24-Hour Song Skull

After making marijuana-flavored Gummy skulls and recording a 6-hour song, The Flaming Lips have truly topped themselves with the release of a 24-hour song. “7 Skies H3″ is streaming now at flaminglipstwentyfourhoursong.com. There is a maximum amount of 999 listeners allowed at any one time.

Fans may also order the track in the form of a USB drive placed inside a chrome-covered, genuine human skull for $5000. Click here to order your skull now!

The Flaming Lips Tour Dates
::
The Flaming Lips News

Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 begin their U.S. tour today, July 13, in Solano Beach, CA. Find the full itinerary here.

Seun Kuti & Egypt 80

In many ways it does not that Seun Kuti is the youngest son of Afrobeat originator Fela Kuti. Such is Seun’s naked passion, political uprightness, musical swing and humanitarian spirit that he’d be a major force with or without his family legacy. A few minutes in his company show him to be clear-eyed in his assessment of Africa and the role music can play in making it a better place. Moreover, his music, particularly the vibrant, stirring strains of his latest, From Africa With Fury: Rise (released June 21 on Knitting Factory Records), is a blazingly alive thing, not some recreation of any past glory but an extension of what Fela and his contemporaries began in the 1960s & 1970s. However, unlike the other Fela children, Seun has remained strongly attached to his father’s last band before his passing, Egypt 80, and considers it one of his roles as Fela’s son to protect and nurture these musicians. But that makes From Africa With Fury: Rise even more impressive since it only faintly echoes his father, modernizing Afrobeat and making the most of production help from Brian Eno and John Reynolds (Sinead O’Connor, Jah Wobble). Pro-marijuana, anti-corruption and built upon unassailable playing and composition, this album marks the full arrival of one of today’s great African artists, someone capable of motivating and enlightening both his countrymen and foreigners alike.

JamBase: Some records seem made of muscle and blood, and that was definitely my impression of From Africa With Fury: Rise.

That’s what we were going for, so thank you. I’m really lucky to have the exact team to carry out my vision, the right band to record the album and Brian Eno and John Reynolds to mix and master it.

New Album

JamBase: What made you decide to record in Brazil?

I’d just broken up with my last label, and in Nigeria we don’t have recording companies and studios for live bands. And we played a festival in Brazil and just took the money from the festival to pay for the studio time. It was all done in a week – the first three days we did the show and the last three days we did the album.

What made you want to work with Brian Eno and John Reynolds?

Well, they were all I could afford, I have to say [laughs]. I had a relationship with Brian and told him my situation and he was really, really nice and basically did it for free. I really appreciate that his work came from the heart and not the pocket.

That comes through in the music. When people’s intentions are pure like that and not oriented towards commerce first the music is better. You also have the challenge of leading a really large band. What’s that like to direct and control?

We’ve been together for such a long time. When my father died, I started working with the band. I’ve been playing with them since I was 8, so, it’s 20 years now we’ve been together, and I’ve never left them alone or played with another band. So, we have an incredible relationship. Everybody knows me and I know them like the back of our hand. We’re like family, and they trust me to lead them. I’m 15 years younger than my drummer! But they see I want the best for them, I want their lives to improve. When they know that it’s easy to run a band.

Fela Kuti

Do you feel a responsibility as Fela’s son to carry on his legacy?

Basically, I play with Egypt 80 because I don’t want the band to die. That’s part of my legacy because my dad said this band was one of the most important things to him when he was alive, so it’s important to me. My family was ready to let the band go away and nobody helped me keep them together. But the Egypt 80 band did a lot for African music in general, too.

How do you feel your music is different from the music your father made?

Well, as an artist, I’m me and that makes me different from my father. I’m not him. And secondly, the way I compose music is different. I don’t try to be my father. My goal is to play African music. If I were to play music like my father I’d be a genius, and that would make me happy! It’s something I aspire to, to be as good as him. I’m not there yet but I think I’m a good musician and I’m on my way and I’m working hard. But for me to compare myself to him would be ignorant because music is not sports where you compare athletes. I’m sure if I wasn’t his son people would say, Oh, what a great African artist! But some people think I must have found his writing book or something somewhere, but they don’t understand. I work really hard on my music.

In some ways, you’re keeping Afrobeat alive and not treating it as something from the past.

Yeah! That makes a real difference. I’m trying to keep it fresh for today. I’m not trying to do something you’ve heard before. It’s all original and I try to put a youthful vibrancy into it.

Also, you’re making music in the Africa of today, so naturally, your concerns are going to be different than the concerns your father had.

Seun Kuti

Actually, the shame of the matter is Africa is the same. Nothing has changed except we don’t have a military government in my country [now], but we have military men in civilian clothes. They no longer say they are military but they all have military backgrounds. How many generals have gone on to rule the United States? Zero except for maybe Eisenhower, and that was during wartime. That’s why you guys kicked him because his ideology is military. In Africa it’s different, and people don’t get enough to eat, enough to do. There’s no health care and corruption is worse than when my father was talking about it. Now the government is able to fool people better and nobody speaks up for the people anymore. Everybody is trying to tow the line to get a job, kissing the government’s ass because Africa is ruled by poverty. When you’re thinking about your next meal it’s hard to do something for someone else. Everyone is guided by survival. We need to sacrifice now so our children have something to eat 20 years from now, and no one is doing that because it’s all me, me, me. Take orders, be submissive, Jesus Christ, Islam, that’s what we’re taught. So, that’s why I think we need a different voice in Africa to let them know what’s going on. I’m willing to do that and break this yoke.

The title of this new album speaks directly to this thinking with words like fury and rise right up front.

Seun Kuti

I’ve had the title for this album for two years. This is my second album and I already know the title of my third. I look at Africa and I read and I know what we’ll need in two years and I’m working towards that already.

You need to have a plan if you want to build anything of substance. It doesn’t work to do it in the moment.

That’s why I think African music is so different from other music. We play our new songs for a year or more before going into the studio, so we’re prepared and we’re not writing songs in the studio like so many other artists. Commercial songs aren’t written with any other purpose than to make profit. To make good music for the world you have to make good music IN the outside world not the studio. We’re not just thinking of a catchy hook. We’re living this music for a year before we go into a studio.

It’s a much harder path than just making music for profit.

It’s true. Most people just think you’re crazy and don’t want to touch you [laughs].

The kind of music you make must draw the attention of the government in Nigeria. Does it pose any danger for you, your family or band to be so outspoken?

Yes, of course, the leaders are unhappy about it. It’s not easy to be a political activist in Nigeria. The means of getting your music out are all owned by the government – radio, TV, newspapers. So, if you’re preaching something they don’t like they don’t let you get any publicity. You get put in the back. It’s hard, but the truth is I don’t give a fuck. I do my thing and history will be my judge.

Seun Kuti Tour Dates :: Seun Kuti News

JamBase | Africa Worldwide
Go See Live Music!

Our friends at Playful Prairie hipped us to this tidbit about The Flaming Lips.

Last week, Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne hand-delivered gummy skulls to record stores in Oklahoma City, Dallas and Austin. The skulls contained four brand new Flaming Lips tracks, and today they went up for sale online.

The skulls cost $150 and will ship the week of May 2. They can be purchased here.

Listen to the four new Flaming Lips songs
here.

Also today, a video of Coyne and Lips crew member Jake was released in which the two are testing a version of the gummy skull with a marijuana-flavored brain.

Hangout Beach & Music Festival :: 05.14.10-05.16.10 :: Gulf Shores, AL

Hangout Beach & Music Festival

The inaugural Hangout Beach & Music Festival was an eclectic crossroads of Southern culture and the progressive festival scene. The promoters put incredible thought into the lineup to appeal to just about everyone. The wide range of fans and artists combined with the recent events of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, made for an interesting dynamic – ripe seeds of the green movement. Swimming in the 8-foot waves was unforgettable, but on the last day a gas station attendant showed me a tar ball that had washed up on the shore as the spill finally started to make its way to land.

Town-visitor relations could not have been better and the Southern hospitality was warm. Things ran smoothly and peacefully with the community on the white sandy beaches. The promoters pledged to donate their proceeds to the oil cleanup, a generous promise, and the political organization HeadCount was on-site leading a letter writing campaign on the issue.

As the festival went on, the crowd changed from those nearby who just came to check out the scene to more veteran live music lovers. The fans waited out an epic storm and tornado warning on Sunday and prayed for better weather. The grounds closed for a few hours and some performances were canceled, including Matisyahu, who played later that night at a free after party to the first 500 lucky fans. The sky cleared and with some schedule changes, the organizers managed to fit in some of the bigger acts on the bill in the limited time allowed. In the same pithy fashion, here are some of the highlights of the weekend.

Alison Krauss :: Hangout

Best Song Tease:
The first day of the festival featured a high percentage of the local population, with a generous 5000 tickets given out to the local community. Many were unfamiliar with the majority of acts, however, Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas appealed to a variety of different people. After a few songs, Krauss stepped off stage leaving Douglas, arguably the world’s best dobro player, to go at it solo. He coasted through a tease of the Duane Allman penned “Little Martha,” while across the beach, Girl Talk played a mash-up of the Grateful Dead’ s “Casey Jones,” creating an unplanned homage to two pioneers of the modern music experience, one from the Deep South and one from freaky San Francisco.

Best collaboration:
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band played a funky New Orleans inspired set that included the sensual charisma of Grace Potter and the superb guitar playing of Warren Haynes. They played an amazing cover of the 1929 Albert E. Brumley bluegrass standard “I’ll Fly Away” and threw Dixie Cup ice cream into the crowd. The band marched off stage through the audience, then back onstage with some enthusiastic dancers from the crowd. They then led a procession up the boardwalk and into the VIP area, where the fun for many had to halt.

Best Dose of Southern Comfort:
The Grammy Award winning Zac Brown Band brought out a sea of meaty, clean cut, good ol’ boys in golf shirts. Brown looks similar to the guitarist Zach Deputy and shares his lightning fast picking style. His lyrics are a cross section of marijuana laced party rock and patriotic southern pride – a seemingly incongruent mix that somehow works. One song even went into a long instrumental jam. Brown played a solemn version of Crosby, Stills and Nash’s “Cost of Freedom,” followed by Charlie Daniels’ “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.” The presence of the armed forces is ubiquitous in the Deep South, and Brown was cheered on as he spoke about the importance of the military and killing others to preserve our way of life.

Trey Anastasio Band :: Hangout Beach & Music Festival

Best Southern Picking:
Jeff Austin & Friends, including Larry Keel, wowed the crowd with a power trio bluegrass combination. The band played complicated bluegrass with fast picking and complex modulation. The Honey Island Swamp Band gets a honorable mention for some solid electric slide guitar.

Best Opportunity to Hook Up with a Southern Belle:
John Legend played soulful tunes until curfew, evoking a young Marvin Gaye. Each song was steamier than the next, set amidst the backdrop of crashing waves and a starry sky. He ended with a soulful, yet somber version of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.”

Best New Jam:
Nashville natives Moon Taxi played the JamBase Stage before it closed on Sunday due to weather. The high energy and virtuosity of this band is not to be missed.

Best Dose of Culture Shock:
Kathleen Kennedy was brought on to introduce the Zach Brown Band. Dressed in the height of hipster fashion, she began talking about preserving the environment, an issue difficult to oppose. Somehow Kennedy managed to ruin a very clear, beautiful message with the pompous attitude of an MTV VJ crossed with a royal bloodline. As she got booed and subsequently escorted off the stage, there were actually two sides of the coin that became apparent. It was appalling and shocking to see Americans so ignorant and uncaring about an issue as vital as clean beaches, yet here was this famous, twenty-something jetting down to Flora-Bama and lecturing folks with not a bit of humility in her voice.

Best Dose of Psychedelia:
Trey Anastasio and Classic TAB opened with a solid version of “Gotta Jibboo” and the set hit its climax early with “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.” The Phish tune “Alaska” was subdued but featured the horn section creatively. The set was mostly slow and steady carried by bass player Tony Markellis‘ groove. Trey announced that when he and Tom Marshall found out about the festival, they wrote a song just for the occasion. The fruit of this was a reggae tune called “Sailboat Man.” The song was written in the most common rock arrangement of 1-4-5 (think “Stir It Up” or “Chalk Dust Torture”) and it sounded like it was written in five minutes, but nevertheless, was a thrill.

The set closed with slightly higher energy, including a beautiful version of “Drifting” and Led Zeppelin’s “Black Dog.” The choice of “First Tube” for an encore was exciting, but nothing for the record books. Fireworks were set off behind the stage, with bombs bursting in air giving those who traveled just for this show an over the top Southern send off.

For more pics of the Hangout Music Festival go here.

JamBase | Alabama
Go See Live Music!