A picture may say a thousand words, but I think music can be much more creative and expressive with just as few actual written words. For instance, this song has one word strewn throughout it as the only lyric. 'Ow!' is usually an exclamation for pain, but this song proves my point. It absolutely does not matter what 'ow' means or even that it was the word used at all. In fact, on my first listen I didn't even realize that was a human voice making that sound because it fit so well with the rest of the instrumentals.
This track does have something to say, however, and that is 'Get up and move yourself, fool!'. Seriously, if you listen to this and don't want to start flailing around like this guy (or dressing like him), you should really find out what has you so depressed.
Oh and by the way, the name of the group that put this record out is not a reference to inanimate shirt-holder-togetherers going through a sad streak, think more along the lines of pushing down your keyboard buttons. The tagline they've given themselves is 'We go weirder than hard' which I think is fantastically appropriate. They release from the Mad Decent label which is run by producer Diplo, of Major Lazer fame.
Here's the latest release from Hoodie Allen off his upcoming mixtape, Leap Year. Not only am I excited just because this track came out today, but also because it is still up to the high level of quality I've come to expect from Hoodie.
He samples Oh Land's White Nights for this joint. His sample selection is so diverse, but always manages to sound great. It sometimes takes you a second to catch his references and jokes because they come at you nonstop. That's part of what makes it good music, though: every new listen exposes something that you may have missed before.
This kid works so hard. As a UPenn graduate and current employee at Google, he's obviously one smart cookie. I don't know too many Google workers, though, who have 5,000 Facebook friends, a huge fan following, and actually make efforts to interact with any and all of them personally.
Hoodie dreams up. MLK had a dream. I spent all winter break dreaming, but now it's back to school...
I've played this song on repeat at least thirty times tonight. Skrillex (on your other right) is a twisted dude. He was the lead singer in the hardcore punk band, From First To Last, as a teenager, and now, in his early twenties, he drops filthy electro bangers like it's his job (it kind of is).
This song could not be more appropriately named. It's obviously an electronic song, but it maintains a smooth coherency at first. When the indistinguishable lyrics enter, it actually soothes the tone and lulls you into this trance where everything is well and all sprites are nice. Cue the 'Oh my gosh' girl. Then all that is 2010 rips through and unleashes the monsters. It definitely takes some getting used to, but after a while you realize it works.
I'm not gonna get into how the divide between the two forces symbolizes the dichotomy within us all, cuz that'd be annoying. Let's just enjoy the song at face value. If this is still way too much for you, how about you man up? lulz jk. You don't need to hide my friend, for I have a version for you.
Ok, I don't even know if those are really 22's, but I am today. What better way to celebrate than to put up a mix of 22 songs? And since it's my birthday, I can't get in trouble for giving away songs that probably shouldn't be free (I hope).
I had actually been building this list for a while already before I decided today was a good time to share it. Some of the songs on here are favorites that will never get old for me. I know them so well that I act like they were radio smashes and get surprised when people haven't heard them. That's one reason why they're here, though: to be shared. When I was younger, I used to buy CD's every once in a while. I'd then listen to them straight through over and over again for weeks or months. I know all the CD's I own from front to back, all the words and all the melodies. The digital age and Internet has changed all that for me.
Since I've been in college, and especially in the past year, I almost compulsively download music. I'm always on the hunt for new and different music that I haven't heard yet. Whenever I can, I download the whole album, and not just single songs. It's fun, but then I realize I have all these tracks on my hard drive that I have never listened to. That's kind of defeating the point. So I take a step back, and use a different form of music discovery, one that is from within. No, I don't check my inner chi or catch Zz's till I reach zen, I wait till I have an extended period of time to devote, and I put my entire library on shuffle. Everything. I occupy myself with homework or some chore and I just let the music play. I actively try not to pay attention too closely. Then, certain songs will jump out and catch my ear. Those are the keepers. I put them in a playlist simply entitled 'Cool'. Over time these become my new old favorites. It doesn't matter who it's by, as long as it sounds cool. That's why I have Lil Wayne and 2Pac along with Binary Star and We Are Scientists. These are the B-sides, the deep cuts, and the last released singles. That doesn't mean they were made to never be heard.
22 years is where I'm at, let's cheers it with 22 tracks.
When I first saw that there was a remix to 'Living In America' I immediately thought of this song by James Brown, so I had that stuck in my head for a good hour. I was totally fine with it too, I was thinking 'You do you Gucci. 2011'. No, instead this was the Guccster going in over a track by Dom of the same name.
I know Gucci Mane and those like him are supposedly 'killing' hip-hop, but I really don't mind him. I can never understand most of the things he mumble-raps but it somehow usually sounds okay. We all have to give him major credit for working with groups like Dom, too. This is the direction music is going. Young artists today don't go to a record store and head straight toward one genre to snap up only their favorite artists. They don't tune in to one radio station everyday to hear the same songs all the time. Anyone serious about making music is taking full advantage of all the different types of media access at their disposal. Because we've gotten used to information saturation, people are extremely open to being influenced by all genres.
I personally love this trend. The Roots are my favorite group of all time, mainly because they couple a sharp tongued MC with a full live band. The Blakroc project that paired blues rockers, The Black Keys, with some hip-hop heavyweights was incredible, and I can't wait for the second album. Chiddy Bang has blown everyone away with their incredible rapper spitting over beats that producer Xaphoon Jones constructs out of indie pop/rock favorites.
Dom's biography quotes him as wanting to be 'the Madonna of garage rock', and they thought getting a few bars from Gucci would help accomplish that. Good for Dom. Good for Gucci Mane for that matter, but most of all, good for us.
Here's a nice chill tune from the DJ duo, Flight Facilities. It's got some smooth chords driven by bouncing drums. Giselle's clear voice rings over it all as she sings about seeking the attention of the guy who won't look her way. Everyone else is though; cherish what you've got girl. The saxophone solo that comes in at the end gives the track some spice too.
Flight Facilities are a mysterious group. Apparently, they won't identify themselves although there is speculation as to who they are. Their blog is weird/funny. I understand in this day and age it's pretty easy to put out music without anyone knowing who you are, but these guys have DJ sets up for download. How do you spin live without telling someone your name? I don't really care as long as they keep making tracks like this. Here's to hoping they're also a group of crazy awesome celebrities a la Rad Omen. (Woo! first self plug)
There's also a second version of the song with completely reworked instrumentals. Peep that here.
It turns out, the mysterious title 'H.A.M.' stands for 'hard as a motherfucker' which isn't quite the deliciousness I was hoping for, but the song still sizzles. Audiobacon.
I think this sounds pretty similar to all the other tracks these two have linked up for, but that's not a bad thing. Far too often, these supergroup pairings end up tanking. This shows promise for the whole project to actually be a respectable album. It should be a solid effort even if it doesn't bring anything too groundbreaking to the table. Kanye has to be a little drained after putting out his brilliant My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy right? Right?
This young lady is Ashley Outrageous. She founded and runs a hip-hop blog, and organizes events and concerts in South Florida. She focuses her efforts on underground and up and coming artists, working closely with them for exclusive interviews, shows, and tracks.
This tape is her second playlist of entirely new music featuring some of the best new MC's and producers in the game. She quite obviously knows good talent; I'm excited to find more work from some of these artists.
Hearing this tape reminds me of listening to the old Chi City mixtape put together by Cosm Roks a few years ago. It can be overwhelming sometimes to get into new artists. I love it when I first come across someone who might be the next big talent, but there are so many people out there trying to make noise for themselves, and honestly, most of it is junk. There is plenty of strong talent, though, so it's always a pleasure when someone else does the dirty work and puts together a list of gems like these. It's also refreshing to know there are people who are still willing to seek out and support these artists as they rise. Props to Ashley.
Get a taste: Sin - Playlist (Thelonius Martin did work making this beat. There's a reason I didn't delete the producer credits.) YP - Insane (Another craaazy beat. Ha!) Laws - Lady Hip Hop (An ode to all the women who know and appreciate more than just club bangers)
Get the whole project off AO's website. No shouting, no horns, just music.
It's a tight electro song with a catchy hook containing the only lyrics. I could see middle aged people on the train to work blaring this on the ipods their kids bought them, all the while feeling so cool for getting into this song. It could easily be imagined as the personal anthem for nearly anyone who feels like they have a handle on things and 'knows how to do it right' in his or her 'city'. Oh, how little they know.
We all know that fast food is bad for your health, but fast food mascots can be much, much worse...
I wanted to post yesterday so I spent a whole lot of time listening through some mixtapes from last month I hadn't heard yet just to find one dope track. No luck. I really want to stick to a certain level of quality on here so, at least for now, I'm gonna be somewhat picky.
Trying not to get frustrated, I figured I'd check the Hype Machine for some kind of crazy remix. The top 20 didn't have anything special so I moved on. I don't really like the new setup by the way, whatever happened to keeping things 'fresh'? I fell back on searching for one of my tried and true favorites, The Cool Kids. I was looking for any recent remixes I hadn't come across. I know Big Talk just came out, but that was so 2010...
What I did find was something else. I am ashamed, embarrassed, and not angry, but just disappointed with myself for sleeping on several tracks from the summer that Sir Michael of the Rocks (known to his friends as Mikey, he rocks) put out sans Chuck. Don't trip, The Cool Kids are still together and will be knocking in your stereo in 2011, but Mikey took some time to work with his fellow Chicagoans in Produktionix while the kids were out of school and playing in the pools. I guess he was just keeping it in the Go during his summer vacation.
I saw these at iR. 'Bahamas' is probably my favorite out of the group, but you already know I much prefer the summer heat. Two more at FSD.
Oh, and if you've been wasting around more than I have, do yourself a favor and make sure you have Tacklebox. It was probably definitely my favorite mixtape of the past year.
Here is the Remix Artist Collective's mix of the song 'Hey Now Now' by The Cloud Room. I can't say enough about how impressive all of the tracks the RAC puts out are. They rework songs from a variety of indie rock and pop artists, and the results are always spectacular. They have a rare talent for creating new sounding songs while still preserving all the strong points of the originals. I went through nearly all the remixes they have posted on their Soundcloud, and choosing just one to share was quite a task. Definitely expect to hear more from them in the future.
The Cloud Room is a Brooklyn band that takes its name from a former speakeasy (Boardwalk!). They put out the original of this song in 2005. It was featured in several commercial spots and enjoyed regular radio airplay. I read that the lyrics in the chorus were influenced by the lead singer's HIV scare. The first half of the lyrics were composed as he awaited the results of testing; truly a reflection on mortality. After being cleared, the second half of the song came to be, with its more jubilant tone: "we find a new reason/a new way of living and we breathe it in and try to dream again".
You may be asking yourself 'why is that homeless man sleeping on those barstools?' and I would agree that there must be more comfortable places to take a snooze. This is Zach Deputy and he's tired not because of a lack of shelter but from playing his freaking heart out during a live show. His Bandcamp page description probably describes him best:
There is nothing out there like Zach Deputy. Truly a one-man band, he is a powerhouse of performance, technical chops, and one hell of a charismatic presence. Put simply, Zach Deputy does what is called live looping: layering sounds through the magic of technology to create a full band effect. He isn’t the only performer out there doing this, but he has taken the technique to the next level. First and foremost, however, Zach Deputy is a songwriter, a shredding guitarist and a soulful singer with a 4+ octave vocal range.
Yep, as you'll hear in his song, Real, that last line about his vocal range is no lie. Take a listen to a stream of his whole album up at that Bandcamp link; it's definitely worth it. The songs have a wide variety of styles and emotions.
You know how studio artists sometimes play all the parts themselves and then layer them together for the final mastered track? Well, he does that in live shows with loop sampling. He is a one man jam band. Watch him do it over at AK JIGGA.
The third installment of the D-Town rapper's Finally Famous series originally came out back in August but here it is finally tagless. I first heard Big Sean on his track 'Getcha Some'. It was cool and he has that unique voice but I wasn't sure how long he could stick around in the game. I'm glad I kept paying attention, though, because in the past couple years he's really grown as a rapper. I've been really impressed with the way he can switch his flow up, and the rhymes and jokes he puts out. He is signed with Yeezy's G.O.O.D. Music label, and will soon be releasing his debut album which should feature plenty of huge names. It looks like 2011 is going to be a big year for Big Sean.
The Hot Spitta released a new mixtape New Year's Day, and I was more than happy to make it my first download of 2011. Welcoming in the new year with new Curren$y music is definitely a good sign for the upcoming year. There are a few tracks that have been floating around for a while now as well as some new lines over familiar hip-hop beats. I noticed a few of the tracks end with long instrumental outros. I like to think that's just Curren$y taking time for a breather, you know, to inhale and exhale...
Download it from the Jets Blog. Free music is free music so go ahead and ignore all the spelling mistakes.
