Saturday, July 4, 2009

Snob's Music

Snob's Music

Link to Snob's Music

Jason Ward: MP3 sampling from "Almighty Row"

Posted: 04 Jul 2009 10:13 AM PDT

Middle Distance Runner: "The Unbeliever" MP3

Posted: 04 Jul 2009 09:06 AM PDT

Justin Vernon + Collections Of Colonies Of Bees= Volcano Choir

Posted: 04 Jul 2009 05:30 AM PDT

Whatever happened to: King Cobb Steelie?

Posted: 03 Jul 2009 10:06 PM PDT

Cyclic Defrost Magazine

Cyclic Defrost Magazine

Link to Cyclic Defrost Magazine

Adjabel: A Caribbean Journey – Racine 4 (Iris/ Select Audio Visual)

Posted: 04 Jul 2009 07:54 AM PDT

carribbean-journey-adjabel-cd-cover-art

The cover screams LAME in big loud letters, yet it’s a welcome relief to discover that the Haitian influenced percussion music contained inside more than transcends the ill thought out cover art. It’s the work of Atissou Loko a master of the Haitian tambour (drum), who mixes African, Caribbean, jazz, salsa, even hip hop influences in this project who’s name comes from the Beninese land of Adja and the Haitian goddess of love, Label. It’s his ensemble’s fourth album since 2000 and it’s incredibly diverse. There’s the ever present hand drums, however also driving sax, electric guitar, more drums and someone mysteriously on ’sounds.’ There’s also various guests (19), particularly vocalists, from the choirs to french speaking African’s, even this incredible English spoken hip hop, on the smoky Brahim, a tune that effortlessly manages to merge R&B and Afro jazz. The percussion flows through this album, less a heartbeat than a driving excited pulse and despite their propensity to demonstrate their skills in multiple areas, they do the kind of laidback Afro Jazz with a rarely seen swagger. The musicians here are clearly pretty skilled and Loko’s fusion of not just multiple genres, but also the traditional and contemporary (something often destined for failure) is really quite unique and very inventive – even if some of the vocalists do tend to tread some dangerous (read corny) territory when they move into English. There’s a restlessness to his tunes, like he has a low attention span and needs to keep things moving and changing, and as a result the tunes end up being quite complex, without forgoing their groove, energy or feel. The thing about Haitian drums is that it’s less about the boom and more about the impact, the sound of flesh on hide, which tends to have a rather soft feel, which means that tunes can remain low key whilst Loko can go to town. It’s a curious album, there’s elements of genius, of cringe and everything in between. There’s one thing though that no one could dispute, Loko plays a mean drum and this album is worth checking out for this alone.

Bob Baker Fish

Anthony Joseph & The Spasm Band – Bird Head Son (Naive/ Select Audio Visual)

Posted: 04 Jul 2009 07:55 AM PDT

anthony joseph

The first thing that hits you is the funk, the throbbing urban grooves, taut, almost militant 70’s funk that drifts into the stirring power of spiritual and free jazz, even Afrobeat or bizarrely enough Calypso music. And then we meet Anthony Joseph. He is a poet. But you wouldn’t know it. He comes across like a New Orleans preacher, loud, proud, rousing, over the sweat and the sin of the music. His delivery is somewhere between Martin Luther King Jnr and Jimi Hendrix, these incredibly vivid spiritual street stories that build and swell with the music. Make no mistake he’s not thumbing earnestly through a dog eared excercise book, he’ll wail and sing, writhe and live the music. These are songs, not poetry put to music, where the music can just flow on instrumentally for long periods before Joseph will pop up with his unique wordplays. Jospeh is Trinidadian, based England, he even lectures in creative writing there, though it’s his super cool 7 piece band with horns, hand drums, wah guitar, organs and shakers that really takes this out of the classroom. They’ve really transcended the spoken word medium here, creating the kind of obscure rare groove record that crate diggers would go mad for if it was made thirty five years ago, like it sounds like it should have.

Bob Baker Fish

Tortoise – Beacons of Ancestorship (Thrill Jockey/ Spunk)

Posted: 04 Jul 2009 07:59 AM PDT

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Chicago trail blazing quintet Tortoise have a unique way of making the listener feel stupid. It comes with their seeming inability to stick with a consistent sound from album to album. At one time, perhaps around Millions Now Living Will Never Die (1996) they seemed to be the quintessential post rock band, like the term had been constructed for them alone. And whilst the copyists copied their sounds and made the label ‘post rock’ a term of unimaginative derision, Tortoise moved on. It’s when you’re greeted with a new Tortoise album you’re never quite sure, the newness gets you, part of you want the triumphs of previous albums re arranged and presented new. But they don’t do that. All you get are vague hints – if you’re lucky. Each album feels like year zero, Tabula Rasa with the odd feeling of de ja vu.

The first thing you notice about their sixth album, Beacons of Ancestorship, is that the sound is big, the bottom end punches, the twin percussion attack is taut and very present in the mix. Yet John McEntire’s production work has always been very clean and crisp, and being a drummer, he’s always had an ear to the rhythms. The second thing you notice are the synths. They’re big, textural, almost furry, aligning themselves and twisting in and out of the motorik rhythms. It’s an austere album, as if the hints of tenderness or even melancholy from previous outings have been devoured and we’re left with the machine, a mechanical organism pumping out this glacial genius. Innovative skilled musicians combined with sublime production skills often equal the emotionless wank of jazz fusion, and there’s no doubting that Tortoise do posses an element of this. It’s just that their wankery is so damn interesting, complex and at times even endearing.

It’s not until the seventh track The Fall of Seven Diamonds that we finally hear a recipe that we’ve heard before, guitarist Jeff Parker’s reassuring twang a laid-back spaghetti western noodle, the first concession to the past and it’s like at this moment they took a deep breath, unchecked their emotions and decided for the remainder of the album to let elements of their back catalogue merge with the relentless Krautrock percussion and synth blast of the previous pieces. McEntire’s production is almost like another band member, sounds are abstracted, blown out, peaking, buzzing and wrong, yet add a further layer of complexity (and interest) to the tunes. Here is a band attacking, poking holes in their music from numerous directions. There is a scientific element of chin stroking to the music, yet Tortoise have always had that, even on their crazier rock outs from previous albums. Beacons of Ancestorship is no different. It’s the sound of the future through a prism of the past and the first track here the minimal electro prog rock out High Class Slim Came Floatin’ In will blow your brains out. Once you hear it you will understand. It may have been five years but Tortoise are back and like always the rest of us will follow.

Bob Baker Fish

Purely_Arribuh

Purely_Arribuh


CHERISME - FLY MAMITA (PROMO CD)

Posted: 04 Jul 2009 07:47 AM PDT


Here's from Cherisme new track titled "Fly Mamita". Check it out after the jump...



D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune) - Jay-Z - Your Song Lyrics

D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune) - Jay-Z - Your Song Lyrics


D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune) - Jay-Z

Posted: 04 Jul 2009 06:00 AM PDT


Album: The Blueprint Genre: Hip Hop Writer: Shawn Carter Released: June, 2009 Support Him. Download His Music Now!!!   D.O.A, Death of Auto-Tune is the lead single of the new Jay-Z album which is titled The Blueprint3. This material will be on store staring from 11th September. During this week, the one has reached the peak position at #24 on [...]

T.R.O.Y.

T.R.O.Y.


Memory Man Presents Wu-Tang Clan Vs. D.I.T.C.

Posted: 04 Jul 2009 03:00 AM PDT


Memory Man Presents Wu-Tang Clan Vs. D.I.T.C.

"This virtual face-off pits two of New York's most respected and influential crews against each other in an all-out blend war. The focus is on battle rhymes and the groups' golden era material, but there's a few exceptions. Split into two continuous parts, the tracks alternate between Wu-Tang MC's rhyming over D.I.T.C. beats and vice versa. This mix is an attempt to illustrate how evenly matched the Wu-Tang Clan and D.I.T.C. really are/were.
"

Wu-Tang Clan Vs. DITC Part 1 (45:30)
Wu-Tang Clan Vs. DITC Part 2 (35:05)

Download


Hopefully, you will all enjoy this mix. Make sure to check out Memory Man here at his Myspace. Drop a comment! It def gets my vote for 'Mix of the Year'!!

-- Thomas V