You wouldn’t know good music if it smacked you in the face.

This past Friday was the official album release party for CunninLynguists’ latest effort, Dirty Acres. I’m holding a copy of the record as we speak, examining the fresh art direction. Rest assured folks, the lyrics have been printed in the cover art. I know some of y’all make a go of transcribing lyrics…but honestly, it’s better left to the folks that actually wrote them, cause some of y’all be coming up with some wild shit.

Arriving In The Bluegrass State

Deacon picked me up at the airport in Louisville, which is about a 45 minute drive from Lexington. This was cool, cause I hadn’t seen Deacon in a minute, so it gave us a chance to catch up on the way back to CL headquarters. I played him all the latest-greatest shit and videotaped his phone-convos with his girlfriend…cause I’m Kenny Bloggins now.

Upon arrival, I met up with Kno, who apparently slept fucked up and was having heavy back issues. Luckily, I carry a medicine cabinet with me on tour, especially after my back-fiasco in Holland [see here]. A couple Vicodin later and he was good to go for the show later.

I ran rampant around their recording studio…(I’m so jealous), and practiced on the piano some. I hate my studio so fucking much, that it’s like pulling teeth for me to sit down and even make beats anymore. (Luckily, Session’s project is forcing me to, lately).

Deacon played me some track ideas that might POSSIBLY be a HINT at a ‘solo’ album – MAYBE. (CAN IT BE?). Regardless, the shit was fire. Y’all will never hear the shelved Hell & Highwater project for the now-defunct Official Jointz label, (and he’s very adamant about that), but I loved it. Akolades can verify this as well. Hopefully, he’ll actually come through on his plans to do a solo album this time. I’ve been pushing Deacon to make one for as long as I’ve known him…dude is so talented, it’s not even funny. (I refuse to allow you to NOT make this album, Deac!)

Natti showed up a bit later, we laughed hysterically about everything and anything, as we always do. I always get a kick out of touring with these cats, cause we’re all great friends who don’t see eachother nearly enough…but we can’t control the laughter once we’re in the same room. It’s always a good time. They went over the setlist for the evening. Once he broke out, it was prep time, followed shortly by show time.

Out @ The Dame…

The turnout at The Dame was to as to be expected for a CunninLynguists show in their hometown on the night of their new album release. As you can imagine, alot of folks made it a point to pick up a copy of the album before the show – just to make sure they got one.

Tonedeff & Donwill (of Tanya Morgan)

The cats from Tanya Morgan showed up just in time to rock the spot. I definitely dig their vibe…real energetic and lively stage show, and you can tell they have alot of fun with it. They remind me of how Pack, Sesh & Sub were when we started performing as Extended Famm. Just a great overall energy on stage that people can get into. Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to do some more work with them in the future. (For those who missed it… check out “Sonshine”, produced by KNO on Asterisk:Four).

I took the stage shortly after and did what I do. I’ve been including “Optimist” more into my set as late, and I really love how folks respond to it. It’s nice to have new material to rock with on stage, honestly. I’m really looking forward to have CATM out so that I can attack a whole new setlist and do some interesting things with my stage time. In the meantime, this being my first time rocking in Lexington, I brought out the standards: “Pervert”, “Spanish Song”, “Velocity” etc. Overall good set for me.

Natti & Kno get their 70’s soul-band-trumpet-player-dance-moves on

Deacon takes advantage of the spotlight.

Once CL took the stage, it was on. All the folks that thought hanging by the bar was a good idea during the prior two sets made a beeline to the front and center of the stage. They kicked it off with “Hellfire” and launched into new joints from Dirty Acres, including “The Park”, “Wonderful” and “KKKY” which had the place rockin for real. To top it off, we did “616 Rewind”, “Love Aint” and even “The Gates”, which was great to do in front of the hometown crowd for the first time.

Of course, they ran through their impressive catalog, which is now FOUR ALBUMS deep (I hate you prolific, fucks!) and when “Lynguistics” came on, Kno said something to the effect of “Ya know…I think people like this song for some reason”. hahah Crowd went apeshit…as if on cue….again. They tore it down, as expected and I look forward to seeing what the shows will look like a couple months from now, once people got the new shit memorized.

Fun fact: of all the absolutely layered, textured, moody and brilliant shit they’ve ever done…that is still their #1 selling song on iTunes. lol Comedy… but better sold than not, right?

Something Deacon would never say: “Buy my shit….beeeeeiitttcchhh.”

Remember, there’s only a week left to get the official pre-order edition that comes with the instrumentals…so head on over to DirtyAcres.com and get yours before you have to fork up $100 on eBay next year.

‘I Love The Vagina’ Theives

While at the spot, this broad tried to be “cute” and walk off with the damn t-shirt on. She was drunk as all living fuck (what a rarity!) and thought the slogan was funny. I’m realizing that chicks dig this shirt more than guys do for some reason. They ALWAYS ask for it. But I don’t have this shirt in women’s sizes – yet. It’s almost as though dude’s are TOO PUSSY to rock the shirt and pull it off – IRONIC EH?

Anyway, As she tried to drunkenly make her way out of the door, I motioned to security to hold her up while making sure she heard me tell her that her mother hates her guts. I don’t know her mother…and part of me’s not entirely sure that she does either. The faux-Marilyn pose works though. [tee-hee]

Post-Show Gourmet Dining

After the show, I headed out with Kno to Steak & Shake... which is basically the Lactose-Intolerance Nightmare. Whoever’s idea it was to start this chain must have an iron stomach. I wish I could deal with it… cause I’m always down for a shake after downing a 16 oz. Outback Special for some reason. I cry myself to sleep when Ithink about it, so I won’t harp on it too much more. Regardless, I got myself a chicken sandwich and enjoyed my first meal of the day.

Although, tired as fuck (as usual), we had to head back to the airport for my flight a couple hours after the show. Kno played chauffeur for us while I blasted Bill Burr comedy CDs and every new indie rock band known to man to keep us all awake. Fun times. It was a pleasure meeting Kno’s girl, Rachel, who’s a sweetheart. (Hello fellow Radiohead fan!) I definitely look forward to coming back.

That’s pretty much that. I got some videos that I’ll be posting up soon, but in the meantime..here’s the [Photo Gallery] from the event!

Hollerate!
Tone.