The Wrap Up: RIAA’s coming to get ya

Posted on December 22, 2008 by plugoneboss

riaa_logo

Tis’ the season for slow news cycles:

  • RIAA pledges to stop suing MP3 traders, plans to cut off their Internet access instead (online.wsj.com)
  • Scarface becomes latest rapper to claim “retirement” (sohh.com)
  • Quannum and Reebok team up for Darfur benefit (quannum.com)
  • Will.iam uses “Yes I Can” Obama video to promote Black Eyed Peas’ upcoming album on Tavis Smiley’s talk show (hiphopdx.com)
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Review: Common, “Universal Mind Control”

Posted on December 21, 2008 by plugoneboss

universal-mind-control

Common
Universal Mind Control
Geffen

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

Universal Mind Control may be the worst album of Common’s career, but it’s not for the reasons you’d think. It’s not bad because Common plays with the electro-funk sound that has overtaken dance clubs. There’s a need for a hip-hop artist to bring integrity to a sub-genre that, until now at least, has been overrun by filthy-mouthed party rappers (see Uffie, Spank Rock, etc.) What if an MC of Common’s caliber not only rhymed over a Lifelike beat, but also brought “The Corner”-style lyricism? He could have brought back the hip-house peak of the late 80s, a time when EPMD and Stetsasonic flirted with house beats, by making fun and intelligent party tracks. And it’s not as if he hasn’t explored that territory before, as his back catalog includes a fresh guest appearance on Armand Van Helden’s “Full Moon.”

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Myka 9 in “1969”

Posted on December 20, 2008 by plugoneboss

myka-9_todd-non-stop

Myka 9, former member of the influential crew Freestyle Fellowship, has a new album called 1969. It’s set for release on January 13 via Fake Four Inc.

Myka 9 (or Mikah Nine, Myka Nine, etc.) is an elusive and eccentric member of Los Angeles’ underground scene. He has released several solo albums, including 2006’s Citrus Sessions, that rarely traveled beyond a small, devoted fan base. His biggest appearances this decade have been on others’ recordings, notably Prefuse 73’s classic Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives and Daedelus, Busdriver and Radioinactive’s The Weather.

Here’s a brief description from the press release:

Legendary Freestyle Fellowship cofounder Myka 9 and Fake Four Records are readying a hip-hop release infused with soul, funk, and even disco for 2009 called 1969. Not since 1993’s “Park Bench People”, a classic joint detailing Myka’s own struggle with homelessness, has this LA emcee created such personal and poignant album. 1969, the year of Myka’s birth, is a nostalgic trip filled with references to the culture and sounds of Motown, hippies, psychedelics, choppers and Cadillacs– things that surrounded him throughout his early childhood. Guest appearances on 1969 include his Project Blowed comrades Aceyalone, Busdriver, and Awol One.

Myka says of his inspiration to get back into the studio recently: “Maybe it has something to do with being older and wiser. I got a lot of ideas. I feel it’s time to share these concepts with others.”

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Late Pass: Buck 65’s “Dirtbike”

Posted on December 17, 2008 by plugoneboss

buck-65_myspace

Earlier this year, between August and October, Buck 65 issued a trilogy of works called Dirtbike directly to the Internet. Why am I only writing about this now? Because I know and hear about a lot of music, but I don’t know everything.

Ah, but I digress. Dirtbike, according to Buck 65’s notes on his website, consists of three parts, each of which lasts around an hour. The first and third edition appear to have been released as a long, single-track MP3s, much like his 2000 album Man Overboard. Dirtbike 2 is available as both a single MP3 and several individual tracks.

For the Dirtbike series, Buck 65 recruited an impressive list of collaborators. Buddy Peace, D-Styles, Jel from Themselves/Subtle, Moka Only, Mia Clarke (formerly of Electrelane), Dose One, Cadence Weapon, Sage Francis and Skratch Bastid (who produced Buck 65’s 2007 album Situation) are only a few of the contributors. The music ranges from throwback hip-hop to stylized spoken-word pieces and covers of old country and blues songs.

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New Myuzyk compilation features 2tall, Buddy Peace

Posted on December 17, 2008 by plugoneboss

twisting-the-frame_advert

British netlabel Myuzyk has released a new compilation called Twisting the Frame. Here’s a brief description:

In the making and delayed for over two years, this collection of free thinking progressions and mutations of hip hop is here at last. Compiled by Long Distance Dan via various sources of talent it draws in producers and artists with something different to offer. Twisting The Frame delves into the leftfield, takes you through sounds from multiple subgenres with intrumentals and vocal tracks.

Twisting the Frame mostly consists of unknown producers: it’s most prominent names include 2tall (who issued an album with Dudley Perkins and Georgia Anne Muldrow), Buddy Peace (who has worked with Sage Francis and Buck 65) and Remdog (who has worked with Mike Ladd through his Reptiles alias). So it’s a fairly underground endeavor. But hey, you never know who will turn out to be the next Flying Lotus.

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Filastine launches “Dirty Bomb”

Posted on December 16, 2008 by plugoneboss

dirty-bomb

On February 1, Barcelona, Spain producer Filastine will make drop his second album Dirty Bomb via DJ/Rupture’s Soot Records. Much like DJ/rupture, Filastine’s musical style incorporates various sounds — dub, breakbeat, dancehall, ambient electronics and hip-hop — into an exotic, difficult to categorize blend. Here’s a bit from the press release:

With his sophmore album, Dirty Bomb, Filastine returns with a gritty transnational soundclash of urban rhythm. Freely splicing dubstep with balkan brass or hiphop with bollywood, Dirty Bomb parties in the mud puddle of our increasingly polluted world. Kick drums beat out rapid patterns for dances yet to be invented. Rich acoustic strings merge with programmed synths. Bits of field recordings and radio static degrade the signal. Each featured voice is sourced from an on-site collaboration. Over the contorted crunk of “Hungry Ghosts” rap aboriginal Australian Wire mc and Japan’s ECD, underground rap icons of their respective countries. Closing the albums is teen gypsy La Perla, recorded in a squatted cave in Andalusia.

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P.O.S. tours with Doomtree

Posted on December 15, 2008 by plugoneboss

pos_danmonick

P.O.S. has announced the first of what will undoubtedly be many tours in 2009. The concerts, in support of his upcoming album Never Better, take place in February and feature several comrades from his Doomtree crew, including Sims, Mictlan, Lazerbeak and Hand Over Fist.

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Odd Couple: Busy P and Murs

Posted on December 15, 2008 by plugoneboss

murs_jill-aquino

Here’s an incongruous pairing: Ed Banger Records producer Busy P and Murs the Living Legend together on “To Protect and Entertain.” Murs’ punchy raps and Busy P’s patented electro-funk beats makes for a oddly appealing and funky mix. Meanwhile, Murs rhymes about making out with girls high on coke and E, which is what usually happens when a hardcore rap kid goes to a rave. The track is kinda dope, though.

Here’s “To Protect and Entertain,” which appears on the new Ed Rec Vol. III compilation.

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Warp loves labels

Posted on December 15, 2008 by plugoneboss

From today, December 15 until December 24, Warp Records is offering a free download via its MP3 site, Bleep.com. Titled Bleep Loves…Labels, the 11 track collection features contributions from new signee Hudson Mohawke, 4 Hero side project Visioneers, rising downtempo producers Lone and 2 Tall, electro-disco-whatever producers Boyz Noize and others. It highlights the many underground labels which Bleep carries in addition to Warp; and the fact that all of Bleep’s MP3s come without DRM restrictions (unlike iTunes and Amazon.com).

Here’s how the site puts it:

“Bleep Loves… Labels” is an exclusive FREE compilation hand picked by the Bleep staff to showcase a variety of sounds from this medley of forward-thinking labels. Moving from the some of the hottest electronic beatscapers around right up to Eastern European electric blues funk and folk-prog-rock workouts; this compilation gives an insight into the depths of Bleep’s catalogue.

Update: Bleep Loves Labels has been rescheduled for February. No word on whether it will have a new or different track listing. Check the comments section for more information.

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The Wrap Up: Hamiltonization week

Posted on December 15, 2008 by plugoneboss

charles-hamilton

Last week’s hip-hop news bits, both relevant and irrelevant:

December 15 update:

  • NBC’s forthcoming Late Night With Jimmy Fallon hires the Roots as its full-time band (okayplayer.com)
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Mr. Lif heads on tour

Posted on December 12, 2008 by plugoneboss

mr-lif_jason-messer

I’ve been scratching my head over Mr. Lif’s forthcoming album I Heard It Today. It was apparently supposed to come out on January 20, the day of President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration, but has apparently been pushed back — to which month? I don’t know. Also, when Lif first announced the project in December, he planned to release several songs from the album as digital singles. Here’s how the press release described it:

Presented in a completely unprecedented manner, Mr. Lif will write and release 1-2 songs every three weeks until Election Day (November 4), following which Mr. Lif will release one more single based on his post electoral thoughts. This single will preface the release of the I Heard It Today (Bloodbot Tactical Enterprises) full length on Inauguration Day (January 20, 2009). The album will feature additional unreleased tracks and corresponding artwork.

So far, however, only three singles have been released: “I Heard It Today,” “Welcome To The World” and “The Sun.” He didn’t put out an election day single, which is too bad because I would have loved to hear his lyrical take on it. (He has, however, blogged about post-election issues on the Definitive Jux website.) And, as said before, it’s unknown when the entire project will drop. It’s all very confusing.

What is clear, however, is that Mr. Lif will definitely tour next year. Here are the initial dates; as usual, I will update the itinerary if it changes.

January 16 update: This tour has been rescheduled. I’ll post the new itinerary shortly.

January 28 update: Here are the new tour dates!

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Souls of Mischief on Ice Cold tour

Posted on December 12, 2008 by plugoneboss

icecoldtourad

Souls of Mischief will kick off the new year with the appropriately named Ice Cold tour. To commemorate the adventure, they’ve released a new song, “Tour Stories,” as part of a zip file of MP3s called, you guessed it, “Ice Cold MP3s.” The tour dates and a link to the MP3s are listed below.

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Grandmaster Flash’s “The Bridge”

Posted on December 11, 2008 by plugoneboss

grandmaster-flash-wallpaper

Next year Grandmaster Flash will issue his first album of original material since The Source in 1988. The Bridge: Concept of a Culture arrives March 3 via Flash’s Adrenaline City imprint and Strut Records/!K7. Guest appearances on The Bridge include KRS-One, Busta Rhymes, Q-Tip, Big Daddy Kane, Snoop Dogg, Natacha Atlas and Princess Superstar.

Here’s a bit from Flash’s MySpace page:

The wait is over. The first major Grandmaster Flash studio album for 20 years has now been completed and is due for release on Flash’s Adrenaline City Entertainment label and Strut Records in Spring 2009. Entitled ‘The Bridge: Concept Of A Culture’, the album is the result of two years’ solid writing and recording. “As a DJ, I’ve been blessed to see many different people, places and styles,” Flash explains. “The album title represents all the bridges I’ve crossed worldwide.”

The track listing, taken from Grandgood.com, is listed below.

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“Afro Samurai: Resurrection”

Posted on December 11, 2008 by plugoneboss

afro-samurai-resurrection-ad

On January 27, the RZA’s newly-formed Wu Music Group heralds the return of Adult Swim fave Afro Samurai with a new soundtrack. Afro Samurai: Resurrection features appearances from Sly Stone (yes, from Sly & the Family Stone), Rah Digga, Shavo from System of a Down and Kool G. Rap. Wu-Tang members and affiliates such as Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck and Killah Priest also appear. Distribution for Wu Music Group is handled by the Orchard.

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Aceyalone preps “The Lonely Ones”

Posted on December 10, 2008 by plugoneboss

Aceyalone is preparing to release a new project, Aceyalone & The Lonely Ones, on Decon Records. The album was tentatively slated for last November, but has since been pushed back to February 10. (February 25 update: The release date is now March 31.)

Aceyalone has a reputation for playing with the art form. On his last album, he took on ragga hip-hop (Lightning Strikes); before that, he made a full-length concept piece with RJD2 (Magnificent City). For Aceyalone & The Lonely Ones, he works with L.A. producer Bionik, and the sound evokes early 60s Motown-style back beats.

Like many of its projects, Decon has assembled multimedia content for Aceyalone & The Lonely Ones, including music videos, performance footage, a short film and an interview.

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Short Cuts: DJ Design, “Jetlag”

Posted on December 9, 2008 by plugoneboss

DJ Design
Jetlag
Look Records

Keith “DJ Design” Griego’s Jetlag closes a circle first opened in the late 90s. Back then, as a player in Stones Throw’s formative San Francisco days, he produced tracks for that label (including rough rhymer Rasco’s Time Waits for No Man) and scored an instrumental debut in 2000, Gather Round. Nearly a decade later, Design finally issues a sequel on his own imprint, Look Records. He works with other rappers this time, though, gathering an unreleased track with his former group Foreign Legion, appearances from Guilty Simpson and Phat Kat, and two decent performances from the late Party Arty.

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Free The Robots signs with Alpha Pup

Posted on December 8, 2008 by plugoneboss

Southern California beatmaker Chris Alfaro, a.k.a. Free the Robots, has signed a deal with Alpha Pup Records for a debut full-length in 2009.

Free the Robots has already drawn notice in tastemaker circles, including an appearance at an OBEY GIANT showcase during SXSW 2008 and writeups in the Fader and Okayplayer.com, among other places. He has released two EPs to date, The Prototype (now out of print) and Free the Robots (which can be purchased via iTunes).

Like so much of Alpha Pup’s output (and Plug One lately, it seems), Free the Robots falls into the glitch/beat scene, albeit leavened with DJ Krush-like jazz flavors.

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Tour dates for Evidence

Posted on December 8, 2008 by plugoneboss

Yesterday, Evidence kicked off a monthlong series of spot dates in support of his new EP, The Layover. He’ll mostly stick to Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado on this run.

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The Wrap Up: RIP Party Arty

Posted on December 8, 2008 by plugoneboss

This week’s hip-hop news, both relevant and irrelevant:

Grammy crap: Nominations for Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, M.I.A., Nas, et cetera (grammy.com)

Kid Cudi claims new video of his “Day N’ Nite (Crookers Remix)” was posted without his permission. Anyone know who the production company was? (myspace.com)

EPMD releases new album We Mean Business on Tuesday (allhiphop.com)

New podcast: Stones Throw 40 – Hawthorne Radio (stonesthrow.com)

RIP Arthur “Party Arty” Sheridan from Ghetto Dwellas (hiphopdx.com) (unkut.com)

Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak tops Billboard album charts (billboard.com)

Internet-only ish: Beatnick & K-Salaam’s S.T.O.R.Y. (Stories Told Over Remixed Years) (myspace.com), Colin Munroe + a gang of hipster rappers’ Colin Munroe Is The Unsung Hero (onsmash.com), Clipse’s Road To Till The Casket Drops (complex.com)

Photo by The Binh.

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Short Cuts: Mark Farina’s “Mushroom Jazz 6”

Posted on December 5, 2008 by plugoneboss

Mark Farina
Mushroom Jazz 6
Om Records

In 1992, at the height of the acid jazz movement, Mark Farina organized the Mushroom Jazz parties in San Francisco. Years later, he began his Mushroom Jazz mix series for Om Records, memorializing that party’s easygoing blend of jazzy grooves and hip-hop beats. Ten years after the first installment, the Mushroom Jazz series sounds like an anachronism, a document of an era that no longer exists.

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