We’re all familiar with the scenario – you’re driving, and a certain song comes on, and you get this sudden surge of adrenaline, and once you’re really getting into it, you look at your speedometer and think “Oh shit, I’m going 90… and this is a school zone.” For this week’s list, I wanted to go over what those songs are for me, the ones that kick so much ass that they just seize you and pump you so full of energy that you don’t even notice your foot planted flat on the floor… or at least that’s how I tried to explain it to the officer. So let’s get on with it, shall we?

Streetlight Manifesto – Everything Went Numb

Taking a break to make out during a set

While I love Reel Big Fish and Goldfinger as much as the next guy, I think Streetlight Manifesto’s first album was probably third wave ska’s crowning achievement, with this song being a perfect example of why. Starting out with an almost flamenco sounding horn section, the song crashes in with Tomas Kalnoky’s rapid-fire shouts, along with some frenzied guitar playing and a fantastic bassline (in a genre known for fantastic basslines, no less). And it’s so hard not to shout along with, too. Ski mask! CHECK! Sawed off! CHECK! Guilty conscience, fear of death! CHECK CHECK CHECK!!

Incubus – Priceless

We're very serious today.

An under appreciated gem on what is easily their least popular album, Priceless feels like a dash of S.C.I.E.N.C.E. in the middle of A Crow Left of the Murder’s jam rock stylings. The momentum to this song is so great that even the rather random bridge does little to halt it; Brandon Boyd’s vocals are fast and furious, Jose Pasillas gives his most intense drumming on the album, and the band’s overall energy is incredibly palpable.

Public Enemy – Rebel Without a Pause

YEEAAHHH, BOOYYEEEEE

I was a lover of It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back long before I bought Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, but I’d be lying if I said I had already loved this track as much as that game taught me to. The turntable tricks that were mindblowing back when golden age hip-hop was in its prime may be a bit dated now, but it speaks volumes just how great this track still sounds. Chuck D is his usual raging-but-eloquent self, making the chorus’ turntablism sound ten times better merely by shouting “Terminator X!” Flava Flav gives another example of just why his goofy persona worked so surprisingly well with those frantic pre-choruses. Everything that made Public Enemy great really comes together here, and even without running down people on motorcycles and pulling drive-bys, this is still damned fun to drive to.

The Hives – No Pun Intended

We're so ironic, we must be cool

As interviews revealed, they were easily the most pretentious and obnoxious group out of the garage rock boom in the early noughties, but damn if they didn’t know what they were doing. The convoluted yet ridiculously catchy hook here grabs the listener viciously from the track’s very beginning, and doesn’t let go until the scant 2:20 flies by. While they never enjoyed the popularity of the White Stripes, the Strokes, or (insert random ‘the’ band here), these guys had a real way with injecting every song with seemingly endless energy.

Anthrax – Caught in a Mosh

Scott Ian always looks so cool. Sigh..

Anthrax never gave us a Master of Puppets or Reign in Blood, but they did give us this, which could well be the best thrash metal song ever written. It’s not just relentless, it doesn’t just have riffs that are as crushing as they are catchy, it’s just a fun song. The chorus has such a great sing-a-long quality, and every time I hear Joey Belladonna rush through the line “Now get the hell out of my house!” I can’t help but smile. It reminds me of that episode of Married with Children they were on… ah, those were the days. Incidentally, I didn’t realize this until I actually sat down to type this, but this song is another GTA staple! Well, how about that.

Beastie Boys – Sabotage

The masters of sitting on stairs

Boasting one of the most legendary videos EVER, Sabotage is not only one of the most fun songs of the decade, but easily one of its most defining. The Beasties do a masterful job of blending punk and rap, throwing random turntable scratches (and even making a chorus out of them, for god’s sake) over an infectious bassline and relentless, fuzz-ridden guitars. And let’s not forget the Beasties themselves; like much of their catalogue, Sabotage is stuffed with far too much personality for just one song, and that’s why we love them.

Digitalism – Jupiter Room

Heh lookit my kool keyboard dawg

One of the progressive house acts that popped up a few years back along with Boys Noize, Simian Mobile Disco, and Justice, Digitalism came across as an even more experimental Daft Punk who were more hesitant than their contemporaries to fall back on simple, catchy beats. Which is not to say that they weren’t catchy of course, just a bit more challenging. Jupiter Room takes a while to build up, but provides a steady beat underneath a plethora of interesting sounds up to its incredible climax at around 2:55, where a futuristic and furiously pounding beat takes form and thrashes away for the better part of three minutes. When the track slams back in to the song’s original beat at the end, it sounds a bit different, not necessarily weaker, but after the song’s raucous peak barely anything is going to sound as aggressive by comparison.

Adam and the Ants – Beat My Guest

Will ye be joining us at the gay pride parade, matey?

This is about as fun as punk-inflected new wave ever got. The wonderfully obnoxious yodeling, the maddeningly addictive guitar hooks, the fact that it was these fruits you’re looking at up there actually making the music, these things all make up one of the best guilty pleasures to ever come out of the early 80s. Not to mention that it provides the soundtrack for one of the coolest moments in SLC Punk!, the ill-fated interstate beer run.

Outkast – B.O.B.

Aw shi' y'awll ferrell??

Deserving of Pitchfork’s ‘best song of the decade’ title? Maybe not… but it’s still pretty fuckin’ great. It’s really saying something about the duo’s abilities that with such a busy and quick on its feet beat, the most relentless thing about the song is the MCs themselves. Andre 3000 and Big Boi are godlike on B.O.B., sporting impossibly fast flows that upon closer inspection reveal surprisingly clever wordplay. It’s a bit cliché, but few songs merit it more than this one: If this doesn’t get you dancing, you might want to check your pulse.

Ministry – Burning Inside

I'll bet I look pretty tough right now.

One of the earlier – and best – industrial metal songs. Ministry was my introduction to the genre, and the first thing that grabbed me was just how fast paced, heavy, and generally intimidating the music sounded, with Burning Inside being a prime example. It captures everything great about industrial; it’s dark, pounding, fast, and just ruthlessly aggressive. It also says something that though the hook is merely two distorted notes, it reels you in just as well as any complex guitar riff could. With how Al Jourgensen continues piling electronic effects on the guitars throughout the song’s five minutes while shooting off that distorted roar over all the ruckus, the line “It kicks you in the face and suck you dry” is extremely appropriate.

I knew that once I had confirmation of press attendance to this years’ touring hip hop circuit Rock the Bells 2009, I would be in for a day of head-bobbing, mean mugging, and enough bass to make my teeth hurt for the next week. Put simply, it was one of the best days this summer has offered me here at Behind the Hype.

Rolling up on the scene, we are greeted by the parking securities, who guide us to the front of the parking lot, just near the gates. After feeling the scene out, we acquired our press passes and had a brief chat with the one and only Shazila M., our liason that got us there in the first place.

We stepped into the press tent while The Knux was doing their thing, and getting the crowd hyped up for the afternoon’s activities. Chali 2Na (of Jurassic 5 fame) was up next after a quick set up to keep things moving. The sound quality in the hills of San Bernadino was amazing, and while the place wasn’t filled up yet, we knew we were in for a good show.

Dan Huse (master of these photos) and I walked the grounds to the Paid Dues Stage, to catch some of my favorite MC’s from the underground hip hop group, The Living Legends. Two of the members, Luckyiam.PSC and Sunspot Jonz teamed up for their side project, Mystik Journeymen. They had us laughing and bobbing our head from the start, throwing out free cds and talking about Lady Gaga’s recent he/she issue. The crew represented their crew quite well, even taking time out to smoke a blunt from a crowd member, before ending the set beautifully.

Immediately after word on the Main Stage, the hill was awash with the sounds from the subjects of my interview, Tech N9ne and Krizz Kaliko. I now understand how he became the highest selling indie artist in America, with a high energy, semi choreographed set with Krizz Kaliko. DJ Chill laid down some impressive tracks for the crew to get busy to, getting the bikini clad women in the front row all riled up.

I felt nostalgic later on in the day when Big Boi came out with Sleepy Brown to perform mainly Outkast songs past and present. I wish that: Andre 3000 was in attendance to  make it official, and that Big Boi performed Royal Flush from his upcoming album Sir Luscious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty. All this however, were made up to me by the picture I snagged with the duo later on.

During the day, I spent some time talking to the security guard next to the stage; and we discussed who the secret performer of the evening would be. I was (correctly) skeptical when he told me it was going to be Jay Z, because he and Nas aren’t on speaking terms again. Silly boys. It was none other than our (second) favorite Londoner, Slick Rick.

I was shocked more than impressed really, because I thought he got kicked out of our country for his romping around with a gun in the 09’s, but ah well. I did love however, that he got us all hyped with his classic track Children’s Story before the set to the end of the night extravaganza.

Next up was one of the most talented performances I have ever seen, brought to us from the legendary Roots crew. The Roots are known for their top notch live shows, and I see why. At first they started a lovely jam session, just to get everyone’s chops up to speed, before breaking out their new single, How I Got Over from their upcoming album of the same name. After seeing them live, I had renewed vigor to stave off my hunger for that album’s October release date.

The most powerful part of the night however, was the Nas and Damien Marley collaboration. Another journalist from a certain Los Angeles web magazine (you know who you are young lady) had no faith that he would come out. Apparently, last year Nas was a no show, but I knew once I had the pleasure of meeting Mulatto (one of Nas’ live band crews), I knew it was official.

The lovely journalist and I waited patiently while our photographers snapped away during the action. We were asked by a guard if we wanted to go up on stage (or the side of it at least) to get a better look at Nas, and after the shock wore off; we obliged the man, and headed up.

There we were, ten feet from Nas while he performed If I Ruled the World. Needless to say, I felt more energy seeping off that stage that just about every concert I have ever been to. I stand proud to have shared the moment with such a talented photographer and fun-loving journalist (even if she was the competition) on that stage…even if we did get yelled at by the head of security for being up on the stage.

Dan and I took that time to say our goodbyes to the festival, and enjoy the amazing Ice Cube on the way out to the car, for the end of one hell of an engagement. This was a surreal and true honor, and I hope I’ve brought some of it here to you today.

Until next time my friends,

~Flak

P.S.- As you know, my work was not done all alone, nay. I want to give a shout out to Shazila M. and Aaron F. from MSO for making the day what it was. Without them, we wouldn’t have gotten the honor of press passes and contact information to what we needed to get done. Also, Megan at Juggernaut Sound for setting up our interview with Tech N9ne (which is coming shortly). And finally, that sultry journalist over at LA2Day for sticking it out with me all day, and getting on stage with Nas to cause some trouble.

The VX-323 is one of those artists that are on the next level. Why? Because the VX-323 isn’t even considered human. As I sit here with the lovely bio on the artist, it’s refreshing to see them take the idea of a robot with soul so seriously. I may seem sarcastic here, but I’m not.

I feel a little bit like I did when I first heard Radiohead’s Paranoid Android for the first time, as this album’s vocals are entirely made up of speech synth. I also like the claim of differentiation of who this album is for; a claim of “funk music for robots, but slick techno pop for humans”. I feel like people (or robots) don’t really take this sort of chance to enjoy the idea BEHIND the music.

For instance, I thought the days of Andre 3000 talking about black rights in space, or Deltron talking about what life will be like in the year 3030 were long gone. But alas, we have another tale from the dark future of mankind through this speech synth robot.

The album, entitled Chansons, has a feel that you expect from a robot. Almost 80’s sounding beats, but then there’s a moment where the lyrics and subject matter make it something else entirely. For instance, the first track Billion Dollar Condo, the robot makes fun of its owner who has it all. He even gives us that “sophisticated” British accent to boot, to remind us of how media portrays that accent as the pompous one.

The third track, Factory Blues tells us about VX-323 being put on standby, armor removed, to then be decommissioned. I had a feeling of something like another industrial revolution. We even have the words of hope by the robo-wife: “Don’t give up, you’re my only robot”.

The fifth track, Laptop, was a rather endearing track. To put simply, it’s a poem about a laptop that loves its owner (I’m sure you mac fiends can relate). I actually started laughing out loud at my desk listening to the laptop tell me about how it wants me to charge it up, and how much it wants me to drag my finger about its track pad, but then again, I guess it’s not the first time I’ve had that request.

The ninth and final track, When You’re Gone, reminds me of something out of I, Robot. The premise is about just that, when all humans are on the planet, what the robots will do. Not that it’s close or anything, but I feel like it’s a legitimate question to ask, if not at least an entertaining one. But to be honest, I hope it’s more like the creations of the upcoming movie 9, than of the piss poor I, Robot.

To sum it up, this is more than just an album; it’s an experience… one that most people are too afraid to make in this day and age. Just because it doesn’t make radio play, doesn’t make someone an amateur at their craft. The man behind the machine VX-323 is actually a seasoned lyricist who’s worked with 80’s New Wave band Things Fall Apart.

VX-323, you may just be on to something here, and I’d run my finger across your laptop pad any day of the week. *pause* Yeah I just said that.

Until next time my friends,

~Flak