Comin' Through...

Whitebois.

2009-12-16T11:10:00.000-08:00

Decided to throw up a post for no reason...

And now...contemporary Glasses-Wearing White Guy Soulfunkyawesomeness:

Mayer Hawthorne - When I Said Goodbye: (Signed to Stones Throw, PB Wolf thought his music was legitimately old when he heard it. He also goes by the alias Haircut when he does hip-hop; I think he's affiliated with Athletic Mic League.)

Dent May & His Magnificent Ukelele - Meet Me in the Garden: (He and his illustrious uke are signed to Paw Tracks, aka Animal Collective's label, and I can't see why, since everyone who's ever been signed to Paw Tracks either includes a member of Animal Collective, or makes music similar to them. Maybe you could draw similiarities to Ariel Pink's work, since it's retro, albeit more quirky than flatout weird.)

And now, aside from Buddy Holly, the OG of quirky, bespectacled Caucasian musicians:

Green Day = Electric Light Orchestra

2009-07-26T19:33:00.000-07:00

First this...

Now listen to this... (specifically about 2 minutes in)

Hmm...

Dare You Not to Smile...

2009-04-19T18:53:00.000-07:00

Just covered this song with some friends at the Asian Club show at my school, with trumpeter and all. SO HAPPY.

These guys were on Yo Gabba Gabba! too:

So ridiculously upbeat it makes me sick...but I LOVE IT.

Guess who's bizzack...

2009-04-12T15:02:00.000-07:00

Perhaps.

We'll see whether I'm inspired to regularly write here again.

That said, here's a song that took a shitty song and made it less shitty:

T.I. + Rihanna + Numa Numa = WTF!

2008-08-27T18:26:00.000-07:00

Thank god they didn't keep the sample throughout the whole song. I would find it hilarious if this hit as a single.

Pacewon & Mr. Green - Children Sing (SOTM #9)

2008-08-17T15:17:00.000-07:00

Being from Jersey, I am, by default, a fan of Tha Outsidaz. Now, while many people in the hip-hop internets seem to hold Young Zee high as the golden boy of the oft-forgotten group, my favorite member was always Pacewon. His delivery was so hamfisted and lacking in all subtlety that it just beat you over the head with his dopeness. So after listening to his solo effort "Won" and being pleasantly surprised a few years back, I heard he and producer Mr. Green were putting out an album. Unfortunately, I completely forgot about it until a short while ago. However, I'm happy to say that I'm not disappointed; Pace's rhymes are as dope as ever, and Mr. Green keeps up on the production end. Here's my favorite joint from the album, "Children Sing"; Mr. Green sampled what sounds like a Jewish children's choir singing, and cut it up into what sounds like some family friendly Stoupe (of Jedi Mind Tricks) production. And Pacewon kills it with such ease.

Rock the Bells 2008.

2008-08-04T09:11:00.000-07:00

Me, my friend, his two friends from work, and one of their friends went to Rock the Bells at Jones Beach yesterday, and shit was, needless to say, bananas.

So after an hour-plus drive from Jersey to Wantagh, we show up at the amphitheater to find that doors to the main stage open at 2:30.

We were there at a little past 11.

Fortunately, after being momentarily amused by a DJ no one paid attention to, a hip-hop trivia game, some graffiti, and a Burger King recording booth where many a concertgoer spit HOT FIYAH, Rock the Bells had a second stage set up. However, it took us quite a while to find it, as all the signs around the path towards it seemed to implicate it as a VIP area. Bastards.

We came in halfway through Wale's set, and he definitely gave me high hopes for the rest of the day, although to be honest, I don't remember a damn thing from his set. Afterwards, we saw MURS tear down the second stage, as well as bring out New York-appropriate guest Skyzoo (this will be a recurring motif in the concert). They did a song together along with Sky doing one solo, followed by MURS finishing it off with a new song I'm guessing is from his new MURS for President album. Good stuff. We really didn't see anyone on the second stage, except for the end of B.o.B.'s set, where he put Lil Wayne to shame with his guitar skills.

Let's just cut to the main stage activities, shall we?

For some unknown reason, Kidz in the Hall did a set to open the main stage instead of dead prez, and it wasn't a very memorable one thanks to technical difficulties, although I was glad to see Double O alright after his recent troubles, albeit with "one eye and one leg", as he put it. Nothing to write home about anyhow, the sound system still wasn't running at full speed. Just Blaze did come out though, which was interesting.

At this point, I was wondering whether or not dead prez had no-showed, but they did eventually come out, to which the crowd went apeshit. The sound system was still fucked up, but M-1 and stic.man didn't care, they did at least 2 or 3 songs a capella. It eventually got to a point where they went off the stage for a good minute to let the soundman get things correct, but once things got to working, they tore it down. I wasn't really that hyped to see dead prez beforehand, but I'm glad I did.

Next out was Immortal Technique, who brought out a good 5 mic-ed hypemen, although to be fair, I'm pretty sure Akir and Poison Pen were among them. He did "Industrial Revolution" and a few tracks from The 3rd World, but the real high point was when he brought out Akir and Pharoahe Monch (NY-themed special guests continue) to do the hidden track on The 3rd World, "Apocalypse". I was waiting for "Simon Says" to drop, but unfortunately it didn't...yet. Immortal Tech was in full swing with the angry preaching, but left on a positive note and exited through the crowd with his entire posse, which was dope.

De La Soul hit the stage next and were honestly one of my favorite acts of the festival. They did "Potholes in my Lawn", "Stakes Is High" along with a few more from its namesake album, and I even think they did a version of Jay-Z's "Ain't No Nigga" which I thought was crazy. Once they dropped "B.U.D.D.Y.", Q-Tip came out in sweats just to rock his verse. Then they brought out Dres from Black Sheep to do "Flavor of the Month" and "The Choice is Yours", which were crazy. Dres was funny, he commented on how "he wasn't even supposed to fuckin' be here" and that everyone in De La along with him were wearing green, which WAS weird. They closed out with "Rock Co. Kane Flow", with all three of them slowing down to a stop when the beat did. I swear, Dave held a pose for almost two minutes, and the crowd ate it up. They did this three more times, then brought Biz Markie (?!?!) out to do "Nobody Beats the Biz" and the hook to "Just a Friend". Just a feel-good half-hour.

Pharcyde were out next (I think, I'm still exhausted, so the order these guys came out is still a little fuzzy), and didn't disappoint. They did all the songs expected, teased a new Pharcyde album, Fatlip did "What's Up Fatlip?" and Bootie Brown did his verse from that Gorillaz track. I think at one point Slimkid jumped into the front rows and did a verse from the crowd. Glad to see them back together.

Next was Raekwon & Ghostface. I remember "C.R.E.A.M" and "Ice Cream", but I'll be damned if I remember anything else from their set, aside from them bringing their daughters out, which I just thought was weird. I was spacing, what can I tell you.

Mos Def was scheduled for before Chef & Ghost, so I wasn't sure whether Mos Def was going to make it, but he did. He had a borderline-fruity basketball uniform going on, I think it was either an All-Star team one or a straight up space-y Knicks jersey, I couldn't tell. Anyway, he brought out Talib Kweli to run through some Black Star; "Respiration" and "Definition" were MASSIVE. THEN, Mos Def brought Pharoahe Monch back out to do "Simon Says"; if he didn't, it would've been a crime. Once again, not a big fan of Mos Def either, but he killed it.

Meth and Red are Meth and Red, so a monster live show was expected, and they delivered. I'll just throw this out now; they brought out Slick Rick to do a few lines of "Lodi Dodi", DJ Kool to do "Let Me Clear My Throat", along with EPMD AND Keith Murray. Meth did Bring the Pain, his namesake song and the non-Mary version of All I Need, Redman did Time 4 Sum Aksion, Tonite's Da Night and I'll Bee Dat!, and they opened and closed with Da Rockwilder. Couldn't have asked from a better performance, but I'll say this; how many fuckin' shirts does Redman wear? He had like 8 layers of clothing on!

Now, Nas. I'll just say it now, we had to leave before Tribe came on, so this was the high point of our night. It took him quite a while for the live band to get set up, so the crowd did begin the booing a little, but just moments after the discontent became verbal, the band just started rocking and shut them up. Green Lantern hyped up the crowd, and Nas came out to rip shit. The rest of his set was a blur, but he damn near ran through his entire discography.

Oh.

AND JAY-Z SHOWED UP FOR SUCCESS AND BLACK REPUBLICAN!!!!

What else can I say.

It was a good night.

Sniperlite.

2008-07-23T13:41:00.000-07:00

Since I've basically only been seeing the split up tracks from that new Dilla Ghost Doom release, I thought I'd throw up the bonus track, Sniper Elite & Murder Goons together...I think it's sounds better this way anyhow.

I remember months, maybe even a year or two back, the only confirmed tracks on MF DOOM & Ghostface Killah's proposed "Swift & Changeable" project were that song "Angeles", and a "track produced by J Dilla". Could this have been the track in question?

Also...HOW DOPE WOULD SWIFT & CHANGEABLE HAVE BEEN IF, ONE, IT ACTUALLY EXISTED, AND TWO, IF IT WERE PRODUCED BY DILLA?

Goddammit I want that album. And Madvillainy 2. Dammit DOOM.

Dilla Ghost Doom - Sniper Elite & Murder Goons

NEW MADVILLAIN (once again, sort of.)

2008-07-23T12:08:00.000-07:00

Madvillain - Boulder Holder

Don't be fooled by the new title, it's a remix of Money Folder, off of the Madlib remix of Madvillainy, out on the Stones Throw website in mp3 now, and out in that ridiculously priced deluxe box in a month.

NYOIL - The Moment I Said It (SOTM #8)

2008-07-09T09:51:00.000-07:00

Just got done listening to the "Deluxe" 2-Disc version of NYOIL's street album "Hood Treason". Have to say, he basically just added a bunch of interludes (aka big ups from all his friends) in-between songs, and did only a handful of actual new tracks. There was one song that screamed crossover-desperate...and I mean to Nas "You Owe Me" proportions. Still, there were a few new tracks that I enjoyed, and this is one of them; the last track on the album, in fact.

To me, the song seems like NYOIL's "One Mic" in a way. (Yeah, I know, the Nas-NYOIL comparisons have been done to death, shurrup) It's got echoing, somber female vocals, "soldier" drums, and some melancholy piano. NYOIL's not saying anything that hasn't been said before, but the song's still dope. Enjoy.

NYOIL - The Moment I Said It

Hit 'Em High...

2008-07-04T20:31:00.000-07:00

As if Space Jam weren't awesome enough...

No Matter How Hard You Try...

2008-07-01T19:45:00.000-07:00

The Whatnauts - Message from a Black Man

If you're a hip-hop fan, there's a chance you've heard this song, or its renditions by The Temptations, The Spinners, or others sampled in some form either recently or in the past. The most recent notable use would be RZA...ahem, Bobby Digital's use of it for a track off of his latest effort Digi Snax, "You Can't Stop Me Now":

Or even more recently, about today in fact, "You Can't Stop Us Now", a prospective track from the Album Formerly Known as Nigger, was leaked. When I saw the song title on the tracklist for this now-untitled Nas album, I sort of suspected it would use the same sample, and my suspicions turned out to be true. However this time the singer of the hook was performed by Eban Thomas of the Stylistics:

However, that's not where it ends. The place where I first heard this sample, and in my opinion, the track that used the sample the best, was by MF DOOM, under the guise of King Geedorah, featuring Mister Fantastik (he sounds like a more chilled-out Del tha Funkee Homosapien), a guy that I've only heard on DOOM records and would actually like to hear more from, since he's yet to disappoint. Anyway, the song's called "Anti-Matter", and it's dopeness:

But that's not all folks! There's also a track by Mos Def that chops it up even more, a track by Mathematics called "Gangsta" I can't find, and Unstoppable by Ill Bill, which I think samples the Temptations version.

So the question arises...whose is illest?

If you won't say anything...

2008-06-28T14:52:00.000-07:00

Hello Seahorse! is a band hailing from Mexico City (that's in Mexico, mind you), and although a few of their songs are in Spanish, you probably wouldn't pinpoint them as a Spanish band if you heard the majorly English portion of their repetoire. These guys (and gal) make pretty fun indie pop, punctuated with cheery synths and infectious vocals. Sidenote: gotta love the monikers these guys use as bandmates; the lead singer, apparently, goes by "Vanil'LA Face".

Anyway, enjoy their single from their 2007 effort Hoy a Las Ocho, "Won't Say Anything":

The Greenhouse Effect...

2008-06-14T15:59:00.000-07:00

Meet Asher Roth.
He's white.
He raps.
He's buddies with DJ Drama and Don Cannon.
He just released a mixtape with his two previously mentioned buddies called The Greenhouse Effect.
It's pretty dope.
He sorta sounds like Eminem, but that's OK.
Here are two tracks that I liked from the mixtape:

"Cartoon Chicks" -(Think a rehash of B.I.G.'s ode to f*ckin' R&B bitches, "Just Playing (Dreams)", but with animated girlies...produced by the late Disco D)

"Stop Waiting on the World to Change" - (yep. john mayer.)

If you want the mixtape, here's his site.

New (Old/Rehashed) DOOM.

2008-06-12T18:51:00.000-07:00

^This rusty looking feller, SF Perkele, is from Finland, and seems to like sum MF DOOM. So he took a bunch of old DOOM verses and threw them over his own production, tossed it on the internet, and entitled it "MF DOOM Meets SF Perkele: I Still Hear Voices (Prelude to Madvillainy 2) So, to recap:

1) NO new DOOM.
2) Not official; Madvillainy 2 will probably come out the week after the Japanese Deluxe Edition of Chinese Democracy drops, putting it head to head with RZA's The Cure and Dre's Detox.
3) The dude's from Finland.
4) STILL no new DOOM.

Even so, this dude's production does evoke DOOM's, and the beats seem like they would fit in on a Madvillain album; although they're not quite as nutty and "patchwork" as Madlib's, they've got that dusty old black-and-white crime flick sound that's DOOM's known for. DOOM's concert fuckery and sudden cease of prolificness aside, I'll take it.

Here.

The Angel and the One

2008-05-27T15:20:00.000-07:00

Closing track for the Red Album. Epic like Indiana Jones flicks. Will this album quite the naysayers of post-Pinkerton Weezer? Probably not, but I'm encouraged by what I'm hearing.

Auto-Matic (Not Zoot Woman again...)

2008-05-26T17:14:00.001-07:00

So, more on Weezer.

My means of finding the magical archive of Weezer curios was a user on YouTube by the name of somebodysheine ("Say It Ain't So" reference FTW). And he just posted up the Red Album version of "Automatic", the song from the Gran Turismo 5 Prologue intro with drummer Pat Wilson on vocals. Only in the GT5P intro, an LA Riots remix of the track is used. Here's the original:

And the remix, in case you haven't heard it:

Over the years, Rivers has always tended to relinquish the lead vox to Pat, Brian and Scott while on tour, so it's pretty cool that The Red Album's gonna have new songs with them singing lead. You just don't see that very often in bands where there IS an established lead vocalist.

My excitement for The Red Album increases geometrically...

From the Black Hole...

2008-05-23T18:10:00.000-07:00

So, on the topic of Weezer, I just discovered weerez.com, and their archive of Weezer odds & ends has made me aware of a few songs from the holy grail of Weezer albums, rock space opera Songs from the Black Hole, that I didn't know had been released as B-sides of singles. One in particular re-sparked my junkie-like craving for this album, "I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams".

In it, Rachel Haden of Weezer alumni Matt Sharp's band The Rentals sings lead vocals as...well, I should put together a little synopsis of the alleged plot of the album first, shouldn't I?

As Rivers described it, it's the year 2126, there's 3 guys, 2 girls, and a robot on a spaceship, and they're out to save someone or something.

That's about it. Rivers intended for it to be a representation of Weezer's success and subsequent touring lifestyle; he felt like he was "lost in space."

Moving on...so Rachel Haden was "cast" as Laurel, the "good girl" of the Betsy II (that's the name of the spaceship, tee-hee). The aforementioned song can either be interpreted as Laurel singing about a love she left behind on Earth, or lamenting her decision to reject shipmate Jonas (Rivers Cuomo). Either way, it's super-catchy; Haden's voice has a very pleasing timbre, the song is driven by that casiotone-ish Electrocomp funky stuff that you tend to hear from Weezer doppleganger Ozma, and Rivers jumps in for the last verse to make it a duet. It's robotic pop at its finest, and it makes me want Songs from the Black Hole SOOOO bad.

Enjoy.

pork and beans.

2008-05-23T09:10:00.000-07:00

Music video with internet meme celebrities. Tacky. Cliche. Been done several times before.

WHY DO I STILL THINK IT'S FUCKING AWESOME

Also, Rivers mentioning/almost subliminally dissing Timbaland is quite curious. Quite curious indeed...

Pressure pressure pressure pressure pressure pressure...

2008-05-21T15:32:00.000-07:00

DJ Vadim and Raashan Ahmad of the Crown City Rockers put a spin on The Zutons' "Pressure Point". Bonus track off Ahmad's latest album "The Push". Enjoy.

And if you don't know the original:

Kenny Segal - Backyard BBQ (SOTM #7)

2008-05-19T19:43:00.000-07:00

This joint comes off Project Blowed beatsmith Kenny Segal's latest effort, "Ken Can Cook". (Heh, I remember that show) The whole album is laden with various food references, a la MF DOOM's "MM..FOOD??". As a matter of fact, as I'm listening to it right now, I just heard a snippet of the "FOOD! WE NEED FOOD!" sample you hear in the beginning of DOOM's "Beef Rapp". Kenny basically runs the parallel between cookin' & cookin' up beats by using frequent voice snippets, and it makes the album seem very coherent, having a running theme.

Anyway, "Backyard BBQ" is a laidback cut with a little jazz guitar lick that strolls on as each of the Project Blowed emcees you (should) know and love--Abstract Rude, Aceyalone, NoCanDo, Busdriver, P.E.A.C.E. and Dr. Oop-- drop some summertime rhymes.

Also...the song kicks off with a sample of Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Friggin' awwwsome.

Mercury Rev - Meth of a Rockette's Kick (SOTM #6)

2008-05-17T09:13:00.000-07:00

Mercury Rev has been compared to The Flaming Lips from the get-go, and for good reason. Singer/guitarist Jonathan Donahue has been in both bands, and bassist for Mercury Rev/sound engineer Dave Fridmann has co-produced all but one post-1990 Flaming Lips album.

Epic is a good word for the opening track to Mercury Rev's 1993 album "Boces", "Meth of a Rockette's Kick". It clocks in at over 10 minutes; however, unlike many "extended" songs in rock, this one doesn't really get boring or repetitive. Guitars pulsate in and out, coming in heavy then retreating back for calmer, almost dreamlike moments, and gradually, more and more varied instruments come in, as if members of the band were showing up late to the recording of the album. By the end, harp glissandos, flute melodies, horns, and a friggin' choir all explode on the track, while still sounding like it's all been planned. For convenience's sake, I'll use Wayne Coyne's wonderfully weird band as a measuring stick, and say that this song, as well as this album, floats somewhere in-between pre and post-Zaireeka Flaming Lips. That's definitely a good thing.

Slug. Ant. Life. Lemons. Shit. Gold.

2008-04-16T14:45:00.000-07:00

So...the new Atmosphere album leaked.

It. is. QUALITY.

I am not disappointed at all; as a matter of fact, it exceeded my expectations, which were already pretty lofty. I'm already 11 tracks in, and there hasn't been a track I haven't liked. I was a little worried that with their recent musical proliferation in the form of several installments of their Sad Clown Bad Dub series, Ant & Slug would run out of steam for the album...boy, am I glad that I was dead wrong. I'm not going to post the entire album (if you really want it that badly, go search for the leak yourself), but here's a track that really caught my attention, specifically due to...oh poo, I don't wanna ruin it, just listen to it straight through.

Atmosphere - Yesterday

Ahh, fuck it, here's another track, don't say I never gave you anything:

Atmosphere - The Waitress

Hi(gh).

2008-04-12T10:30:00.000-07:00

So, this cat Mickey Factz has been getting some buzz around the interwebs, and along with a few mixtapes, he's got this intermittent series of songs called "The Leak", where he raps over songs in Crooked I fashion. However, what makes him unique are the song choices he makes; Zoot Woman's "It's Automatic" for one, and now, a song by Japanese downtempo/electronica collective (really not sure whether it's one producer or not) FreeTEMPO, which I think is called "Sky High", and features Maynard Plant of my favorite Japanese band of the moment, Monkey Majik. If anyone has a good quality mp3 of the aforementioned FreeTEMPO song, along with any other FreeTEMPO, I'd be glad to have it. As for now, here are those Mickey Factz joints:

Mickey Factz - Automatic

Mickey Factz - Up High

I've got a feeling...

2008-04-10T18:38:00.000-07:00

It's automatic.

Four capital letters...

2008-03-23T19:41:00.000-07:00

I pretty much wrote of Justice's "Cross" upon first listen, save for the uber-catchy earworm "D.A.N.C.E." and "Tthhee Ppaarrttyy", a catchy Three Six Mafia-infused track with what sounds like a teenage girl rapping over it (actually Ed Banger artist Uffie). But after watching this video and getting this ode to snooty nightclubs stuck in my head, I've been forced to revisit it. Much like the video for D.A.N.C.E., this video uses visuals to represent the lyrics of the song, this time with 80's network TV-type logos. Cool beans. :P

The Roots Fall Out...

2008-03-10T17:09:00.000-07:00

Boy. Boy-o-boy. I do NOT know how to take this one. Listen for yourself.

o_O

The Roots - Birthday Girl ft. Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy

Del tha Funkee Homosapien - Eleventh Hour

2008-03-08T13:11:00.000-08:00

I don't think this funky homosapien needs an introduction, so I'll just jump to the good stuff.

This is Del's anticipated first Def Jux album, and his first album since the beginning of the century It leaked a while ago. I gave it a listen, and here are some thoughts about a few select tracks, as well as the album itself:

Raw Sewage - Ooh, cool intro, utilizing the same "Oakland, do you wanna ride?" sample most famously used in The Coup's "Me and Jesus the Pimp in a '79 Grenada Last Night", off of Steal This Album, an album that Del himself was featured on. Don't get it twisted though, this IS an actual song. Nice, ethereal beat, you can definitely hear a bit of the Def Jux influence, but at least it isn't as harsh and industrial as I feared Del's first album as a Def Jukie to be.

Bubble Pop - I am SO sick of this friggin' break. All I can really say. Sorry Del, it's not you, it's the beat.

Slam Dunk - Here we go, more of the kind of sound heard in Raw Sewage, and me likey. First time I've heard Del, much less any rapper, use "skibby-do-dah-day" in a song.

Naked Fonk - Hiero brutha Opio laces this beat up correctly with a cool little vocal sample, and you can almost hear the "fonk" drip off Del's tongue. Nice one.

Hold Your Hand - Is it me, or is Del using variations on the same synth sound in half of these songs? Even moreso, why isn't it wearing thin on me? This beat is nice, as are the previous ones, because they're not overbearing, so Del's voice is front-and-center in your head.

Workin' It - This song's been caught in my head, since I saw the video a couple days ago. Repetitive flow, repetitive beat, but it manages to drill itself into your brain. Makes me want that follow-up to Deltron 3030.

Last Hurrah - Very different kind of song in juxtaposition with the other songs on the album, it's got a flute-ish sounding melody makes the song seems a lot warmer than the rest of the tracks, although even that's kinda "roboticized" up. I have no idea who's featured on this, probably someone from Hiero (I'll be honest, I can't tell anyone apart from Souls of Mischief or anyone else from that crew).

Str8t Up and Down - Ha, there's bell sounds in the background of this song that made me think someone rang the doorbell in my house. Sounds like he took sounds from an old Nintendo 8-bit game.

I Got You - Oh snap, is that Ladybug from Digable Planets? Sweet. She's been lending her voice in bit roles to quite a few tracks over the last few years, I've still yet to listen to her 2005 album, but I wouldn't mind giving it a spin. Also, since Digable Planets reformed the same year...puh-LEEZE say there's a new album on the pipeline.

Funkyhomosapien - More 8-bit sounds along with some dope horns. Call me anal-retentive, but it really bothers me that this new album is credited to "Del the Funky Homosapien" instead of the usual "Del tha Funkee Homosapien". God I'm neurotic.

Overall: As each track made its way onto the mighty intarwebs, most fans were disappointed, but honestly, I'm satisfied with this record, and not just because its Del's first album in almost a decade. I'm slightly disappointed with the production, probably because of Del making it a point to talk about his recent study of music theory, but the production isn't bad by any means. Del definitely hasn't fallen off, that's for sure.

Reel Talk: 10,000 B.C.

2008-03-08T12:29:00.000-08:00

(Yeah, I know, corny-as-fuck name for a series of movie reviews...I'm sure I'll come up with something more clever eventually, not that anyone gives a shit about it.)

Yesterday was my friend's birthday, so we all decided to go see a movie. Our initial intention was to enjoy a fine motion picture without having to part with any precious monetary assets, but that plan fell through thanks to a certain dude in a suit at the theater. We ended up buying Child tickets to lower the cost (the woman taking the tickets obviously didn't care enough about her job to call a bunch of 16 year olds on whether they were below 12 or not), and ended up seeing 10,000 B.C. Unfortunately, my friends and I all got sucked into the arcade in the theater, and after several rounds of Tekken and an epic battle with some goth dude in DDR, we managed to make it into the theater just in time to find out that it was packed tighter than a slaveship. My bud Justin managed to find us seats, thank god, because we were a few seconds away from giving ourselves migraines by watching from the front row. There were previews for Speed Racer (which looks entertaining, and I mean that in the least complimentary fashion) and Hancock (which looks like Will Smith's first dud of a movie in a long time, according to the birthday boy) among others that I don't quite remember, except for Superhero Movie, which looks about as terrible as all the other _____ Movie movies despite including Leslie Nielsen, godfather of all dumb spoof films.

NOW ON TO THE ACTUAL MOVIE.

First off, the poster above is a COMPLETE misrepresentation of what happens in the movie. I don't want to give too much away, but here's a brief overview of the plot:

The lead guy, "Delay" (it's probably some crazy caveman spelling, but I don't feel like looking it up), accidentally becomes head hunter of his tribe even though he's a total wuss, albeit one that's lucky as hell. Assholes with horses come and capture his village, including the lead girl/love interest, Bitch-With-Blue Eyes (don't remember her name, something like Evelyn). Delay, along with the previous head hunter of the village Tictic, his former hunting rival Mexican-Looking-Caveman-with-Girl's-Name-I-Can't-Quite-Remember, and some kid who looks like the kid from Holes head off to go save his girl. Cue dramatic tribal music. Delay ends up getting by on total luck, pretty much letting everyone else fight and die for him, while he masturbates at night in tears for his girl to come back.

Now, this movie is pretty much getting universally terrible reviews from damn near everyone and their mom, and I'm not going to try to defend it. It wasn't god-awful, but it was one of the most unoriginal movies I've seen in a long time. 10,000 B.C. = castrated 300. Hell, there's even a scene where the dude throws a spear at a tall Egyptian-looking dude. There were so many times where it tried SO hard to be emotional and meaningful, but the sheer selfish douchebaggery of Delay makes it so hard for you to cheer for him.

Fuck it, this is a big spoiler, but who cares. His girl is killed (gasp, a real tragic moment?)...and then magically comes back to life. Yay.

CORNIER AND CHEESIER THEN FRITOS AND CHEETOS, RESPECTIVELY.

Meh, should've seen Be Kind Rewind. At least Jack Black never ceases to be mildly amusing with his "I'm slightly overweight but I move around like I'm crazy" schtick.

Work is never over...

2008-02-24T13:06:00.000-08:00

OK, so when it comes to Kanye's "Stronger" and the Daft Punk original, I have to stand by my favorite French musical duo over which song is superior. HOWEVER, this video makes a strong case for Mr. West:

What is it good for?

2008-02-23T15:58:00.000-08:00

Never has Phil Collins sounded so badass. Thank Mr. Starr and Mr. Kleptone, would ya Phil?

JiLL-Decoy association - Rule of moon (SOTM #5)

2008-02-21T12:42:00.001-08:00

JiLL-Decoy association is this funky little three-piece jazz group from Japan that reminds me of a cleaner, shined up and sparkly Jamiroquai. There's almost nothing abrasive about their music, yet they still manage to not sound "bubblegum pop". I'd say they're a nice amalgam of m-flo and Towa Tei.

Bonus: Peep this dope Towa Tei vs. Robin Thicke mash-up by siik here.

SONOMI - Everyday☆エビデー☆ (SOTM #4)

2008-02-20T14:03:00.000-08:00

So, taking a little reprieve from hip-hop, here's some SICKENINGLY SWEET J-Pop for ya. SONOMI is a frequent collaborator with Japanese emcee/producer/hip-hop extraordinare KREVA, but she's only been around since '05. Like a lot of her contemporary J-Pop songstresses, she dabbles in a little hip-hop and reggae along with straightforward pop. She released an album that flopped, but this is off a mini-album she released afterwards. (Credit to Miyako Flow for the info and the mini-album itself)

But I'll be honest. The reason this song gets the nod isn't because of her. It's because THE SAMPLE IN THIS SONG IS CATCHYYY. Props to KREVA for that catchy sped-up...whatever/whoever the hell he sampled. This is gonna be caught in my head for a while, especially since I don't know what the hell the vocal sample is saying...

3 guys dancing in a tube + a catchy bluegrass-jazz-folk song.

2008-02-12T19:46:00.000-08:00

I have just fallen in love with Ben Sollee's music. He's from Louisville, he plays the cello, and his music is CATCHY AS HELL.

(Video's pretty entertaining in its own right as well.)

Also, go check out his cover of Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come" over on his MySpace. Southern boy's got some soul.

Chaundon - The Greatest Warrior (SOTM #3)

2008-02-07T18:48:00.000-08:00

Not really gonna type up much about this one, but here ya go...

Lingering a bit in the realm of Justus League affiliates, here's a dope track by mainstay Chaundon off his recent release Carnage. Now, despite being down with the NC collective, Chaundon is straight out of the Bronx, but you might not be able to tell at first listen; his music fits right in with everyone in 9th Wonder's posse...ahem, I mean the Hall of Justus.

Anyways, this track leads off the album (which, by the way, I was pleasantly surprised by) with a roar, and Chaundon sets it off about as strong as could be desired, over a raging string-laced beat which I'm gonna take a wild guess and say was produced by Khrysis (could be, and am probably wrong though):

"Listen, I'm the nicest in here / I don't even write rhymes, words assemble themselves out of fear"

NOICE.

Oh, and Carnage is a dope album, go peep that ish pronto. The usual Justus League suspects, 9th and Khrysis on the boards, Darien Brockington aka D-Brock doing a few hooks, JoZeeMo, Skyzoo, Torae, Sean P, Emilio Rojas aka Raks One...and the dearly departed Percy Miracles (R.I.P.).

(Joe Scudda too.)

Nicolay - My Story (SOTM #2)

2008-02-06T18:52:00.000-08:00

You may know this Dutch wunderkind (that's German, I know, whateverrr) of a producer from his work with Phonte of Little Brother as Foreign Exchange, who as of now, have only released one album, Connected, an album where Phonte unleashed his inner R&B crooner (known to some as Percy Miracles), singing and spitting over Nicolay's smoothed-out beats; it had a real "chillin' in the lounge in the early evening" kind of groove to it throughout, and hell, I liked it.

Well, Nicolay hasn't exactly been twiddling his thumbs in the Netherlands since dropped in '04. Just recently, he released another duo album with Houston emcee Kay (whom I would know even less about if Trav over at WYDU hadn't interviewed the two) called TIME:LINE. Now, I was JUST about to peep the album after skimming through the interview, but I ended up stumbling upon Nicolay's 2006 effort instead, simply entitled Here. Think about the same production and mood-wise as the Foreign Exchange album, but with Justus League resident hook-singers Darien Brockington, Yahzahrah, and rising star emcee Black Spade instead of Tiggalo. Needless to say, I'm feeling it, but it was the final track on the album that I really liked. Interestingly enough, it features the previously mentioned Kay, and it's called "My Story".

When I saw the lengthiness of this joint, along with the track being called "My Story", for some reason I thought it was going to be similar to the end of "Last Call" off Kanye's College Dropout disc, where 'Ye basically describes his WHOLE career up until that point. I was happily surprised when it was actually a song...and an ill one at that. The beat is baby's-ass-smooth, Kay comes with lyrics, and Sy Smith delivers a nice hook.

Put your pride to the side, indeed.

Giant Panda - 90's (SOTM #1)

2008-01-29T20:01:00.001-08:00

SOTM stands for Song O' the Moment, as I don't want to set myself to a daily or weekly obligation...deadlines aren't my thing, plus my upload speed is comparable to a limbless baby going uphill. (simile too harsh?...yeah I know.)

This is a track by trio (originally a five-man group)) from LA who, with the help of People Under the Stairs maestro Thes One, released an album called Fly School Reunion in '06. Not gonna front, despite all the good press I've read about it retroactively, I didn't hear about it at all when it dropped, but I downloaded it on a whim off of HHB and I have to say, pretty dope stuff. If you're into PUTS, you'll have no trouble getting down with this; dope production by Thes One, as well as members Newman and Chikaramanga.

(Sidebar: Bonus props for the latter Japanese dude for a kick-ass name; if I'm not mistaking, chikara means something along the lines of "power" in Japanese, so his name would pretty much translate to "power comics". Still, the name is fun to say. Also, he's dope in his native tongue, peep "Classic Rock" off the album for some ill Japanese science dropped)

ANYWAY, the choice cut off of Fly School Reunion for me is "90's"; a certain plus-sized magazine described the track as a rewrite of ATCQ's "Midnight"; regardless, the track is you're usual "remembering the good times of hip-hop" kind of track...but thanks to a nice drum break and a cool piano riff, it feels genuine and heartfelt. Good stuff.

Enjoy.

WHUT????

2008-01-02T16:20:00.000-08:00

Chalk this up under "samples; left-field":

O_O

Next thing you know M.O.P.'ll do a collaboration with a boy band...wait...

No Children...

2007-12-30T17:09:00.001-08:00

Quite the divorce song.

Oh, it'll get stuck in your head. Believe me. And disregard the stupid video, only non-live version I could find.

If you DO want to watch a live version, here.

The Mountain Goats = John Darnielle + assorted musicians = awesome.

And right on the heels of a jubilant song about bitter divorce:

A peppy little number about suicide!

Despite all the hate she's gotten for her part in the "disappointing-to-most" Broadway musical, The Threepenny Opera, I adore her music. Witty, sardonic lyrics and light-hearted jazzy melodies combined with her ever-so-innocent voice makes for happy ears in my book. If Ben Folds were a chick and got into showtunes, this may very well be what he would've sounded like. But that's just a silly guess.

Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo...

2007-12-29T19:48:00.000-08:00

Alright, so Rivers Cuomo, frontman for Weezer, just released a compilation of home recordings from 1992 until now. As I like virtually anything and everything Weezer has put out to date, I thought it wouldn't hurt to give this album a try. I'm just gonna skip around, maybe leave out some tracks, not saying those tracks are bad, but come on, there are EIGHTEEN, no one wants to read all that:

1. Ooh

Title pretty much says it all. Harmonic ooh'ing. Intro, bla bla bla. Movin' on...

3. Lemonade

Rough, but definitely sounds like a song that could have made it onto the Blue Album.

4. The Bomb

Ice Cube cover. Who says Rivers Cuomo ain't down? Sure as hell entertaining, but it makes me wonder if Rivers has some sort of secret hip-hop project...just random musings...carrying on...

5. Buddy Holly

The original demo recording of one of my favorite songs. It almost sounds like it's the album version, but slowed down.

6. Chess

Incredibly straightforward song about...you guessed it...chess.

8. Blast Off!

I'd be really interested to hear a full-on version of this song. Me likey.

9. Who You Callin' Bitch?

Noteworthy due to awesomeness of title, as well as the opening "WHOOOOOOOOOO".

11. Dude We're Finally Landing

Oh god, this is gonna be stuck in my head for a good bit. A track from Weezer's scrapped rock opera, it's mostly just voices singing joyously about landing...somewhere. Lovin' the harmonies.

12. Superfriend

Another one from Songs from the Black Hole, "What the hell am I doing thinking with my willy?" = a great line.

14. Crazy One

Recorded between Pinkerton and the Green Album...if The Everly Brothers were around in the late 90's, this may just be what they would have sounded like.

15. This is the Way

Sounds like it could be a Top 40 hit if done by someone other than Weezer. Reminds me of that "Apologize" song by One Republic. No guitars and just piano makes Weezer sound like an unenthusiastic Journey or something. Apparently was supposed to be on Weezer's upcoming album...guess not.

Overall:

I think this collection of tracks is definitely worth listening to for Weezer fans looking for a fix before that next album comes out. For the casual Weezer listener, this may be a less-than-exciting listen, unless you like lo-fi music.
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Not exactly the best kind of "album" to review, but hey, it's what I'm listening to. Hopefully it'll turn out better next time.

Blogging...with a purpose...

2007-12-29T16:54:00.000-08:00

Alright, so I finally got an idea on how I'm gonna work this whole blog thing out with at least infrequent posts, rather than a random one when my boredom reaches an unprecedented level, and my already-shot-at-16 memory manages to remind me I have one of these. There's almost always a steady stream of albums coming onto my desktop, and due to time constraints, I tend not to listen to them from front-to-back with no interruption. So, I do something I shall now refer to as "skimming"; listen to a track to see if it interests me, maybe jump to the middle if it doesn't initially catch my ear, and if it doesn't....DELETED. After that, I throw the tracks that survive into a ZIP, then into a folder, waiting patiently to be extracted into my main music folder where they'll eventually be synced onto my Zen Vision: M mp3 player (which I sorely need to replace; 30 GB ain't enough, people.) Come to think of it, my music-"evaluating" method is uncharacteristically tidy for a messy guy like me.

ANYWAY...

Now, while I'm doing this, I'll at least make an attempt to write some sort of review for the album, song-by-song optimally.

We'll see how this works out. Currently sitting on my desktop are the Rivers Cuomo home recordings CD, Radiohead's In Rainbows (which should be interesting to review for me, since I am not the biggest Radiohead fan; that is to say, I don't dislike them, but I don't think I've ever actually listened to a full Radiohead album), and The Sword's Age of Winters (doom/stoner metal, should be interesting). I would've done reviews for Sean Price's Jesus Price Superstar and Evidence's The Weatherman, but alas, they already went through my assembly-line music process before I came up with this idea. There should be quite a few hip-hop albums as well coming through the pipeline, since everyone else is doing their "Best of 2007" lists, which is definitely going to clue me in on the albums I missed out on.

Let's see how this works out...

What better way to celebrate Christmas...

2007-12-24T18:04:00.000-08:00

than a song not about Christmas, but instead Easter, and critical of/questioning the Christian religious denomination in general?

This is Emmy the Great; born in Hong Kong, raised in London. She's done a couple collaborations here, a couple compilation appearances there, along with a single and an EP, so I'm assuming there's a full-length album coming along in the pipeline. She's been said to be a rising star in the London "antifolk" scene, a genre label I personally don't like, but meh, take it for what you will. She's quite the songwriter, as showcased in this skeptically-written, yet innocent-sounding, song about Jesus' resurrection. Enjoy, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Ghostface Killah - The Big Doe Rehab.

2007-11-29T16:41:00.000-08:00

Of the handful of fresh albums floating around the web, GFK's latest solo effort has me the most impressed. I'd go as far as to say that 'The Big Doe Rehab' is better than Fishscale. P. Tone is as riled up as ever, and he STILL hasn't run out of off-the-wall, questionably incoherent but unquestionably dope rhymes. I am NOT disappointed at all by this album; I just hope it doesn't get overshadowed by Wu's return. Especially since it's better than 8 Diagrams. Even more impressive is that Ghost didn't use many big names in terms of production; the Hitmen of P. Diddy association would be the producers who keep that 'many' from being 'any'; fresh off of handling Jay-Z's American Gangster, handle 5 tracks on the album, including two of my favorites of all 16 tracks. Hell, there's even a track ("The Prayer") that doesn't have Ghost on it all, just a singer named Ox, and even THAT is dope! The usual Wu suspects also do their rounds on this album; Meth, Raekwon, U-God, Masta Killa, Trife, Sun God. (Cappadonna too.) Ghost's son Sun God also makes an appearance, along with Kid Capri going apeshit all over 'We Celebrate'...hook singer du jour Chrisette Michele also shows up on the bonus track "Slow Down" (and sounds a hell of a lot like Corinne Bailey Rae on aforementioned track).

Ghost has always been the most consistent Wu member when it comes to solo albums, so I can't say I didn't see this coming, but I am impressed at how great it was.

Standout tracks:

Toney Sigel aka Barrell Brothers - Beanie Sigel comes in for an uncommon non-Wu-Fam feature, dropping a dope verse and holding his own with Ghost. Sidenote: Beans getting faded out WHILE his verse was STILL going had me geeked. Inexplicably cool.

White Linen Affair (Toney Awards) - In a nutshell, Ghost basically names as many f*cking musicians and celebrities as he can while still rhyming. Doesn't sound very ill, does it? Well...IT IS.

Supa GFK - Hold up. Did Ghost Deini just channel a little Reggie Noble on this one? Definitely...looks like Redman has got a challenger for his title of "Sooperman Luva". Shit, once the sample kicked in, I kept waiting for Reggie to drop something.

I'll Die For You - The sample is exquisite. Ghost goes into his introspective mode, and ends up making the most emotional song he's created since "All That I Got Is You".

Paisley Darts - Yeah, the song's dope...but the concert audio snippet of Ghostface stating that 98% of rappers (making sure to mention Rakim as one of the remaining 2%) are pussies? Priceless.

Killa Lipstick - GFK does his obligatory chick song...and does it WELL. Mef kills the hook, and I'm really feeling the whole running metaphor of love and murder. OJ references for the win. :P

Rhymes With Vaseline...

2007-11-19T18:00:00.000-08:00

:D A lil' ol' song from the ever-so-quirky Flaming Lips.

And although it sorely misses the whining guitar, I also love Ben Folds Five's 'Lounge-A-Palooza' cover.

Just a little song-and-dance...

2007-11-01T16:06:00.000-07:00

The guys over at get down posted this gem up; I had NO idea Steve Martin was capable of that, ever.

Musicals, maybe even plays in general, have been generally written off as, put lightly, "corny as f*ck" by my generation. Even so, I can't pry myself away from Oliver Twist when it's on TV (The Artful Dodger & Nancy > Annie any day of the week, with Jay-Z as my evidence), along with the occasional Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly movies when I pass by them during channel-surfing. Musicals are some of the best examples of good storytelling in music, something that some artists don't do well nowadays, hip-hop included (So...when's that new album coming out, Slick Rick?). Plus, most musicals have a very wholesome quality to them; there's nothing wrong with some good, clean, family-friendly, non-grandparent offending entertainment once in a while.

Bonus:

Family Guy - Stewie & Gene Kelly dance
Uploaded by taodan

Screw the Family Guy musical number haters, props to Seth MacFarlane for doing stuff like this.

You Give Me Something...

2007-10-24T15:02:00.000-07:00

Alright, I've got a little British flava for ya ear today. What's more, both of these songs share a title...as does this post.

This first one's by a guy named James Morrison (not the Doors frontman, mind you). Kinda hard to define genre-wise, but allmusic does decent job at calling it 'soul-pop'. He's got a really unique voice, high-pitched and raspy, which he attributes to an almost-fatal case of whooping cough he had as a wee lad. I'm really liking his debut album Undiscovered, it's definitely worth a listen if you're into to artists like Norah Jones, John Mayer, Michael Bublé , Corinne Bailey Rae, etc...

The second of our duo of British-songs-named-You-Give-Me-Something is by a personal favorite of mine, Jamiroquai. It's off their album A Funk Odyssey, which seemed to disappoint fans because of the band's turn to a more electronic sound as opposed to their previous albums of organic funk and acid jazz. I liked it all the same though. Jay Kay's the man.

Justin Warfield...

2007-10-18T13:03:00.001-07:00

Pretty amazing that an artist can go from working with Prince Paul for a left-field hip-hop debut (in all honesty, this video is super-corny to me, and I prefer 'Season of the Vic', but can't seem to find the vid for it)...

...to putting out a rock album, then joining a heavy rock band, THEN putting together a tongue-in-cheek, Joy Division-y 'darkwave' band:

Strangely enough, I like the majority of the music he's put out, regardless of genre. I don't think there are many musicians out there who do a radically different genre of music on nearly every album they make.

Hell of a change though.

As we proceed...

2007-10-17T15:24:00.000-07:00

Thought I might as well start myself a blog; musings about music mostly, along with anything I feel like talking about...we'll see if this works out or not.

A sampling of my musical tastes:

That's about enough for now, I guess.