Friday, June 27, 2008

Re-Up Gang LP Due in August, Clipse in November

(Swiped from Pitchfork Media)

f you're expecting to stroll up to your local mixtape dude August 5 to land yourself a copy of that new Re-Up Gang disc, you may find yourself the recipient of a puzzled look. Indeed, the next release from the lyrically venomous VA-to-PA supergroup featuring Malice and Pusha T of Clipse and Philly MCs Ab-Liva and Sandman will in fact be traveling through some atypically traditional channels to get to your ears.

Clipse Presents: Re-Up Gang is due in stores August 5 from Koch Records. The disc sports nine new songs-- including the recently Forkcasted "Fast Life", produced by Scott "Mayor of Clowntown" Storch-- and a trio of previously unreleased remixes of cuts from the fab free-to-download We Got It for Cheap, Vol. 3 mixtape they laid on us this winter. Oh, and lest you forgot, British soul singer Joss Stone was at least at one point slated to appear on the set, though there's no mention of her involvement in the recent press material.

Clipse, meanwhile, are still busy working up their third LP, now slated for a November release on their new label Sony/Columbia. I'll believe it when I own it.

RZA, Hans Zimmer Team for Vin Diesel Movie Score

(Swiped from Pitchfork Media)
Babylon A.D. is a futuristic thriller kinda movie starring Vin Diesel, Michelle Yeoh, and this guy. From what I gather from the preview I saw before The Happening and a sentence on IMDB, it sounds a bit like Children of Men without all the stuff that should've won that one some Oscars.
Seems like the kind of flick that an Ibiza resident DJ with aspirations of LP-making would kill to provide the "hard-charging, action-packed" score for. But nope, this one's being handled by none other than the collective powers of Wu-Tang Clan maestro RZA, Oscar-winning film composer Hans Zimmer, and System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian. [via the Playlist].
In an interview with Denver Westword music blog Backbeat Online, RZA said, "It's a big, big blockbuster type movie, big sci-fi type movie that comes out in September, and I'm involved with the score on that one. They actually combined me with Hans Zimmer and his team. The RZA's team and Hans Zimmer's team have combined to create a hybrid kind of score for this movie that's based in the future. So I think it's going to be a good vibe for the audience out there, and it's a good movie anyway – a very thought-provoking movie."

RZA's publicist confirmed that Odadjian also worked on the score. RZA and Odadjian are currently working together in the new group Achozen.
The RZA's new album as Bobby Digital, Digi Snacks, is out this week from Koch Records, and RZA, too, is out on the road promoting the thing.

RZA:
06-27 Calgary, Alberta - Sled Island Music Festival
06-30 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
07-01 Chicago, IL - House of Blues
07-02 Pontiac, MI - Crofoot Ballroom
07-03 Montreal, Quebec - Montreal Jazz Festival *
07-04 Ottawa, Ontario - New Capital Music Hall
07-05 New York, NY - Webster Hall
07-07 Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero
07-08 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
07-24 Seattle, WA - Showbox Studio
07-26 Toronto, Ontario - Wakestock *

* with GZA