Beans, beans, the musical rapping cultural savant! This notable rapper who is known for being part of the Antipop Consortium was so taken with Viva Radio on a fateful visit to an American Apparel that he sought us out for this session! Hence, we were thrilled to have him and to announce him as our 99th guest on Me + You.

Right off the bat, we are made aware of his busy solo career and a veritable who's-who of collaborators e.g. Sam Fogarino (Interpol), Tunde Adebimpe (TV On The Radio), Four Tet, Tortoise, Tobacco (Black Moth Super Rainbow), and more. Not to mention he is apparently working with M+Y alum Gary War (who boasts one of the two vinyl records in Beans' collection)! Without dwelling on each of these working relationships he gives us the impression that collaboration comes naturally to him, which might've explained the fine chemistry between him and Tedward. However, he does shed light on his time off from the Consortium by explaining, "they needed a break from me [...] it's not easy being in a group situation...". Fair enough, and on that note the focus shifts to the 5th and most recent record in his solo oeuvre End It All, which features the aforementioned artists on production duties, with the exception of Adebimpe who guests on vocals on a track. That track is *not* "Structure Tone", which is the first song in his set.

Beans delivers some serious mouthfuls and his heady musings conjure up some wild concepts as well bizarre scenarios. Case in point: "good use of your skin for lampshades with... Structure Tone" is a line that leads into the lone chorus, which finds him repeating the titular line until he drops out and the track plays on with its schlocky mad scientist lab sounds on top of a laid-back beat for the remainder of the tune. Having several albums to his name and armed with a CD including complete backing tracks gives Beans the luxury of being able to travel lightly and perform any old Beans tune he fancies, like the second track "Thundermouth" from his previous LP Thorns. He is more than happy to divulge his songwriting process, revealing the fascinating method of coming up with song titles first and writing lyrics accordingly. Aspiring rappers take heed: he is always rhyming, writing, and practicing too.

It is quite cool that Beans is as transparent as he is, willingly let us in on what he's been listening to: Grey (Basquiat's group w/ Vincent Gallo), Soft Circle, Paul Salva, Prefuse 73, and Flying Lotus, whose production skills can be heard on the 3rd track in this set, "Goblins". This track is the most dense jam of the batch, which is not surprising.

Towards the end of the session, Ted realizes that Beans is probably the first Hip Hop artist we've featured on the station, and it was about time. Beans was honored, as were we. We all made it happen and we were all happy to be there. Before it's over though, Beans reflects on the current state of Hip Hop not with bitterness but rather namechecks some of the more worthwhile acts in the genre while admitting that he's not crazy about the limiting subject matter prevalent in some of the more popular artists' music. How could he be? Beans is creativity incarnate -- check him out on Me + You 99!

On my quest to find more scantily clad men showing off all of their fine bodily features, I stumbled upon this gem of a site today. I present to you Dad's: The Original Hipsters. Girls love these photos. I love these photos. And, hell, who doesn't love some thirty year old Dad showing off a little chesticle's from yesteryear. I'm officially kicking off Easter weekend with a little chesticle tease for ya'll. Ok, time to make the babies. Love, Ted.

Getting into summarizing this session was nearly impossible after taking on the subjects' MO... yes folks, talking about Total Slacker for Me Plus You Pt. 98!

And fitting that this edition of the program should find itself in the 90-zone, since the group or at least frontman Tucker Rountree seem to come at the 90s with some next-level fetishizing. Whether it's his appearance reminiscent of a Barney child cast-member, his vocal stylings a la Lookout pop-punk, or the anti-grunge, rather more janky lo-fi slackdom evoked in the songwriting + production, there is a definite throwback agenda at hand.

However the band's execution doesn't reflect a poor work ethic or drop-out tendencies. As an accomplished (virtuosic even) guitarist, Rountree confidently leads his rhythm section - comprising of Emily Oppenheimer on bass and Ross Condor on drums - through energized and lucid poppy rock tunes that, while drawing from a bygone era of generation Xers, could easily be the sound of modern radio rock in the hands of underachieving kids. On the other hand, the group kick it off with a slow burning start; "Psychic Mesa" commences with a Muppets-like take on psychedelia and proceeds to drag along at a cool pace. Intriguing lyrics peppered with mystical imagery lift the song to a more potent plane than its heavy-handedness would suggest. A tasteful solo drops at the end to dazzle the skeptics.

And that'll be your first taste of what the Slacker have to offer, not having exchanged with Tedward until after the song was over, in an unusual turn for M+Y (it's not often that sessions start w/ music *then* talk). When they do get around to conversing, things get personal in a nice way pretty quickly - Ted and Ross looks back on the days of Ross' tenure in the backstock of the AA Flatbush Ave. location, not to mention Tucker brings up the possibility of a collaboration with father Phil Rountree, to whom he owes his lifelong relationship with guitar. Before things get too mundane, the group launch into the bold "Life On Easy St.", which informs us that "life ain't hard you know it's really quite easy", over and over again with a cadence reminiscent of Kurdt Cobain. And if it weren't for references to Full House, Sega, and (or meth??), you might think that "Stuck In '93" is actually stuck in '68 with it's standard psych-y blues rock form.

TS proceed to go off the deep end with "Shitty Baby", both in song and dialogue. And before they conclude the session, they give us a glimpse into the jazz-informed dimension of the band's sound that might stump some people out there. Psychotic! And before the silly-o-meter reaches a boiling point, they bring it back down to the slow simmer heard in the set's opener with "Magical Date Night". They weez through it, and then they're done.

Total Slacker on Me + You as of Monday April 11th at NOON!









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