BK-One: Tema Do Canibal EP (Rhymesayers, 8/29/11)

BK-One: "Tema Do Canibal" (Video Edit)

As Brother Ali's longtime partner in crime on the turntables, Minneapolis-based DJ/producer BK-One knows how to make the bass hit and the drums kick. He also knows a thing or two about world and jazz music, as evidenced by his debut LP in 2009, Radio Do Canibal. BK composed that record entirely from vinyl purchased on a trip to Brazil. And for his new remix EP, Tema Do Canibal, he uses the standout track, "Tema Do Canibal," as the centerpiece.

Like previous work, the EP draws upon hip hop, funk, Afrobeat, and more. This time, BK enlists the collaborative help of Exile, Doom, DJ Nuts, Mike 2600, Tom Noble, and Brazilian musicians Helcio Milito and Arthur Verocai. If there were ever a riff worthy of reprisal, it's the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble's robust, nimble horns. In the video above, BK and the crew demonstrate how a concert video should look: slick edits, gleaming instruments, and an irrepressible party vibe.

Tema Do Canibal is out now, available only on iTunes and limited-edition transparent, green vinyl.

Texture and muted color schemes create the gritty but expensive feel of Garrett Karol’s work. “I really like to print on cream paper and off-white paper too,” the Missouri-based designer says. “It looks nice.”

Beginning his artistic career as the creative director for the Design Center at the University of Missouri, Karol graduated with a degree in graphic design in 2006. During this time, he developed a relationship with Columbia music venue The Blue Note, where he was able to print gig posters for touring musicians such as Andrew Bird, Ratatat, and Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks. By getting his name out there, he was then able to design tour posters for others such as Brother Ali, José Gonzalez, and Jackie Greene.

Using a strictly DIY setup, each project begins with a rough sketch or idea, which is either created on the computer or scanned in later. The posters are then screen printed by hand using a combination of screen-printing ink and the occasional house paint.

Designing with the intention to “have the image match the music,” Karol constructs illustrations from an obscure lyric or attempts to capture the essence of the band and its music. Whether that means a disco-ball hot-air balloon or a mustached woman with a top hat, the end result is a grimy, vintage-esque poster with dimension, typography, and simple yet eye-catching graphics.

“Texture plays a large role in a lot of my design work,” Karol says. “I really enjoy the added depth it can add to a design.”

Whether intentional or not, Karol’s use of subdued color palettes paired with dark overlays of texture has become his brand and can largely be attributed to the young designer’s success.

But other than creating your own style, what advice does the established designer have for newcomers? Ask for projects.

“Whenever a band that I’m interested in comes to town, I’ll ask to see if they’re in need of a poster to hang up around town,” Karol says. By the looks of it, he isn’t turned down too often

Poster Art is a biweekly column about today’s independent poster art and the artists who create it.

BK-One is best known as the DJ for Brother Ali and as a mainstay of the Rhymesayers roster. But with the help of beat-making buddy Benzilla, he has further established a name for himself through Rádio do Canibal.

An A-list collaboration with top-tier MCs, Rádio do Canibal is built on a foundation of grooving bass lines and horns. This sets a funky foundation for the crux of the album, BK-One’s playful commingling of samba and bossa nova samples with hip-hop beats (which is directly influenced by his frequent travels through Central and South America).

The MCs, notably P.O.S, Haiku D’Etat, Slug, and Blue Oriny, provide plenty of highlights, although Murs provides a particularly crass lowlight in “Eighteen to Twenty.” Regardless, it’s an all-star lineup, and with additional cameos from Ali, Black Thought, Raekwon, and The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, one would do well to pick this up.

Air: Love 2 (Astralwerks)

Despite variances in style from album to album, Air’s sound is easily discernible to most anyone who is familiar. It’s spacey, synthesized yet organic, and holds a reverence for the squiggly electronic sounds of the late 1970s.

Love 2 is no different in this regard, but it may be the French duo’s most realized creation. A combination of delicate instrumentals and pseudo-sultry ballads comprise the album, which calls upon the duo’s usual armaments in addition to spots of saxophone, marimba, and glockenspiel.

Air won’t be mistaken for holding prog-rock virtuosity, but Love 2 displays some of the best “chops” of any Air album, as best evidenced by the deft piano play and swirling guitar solo of “Tropical Disease.” If you enjoy Air, the duo’s latest album won’t let you down.

A Place to Bury Strangers: Exploding Head (Mute)

After a much-hyped self-titled debut, A Place to Bury Strangers continues to perfect its sound on Exploding Head, its first release for Mute.

The album holds a hard-hitting post-punk /new-wave sound that combines the atmospherics and fuzziness of My Bloody Valentine with the rawness of Sonic Youth and the moodiness of Joy Division. Echoed, whammied chords wash over feedback, speed-picked single-note riffs, and über-reverberated, ride-heavy rock beats.

The result is a sound that is much denser than one would imagine from a rock trio. Undoubtedly, the stars of the album are Oliver Ackermann’s customized guitar pedals, which he manufactures for his own company, Death by Audio.

Honorable mentions:

Bellini: Precious Prize of Gravity (Temporary Residence)
The Black Heart Procession: Six (Temporary Residence)
Califone: All My Friends are Funeral Singers (Dead Oceans)
Betty Davis: Nasty Gal and Is It Love or Desire (reissues — Light in the Attic)
Horse the Band: Desperate Living (Vagrant)
Jason Stein’s Locksmith Isidore: Three Less Than Between (Clean Feed)

Why?: Eskimo Snow (Anticon)

Following the critical acclaim of Alopecia (one of our Top 10 Albums of 2008), the idiosyncratic pop-hop trio (/quintet) known as Why? presents another full disc of tinkling melodies, vocal harmonies, and clever word play.

Sounds of a quickly picked acoustic guitar, shimmering slide guitar, tweaked garage-rock guitar, glistening glockenspiel, and sunny organ — as well as overall song structure — help make Eskimo Snow the least related to Why?'s hip-hop past as any release since frontman Yoni Wolf expanded the project to a full band.

For better or worse, Yoni's vocals are as centered as ever on singing, and this is still a band pushing toward the pop/rock end of the musical spectrum.  More importantly, it's still a band with the arrow pointing upward.

Brother Ali: Us (Rhymesayers)

Us brings more good times and smooth rhymes from Brother Ali (an entrant on our Top 10 Albums of 2007), whose soulful sound often disguises lyrical content that pulls no punches. And despite more music that often is light and buoyant, Ali keeps the lyrics heavy on an album that is billed as an introspective affair.

The bangin' beats and samples by Atmosphere's Ant are back, but live instruments dot the musical horizon to make one of Ali's most well-rounded efforts to date.  Public Enemy's Chuck D gets listeners fired up with a "preacher man" intro.

Diablo Swing Orchestra: Sing-Along Songs for the Damned & Delirious (Sensory / The Laser's Edge)

Take a bona fide boogie-woogie swing orchestra.  Then add some metal guitar, slap bass, classical cello, theatrical baritone leads, and operatic falsetto harmonies.  Mix in bits of Gypsy-jazz guitar, ragtime piano, Latin jazz, and marching snare for a romping good time.

Do this and you'll have Sing-Along Songs for the Damned & Delirious, a delightful set of ten tunes for anyone who can get down to extra-dramatic vocals.  In a world of genre crossovers, chances are that you haven't heard anything like this.

Soundset 2009 video by Chris Force. Thanks to Flip Video for providing the camera.

Extra Golden

Written in the wake of Kenya's political, humanitarian, and economic turmoil last year, Thank You Very Quickly stands in staunch musical opposition to what one might imagine to be the mood of much of the country.  The Kenyan/American group's upbeat, cross-continental sound remains buoyant despite the reportedly stolen election and targeted ethnic violence of 2008.

Despite the power-sharing arrangement in Kenya (similar to that of Zimbabwe), activists continue to be murdered at the hands of shadowy death squads in 2009.  Under these conditions, it is ever more important that Kenyan citizens have uplifting sounds like these.

Extra Golden: "Gimakiny Akia"
Extra Golden: \"Gimakiny Akia\"

Mirah: (A)spera (K)

A year and a half after her last full album, folk singer/songwriter Mirah churns out another disc of melodic tunes that pulse with strings, acoustic guitar, kalimba, hurdy gurdy, horns, chimes, and much more.  Mirah's vocal patterns and breathiness lend a familiar feel to each track, but the backing instrumentation does a great job of making (A)spera a diverse album.

Mirah: "Country of the Future"
Mirah: \"Country of the Future\"

Jono El Grande: Neo Dada (Rune Grammofon)

Norwegian art-rock composer/guitarist Jono El Grande is an artist whose fanciful music is different around every turn.  Influenced by Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, King Crimson and Igor Stravinsky, Jono's tunes weave through theatrical, progressive, classical, and absurdist styles.  This album's title, also the name of one of Jono's band members, is an apt musical characterization of the wild songs that are found inside.

Propagandhi: Supporting Caste (G7 Welcoming Committee)

Political punk quartet Propagandhi has spent more than 20 years making high-energy, anti-imperialist anthems.  No cause is off limits for lyrical inclusion, and two of this album's MP3s were made available early by a small donation to Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Partners in Health, or PETA 2.

Even as the group gets a bit more accessible, its fans should enjoy Supporting Caste, a disc full of squealing rock solos, hardcore/punk riffs, push beats, and impassioned vocals.

Propagandhi: "Supporting Caste"
Propagandhi: \"Supporting Caste\"

Brother Ali: The Truth is Here [CD/DVD] (Rhymesayers)

The last album from golden-age-inspired rapper Brother Ali was one of our favorite releases of 2007. (See ALARM's Top Ten Albums of 2007.)

This nine-song EP features three B-sides and six unreleased tracks, and it includes a feature-length DVD that includes live footage, music videos, interviews, and special commentary. Atmosphere's Slug shows up on "The Believers."

P.O.S.: Never Better (Rhymesayers)

P.O.S. has saved hip hop.

I haven't been this excited and energized about a hip-hop album since Shadows On The Sun by Brother Ali came out in 2003. Minneapolis rapper Stefon Alexander, a.k.a. P.O.S. or that guy from the punk band Building Better Bombs, happens to share a label (Rhymesayers) and hometown with Brother Ali.

For reasons beyond my understanding, the location and label have created the most powerful farm team in indie rap music. Perhaps it's the working-class background, the lack of a major music industry, or the rare collection of talent and work ethic found behind the doors at the label.

Whatever it is, it is working. Never Better is amazing and likely to be the best hip-hop album of 2009.

This a hip-hop record. Although it obviously draws on P.O.S.'s background in punk and rock music (P.O.S. plays most of the live instrumentation on the record), this is a record that categorically defines the indie in indie rap.

This record sounds right in your car — and tracks "Goodbye" and "Low Light Low Life" fit that party iPod playlist without hesitation. But there is a lot to this record — a far cry from two singles padded by twenty garbage tracks that have become the norm in hip hop. There's a feeling of hands-on craft and consideration to this album.

Never Better sticks to the rules. P.O.S. mixes carefully rhymed phrases that, without entering the esoteric, faux-gang zingers that earn East Coast rap with such sudden fame and short shelf life, illustrate his entire world. Freezing weather, bold racism, wheezy lungs and zero-balance checking accounts create an unlikely backdrop to this strangely positive album.

Doomtree artist Dessa Darling, a.ka. Maggie Wander, kills a guest verse on "Low Light Low Life." Jason Shevchuk (Kid Dynamite / None More Black), one of my favorite punk vocalists of all time, appears on "Terrorish."

Never Better was released February 3, 2009 on Rhymesayers Entertainment.

- Chris Force

Chris Force is the founder and editor of ALARM Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter if you're into that kind of thing.

“Goodbye” from Never Better by P.O.S.

Available for download here.

The Jesus Lizard

With its first performances since 1999, pummeling mid-tempo rock icons The Jesus Lizard will briefly reunite to play at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Minehead, UK in May of 2009. The group's original lineup will be present and play a short series of additional dates that culminates in Chicago next November.

Idiosyncratic rapper Busdriver performs live with a jazz-crossover band called Kneebody tonight in Los Angeles. Pigeon John also performs and tickets are only $10, so don't miss it!

Instrumental violin-centered trio Dirty Three will perform its beautiful fan-favorite album Ocean Songs at All Tomorrow's Parties in New York in 2009.

Comprised of vocalist J. Bannon (Converge), Dwid Hellion (Integrity), and Stephen Kasner (Blood Fountains), Irons is billed as an artistic, nonlinear expression of melancholy through electronics, guitars, and vocals. The trio has announced the impending release of a split 12" with Pulling Teeth.

Minimalist folk group Phosphorescent has recorded a full-length covers collection of Willie Nelson tunes titled To Willie. The group will tour this winter and spring.

One-man grind project Toxic Holocaust will assemble in band form for January tour dates with 3 Inches of Blood and Early Man. Currently, Toxic Holocaust is touring with GWAR.

Andrew Bird's deluxe edition of Noble Beast, due out on January 20, is available to pre-order through Fat Possum Records. The deluxe edition includes a second disc, Useless Creatures, that includes new instrumental works.

Rhymesayers has posted the video for "The Truth," the single from Jake One's great new album, White Van Music, that features Freeway and Brother Ali.

Beginning today, you can download the Christmas single "Beam Mig Op, Jesus" by Danish rockabilly weirdos Powersolo via iTunes or Clicktrack.

Groove trio Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey is playing a New Year's Eve show in Tulsa in which the featured performers play the tunes of Prince, Lionel Richie, and Michael Jackson. Get down.