Fans of The Cool Kids and Obama will appreciate this new remix LP of the Bake Sale entitled the “Bank Sale.” This entire album was done by Logarythmik and is quite impressive. I’m in class so I don’t have time to elaborate more, but check this out cause it’s definitely worth the listen. Any donations to this guy and his efforts in putting out this album go directly to the Obama campaign fund.
Download link is here
I’m truly sorry that I haven’t put anything up yet on the Illadelph crew of Vinnie Paz, Stoupe & Jus Allah formerly known as Jedi Mind Tricks. Violent By Design came out back in 2000 and I didn’t hear the album until I was in 11th grade (which would be 2003) when one of my buddies put the album in his car cd player. I remember hearing the song “Retaliation” and being like this is what hip-hop is all about. Violent by Design changed my whole perspective on Hip-Hop music. I can honestly tell you that I wouldn’t listen to the music that I do if it wasn’t for this album. Hearing Vinnie and Jus destroy the beats that Stoupe put down was like karma being returned to me for listening to Juvenile all those years. JMT has released three albums since then and none of them have featured Jus Allah, for awhile there was rumors that Vinnie and Jus had creative differences. They announced in June (on their blog on MySpace) that Jus Allah, Vinnie and Stoupe were back in the studios “conjuring the viciousness of the Violent By Design days”, that thought alone gives me chills.
Jedi Mind tricks has been a very consistent group, but for the last three albums it just felt like something was missing. I can tell you that I am very excited to hear what JMT has in store for us on the next album. A History of Violence drops November 11th. Jedi Mind Tricks also has a DVD dropping called Divine Fire dropping soon that you need to check out to.
Vinnie & Jus on A History of Violence
Divine Fire Trailer
The Wu-Tang Clan has a truly massive tour in the works. Finally we have some dates for a coast-to-coast U.S. run-through. Continuing to support their newest studio album ‘8 Diagrams’, the Wu will finally be sweeping through the midwest come December. Here are the confirmed dates thus far:
November 2008
29 – Portland, OR – Roseland Ballroom
30 – Boise, ID – Knitting Factory
December 2008
1 – Seattle, WA – Showbox SoDo
3 – San Francisco, CA – The Grand Ballroom at the Regency Center
4 – West Hollywood, CA – House of Blues
5 – San Diego, CA – House of Blues
6 – Las Vegas, NV – House of Blues
7 – Tempe, AZ – Marquee
8 – Tucson, AZ – Rialto Theatre
10 – Denver, CO – Ogden Theatre
14 – Chicago, IL – House of Blues
15 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
17 – Cleveland, OH – House of Blues
18 – Rochester, NY – Main Street Armory
19 – Philadelphia, PA – Trocadero
20 – New Haven, CT – Toad’s Place
21 – Sayreville, NJ – Starland Ballroom
23 – New York, NY – Hammerstein Ballroom
January 2009
1 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
2 – Providence, RI – Lupo’s
4 – Burlington, VT – Higher Ground
7 – Norfolk, VA – The Norva
8 – Richmond, VA – Toad’s Place
9 – Greensboro, NC – N Club
10 – Charleston, SC – Music Farm
11 – Charlotte, NC – Amos’ Southend
12 – Raleigh, NC – Lincoln Theatre
13 – Columbia, SC – LEVEL
14 – Atlanta, GA – venue to be announced
make your plans NOW! This tour is gonna be ridiculous!
Original Artwork done last December in my Apartment. Animal Collective, What?
Critically acclaimed Above and Beyond, have risen to the top of the charts with songs like Miracle and other euphoric remixes. With their long-awaited Oceanlab album, they will continue to make waves in the global dance community. The masterminds behind the sound, Jono, Paavo, and Tony, reinvent what trance DJ’s should inspire to be: Above and Beyond. The trio is torpedo with its sights set on making a tsunami of transient sound. I raise my hands and applaud them for their ability to create distinctive and dreamy trance, while keeping my feet in sync with beat. Above and Beyond are currently on their Anjunabeats world tour visiting the eastern countries like Twain, Korea, China, and Australia.
30-Oct-08 Halloween Party @ Manilla, Philipines
31-Oct-08 Halloween Massive, Taipei, Taiwan
01-Nov-08 GK @ Wakerhill, Seoul, Korea
06-Nov-08 G+ or SOS, Hangzhou, China
07-Nov-08 GT Banana, Beijing, China
08-Nov-08 G+, Shanghai, China
22-Nov-08 Global Gathering, Melbourne
23-Nov-08 Global Gathering, Perth
28-Nov-08 Global Gathering, Aukland NZ
29-Nov-08 Global Gathering, Canberra
29-Nov-08 Global Gathering, Brisbane Turf Club
30-Nov-08 Global Gathering, Sydney
06-Dec-08 International Exhibition Center, Ukraine
13-Dec-08 ZoukOUT Festival, Malaysia
But for those of you who don’t live in or near those countries, you can still listen to Trance Around the World with Above and Beyond broadcasts at http://www.aboveandbeyond.nu/v2/welcome.php. Cheers Guys!
It’s here, and it’s trippy as fuck.
The Jacob Bannon-curated hardcore label Deathwish Inc. has just released their fall digital sampler as a FREE download at their site. Bannon knows what he’s doing, and Deathwish is one of the only remaining labels in hardcore that has been able to still consiste – this is worth your time to give this one a listen! Artists featured on this mix include Blacklisted, Rise and Fall, Cold World, Narrows, 108, The Carrier, Carpathian, Victims, Killing The Dream, Trap Them, Reign Supreme, Bitter End, Shipwreck a.d., Pulling Teeth and non-deathwish bands United Nations (featuring Converge, Glassjaw, and Thursday members), Lewd Acts, End of A Year, Rot in Hell, and New Lows. There’s even some classic Hope Conspiracy and Supermachiner cuts on here (..in anticipation of their forthcoming release..)! When you’ve got the zip downloaded, don’t forget to check out the always spectacular Jake Bannon cover artwork.
Johnson & Jonson is a group that is comprised of Los Angeles emcee Blu and up-and-coming producer Mainframe. The first thing that I really want you to understand is that this cat Blu can tear apart bars like a prisoner on steroids. I had mentioned in a post that if you hadn’t heard the Blu & Exile project Below the Heavens you needed to. I have no problem with making that statement, it was easily one of the top albums of last year, and I haven’t heard an emcee/DJ duo like that in a long time. The one thing that you need to understand is that Blu is one of those emcees that you totally build tracks around. Blu is so versatile and can rhyme to almost any beat that you provide him with. That’s what I liked about Below the Heavens, you got some of those hard ass hitting beats, and then there were the super soulful beats that were much more calm. Blu is another one of the cats that you really have to watch for, he (along with Evidence, and coincidentally Blu is on the new Evidence EP) is one of the hardest working guys in the game right now. He put out the critically acclaimed Below The Heavens last year, then he put out an album as part of the collective C.R.A.C. Knuckles with Detroit native Ta’Raach, and is now dropping the J&J album.
Right out of the gate Blu has the rhyme thing going on. “J & J” is a great track, and it shows that Blu’s flow has the bite of a pit bull. He rhymes over a beat with thrashing cymbals, bleepy synths and a wicked ass bass line with such ferocity that you would think his next meal depended on it. “Up All Night” is a perfect example of what I mean with Blu switching up his flow. On “J&J” Blu is rapping pretty fast, and then on “Up All Night” Mainframe totally slows down the beat and puts in a nice bass line with some basic drums, but as I said before it sounds like Blu was meant for the beat. I have to say that “Mama Told Me” is one of my favorite highlights of the album. It has a feel good horn driven beat and Blu reminisces on his childhood and the lessons that he learned as a child. The great thing about Blu is that he can bring you the punchlines, similes and metaphors, but he can also tell one hell of a story at the same time.
Another thing that I really have to get into is Mainframe. I hadn’t really heard of him until this project came out, and I’m glad I was exposed to his style. He is one producer who can really switch up a style and still make it sound really good. Mainframe will be one of those producers you really want to look for in the near future. We are talking about a guy that as of right now only has just over 2,000 hits on his MySpace, after this album blows up Mainframe will start getting some bigger projects.
Something I want to point out is that the majority of the tracks on this album are three minutes or less. That means that a lot of these tracks are pretty brief. Shakespear once said “Brevity is the soul of wit”, I think this album might be an exact representation of that quote. Blu & Mainframe tend to keep it brief but boy this album definitely makes its mark. After hearing Johnson & Jonson I know you are going to want to hear more from both of these artists. The album makes for a great listen and the humorous additions to the Johnson family are an added plus (Mainframe rhyming as Jon Johnson, Miguel Jontel as Tell Johnson, Co$$ as Troy Johnson and Bobo Lamb as Jack Johnson).
8/10
Check the video for “J&J”
Vodpod videos no longer available.
This is the first single off of the new Foreign Exchange album Leave It All Behind. I have been listening to this album on and off for a little while now, and the only conclusion that I can come to is that it’s definitely different. The last album Connected was a good mixture of Hip-Hop/R&B/Soul. Leave It All Behind is very Soul & R&B influenced with very little Hip-Hop. This album for the most part has Phonte singing, which is something that is definitely different for me but I really enjoy it. It’s nice to hear an artists almost out of his element (not doing what he usually does) and trying something that is a little different. From what I have heard this album is very good. I will have a review up soon enough for you guys to get to.
You can jump over to the Foreign Exchange site and get the Leave It All Behind Sampler to get a taste of what I am talking about.
Leave It All Behind Sampler
So, if you know me, you know that I am a huge J Dilla fan/enthusiast. Many people would call me a “poser” Dilla fan because I haven’t been listening since the beginning (when I was like 5). I had listened to a little bit of Tribe, but never knew that Dilla was behind their later stuff. The first time I really actually realized Dilla production was on a Kweli mixtape, and I was completely mesmerized by the beat. I immediately got my hands on everything Dilla I could get and didn’t think twice about it. What Dilla did for my musical taste and outlook on life in general I will never be able to forget. He will always be my inspiration for anything that I do.
It came to my attention awhile ago that the Yancey family was in a huge limbo trying to pay all of Dilla’s outstanding hospital bills, and at the same time keep the “Dilla estate” alive. I just read a few weeks ago that Dilla’s mother Maureen “Ma Dukes” Yancey is suffering from the same tragic disease that took her genius son’s life. She needs all of the help she can get and all of you Dilla fans out there really have a chance to make a difference.
Please go over to the Giant Peach’s Website on MySpace and make a contribution. It doesn’t have to be a large amount of money, just do what you can. Every dollar makes a difference. If you don’t want to donate through PayPal, or just want to send a letter to Ma Dukes you can send your contributions to:
Maureen Yancey
8281 E. Brentwood
Detroit, MI 48234
MIND INVERSION 