Lupe Fiasco - Enemy of the State: A Love Story

This mixtape turned up on the internetz a couple of months back, but I've only just now gotten around to listening to it. I've never really thought of Lupe as a freestyler, but given the quality of everything else he's done, I shouldn't be surprised at how good this is.

Grab this and listen as Lupe flexes lyrically over the course of 20-some-odd minutes, on everything from synth pop to dirty south rap to Radiohead.


DOWNLOAD

http://www.lupefiasco.com/

[edit: you can download all of Lupe's mixtape's here]

Bullion - Pet Sounds in the Key of Dee

London's Bullion is one of the dopest producers in left-field hip hop period. Over the last few years, he and his One-Handed Music label-mate Paul White have been churning out groundbreaking, hallucinatory psych-hop like it ain't no thang.

This is the "mixtape" that announced Bullion's presence as a serious creative force back in '07. And yes, the execution is every bit as good as the premise.

DOWNLOAD

Oh, and if you're a collector or jockularly inclined, be sure to check Bullion's latest single Say Good Bye to What out now.

http://www.myspace.com/bullionness

http://onehandedmusic.com/

El-B's Mundo Musica Cumbia Mix

Ever wonder where El-B - the man who's drums inspired Burial to start producing - got his rhythm from?

Well if you're a fan and you've pondered the origin of that deadly syncopated swing he injects into his tracks (it's not anywhere in the EU that's for sure) then this probably makes a lot sense, like it did for me.

I love Cumbia and i know absolutely nothing about it, other than it's almost impossible to sit still through.

Cut up dance hall style with air horns and shout-outs, this 55 minute mix is a perfect intro to Cumbia and ideal for walking through the Mission, or any other sunny Latino-filled place, on a day like today.

DOWNLOAD

http://www.myspace.com/ghostrecordings

Bun B - No Mix Tape

Bun serves up this appetizer (which actually is a mixtape) just ahead of the release of Trill OG: installment three in his triad of trillness.

If you're familiar with the man then I probably don't need to convince you check this out. And if not, here's your chance to clock one of the dirty south's best.

...uh, the first beat is actually pretty weak, but after that shit gets stupid trill son.

DOWNLOAD

http://www.myspace.com/bunbofugk

The Horrors - Primary Colours

You know, I vaguely recall seeing a promo picture of these guys a couple of years ago. It was in Rolling Stone or Spin or something like that. At the time I was nonplussed: besides the unctiously fawning press release - which was obviously aimed at teenage girls - the dudes looked like ridiculous, wannabe goths in the accompanying photo. Like they were advertising for Hot Topic or something.

I can’t speak for what they sounded like back then, because I had already dismissed them as a contrived marketing gimmick or at best a cheap rip-off of The Cramps. From what I understand though, they’ve altered their sound considerably for this sophomore effort; bringing in big time production help from Portishead’s Geoff Barrow and Chris Cunningham.

The result is kind of like b-movie meets garage rock – a weird hybrid of gothic surfiness and blood-shot paranoia, where warbled synthesizers and entropic distortion collide with the stark and hollow coldness of vocalist Faris Badwan, who has definitely listened to more than his share of Joy Division. Though he sounds like Ian Curtis more often than not, Badwan does a cockney-ish punk thing pretty well too on songs like Mirror Image and Three Decades.

The use of synthesizers (tonally and in the manner they’re employed) is one of the more distinguishing aspects of Primary Colors. Swathes of them warp and refract into distended melodies adding to an already disorienting amalgam of reverb-drenched guitars, Phantom-of-the-Opera organs and grinding amplified feedback.

On Three Decades synths screech like twisting steel and surf guitars are bent and stretched to the point of creating an unsettling Doppler-like effect.

Who Can Say, probably the most pop-friendly tune, is a love song undercut by dirty, serrated guitars and giddy synthesizers saturated with reverb until they create a kind of hall-of-mirrors-like sound a la My Bloody Valentine.

The lyrics, when decipherable, are predictably morose, but what else could you really expect a band calling themselves The Horrors.

Not everything is so over the top though. The sprawling 8-minute, synthetic odyssey, Sea Within a Sea is melancholic and almost Depeche Mode-eqsue. My favorite of the lot, it's a lovely way to send things off after all the carnage.

I reckon you could pick apart the obvious influences: Joy Division, The Smiths, New Order, Echo and the Bunnymen, My Bloody Valentine, etc., etc.; wax condescendingly about how they’re just the sum of these various reference points. You could ridicule the blatant Halloween/b-movie shtick. You might label the approach pretentious or heavy-handed.

None of this, in my opinion, changes the fact that it's a flawlessly executed hybrid of dark garage rock, gothic punk and psychedelic noise.

http://thehorrors.co.uk/

http://www.myspace.com/thehorrors

The Flaming Lips / Star Death and the White Dwarfs - The Dark Side of the Moon

Wow! Just… wow. The Flaming Lips have got to be the only band with the stones to attempt something like this, and surely the only one with enough creativity and artistic integrity to pull it off.

For those who dug the sound of Embryonic – their obtuse, experimental double album released back in October – this will probably go down well (in fact if you’re one of these folks, it’s worth checking out even if you’re sick to death of The Dark Side of the Moon or were never a Floyd fan in the first place).

The Lips’ re-imagining of this almost canonical record produces an effect that is truly surreal. Like the original on an ephedrine bender and no sleep – the experience is more paranoid, more hallucinatory and generally more unsettling. The tone is set in the first few seconds when Henry Rollins (who’s been tapped to do all the speaking parts) says, “I’ve been mad for fucking years. Absolutely years … I’ve always been mad”

As with Embryonic, the aesthetic dept to early Ummagumma-era Floyd is palpable; thus in a neat stroke of irony it’s essentially an update of classical Floyd with an approach owing in part to pre-classical Floyd.

Did I mention it was loud? Yes, really loud. Loud and weird. The amplitude’s been cranked and the freak-out knob is at least at 11 - smearing the pristine production of the original into a chaotic mash of buzzing ambiance and crunchy distortion.

The chiming clocks at the beginning Time, for instance, have been replaced by digital, saw-wave alarms and a full on air-raid siren, and the song itself is inverted; with the intro being noisy and the verses/chorus being subdued.

Sex-obsessed Canadian shock-tress, Peaches, was a surprising though ultimately brilliant choice for That Great Gig in the Sky. The cultured elegance of the original tune has been replaced by a chugging, rhythm-heavy groove that’s more than a little rough around the edges. And Peaches’ vocals have been run through a guitar pedal, contorting her normally mid-coital moan into the tortured howl of some orgasmic BDSM fetish involving electrified clamps.

Money retains its original bluesiness, but Wayne Coyne’s vocals get the vocoder treatment and the result sounds like robotic alien lounge music that might fit in a David Lynch film or maybe a tavern on Tatooine. Us and Them sounds positively meditative compared to the rest of the madness.

Because Pink Floyd’s most celebrated record has become practically ubiquitous in the years since its release – you can hear it in the dentist office FFS –one could be forgiven for overlooking just how groundbreaking-ly weird it actually was. The Flaming Lips, having now put their own spin on it while staying true to the original spirit of weird, continue to do whatever the hell they feel like. And I continue to applaud.

http://www.flaminglips.com/

Ronin - Best Laid Plans

When artists give their music away it tends to arouse certain preconceptions - i.e. the quality of said music is suspect and thus not worth paying for (which is why it's being offered for free).

This is an exception to the rule; a full-length album's worth of moody, cinematic trip-hop with a dark, jagged edge; think DJ Shadow crossed with Amon Tobin circa Supermodified. Sinister atmospherics, dusty hip-hop drums, touches of jazz, orchestral samples and dialog from obscure film noir, swirl together in a sonic cauldron of claustrophobic urban dread.

Ronin's a turntabilist which means:
A) that his work leans heavily on the art of creative sampling to achieve it's affect. This could be a well placed orchestral horn stab, paranoia-inducing strings or nicking a piece of a Hitchcock movie. It also means scratching everything from Chuck D to a recording of someone reading Edgar Allen Poe.
B) a keen ear for transitions and overall flow of composition. The seamless blending of tracks is reminiscent of a proper DJ mix and also a well scored film.

Great concept and damn near flawless execution.

Grab it while you can

DOWNLOAD

http://www.myspace.com/roninonetwo

Alone Tone

This site is easily one of the coolest things that I've discovered on the internetz. The guys who created it are dedicated to providing a platform for independent artists to showcase their music. Alonetone.com allows musicians, bands and record labels - or anyone else promoting music they own the rights to - free and unlimited uploading capabilities.

"most of the 'free' services you'll run into elsewhere are running ads, funded by investors, or actually owned by media conglomerates. In general, they are hoping making money off of your 'content'...erm...music. Most music communities are overly obsessed with genres and popularity, and we're just not turned on by that. Time for something new, don't you think? alonetone was started to provide a non-commercial alternative. Something useful,
something different, something that the musicians can feel like they own. Beyond that, we want to do it right. Clean, only the essentials. Not too dorked-out. Easy to get around."

[Taken from the about section]

Once uploaded to their servers, the music is then free to stream and download by listening public. That's right free, no strings attached.

Alonetone has built a community of scores of independent acts of every stripe and genre imaginable who want nothing more than to share their art with us; free of charge. "We believe in giving our music away" they say in the FAQ section.

If you're sick of all your music and/or are the adventurous type, go check this place out.
The design is sleek, easy to navigate and of course add-free. You probably won't recognize any of the artists, but try downloading single songs from ones with cool names or interesting profile pictures.

You might have to dig a bit, but it will be well worth it if you end up with something amazing you never would have found any other way.

Happy hunting.


http://alonetone.com

Oh No - Dr. No's Ethiopium

Stones Throw beatmaker and younger brother of Madlib comes through with some solid hip-hop productions, which have been getting serious play in the old ipod as of late.

In the vein of Donuts or a Beat Konducta release, it’s a collection of instrumentals (36 to be exact) loosely assembled in mixtape fashion – basically a showcase for what Oh No’s been doing lately.

Like Dilla and his older bro, Mr. – excuse me – Dr No has that innate ability to make music that does a lot without doing much. His style’s lax, almost slapped together feel belies the kind of ability you can’t teach. No fancy techniques; no DSP trickery, just a good ear, an expansive collection of obscure records and a knack for flipping an oddball sample into a hot track.

From the West Indies to Africa; Central Asia to the far East and back to the American South and Motown; Ethiopium is riddled with sounds from across the globe. Chanting monks and sitars sit next to synthesizers and reggae horns; bluesy guitar riffing, Hammond organs. Vintage drums and the ambiance of well worn vinyl, make these beats snap and crackle with the savory grittiness that characterized the hip-hop of yore.

Madness starts with what sounds like a banjo stretched into a warped loop and then coupled with a fat analog bass line and some high pitched Dr. Dre-synths. The Funk achieves it's namesake with hand-clapped drums that stutter, a blaxploitation-style guitar sample and some funky-ass horns. Adventure is a simple idea made interesting with the addition of a backward snare, a tambourine, some cymbal crashes and cut up Bollywood vocals. The saxophone led Juke Joint is reminiscent of the kind jazzy boom-bap perfected by Greyboy.

http://www.stonesthrow.com/ohno

http://www.myspace.com/ohnodisrupt

Joshua Wentz - Now is the Winter of Our Disconnect

This is something I stumbled on by pure happenstance. I was visiting my parents for the holidays, and there was a foot of snow on the ground. I decided to make a seasonally appropriate playlist and after I finished selecting the music, I named my little compilation Winter of Our Disconnect. I felt like my creation could use some accompanying art, so I entered the words into a Google image search and the sleeve for this is what turned up.

I was a bit peeved at first, because I liked my little literary play on words. Then I noticed Wentz was offering it for free download. I figured I might as well check it out; there may even be something on it that would fit the vibe of my mix.

I love the internetz.

______

Wentz, it turns out, is a singer/song-writer type, whose style blends song writing with classical, jazz and electronic influences. The six songs included here vary a bit, but they all share an almost tangible wintery-ness and production as cold and pristine as new fallen snow.

Simple, unadorned piano and an Art of Noise-y synth sound introduce the first song, Something. Upright bass, brushed drums and jazzy flourishes of keys, make this love song (one of the only tracks with vocals) the “warmest” moment on the EP. Later, on

Injuctioner, Wentz’ piano glides sleigh-like over icy, warbling synth bleeps, an upright bass line and live drums, which have been chopped up drum and bass-style. It’s a lovely piece of atmospheric D&B that would have been right at home with LTJ Bukem and Wax Doctor. Whiteout - also relatively uptempo - has a much more straight forward groove. Rolling synthetic bass, Melodica and step-y drums accented with jingle bells, frame its glistening piano arrangements.

The slightly creepy feel of Tundra Kingdom reminds me of a Boards of Canada interlude. It's a drum-less piano and synth piece, that lives up to its namesake; evoking the forlorn solitude of a desolate wind-swept plane in the dead of winter. The album’s final song Exit, is a beautifully simple piano piece – less than a minute long – that fades gently into the frigid night.

Score! And the even bigger score was stumbling on Alone Tone, a site that allows artists to share their music with the world on the condition that it be offered for free. Not for how much you want to pay or after you sign up for their service, but free.

http://www.joshuawentz.com/

Fat Freddy's Drop - Dr Boondigga & the Big BW

The seven musicians that comprise this New Zealand collective are all veterans of Wellington’s live music scene and it shows. They play well to each other's various strengths and influences and in doing so create a unique blend of conscious roots-reggae, funk, jazz and spacey, electronic dub.

In lieu of a drummer, rhythm is handled by founding member and multi-instrumentalist Chris Faiumu aka DJ Fitichie, who uses his MPC to create various grooves from the standard hip-hop variety to Caribbean-style syncopation to 4-to-the-floor techno. Keyboards add synthesized atmosphere and dubbed-out sonics as well as hefty amounts of sub-bass to the mix. A versatile three piece horn section(trumpet, saxophone and trombone) provides much of the flavor that makes FFD’s sound so distinct - bringing the funk, soul or reggae accordingly. Then there’s vocalist Dallas Tamaira’s velveteen croon, which holds the whole thing together. The resulting product is something like how a futurist Motown record made in a Studio One echo chamber might sound.

Dr Boondigga.., the group’s sophomore release, is divided into nine songs which sprawl out over 70+ minutes without ever really losing focus. The listener is eased in nice and smooth with Big BW, a luscious piece of neo-soul. The drums slap hip-hop-style and the sleek horns, spacey synthetic ambience and rolling bass line would be right at home with the G-Stone dub of and downtempo of Kruder & Dorfmeister et al.

The Raft is an elegant play on roots reggae ala Midnight, but modernized with electronic flourishes. The pulsing rhythms of ShivaMan and Wild Wind take the dub aesthetic deep into electronic country, while still maintaining a live feel. On both tracks, Tamaira’s voice floats in and out of a low-end chasm where guitars, horns and keys reverberate and various sound effects ricochet in classic dub tape-delay style.

Other pieces, like The Camel, featuring singer Alice Russell, lean heavier toward traditional American sounds. The song’s guitar lick and horn blasts are decidedly funky, but the hook and especially Russell’s raw vocal delivery create a satisfyingly bluesy edge. The Nod moves even further into Americana, heading south toward New Orleans jazz territory; with lyrics about cooking up soul food and a raucous brass breakdown - complete with tuba - that’s got all the bawdy energy of Bourbon Street.

Pull the Catch, the album’s first single (and probably my favorite song) incorporates all the of band's many influences. Beginning with a lo-fi, retro-dancehall riddim, it blasts forward in time and fidelity; shape-shifting into high-tech, Gucci, Spacek soul. The groove is laid-back but deliberate. The reggae guitar-picking, Tubby-esque horn arrangements and galactic atmospherics especially well suited to Tamaira’s vocal style.

There are great live bands and there are great studio bands. Fat Freddy’s Drop is a phenomenal live band who’ve have gone and made a great studio record. Props.

http://www.fatfreddysdrop.com/

http://www.myspace.com/fatfreddysdropnz

DJ Jazzy Jeff presents: He's the King, I'm the DJ

2009 was a banner year for celebrity deaths. And that being said, none were more ballyhooed than Michael Jackson.

Considering the nature of his relationship with the media, I suppose the circus was inevitable (the shady doctor and babies mama drama couldn't have helped matters).

Still the endless analysis and sudden posthumous fawning in which the press engaged was nauseating.

With this tribute Jazzy Jeff reminds us why regardless of his personal life, Mike's contribution to music is beyond question. Culled from 4 decades in the game, this mix of almost fifty jams includes the all the obligatory highlights as well as some exclusive remixes.

Props to Jeff for giving the King of Pop a royal send off.

DOWNLOAD

10 Years of Flying Lotus Mixed by The Gas Lamp Killer

My favorite DJ compiling and blending a retrospective of one of my favorite Producers.

Thank you again Brainfeeder, this was a nice Christmas surprise,

DOWNLOAD

A Boom-Bap Continuum mixed by Clockwork, 2tall & Kyper

Practically exhaustive documentation of post-2k hip-hop from the perspective of the beatsmith, the tracklist of this 80-minute mix needs to be seen or (better yet heard) to be believed.

The ten sections (1 for each year), feature everyone worth mentioning - from Premier and Pete Rock to Dilla to Prefuse 73; from Def Jux to London Grime/Dubstep to the latest in LA wonk - and are cut up with exclusive interview dialog from the the producers themselves (Madlib talking about the birth of Quasimoto for example).


Intro ft. Oh No, Waajeed, Dom Sum, Take aka Sweatson Klank and Jay Dee.

1999 – Mixed by 2tall
The Isolationist – Settle Down (prod. Vadim)
Lootpack – Episode IV (prod. Madlib)
Mos Def – Fear Not of Man
Company Flow – Blackout (prod. El-p)
Phi Life Cypher – Last Man Standing (prod. Nappa)
The Isolationist – Hydro Slush (prod. Vadim)
Smut Peddlers – For The Record (prod. Mighty Mi)
Task Force – Force The Resistance (prod. Mark B)
The Creators – Hard Margin
Afu Ra – Equality (prod. Premier)
Group Home – The Legacy (prod. Premier)
Afu Ra – Mic Stance (prod. Premier)
High & Mighty – Dirty Decibels (prod. Mighty Mi)
Consequence ft. Everyone – Nobody (prod. Nick Wiz)
Sir Menelik ft. Grand Puba and Sadat X – 7xl (prod. Spinna)
Sound Providers – Get Down (prod. Soul One)
Busta Rhymes – Rhymes Galore (prod. Rashad Smith)
Nobody – Green Means

2000 – Mixed by Kper
Quasimoto – Microphone Mathematics (prod. Madlib)
Lootpack – Loop Digga (prod. Madlib)
J-Zone – Metrocard Millionaire
Spacek – Eve (Jay Dee remix)
Common – Doin It (prod. Jay Dee)
Cocoa Brovaz – Super Brooklyn (prod. DJ Rob)
El Da Sensei – Keep It Live (prod. P. Original)
Cali Agents – The Good Life (prod. Protest)
Bumpy Knuckles – Stock In The Game (prod. The Alchemist)
Pete Rock – Back on the Block (DJ Krush remix)
Divine Styler – Make it Plain
Slum Village – Raise it Up (prod. Jay Dee)
Skitz – Twilight of the Gods
Lootpack – Weededed (prod. Madlib)
RZA – RZA #7
Ko-Wrek Technique – Metro Dade (Luke Vibert remix)

2001 – Mixed by 2tall
Prefuse 73 – Nuno
Dabrye – So Scientific
Jay Dee ft. Frank n Dank – Pause
Jay Dee – Busta (Much More Re-edit)
Pete Rock – Walk on By
Roots Manuva – Witness (One Hope) (Walworth Road Rockers Dub) (prod. Lord Gosh)
Cannibal Ox – The F Word (RJD2 Remix)
Cannibal Ox – The F Word (prod. El-p)
Masters Of Illusion – We All Over (prod. Kutmaster Kurt)
Mission ft. Mia Doi Todd – Home (prod. Thes One)
Jehst – High Plains Anthem
Skeme – Turning (prod. Skitz)
Maspyke – Truth in Position (prod. Roddy Rod)
Hi Tek – round and round
Kool G Rap – First Nigga (Premier Remix)
Dilated People – Clockwork (prod. Premier)
Erick Sermon – Music
Third Sight – Will I Get Shot by a Dope Fiend? (prod. D-styles)

2002 – Mixed by Kper
Ricci Rucker – Dirt Program
Dj Shadow – Six Days
Daddy Kev – Untitled
Boards of Canada – Sixtyniner
P.U.T.S – Acid Raindrops (prod. Thes One)
Harmonic 33 – Extraordinary World
Craig David – 7 Days (DJ Premier remix)
Non Phixion – The CIA Is Trying to Kill Me (prod. Necro)
Insight – Ghetto Blaster
Gangstarr – Skills (prod. Premier)
J Live – Satisfied (prod. Spinna)
Bumpy Knuckles – Scram (prod. Jazzy Jeff)
D-Styles – The Murder Faktory
DJ Vadim – Till The Sun’s in Our Eyes
Ricci Rucker – Dirty Larry remix
Busdriver – Imaginary Places (prod. Paris Zax)

2003 – Mixed by 2tall
Push Button Objects – 360 degrees (Prefuse 73 remix)
Romanowski – Super Skank
Pharoah Monch – Agent Orange (prod. SA-RA)
Madlib – Please Set Me at Ease (hip hop mix)
Smiley the Ghetto Child – Wake Up Call (prod. Premier)
Medaphor – What You In It For (prod. Oh No)
Jaylib – The Official (prod. Madlib)
Dudley Perkins – Falling (prod. Madlib)
Akrobatik – Remind my Soul (prod. Fakts One)
Prefuse 73 – Uprock and Invogorate
Prefuse 73 – Busy Signal (Make You Go Bombing)
DJ Baku ft. Rumi and Primal – Chikusatsu
P-Love – Fop Lights

2004 – Mixed by Kper
Metal Fingered Doom – White Willow
Dj Signify – Winter’s Going
De La Soul ft MF Doom – Rock Co Kane Flow (prod. Jake One)
Metal Fingered Doom – Shallots
Madvillain – Figaro (Prod. Madlib)
Take – The Start of Our Ending (Nordic Soul Instrumental)
El-P – Jukie Skate Rock
Vast Aire – Red Pill (prod. Ayatollah)
Dabrye ft Jay Dee – Game Over
Daedelus – Dumbfound (edIT remix)
Blendcrafters – Melody (prod. DJ Numark)
Machinedrum – Bill o Wads
Danny Breaks – Windscreen Wiper
Thomas Felman – Interstellar
Madvillain – Accordion (prod. Madlib)
Madvillain – America’s Most Blunted (prod. Madlib)
Sixtoo – Boxcutter Emporium pt2
Telefon Tel Aviv – I Lied
Loefah – Horror Show

2005 – Mixed by 2tall
The tape vs. RQM – Minimal
Prefuse 73 – Hide Ya Face
Ghislain Poirier – Dontsmileitspostmodern
The Bug – Fire (Version)
Boom Bip – The Move
Quasimoto – Greenery (prod. Madlib)
Jay Dee – Track 2 (from beat CD 05)
Jay Dilla – Lightworks
Oh No – Keepintime remix
MHE – 008
The Perceptionists ft. Guru – Party Hard (prod. Camu Tao)
Little Brother – Starvation (prod. Khrysis)
Oh No – Move (prod. J Dilla)
Percee P – Put It On The Line (BX remix) (prod. Madlib)
M.E.D – Can’t Hold On (prod. Madlib)

2006 – Mixed by Kper
Kutmah – Warm Like The Sunshine
Ras G – Birth of the Beat
Flying Lotus – 1983
J Dilla – In The Streets
Georgia Anne Muldrow – Hello
Shawn J Period – The Comeback
Nosaj Thing – Aquarium
Dj Krush – Kemuri (Untouchable Mix)
Clark – Herr Barr
Flying Lotus – Untitled
Modeselektor – Fake Emotion (Dabrye Remix)
Elliot Lipp – Rhyme War
Exile – Silver Moon
Ras G – Random Selection
Oh No ft. Vast Aire – No Aire
Foreign Beggars – Slow Broiled Ilk (prod. Oh No)
Exile – Planet Ox
Jneiro Jarel – Bboy Portrait in Spain
Para One ft. TTC – Musclor
Loefah – Mud
Hudson Mohawke – ZoOoOoOom

2007 – Mixed by 2tall
Kev Brown – Outside Looking In
Waajeed – Tron
Flyamsam – Green Tea Power
Flying Lotus – Shhh
Heralds of Change – Work That
Blockhead – Do The Tron
Black Milk – Sound The Alarm
Take – Walk Away ft. Gaby Hernandez
J Davey – No More (prod. Brook D’Leau)
Prefuse 73 ft. School of Seven Bells – The Class of 73 Bells
Oh No – Bouncers
Heliocentrics – Distant Star
Aesop Rock – Keep Off The Lawn
Busdriver – (Bloody Paw On The) Kill Floor (prod. Boom Bip)
Matty G – 50,000 Watts
Loefah – Disko Rekah
The Bug – Poison Dart (DJ Baku Scratch Megamix)
The Bug ft. Flowdan and Killa P – Ganja

2008 – Mixed by Kper
Funkenteller feat. The Deepspace 69 – Emulator
Megasoid – Soundbwoy Bass
Mike Slott – Deux Three
Onra – My Comet
Afta1 – Honey Dip
King Midas Sound – One Ting (Dabrye Remix)
Take – Make Believe
Mono/Poly – The Beatles, Bitch
Mweslee – Chandal 500
Maga Bo – Fire
Nosaj Thing – Coat of Arms
Guilty Simpson – Bitches (prod Mr Porter)
SA-RA – Talk Sex
Onra – The Anthem
Take – Bouncing Cherries
Onra – Bombs
Ras G – Overcast 78 Beat (Two)
Budamunky – Budamunk Funk
Hudson Mo – Still on It
Bullion – Rude Effort
Samiyam – Beat 4
Rustie – Zig Zag
Flying Lotus – Auntie’s Lock/Infinitum (Quarta 330 remix)
Joker – Gully Brook Lane
Matty G – West Coast Rocks (Glitch Mob remix)

2009 – Mixed by Kper and 2tall
Hudson Mohawke – Rising 5
Tago – Babel Fish
Paul White – Synth March
Machinedrum ft. ie.merg – 911
Loops Haunt – Impact Omnihammer
Blue Daisy – Space Ex
Bullion – Are You The One
Grandeurs of Delusion – Desrunay (prod. Uncle Lew)
Exile – The Sound is God
Jneiro Jarel – Ghetto Dreaming
Little Dragon – After the Rain (GB re-interpretation)
Ras G – Eunice in White
Diamond District – I Mean Business (prod. Oddissee)
Debruit – I’m Going with You
Samiyam – Rough Copy
Om Unit – Ether
Milanese – Disclosure
Danny Breaks & Adlib – The Sound
Nosaj Thing – FWD
Architeq – Sleeping Bear Lament (Take remix)
Black Milk – Bounce
Computer Jay – Distance
Harmonic 313 – Cyclotron
Dam Funk – Kill Dat
Fulgeance – Smartbanging
GLK – Anything Worse
Omega Clash – Junior
Floating Points – Shangri La
Mos Def – Supermagic (prod. Oh No)
Starkey – Miracles (Jamie Vex’d remix)
Mark Pritchard – Wind It Up
Dorian Concept – Her Marshmallow Secret

Get it Here

DJ Yoda's How to Cut & Paste: Country & Western Edition

Those familiar with DJ Yoda know of his preponderance for cartoony weirdness, but this is messed up even by his standards.

Basically a 54-minute cultural blaspheme of hip-hop a Cappellas over bluegrass, and country songs with break beats; this latest volume of the How to Cut & Paste series is as uncomfortably funny as a B-boy battle at a square dance or a hoedown in the Bronx (just check the track list).

Some particularly WTF? moments include: a soul/reggae cover of Johnny Cash's Ring Of Fire, a bluegrass cover of Andre 3000's Roses and a drum & bass & banjo twist-up.


1. Intro
2. 9 to 5 - Dolly Parton
3. Country Delight - Country Mike (Beastie Boys)
4. Soul Hoedown
5. Country Rap - Treacherous Three
6. Hoedown - Special Ed
7. Country Harmonica
8. I'll Fly Away - Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch
9. Walk the Line - Johnny Cash
10. Ring Of Fire - Johnny Cash
11. Squeal Like A Pig (from the film Deliverance)
12. Kenny Rogers/Pharoahe Monch Dub Plate - Wyclef Jean
13. The Gambler - Kenny Rogers
14. Children's Story - Everlast
15. Rosa Parks - OutKast
16. To See You Coming 'round The Bend - Yonder Mountain String Band/Comin' Round - Bubba Sparxxx
17. Jambalaya (On The Bayou) - Hank Williams
18. Piece for Banjo (Drum and bass Mix)
19. Dirty South (What It's About) Feat. Toe Down
20. Hillbilly Rap - Neal McCoy
21. Bridging The Gap - Nas (Feat. Olu Dara)
22. Rambling On My Mind - Lucinda Williams/Hip-Hop - Dead Prez
23. Man Of Constant Sorrow - The Soggy Bottom Boys
24. Sucker DJs - Dimples D.
25. Maybe Tomorrow (Theme From The Littlest Hobo) - Terry Bush
26. Jolene - Dolly Parton/Superstition - Stevie Wonder
27. On The Road Again - Willie Nelson
28. Creepin' In - Norah Jones (Feat. Dolly Parton)
29. Cocaine Blues - Johnny Cash
30. Square Dance Rap - Sir Mix-A-Lot
31. Gin And Juice - The Gourds
32. Roses - Hayseed Dixie
33. Outro

Download mp3

[Thanks to Data Transmission for hooking it up]

http://www.datatransmission.co.uk/

http://www.djyoda.co.uk/

http://www.myspace.com/djyodauk

THE HOOD INTERNET

Do you like mash-ups?

Do you like free music?

Have you heard of The Hood Internet?

If you answered yes to the first two questions and no to the third, you definitely need these guys in your life. Their site is a monument to the digital age and pretty much the mother-load as far as the nascent quasi-genre of mash-ups is concerned.

Besides running a huge blog and giving all their stuff away for free, what sets ABX and STV SLV apart from the rest of the pack is source material. The stuff they use tends toward the independent as opposed to the blatantly obvious like some other who are actually asking for money. *cough* Girl Talk *cough*

They like to squish stuff like Juvenile & Passion Pit , Dead Prez & Grizzly Bear and MF Doom & Ladytron together into confusingly awesome dance music.

For these aural alloys, they create fun photoshopped images of the artists and clever names like Two Weeks of Hip-hop, My Favorite Ladytrons, and Back that Sleepyhead Up.

For the jockeys, all bastardizations can be obtained individually. And for everyone else, there are CD length mastications affectionately called "mixtapes" (they'r now up to vol. four) that can be downloaded as single Mp3's or tracked out .zip files.


http://www.thehoodinternet.com/


*Even if you don't really like mash-up at all, this is worth checking out just for the novelty aspect. I mean, it's free and you can delete it from your hard drive so why not?

[Thanks goes to Evander Hologram for turning me onto these guys]

ESKMO - Colorbrain

Another fantastic Podcast from the good folks at Brainfeeder. San Francisco's ESKMO helms a seriously dope 30 minute minutes of Dubstep.

Consisting entirely of his remixes and original production this exclusive showcase confirms ESKMO as one of the best this side of the Atlantic. If you like your beats deep, hypnotic and bottom heavy, you're definitely gonna dig this.

Grab it directly from Brainfeeder HERE

http://www.eskmo.com/

http://www.myspace.com/eskmo

Cougar - Patriot

Cheers to the Turbo and his Jambox for emailing this to me a couple of weeks ago; it was a nice surprise. Cougar, as I recently discovered, is a Wisconsin-based group that specializes in a surprisingly eclectic brand of instrumental rock.

Some might be tempted to categorize it as post-rock whatever the hell that catch-all means (past the need for vocals?). But, given the (relatively) laconic nature of these songs and Cougar’s penchant for dynamic grooves and tempo changes, technically it would be better classed as “post-post-rock”; music for a generation of ADHDs whose attention spans are far too truncated to handle something like Tortoise.

I’d liken their general sound to a more rocking-ly up-tempo Explosions in the Sky or a significantly less mechanized Battles.

These eleven compositions that comprise this record, twist and morph into and out of each other- effortlessly incorporating elements of folk, shoegaze, world music and blues as well as harder rock and hip hop. Overall, there’s an almost tangible electronic affect and yet, barring some creative sampling and percussive use of glitching/stuttering, the music is decidedly organic.

Like Battles, these guys are all excellent players – in fact, tight isn’t a strong enough descriptor for the rhythm section; fucking vice-like would be more accurate.

Ringleader David Henzie-Skogen’s drumming often strays into mathy polyrhythmic territory, but there are also more than a few casual nods toward hip hop. Rhinelander for instance, is pure knock-your-block-off boom bap that mixes up ethereal church choir vocals with a big gnarly bass line and some minimal guitars with Ratatat-style processing.

The obvious diversity of influences swirling around the mix really keeps things from ever getting too stale. Pelourhino is gently processed folk anchored by a gorgeously delicate harp part. Beginning with celestial atmospherics, harp and acoustic guitar, its shuffling drums build into a percussive workout without ever abandoning the songs amiable grace.

And on the other side of the spectrum are cuts like Heavy into Jeff and the minute-and-a-half-long Thundersnow. This kind of distorted, full-throttled guitar riffing provides a great counterpart to moments like Pelourhino and the balmy tranquility of mostly acoustic Absaroka.

I don’t know about you, but for me just the words “instrumental” and “rock” together, conjure ideas of murky indulgence as well as things like bong hits and excessive use of the word “dude.” Patriot all but obliterates these preconceptions by the time opener Stay Famous builds to a noisy crescendo at three minutes in.

http://www.myspace.com/cougarsound

Hudson Mohawke Essential Mix 11/29

[seems to have been some confusion w/ the original post]


What is it about Radio 1 and saving their best shit for the month of November? If you'll recall, it was around this time last year that they gave us a two-hour barrage of dopeness from Flying Lotus to punctuate a year's worth of generally bland house and techno.

For those who don't know Hudson Mohawke is a 23 year-old Scottish DMC champ. As part of that loosely defined (read: catch all for journalists) LA/UK axis of young urban producers, he traffics in an ADHD-influenced hybrid of skewed electro and chunky 8-bit hip-hop that the lazy (or unimaginative) are calling "wonky."

Being a DMC champ, dude's technical skills are locked. And selection wise, this mix's got everything from the latest genre bending of Joy Orbison to the early '90s 'ardkore of Manix**. It's basically a two-hour, transcontinental throw-down urban bass that thoroughly scrambles dirty-south crunk and glitchy R & B with chopped & screwed-up electro, grime and dancehall.

Get it while it's hot!

Tracklist:
Loops Haunt – Dusk Mechanics
Machine Drum – Sakatak
Red – I should tell ya momma on you
Hudson Mohawke – Bopgunn V1 Instrumental
Dorian Concept & Lil Filip – I’m A Balla [Patchwork Pirates Edit]
Hudson Mohawke – Fuse
Tiago – Babelfish
Rustie – Nekoo
Starkey – Ok Luv
Hudson Mohawke – Ice Viper
Hudson Mohawke – Overnight Celebrity
Hudson Mohawke – Start of A Story
Hudson Mohawke – Are You Feeling Hot
Hudson Mohawke – Take my hand
Hudson Mohawke – Still on it
Hudson Mohawke – Pipes
Hudson Mohawke – Chorduroy
Hudson Mohawke – Photo 2
Hudson Mohawke – Waldo’s Gift
Harmonic 313 – Scar (ft. Wiley)
Princess – Say Im your number one
Markis Sage – Creature of Lagoon
Redinho – Mo Brap
Krystal Klear – Boogie Wan
Midnight Star & Usher – Touch that midas Girl
Becoming Real – Get Hype
Free School – Grey Goose (ft. Kelis)
Ludacris – How low can you go
Redhino – Banger
Hudson Mohawke – Stay Fresh
Lazersword – Trapperkeeper
Lil Wayne – I Feel like dying [Flying Lotus remix]
KGB Man – Africa
Ply Firls – I Could Give You Reasons
James Pants – Lickin”Stick
Hudson Mohawke – Twistclip Loop
Carl Cox – Let’s do it
Apple – Die Siegalizer
DJ Seduction – Imp002
Becoming Real – New Kids
Manix – Heads in the clouds
Jjak Hogan – Frequency
Machindrum – Carry the Weight
Fatima Yamaha – What’s a girl to do
Nacho Patrol – Futuriscic Abeba [Hudson Mohawke Remix)
Slum Villega - Dirty [ft. ODB)
The Pharcyde - Passin Me By [FlyAsPie Remix]
Cloud One & Madlib – Unknown Interlude Track
SciFi Stu – The Will (ft. Vast Aire)
Terror Danjah – Bipolar
Joy Orbison – J.Doe
Lone – Sharpest View of the sun
Mwëslee – Eurocame Snips Track 4
Hudson Mohawke – Monde
Mike SLott – Snow Birds
Dimilite – Cotdam [ft. Pharrell]
American Men – AM System

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

If you likey the steez, be sure and check out Butter, his debut LP out now on Warp.

http://hudsonmohawke.com

http://www.myspace.com/hudsonmo

http://warp.net/records/hudson-mohawke

**this kind of vibe is especially promising to me. Could it be that this gratuitous gang-raping of 80's style and culture is finally on the wane?

Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport

That old adage “you can’t judge a book by its cover”, should really be something like, “judge a book by its cover at your own caution.” Of course we’re all constantly making snap judgments about everything from the way people dress to how we think some future situation might be. It’s just that remaining stubbornly attached to this false knowledge, might cause one to miss out on something great.

Case in point: I’ve known of the Fuck Buttons for some time but had never got around to checking them out because, for some wrong-headed reason the name - though admittedly great - conjured images of middle-of-the-road, dance/rock (I like some of that stuff, just not enough to go out of my way for it).

Well about a month ago I was eating lunch with a friend who started talking about them. And what he was describing was nothing like the idea I had in mind.

So, on the strength of that conversation, I ended up grabbing Street Horrrsing and was like “holy shit!” My friend had been right. Instead of tired indy, electro-rock clichés the Buttons (Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power) sound was raw and noisey with a delightfully punky fuck-you-ness to . All mangled guitars, contorted vocals and squalls of feedback melded into solid edifices of exquisite frequencies.

And, as it just so happened they had a brand new album out. Oh, and it was produced by Andrew FUCKING Weatherall!

For this second release, they've refined the sound (as bands often do) - softening the edges slightly with the addition of synthesized textures - but not, thankfully, at the expense of the gritty noisiness that is their raison d’être. It's a sound that lies somewhere between the drones of Tim Hecker, My Bloody Valentine‘s wall of harmonic distortion and the rhythmic pulse of Berlin-style techno.

Tarot Sport is programmed in a very similar manner as its predecessor – with a sprawling progressive opening piece, that twists and morphs and eventually segues into a much shorter of kind of interlude.

Opening salvo, Surf Solar, begins with some flickering metallic pads before these creepy pitched-up, Exorcist-style atmospherics come crawling in. The ambiance, which lasts a full two minutes, is finally cracked by the introduction of methodical thwumping kick drums and then split wide open by a filthy serrated lead. The track builds and builds from an initial hiss to a growl to a full throated roar - stretching out to over ten minutes before dissolving into a malaise of static-y white noise.

Emerging from this sonic dust-cloud is Rough Steez, a strange mix of hypnotic rhythm and jarring sounds – its arpeggiating buzz-saw synths and mechanical squelches seem to float unnaturally over a shifting foundation of clickidy-clack percussion.

I’m really liking the decision to incorporate club elements as backbone for much of this album. The skeletal beats provide complimentary or at least neutral structures on which to drape the profusion of contrasting layers and textures which make up the compositions. This technique is exemplified in the hauntingly savage beauty of Space Mountain where simultaneously diametric streams - of melody and distortion; harmony and noise - cascade in every direction.

Hung and Power deserve credit, having beaten the odds by successfully following up a great album without merely repeating themselves.

http://www.fuckbuttons.co.uk/

http://www.myspace.com/fuckbuttons