Tim Fite

Interview with Tim Fite: Little-T Ain’t Stealin’ No More

This content appears in the iPad-exclusive ALARM #39. Download it for free and subscribe to our new print edition.

Tom Fite: Ain't Ain't Ain'tTim Fite: Ain’t Ain’t Ain’t (Anti-, 3/2/12)

“We Are All Teenagers”

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Tim Fite has come a long way since his rap roots. Though many may recognize his face from the 2001 hit “Shaniqua” with One Track Mike, the man formerly known as Little-T has spent eight years and ten albums singlehandedly bridging rap and indie folk under his current moniker. That, however, makes his career sound much too simple: Fite’s half-rapped, half-sung delivery has paired with a massive library of samples and an alternately cut-and-paste and acoustic aesthetic to craft something unparalleled.

For the final installment of his Ain’t trilogy on Anti- Records, the aptly titled Ain’t Ain’t Ain’t, Fite reinvents his own unconventional process. He’s still sampling, but gone are the bargain-bin cuts; instead, they’re rearranged compositions by Fite and his friends. Thematically, the album’s prequels were youthful commentaries on adult topics, but Ain’t Ain’t Ain’t flips that as well — offering a mature take on the heartbreak and joy of his teenage years.

Interview: Animal Collective on the “alien rock-‘n’-roll” sounds of Centipede Hz

This interview appears in ALARM #40. Subscribe here to get your copy!

Animal Collective: Centipede HzAnimal Collective: Centipede Hz (Domino, 9/4/12)

“Today’s Supernatural”

Animal_Collective_Today_s_Supernatural

What would it sound like if a band from another planet somehow heard early ’50s and ’60s rock and roll and covered it? This half-serious anecdote is how Animal Collective keyboardist Brian Weitz, better known as his stage name Geologist, frames his band’s ninth studio album, Centipede Hz. For as amusing as it is to imagine extraterrestrials clattering to The Hollies, Weitz’s rhetorical scenario points to the band’s creative motors at work, and how they manage to obscure influences beyond recognition.

Inside Llewyn Davis

Watch the Coen brothers’ trailer for Inside Llewyn Davis, an ode to 1960s American folk

Filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen have always used music effectively in their films, with 2000’s Oh Brother, Where Are Thou? arguably responsible for a resurgence of interest in bluegrass. It’s unsurprising then, that for their next film, Inside Llewyn Davis, they’ve chosen to chronicle the life of fictional singer-songwriter, Llewyn Davis, loosely based on Dave Van Ronk.