Das Racist split up

Das Racist rhymesmiths Kool A.D. and Heems have both had success as solo artists this year, releasing four critically acclaimed solo mixtapes between the two of them. But news reaches Slacker Shack that the Brooklyn hip-hop trio have decided to call it a day.

Heems took the stage at the On3 Festival in Germany over the weekend and publicly announced the group’s split to the crowd. The news came as a shock to fans, and Das Racist’s other members, Kool A.D. and Dapwell, were quick to confirm the split once the news leaked.

Kool A.D. tweeted on Sunday, “for the record i quit das racist 2 months ago and was asked by our manager not to announce it yet. apparently @HIMANSHU wanted to do it tho.”

So it seems an official statement was due to be released soon, but Heems couldn’t wait.

An album for Sony was planned earlier in the year for a Spring 2013 release date too – but that will no longer happen.

Singing off on the band, Kool A.D told Rolling Stone today, “We did our thing, we had a good time, and I think it was time for it to end”.

Ween split

After over 25 years of quirky musical strangeness it seems the Ween boys are calling it a day – or at least one of them is.

Yesterday Aaron Freeman (aka Gene Ween) told Rolling Stone that, “It’s time to move on – I’m retiring Gene Ween… It’s been a long time, 25 years. It was a good run.”

Rumours of problems in the Ween camp first surfaced in Vancouver last year when Freeman had a drug and alcohol-fueled meltdown on stage. But according to Freeman, (who’s currently touring and promoting his new solo album, Marvelous Clouds) he’s been considering calling time on Ween for the past eight years, even though rumours of a twelfth album have been stuttering around for the past two years.

It seems all this ‘break-up’ talk is news to Freeman’s longtime bandmate Mickey Melchiondo (aka Dean Ween) though. Melchiondo was clearly surprised by Freeman‘s statement. The breakup “is news to me, all I can say for now I guess,” he wrote on his Facebook page.

Ween’s publicist also seemed to be caught offguard by Freeman, telling The A.V. Club, “I actually don’t have any further info at the moment but will alert you once I do.”

So, when will the truth finally emerge? And is this really the end for Ween, a band known by those ‘in the know’ as probably the ‘ultimate stoner cult band’? If it is then it’s sad news indeed.

Here’s hoping those who’ve not heard Ween before, give their back catalogue a thorough rifle. In our book (possibly titled ‘The Beautiful Sneer Of Musical Snobbery’) any record collection that doesn’t feature at least three of the following – GodWeenSatan : The Oneness, The Pod, Pure Guava, Chocolate and Cheese, 12 Golden Country Great and The Mollusk – doesn’t deserve the right to rotate and make sounds.

Grinderman is no more

Grinderman, the Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds’ side-project have seemingly called it a day.

For their last gig, the band played to 12,000 people at Meredith Music Festival in Australia. Then, as the band finished their typically growling set, Nick Cave hollered at the audience, “That’s it for Grinderman. It’s over … See you all in another 10 years when we’ll be even older and uglier.”

Cave’s next project is thought to be the Bad Seeds’ 15th studio album and the news of Grinderman‘s retirement will be of no surprise to those in the know. Speaking to Mojo magazine two months ago, Cave revealed, “There will be no Grinderman 3, we’re shutting it down.”

In tribute, here’s a video of Grinderman in action, performing probably my favourite ever Cave penned track, the truly belting, No Pussy Blues: