THE STROKES FOUR TET NEW MUSIC REPORT ESSENTIAL October 15, 2001 www.cmj.com DILATED PEOPLES LE TIGRE CMJ MUSIC MARATHON ’01 OFFICIALGUIDE FEATURING PERFORMANCES BY: Bis•Clem Snide•Clinic•Firewater•Girls Against Boys•Jonathan Richman•Karl Denson•Karsh Kale•L.A. Symphony•Laura Cantrell•Mink Lungs• Murder City Devils•Peaches•Rustic Overtones•X-ecutioners and hundreds more! GUEST SPEAKER: Billy Martin (Medeski Martin And Wood) COMPLETE D PANEL PANELISTS INCLUDE: BAND AN Lee Ranaldo/Sonic Youth•Gigi•DJ EvilDee/Beatminerz• GS INSIDE! DJ Zeph•Rebecca Rankin/VH-1•Scott Hardkiss/God Within LISTIN ININ STORESSTORES TUESDAY,TUESDAY, SEPTEMBERSEPTEMBER 4.4. SYSTEM OF A DOWN AND SLIPKNOT CO-HEADLINING “THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TOUR” BEGINNING SEPTEMBER 14, 2001 SEE WEBSITE FOR DETAILS CONTACT: STEVE THEO COLUMBIA RECORDS 212-833-7329 [email protected] PRODUCED BY RICK RUBIN AND DARON MALAKIAN CO-PRODUCED BY SERJ TANKIAN MANAGEMENT: VELVET HAMMER MANAGEMENT, DAVID BENVENISTE "COLUMBIA" AND W REG. U.S. PAT. & TM. OFF. MARCA REGISTRADA./Ꭿ 2001 SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT INC./ Ꭿ 2001 THE AMERICAN RECORDING COMPANY, LLC. WWW.SYSTEMOFADOWN.COM 10/15/2001 Issue 735 • Vol 69 • No 5 CMJ MUSIC MARATHON 2001 39 Festival Guide Thousands of music professionals, artists and fans converge on New York City every year for CMJ Music Marathon to celebrate today's music and chart its future. In addition to keynote speaker Billy Martin and an exhibition area with a live performance stage, the event features dozens of panels covering topics affecting all corners of the music industry. Here’s our complete guide to all the convention’s featured events, including College Day, listings of panels by 24 topic, day and nighttime performances, guest speakers, exhibitors, Filmfest screenings, hotel and subway maps, venue listings, band descriptions — everything you need to make the most of your time in the Big Apple. DEPARTMENTS 6 Essential 28 Hip-Hop The Strokes, Dilated Peoples, Four Tet, Le Tigre. Hip-hop at the Marathon, plus reviews of K-Otix, Blackalicious with Raaka And DJ Babu, Will.I.Am. 8 The Week 30 RPM A federal judge slaps Universal’s Farmclub.com for A bite-sized key to the parties, panels and beats streaming unlicensed songs; several artists, among happenin’ in New York during the Marathon. them Kings Of Convenience and Weezer, nix their Notable new releases: Armand Van Helden, Gomma tours in light of fears surrounding terrorist attacks. Audio No. 1 and Ron Trent. 10 Reviews 32 Ñ Alternative 32 New releases from Be Good Tanyas, Bobby Conn, Monterrey, Mexico’s top indie rock bands, Zurdok Curve, DJ Krush, Jay Farrar, Future Pilot AKA, and Jumbo, make their Big Apple debut, while James Mathus And His Knockdown Society, Hope Spain’s rock hero-turned-cabaret-singer Enrique Sandoval And The Warm Inventions, Schatzi, Solex, Bunbury returns as part of a SGAE showcase for Stars Of The Lid, They Might Be Giants, Trembling must-see performances; plus a preview of this year’s Blue Stars, David S. Ware Quartet. Latin alternative panel at the Marathon. 16 CMJ Radio 200 33 New World Björk at No. 1. A panel rundown, the scoop on new online retailer Xenomusic, and reviews of Ireland’s Dervish and the 20 Core Radio 75 absolutely slammin’ vintage roots reggae grooves of Björk at No. 1. African Brothers. 21 Top 200 Adds & Going 34 Jazz For Adds A roundup of jazz events at the Marathon will give (International) Noise Conspiracy at No. 1 with 131 you the lowdown. We’ve got a critic’s corner on John adds. Coltrane’s new live album, and reviews of the Herbie Nichols Project and Ray’s Music Exchange as well. 22 Triple A Ryan Adams at No. 1. 36 Upcoming 34 24 Loud Rock 88 Airplay Reviews of the final Emperor album, along with new platters from Will Haven, Scar Culture, Agnostic 117 Get A Job Front and King’s X. Haunted guitarist splits, AGM and the Firm partner up, Victory launches a charity 118 Mic Check/Aircheck auction, good news for Hevy Devy Records, and no, Jenny Frazee, a.k.a. “Venus Haight,” co-MD of Grade is not breaking up. Santa Clara, CA’s KSCU. CMJ New Music Report (ISSN 0890 0795) is published weekly except the week of September 24, the week of Thanksgiving, and the last two weeks of December. Published by The CMJ Network, Inc. with offices at 151 W. 25th St., 12th Fl.; New York, NY 10001. Subscription rates are $345.00 per year; 2 years, $575.00. Subscription offices: 151 W. 25th St., 12th Fl.; New York, NY 10001. Tel 917.606.1908. Outside U.S. and Canada 917.606.1908. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and additional mailing offices. CMJ New Music Report is copyright ©2001 by The CMJ Network, Inc. all rights reserved; nothing may be reproduced without written consent of publisher. Unless indicated otherwise, all letters sent to CMJ are eligible for pub- lication and copyright purposes, and are subject to CMJ’s right to edit and comment editorially. Unsolicited manuscripts, pho- 118 tos and artwork are welcome; please enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope to facilitate return. Postmaster: send address changes to CMJ New Music Report, 151 W. 25th St., 12th Fl.; New York, NY 10001 3 CMJ OCTOBER 15, 2001 ESSENTIAL THE STROKES Is This It (RCA) It’s only their debut full-lengh, but the Strokes have already been hailed, ad nau- seam, as the second coming of rock ’n’ roll. While this really should be one of the first reviews you’re reading on the New York band of hipsters, the hype sur- rounding the group is so thick that it’s more likely the 50th. But with a title like Is This It, it’s clear the Strokes themselves don’t take any of the attention too seriously. That said, frontman Julian Casablancas has, indeed, plagiarized a trick or two from Velvet Underground’s sexy, drugged-up songbook, but not mawk- ishly so. And, for all its unveiled media whoring, the band’s sound is decidedly unaffected. Sure, the guitars are right up in your face, but, as on “Soma,” Casablancas’ vocals often snarl from somewhere far, far away, as if he’s singing them via a late-night, long-distance phone call to a spurned lover. “When It Started,” the tight and playful understudy for the furloughed “New York City R.I.Y.L.: Velvet Underground, Television, the Stooges Cops” single (taken off in light of the Sept. 11 tragedy), offers a hint as to how Contact: Team Clermont Phone: 888.548.8326 the messianic Strokes plan to guide their new congregation. Apart from the Email: [email protected] downbeat, slow burn of the title track, the album is just one big rock ’n’ roll Release Date: Oct. 9; at radio Tour Dates: Hollywood (10/18-19); Dallas (10/22); orgy. Is This It? We should only be so lucky. — Courtney Reimer Austin (10/23); New Orleans (10/25); Atlanta (10/26); Athens, GA (10/27); Washington, D.C. (10/29); New York (10/31) DILATED PEOPLES Expansion Team (Capitol) Although Expansion Team is officially Dilated Peoples’ second release since they signed to Capitol in 1999, the L.A.-based group’s members have said they feel that is their true debut. They have come together as a unit over the past two years (due in part to constant touring) and have put forth an album that evokes a collective mentality. There’s a lot more tag-teaming from Rakaa (a.k.a. Iriscience) and Evidence on this go-around (though solo cuts still abound), and DJ Babu flexes his production muscle while continuing to show off his turntable skills. Armed with a little help from some friends (guest vocals by Tha Liks and Black Thought, production by the Alchemist, DJ Premier and the Beatnuts’ Juju), the trio has brought its post-modern, neo-old skool vibe to the next level. Expansion Team retains the group’s classic, stripped-down style accented by nifty sound effects, while up front the boys riff on smooth rhymes about the R.I.Y.L.: The Roots, Guru, Jurassic-5, Talib Kweli Contact: Steve Nice media (“Proper Propaganda”), the industry and its hunger for the bottom line Phone: 323.871.5174 (“Trade Money”), and boast about their acclaimed live performances. Although Email: [email protected] Release Date: Oct. 23 they’re not quite the trailblazers they were back in the day, Dilated Peoples have remained true to their music in spite of their rapid advance from the world of underground hip-hop to the big leagues. — Lisa Hageman R.I.Y.L. = Recommended If You Like 6 CMJ SEPTEMBER 10, 2001 THENEW WEEK’S BEST MUSIC NEW MUSIC FOUR TET Pause (Domino) Though he’s still in his early twenties, Kieran Hebden’s discography already spills off the page. As a wee teen, he and some mates started Fridge and began issuing full-lengths and singles; at 21, his solo aside Four Tet had also clocked in with an album, Dialogue. Both projects have followed a stingy minimalist ethic, but one that yields to tantalizing starbursts of sound. On his second disc as Four Tet, Hebden transforms what at first glance looks to be a bedroom recording into one of the year’s sleeper albums. It’s a brilliantly subdued collection of spare beats, chiming bells and hidden melodies. Too wise to settle for collage and yet too restless to construct mere songs, Hebden twists rhythms and rolls in acoustic guitar riffs to instill each track with a refined whimsy.