Riot Fest 2021 Lineup Finalized

Courtesy: Western Publicity

The official lineup for this year’s Riot Fest has been finalized.

The 2021 Riot Fest is scheduled to take place Sept. 16-19 at Douglass Park in Chicaco, IL. The whole thing kicks off the evening of Sept. 16 with performances by the likes of Alkaline Trio, Patti Smith and her Band, and Morrissey.

Sept. 17 is the first, full, official date of music for this year’s festival. It features performances from a wide range of acts, such as Smashing Pumpkins, NOFX, and Anti-Flag.

Dropkick Murphys, Rancid, and Living Colour join the likes of Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Run The Jewels, and Gwar for the second day of this year’s Riot Fest lineup.

Sunday will see just as many and varied acts taking the stage. Among the most notable of the performances planned to close out this year’s festival are those from the likes of Slipknot, Simple Plan, and Body Count. The Flaming Lips will take the place of Pixies following that band’s recent announcement that it was halting its tour plans due to concerns about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The full lineup for this year’s Riot Fest is noted below.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16
MORRISSEY, ALKALINE TRIO, PATTI SMITH AND HER BAND, JOYCE MANOR (performing S/T), WDRL, KRISTEEN YOUNG

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 17
THE SMASHING PUMPKINS, COHEED AND CAMBRIA, LUPE FIASCO (performing The Cool), NOFX, DIRTY HEADS, SUBLIME WITH ROME, CIRCLE JERKS, DINOSAUR JR., MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK, THRICE, CIRCA SURVIVE, MEG MYERS, THE LAWRENCE ARMS, BEACH BUNNY, ANTI-FLAG, LIVING COLOUR, FISHBONE, ENVY ON THE COAST, THE SOUNDS, AMIGO THE DEVIL, EYEDRESS, BEACH GOONS, MEET ME @ THE ALTAR, SERATONES, RADKEY, KISSISSIPPI, JACKIE HAYES, OXYMORRONS, GIRLPUPPY, SEŃOR KINO

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18
RUN THE JEWELS, FAITH NO MORE, DROPKICK MURPHYS, RANCID, TAKING BACK
SUNDAY, VIC MENSA, GOGOL BORDELLO, MAYDAY PARADE, BAYSIDE, STATE CHAMPS, THE MIGHTY MIGHTY BOSSTONES, ANDREW W.K., BEST COAST, BIG FREEDIA, GWAR, HEPCAT, LES SAVY FAV, THE BRONX, FOUR YEAR STRONG, CITIZEN, FUCKED UP, JOYWAVE, NIGHT MOVES, MAN ON MAN, THE BOLLWEEVILS, ACTION/ADVENTURE, GANSER, JUST FRIENDS, THE ORPHAN THE POET, BEARINGS, SPIDER, DEVON KAY & THE SOLUTIONS

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19
SLIPKNOT, MACHINE GUN KELLY, THE FLAMING LIPS, DEVO, MR. BUNGLE, NEW FOUND GLORY, SIMPLE PLAN, THE GHOST INSIDE, BODY COUNT, THURSDAY, K.FLAY, KNUCKLE PUCK, HEALTH, THE BLED, MOTHER MOTHER, 3OH!3, ALEX G, FEVER 333, KENNYHOOPLA, BLEACHED, THE GORIES, FACS, RATBOYS, BLACKSTARKIDS, THE CLOCKWORKS, PET SYMMETRY, MELKBELLY, GYMSHORTS, THE WEAK DAYS, AIRSTREAM FUTURES

Tickets for Riot Fest 2021 are available here.

More information on this year’s Riot Fest is available along with all of the festival’s latest news at:

Website: https://www,riotfest.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RiotFest1

To keep up with the latest entertainment news and reviews, go online to https://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it. Fans can always keep up with the latest entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.

New Rap, Hip-Hop Albums Prove 2020 Was Not All Bad

Courtesy: Def Jam

Rap and hip-hop fans have had quite a bit to be happy about this year.  That is because over the course of the now fading year, a lot of notable entries have made their way to audiences within the genre.  They have come from independent and well-known acts alike, too.  From the familiar socio-politically charged content featured in Public Enemy’s new album What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down, to the lighter yet still engaging content featured in Aesop Rock’s new album Spirit World Field Guide, to the unique hybrid jazz/hip-hop instrumental offering from Analog Players Society, Soundtrack For A Nonexistent Film, and more, this year’s field of new rap and hip-hop records has proven quite diverse and entertaining.  Even Eminem released his own new album (albeit by surprise) in the form of Music to be Murdered By early this year.  Between that record and so many others, this year’s field of new albums was full of interesting, impressive new albums, both mainstream and independent.  Phil’s Picks has kept track of them once again this year and produced a list of the year’s best new product.

As with past years and each list, this collection features the Top 10 new titles in the category, as well as five honorable mentions, for a total of 15 titles.  Here for your consideration is the Phil’s Picks 2020 Top 10 new Rap & Hip-Hop Albums.

PHIL’S PICKS 2020 TOP 10 NEW RAP & HIP-HOP ALBUMS

1. Public Enemy – What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down?
2. Run The Jewels – RTJ4
3. RJD2 – The Fun Ones
4. Common – A Beautiful Revolution Pt. 1
5. Jamo Gang – Walking With Lions
6. Aesop Rock – Spirit World Field Guide
7. Eminem – Music to be Murdered By
8. Analog Players Society – Soundtrack for a Nonexistent Film
9. Atmosphere – The Day Before Halloween
10. GNL Zamba – The Spear
11. Denzel Curry – Unlocked
12. Prof – Powderhorn Suites
13. Busta Rhymes – Extinction Level Event 2
14. Aesop Rock – Music From The Game Freedom Finger
15. Black Eyed Peas – Translation

Next up from Phil’s Picks is a listing of the year’s top new jazz and blues albums.  Stay tuned for that.

To keep up with the latest entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it.  Fans can always keep up with the latest entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.  

Run The Jewels’ Fourth Album Secures The Duo’s Place Among The Industry’s Elite Rap, Hip-Hop Acts

Courtesy: BMG

This year has been a strange and stressful one for performing artists.  Thanks to the COVID-19 outbreak and the overabundance of caution that has been taken throughout the music industry, release dates for EPs and albums from acts in every genre have been shifted up and pushed back with little to no warning.  Now thanks to another issue, the protests that have come forth as a result of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis Police, another change recently happened in another act’s release date.  Hip-hop duo Run The Jewels was originally scheduled to release its new album Run The Jewels 4 in September.  Then it was pushed up to this past Friday, June 5.  Because of everything happening in recent days, the duo released the album two days earlier on June 3.  Two days difference for release is not that much.  Regardless, it can be said of the duo’s fourth full-length studio recording that it is an enjoyable new offering.  That is thanks to the album’s musical and lyrical content.  Each item will be addressed here.  The record’s sequencing rounds out its most important elements and brings everything together.  Each item noted here is important in its own way to the whole of the album.  All things considered, they make the fourth entry in Run The Jewels’ album series one more of this  year’s top new rap and hip-hop albums.

Run The Jewels’ latest full-length studio recording – its fourth so far – is another impressive offering from the duo.  That is thanks in part to the record’s collective musical arrangements.  The album’s musical content is a strong hybrid of old school hip-hop beats and sampling with more modern rap and hip-hop elements.  The vocal delivery style of the duo – El-P and Killer Mike – plays just as much into the musical content as the music itself.  The direct, rhythmic fashion in which the men deliver each song’s lines is unique as it boasts its own vibe even as it works right in time with the beats.  The pair works just inside the lines, so to speak, to keep things just interesting enough in their delivery.  This sort of overall presentation seems increasingly rare in hip-hop and rap.  The last time that any act presented such a sense through its work was perhaps from Outcast.  That is the closest comparison that this critic can make in listening to the record’s musical aspects.  Keeping this in mind, the musical element of Run The Jewels 4 forms a strong foundation for the record.  That foundation is strengthened even more through the record’s lyrical content.

The lyrical content featured alongside Run The Jewels 4’s musical elements is important to note because of its depth.  Much as with the duo’s past albums, the lyrics featured throughout the album defy the trappings of so many rap and hip-hop albums, presenting commentary that will engage audiences.  This is proven in part through the song ‘Walking in the Snow,’ which focuses on a variety of topics.  Late in the song’s run, the duo tackles the nation’s systemic racism, stating, “The way I see it you’re probably freest from the ages one to four/Around the age of five you’re shipped away/For your body to be stored/They promise education/But really they give you tests and scores/And they predictin’ prison population by who scorin’ the lowest/And usually the lowest scores the poorest and they look like me/And every day on evening news/They feed you fear for free/And you so numb you watch the cops choke out a man like me/And ‘til my voice goes from a shriek to a whisper/”I can’t breathe”/And you sit there in the house on the couch/And watch it on TV/The most you give’s a Twitter rant/And call it a tragedy.”  The song continues in similar fashion with its direct statement addressing the systemic racism in this nation.  It is a sharp, precise condemnation of everything going on.  It is a statement that is certain to connect with listeners.  Earlier in the song, the duo even compares the state of the world to the Nay prison at Guantanamo Bay, called for short “Gitmo.”  There is a line, which states, “This whole world’s a s*** moat/Filled to the brim like GitMo.”  The song even goes after the “pseudo-Christians” and their view of certain things going on in the world.  It’s one more way in which just this one song proves the importance of the album’s lyrical content.  The song in whole is even more biting and is certain to be one of the album’s most memorable and important works.

‘Ooh La La,’ the album’s second song, is another example of what makes the lyrical content in this record so important.  At one point in this song, the duo seems to address Donald Trump and his legions.  This is inferred first as Killer Mike states, “F*** a king or queen/And all of their loyal subjects/I’ll pull my p*** out and p*** on their shoes in public.”  This critic could be wrong in the interpretation, but at the same time, that Trump acts as if he is a king or dictator is a telling statement.  That mention of a king or queen’s subjects could be a reference to Trump’s legions who give in to everything that he says and does.  It’s just one of the statements that is sure to have listeners engaged in this case.  It’s just one more way in which the album’s lyrical content proves to be so important.  ‘Never Look Back’ is yet another example of the important of the album’s lyrical content.

‘Never Look Back’ is important because it comes across as one of the duo reminiscing on his upbringing.  That is inferred in the song’s lead verse in which a mention of the rapper’s parents is made.  It states of their influence, “Never look back/Heard ‘em say that before/Sound like the type of advice I’d ignore/Funny how time feel off/Tick tock/You think deaths beat/It drop a clock shot.”  At another point, the song’s most important statement is made:  “So here’s the play: you can’t go forward and you can’t go back/The past/The present/The future/All irrelevant/The only thing that matters is latitude/Gratitude is everything/Time is nothing.”  In other words, focus on one’s self, not where one is going and where one has been.  That’s a hard-hitting statement that will resonate with any listeners.  To that end, that statement, along with the rest of the song’s content and that of the rest of the album’s songs, makes the album’s lyrical content clearly something hugely important.  Together with the musical content, the album’s lyrical content shows even more why the record’s overall content makes it so engaging and entertaining.  Those elements, together with the album’s sequencing, add even more impact to the album’s presentation.

In examining RTJ4’s overall sequencing, the record keeps its energy flowing relatively stable from beginning to end.  The record’s first half boasts a mid-tempo vibe with its beats and rhymes.  As it reaches its midpoint in ‘Walking in the Snow,’ the record slows down, but is still impacting in its own right.  The record’s energy gradually builds back again from there until it reaches its penultimate point, ‘Pulling the Pen.’  From there, the record closes out on a more mid-tempo work in ‘A Few Words For The Firing Squad.’  Each song boasts its own powerful, engaging energy and content.  Looking back, the record’s sequencing proves to be just as important to its presentation as its content because it ensures that the album’s energies keep things just as interesting as the general content.  To that end, it is in fact just as important as the album’s content.  Together with the musical and lyrical material, the album’s presentation ensures its place among this year’s new rap and hip-hop albums.

Run The Jewels’ new album RTJ4 is a fully engaging and entertaining presentation that every rap and hip-hop fan should hear.  That is due to musical content that is a fresh breath of old school hip-hop and rap.  The album’s lyrical content does its own part to ensure listeners’ engagement, as does its sequencing, as has been evidenced here.  Each item noted is important in its own right to the whole of this album.  All things considered, they make RTJ4 one of this year’s top new hip-hop and rap albums.  It is available now.  More information on Run The Jewels’ new album is available along with all of the duo’s latest news at:

 

 

 

Website: http://www.runthejewels.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/therealrunthejewels

Twitter: http://twitter.com/runthejewels

 

 

 

To keep up with the latest entertainment reviews and news, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it.  Fans can always keep up with the latest entertainment reviews and news in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.