Shawn Jackson, Brand New Old Me
Tres Records

Shawn Jackson’s second album riffs on underground striver themes: surviving the mean streets of “Lah City,” toking on “purple swishas,” taking “Starget Practice,” and going on “T!LT.” The beats explore well-worn niches, too, from K-Salaam & Beatnick’s Kanye-styled chipmunk soul (“Good Writtens”) to Beat Maker Beat’s future soul funk (“Izichu”). The L.A. rapper negotiates these paths with aplomb, but his lyrics often reveal a disarming vulnerability. On the title track, he admits, “Lately I’ve been living with this monkey on my back/ Put my soul into the music but no money for the tracks.” Jackson has a nice flow, but he may have trouble standing out amidst the blogosphere’s mass of rappers that have also mastered the technique of rhyming, if not necessarily the trickier art of songwriting. Brand New Old Me presents his modest strides forward in the latter department.

Rapper/producer Big Tone will release his second album The Art Of Ink on Tres Records. The album will drop digitally March 17, and then via CD and vinyl (alas, no cassettes) on April 14. A lead 12-inch single, “Business” comes out on February 24. Guests include the ever-present Blu, Ta’Raach, Guilty Simpson and Breezly Brewin from the Juggaknots.

Here’s part of the bio:

2005 marked a breakout year for Big Tone as a producer. Behind the boards, Tone produced his first full length international release on ABB Records entitled, “The Drought”. Trademarked by the gritty chopped drum breaks and mangled soul samples, The Drought displays Tone’s gift to create instrumental backdrops as visual as the rhymes over them. The opportunity to travel, perform, produce, and collaborate with artists on a worldwide level helped to broaden Tone’s perspective as well as his vision. A decision to relocate to New York played a role in this development. Bonds made in the Big Apple, as well as strong ties in California with labels such as ABB and Tres Records have given Tone coast-to-coast recognition. Given his early success and promising future, Tone launched his production imprint, Mojoe Music System, LLC. “Mojoe is a celebration of the artistic lifestyle,” Tone explains. From the music, the preservation of culture, the appreciation of art, Mojoe Music System is about pushing the creative envelope. “The music is what makes everything else we do cool, and everything else we do is what we inspires our music,” Tone explains. That statement is the very definition of hip-hop. That statement is the very definition of Big Tone.

• 1. “Skin Deep” (feat. Monica Blaire)
• 2. “Business”
• 3. “Pedigree” (feat. Guilty Simpson)
• 4. “Scapegoat”
• 5. “Paid, Laid, and Played”
• 6. “A Song Called Triumph” (feat. Blu)
• 7. “Chocolate” (feat. L’Renee)
• 8. “The Look” (feat. Ta’raach & Phoenix)
• 9. “Squo”
• 10. “Broken Logos” (feat. Breeze Brewin)
• 11. “Folktale”
• 12. “Peace, Progress, God Bless”

I’ll work it out eventually. In the meantime, enjoy the reviews and buy the vinyl.

Y Society, “At My Own Pace” (Tres Records, TR396-038)

“At My Own Pace” comes from the underrated Insight and Damu the Fudgemunk, together known as Y Society. Insight is a dope producer in his own right, but he sticks to fast rapping on “At My Own Pace” and “What’s Next” while Damu works the beats. There’s also a non-LP bonus instrumental, “Peace I’m Out The Door,” where Damu works a nice, soulful vibe reminiscent of the Chocolate Boy Wonder. It’s a good sampler for kids who slept on Y Society’s Travel At Your Own Pace album last year.

Johnson&Jonson, “Mama Told Me” (Tres Records, TR396-049)

This 12-inch culls two tracks from the ever-popular Blu & Mainframe collabo. The A-side, “Mama Told Me,” is a typical Blu slang-spitter, where he rhymes about growing up as a young player in L.A. “Cleaning off my fat pumps and my PE clothes/Watching as my pop’s partners walk with a G stroll/Pulling out his cake, and I swore he had three rolls/Damn, I want to be like those guys, the Negroes.” For the oft-blogged-about “Hold On John,” Blu offers social commentary over a thoughtful sample from John Lennon’s “Hold On John.” However, DJs will prefer the A-side with Mainframe’s chummy, horn-fed soul. As an extra bonus, Mainframe drops a non-album bonus instrumental, a bumptious soul swinger that recalls Motown in its 60s glory.

Shawn Jackson, “Maan Up!” (Tres Records, TR396-053)

“Maan Up!” was arguably the best cut from Shawn Jackson’s (tk) last year, and it gets pole position here. Ta’Raach’s beat is both melodic and girded in propulsive bass and drums; it’s a nice combination that manages to transcend easy J Dilla comparisons. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for “Here We Go Again,” producer Exile’s non-album cut. “Fix Ya Face,” a lovely and tipsy stroller helmed by newcomers Jack Sample Pros, ends this one on a up note.

With albums from Blu (C.R.A.C. and Johnson&Jonson), Giant Panda and Shawn Jackson, Tres Records is definitely on the move this year. Next up for the L.A. imprint: a collaboration between Newman from Giant Panda and Mr. Jackson as New Jack Hustle. The duo’s album Sound Check drops October 21.

A note from the bio:

Sound Check is debut album from New Jack Hustle, with Newman handling all the production and helping on the raps, leaving Shawn Jackson to bless the production. …

Standout tracks include ‘Lionel,’ centering around an elastic beat and Latin atmosphere, “New Shades”‘s throbbing vibe and Shawn Jackson’s chant esq. rhymes, and “Ronald’s” breezy, chill educing [sic] beat countered by the political observant rhymes of Shawn Jackson and Vursatyl.

• 1. “First Newport”
• 2. “Theme Music”
• 3. “More”
• 4. “Inglewood”
• 5. “Sooner or Later”
• 6. “Lionel” (feat. Ohmega Watts)
• 7. “New Shades”
• 8. “Surprise”
• 9. “Wow”
• 10. “Saturday Night”
• 11. “Sunday Morning”
• 12. “Ronald” (feat. Vursatyl from Lifesavas)
• 13. “Last Newport”

Blu may be one of the hottest MCs in indie hip-hop. The Los Angeles rapper’s debut with DJ Exile, Below the Clouds, was one of the best albums of 2007. Another project with Ta’Raach, C.R.A.C.’s The Piece Talks, generated serious buzz upon its release in April. And now dude is set to release a new project with producer Mainframe called Johnson&Jonson.

Much like The Piece Talks, Johnson&Jonson’s self-titled effort, set for release September 23 on Tres Records, finds Blu at his shit-talking best. The album initially leaked last year under the title Powders and Oils. “Blu recorded all three projects (Below the Heavens, C.R.A.C. and Johnson&Jonson), during a similar time period,” reads a press release for the album. “Intended as a mixtape for Below the Heavens, Johnson&Jonson is a project filled with fun, wit, and experience told by an emerging hip hop star, while living and recording the project in Long Beach, CA.”

• 1. “Finally”
• 2. “Up All Night”
• 3. “Half A Knot”
• 4. “Mama Always Told Me”
• 5. “Go For The Gusto Room” (feat. Bo Bo Lamb)
• 6. “Wow”
• 7. “The Only Way”
• 8. “In The Building” (feat. Miguel Jontel)
• 9. “Bout It Bout It”
• 10. “Get The Name Straight”
• 11. “Long Time Gone”
• 12. “Still Up All Night” (feat. Co$$ Dollars)
• 13. “Perfect Picture”
• 14. “Anything Is Possible” (feat. Gonja Sufi)
• 15. “The Oath”

www.myspace.com/herfavcolor
www.myspace.com/jandjbabyproducts

True school trio Giant Panda is preparing to release its second album, Electric Laser, via Tres Records on May 20.

The music, in keeping with the times, is slightly different from the sun-dappled West Coast beats of the group’s 2005 debut, Fly School Reunion. Like everybody else, they’ve gone slightly electro, using lots of synths and mid-80s rhythms to spiff things up. Thankfully, though, they don’t come off as post-millennial hip-house, to borrow a phrase from a writer satirizing the 80s babies generation’s increasingly ridiculous diet for electro/new rave sounds.

“The production, foremost, is in many ways its predecessor, and yet it isn’t,” reads the press bio for Electric Laser. “Rather, thick, electro-fused samples are laced deep in the cuts of this record providing a much more futuristic but very present musical landscape. … Overall Electric Laser is a step forward for Giant Panda, but still honors its true school mentality for its original fans.”

Wow…I couldn’t have described it better myself! If that sounds appealing to you, then check out the track listing below.

• 1. “Laser Beam (Scotty’s Theme)”
• 2. “Justin Case”
• 3. “Ready to Fly”
• 4. “Speakers Pop”
• 5. “AIM”
• 6. “Laser Ray”
• 7. “Precise Calculator”
• 8. “Same Old $#!+”
• 9. “CinemaX”
• 10. “Pops”
• 11. “Let it Go”
• 12. “Do the Robot in Cyberspace”
• 13. “Speakers Funk”

www.myspace.com/giantpanda

Photo by Eric Coleman.

“C.R.A.C. is an acronym for Collect Respect Anna Check, a name and idealism representing the movement of like-minded musicians, artists, and producers for a structural change in previous stratifications of power and belief systems,” reads a press release. “Produced by Detroit’s finest, Ta’Raach, the musical landscape is reminiscent to early Bomb Squad productions complimented by the left-field humor and sensitivity similar to the work of Prince Paul for De La Soul.”

Some Internet nerds are already familiar with the C.R.A.C. sound. Two songs, “Love Don’t” and “Bullet Through Me” have circulated online for the past few weeks. The rest of the track listing, which you’ll find below, reveals a song-naming process as imaginative as their somewhat cryptic name (which is pronounced crass, by the way). Have a gander.

• 1. “What Up (Part 2)”
• 2. “Buy Me Lunch”
• 3. “Love Don’t”
• 4. “Major Way”
• 5. “Activate (Too…)”
• 6. “CRACHAUSE”
• 7. “Respect”
• 8. “Pop Dem Boyz”
• 9. “2.16.05″
• 10. “Mr. Big Fizz”
• 11. “Chill”
• 12. “Hello?!”
• 13. “Go!”
• 14. “Activate (As Well)”
• 15. “Bullet Through Me”
• 16. “Cotton”

Plug One review: Ta’Raach, The Fevers

www.myspace.com/cracknuckles

Tres presents Shipping and Handling
Tres Records

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Tres Records is being nice. With the release of Shipping and Handling, the L.A. imprint unleashes all of the B-sides, rarities and remixes it previously released exclusively on wax. As the number of fans familiar with the phrases “pitch adjustment” and “tone arm” continues to dwindle, the elitist vinyl collector mentality may have begun to pinch the label’s pocketbooks. With Serato as an option, even DJs are becoming apt to purchase MP3 as opposed to vinyl. Whether it’s a smart business move or a way to look out for their fans, the bottom line is that Tres is spreading the love by releasing this double disc compilation.

To kick the whole set off, co-founder and flagship artist Thes One from People Under the Stairs delivers “Noonen,” a track inspired by the Caddyshack character. A floating sample phases in and out over the head jerking drum break, and Thes One delivers lyrics on how life has changed in his elder years in the hip hop world: “So the moral, I’m getting up at eight o’clock/Come on Noonen, you getting older, gotta stop/So I’m setting the clock for sunrise/And whatever lies ahead/I’m facing it by getting outta bed.” Another track to check for is Lightheaded’s “Surprise Cypher II.” Here, production credit goes to new school powerhouse Ohmega Watts as he masterfully reworks the same Minnie Ripperton sample A Tribe Called Quest tapped for “Lyrics to Go.” Ta’Raach, an MC with a gully approach to his beats and rhymes, gets his time to shine on tracks such as “Yeah” and the David Axelrod bass-laden “Heaven.” The Detroit native’s style nicely offsets the lighter, backpacker-esque sounds of his fellow Tres artists, rounding out the compilation and offering a little something for everybody.

– James O’Connor