mubydram's jamz

My thoughts about music and such 

[mubydramsjamz]

Boom bap ‘n brews at Tow Yard

The hip-hop collective Inkiscape and Tow Yard Brewing of Indianapolis have teamed up and are hosting The Great Iscape Tour at Tow Yard on June 18.  Tow Yard will also be unveiling their latest beer, the Inkiscape Imperial Stout, brewed by head brewer Tony Fleming and assistant brewer Will Moorman.

The idea of a local brewery collaborating with an independent hip-hop collective came to fruition as Inkiscape member, David Katz, aka Simon Sed approached Moorman with a design for a beer label.  Former students at Purdue University, the two began to collaborate for Tow Yard to host The Great Iscape Tour at its stop in Indy and release the Inkiscape stout.

For its stop in Indy, Simon Sed will be representing Inkiscape and will be supported by Pope Adrian Bless, and Skittz, both hailing from Indy.  They will also be joined by Landon Wordswell, who toured extensively with The Gift of Gab, MC of the hip-hop duo Blackalicious.  DJ Jay Diff will be producing the show. A doctorate student of experimental psychology at Case Western Reserve University, David Katz and Inkiscape planned The Great Iscape Tour to help promote its artists and the collective as a whole.

“Inkiscape really goes back to a Youtube channel that fellow member Uncle Tairy started called Tairy Hesticles,” said Katz.  “Bill, aka Tairy Hesticles, was a huge hip-hop fan and was posting indie hip-hop online before Youtube became a medium for that.”

Katz said that the members of Inkiscape all met through Uncle Tairy’s Youtube channel, and eventually Uncle Tairy recorded a song with Katz while he was studying at Purdue.

“The Youtube channel had 30,000 followers,” said Katz.  “So he started posting our music too.”

Katz’s latest album, Perpetual Student, continues the theme of constantly growing and learning from life experiences.  “It’s got a very boom bap feel to it,” said Katz.

For Tow Yard, the brewery wants to use this event to showcase local music and promote its beers in the burgeoning Indiana beer scene.

Having already released two stouts, Beyond a Shadow of a Stout, an easy drinking, low ABV stout, and Creamy Behemoth, an imperial oatmeal stout, Will Moorman is very excited for the release of the Inkiscape Imperial Stout.

“The Inkiscape stout is going to be silky, thick and have a lot of nice roasty and toasty flavors to it,” said Moorman.  “We’re hoping for a killer night of awesome hip-hop and showing people what Tow Yard is all about.”

Doors open at 8 and the music starts at 9:30.  Cover is $10 and a $20 cover includes a 22 oz. bomber of Inkiscape.

[mubydramsjamz]

I suppose I’ve grown accustomed to understanding emo music as the pinnacle of mid 80s hardcore punk and its evolution through the 90s.  I wouldn’t consider this EP to be punk, but alternative would fit the category quite well.  Though I haven’t followed much modern emo music lately, this was a very pleasant surprise and makes me want to seek out more 2016 emo music.  The Blue Period and Human Hands both employ good guitar riffs, delicate vocals and there’s a nice touch of stringed instruments in this split.

Listen to: History Notes by The Blue Period

[mubydramsjamz]

There are some heavy jazz and funk vibes going on in the new album Velvet Portraits by Terrace Martin.   Instrumentation is strong and well pronounced, and the curation of numerous guest artists including Thundercat, Kamasi Washington, Rose Gold, Lalah Hathaway and others makes Velvet Portraits a strong album for the highly diverse genres of jazz and rhythm and blues.  Well worth the listen.

Listen/purchase: Patiently Waiting by Terrace Martin

[mubydramsjamz]

And I got to meet Jad Fair with my buddy Addison Pollock.

I meant to post these photos sooner.  First and foremost, I am not a concert photographer.  I don’t care about having the most clear and professional shots when I go to shows.  I’m just using my phone here.  More than anything, I just want to share that I was here, experiencing excellent live music.

Secondly, Fountain Square Music Festival was a blast.  There was a lot to do and I really only scraped the surface out of everything there was to do over the weekend.

Some performances of note include the psychedelic metal performance by Crosss at Kuma’s Corner, Clint Breeze and the Groove’s funky and jazzy hip-hop performance at the Hi Fi, Jad Fair’s impassioned and experimental performance at the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, and of course, Thurston Moore’s Band at the Fountain Square Theatre. Hopefully everyone else had as much fun as I did.  Looking forward to returning next year.

[mubydramsjamz]

Listen/purchase: Earthmind by North-official

This is perhaps one of the better metal albums I’ve listened to in the past few years.  A lot of sludge metal I’ve listened to seems to have too much energy, but Light the Way is much more tempered and really pays homage to its doom.metal and even post.rock influences.  Earthmind is a very strong track.  On a Beaten Crooked Path is also worth listening too, with some very doomy and stoner-esque vibes coming from the Tuscon metal band.

[mubydramsjamz]

Listen to: Meet Where We Are by Big Ups

This is an impressive follow-up to Eighteen Hours of Static.  The hardcore influences remain, though the sound is much more cohesive with a large dynamic range.  It should go without saying that there are heavy influences of Slint in this album, particularly with vocals and heavy bass and guitar riffs.  Even more interesting though are the soft post-rock influenced bass riffs, sounding a lot like Rodan’s Bible Silver Corner.  It’s quite exciting to hear these Louisville influences in 2016.