Dub | LovetheMusic

Hot on the heels of Jen’s glowing review of 311’s set and Lango, it’s 3-11 Day!! This year marks the return of the celebratory bi-annual marathon concert to New Orleans (it was held in Memphis in 2006). So, to celebrate, I’m offering you some of my favourite 311 tracks for your auditory enjoyment.

First off, “Life’s Not a Race” from 1999’s SoundSystem. Jen’s got a crush on P-Nut, this song makes me fall in love with guitarist Tim Mahoney. The song isn’t entirely typical of 311 lead guitar playing, in fact it kind of reeks of Santana, but I don’t care. Mahoney puts it down and I like it.

Displaying another distinctly different approach to guitar is “Use of Time” from 1997’s Transistor. This song always struck me as unique for it’s strummed guitar opening, closest I’ve heard 311 get to an acoustic number. It’s super-atmospheric, which is one of the reasons that Transistor is my favourite 311 record. And also, Mahoney hits it hard again with some soaring solo action.

Rounding out MahoneyFest ‘08 is Evolver’s “Beyond the Gray Sky.” It’s got a great dynamic, moving from slinky verse to sweeping chorus. One closer listen, it’s not really lead heavy, but it’s still kickin’ and fairly catchy, and fitting now that the weather here is lightening up a smidge. Excellent.

Happy 311ing!!

311 Official | 3-11 Day Unofficial | 311 MySpasm

Buy a 3-11 Day Concert DVD!

311 - Life's Not a Race: Play in Popup | Download

311 - Use of Time: Play in Popup | Download

Otherwordly Beats + Caterwauling + Ear Sex = Thievery Corporation

I T Corp considered not writing this post, thinking, "Everybody has to know who the Thievery Corporation is…", but then I realized that even if one of you didn't know who they were before you read this post, then it was all for something. I'm so nice. And it would defeat our purpose.

Thievery Corporation was introduced to me by a friend when he was drunk, telling me how awesome they were. I took all this with a grain of salt, but he did burn me a disc with some of their stuff. I guess some people can communicate honestly when intoxicated. Well. I got hooked.

Some of you may be familiar with the track "Lebanese Blonde", which was featured on the Garden State soundtrack. (I swear, every song in the world has been featured on that soundtrack, and I've never even seen the bloody film.) They recently released their album "Versions" in 2006, which is a compilation album featuring a handful of outside artists.

Possible categories: electronic, dub, acid jazz, lounge, world, ambient, experimental, indie, etc.

What I like about Thievery Corporation is the global feel they have. They combine styles of music from all over, and languages, too, which makes for a quality blend of sound. Added to their political bent, you get music which is a sign of the times, and to me, representative of ever-increasing surge in globalization. (I'm an anthropology major, what can I say. <<—That. )

So, you have quick rundown of Thievery Corporation, a handful of links, and some selected mp3s. They're quite hard to choose, because TC is one of those groups whose albums have 12 out of 13 uber tracks. The ones I chose are from the albums I'm more familiar with. I'm not writing a band history because I don't care what year the DJ was born in. Its all about the music, dawg.

Related Links:

Thievery Corporation Official Website

Thievery Corporation on MySpace

Thievery Corporation Wikipedia Entry

Thievery Corporation at Last.FM

Related Ear Sex(doing a bit different):

Le Monde

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/02%20-%20Le%20Monde.mp3]

Facing East

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/02%20-%20Facing%20East.mp3]

Lebanese Blonde

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/04%20-%20Lebanese%20Blonde.mp3]