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Monthly Archives: December 2007
The Plug One 50 2007
PlugOneMag.com concludes 2007 with the Plug One 50, its second annual list of the year’s best albums. Continue reading
Posted in Plug One 50, Reviews
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Eric Lau reaches “New Territories”
Every year, it seems, brings a new slew of producers from overseas. In Europe, the underground beat-making scene is similar to the dance music scene, and producers crank out instrumental tracks for the nightclubs and underground radio shows, without necessarily waiting for a rapper to bless them. Add a greater willingness to experiment with different sounds, and you’ve got a world that can seem more fascinating and liberated than the U.S.’s sometimes-conservative perspective on hip-hop culture.
Eric Lau is one of those names that might be unfamiliar to U.S. listeners. He landed a track on Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Bubblers compilation; collaborated with Dudley Perkins on a well-received EP, Dudley & Friends; and produced Guilty Simpson’s excellent "For the D" that appeared on a Fat City Records compilation. His debut, New Territories, set for release on March 18 via Ubiquity Records, doesn’t contain any familiar names. See if you can recognize any in the track listing below.
Cyne makes “Pretty Dark Things”
There are few U.S. hip-hop crews more underrated than Cyne, an acronym for Cultivating Your New Experience. In fact, the Gainesville quartet is the epitome of what indie hip-hop should be: impressive beats that subtly push the envelope; thought-provoking, politicized … Continue reading
Lupe Fiasco tours for “The Cool”
It’s December 18, Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool is in stores, and the Chicago MC has been working overtime to promote it. XXL cover (albeit with nine other so-called "Leaders of the New School")? Check. "TRL"? Check. Placement on MTV’s "The Leak" a week prior to release? Check. High-profile guest spots from Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy and Snoop Dogg just so he can piss off a few Okayplayer.com conservatives? Check. TV appearances on "Rap City" and "The Sauce"? Check. Classic single on par with 2006′s "Kick, Push"? Uh, not yet.
Unlike last year, when Lupe Fiasco wasted several months on sporadic spot dates for Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor, dude has already booked a monster U.S. tour that kicks off in January. Check out the itinerary below and see if he’s hitting your town, and then — if you haven’t seen it yet — watch Hype Williams’ mock-operatic video for Lupe’s "Superstar" single.
9th Wonder brings “The Wonder Years” and “The Formula”
Durham, N.C. production wiz 9th Wonder is scheduled to kick off 2008 with two full-length albums. The first, The Wonder Years, is scheduled for a January 26 release on Asylum Records. Guests on the album include Erykah Badu, Teedra Moses, … Continue reading
Mos Def gets crackin’ with Kanye West
It’s been a long time since people have had a reason to care about Mos Def’s music. While I have a soft spot for 2004′s The New Danger, I think we can all agree that his last two albums were below his usual standards, frustrating fans who loved him during his Rawkus glory years. Reportedly, Mos Def hated being on Geffen Records, which picked up his contract after it bought Rawkus, and he may have tanked those albums in order to get out of his deal. But that’s my theory.
Mos Def has recently signed with Downtown Records, the home of Gnarls Barkley, Spank Rock and — in a joint venture with Atlantic and Vice — Justice. The tres cool label has immediately set about resuscitating Mos’ music career by placing him and Spank Rock on an official remix of Justice’s club hit "D.A.N.C.E.," which you can download at RCRD LBL. According to a story on Billboard.com, Mos Def is reuniting with West, who produced the best tracks on The New Danger.
If the album comes out next year, it will coincide nicely with Mos Def’s blossoming acting career. He currently has several films in production and one of them, Michael Gondry’s new flick Be Kind Rewind, is already penciled in for January 25. The buddy comedy, which co-stars Jack Black, is about two video store clerks who reshoot popcorn classics such as Back to the Future and Ghostbusters. 80s babies will love it.
Since there’s not much to report on Mos Def’s new album, here’s the trailer for Be Kind Rewind.
Review: Saul Williams, “The Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!”
Saul Williams and Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor unleash a cultural sneak attack in The Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!, a meditation on black identity and contradiction. Download it for free at niggytardust.com. Continue reading
Ill Insanity heads to “Ground Xero”
Turntablism, or the art of hip-hop DJ’ing, seems to be a thing of the past. True, the DMC Championships still happen once a year, and the top skratch DJs still tour profitably. But for the casual fan who loved Deep Concentration back in the 90s — or worse, were too young to remember it — they’ll probably raise an arched eyebrow when the term is mentioned. Meanwhile, plenty of onetime turntablists have switched to CDJs and mixing club tracks, sometimes with the same improvisational techniques they applied to turntablism, but more often not.
As the art of DJ’ing evolves, Rob Swift, Total Eclipse and Precision, onetime members of pioneering New York crew the X-ecutioners, have banded together to form Ill Insanity. "ILL INSANITY is the ending and beginning of something that started 18 years ago," says Rob Swift in a press release on the group’s MySpace page. "No matter what, people will always remember what the X-ecutioners contributed to Hip Hop. Therefore, comparing whatever we do now, as ILL INSANITY, to back then." He adds, "That was then and this is now… without change there’s no progress."
Ill Insanity have been spreading the word via a series of gigs in the New York area as well as Europe. They’ll release their debut, Ground Xero, on February 12.
Lyrics Born roams “Everywhere at Once”
On March 18, Lyrics Born will release his second album, Everywhere at Once. It’s his first disc since 2003′s Later That Day, and it comes via Anti-/Epitaph Records.
"Taking a new approach to recording, LB threw in everything but the kitchen sink on this one. Whether it was hiring horn and keyboard arrangers for specific songs and parts or bringing in the right MC or musician for the right song, LB took his time (not as much time as Later That Day of course) and the result is some of the best Lyrics Born music to date," reads a message posted on his official website, LyricsBorn.com. Guests on the album include Chali 2na, RJD2 and, of course, his wife and longtime collaborator Joyo Velarde.
In related news, sterling vocalist Joyo Velarde will finally release an album of her own after years spent with the Quannum crew. Love and Understanding is scheduled to drop in the spring, and Lyrics Born handles production.
The track listing for Everywhere at Once is below.
Sole & the Skyrider Band roams the land
It might seem crazy now, but way back in 1999 Anticon Records was the Animal Collective of the indie world. Nerdy backpackers studied the label’s output like paint studies a wall. And none of the sprawling crew generated as much controversy as Tim "Sole" Holland. He took on Company Flow in a classic war on wax, issued the brilliantly bitter Selling Live Water, and became the prototypical angry white "emo" rapper (alongside Slug, of course), paving the way for dozens of others to follow.
Today, whenever I mention the word Anticon to people, they kinda turn up their nose, like, "Ugh! That’s so over." (And then they go back to studying their Lil Wayne mixtapes.) But Sole’s career isn’t done by a longshot. Last year he formed a new ensemble, the Skyrider Band, and the crew issued a self-titled album. He also issued an instrumental album as Mansbestfriend, Poly.sci.187.
In January, he’s confronting his skeptics with a two month tour, and he’s taking the Skyrider Band with him. Guests include Anticon associate Telephone Jim Jesus and, on select dates, Washington, D.C. rockers the Apes. He also dropped a new video for the track "Stupid Things Implode on Themselves." Directed by Ravi Zupa, it finds a group of people wandering around the Arizona desert. Good stuff.
The tour schedule and the video is posted below.