Tyler the Creator and Pusha T – Trouble on My Mind

 
Tyler the Creator and Odd Future are doing big thangs, really digging these dudes. Check out this track with Pusha T from Clipse. For more on Odd Future check here.

The Heavy

Hiding in the UK is the new age James Brown. Not really, but if he formed a rock band in the 21st century he might play in The Heavy. With gritty guitar fulled rock, dope horns and a huge vocal range they bring some much needed funk to the scene. At times they are soulful, others bluesy and on Cause for Alarm it is a straight reggae track, they got all the bases covered. Bands like this really give me hope for rock music. In 2009 they released this CD on Ninja Tune.

Download – The House That Dirt Built

 

Charlie Parker & Chet Baker – Live at The Trade Winds

I’m not going to come at you like some smug jazz aficionado. Since writing more than a few sentences on this CD would make me sound like just that, I’m going to keep this short and sweet. Out of my very limited collection of Jazz albums, this is my favorite. SHIT IS MAD CRAZY, YO!

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The Hi-Hat Club

For the past few years Melting Pot Music has teamed up with photographer Robert Winter to bring you the freshest installment of European hip-hop producers. Each LP release in the Hi-Hat Club series includes a book of photos and an accompanying showcase usually in Berlin, Germany. The Hi-Hat Club is made up of beat makers from around western Europe, showing their take on downtempo hip-hop. A great compilation by some very talented producers.

Vol. 1 Testiculo Y Uno – Download
This first volume of the Hi-Hat series features producers Hulk Hodn and Twit One, two of the biggest names in the burgeoning Cologne, Germany hip-hop scene.

Vol. 2 Suff Daddy – Suff Draft Download
With samples from B.I.G. to the Isley brothers, you can tell Suff daddy has his American music down. Nice drum driven beats over some melodic synths. Suff means “drinking heavy” in German, now based in Berlin, he grew up listening to 90s American rap and his music shows the influence.

Vol. 3 Dexter – The Jazz Files Download
With volume 3 German producer Dexter shows his love for jazzstrumentals. Using old jazz records and samples from the NBC program “The subject is jazz” with new drums, he creates a timeless beattape.

Vol. 4 Brenk & Fid Mella – Chop Shop Download
Starting off with a Trey the Truth sample Brenk and Fid Mella bring a new style of production to the series. The Chop Shop is soulful and banging with elements of glitch and electronica that the other LPs lack. Fid Mella is originally from Meran, Italy but now lives in Vienna with Brenk. They are doing work with a ton of MCs look for more to come.

House Music Friday

Peach Meluba – Can’t Let Go

 

 

Deniz Kurtel – The L Word Edit

Beat Connection – Surf Noir EP

Straight out of some surf shack on the island where they filmed The Beach, the Beat Connection dropped some L and made some chilled out electro/pop that sounds more tropical than Jimmy Buffett. This shit is different. Check it.

Beat Connection – Theme From Yours Truly

 

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Portugal is the Man

I grew up listening to classic rock. I knew everything; all the super groups, side projects and solos artists. I know more about classic rock than your hippy father, bet. However I am rarely spurred to write about current rock bands. Sure I love the Black Keys and My Morning Jacket but there is so much mundane rock music out there I get lost in the swamp and just end up bumping some Blockhead or rap. But for the last week I have been steady playing this new Portugal the Man album In the Mountain in the Cloud. Somehow its new and refreshing although familiar. They kinda sound like MGMT or Passion Pit, with the same high-pitched voice that can instantly turn some people off. I dig it, almost in a guilty way, you would find me singing Got it all in the shower, if you yelled at me I might stop, but when you left, I be singin again. Their sound is dynamic, lots of layered sythns give a lot of depth to the band.

Download – In the Mountain in the Cloud

 

Download – American Ghetto

Kankick

Download – Acid Massive Musical
Hailing from Oxnard, Cali and the deep blunted basement of high school friend Madlib comes Kankick, born from the same downtempo big beat, Dilla inspired hip-hop. Something about Oxnard makes people wanna roll up, sit back and drop some soulful instrumental hip-hop. Kankick started out as a member of the Lootpack along with Madlib, Wild Child, and DJ Romes. He later split and formed the Funk Farm, which also included DJ Babu (Dilated/Beat Junkies). He has the genre to a tee; drum dominant and soul sampling, but he expands on parts and is smoother around the edges, making it accessible to the masses. His songs, mostly all under 3 min, are creations in themselves, many of them having the weight to create much longer tracks with a verse or two. Acid Massive Musical flows well as an album, like sampling a record collection with a drum kit, but with so much more inflection and composition than any radio rap.

 

Download – Serious Business This!

Camoflauge – I Represent

Here’s some grimey from Savannah rapper Camoflauge. In 2003, he was gunned down outside of his studio, in front of  his three year old son #realtalk. This album was released back in 2000. It reminds me of something I would hear waiting in the drive-thru of a Churches Chicken in Batton Rouge. Thanks, Benzel.

Camoflauge – Playa

 

Camoflauge – From The South

 

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Stash Box: Phish – Prague – 1998

Shout out to Casey for turning me on to this filthy version of Ghost. For you new Phish fans, this is vintage Trey. And by ‘vintage Trey,’ I mean ‘strung out on that brown sugar Trey.’ Hey, he still shreds.

 

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