DC meets ATL tonight at Django

Yola will be playing with a live go-go band. Tell me that alone doesn't make it worth getting out the house tonight.

You're lying. Stop trying to lie to me and yourself. Dust off 'em sneakers and get on out the door.

Not certain if the Basquiat tribute @ Lenny's will be good?

I understand. It wouldn't be the first lackluster performance or the first lackluster tribute. So I bring you evidence of what is to come. They were just warming up. Be sure to come out to Lenny's Tuesday, March 11th for Live Art, Hip Hop, Post-punk, and Fusion. It's going to be a great deal for $5. You can't tell me you can't find 5 dollars....


TheM Radiant Kids (warmup) pt. 1 from FireBrand on Vimeo.

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Now playing: TheM Radiant Kids - Basquiat - So Far From Real (Intro)
via FoxyTunes

I feel sorry for people eating at chain restaurants

I really do feel sorry for people eating a chain restaurants. I'm sure even if you live in the middle of the sticks or the suburbs there are a great many options available to you for better quality food. Being a fat-ass myself, I take my food seriously. Not Anton Ego seriously, but I digress... I was walking on Broad today after deciding to drop by my wife's job to suprise her when I felt like having a late lunch. I walked down to the area of Broad Street where I know the good stuff is. I was pushing it because it was late, rain clouds began to move in and we all know the good stuff closes early. Without any cash on me, Rosa's was out of the question and Ali Baba's was already closing up shop. I gritted my teeth in angst before settling on Moe's. That's when I realized Rueben's Deli was still open. Thank Allah for peripheral vision. I ordered my Eastsider - a mountain of a sandwich comprised of corn beef, beef pastrami, coleslaw (yes, coleslaw. try it before you turn up your nose), and Thousand Island dressing. It was glorious. Add to that when I ordered my side of knish the fact that the staff KNEW to serve it with a side spicy mustard and that a knish anything less than piping hot is unacceptable? To think that I very nearly went to Moe's? Oy vey! After sipping on the last dregs of my fruit punch, and polishing off my pickle (get your mind out the gutter), I decided to grab a slice of carrot cake for my wife and hit the street again. Reuben's had a few denizens in the spot just before I left and they closed up. There were about 4 or 5 people in there. Quizno's, however was FULL. FULL. Okay, here's where I get confused. Dania's, Reuben's and Michael's surround this Quizno's and you still had knuckle draggers in there slopping up those messy sammiches. Oh and by the way, the carrot cake was phenomenal.

Something is wrong with America, family. I'd continue my rant, but I'm suffering from a severe case of the 'Itis. I'm thinking of taking a nap. Before I go, tho...since we are on the subject of sustenance and meals lookout for a new Grit's 'n Gravy mix bringing you that new-new like only FireBrand can do.

It's chilly out. Let DJ Klever warm you up abit.

ATL's DJ Klever has blessed us with a new mix. It's free! Can't beat free, can we? Feeling cold this winter? Well, this mix is certain to get the dancefloor hot. Catch Klever Live in Atlanta @ MJQ for the Sloppy Seconds party on Jan. 12th and again at Opera on Jan. 18th.

DJ Klever - Ski mask way

Fighting The Good Fight

Ricky Raw is holding his birthday bash/CD release party tomorrow night over at Lenny's. The name of the CD is "The Good Fight". Be certain to cop that. Come out to the party. They'll have free PBR on tap between 8pm & 9pm and it's free cover all night. What else should you cop? That Mixtape Messiah Vol 3 from Chamillionaire. See what he's not cussing about...





DOWNLOAD Mixtape Messiah Vol.3

A few things...

As we near the school year I've gotta cut down on my blog posts. It'll probrably be just one or two a week now. I gotta graduate, ya'll. My old ass still in school and this is my final 3 semesters, God willing.

But since it's an Idle Wednesday and you prolly don't have anything better to do, why not go to Django and party for a good cause? Besides, my boy Sohl is spinning. Why is that important? Well because even if you don't like his djing skills, you can watch him burn 3,000 calories on the dance floor when the other DJ's give him a break.


Oh yeah, and... 100% of the proceeds go to 16 orphaned children with HIV/AIDS.

Friday's = No Doze/ New Music

Okay...we're going to kick this off with Computer Jay this cat lays his head in L.A. and isn't brand new per se. Wait. Did I just rhyme that? Anyway...he's been around the block as a keyboardist for the Pharcyde. Y'all have heard of the Pharcyde, right? Well, this aint no Pharcyde sounding shit. It's...computerish. Is that a word? Electronically based music that sounds damn near ambient. I'll let y'all decide on what you think of it.

Computer Jay - "Maintainn"
Mackintosh Braun. Interesting name. Interesting music. Hailing out of Portland, Oregon they remind me alot of The Postal Service. In fact (as indicated by my last.fm page) after giving their tracks a few more listens I was drawn to give The Postal Service a few more spins for a on the fly comparison. The heavier vocal presence distinguishes them, but the feel of the music is somewhat similar. In either case, I love it.

Mackintosh Braun- "The Sound"

How I came about this last non-local artist is weird. I was going to talk about Animal Collective, but then I remembered I talked about them last month and it also occured to me that they aren't that new at all. So here we have Blackbird. I actually ran across his page on myspace totally by chance. It was the 3 degrees of myspace separation thing. Weird. Then I played the music on his player. Weird. You'll just have to make your own mind up about Blackbird because I still haven't. This beat is banging, tho.

Blackbird- "Coke and Alcohol"
It's alot of interesting music going on in Atlanta right now. Blame Game is part of that. They've been doing their thing for a minute , but I imagine for alot of y'all who aren't from Atlanta that you've never heard of them- unless you live in Brooklyn, NYC where the group has relocated to for recording. They do an intersting fusion of Rock. It's hard to explain, so I won't try.

Blame Game - "Slidin Highway"

It's sumin about Gorilla Zoe. It's certainly not the lyrics. Must be the beats then, right? Well it's PARTLY about the beats. When you talk about party music, you talk about a feel. I'm not going to pretend like Gorilla Zoe is a world beater lyrically. He certainly doesn't come across as one on the tracks I've heard him on. Does he have his moments? Yes, but they are few and far between. What I DO like about this brother is his voice, style, and mic presence. That's something you can't teach. There are some lyrical MC's out there that are boring. You won't find that with Zoe. This is quality party music. Party music. You won't find backpackers bumping this in their headphones. But I promise you that hood clubs and hipsters alike will be/are dropping it like it's hot to his first single. Tell me I'm lying...

Gorilla Zoe- "Hood Niggaz"
I know, I know. Isn't this neo soul thing dead? Well, thankfully it isn't, yet. Rising out of a tradition of India.Arie, Donnie, Alegebra, and many others Rahbi is here to stay. And it's a good thing because I love some soul. Rahbi is a cat that I noticed last year. Couldn't help it, really. For some reason fliers announcing his EP were all over the Mass Media Arts building and Library at Clark Atlanta University. Everywhere I went I ran into one. At that time I was up to my ears in soul and didn't really pay him any mind. The man has some good music, family. Vocally he reminds me of Rashaan Patterson except he doesn't go big like Rashaan Does. He's making moves, tho. Pay attention to this brother. ATL's soul scene never has been a joke. But don't let me convince you. Judge for yourself...

Rahbi- ""Sistas and Brothers"

Do remember. Knives Out is performing tonight!

Y'all remember Knives Out , right? Well they're performing at MJQ tonight. Unfortunately I have to work and will miss most of the show. Sy Scott will be taking the stage as well as ATL's Binkis Recs and Da Backwudz.
You might remember Da Backwudz were on MTV a great deal last year. They had their own feature and everything. If you miss this, you slipping. Jax has a new album out. You know he's going to give the fans a taste of it. It's going to be a jam- on a Thursday no less. I promise you it won't be as hot as it was at the Loft last night at the Little Brother show.

I'll post up the goings on this week when I get in from work and the show early tomorrow morning. My entire week has been thrown off. lol. I'll holla at y'all.
You can still expect No Doze tomorrow, tho.


Can't afford this show? Only got $2 to your name? Good news. 2 Bucks will get you into the US Social Forum party tonight at Django. Dj Karl Injex and the World Famous New Orleans Hot 8 Brass Band will be on hand. Should be dope.

It's the weekend, well almost. What y'all doing?

First off, let's get this straight. I'm not here to tell you what to do. I'm here to give you an IDEA of what's goings on in our fair city. A whole lotta mess is going down this month, and this weekend is no exception (I'm hitting the highlights as FIREBRAND sees them)...


Friday, June 8th:
Allow me to quickly Plug Kai Alce spinning at Apache on Friday night. The man is a premier House DJ and deserves his props also J. Sevens - the man handling Apache promotions is good people, and NorthernArc always got love for Apache. I should also mention that Kai Alce has a new record coming on realsoon records called "Broken Headlights". Support our talent, people. This man is DOING it.

Saturday, June 9th is going to be CRAZY:

Okay...we'll start with the obvious. Creative Loafing's annual Beer Fest at Woodruff park. This is going down from 2pm-7pm. Only 21 and up are allowed, but you can sample some nice wines, and cold beer. There will also be live music and FOOD, son. Shit aint free, tho. It's 20 bucks. So have some cash on hand.

If the drinking festivities are a little low brow or expensive for you and yourn, Head over to mid-town and check out the Louvre in Atlanta at the High Museum instead for the "Kings as Collectors" jumpoff.


After the beer fest you can stumble just down the street to the Castleberry Hill District to check out "24 REASONS TO LIVE". The City of Ink artshow features 12 artists from 7pm-11pm with live DJing from DJ Mafioso and DJ Wildlife for FREE. The artshow is based on the style of Tatoos and if you've seen artists like Corey's work? You know not to be disappointed. Motivation:


Over at The Masquerade you can anticipate some Punk Rock stylings as The Bitter End is playing. Doors open at 7 p.m.


The good fellas over at Dumpster Dive are having one of their summer cook outs. If you are into the underground hip hop scene here in Atlanta you really shouldn't be missing these.
1. They are free (save for a friendly donation)
2. All the movers and shakers show their face for at least a minute or too.
3. It's just a family kind of atmosphere Really laid back, plus you can watch live graf artists do their thing. What's fucking with that?


Another ATL Band making some noise is The Futurists They'll be playing The Loft at 8pm. Never heard of them? Well, you should have. Tell you what, I'll share a song with you. How does that sound?

The Futurists "One of us"


Y'all know I'm in love with Jaspects. These Brothas will be redefining all aspects of Jazz over at Churchill Grounds 9pm Saturday night.




Saturday is a motherfucker, y'all. For real. Because if you thought you had some hard decisions already? Think about this...Aloe Blacc, Dillon, Buff1, and Eugene IV are ALL going to play Apache Cafe Saturday Night. This is where I'll be, btw. I simply can't miss this. If you've seen or heard Aloe Blacc you know that him alone is worth the price of admission. Then when you add ATL star Dillon, The man with one of the hottest albums of the summer in Buff1, and THEN Eugene IV? Come on, man.
Get your priorities correct.




...Sloppy Seconds. Y'all know the deal. It's kind of a big deal. Second Saturday of Every month the F'in Socialites get down at dirty at the Royal. Shit is bananas. It's really one of the only spots that has a nice ethnic mix in the city. I love it for that. This week they are featuring DJ Low B of Hollertonix (Bmore club) & DJ Klever. Y'all know how THEY do. Shit will be off the chain- plus they giving away free Braves fitteds from Anarchy. Go get you one.
Sunday, June 10th:


Of course, Sunday is poetry night in ATL- unless you talking about the Clubs mixing it up Down at Underground Atlanta, etc. But for FIREBRAND, it's Poetry night. Hit up FFX (Free Forum Exchange) @ Apache or Javamonkey Speaks over at the Javamonkey in Decatur for some open mic love.


We'll talk on Saturday about other performances like Daryl Reeves over at the High, Feist, Battles, etc. Until Then, I hope this Battles mp3 hold you over this is "Bad Trails" of their new album "Mirrored". It's late- or rather it's early. Bedtime.

Peace.

So the cops shut down Janelle Monae last night

I got the entire thing on my camera, but for some reason my firewire isn't working.

You know what's dope about the innanets, tho? If you wait long enough someone somewhere will upload footage to youtube.

This is Janelle soldiering on after the cops cut her mic off:

I keep getting questions about this mixtape...

Dj Unknown's upcoming mixtape. Some great folk are going to be on this jawn. I really can't wait till we get this jawn done. At the time when I approached Dj Unknown about this project it really seemed like mixtapes- especially one like THIS which is going to be all original material was that NEXT shit for the left of center movement.

I mean, if radio aint playin our shit. And if it's illegal to podcast the shit (yeah right...check out my Moral Chicanery podcast, btw)

then fine, cus word of mouth is a muthafucker. So are the zines and websites/blogs that talk about the good shit, but it's alotta holes 'n cracks in those models. There are folk that don't pick up URB or Southeast performer , surf the net, or that don't be out every weekend yet they still want to enjoy good music. I think this mixtape will help fill those gaps. If you haven't heard past Dj Unknown mixtapes, check out the NorthernArc myspace and download the free jawns.


By the way, another cat in the ATL is doing sumin similar- the legendary Dj Mafioso. Maf been doin his thing for a minute, and if u know of ATL based Binkis Recs, then u know he's their DJ. If you haven't picked up La Bodega Vol. 3, you behind.

Pick that shit up tommorow. Hit his myspace for that.

But yeah, back to my rant....Nah, fuck a rant. Tell you what...




Make sure you are at that CE show next week. Kaze is bananas. I'm hearing wonderful things about Supastition and Floyd The locsmith...and Audubon society? Shit. Come on now, folks.

Kaze. IF you out there, get at me about this Dj Unknown mixtape.

okay, okay. you want hints on who is on this jawn? Fine.

I'll give you some spoilers on who is scheduled to be on this jawn:

Buff1
Stacy Epps
Jermicide
Don Will from Tanya Morgan
Dillon Formerly of Intellekt & Dirty Digits
Lerhaun
Kelita
Black Milk
Clan Destined
Anonymous
Ricky Raw
Smalleyez

and more... Stay Tuned.

It's still early. We aint even got a name for the shit yet. Some tracks is in, tho and I gotta say them shits is fiya. Look for that shit to be out early August.