There’s no reason to abbreviate or extend this press release at all:
“Isis, the Los Angeles by way of Boston band, has set a May 5 release date for their anticipated new album, Wavering Radiant (Ipecac Recordings). The album, produced by Joe Baressi (Tool, Queens off The Stone Age), will see a limited edition vinyl version released on Apr. 21. Tool’s Adam Jones contributed guitar to two songs from the new release. More details soon.”
This article brought a great deal of content to my day not only because Phonte Coleman is the man, but because he totally dissed Ye’s new album. When asked about 808’s and Heartbreaks, He apparently said: “I didn’t like it, I was just like get the fuck out of here”, He also said that “I honestly think that it’s an act of cowardice” he continued “I think if you’re gonna make the creative leap to sing, then really sing. Let your voice come out, and let the people hear all the eccentricities and idiosyncrasies in your voice. That’s what makes you uniquely you… Imagine if Arethra Franklin used Autotune on Respect”. Phonte also said that he considered Kanye to be “biting” T-Pain.
I found this article to be absolutely hilarious. Phonte just confirmed what I’ve been feeling about this guy for the last 5 months. Autotune is for people that can’t sing or idiots. Phonte is one of those cats that a lot of people tend to listen to and I am anticipating the reaction in the rest of the Hip-Hop community.
New music from Poison the Well’s latest release, the 7-inch vinyl II/III (available starting yesterday, January 20th) , has surfaced online in the form of “Bowie” at the band’s myspace page. You might have guessed from the title, but the album release is the second in a series of three 7-inch releases of unheard material from the Versions sessions in 2007. As you will hear, “Bowie” shows that the band definitely ventured even farther in their experimental path than final version of Versions might have indicated. It’s progressive, emotional, “heavy” stuff, but still I’m really hard-pressed to believe that this is the SAME band that brought us the intense metalcore classic The Opposite of December… oh, soooooo long ago. Either way, no one else has taken the path that PTW has, and that alone is something to be admired. With the next LP release on the horizon, I’m looking forward to see if the decide to push the new sound of Versions and the 7-inch series even farther or abandon it completely for another experiment. They’ve still got me watching. Check “Bowie” out here.
It’s not just for the hippies anymore! Minnesota premiere annual summer celebration of festival music has announced it’s return for 2009, and in the tradition of other “jam-festivals” like Bonaroo, their adding a bit more diversity to their lineup. In addition to yearly staples such as Trampled By Turtles, Umphrey’s McGee, and Wookiefoot, this years’ 10KLF will feature performances by big-name artists DMB, Widespread Panic, and alt-country heros Wilco. Even Minneapolis-based Cloud Cult will be performing. My personal favorite of the list is Mississippi river folk-punk William Elliot Whitmore. Who are you excited to see? The party’s worth it every year, and this year it seems like the organizers have finally put together a promising enough itinerary to ensure it’ll be packed. Keep reading for the full list.. Continue reading
Finally, new Napalm Death has arrived! I’ll be posting a review on this one next week, but if you want to listen to the streaming version for yourself now (and watch a bunch of other goodies), head to their Myspace profile:
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Time Waits For No Slave will receive a proper release in the states on February 10th through Century Media.
Can’t wait to get your hands all over the new Flight of the Concords mp3s every sunday after their new episodes? Well during Season 2 each Monday after the episode airs, the duo will release the songs from that episode on iTunes for download. A nice gift to go along with the new episodes I’d say.
So no complaints here, I’ll definitely be rocking out every Monday to the sweet sounds of hilarious parody-folk, and I hope you will be too. If you haven’t streamed the first episode of Season 2 yet you’re missing out, lucky for you the site is still streaming it here.
Go and indulge yourself, I have about three times now thanks to this damned Minnesota winter. Can you say Cabin Fever?? Well, I can.
First and foremost I want to let you all know that this issue that is going on with J Dilla’s estate is absolute bulshit. Apparently these people are not giving any of the money that is rightfully owed to Dilla’s mother (Ma Dukes) and Dilla’s children. The IRS is claiming that it’s because of some tax issues that he had accumulated.
In the February version of Vibe magazine you will find a pretty big article about the genius and legend J Dilla. From what I’ve read (click “read” for article) on the Stones Throw website, this might be the best article that I’ve ever read on Dilla because it’s very in depth. It talks a lot about what is going on with the Dilla estate right now, the condition of Ma Dukes herself (she was recently diagnosed with Lupus, the same disease that took her son’s life) and what is going on with his daughters. Another thing that is very interesting is the issue looming about last year’s mixtape classic “Dillagenece” with Busta Rhymes. It appears that Dilla’s so called “estate” is trying to sue Busta over the use of the beats on the album saying that he never payed for them. Ma Dukes however has a different take on the situation: “He got a raw deal,” she says, “Busta didn’t take anything from anybody.”
If you are a fan of Dilla this is a must read for you. I can tell you that when I’m out and about picking up the new Beat Konducta album, I will also be picking up this issue of Vibe (despite the fact that Kanye’s dumbass is on the cover) for my collection. I really hope that Ma Dukes is able to get these issues resolved because she is in a very unfortunate situation right now and she needs all the help she can get. This man is one of the most influential people that I’ve ever had the experience of learning about and there is no reason that this legal “limbo” should be going on right now.
As if you haven’t heard enough from me on Elzhi & Black Milk this last year, HipHop DX did a feature on these two at the end of last year in their Producer’s Corner. Elzhi & Black Milk took the Hip-Hop game by storm last year by releasing two of the best albums of 2008. This is a great interview and it makes for a long but very great read. If you like both of these artists (as I do very much) I would highly suggest that you read this article because it is very in depth and to the point.
Jump on over to HipHop DX and check out the article for yourself.
Also, if you didn’t get a chance to read my reviews of either of these albums here is your chance again.
In an article I read over at Hip-Hop DX it was mentioned that one of the greatest duos in Hip-Hop history are getting back together for South by Southwest. Reflection Eternal jumped on the scene in 2000 with one of my favorite releases of all time Reflection Eternal: Train of Thought. Kweli & Hi-Tek have this chemistry that is absolutely unparalleled by anyone. Kweli is one of my favorite emcees of all time and Hi-Tek has been a trademark for great beats in the Hip-Hop game for over 10 years ever since his days with MOOD. I had heard wind of a new Reflection Eternal album a while back but I really didn’t know what to think. Kweli has been busy with all of his work with Idle Worship and Hi-Tek has been busy with solo albums and beats for other people so it didn’t really look to feasible to me.
All I can tell you is: If Kweli & Hi-Tek release another album coming up this year, I think that the game might be over. Judging by the impact that the original Reflection Eternal project had, this one might change the game forever. These two comprise one of the greatest duos ever, and I’m very interested to hear what they have in store for us next. I can honestly say that those of you who are going to SXSW are going to enjoy an incredible show.
Check out some classic material:
Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek: “The Blast”
MIND INVERSION 