Tim Fite: Ain’t Ain’t Ain’t (Anti-, 3/6/12)
Singer-songrapper Tim Fite has a unique way of bringing together humor and painful observation. His most recent album, Ain’t Ain’t Ain’t, focused on the joy and heartbreak of the teenage years, and in a wonderfully weird video combining hand-drawn and stop-motion animation, Fite puts visuals to his call for acceptance and love.
This content appears in the iPad-exclusive ALARM #39. Download it for free and subscribe to our new print edition.
Tim Fite: Ain’t Ain’t Ain’t (Anti-, 3/2/12)
“We Are All Teenagers”
[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Tim_Fite_We_Are_All_Teenagers.mp3|titles=Tim Fite: “We Are All Teenagers”]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.
Another year, another torrential downpour of albums across our desks. As always, we encountered way too much amazing music, from Meshuggah to The Mars Volta, Converge, Killer Mike, P.O.S, and many more.
Tim Fite is a particularly unique artist, one whose indefinable catalog has ranged from alt-country to hip hop. Notorious for his ironic lyrics, graphic artistry, and atypical fashion sense, he remains an authentic voice in independent music with a bevy of solo albums.
Each year, the Brooklyn Philharmonic recruits an eclectic group of non-orchestral musicians to pair up with resident composer-mentor Randy Woolf to compose and perform an original piece with a full orchestra as part of the Outside-In Fellowship program. This year, they’ve commissioned indie renaissance man Tim Fite to be among the latest batch of fellows to present their imaginative pieces on May 2 at Brooklyn’s Galapagos Art Space.
Check out the video below for some details on the program and Fite’s “Copy Cat” arrangement.
Among the thousands of under-appreciated or under-publicized albums that were released in 2010, hundreds became our favorites and were presented in ALARM and on AlarmPress.com. Of those, we pared down to 100 outstanding releases, leaving no genre unexplored in our list of this year’s overlooked gems.
Sage Francis‘ new album features Brian Deck (Modest Mouse, Iron and Wine), Jim Becker and Tim Rutili (Califone), and songwriting by Jason Lytle (Grandaddy), Chris Walla (Death Cab for Cutie), Tim Fite, and members of Calexico, DeVotchKa, and Sparklehorse.
“We specifically sought out songwriters who had never worked with a rapper,” Francis explains.
Over the past week, we caught news of a mini Soundgarden/TAD live jam, a new Kayo Dot album, a new/streaming Trash Talk EP, another Mars Volta album, another Zach Hill project, and a release date for the new Tortoise album. Read about this and more after the jump.
This week’s news recap includes pre-order info for the Secret Chiefs 3 live DVD, details for new albums from Cursive and Burnt by the Sun, info on Farmers Market‘s “Norwegian Grammy,” and more.
As we enter 2009, here is a look back at our favorite posts from last year — including Q&As and interviews with Tuareg freedom singers, Japanese-infused prog metallists, and a regretful folk rapper as well as columns, top-ten lists, Lollapalooza coverage, and our DIY venue spotlight.
Femi Kuti confirms US tour dates, Ennio Morricone will write music for Quentin Tarantino, and we have previews for new albums by Andrew Bird, Burnt by the Sun, William Elliot Whitmore, and Powersolo. Read on.