In late 2007, Jneiro Jarel and Khujo Goodie announced they were recording together under the guise Willie Isz; they subsequently leaked several well-circulated tracks on the Internet. Now comes the full length.

Georgiavania is a notable departure for Jarel, best known for his pioneering beat production under a variety of pseudonyms, including Dr Who Dat (through which he dropped the digital album Beyond Tomorrow earlier this year). Meanwhile, it reintroduces Khujo to rap fans who mostly associate him with the great Southern rap group Goodie Mob.The title Georgiavania is a hybrid of Jarel’s hometown Pennsylvania and Khujo’s native Georgia.

Willie Isz’s Georgiavania drops in June on Lex Records. The above image, illustrated by James Jarvis is from the promo sampler; it’s unclear if it will be used for the album. (May 15 update: The new release date is June 16 has been changed again to June 30.)

Here’s more from the bio:

The central concept and inspiration at the heart of the album is an imaginary 51st US state named Georgiavania. The original, cherished yet often forgotten constitutional values of hip-hop are celebrated with Willie Isz keeping it braggadocio, street smart and straight-up banging throughout. However, in this new, near-utopian territory the tired hiphop cliches of the past – swearing, sexism, homophobia, drug and gun talk – have been banished allowing a newfound, refreshing honesty and openness to prevail. In Georgiavania’s post-hip-hop paradise Willie Isz combine Southern hip-hop styles such as Crunk and Snap music with rock and psychedelia-infused influences, and the duo consciously avoided sampling in favour of live instrumentation and a super-fresh sound.

Here’s the tentative track listing. I’ll update it if more information becomes available.

• 1. “Willie Intro”
• 2. “Blast Off”
• 3. “Georgiavania”
• 4. “Loner”
• 5. “Gawn Jet” (feat. Tunde Adebimpe)
• 6. “I Didn’t Mean To”
• 7. “U Want Some?”
• 8. “Prepare Fo It (Spiritual Gladiators)”
• 9. “The Grussle”
• 10. “Violet Heart Box”
• 11. “Autopilot”
• 12. “Shine”
• 13. “In The Red”

As many of you already know, Lex Records will release DOOM’s new album Born Like This on March 24. Here’s the usual bio excerpt:

Mask-wearing hip-hop maverick DOOM (previously MF Doom) unveils his imminent new album, BORN LIKE THIS – a tour de force of thrillingly intricate and diabolically original songwriting. …

As well as head-spinningly complex, reference-rich rhymes, DOOM also provides the majority of the peerless production himself with just 2 tracks here featuring the studio skills of others. Credit for crafting the bouncies of beats on short yet sweet BALLSKIN goes to Washington’s Jake One, whilst the much-missed J Dilla’s magical psychedelic jamboree illuminates LIGHTWORKS. Guest vocalists include founding Wu Tang Clan members Ghostface and Raekwon, with the former appropriately appearing in his cartoon-inspired Tony Starks guise. BORN LIKE THIS takes its title from Charles Bukowski’s dystopian poem, ‘Dinosauria, We’, read by its author and re-scored by DOOM on CELLZ. Sharp-eared followers of the interesting end of hip-hop may recognize some of the album’s lineage – the instrumental of LIGHTWORKS is a highlight of J Dilla’s Donuts and an early demo of ANGELZ has circulated in cyberspace – however, the rest of the newborn record’s 16 tracks are 100% fresh and, until now, unheard.

• 1. Supervillain Intro
• 2. Gazillion Ear
• 3. Ballskin
• 4. Yessir! (feat. Raekwon)
• 5. Absolutely
• 6. Rap Ambush
• 7. Lightworks
• 8. Batty Boys
• 9. Angelz (feat. Tony Starks, Raekwon & Paloma Faith)
• 9. Cellz
• 10. Still Dope (feat. Empress Sharhh)
• 11. Microwave Mayo
• 12. More Rhymin’ (feat. Kurious)
• 13. That’s That
• 14. Supervillainz
• 15. Bumpy’s Message
• 16. Thank Yah

DOOM, “Ballskin”

Last weekend, Jneiro Jarel dropped this little surprise via a MySpace post:

Lyrisict and producer Jneiro Jarel has been working under a lot of pseudonyms and aliases since he joined Lex… Four out of five members of his group Shape of Broad Minds were infact just JJ.

His debut Alter-ego was the illusive producer Dr Who Dat? haling from the tropical coast of Viberia, his Brazilian funk influenced album Beat Journey remains an instrumental hip hop classic – a must have for fans of Jneiro, Boards, Dilla, Fly-Lo.

Almost 3 years later, the sequel is here: Beyond 2Morrow is out worldwide as a digital download-only release next today in europe and this Tue in the US.

The new instrumental EP, which Jneiro has been previewing on MySpace, is available via Lex Records on iTunes and Amazon.com. The track listing is below.

• 1. “Lurk”
• 2. “Jaws of Clover”
• 3. “Space Balls”
• 4. “Lace & Candy”
• 5. “Dr. 400,000,000″
• 6. “JJ-Tron”
• 7. “Bumpy Bump Face”
• 8. “Cosmic Congo”
• 9. “Nights Over Nantes/Brakes”
• 10. “Viberian Twilight”
• 11. “Beyond 2morrow”
• 12. “Dark Moon/Cafe”
• 13. “Ghetto Dreaming”

Download: “Beyond 2morrow”

Download: “Lace & Candy”

Subtle has maintained an uncategorizable, wildly artistic identity since Dose One and Jel from Anticon formed the group with musicians Dax Pierson, Jordan Dalrymple, Alexander Kort and Marty Dowers in 2001. Similar to TV on the Radio, the group uses pop and rock as springboards into sonic adventurism, led by Dose One’s mix of beat poetry, singing and freestyle raps.

“ExitingARM is a post-modern pop opus that’s crafted with the production sensibility of hip-hop and a prog/krautrock sense of collective composition,” reads a bio for Exiting ARM. “Subtle emboldens its sound with a unique songwriting style that’s loaded with fully developed characters and ongoing storylines, for an engrossing blend of prose and comic book imagery.”

The track listing for ExitingARM is below.

• 1. “ExitingARM”
• 2. “Day Dangerous”
• 3. “The No”
• 4. “Sick Soft Perfection”
• 5. “Hollow Hollered”
• 6. “The Crow”
• 7. “Unlikely Shock Rock”
• 8. “Take to Take”
• 9. “Gonebones”
• 10. “Wanted Found”
• 11. “Providence”

www.subtlesix.net
www.myspace.com/subtlesix

In October, experimental unit Subtle will revisit last year’s wondrously dynamic For Hero: For Fool with Yell & Ice. Similar to Prefuse 73 and his “remix EPs” that follow every album; Subtle reworks much of the material on For Hero with guests. (They used the same tactic for their 2004 album, A New White, with Wishingbone.)

“Both ‘wishingbone’ and ‘yell&ice’ were fashioned to further explore Subtle’s conceptual protagonist, Hour Hero yes, while creating a medium for the band’s love of collaborative music making,” wrote the band in a MySpace post. “Unlike a typical collection of remixes, ‘yell&ice’ utterly reapproaches the lyrics and music of ‘for hero: for fool.’ In order to better suit the pallette and prowess of each respective collaborator, poems were rewritten, sounds resampled, and time signatures unlocked. Then these songbones were sent to our collaborators/confidantes who then rewrote, sang, and sequenced to the tune of their talents.”

Guests on Yell & Ice, which comes out via Lex Records/EMI, include Tunde Adebimpe from TV on the Radio, Dan Boeckner from Wolf Parade, Markus Acher from the Notwist, and Chris Adams from Hood. Subtle continues to work on its next album for a 2008 release. Before then, they’ll play several shows this fall, including a string of dates with Seattle indie-rock band Minus the Bear.

Tour dates are below.

• 8/03: The Casbah, San Diego, CA
• 8/04: The Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA
• 8/06: Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, OR
• 8/07: Chop Suey, Seattle, WA
• 8/08: Richards on Richards, Vancouver, BC
• 8/09: Lucky Bar, Victoria, BC
• 8/11: Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA
• 9/23: Service Station, Spokane, WA
• 9/24: Badlanders, Missoula, MT
• 9/26: The Abbey, Chicago, IL
• 9/27: St. Andrew’s Hall, Detroit, MI
• 9/28: Grog Shop, cleveland OH
• 9/29: Diesel, Pittsburgh, PA
• 9/30: Tralf Music Hall, Buffalo, NY
• 10/01: Opera House, Toronto, ON
• 10/02: TBA, Montreal, QC
• 10/03: Middle East, Boston, MA
• 10/04: Middle East, Boston, MA
• 10/05: Warsaw, Brooklyn, NY
• 10/06: Irving Plaza, New York, NY
• 10/07: Starland Ballroom, Sayerville, NJ
• 10/08: Theatre of Living Arts, Philadelphia, PA
• 10/10: Black Cat, Washington, DC
• 10/12: Pilot Light, Knoxville, TN
• 10/13: Drunken Unicorn, Atlanta, GA
• 10/15: Emo’s, Austin, TX
• 10/17: Plush. Tucson, AZ

8/03-8/11: w/Thee More Shallows
9/23-10/10: w/Minus the Bear

www.subtle6.com
www.myspace.com/subtlesix

After much MySpace hype, hard-working New York producer-rapper Omar Gilyard is debuting his latest creation: Shape of Broad Minds. The man known as Jneiro Jarel has assembled a supporting cast that includes Atlanta rapper Panama Black, Houston multi-instrumentalist Jawwaad and, schizophrenically, a few alternate Jneiro personalities named Rocque Wun and Dr. Who Dat.

The group’s first release is The Blue Experience EP, a teaser that hits July 17 and features the lead single “Let’s Go” with MF Doom. After that comes Craft of the Lost Art, a long player featuring guest appearances from Count Bass D, Lil Sci, Stacy Epps and Deborah Jordan. It arrives via Lex Records on September 4, and the track listing is below.

“It’s basically Jneiro Jarel plus,” he told the Chicago Sun-Times earlier this year. “When you have one name, people expect whatever they’ve heard from you in the past. But if you go by these different aliases, they know to expect [different styles] from you.”

• 1. “Gorilla Mash”
• 2. “Light Years Away”
• 3. “Let’s Go” (feat. DOOM)
• 4. “Changes”
• 5. “Nahuma (interlude)”
• 6. “OPR8R”
• 7. “BuddaFly Away”
• 8. “Unnamed”
• 9. “It Lives On” (feat. Count Bass D)
• 10. “So Much (Chaos)” (feat. Lil Sci)
• 11. “Buzz Around Town”
• 12. “They Don’t Know” (feat. Stacy Epps)
• 13. “Bopper Blocker”
• 14. “Electric Blue”
• 15. “Mermaid (Outro)”
• 16. “It Aint Dead!!”
• 17. “Beast From Da East”
• 18. “Lullabanger (Thelonious Dedication)”
• 19. “Viberian Sun”
• 20. “There 4 Me”
• 21. “Stiff Robots & Drunken Horses”
• 22. “Solo (Underwater)” (feat. Deborah Jordan)
• 23. “12C”

www.myspace.com/shapeofbroadminds

Cutting-edge British imprint Lex Records has unveiled its lineup for 2007. On deck for new albums are Jneiro Jarel, Kid Acne, Neon Neon (a collaboration between Super Furry Animals leader Gruff Rhys and Boom Bip) and Fog. None of them have release dates, but are slated to come out during the next several months.

Lex also holds UK rights to the highly anticipated Ghostface Killah and MF Doom collabo, Swift & Changeable. The album has been delayed for nearly a year, undoubtedly to the politics involved in dropping an independent album by two of hip-hop’s most coveted artists. But everyone promises that it will finally come out this year. Nature Sounds has the U.S. rights, but Lex’s version should entice American trainspotters who like its amazing album covers. The label also hints that a new Danger Doom EP similar to last year’s Occult Hymn will soon arrive.

Londonite Kid Acne is better established as an aerosol artist; you may have seen deluxe copies of his comic book Zebra Face in your friendly neighborhood scenester shop. Similar to REQ, another graff writer who tinkers with music, he puts out records on his imprint Invisible Spies. (He also appeared on REQ’s Car Paint Scheme). Kid Acne’s stuff is raw, punky and abrasive like Beastie Boys or Edan. After appearing on the Lexoleum compilation, he’s making a proper Lex debut with Romance Ain’t Dead.

Philly MC/producer Jneiro Jarel dropped the underrated Beat Journey last year under Dr. Who Dat. For this project he’s assembled a collective called Shape of Broad Minds. Its members include his many aliases (Panama Black, Dr. Who Dat, Mel Owens and Rocque Wun) and actual people (Jawwaad Taylor and Capital Peoples). The future soul offering includes guests such as Count Bass D, Q-Tip, MF Doom, John Robinson, Deborah Jordon and Micah Gaugh.

Neon Neon, as reported elsewhere, brings together acclaimed producer Boom Bip and singer-songwriter Gruff Rhys (who appeared on Boom Bip’s Blue Eyed in the Red Room). The guest list for this one includes Kudu, the Magic Numbers, Spank Rock, Yo Majesty and Fat Lip. “The project is based on the life and times of John Delorean and goes in and out of electro-pop to steady bouncing beats,” writes Boom Bip on his MySpace page.

Finally there’s former turntablist-turned-indie-rock troubadour Fog, whose supporters include MF Doom, Dose One and Kid Koala. Once a pseudonym for Andrew Broder, Fog is now a full-fledged trio including Mark Erickson and Tim Glenn. Like their fellow Lex artists, Fog’s upcoming Ditherer features plenty of esteemed guests such as Why?, Low, Andrew Bird, Dosh and the Pedestrian.

www.lexrecords.com
www.myspace.com/lexrecords