Results tagged “wutangclan”

If you’re a Wu-Tang Clan fan, you best be thanking your lucky stars. GZA performs in Austin next month at the fourth edition of Fun Fun Fun Fest, and this Sunday, Ghostface Killah (a.k.a. Dennis Coles) rolls into town in support of his brand new record Ghostdini: The Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City. The album finds Ghostface venturing into the R&B realm and collaborating with the likes of John Legend, Kanye West, and Raheem “Radio” DeVaughn, who guests on the auto-tuned first single “Baby.”

Method Man and Redman, who remain arguably the most charismatic duo in hip-hop despite releasing only two albums together over the course of a decade, return to Emo’s on Sunday night with Wu-associate Ghostface Killah in tow. While all three of these east coast legends are pushing 40, they’ve still managed to produce some of the best albums of their respective careers within the past couple of years. The sequel-fixated Method Man and Redman dropped Blackout! 2 back in May to extremely favorable critical and popular reception; every bit the equal of their debut, the record proves that the lifelong friends have lost none of the chemistry that made the original Blackout! so compelling ten years ago.

Wu Tang's GZA performed his classic Liquid Swords last night at Emo's to a frenzied, thankful crowd. Austinist contributing photographer Nash Cook was there to capture the evening.

“I Can’t Go To Sleep,” off Wu-Tang Clan’s The W, is one of RZA’s least-produced songs, technically speaking. He simply loops the intro to Issac Hayes’s “Walk On By” a few times, making no attempt to mask the sample with a snare or keyboard stab of his own. Yet it is one of his best, the sort of production that they’ll play at his Kennedy Center Honors someday. The song works because of the success of the whole formula – the yearning sample, Ghostface’s extended opening verse, Hayes’s own guest-spot on the bridge, and then RZA’s closing remarks. The bare sample plays perfectly against Ghost and RZA’s choked-up pleas – another layer would be too heavy, and RZA no doubt knew this. Always more of a collagist than a pure creator of sound (like Dr. Dre or Timbaland), RZA’s understanding that A + the snare from B + Inspectah Deck = classic is what carried the Wu to prominence in the 90’s. His grasp of tone and sequence and balance is also why he is slowly and successfully transitioning out of beats 24/7 and into movie scores and acting and directing.

We know it’s hard to believe, but we Austinist staffers are human. We’re real people, with real feelings, and sometimes we make mistakes. Some of us make so many mistakes that we can’t even remember them all. Anyhoo, last week we fucked up huge by not telling you to go see Rock the Bells, the true story of concert promoter Chang Weisberg’s attempt at reuniting all ten members of the Wu-Tang Clan for one night...

Over the years, Staten Island NY's Ghostface Killah has proven himself, at least for now, the last of the Wu-Tang Clan left standing in the public eye. Unless you count Method Man's devolved mainstream pap, Ghost is the only one still putting out records at all, let alone making vital, relevant music. Ghost rebounded from 2004's lackluster Pretty Toney Album with FishScale, a weird, raw, and very funny record that wound up being one...

Tonight at the Parish Room, glammed-out rockstars The Raveonettes bring back 1950s retro cool with a setlist featuring tracks off their swank new album, Pretty in Black. Their sound brings us back to golden-age Motown with a slight detour into early Memphis rockabilly, but above all the halcyon days of Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. Expect wispy harmonies over soft and swaying guitar lines, and a barely audible yet ever present electronic beat reminding us that despite the nostalgia they inspire, The Raveonettes are solidly in the now. "Ode to LA" and "Sleepwalking" are high up on our favorite tunes of this year.