I don’t know who The Weeknd is (are?), and until this afternoon I’d (not quite) never heard of him (them?) – turns out he’d been hiding in a couple of unexplored corners of my RSS feeds while getting ready to drop a startlingly good free album/mixtape. With the name being unfamiliar, I mostly ignored the first few posts about the release of House Of Balloons this morning, but when something is being talked about by both 2dopeboyz and Discobelle (and nearly every other blog in my newsfeed) I figure maybe I ought to pay attention.
Archives for category: Music
In the age of DJ mix as promotional tool, the curious and dedicated music fan could probably listen to freely available music during every waking hour and never be at a loss for something new to listen to. For those who aren’t willing to dedicate the entirety of the day to listening to new podcasts, keeping up is basically impossible, though I certainly try. Resident Advisor, Fact Magazine, XLR8R, Numbers, Sonic Router, Electronic Explorations, Datatransmission…to name just a few…radio rips from BBC or RinseFM only add to the neverending stream. In the face of all of this, anything that’s going to get played repeatedly (or, let’s be honest here, all the way through even once) has to be pretty remarkable. Occasionally I might even be moved to write a sentence or three about something and recommend that the discerning (but somewhat more casual than I) music fan give it a listen.
As satisfying a year for new music as 2010 has been so far, quality hiphop has been mostly absent. I guess everyone was waiting for Summer to arrive, because the next month is packed with releases, and you can’t take two steps without tripping over someone’s new mixtape. Some other dudes from Atlanta dropped mixtapes recently too, but none of them excited me (or disappointed me, unfortunately) as this morning’s unexpected Cee-Lo release, Stray Bullets. It’s gonna get at least a few more listens, ’cause it’s Lo, but so far nothing here is smacking me upside the head like pretty much everything on Soul Machine did. I’m still expecting great things from upcoming album, The Ladykiller, based on stuff like the incredible first single “Georgia“, but most of this feels a little uninspired – then again, that’s probably why it’s on the mixtape and not the album.
Also, Sugar Lo wins the prize for best MC aliases I’ve heard in a while: Lonan the Destroyer and (shout out to Mike Myers) Lothar of the Ill People.
The big homie DJ Caps came out of retirement this afternoon to drop a new 30 minute high-BPM mix constructed around Restless People’s stellar “Victimless Crime.” Kicking off with some classic Moby, it’s mostly happy hardcore and d&b, but don’t let that scare you off – it should be a crime (and probably is in some states) for happy hardcore to be this much fun to listen to. I suggest you do as Caps advised me to this afternoon and “drink like three cups of coffee and go innnnnnnnnnnnn!” Commentary and download link over at The Stencil and, because it’s awesome, the PeeWee-tastic video for “Victimless Crime” after the jump.
Most afternoons last summer I could probably be found walking around New York getting acclimated to my new home, head nodding in sync to the rhythm of Ginz‘s Data Transmission podcast which, along with Joker‘s Purple Wow mix (see my previous Purple post – by the way, that decline in interest in music I mentioned back then…not so much a problem this year), pretty well defined 2009 musically for me. Past midsummer however, the rest of the year only saw a trickle of new tracks and remixes, thankfully supplemented by Joker’s unbelievable NYC debut at November’s Trouble & Bass.
The first few months of this year have seen a bit more activity out of Bristol, most recently Joker’s live set for BBC 1xtra radio just this past Thursday. Kicking off with his face-melter of a new single, “Tron,” this is 30 minutes of mostly unreleased, mostly Joker-produced tracks including an incredible remix of Dead Prez’s “Hip-Hop” and what sounds like some sort of take on “Tainted Love.” Grab it here. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s almost hard for me to believe that six months ago I wrote in this space that most dubstep “bores me to tears.” Although really, if I’m honest, most of it still does, what with all that unrelenting monotonous dark wobblewobblewobble that leads to the average listener’s impression likely matching that of my hairstylist, who expressed amazement that I could dance to dubstep all night since “it’s a bit like sleepwalking after a while.” But in the last year or so, and in the right places (like, say, Bristol, or in this case, Glasgow), dubstep has become the framework for, arguably, the most interesting creative developments happening in dance music in 2010.
…more to come…
I’ll spare you the cliche post that’s been done on nearly every other blog anyone’s ever started about why I haven’t updated in 6 months. The important thing is that, at the urging of one of the half-dozen or so of you who might actually care about what I have to say here, I’m writing for the first time since moving to Brooklyn.
I suppose it’s only natural to, as one gets older, experience a decrease in interest in music. I mean, I know people who haven’t heard a new artist they like since graduating from high school. Nevertheless, I find my occasionally flagging passion for music distressing at times, whether the change emanates from me or from the music. Read the rest of this entry »
Sorry for the lack of posts lately, a combination of being busy and being lazy has kept me from the blog…anyway, a number of rather dope songs out the past week or so, here’s some linkage:
Amanda Blank – Might Like You Better
Amanda Blank – For The Unloved
The flyest white girl on the mic, Amanda Blank, just dropped what appears to be the first single from her upcoming, long overdue, and eagerly awaited debut LP I Love You, out 7/14 (and what an amazing title). I Love You will feature production by Diplo, Switch, and XXXChange, pretty much guaranteeing it’s greatness. Might Like You Better showcases Miss Blank’s signature incredibly sexy, filthy rhymes stuttered and distorted over XXXChange production. For The Unloved has been floating around for a little while, it’s also pretty damn fresh and is produced by Diplo. Read the rest of this entry »
A couple of especially good shows on last weekend’s East Village Radio. Grab these quick if you want them, the archives are only up for a week or two. Read the rest of this entry »
