Free Tapes

Over the past week or so I’ve been rinsing the latest tape from Parisian beatsmith Powell. Available free courtesy of Up My Alley, there’s 18 tracks of glitchy, synthy, European hip-hop to keep you, and your wallet, happy. I love the cover too… Click here to download

But there’s more.

Another member of the Up My Alley family is fLako, a producer from Berlin (and possibly London) with a similar sort of synth heavy flavour as Powell, but with some delicious sampling thrown in for good measure. On this next release he’s teamed up with an emcee by the name of Niko. Once again it’s free, this time courtesy of Kwatro. Click here to download

The world of music is moving towards a really promising place these days, and any time that money is separated from the enjoyment of the music I am reassured that things are only getting better.

ENJOY

Jay $tay Paid Pt. 2

Following up on the news of the new J Dilla album due out in June, here’s the tracklisting:

01 KJay FM Dedication
02 King
03 I Told Yall
04 Lazer Gunne Funke
05 In the Night (Owl N Out) – While You Slept (I Crept)
06 Smoke [feat. Blu]
07 Blood Sport [feat. Lil Fame]
08 caDILLAc
09 Expensive Whip
10 Kaklow (Jump On It)
11 Digi Dirt [feat. Phat Kat]
12 Dilla Bot Vs. the Hybrid [feat. Danny Brown & Constantine]
13 Milk Money
14 Spacecowboy Vs. Bobble Head
15 Reality Check [feat. Black Thought]
16 On Stilts
17 Fire Wood Drumstix [feat. DOOM]
18 Glamour Sho75 (09)
19 10,000 Watts
20 9th Caller
21 Make It Fast (Unadulterated Mix) [feat. Diz Gibran]
22 24K Rap [feat. Havoc & Raekwon]
23 Big City
24 Pay Day [feat. Frank Nitty]
25 See That Boy Fly [feat. Illa J & Cue D]
26 Coming Back
27 Mythsysizer
28 KJay and We Out

According to Ma Dukes (via Pitchfork) “It wasn’t rushed, and it wasn’t haphazard. This album combines what he did in the beginning of his career, what he did in some of our early hospital stays, which was very deep, and some stuff pulled from old floppy disks & DATs. It’s mind blowing…this is like the missing links to Dilla’s legacy.”

London to the West Coast

London’s slowly working itself towards summer and now it seems like those every-day activities are just that little bit better. A walk to work in the morning or sitting in the pub on a Saturday afternoon become something special just because of the sun. And it’s not just me; everyone everywhere seems happier.

Which is how I image L.A. must feel like. All the time.

I think it’s also why so much great music comes from the sunnier part of the West coast. Two producers I’m really feeling at the Moment are B. Bravo and Afta-1. Actually, this whole post is flawed because Afta-1 was born in California and now lives in (4-foot-of-snow) New York, and B. Bravo is from San-Franciso which has all four seasons, unlike the perpetually sunny L.A. Still, there’s a slight connection, and it’ a good enough excuse to write a post about these two talented musicians.

B. Bravo brings West coast G-funk right up to date and his music has so much lean that I can’t help but feel like I’m in L.A. every time I hear it. I haven’t managed to get my hands on his newly released “Analog Starship EP” yet, but his MySpace gets a lot of attention from me.

Afta-1 pushes deep, soulful hip-hop instrumentals with intelligent sampling and neck-snapping drums, all the while employing that lo-fi synth sound that we all love so much. His ‘Aftathoughts Vol. 1’ is an essential purchase, with 11 tracks that will see you all the way through the Summer months and beyond.

Here are some tracks from the two and I hope there are many, many more to come.

B. Bravo – Midnite

Afta-1 – Honey Dip

Jay $tay Paid

On June 2nd another posthumous release from J-Dilla will be unleashed on the public by Nature Sounds and I’m not complaining at all. Everyone knows that Dilla is one of the best hip-hop producers of all time (Stones Throw don’t let us forget) and the more of his beats that see the light of day the better. I was slightly disappointed with the last release of Dilla beats; his little brother Illa J’s album was brought down by his lack of lyrical skill (go out and get the instrumental version of that album), but this one looks like it should be a winner. 25 tracks mixed by Pete Rock and featuring Black Thought, DOOM, Raekwon, Blu, Havoc and Illa J (blerg) on vocals. Oh, and it’s going to be called “Jay $tay Paid”.

Courtesy of Okayplayer, here’s a track from the album with Black Thought taking the mic.

“Reality Check”

*can’t get the audioplayer to work*

Rustie – Bad Science Preview

Wireblock are preparing to release Rustie’s latest EP ‘Bad Science’ before the end of this month. Fact have posted previews of all 5 tracks on their site. Seems like they took them from Rub-A-Dub, so I’m just another middle man…

1. Tar

2. Bad Science

3. Shadow Enter

4. Zig-Zag (Heinrich Mueller Gravitational Equilibrium Mix)

5. Zig-Zag (Reprise)

I need to get my hands on the full version of the title track – a real heavy hitter in true Rustie “aquacrunk” style (has anyone else got sick of that term yet?)

The 5 track EP is currently available in white-label format over at Rub-A-Dub, so if you can’t wait any longer – goandgetit!

Slow day – Some Mixes

Nothing report today – so – just to keep things moving here’s a few mixes I’ve been listening to recently. Courtesy of various people on Dubstepforum.com

Jakes – April Mix – sendspace

Rustie – BTS Radio Mix – MP3 from btsradio.net

Flying Lotus – Live @ FWD (first few tracks are the end of Kode9’s set) – MP3

Mother-fucking-Gaslamp-Killer

The Gaslamp Killer is coming to Europe to play a bunch of dates between April 24th and May 16th.

Fri 24-Aprl Ireland Dublin Twisted Pepper
Sat 25-Apr-09 UK Manchester Music Box
Sun 26-Apr-09 UK Camber Sands Bangface
Mon 27-Apr-09 UK Leeds Faversham
Tue 28-Apr-09 UK Sheffield Tuesday Club
Wed 29-Apr-09 Belgium Kortrijk De Kreun
Thu 30-Apr-09 DAY OFF IN AMSTERDAM
Fri 1-May-09 Netherlands Amsterdam Trouw
Sat 2-May-09 Germany Leipzig Coney Island
Sun 3-May-09 UK Nottingham Rock City
Mon 4-May-09 DAY OFF IN LDN
Tue 5-May-09 DAY OFF IN LDN
Wed 6-May-09 France Paris Social
Thu 7-May-09 DAY OFF IN PARIS
Fri 8-May-09 Italy Rome palazzo dei congressi
Sat 9-May-09 Greece Athens Bios
Sun 10-May-09 DAYS OFF IN GREECE
Mon 11-May-09 DAYS OFF IN GREECE
Tue 12-May-09 DAYS OFF IN GREECE
Wed 13-May-09 UK Glasgow Ballers Social
Thu 14-May-09 UK Birmingham Hare & Hounds
Fri 15-May-09 UK London Fabric
Sat 16-May-09 UK Liverpool Barfly

If you ask me thats far too many days off. Call yourself a professional?

Turns out he’ll be joining Flying Lotus in the Palazzo Dei Congressi in Rome. He’s playing Fabric two days after Madlib does in May. Looks like Fabric will be taking alot of my money next month.

To put you in the mood, here’s a mix by GLK courtesy of We Make it Good

MADLIB

Every now and again someone who you don’t know will start following you on Twitter through nothing other than shameless self promotion. It’s not like they care what I overheard on the bus or what’s in my sandwich or whatever. But, whenever it happens I always like to hope that it’s someone really cool who I’ll actually have an interest in.

Today I got an e-mail saying that Ameliah Ideh was follwing my Twitter. Turns out that she runs a blog called Put Me On It. “Big deal” I thought. “I’ve got a blog and no-one reads that.”

BUT

Third post from the top? She tells me that MADLIB IS COMING TO LONDON!!!

So, Ameliah, I owe you. Big time. Thanks. I’ve gotta get on those tickets cause they’ll sell out fast for sure.

…

Just noticed that she’s been twittering OlivierDaySoul – make sure you check out his tracks Galactic Wifey and Spaceship – they’ve been stuck in my head for the past month or so. I think he collabed on a track called Bopgunn with Hudson Mohawke too. FIRE