New Music: J Dilla, Pinback, Boom Pam

J Dilla - Won't Do - The Shining (BBE 2006)


Pinback - Avignon - Nautical Antiques (Ace Fu 2006)


Boom Pam - Wedding Song - Boom Pam (Essay 2006)


Boom Pam - Let Me Touch - Boom Pam (Essay 2006)



J Dilla – The Shining / BBE

The late J Dilla didn’t make beats; he crafted a central nervous system for a song, using back and break-beats as the spinal cord, lacing together melodic samples as interweaving nerves, agonizing over each second of awkward timing that his and the song’s brain became one in the same and he could sense every twitch of sound so much so that he would react as if it was his own motor output. For his second post-mortem album, following the exceptional instrumental mixtape Donuts, Dilla’s beats are fleshed out and rhymed over by some of his favorite and most used emcees and crooners. In the waning moments of his life, Dilla was still hard at work making this album from his hospital bed with the help of long-time collaborator Karriem Riggins, and though his energy was depleting, the music is as creative and potent as ever. Most of the guest artists bring their A-game, save the long lost Busta, and compliment Dilla’s beats fittingly. Hopefully Dilla mirrors Tupac in his after-death career with album after album of lost tapes and tributes, or at least as a hefty influence for the beat-makers to come.



Pinback – Nautical Antiques / Ace Fu

Pinback seemingly has been rising through the indie ranks since their delayed eponymous debut dropped in early 1999 unleashing their intriguing brand of angular, canonic and rhythmic indie-pop. Established by the core duo of Armistead Burwell Smith IV (3 Mile Pilot) and Rob Crow (The Ladies, Thingy, Heavy Vegetable, whatever else he can get his hands on), Pinback have made a living off bedroom and garage recording with a continually rotating cast of supporting characters to flesh out their melodic sound. In the wake of the acclaim brought on by the exceptional Summer in Abaddon, Ace Fu have compiled a collection of rare b-sides, European cuts, internet exclusives and unreleased tracks crafted between 1998-2001 to please hardcore fans and flesh out their catalogue. Most of the tracks are up to the quality of their full-length releases, save a few quiet plodders, and feature the duo in lo-fi environments with drum machines or some guy named Tom on the drums. This will be a pleasant surprise for fans, but will not keep the attention of passing inquiries who should be reaching for a full-length.



Boom Pam – Boom Pam / Essay

Don’t front… you know you’ve spent many a sleepless night staring at the ceiling trying to imagine what Dick Dale would have sounded like if he was originally from Tel Aviv rather than California. “Gosh…” you say to yourself, “what if Dick’s rambling surf guitar was trained in traditional klezmer music and backed by… I don’t know, a complimentary guitar player, maybe a tuba for a round brassy bass sound and why not some minimalist percussion to make it a quartet… I’ve always liked quartets more than trios.” Well sleep easy my like-minded friend! Because Tel Aviv’s Boom Pam does just that blending Mediterranean, Balkan and Greek styles with traditional Jewish melodies and gypsy circus music why not? With a Middle Eastern cult following already, Boom Pam is quickly gaining fans in Europe with America in the corner of their eye. With the popularity of bands like Devotchka and Beirut, that doesn’t seem so impossible.