Misun - Promise Me

Misun released another single today, and they continue to impress.  I previously posted their song "Harlot" so I was definitely excited to check out their latest effort.  I was not disappointed.  Nacey and William DeVon provide spacey arpeggios and fat synths over a tight drum line.  No sounds overpower each other; they remain in a good balance.  Meanwhile, Misun queries "Can you promise me that when we are asleep/All of the dreams that we have are for keeps?"  She proceeds to gain comfort from a touch; that physical certainty reassures her of the reality of her dreams.  The song ends with soft whistling and birds chirping, symbolic of the dawn of the next day.

As I said before, I'm truly amazed by all the tracks this group has put out so far.  My hope is that a full length release and tour dates are in the near future.  Their debut EP The Sea is currently up for free on Nacey's Soundcloud as are their other singles from this year.

Listen/Download:   

Tuxedo - Tuxedo EP

This is what it's all about for me.  All the hours spent listening to music, all the effort I put into looking for music, all the 'likes' and 'follows' pay off when something like Tuxedo pops up on my radar.  After Andre of RAC gave the remix treatment to Mayer Hawthorne's hit "No Strings Attached", the two have linked up to release a funky dance EP under the name of Tuxedo.  I guess the biggest thrill for me is to able to share something new and awesome while it's VERY fresh; I mean, come on, their Facebook and Twitter accounts are still in the double digits.  This particular collaboration is also exciting because just yesterday I was thinking about how I should share some Mayer Hawthorne music on here.  He's a great vocalist and deserves some recognition.  So what could be more perfect than brand new original music from him with the help of perennial PUYL favorite RAC?  Oh, and it's free to download.

You are going to want to grab this EP immediately.  If you aren't home, Get U Home quickly and Do It cuz this is So Good.  

UPDATE: It looks like I may have prematurely shot my wad on this one.  In fact, RAC is NOT linked with this project, but was simply aware of the collaboration.  I read a little too much into a tweet of his and thought he was involved.  The real production genius behind Tuxedo is Jake One who has produced a myriad of records for a wide range of hip-hop acts over the years.  Cool!

Tokyo Shawn & Kami de Chukwa - Scrapemoney

Savemoney is the name of a Chicago collective of musicians, artists, and friends.  It is most famous for being home to such rising stars as Kids These Days and Chance The Rapper, but the crew is much deeper than those two excellent acts.  "Scrapemoney" exhibits the talents of Savemoney members Tokyo Shawn aka Preston San, and Kami de Chukwa.  Both rappers dominate the furiously aggressive beat, spitting plenty of clever metaphors and cultural references in their lines.  I've been meaning to post this song since it came out almost a year ago, and I'm finally doing it now because it's so good.

Get familiar with the Savemoney Army through this interview and check out Preston and Kami's Soundclouds for more music.

Listen/Download:

Biggie Remixes

Today marks the 16th anniversary of the death of Christopher Wallace, better known as The Notorious B.I.G.  He was killed too soon at the age of 24, but his music and legacy survive and continue to inspire musicians to this day.  Countless rappers cite Biggie as their primary influence for their craft.  Most fans can't necessarily relate to his lyrics, but they can appreciate his storytelling and wordplay, as well as his unique and adaptable flow.  I'm sure that is why so many producers have found it relevant and easy to include his vocals on remixes.  To celebrate his contributions to hip-hop and music, I decided to share a couple of remixes of his songs that I particularly enjoy.  I think these tracks demonstrate the wide breadth of B.I.G.'s reach.

Teenage producer Yinyues constructed this quick song using an unreleased track from the Life After Death album.  Yinyues had barely been born when Biggie was gunned down, but that's the point: you don't have to be a contemporary of a legend to be inspired by his work.

This track includes bars from the oft-sampled 'Dead Wrong' which Mr. Francois weaves over an excellent instrumental from 'Linguistics' by Cunninlynguists.

Download.     

Chrome Sparks - Sparks EP

It's after 1:00 AM, so of course I'm avoiding sleep and listening to some chill music.  I really can't help it.  Tonight it's all about Chrome Sparks, the musical alias of 22 year old Jeremy Malvin.  He's a Brooklyn based producer whose background includes studying and touring as a percussionist.  Chrome Sparks has become his creative outlet for synthesizer productions.  His tracks have limited vocals so all of the focus is drawn to his excellent instrumentals.  The result is a combination of dreamy and trippy music that, at the same time, sounds carefully structured.  Malvin hasn't thrown things together haphazardly; he clearly has a writing process.  He makes the songs seem cohesive and driven, while still allowing the listener to drift off and enjoy the sonic scenery.

You can find all his releases on his Bandcamp or his Soundcloud.
Stream/Download the Sparks EP below:

Gabriel Nascimbeni - Café

Artur Haddad

I've got a little international flavor tonight.  Normally, I reserve the café for when I need to wake up, but this track is pleasantly calming.  It's by Gabriel Nascimbeni, a young musician from São Paulo, Brazil with help from Natália Pesciotta.  If my high school Spanish education is serving me well, I can roughly translate the Portuguese on his website to learn that he has composed for soundtracks and commercials, while also creating his own music.  In addition, he was invited to the Red Bull Music Academy in 2010, which is a music workshop for promising new artists.  Nascimbeni truly does show a lot of promise; even with only a small collection of songs on his Soundcloud, it is obvious that he has a lot of talent and is a devoted student of his craft.  For me, it's special not having any idea what he is saying.  I can simply free myself to enjoy his musicality.

Listen/Download:

Asher Roth - Dude (ft. Curren$y)

Dude.  This song flew under the radar when Asher Roth dropped it on Ash Wednesday a couple weeks ago.  I only first heard it the other day, and I haven't stopped playing it since.  I'm sure a lot of people haven't heard anything from Ash since his novelty hit, I Love College, back in 2009.  Anyone who thought he faded into obscurity as a one hit wonder is sorely mistaken.  Roth has been laying low in the underground scene and has actually developed into a well refined rapper.  This collab with the Hot Spitta Curren$y should give you an idea of what his interests are: relaxing and enjoying himself.

Blended Babies handled the production and couldn't have done a better job.  The tight break beat, strolling bass line, and sparse piano chords lay the perfect setting for the two MC's to roll through their bars with ease.  It's chill.  It's good.  Check it out, dude.

The Pharcyde - Drop (Music Video)

This video is a classic.  If you aren't familiar with the alternative rap group, The Pharcyde, they rose to prominence in the early 90's with hits such as "Drop" that strayed away from the aggressive gangsta rap of the day.  The song is great; it was produced by J Dilla, and features a familiar sample from the Beastie Boys.  Ad Rock and Mike D even make an appearance in the video.  The video itself is what I want to draw attention to, anyway.  The guys from The Pharcyde enlisted Spike Jonze to direct it.  He was already making a name for himself by shooting creative videos for bands like Weezer,  Dinosaur Jr., and the Beasties.  Spike would ultimately go on to direct movies like Being John Malkovich and Where The Wild Things Are as well as produce for the Jackass series.

Back in 1996, though, Spike gave The Pharcyde a straightforward video premise: they take a reversed version of their track, shoot the music video backwards, and then reverse it again to give the final product.  It was brilliant because the band would appear to be doing impossible things because of a simple camera trick, but creative types rarely settle for the easiest route.  In order to make it seem more realistic, Spike wanted the guys to memorize the words to their song backwards so that their lip synching would still match up when the video was played forward.  One of the reasons I enjoy hip-hop so much is the linguistic word play.  I almost never care about what is being said, but rather how it is being said.  So I am very appreciative of the effort The Pharcyde put forth just to make the video work.  Essentially, they memorized a totally foreign song and performed that instead.

Hit the jump for Jonze's proposal and a couple of videos that give more insight.

Mikky Ekko - Pull Me Down (T.Williams Remix)

There has been a recent resurgence of male R&B singers happening, and I like it.  The genre as a whole has been evolving to combine influences from artists of the 90's and contemporary electronic production.  I've got quite a few singer-producer duos that I'm really excited about, and many DJ's are gaining fame as individual artists as well.

Mikky Ekko has been receiving a lot of praise for writing and singing on Rihanna's powerful track "Stay".  His own most recent single, "Pull Me Down", got the remix treatment by a group of talented producers including Odd Future's The Internet and Ryan Hemsworth.  However, the T.Williams version caught my ear in particular.  He strips away the familiar rough-around-the-edges sound of the original Clams Casino beat, and swaps it for a more driving UK dubstep beat.  The new synths dance along perfectly underneath Ekko's heartfelt vocals.  He certainly gives the song a new feel, and it's great to see all of these artists' creative interpretations.

Listen/Download:

Kurt Vile - Wakin On A Pretty Day

Hopefully you're waking on a pretty day today.  Every day is beautiful, but the waking part can be hard; I get that.  Especially on Sundays.  If you're currently resurrecting yourself after a long weekend, you don't want to sit in silence with your misery, you need some calm tunes in the background to ease your pain.  Soft, rhythmic guitars and a soothing voice should do the trick.  Also, you don't want to have to bother with picking a whole playlist; you just want to put something on and get back to focusing on living.  I've got you covered.  Kurt Vile (formerly of The War On Drugs) is set to release his next solo album, Wakin On A Pretty Daze, this April.  As a promotion, he released all nine and a half glorious minutes of the first single for free.  Check it out.

Stream:


Download: Kurt Vile - Wakin On A Pretty Day