yes please

Last year proved to be a prolific one for Del The Funky Homosapien, with a solo album, Eleventh Hour, and a compilation titled Over Time with his Hieroglyphics crew. The collective—which also counts grimy battle-rapper Casual and the sunny, spiritual Pep Love among its core constituents—hasn’t been that active as a whole since 2003’s proper studio disc, Full Circle, but this tour should cement some of the group’s momentum. Opener Blue Scholars’ concerns run broad, and MC Geologic’s rhymes help to revive their urgency, even for people who think they’ve heard enough socially conscious rap lately. The Seattle duo’s second full-length, Bayani, suggests that protest hip-hop might sound best set to the thoughtful tempos of A Tribe Called Quest. Also playing: Knobody, Musab, Tanya Morgan.

New York City label Daptone does little to differentiate itself from the kind of record company that might have thrived in, say, 1968, back when soul 45s spun scratchily in bedrooms and jukeboxes. Sharon Jones, the label’s current figurehead, pumps out sweet, sweaty funk that sounds like it might have come from unheard sessions by Marva Whitney, Ann Peebles, or Marie Queenie Lyons. After channeling James Brown on their first album and Fela Kuti on their second, Sharon Jones And The Dap-Kings continue to extend their mastery of retro R&B on album number three, 100 Days, 100 Nights. This time, the band dabbles in slow-simmering gospel, and while 100 Days,
100 Nights doesn’t pop with sweaty passion like The Dap-Kings’ more
memorable work, the record retains a ripped-from-the-past vibe that’s
astonishing in and of itself. Songs like the title track, “Tell Me,” and “Something’s Changed” don’t just sound like they’ve been lost in the Stax vault for the last 40 years; they sound like they’ve matured in isolation, developing flavors that didn’t exist in 1967. Opening: The Ivan Milev Band.
To win tickets to this show, email austinpromo@theonion.com with
‘Sharon’ as your subject line.

Blockhead – “The Art Of Walking”

a lot of cats are really bad with spelling and grammar but this Kristin one is pretty good.

via Austin Sound:
“What better band to get us ready for Halloween than Haunting Oboe Music. We’re not sure exactly how the oboe fits into the picture, but we’ll certainly give them haunting. A song like “Hawkins” (on their Myspace) with its alternating whispers and screams can get downright nightmarish as it contorts a mellow Explosions in the Sky vibe into schizo-emo frequencies. But the group is at their best when their exploding heavy At the Drive In guitars with some synth-grooves and blaring horns thrown in for an added cacophony.”