Terius Nash aka The Dream in the studio. This guy is a BEAST. His past two albums are crazy, pretty much all I’ve been listening to for a while. The fact that he’s making shit this fast should just make everyone else quake in fear. He deserves his hype. Shouts to Kingdom via Twitter for the link. I’m on there too. Tweet tweet tweet.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uXe6Y9wv0k[/youtube]
The Agriculture– which put out /Ruptures cosmopolitan (and new mexican) bass excursion “Uproot” has some fresh goods coming to market.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGBpVOztEL0[/youtube]Lloop’s “Autumn Rains Until Those of Spring” video by Peter Shapiro
Brooding dubstep for afronauts and the red eye(d) easyjet set. Lloop’s been working since the earl 90s Williamsburg rave scene on surreal and dubladen work – but i guess it was callled “illbient” back then-Â Â “60 HERTZ” is the new album- and it’s reminding me yet again how lacking the hegemonic dubstep creation myth is for explaining the genres development. Causality in cultural production is always nearly impossible to pinpoint- but this album certainly points to a more complicated relationship between stateside and UK developments in electronic music.
extra credit- 60 hertz is the frequency of AC power in the states… out of work with some spare time? take a photodiode, point it at a lamp and use it to control an oscillator- then u can listen to these sine waves humming all around us.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjEZHjHyNOw[/youtube]
This tune is ill, sort of African funky grime. The video is a class of kids learning the steps to the dance that goes with it, and then making up their own. Thanks to Kingdom for putting me onto this one via his mix for Lower End Spasm, which will be out soon. Apparently the sample is Nigerian. Anyone know what they’re saying? Never heard of the guys who made it, called Fr3e, but it’s wicked.
 I <3 synths! Like for real- I just fucking love them. (Is that like saying you love drums?)
Having spent countless hours soldering little bits of plastic and metal on bread boards and taking apart toys and keyboards.(and plugging away at a Serge like the one to the left).. I’m still amazed by how emotive a little bit of electricity can be. Eternal love to Mr Gray for getting the whole thing started- but there are some new comers who are pushing the envelope and combining serious dance floor sensibility (or maybe sensitivity) with enough experimental flare to keep things interesting.
In Vienna last Saturday I stopped in at the nearly impossible to find Club U (as cute as it might seem- maybe dont name your venue the same thing as the five thousand signs for the subway that surround it) to hear from Glasgow’s Hudson Mohawke. Running a combo serato and ableton set up with some akai mpd controller action- dude properly destroyed the room with a much too short set. I’ve been checking Hudmo ever since his “Ooops” release of absolutely face melting hip-hop/rnb refixes. Seeing him live made me wonder if the term braindance might make a resurgance…but the music gods want something NEW to talk about….
If you squint a little music criticism starts to embody all the reasons that I hate (and find myself returning to) academic art history. Inbred pedanctic circle jerks aside- there’s something to be said for trying to come up with a critical apparatus for new works that have, in their unwieldy descent through the market, yet to find their historical/critical resting place. While creating/defending/destroying genre designations certainly is not the most important work of a critic- no one can avoid recycling and regurgitating the genre question when it comes to (cue Marsalis trumpets) the new era in BASS music that we may, are, ought to, have, havnt, possibly, can, enter did enter or passed through.
Saving my own didactic desires/nonsene- I’ll just share what to me are prime examples of……(wait for it)….. music that makes people dance in the club and makes me smile – even while enjoying my Hungarian subway stations multi-use communal restroom, bakery and public transportation smell. Both tracks have great synth work and even though they are bass heavy bangers- they both sound solid on laptop speakers.
[audio:http://nyc.duttyartz.com/mp3s/3-Let_Me_See_What_U_Workin_With_Rustie_Remix_.mp3]Rod Lee – Let Me See What U Workin With (Rustie Remix)
Cop from Dress 2 $weat
[audio:http://nyc.duttyartz.com/mp3s/HudmoOoops.mp3]Also- buyable
p.s. Can we talk about Tweet’s “Oops” as presaging the Recession Rap movement with her own libidinal credit crunch tale?
Vybz offers a (Not)nice, sincere tribute to his mama.
This Serani song is really great, love the combination of reggae/dancehall vibes.  Daseca strikes again on the riddim. Serani is actually a producer in the Daseca crew who has recently broken out as an artist. The vocal tone on the hook is beautiful. This song has already broken into the hiphop/r+b mix on Hot97 in NYC (where I heard Funk Flex playing it while I was washing the dishes) which suggest that you’ll all be hearing a lot more of it.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiuCqZuhu4o[/youtube]
Not really down with AF or DP, but I can dig this –
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLni8Zl6TeM[/youtube]
G-Side‘s Starshipz and Rocketz, a fourth quarter release from an independent label in Huntsville, Alabama ~ Slowmotion Soundz ~ is without question one of the greatest misses of 2008. Produced by Block Beataz (think Organized Noize, UGK, Three 6), don’t let the Afrofuturist/”Afronaut” title mislead you, the album is down to earth, cohesive, remarkable, unpredictable and exciting. Read Andrew Noz’s review here.
Why is the duo’s name missing from the album cover? It only has the record label and the album title, as in “Slowmotion Soundz presents Starshipz and Rocketz” prompting Amazon to call the group Starshipz and Rocketz. CD Baby got it right. Can someone please help identify that sample? I’ve noticed samples on the album ranging from Enya to Isaac Hayes.
A big thanks to everyone who bought and voted for Jahdan’s group Noble Society’s album Take Charge on iTunes this year earning it the iTunes 2008 Best Reggae Album honors. The record is sick and Jah D, Diego Fuego and Delie have been working hard on it for a good long while, very nice to see some recognition coming back to the family. A big shout to Moon and everyone over at the Lustre Kings label, they’ve got a lot more exciting reggae music out and more coming.
Listen to clips from Take Charge here, and buy it here.
Petrona Martinez, controlling.
Uproot Andy in deep concentration.
Andy has some ill new tracks on the new Bersas Discos 12″ (buyable here)
One of the tracks La Vida Vale La Pena, sampling a classic from Petrona Martinez, is available for download via DiscoBelle. I LOVE this tune and pretty much everything Andy has been coming with lately. He’s one of my favorite producers in NYC right now. When I say “New York Tropical” and you wonder what that is, listen to this dude:
Download La Vida Vale La Pena mp3.
Also, Andy’s mixtape Guacharaca Migrations I know we’ve been plugging it again and again but it’s just that good (especially cuz it’s got two of my tunes on it).
Catch Andy at Geko’s and his party Tuesdays in NYC, Que Bajo @ Rose Live, Williamsburg.
Big props to Noz, not simply because I am flagrantly swiping this song from Cocaine Blunts, but also for being an insightful and reliable blogger.
Willie Isz is Khujo Goodie and Jneiro Jarel, the most appealing (genuine and soulful) group to come out of the Dungeon Family collective in recent years. Khujo Goodie was/is a member of one of the rawrest Southern hiphop groups, Goodie Mob- a group which also possessed (perhaps even fundamentally, I must stress) a positive and uplifting spirit. Jneiro Jarel is also/partly responsible for a very open and progressive hiphop album, one of the best underground hiphop albums in recent memory.
Starvation, American politics, fear, unfairness, home foreclosures, a life of crime, being a son, and remaining optimistic and thankful in a world that is bleeding —are just a few of the things that this song is touching on. Jneiro Jarel’s production here harkens back to a time when DF and Organize Noized was at their most excellent, prompting Noz to note “Dude is on some serious Dungeonize shit,” and I cannot agree more.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUT1WgHat6I[/youtube]
Yes we did. Oh yes we did America.
I was riding over the bridge this morning on the subway and saw the American flag on top of the Brooklyn Bridge and felt different.
My sister quoted to me a great statement from President Elect Barack Hussein Obama, during the campaign. To paraphrase, she said that someone had asked him who Dr. King would have endorsed in this election. And he said that Dr. King wouldn’t have endorsed anyone, he would have put together a movement to pressure whoever took power. I agree. As Barack said, this is not the change that we have been waiting for, but an opportunity for it.
And yes I’m sure all my radical friends will have many things to say to deflate some of our euphoria at this. But to see Obama carry Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico… The southern states alone, for a black candidate for the most powerful office in the land to win in the former confederacy, with many individuals who sat in at lunch counters, rode buses and faced death against segregation and jim crow looking on, in their lifetimes, the mind just boggles. John Lewis was on MSNBC talking right after the win and he just looked, for lack of a better word, thunder-struck. Having not lived through those times I can only imagine what it must mean to have experienced the segregated south first hand, and then watch pieces of it vote for a black president.
“I just don’t know how to express myself.”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo-ijYnzn1w[/youtube]
And make no mistake about it, it was NOT the black vote which elected President Elect Obama (I just love writing that). There are not enough black people in this country to do it. Millions of white voters looked at him and saw, if not themselves, someone they could trust with their security, prosperity and future. Even if we call it purely symbolic, it is a massive, awesome event.
And I’ll put on my critical hat, and watch every move he makes to see if he fulfills his tremendous promise, tomorrow. But today…. Man. I’m so happy.
In case u missed it everywhere else in the world- here’s the latest mix effort from BK’s Uproot Andy. I saw him steal the show at S.O.B’s earlier in the summer- but this on a whole ‘nother tip. Obviously packed with technical skill  and a keen understanding of mixology- Andy isn’t afraid to just let a beautiful track fade into another or to drop his own stellar reworks. Check him with Geko at 205 (where i once tried to go see Shadetek and couldn’t get past the door man)  on Friday Sep 26th.  Go to Remezcla and click the DJ Wave flyer to register for the party. 
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Adding a little zest and balance to that sublime track/post over at mudd up! There’s never enough Balla to go round. I’m not sure what this song is really about. It is a praise song for someone named Moussa Konate (who was a driver? an apprentice? I’ll have to consult my aunt or one of my cousins) but this doesn’t sound like a traditional praise song. This music was designed to blaze dance floors. What was Conakry nightlife like in 1968 or ’71? What about Lagos? or Freetown? I have a bunch of 7 and 12 inches serving as windows, looking into the past and discovering a part of your parents that they’ve abandon a long time ago. Maybe abandon is a strong word. Either way, expect more of these in the future.
[audio:http://nyc.duttyartz.com/mp3s/BallaEtSesBalladins-Samba.mp3]
Balla Et Ses Balladins – Samba
The Chief Commander of Juju Music Ebenezer Obey is also a praise-singer, combining the rich cultural and spiritual musical traditions of Yoruba people from the Ogun State in South-Western Nigeria with the excitement of Lagos highlife and Christian themes to create melodious, dance floor music and praise songs for the wealthy, famous and the powerful. Listen for the talking drums, which you can also hear these days in NYC underground/subway drummers.
[audio:http://nyc.duttyartz.com/mp3s/EbenezerObey-OroNipaLace.mp3]
Ebenezer Obey – Oro Nipa Lace
