MIND INVERSION

Kanye West’s Head Gets Even Bigger?

Posted in Music News with tags Douche Bag, Dumbass, Hipster-Hop, J Dilla, Kanye West on Saturday, November 15, 2008 by Tim Althaus

Here is a quote that is directly from Mr. (Douche bag) West from an interview: “I realize that my place and position in history is that I will go down as the voice of this generation, of this decade, I will be the loudest voice,” he said in an interview on Wednesday. “It’s me settling into that position of just really accepting that it’s one thing to say you want to do it and it’s another thing to really end up being like Michael Jordan.”

I really feel sorry for the people that feel Kanye West really is the voice of this generation. I hate to think that anyone would think he was the Mike Jordan of Hip-Hop. I know a lot of you heads out there love this guy, but I simply cannot stand him. Dilla was a better producer than Kanye will ever be, Black Milk has way more talent that this egotistical fuck. You know I hate to say this, but I think the size of his ego has to do with a lot of the media and fans. There has literally been so little good main stream material that people just latch on to shit out there (i.e. Kanye, Lil’ Wayne) and they assume it to be great. There are so many artists out there in the Hip-Hop world that people have no idea about.

How can you go ahead and basically say that you are on your way to being the greatest beat maker or emcee when you’ve been in the game for 5 years? Anyone who wants to argue this I would be willing to debate with. I think that people really need to stop riding Kanye’s tight pants and his dumb ass hipster Hip-Hop music. This guy is turning the form of Hip-Hop into a hipster trend and it really bothers me. I remember a quote from one of Kanye’s tracks: ” I gotta apologize to Mos and Kweli…” he was talking about rhyming about jewelry, he needed to appologize for being an egotistical douche bag.

I have to let you all know, that this blog (as far as my posts are concerned) will be completely Kanye free, unless I can trash on him. I have to say I was a huge fan of College Dropout, and then his head got to big for his own good and I lost all interest in his music. I found out that there were other producers out there that were way better and didn’t need to tell the world how good they were to make a point.

(Note: The picture above is from Bonnaroo this year when Kanye put on the wackest show of his career and made constant excuses about how it wasn’t his fault.)

You can read the Blog post that he wrote about his reactions to Bonnaroo here, it’s actually quite comical as to how big of a baby he is. (On a side note I think it’s funny how he thinks that people are trying to “plot” his downfall.)

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Video: Black Milk “Give The Drummer Sum”

Posted in Video with tags Black Milk, Detroit Hip-Hop, Hip-Hop, Tronic on Friday, November 14, 2008 by Tim Althaus

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Check out the world premier video for the video “Give the Drummer Sum” by Black Milk. Thank you to the folks over at Okayplayer. Again go out and get Tronic it’s one of the best albums of the year and you won’t regret it.

Inspectah Deck

Posted in Music Reviews with tags Inspectah Deck, Wu-Tang Clan on Friday, November 14, 2008 by Nickolaus

i must say….. damn son. I dont know what to call it… a Mixtape… whatever…

I really dont know what to write…. Classic INS plus some. Feel the ol’WUstyle baby!….. I need many many more listens to truly be able to post a good review…

thus far, all i can give you is that ‘The Resident Patient 2″ is off my charts… despite all the criticism i hear about it…. i still think INS keeps it deep, hard, true, with supreme lyrics… and laces it all with unimaginably perfect visions…. fits perfect.

these are the tracks as i recieved:

1: Monster
2: Feel Good
3: Streets
4: Queen
5: No Words At All
6: Ya’ll Niggaz
7: Who’s Who?
8: S.I.
9: Gotta Luvit
10: Certified
11: U Know U No G
12: Monster 2
13: Everybody Ride
14: A Rebel
15: Wooden Soldier
16: What’s it All About?
17: Nobody But You
18: Hood
19: N.Y.C.
20: Do it 2 Def
21: Sometimes
22: How I Get Down
23: Swaggin

I’ll have to see if i can find a link to some streams…. i was told their myspace, but… http://www.myspace.com/inspectahdeck

anyways… i’m interested in some opinions… especially if your a Wu-Fanatic like me son

let me know… i’ll be around.

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R.I.P. Mitch Mitchell

Posted in Music News with tags Mitch Mitchell, Rock, The Jimi Hendrix Experience on Thursday, November 13, 2008 by Tim Althaus

I was very sorrowed to hear that Mitch Mitchell passed away yesterday November 12th. He was said to have died of natural causes. I know a lot of you realize that I am truly passionate about Hip-Hop, but my first real introduction into the music business was classic rock, shit my dad grew up on. I will always have an utmost respect for great rock groups, and the Hendrix Experience was nothing close to short of that. I honestly think that Mitch’s work was so pivotal with the Experience, that their sound wouldn’t be near what it was without him. I could say in my opinion Mitch was one of the top 10 drummers of all time without question. Mitch’s style of “lead” drumming pioneered the way for others like Ginger Baker (of Cream), and will never be forgotten.

R.I.P. Mitch Mitchell (July 9th, 1947-Novemeber 12th 2008)

Check this sick ass drum solo

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Video: Evidence (featuring Alchemist) (Step Brothers) “So Fresh”

Posted in Video with tags Alchemist, Evidence, Hip-Hop, The LAyover EP on Thursday, November 13, 2008 by Tim Althaus

Vodpod videos no longer available.

12 days until The LAyover EP drops and here is the third video, this one also features Alchemist. I personally love this shit, this video can be summed up in 4 ways: weed*, skateboarding, playing basketball & dope rhymes. NOVEMBER 25th The LAyover EP drops go get it!

* I really wish I could get some of what they’ve got.

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SPOTLIGHT ON! A Storm of Light

Posted in Music Reviews with tags a storm of light, battle for mice, neurosis, red sparowes, satanized, swans, tombs, unsane on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 by Ryan Buege

Ahhhhhhyessss….. Finally, two weeks of midterms are done with and I am free to write at the infamous mind inversion once again. So… “what should I write about this time?” – this is something that I often ask myself. With every one of these posts, I get to choose the topic; right now I feel like telling you about the best sludge metal band that I’ve heard of recently.

A Storm of Light is amazing. Blaze and listen in.

Josh Graham’s strikingly bleak outlook and unwavering artistic effort have always been the perfect visual complement to Neurosis’ likeminded visions of despair. With Red Sparowes debut release, we saw that he could translate the majestic beauty of his visual images into an aural soundtrack with ease. In A Storm of Light, we see Graham and his band of cronies charging the way in one the of the most innovative, engaging, and interesting doom metal bands in recent memory (..notice I said charging, and not plodding – this is music on a mission!). This is a band that draws influences from every aspect of life; I won’t even begin to drop band names, because that won’t even begin to do them justice. As I said, just blaze and listen in. I strongly recommend their album And We Wept the Black Ocean Within, and if you’re having a hard time finding it, hit me up privately and I’ll be glad to share.

If you aren’t convinced yet, I’ll just say that former members of Swans, Tombs, Satanized, and Unsane joined Graham to complete this band. From my point of view, ’nuff said’. This shit is massive…

…and now I’m off to see Gojira, In Flames, and 36 Crazyfists! Thank God midterms are done!

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Review: Q-Tip, The Renaissance

Posted in Music Reviews with tags A Tribe Called Quest, Hip-Hop, J Dilla, Q-Tip on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 by Tim Althaus

It’s been 9 long years since Q-Tip has put out a solo album (and even longer since we’ve heard something from Tribe except for Rock The Bells), and the last time he put out a solo album it had the beat crafting of J Dilla. If it weren’t for the label disagreement with Kamaal the Abstract we would have seen a Tip release sooner.

9 years later and The Renaissance is here, and boy is it one hell of an album. The first thing that I really want to stress about this album is that Q-Tip has some serious production skills on top of his already “all the time” “on point” rhymes. This album carries more of a funk/groove feel to it that creates a great vibe for the album as well as Tip’s rhymes. The album starts out with “Johnny Is Dead” which has a great guitar riff at the begininning and a mesmerizing beat throughout and Q-Tip’s flow is like liquid over the track (keeping in mind that he doesn’t sound half bad singing). “Won’t Trade” is another great beat with a spot on sample (“I wouldn’t trade it for nothin’!”) that compliments the piano in the background. “Gettin’ Up” which was the album’s lead single is one of the highlights on the album with a rolling thick bassline and great piano melody. Tip’s rhymes fit “Gettin’ Up” perfectly (as well as every single track on the album) and the track gives off a very groovy feel. I really like the track “Official” because the cuts are crazy and I love the beat as well as the sample, I can’t keep saying this enough as well but Q-Tip really flows well and sings great over this track. The Highlight of this album in my opinion is definitely “Move” which is the only track produced by someone else, and of course it’s Dilla. The first part of this track literally smacked me right in the face and gave me a great vibe, the Jackson 5 flip on this is amazing and the beat just makes me want to dance. I can see why Tip loved to work with Dilla because their chemistry together is great and always makes for an amazing track.

This album is very solid from front to back and there really aren’t any moments that I can say make this album drag at all. This album is going to be a serious contender for album of the year on a lot of people’s charts, and makes for a great late entry. You can bet that it’s going to make a great deal of top 10 lists without question.

8.5/10

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Review: DJ Babu, Duck Season, Vol. 3

Posted in Music Reviews with tags Beat Junkies, Dilated Peoples, DJ Babu, Evidence, Hip-Hop, Little Brother, MF Doom, Oh No, Sean Price on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 by Tim Althaus

Well what can I say? It definitely took me way too long for me to get a good review of this album up, partially because I have been terribly fucking busy with school and work. But suffice to say I found some time to give my view on this album.

First I want to say that Babu is one of the best DJ’s I’ve ever heard because his skill is unparalleled. He’s had an illustrious career with Dilated Peoples, gained fame with the World Famous Beat Junkies, and has been revered as one of the greatest battle DJ’s of all time. Babu is also a great beat maker (he put out The Beat Tape Vol. 1 last year) and this album truly shows that Babu is always in deep concentration.

Duck Season, Vol. 3 starts out the best way you could possibly start an album if you’re Babu, with the people you’ve been with your whole career. Evidence and Rakaa spit razor sharp verses on this track and the beat is crazy good. Keep in mind this is an intro and in my opinion at 1:47 long it could be my favorite on the album (I love the Looney Tunes sample at the end, as well as throughout the album). “Fan Mail” with Little Brother, Joe Scudda & Darrien Brockington is also another insane beat that Babu conjures up, and Big Pooh, Phonte & Scudda knock their verses out of the park like Sammy Sosa. Immediately after “Fan Mail” in my opinion is the best track on the album “The Unexpected” featuring MF DOOM & Sean Price. Doom and Sean Price compliment each other so well on this track and Babu’s canvas is spot on for these two to paint on. They pass the microphone back and forth like they are playing catch and their punchlines are great (Doom: we need to get a new beanie for Babu, the ones and twos genie”, Sean P: I always throw sixes, return an Ike Turner I always throw bitches”). Bishop Lamont makes a great mark on this album on the track “My Opinion” with on point rhymes and allusions the the current situation in the country. Evidence appears twice on the album (on the intro) and on the track “For Whatever It’s Worth” which is another great highlight on the album. The chemistry between EV and Babu is great and it makes for an amazing track. I was also really glad to see that Oh No (Madlib’s little brother) is starting to get some recognition (he’s on a track with Roc C entitled “Meant To Be”), he’s one of my favorite producers as well as emcees, and it’a about time more people gave him attention.

All in all this is an above average album, there are a lot of tracks that just don’t mesh with the rest of the album and tend to make it drag. This is however a great display of how good at beat making Babu really is, he can make some great soundscapes.

7.5/10

Omar Rodriguez Lopez to release solo album on Stones Throw, WTF?

Posted in Music News with tags Mars Volta, Omar Rodriguez Lopez, Rock, Stones Throw on Tuesday, November 11, 2008 by Tim Althaus

Well it just seems like my favorite record label in the whole entire world keeps getting better and better. The same label that houses J Dilla, Madlib, MF Doom & Oh No (Stones Throw Records) will be releasing Omar Rodriguez’s new album Old Money on January 27th on compact disc and vinyl. The digital download is available now right here for $9.99. Stones Throw has a few artists on their label that are outside the genre of Hip-Hop that are very talented (Koushik, James Pants and now Omar). These artists are only going to help the label expand into other territories that they will probably also dominate. Old Money is Omar’s follow-up to his 2007 solo effort The Apocalypse Inside of An Orange, and promises to be a great album with influences ranging from Pink Floyd to Santana.

Omar has been a rather busy character with solo work as well as everything that he has done with the Mars Volta, and this album sounds like it might sound psychedelic yet very funky at the same time. I know I’m very interested to hear what Omar has up his sleeve because naturally I fucking love Stones Throw Records and I also love Volta.

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“I’m Girl Talk, and I’m a PC”

Posted in Video with tags Electronica, Erik Burg, First Avenue, Girl Talk on Monday, November 10, 2008 by Tim Althaus

Greg Gillis (a.k.a Girl Talk) is known for making his crazy ass fucking mash-ups of pop and rock songs that make you want to go crazy. I don’t like pop or maintstream music at all, but what this guy can do to music is absolutely incredible if you haven’t heard of him go download Feed the Animals (you can download for free or pay a penny if you like). In this video Gillis admits that he uses a PC instead of the traditional Mac that is used with making music. He talks about his theories on music, why he likes PC software (“punk”) and a couple of other things. Notice the background images of his shows, they are epic as hell and look like a crazy time. *Edit from ericbandloveaffair* holy shit that was the greatest night of my life, Gillis was absolutely insane and i took home a ton of shwag, including a sweaty Greg Gillis sweat band and a GT all access pass. more pics here

“I’m a PC and I make people sweat”

*** Note my boy Burg (ericbandloveaffair) (on the right side in the picture above) next to Gillis when he performed at First Avenue (He looks like he’s totally feeling it).

EDITOR’S NOTE: now I’m feeling it!