Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Still


I'm still an arrow unshot, fixed to a bow, I'm still, I'm still
I'm still a fire unlit, ready to go, I'm still, I'm still

I'm still loaded and waiting, with anticipation to fly
I'm still studying the patterns in the night sky

I'm still a note that's unplayed, ink on a page, I'm still, I'm still
I'm still a cry in the night, lonesome and high, I'm still, I'm still

I'm still tuned to an insturment of greater and unknown design
I'm still looking for direction, some kind of sign

I'm still tuning myself to the great key, I'm still, I'm still


Great Lake Swimmers - Still : Lost Channels

Visit their website, their label Nettwerk Records, and become their friend on MySpace.
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Monday, March 30, 2009

Dillanthology

Just three years ago last month the world quietly lost one of its greatest hip hop producers, and most people didn't know it then and still don't know it now. For those who read liner notes, you knew that behind some of the dopest beats rhymed over by folks such as Common, The Roots, De La Soul, The Pharacyde, Erykah Badu, Slum Village, etc., etc., etc.., you found the name J Dilla. Although he flew under a lot of people's radar, fact is he was responsible for some big beats that hip hop fans are familiar with. The folks over at Rapster Records have taken the task upon themselves of educating the masses, of sharing the memory of a beat-master that deserves a lot more recognition than he ever gained while alive.

Enter Dillathology, Vol. 1 (subtitled Dilla's Productions for Various Artists), a thirteen track compilation of cuts which Dilla produced over the course of his career for a variety of artists that you'll probably be suprised by if you aren't a devotee of Dilla already. Check it out for yourself:
1. The Pharcyde - Runnin'
2. Slum Village - Fall In Love
3. Common - The Light
4. Erykah Badu - Didn't Cha Know
5. De La Soul _ Stakes Is High
6. Busta Rhymes - Show Me What You Got
7. The Roots - Dynamite
8. A.G. Feat. Aloe Blacc - Hip Hop Quotable
9. The Pharcyde - Drop
10. Amp Fiddler - I Believe In You
11. Steve Spacek - Dollar
12. Chino XL - Don't Say
13. Frank N Dank - Push
As you can see, although the general listening public wasn't down with Dilla, musicians in the know sought him and his beats out. And now, thanks to Rapster, hopefully more people will know what they missed out on when they release this comp tomorrow. I'll share one of my favorites of the group, a relative oldie from Common that samples an even older oldie from 1982, Bobby Caldwell's Open Your Eyes.

And as a side note for Dilla fans (new or old), if you hadn't heard about it on February 22nd, Carlos Niño, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, and his 40-piece orchestra brought Dilla's music to life with an incredibly moving and creative re-imagining in contemporary chamber music style, which you can check out on the recently released (last month) Suite For Ma Dukes.




the sampled:


and a classic:



Visit J Dilla's Myspace page and the comp's label Rapster Records.
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Sunday, March 29, 2009

Sunday Soul - Cherish



when i was a baby momma wrapped me
in her arms whenever i cried
she picked me up when life dropped me
she was always there by my side
she said

one,
one day they'll be a man in your life
to take the place of a mother's love
he'll,
he'll give you joy
a happy life

but treasure this advice
cherish what's dear to you while it's near to you
don't wait till it's gone


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Friday, March 27, 2009

Fever Ray Rises

Some of you might be familiar with the Swedish brother / sister duo of Olof Dreijer and Karin Dreijer-Andersson who perform(ed) under the name The Knife. Well, after releasing their last album back in 2006, Karin has decided to pursue a different musical path under the moniker Fever Ray.

Her new, self-titled album, which came out earlier this week, is both similar and different to her previous work with her brother. Her sound is still heavily dependent on a multi-layered electronic assemblage of sounds that present an almost sterile beauty to them. The beats are perfectly struck, layers weaving in between each other, and Karin's quite distinct voice laying down obtuse lyrics. Take, for instance, the album's second cut, When I Grow Up, which you can listen to (and watch) below:
When I grow up
I want to be a forester
Run through the moss on high heels
That's what I'll do
Throwing out a boomerang
Waiting for it to come back to me
Even with its inorganic distance though, it doesn't quite push you completely away, and if anything begs you to make sense of vocals which approach at odd angles, much like the music.







Visit her website, her label Mute Records, and become her friend on MySpace.

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The Knife - Silent Shout : Silent Shout
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Thursday, March 26, 2009

Beast is a Beauty

Beast, while imposingly threatening sounding, isn't so much so when you get past the bees, unless of course you're allergic to bees, in which case you might ask someone else to open up the CD for you. The group is a duo, pictured above, which includes Jean-Phi Goncalves and Betty Bonifassi (who appeared on the soundtrack for The Triplets of Belleville), both originally from France but now living in Montreal. Both came from pevious projects, but upon meeting up, the pair churned out the album's opening track, Devil, in their very first session together. At which point, their collaboration seemed inevitable.

The album broods with a dark intensity that Betty has dubbed "trip rock," a title which makes sense after having listened to their music. You'll experience shades of Tricky here, but Beast doesn't lurk quiet as deep as he has in his music. It still throbs with dark insistance though that brims with electro, rock, jazz, and soul influences. Both members of the band provide vocals over the course of the album, with Betty sounding very much like a sharper modern day Shirley Bassey and Jean-Phil offering creepy spoken word sections (listen to Dark Eyes below to see what I mean). The two work together quite well.



Beast - Mr. Hurricane : Beast

Beast -Dark Eyes : Beast


Visit their website, their label Verve Forecast, and become their friend on MySpace.

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Shirley Bassey - Big Spender : Goldsinger: The Best Of Shirley Bassey
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Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Free Anti- Sampler!

I just found out tonight about this insanely sweet (and free) sampler that Anti- Records is offering up on Amazon.com. And did I mention that it is FREE? It features thirteen tracks, many of them from very recent (if not not-yet released) albums from the Anti- roster. Here's the line-up:

1. People Got A Lotta Nerve - Neko Case
2. Warped Sister - Booker T.
3. Death Don't Have No Mercy - Ramblin' Jack Elliott
4. Whachadoin? (feat. Spank Rock, M.I.A., Santigold & Nick Zinner) - N.A.S.A.
5. Brand New Sun - Jason Lytle
6. I'm Sorry, Baby, But You Can't Stand In My Light Any More - Bob Mould
7. Check Your Time - Westbound Train
8. There's hope for you - William Elliott Whitmore
9. Talking Old Soldiers - Bettye Lavette
10. Hey World (Don't Give Up Version) = Michael Franti
11. It's Gonna Be O.K. = The Aggrolites
12. Freedom Highway - Mavis Staples
13. Your Big Hands - Jolie Holland

All of this, and did I already mentioned that the whole thing is free?


Booker T. - Warped Sister : Anti- 2009 Sampler


Visit the Anti- website.
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Black Joe Lewis gets down and dirty

If all goes well, I'll be seeing Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears strut their stuff on April 2nd. I posted up the opening track of their debut album Tell 'Em What Your Name Is! a few Sundays ago for Sunday Soul knowing that I'd be dipping into the bucket again for the entire album, because quite honestly, it's bad-ass.

The group comes out of Austin, Texas, but after listening to the album you'll swear they've got some deep Memphis in them somewhere. Their sound is a spicy gumbo of southern soul, funk, and blues that's unabashedly gritty, with the growling vocals of Joe leading the way. His genuinely raw lyrics tell it like it is, and he needs to shout a lot of the time to be heard over his equally boisterous band, with horns blazing, guitars wah-wahing, and electric organ uhhh ... organing along!

The album's ten tracks blaze by faster than you know it, with the band giving it their all from beginning to end. I can't wait to check them out live, laying down their hefty waves of sound. I'm not sure how Joe's voice holds up night after night in front of them, but I'm looking forward to finding out. Here's a track from the album, Get Yo Shit, a song that is unapologetically centered on Joe, and another from their recent Daytrotter session, a cover of a Junior Wells song, a seriously talented bluesman who played with many of the best.





Visit their website, their label Lost Highway Records, and become their friend on MySpace.

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Junior Wells - Snatch It Back and Hold It : Live at Theresa's 1975

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Upcoming Tour Dates

25 Covington, KY - Madison Theater *
27 Lancaster, PA - Chameleon Club !
28 Pittsburgh, PA - Club Cafe
29 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club !
31 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom !

April
2 Northampton, MA - Pearl Street Nightclub !
18 Nashville, TN - Vanderbilt University
23 Indianapolis, IN - The Vogue #
24 St. Louis, MO - The Pageant #
28 Wilmington, NC - Greenfield Amphitheatre #
29 Athens, GA - Georgia Theatre #
30 Mobile, AL - Saenger Theatre #

* with Heartless Bastards
! with Gomez
# with Robert Randolph
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Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Young MC Busts it Again

From our wonderful friends over at Delicious Vinyl, the same folks who gave us the deluxe edition of Tone-Loc's masterpiece Loc'd After Dark, comes another deluxe edition, this time of the old skool classic Stone Cold Rhymin'. That's right, Marvin Young (aka Young MC pictured above on his very own Yo! MTV Raps trading card) struck gold with this, his debut album back in 1989, headed up with the smash single Bust A Move. Although he went on to release several other follow-ups, he never hit again, and was relegated to the one hit wonder bin.

Coincidentally, Young MC happened to co-write two of Tone-Loc's big hits as well: Funky Thing and Funky Cold Medina, but the pair seemed destined to be left in 1989, until now that is, with Delicious Vinyl's re-release of these classics. I'm not going to lie to you, this album feels like 1989, so if you're down with that, this'll bring back some good memories. If not, you might want to stick with just busting a move. Besides the album's original thirteen cuts, there are some extra tracks to spice it up a bit:

14. I Come Off (Southern Comfort Mix)
15. Principal's Office (Impact Remix)
16. Bust A Move (Diplo RMX)
17. Know How Theme (RMX by Aaron LaCrate & Debonair Samir)
18. I Let 'Em Know (Matt Dike Remix)
19. Pick Up The Pace 1990
20. Got More Rhymes (MEN RMX)

I'm going to cut into the album here and share a track that you may not have ever heard, Know How, a track that pulls in some funky guitar via Isaac Hayes' Shaft, and a remix of Young's signature song courtesy of Don Rimini from the Rmxxology album.

The album came out on the 17th, but to be honest, I'm not sure where you can pick it up yet. Keep your eyes open, and in the meantime, enjoy the following:





Visit his label Delicious Vinyl and become his friend on MySpace.
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Monday, March 23, 2009

Ashley Beedle Double Header

I've got two discs today featuring the presence of British DJ and producer Ashley Beedle. Beedle has worked his hands on all sorts of tracks and worked with all sorts of folks, and these CDs display both. The first, which came out at the beginning of the month, is the 2nd in the Inspiration Information series from Strut Records.

For those of you not familiar with the series which shares the same name as the famous Shuggie Otis album, it teams up diverse artists creating new music drawing upon both of their experience. The first volume, which came out in October of last year, featured Amp Fiddler and Sly & Robbie. This second volume teams up Beedle with roots reggae songwriter and singer Horace Andy, who has also done a fair amount of work with Massive Attack.

The music here was recorded in an intense five day writing and recording session and is certainly influenced by Andy's rasta beliefs. Besides new originals, the pair also puts together a cover of Bob Marley's Hypocrites and, even more interestingly, the Rolling Stones' Angie. Here's one to try out:





Become Horace Andy's friend on MySpace.
Become Ashley Beedle's friend on MySpace.
Visit the album's label Strut Records.


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The second disc that I've dug up recently featuring Ashley Beedle is a double disc release from suSU Music from the Southport Weekender Festival. For those of you not familiar with the festival (and I was one of you before spinnin' this disc), it's been bringing musicians together for 21 years, with two events every year in Southport, England. This release has two discs, each with its own DJ mix, the first from King Britt and the second from our man Ashley. Ashley's CD starts back in the day with a Dells' song and then pulls in a filling mix of soul, funk, and disco, with only a few tracks that might be common knowledge - the previously mentioned Dells cut and one from Isaac Hayes. The King Britt mix takes on a worldly flavor, with a much more diverse mix of genres and feels to it. Both are money mixes, just with different tastes.



one from Ashley's mix:


and one from King Britt's mix:



Become King Britt's friend on MySpace.
Become Ashley Beedle's friend on MySpace.
Visit the release's label suSU Music.
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Sunday, March 22, 2009

Sunday Soul - One Way Ticket to Love Land


i want a one way ticket to love land
i want a one way fare just as soon as i can

and once i get my ticket to love land
oh i ain't never comin' back, never comin' back,
never comin' back to loneliness

i can't wait till my feet touch the sand
i know she'll be waiting there
just to hold my hand
she make me know
i'm her only man
that's why i want to get to her
just as soon as i can




Get the A-side on The Best of Leon Haywood.
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Saturday, March 21, 2009

Visit Speck Mountain

Looking at the cover of Some Sweet Relief will reveal a lot about what's contained within it. A figured collapsed in a hole in the sand. Darkness hovering around, moving slowly in. The body curled in upon itself. It's an excellent graphic representation for the nine songs the album holds, the second album from the foursome Speck Mountain.

Its thirty eight minutes drift by in an ethereal procession of songs that carry a listener through an ambiance of uncertainty. Tempo-wise, the sounds here lazily push forward, never getting any momentum to propel you out of a shoe-gazing introspection, but varied enough not to drone on unmercifully. On top are laid the vocals of Marie-Claire Balabanian, whose voice mates up with the instruments really really, complementing their drawn out expressions.

Needless to say, this isn't an album of ecstasy, rather one of pensiveness. Experience I Feel Eternal below, a mid-album cut in which even the horn lines blend in with the flow rather than sharply punctuate. The band also recently visited the Daytrotter studios to record a session (it seems like everyone is stopping in there lately - must be a busy place). One of those recordings, another song from the album, is below along with a link to the remaining three.








Visit their label Carrot Top Records and become their friend on MySpace.
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Wednesday, March 18, 2009

The Submarines re-surface again

Submarines fans rejoice - while the band hasn't released an album of new material yet, they have made available a pair of EPs of remixes, appropriately titled Honeysuckle Remixes and EP1 and EP2. As you might guess, they include some mix-mastery of cuts from their sophomore release, Honeysuckle Weeks, and are digital only releases. Here's what they include:

EP1
1. You, Me and the Bourgeoisie (Tonetiger Remix)
2. 1940 (AmpLive Remix)
3. You, Me and the Bourgeoisie (Alaska In Winter Remix)
4. Brightest Hour (Morgan Page Remix)

EP2
1. Submarine Symphonika (Ra Ra Riot Remix)
2. Submarine Symphonika (Wallpaper Remix)
3. Brightest Hour (Free the Robots Remix)
4. Xavia (Styrofoam Remix)
5. 1940 (Section Quartet Mix)

As with any of your favorite tracks that have been fiddled with, some might spin your top and some might get you hot. Pick and choose your favorites. Here's one from the first EP that works for me:






Visit their website, their label Nettwerk Records, and become their friend on MySpace.
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