Don’t know who Proton is? Check out this interview I did with them back in March.

Download: Proton – Red and Blue Vol. 1

Andrew Meza is an influential Los Angeles DJ and employee at Ubiquity Records. He’s also down with Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder camp. This mix was compiled for Pacifica Radio outlet KPFK-FM (90.7). For more glitch-y electronic/hip-hop mixes, check his MySpace page.

Download: BTS vs. Truthseekers Radio

Most of you have heard about this one already.

Download: Mick Boogie – The Honor Roll

This is a compilation of Black Milk’s production and emcee appearances from the past few years. The download is hosted by venerable hip-hop site HipHopDX. Pick up Black Milk’s new album Tronic when it drops on October 28.

Download: Black Milk – Elec

This is the instrumental version for Panacea’s acclaimed 2006 album Ink is My Drink. Pick up the group’s new album On a Mind On a Ship Through Time when it drops later this month.

Download: Panacea – Ink Is My Drink (instrumentals)

Washington, D.C. duo Panacea will release a new album, On a Mind on a Ship Through Time, on October 14. It’s the follow-up to The Scenic Route (featured on Plug One’s top 50 albums of 2007 along with other year-end lists.) On a Mind on a Ship Through Time also marks the the inaugural release from Tasteful Licks Records.

Some thoughts about On a Mind on a Ship Through Time courtesy of K-Murdock:

Its been just about a year to the week that we released “The Scenic Route”, and after almost 9 months hibernating, formulating and ultimately creating in the studio…

An album is BORN!!!!

Actually, me and Raw P had this album 75% done even before “The Scenic Route” dropped last fall, but Life got in the way for a bit and actually helped make this album more special. Aside from the fact its a pretty personal (and spacey) record, its also gonna be the last time we make an album for album’s sake…

THAT means, beginning with the next Panacea album (which is coming along as we speak), we will be back on our concepts and stories (a la “TSR”) which try and take listeners on sonic and psychedelic adventures!

Not to get too far ahead of ourselves, we will be focusing a lot into promoting “A Mind on a Ship…”, as we are happy to be reborn a better, more industry-savvy tandem after 2 dismal years with Rawkus. Our new launchpad for this journey is Tasteful Licks Records… home to DJ/tastemakers like Rasta Root & DJ Jamad as well our band drummer J. Laine and frequent Little Brother collaborator Zo!, who also hails from DC.

Actually, my longtime friend and the FIRST guy to let me produce a record for him- Wes Felton, is also down with TLr and appears on a very personal track for me (K-Murdock) called “Orange Penicillin”.

We got a few other surprises and treats but the formula is STLL the same: Raw P on the mic, myself on the production and Dj Damu the Fudgemunk on ALL cuts and scratches.

The album drops late October, and we will be posting more info as the date looms closer…

Ah, another Rawkus fan…

Anyway, here’s the track listing and a preview cut for Panacea’s fourth album.

• 1. “Introlude”
• 2. “Voyagers”
• 3. “Mudgreen”
• 4. “L.A. VA”
• 5. “Speak-O-Vision”
• 6. “Vandalism”
• 7. “Orange Penicilin”
• 8. “Sirens”
• 9. “Lunar Illusion”
• 10. “Chrono Trigger”
• 11. “Treasure Hunt”
• 12. “Mustard Seed Celebration”
• 13. “A Mind on a Ship”

Download: “Voyagers”

Freshly empowered by its underground success, Washington, D.C. duo Panacea is working on a remix companion to their enchanting second album The Scenic Route. Better yet, they want all you bedroom producers to get involved, too.

Set for sometime next year, The Reroute will include remixes from DJ Spinna (whose version of “Flashback to Stardom” was recently issued on a limited-edition 45-inch single), Nicolay, former Jurassic 5 producer Nu-Mark, Time Machine producer Mekalek, Thes One, and Damu the Fudgemunk (who recently made his name with MC Insight on Y Society’s Travel at Your Own Pace.) They’re also holding a remix contest.

“This contest allows beat-makers everywhere to remix ‘The Scenic Route’ – the title track from the new album, and the winner will be featured on The Reroute remix album with the studio superstars mentioned above and others yet to be announced,” it reads on Glowlikethis.com, the blog site for Panacea’s label, Glow Like This Records. A deadline for submissions hasn’t been announced yet; visit the blog for more details.

In related news, Panacea have revealed through a series of Youtube “spoilers” that The Scenic Route is actually a concept piece. I’m not going to post each explanation for every song — you can visit the group’s MySpace page yourself for that. Instead, here’s the video for “Pops Said.”

Plug One review: Panacea, The Scenic Route

www.myspace.com/panaceanmusic

Panacea
The Scenic Route
Glow-in-the-Dark

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

True to its name, the music of Panacea has an opiate smoothness. It’s bright and melodic in a way that few other avowed true-school acts can achieve. It sounds lighter than air, as if the group were pushing its arrangements into the atmosphere.

On The Scenic Route the Washington, D.C. doesn’t necessarily change its formula from Ink is My Drink, last year’s full-length rookie effort. Instead, the group pushes its aesthetic to the extreme, achieving the equivalent of a hip-hop quiet storm. Other groups dabble in neo-soul-like sonics, of course, but producer K-Murdock introduces a New Age element that makes his tracks sound jazzy and ambient. Think of it as a meeting between Wes Montgomery, George Winston and Boards of Canada. The title track in particular is reminiscent of mid-90s rap group the Nonce.

With such a dynamic background to rhyme over, MC Raw Poetic twists some nice lyrics. “Summer time and six o’clock’s about the hour/My afternoon white russian has got me louder/My house I’m walking out of with a pick in my hair/Rapping to a beat inside of me that no one can hear,” he says on “Epiphany.” But his voice, cool and even, sometimes gets lost amidst K-Murdock’s cumulus beats. On “Bubble,” he tries to weave an abstract lyric as K-Murdock crafts a bouncy, bassy rhythm overlaid with psychedelic effects. The track is so magnificent it’s easy to ignore what Raw Poetic is talking about. It’s one of hip-hop’s odd ironies: sometimes the most lyrically astute rappers have the least distinctive voices, while mainstream rappers with nothing to say speak in unforgettable tones.

Nevertheless, The Scenic Route has some great songs, among them “Bubble,” “Square 1″ and “Pops Said.” If the tracks tend to meld into one another, it’s only because Panacea works with admirable consistency. Still, it will be interesting if the group can evolve beyond these early triumphs, or become — much like Boards of Canada — a one-trick pony with a much-loved but predictable sound.

Last year, Washington D.C. duo Panacea gave a pleasant surprise in the form of Ink is My Drink. The album was part standard-issue backpack rap, but it had a wonderful dreamlike quality, like the musical equivalent of Margaret Brown’s Goodnight Moon, or a B-boy version of Carole King’s “Chicken Soup and Rice.”

Producer K-Murdock and MC Raw Poetic will bring back its Christopher Cross-styled hip-hop with The Scenic Route. Set for release on September 4 via Glow-in-the-Dark (which enjoys a distribution deal with Rawkus), the sophomore disc takes Panacea’s panacean qualities to gauzy extremes, and soul dynamo Raheem DeVaughn makes an appearance. “It’s really dynamic this time around. I consider it my masterpiece,” says K-Murdock in a press releae. “If you want to get away, but can’t afford the vacation, this is for you.” The track listing for The Scenic Route is below.

• 1. “Intro”
• 2. “The Scenic Route”
• 3. “Flashback to Stardom” (feat. Raheem DeVaughn)
• 4. “Pops Said”
• 5. “Epiphany”
• 6. “Between Earth and Sky”
• 7. “Bubble”
• 8. “Square 1″
• 9. “Blue Ice”
• 10. “Walk in the Park”
• 11. “Aim High”
• 12. “Katana”
• 13. “One Shine”
• 14. “Outro”

www.colorfulstorms.com
www.myspace.com/panaceanmusic
www.myspace.com/neosonicprod
www.myspace.com/rawpoetic