Band of the Week: The Cool Kids

[August 18 - 24]
The Cool Kids
Sounds Like: Hip-Hop / Rap
Drinking Buddies: Cadence Weapon, Mos Def, Young Gunz
Synopsis: The diabolical duo of rowdy rappers from Illsville, Illinoise.
Makes You Want To...: Break it down; Preach; Freestyle.
[Myspace]




One week, one band. You know the drill.
This week, the featured artist is The Cool Kids.


Music is a culture, and our cultures - not to begin mentioning our subcultures - are all directly influenced by our musical taste. That's my take, anyway. You can see it everywhere. Here's the kid rockin' some girls jeans with a wildly coloured Chiodos shirt, with beat up and torn Converse and dyed-black and straightened hair which overcasts his eyes. And there's the dude who is rockin' some freshly shined, sparklin' white Adidas, a basketball cap tilted to the side that matches his fresh maching jersey and baggy khaki-coloured Dickies. And how about the guy who's struttin' down the street with some black, thick-rimmed glasses, a plaid flannel shirt, some jeans that look older than him, and some bowling shoes.

Different styles for different tastes. We hear the blend in our music all the time: the blend happens somewhere between Ted Leo covering Kelly Clarkson, Vampire Weekend mentioning Lil' Jon in "Oxford Comma," Islands working with Busdriver, !!! covering Magnetic Fields and Nate Dogg on the same album, The Decemberists covering John Denver, Thao Nguyen covering Aretha Franklin. Somewhere in there...

And let us carry ourselves away, shall we? Example: take a look at Gwen Stefani. She worked with Pharrel Williams of The Neptunes. He's reknowned for working with the biggest names in the rap biz, including Kanye West, Jay-Z, and Snoop Dogg. He also recently was in a Converse advertisement-meets-music video with Julian Casablancas of The Strokes, where Albert Hammond Jr. got his tenure in the music industry, and is now rocking for huge crowds after the recent release of his latest album, ¿Cómo Te Llama?. Full circle, from rap to rock.

I could compare and contrast genres all the live long day. But the general idea is that anything in any genre of music influences the entire spectrum of music. Thus, to fully appreciate music, one must enjoy the entire spectrum. Thus, we come to today's featured artist: The Cool Kids. It's one thing to boast the name, but if you're going to call yourself cool, you better live up to it. The Cool Kids represent flawlessly.

With the dual rapping skills of Mikey Rocks and Chuck Inglish, The Cool Kids lay down some of the hottest raps to blare out of your speakers. The beats are flawless, and The Cool Kids set up an awesome groove with every single song. And their expertly crafted repertoire shines with accolades. Why yes, they did tour with the famous, infamous MIA, and they will be on the 2008 setlist for Rock The Bells Festival. And if you didn't catch them on HBO's Entourage, maybe you hear their song while shooting some hoops in NBA Live 08. Not to even mention their making Rolling Stone's Top Ten Artists to Watch for 2008. Y'know, they're here and there.

Speaking of here and there, The Cool Kids are wandering down to Austin and Dallas, Texas for a couple shows before rushing back up north for Rock The Bells. Then of course, they just released their latest album, The Bake Sale (EP), back in June. ...Well, they call it an EP, but it definitely features ten of The Cool Kids latest jams. They also broke it down with some beatbox sessions on the guerrilla internet outfit, Black Cab Sessions. And of course, they have a Myspace.




Finally, Voilà! has inherited a new writer! Everyone say hello to Ezra, drummer and lead singer in his outfit The Epitaphs, because he's quite great, and probably much more addicted to The Decemberists than I am. You can check out a couple of concert reviews about aforementioned musicians with names inspired by Russian revolts right here. And don't forget Cullen's short essay, over here, and our local singer-songwriter's latest song on his Myspace. Now if you excuse me, I'll be listening to "What Up Man."

Be sure to drop by on Friday for a little surprise.
'Til then, reader, peace, love, and music. Have a nice week!