Posts tagged “Open Mike Eagle”

Since you’re on the internets, you’ve probably heard of this “unboxing” thing that’s been happening the past few years. Basically, you film yourself opening the box of some piece of technology (like an iPad2 or Nintendo 3DS) and removing and cataloging all of the pieces in the box. The whole entire process. Yes, it’s ridiculous. Don’t believe me? Just search for unboxing on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=unboxing&aq=0

See? RIDICULOUS. So of course I thought I’d try it…

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AND WATCH THE VIDEO!

Enjoy!

A new video from the gentleman and scholar Mike Eage:

I decided it was about damned time that I made myself a new mix CD. For your convenience, I’ve included (when I can) links to where you can get these songs for yourself, should you so desire!

1. Things I Think About On Planes – Palmdale
2. An Open Letter to Stephen Fry – Molly Lewis
3. All The Same To Me – Anya Marina
4. Airbrushed – Anamanaguchi
5. Career Advice – Open Mike Eagle
6. Common Scents – Spot Two – JP Inc.
7. Dark Dark Eyes – Marian Call
8. Deer God – Busdriver feat. Open Mike Eagle
9. End Of Line – Daft Punk
10. Stay The Same – Bonobo & Andreya Triana
11. Haircut – Open Mike Eagle
12. The Internet – JP Inc.
13. Juicy Fruit – Mtume
14. Meet The Future Downlow – Palmdale
15. The Mating Game – Bitter:Sweet
16. Sentimental Heart – She & Him
17. Nothing in Between – Celene Ramadan
18. Lieutenant Custard & His Banger Of Time – JP Inc.
19. Promise – Cocorosie
20. Three Is a Magic Number – Molly Lewis
21. Your Woman – White Town
22. Original Butterscotch Confection (Three Ninjas Remix) – Open Mike Eagle feat. Busdriver
23. Bucky Done Gun – M.I.A.
24. Nothing Unusual – Three Ninjas feat. Geli Wuerzner
25. Twice As Nice – Pomplamoose

I especially like how I have a Busdriver song featuring Open Mike Eagle AND an Open Mike Eagle song featuring Busdriver.

For many a year now, Busdriver has been consistently near the top of my list of favorite musicians. He’s been featured a couple of times on this here blog of mine, as well as having an album be an “Of the Month” at least once.

Earlier this year I was exposed to one of my now all-time favorite hip-hop artists, Open Mike Eagle, through my good pals Three Ninjas and NHP (Natural HyPe man). I’ve met him twice since, and his album “Unapologetic Art Rap” was my “Of the Month” back in May. He’s a really, really cool guy.

SPEAKING OF Three Ninjas, I’ve known him for a few years now, and seen him perform countless times all over the Seattle area. His latest album, “Three Ninjas is Smarter Than a Lettuce” is fantastic and you should own it and listen to it ALL OF THE TIME.

ANYWAYS. Open Mike Eagle and Busdriver collaborated on a song on “Unapologetic Art Rap” called “Original Butterscotch Confection.”

Well, now Three Ninjas has made an officially sanctioned remix of “Original Butterscotch Confection” for Open Mike Eagle! I think that the 3Ninjas remix is an improvement over the original. Threeni has turned the song into a delirious circus of sound, with an alarmingly entertaining twist in tone towards the end.

But don’t just take my word for it! Take a listen!

It’s three of my favorite hip-hop artists making frikkin’ fantastic music together. I’M SO HAPPY! Also, this remix has been mentioned in Above Ground Magazine and on Mush Records’ website!

You can download the 3Ninjas remix FOR FREE right HERE!

And also, you should own all of these albums:

Hey! It’s been a while since I made a new mix CD! Hey! I’ve gotten a metric tonne of new music in 2010! Hey! I’ve made a mix CD with a couple of songs from a bunch of new albums I’ve collected! Hey! Here it is:

1. Stylo – Gorillaz feat. Bobby Womack & Mos Def
2. West Coast Serenade – Palmdale
3. Art Rap Party – Open Mike Eagle
4. Stuff – Locust Street Taxi
5. Mike Kripke’s Basement – Three Ninjas feat. Light Bear
6. If It Feels Good It Is Good – The Jesus Rehab
7. Rapper O’s – Dumbfoundead
8. Blame It On the Girls – Mika
9. Catacombs – Julia Massey & The Five Finger Discount
10. On Melancholy Hill – Gorillaz
11. Happiness Has a Half-Life – Palmdale
12. I Rock – Open Mike Eagle
13. I Miss You (It’s Quiet) – Locust Street Taxi
14. Five Finger Discount – Three Ninjas
15. Seattle – The Jesus Rehab
16. Night Riders – Dumbfoundead
17. Touches You – Mika
18. WTF is Art Rap? – Open Mike Eagle
19. Fruit Tree/Motorcycle Bong – Julia Massey & The Five Finger Discount

That’s one hour and thirteen minutes of fine, quality music right there. Plus, this mix CD has a definite pattern. See if you can discern it—there’s one song out of place! Can you guess which one!?

Link of the Month:
Axe Cop
A remarkable collaboration: This webcomic is illustrated by professional comic book artist Ethan Nicolle. It is written, however, by his 5-year-old brother Malachai. As such, the stories have all the coherence and logic you would expect from a 5-year-old, but with excellently-drawn illustrations, which just makes the story seem even stranger and absolutely 100% fall-down hilarious. Must be experienced to be believed.

Album of the Month:
Open Mike Eagle: Unapologetic Art Rap
I’ve never done this before: This album is so good, I’m making it my Album of the Month before it’s even been officially released (I got an advance copy a couple weeks ago) on 5/11. The lyrics of this album are intelligent, witty, funny, and about actually interesting subjects. Mike is not afraid to sound smart. He has a fantastic flow, which is easy and relaxed without sounding at all lazy. It’s almost conversational, like you’re having fascinating discussions with a good friend who really knows what he’s talking about without sounding haughty or snooty about it. And above all that, it’s damnably catchy. An incredibly confident and high-quality debut album. Take a look & listen:

Book of the Month:
Memories of the Future Volume 1 by Wil Wheaton
Wil Wheaton takes an irreverent and hilariously snarky look back at the firsty half of the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation with amusingly embellished synopses, behind-the-scene recollections, and very honest reviews of what was, honestly, not a very good season of television. Not a tell-all book at all, the results are more like sitting around watching the episodes with Wil with him shaking his head and saying, “I can’t believe they wrote that,” or getting excited and going, “That was actually pretty cool!” It’s a funny and fun read—I just wish it could have been the whole season instead of just the first half.

Footage has been put online, so now I’m gonna post about this! Wednesday I picked up @SphinxAkashaa and we headed up to Chop Suey in Seattle for a hip-hop show, the Hellfyre Club Tour. We actually ended up parking just a couple of blocks away from the building where tangentbot & Creepy Sheep live, and they showed up at Chop Suey as well, fresh from getting back from Japan just a couple of days earlier. In fact, a bunch of people I know showed up as well, which was very cool.

When I put on a shirt earlier in the day (as I am known to do), I unthinkingly put on my Angry Beef shirt, which ended up being kinda funny because when we were waiting outside Chop Suey, Three Ninjas and NHP came walking over with Open Mike Eagle, and I got to introduce myself as, “Chris, though you may know me as @angrybeef,” while pointing at my shirt. Mike Eagle seemed to get a kick outta that, and thanked me for tweeting and posting about the show.

There were a bunch of performers at the show. My favorites were Open Mike Eagle, Nocando, and Dumbfoundead. Dumbfoundead was really funny. For one, he was drunk off his rocker. Just smashed. But it just made him extra goofy; he could still perform excellently, he was just more prone to giggle. Very entertaining.

Open Mike Eagle did a great set, and during it two especially awesome things happened. Take a wook:

I know those guys! I’ve known one of them since kindergarten!

Nocando closed out the night with another excellent set. I must give “mad props” to DJ Zo (in the background of both of those videos), who worked the music for like four or five hours straight. He was very good.

Now I’m going to digress with some observations about Seattle Indie Hip-Hop crowds:

Seattle tends to be a little unusual in that often when Seattleites go to see a show, they go to watch the performers perform. That’s why they’re there, after all. I know this first hand from my 17 years as an improviser. If a performer asks too much of the audience, they’re going to get weary. If there are too many make-some-noises or too many put-your-hand-in-the-airs, the Seattle crowd is going to start thinking, “Why did I pay to come see this guy if they’re just going to have me do all of the work?”

A lot of times this attitude really throws out-of-towners for a loop. They often expect that if the crowd is just there to have a good time. Well, yes and no. The crowd is there to watch you perform your music or (if they don’t know who you are) to see if they like your stuff. If you want a Seattle crowd to get involved, you’re going to have to earn it by putting on an entertaining and stimulating show. They’ll give you all the noise and participation you want once they know that you’re worth it, but if you try to force it out of them then they’re going to feel put-upon and badgered and retreat into their shells.

If you come out guns blazin’ and you’re not getting the response you expected, back off and gauge the crowd. They might really be enjoying your show, just in a non-participatory way. Warm them up by being entertaining and engaging and (this is very important to a Seattle crowd) funny. Once they see that you’re a good guy, they’ll be much more willing to participate. Or, y’know, don’t even worry about the audience participation. Just put on a great show and they’ll like you.

Seattleites also don’t believe in bravado. You can’t just come out and say that you’re the best, ’cause a Seattle crowd will just cross its arms and say, “Oh, yeah? Prove it.” Attitude don’t mean shit to Seattleites. They’ll like you for your skills.

But anyway. I’m back from my digression. I picked up Three Ninjas’, Nocando’s and Dumbfoundead’s CDs (I already had Open Mike Eagle’s), and got home around 2:00 in the AM. I got to chat a little with Open Mike Eagle, and he’s a really nice guy. I’ll definitely try to catch him when he comes ’round again. I played his CD for my wife while we were driving around yesterday, and she really enjoyed it and said she might like to catch him next time as well.

I think that’s a splendid idea. I think everyone should catch Mike next time he’s in town. He’s definitely worth it.