Questlove and Black Thought from The Roots have announced the lineup to this year’s Philly 4th of July Jam as part of the WaWa Welcome America! The lineup includes John Mayer, Ne-Yo, J.Cole, Demi Lovato, Grace Potter, and Jill Scott. You can get more information about all the WaWa Welcome America festivities here.
The Roots
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Watch Questlove jam with D’Angelo at Bonnaroo 2012 (The Roots Picnic happening at Festival Pier on 6/1)
From the beginning, Bonnaroo SuperJams have been synonymous with exciting, unexpected one-off collaborations of music’s top artists, with past festivals linking up the likes of Dr. John, Mike Gordon, Luther Dickinson and Stanton Moore (2003), and this year featuring Jim James, Zigaboo Modeliste, John Oates and Preservation Hall Jazz Band. In 2012, Questlove and The Roots took things one step further by facilitating the return of R&B artist / producer D’Angelo in one of his first stateside concerts in eleven years. In the third of four videos documenting the SuperJam, the collaborators perform Funkadelic tracks “Funky Dollar Bill” and “Hit it and Quit it.” Watch the clip below and check out the first two installments here and here. The Roots Picnic with Gary Clark Jr., Grimes, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and more comes to Festival Pier on June 1st. Tickets and information can be found here.
Watch Macklemore and Ryan Lewis on Saturday Night Live (playing Roots Picnic in June)
Photo by John Keatley
The Roots Report: Black Thought to collaborate with Jim James of My Morning Jacket; The Roots finish album with Elvis Costello
Here’s a round up of some recent Roots-related news:
In an interview with Uber Urban, Roots MC Black Thought talked about several exciting projects he has in the works. These included film collaborations, “branching off” into clothing design, writing an autobiography, and recording a “blues album.” He’s also collaborating with Raheem DeVaughn, Jim James of My Morning Jacket and Tunde Adebimpe of TV On The Radio. Watch the interview below.
On The Roots front, last month Questlove told Billboard that a new Roots album called & Then You Shoot Your Cousin will be out in late 2013 or early 2014. In addition, The Roots and Elvis Costello also recorded together, and are in the final stages of mixing their collaborative record.
Tonight’s Concert Picks: Kingsfoil at Chameleon Club, By Surprise at The Barbary, Black Thought at The Blockley, Mike Doughty at The Tin Angel, Moosh and Twist at the First Unitarian Church
York County pop-rock four-piece Kingsfoil is wrapping up its 2012 with a headlining show tonight at the Chameleon Club in Lancaster. The band put out its sophomore album this year, the hooky and emotive A Beating Heart is a Bleeding Heart, and recorded a Key Studio Session with us on the eve of Hurricane Sandy. Opening the show is fellow Central Pennsylvanian Jesse Baker, whose LP Tearing Down the Walls is available as a free download here. More information on tonight’s show can be found at the XPN Concert Calendar; below, watch the video for Kingsfoil’s very catchy single “What Your Mother Taught You.”
Gettin’ Real OCD with Moosh & Twist (playing the First Unitarian on 12/29)
Friends since childhood, rap duo DeQuincy “Moosh” Coleman McRae and Oliver “Twist” Feighan, better known by their performance name, OCD: Moosh & Twist, continue their rise as one of Philly’s most popular hip-hop acts. The pair have been recording together since they were still in high school–which, surprisingly, was not so long ago, despite their seasoned performance style.
Moosh and Twist caught audiences by surprise in 2011 with a fresh perspective on following dreams and keeping cool under pressure with addictive tracks like”Possibilities” and ”Take Me Back.” After the explosive success of their debut mixtape, Up Before The World, Moosh and Twist continued recording and started popping up in different venues throughout the area, which landed the pair to a tour with Aer this past summer. In the midst of the chaos preparing for their upcoming headlining tour, we swapped e-mails with Moosh and Twist to get the skinny on how they started, what they’ve got coming up projects and their shared excitement about performing. Continue reading
The Week So Far: Eight must-read stories on The Key
Bing & Ruth’s David Moore on the ambient performance he brings to The Barnes Friday [link]
The new LP from The Fleeting Ends, Our Eyes are Peeled, gets the Unlocked treatment [link]
Dave Hartley, bassist for The War on Drugs, launches his sports column From The Key [link]
South Jersey pop-punks Aspiga treat us to a song from each release in their Key session [link]
Roots collaborator Truck North releases Our American Cousin free EP [link]
Does cover art make the album? We ponder this and look at some great local album covers [link]
Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and drummer John Maloney tonight at Space 1026 [link]
Brooklyn duo She Keeps Bees is features on this week’s Folkadelphia session [link]