I saw this while perusing the Mesh blog, and given that I’ve been playing Pinback’s “Good To Sea” (off their last album, Autum of the Seraphs) on repeat, I thought I’d share this hilarious (and loving) spoof of Pinback, made by this Chicago dude.

If you love Pinback like I do, you’ll dig this. if you have no idea what a Pinback is, educate.

I’m going to be perfectly honest here, I haven’t showered in five days, and I stink. I’m usually pretty clean, but there have been a lack of showers so far on this tour. Even if there were a shower somewhere I probably wouldn’t have time to use it. Usually it’s hurry up and wait, but lately it’s been hurry up and hurry some more. I’ve been damn busy now that my workload has doubled, but I’m not complaining, I’m just adjusting. This tour is a different kind of situation. We have an entirely different crew than the last time around, so my time is spent teaching the new guys the routine of everything and trying to remember some things myself. We also have a bus full of people, 13 to be exact, and that is a slightly difficult thing to get used to all in itself. Tonight is the third night of tour, and as of yet, the coldest. It’s around 20 degrees and snowing like crazy here at the infamous Metro in Chicago. I really didn’t get to see much of Nashville or Columbus due to me being busy and tired, and the same will most likely happen again tonight. On top of the previously mentioned excuses, we’re in a slightly ghetto area, about a block away from Wrigley Field, and the only exciting places I’ve seen all day are a Starbucks and a hot dog stand, maybe I’ll get lucky and Steve Albini will come by and want to get a drink and hang out.

Newport Music Hall wall of fame

soundcheck

Meet and greet behind the scenes

In case you’re a fool, Shala from Qualo is one of the hottest rappers out of Chicago. Here’s the “The Great Chicago Winter” remixed by Zebo.

And here’s the original with acapellas and instrumentals. Enjoy, ears!

Liars is kinda hit or miss for me, but I really dug that Brocken Witch album. However, I’ve heard their live shows are something of a spectacle. The group recently wrapped up an arena tour in support of Interpol and Liars frontman Angus Andrew described the experience as follows:

“When we last toured the States it was quite royally. Interpol laid out a magic carpet ride that took us from one historic venue to another. The whole experience was a mind-blowing orgy of music and memories.”

Memories, dude. The New York Times was similarly stoked on the experience.

“[Liars] worked the Garden stage like rock stars… with Andrew strutting and gesticulating in a white suit and a big, relentless beat, Liars sounded at home as arena-rock.”

For the Liars US tour, they’ll be cramming that big arena energy into smaller venues, thereby throwing it all up in your face. The group will stop at Slim’s in San Francisco, The Casbah in San Diego (great venue, by the way), Metro in Chicago and Warsaw in Brooklyn on their jaunt across the US. Los Angeles band No Age will be in support. Dates after the jump. (more…)

LIKE I SAID! Chicago has some mouthy musicians. According to Urb Magazine, it’s the spot for everything, including that rap game I was talking about:

THERE’S ROOM FORUPFRONT RAP, TOO
With all the unmitigated fun going on in Chicago, it might be tempting to assume the swagger of traditional hip-hop has lost its place in this young and colorful scene. But along with pop remixes and nu-rave bangers, real hip-hop has an equal place at this inclusive table.

“It’s lightening up a bit now, and that’s what you’re seeing,” says Shala Esquire, frontman of Universal Recording foursome Qualo, which hit big this year with sexified stripper spoof “Pockets.” “We still have that aggression, but we’re using it in a different way. That attitude isn’t gone; it’s just redirected more positively. And that attitude wants to make sure it opens for the VMAs next year.”

A child of Nigerian immigrants living in Chicago, the CNN appointed spokesperson for Chicago hip-hop is often perceived as one of the scene’s leaders and is one of few in the new Chicago scene that brings a tougher edge.

Read the whole article here. You know, Chico (Synthesis’ hometown) is just an “a” and a “g” away.

There must be something in the water in Chicago because those cats are outspoken. It’s like someone decided that the mouthiest rappers should all come from one place. What the hell is going on over there?

Exhibit A: The “Fiascogate”: Lupe gets asked to cover a couple Tribe Called Quest songs for the VH1 Hip Hop Honors Show where he proceeds to mess up a couple of the lyrics. He then posts a couple blogs about how he never grew up listening to ATCQ, but did it because Q-tip is his friend and he asked him to do it. He goes on to say that it kinda pisses him off because he has to “pretend” he listened to their albums, when he never really did. He claims Westcoast gangsta rap was what he grew up on. Weird, because pretty much everyone agrees that Lupe Fiasco’s music runs in the same vein as backpack rap, with a style so similar to ATCQ that Q-Tip and VH1 thought it appropriate to ask Lupe if he’d cover their songs during the show.

This triggers a mess of response from the rap community. One from Q-Tip himself:

“All that stuff he said about never listening to a Tribe album before and having no interest in doing so, it doesn’t make sense to me. As I said on the show itself, it was listening to N.W.A’s Straight Outta Compton that inspired us to make [1991's] The Low End Theory, and years later I spoke to Dr. Dre and he told me that hearing The Low End Theory inspired him to make The Chronic. That’s what music does. That’s what artists do, they seek out information of all kinds.”

Served.

Exhibit B: Kanye West is also known for being on the mouthy side. Like when he got all mad about not winning the Video of the Year for “Touch The Sky” at the 2006 MTV Europe Awards:

In a tirade riddled with expletives, West said he should have won the prize for his video “Touch The Sky,” because it “cost a million dollars, Pamela Anderson was in it. I was jumping across canyons.” -MSNBC

Don’t get me wrong, Kanye puts out some bumpin’ albums. I listened to The College Dropout on repeat for probably about a month, but damn, that guy talks a lot of shit. Here’s his backstage meltdown. It’s also interesting that he took on the cartoonish gangsta 50 Cent, and challenged him to album-sales duel. More fuel to the fire.

Exhibit C: Shala of Qualo (another Chicago rap group) sits somewhere in the grey area between gangsta and backpack. But even in the middle, there’s room to run your mouth. This guy has enough balls to come-with-it in a CNN interview like blaaaow:

SHALA: What I’m saying is I refer to hos as hos, bitches as bitches, women as women, queens and queens, racist as racist, black men as black men, niggas as niggas. People are — you refer to people as they represent themselves and that is America and that is the world and that’s what people do.
MARTIN: So, if somebody said…
SHALA: So, you’re kind of putting words in my mouth.

In truth, they’re all just trying to keep it gully, mayne. Chicago is blowing up in terms of real talk. Those rappers are loud, but honest. And even if the dialogue isn’t exactly well thought-out, it brings attention to the new things happening in the rap scene. And besides, it’s a free country. You will be heard, Chicago.