at the Troubadour that night.  Alas, I jumped on a few MTA Rapid buses and made it to the Troubadour in time for the show.  What I was expecting – a few hours of good music by some bands I wasn’t really familiar.  What I got – a lineup that crossed over three different spectrum’s of music, a band that had so much energy that it was contagious, and a $25 sweatshirt (worth every penny – it’s extremely comfortable!).  Read more of the review after the jump!

Read the rest of this entry »