Y'know there are people who aren't just nice guys, but who exude such a positive vibe that it's downright contagious? Shaggy Manatee is one of them. He's the man behind the Quaketrap label (featuring hip hop and electronic artists such as Australia's Macromantics, Yoko Solo, Thug Emporium and the man himself). Since he's a neighbor of ours (psst, he's also a purveyor of yummy breakfast delights), we see him often and regardless of the time of day, he's always bursting with energy and enthusiasm. And that vibe is all over In Between.
We've had this album on vinyl for a spell, but we're pleased to report that it's now on cd too with a handful of bonus tracks! One of them ("Breathe") is a collaboration between Shaggy Manatee and Macromantics, and we've come to realize that their combined forces never fail to dish out the good stuff. As a whole, In Between is a stimulating concoction of good times, heady atmospheres, and varied beats galore... and the joint efforts of Shaggy and his many guests effectively conveys the Quake Trap crew's social conscience too. However, even when things darken in Manatee land there's a bit of levity that shines through.
Poly.Sci.187? Hmmm, instead of political science, we get the impression that the lesson Mansbestfriend (aka Sole) is teachin' on this cd is that this is what DJ Shadow's album after Endtroducing -should- have sounded like. It's a lush, but somewhat lo-fi, sample laden instrumental doom hop collage. Alternately bleary and bracing. Pretty fucking great...
Easily the coolest release from this year's Black Friday Record Store Day, and thankfully one that didn't disappear after the day, Joe Mansfield's Beat Box is a loving homage to the drum machines that have driven so much of the music we love - and holy cow, is this total record nerd / gear geek nirvana, a huge hardcover book, featuring page after page of glossy shots of pretty much every drum machine we've ever seen, as well as TONS we had never even heard of. In addition to pix of the drum machines themselves, there are also drawings, paintings, shots of the original packaging, old ads, even schematics and instruction manuals, totally obsessive and totally amazing! The drum machines covered go all the way from the fifties to the present day, big old hulking behemoths, to tiny toy like gizmos, the machines themselves displaying some incredible industrial design, the sort of thing that won't just appeal to drum machine dorks, but also design buffs, and heck, even folks who just dig big beautiful art books. Of course most aQ-ers probably find themselves in all three camps! We got a taste of this book on this past April's Record Store Day, with the release of a sort of mini-Beat Box, that featured a couple pages from the book, as well as two exclusive flexi-discs (we still somehow have a couple of those left, just ask!), but even that didn't prepare us for how crazy cool the actual book is. And it's not just the book itself either, the book comes housed in an oversized hard box/slipcover/leatherette case, that sort of has the feel of an actual drum machine, and in fact, one side of the box is printed with the schematic for the Rhythm Composer TR-808 drum machine, while the other side features little cutouts, one that houses a 7" single, with the legendary "Paul Revere" beat, as well as a cassette tape with bonus beats. The book also features a download card with beats from the various drum machines featured in the book! Easily just about the coolest Christmas gift we can imagine this year, even if (and maybe especially if) it's just a present for yourself!
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The genius behind Mantronix is back with kick-ass beats and breaks--bringing together the disjointed electro he helped pioneer with the sonds of new school hip-hop and electronica.
Compiled by legendary musician / producer / remixer Kurtis Mantronik, this is a collection of tracks from the late '70s and early '80s, all of which he considers not only super influential on his own work, but also typical of the groundbreaking dance / hip hop / electro / disco / house music being made in New York at this time. If you're a fan of ESG or any of the music on the two "Disco not Disco" comps, you're gonna love this too. It's a fantastic collection of tracks covering everyone from Art of Noise to Yellow Magic Orchestra, Visage, Yello and T-La Rock. More than easily standing up to today's scrutiny, none of the tracks sound dated in a bad way at all. Another great comp from Soul Jazz, the London store/label that brought us the In the Beginning There Was Rhythm comp, the 100-400% Dynamite collections, etc. Highly recommended!
Double disc reissue of legendary producer Marley Marl's first two full length albums, released in '88 and '91 respectively. Queens-born Marley Marl *founded* the Cold Chillin' label whose Juice Crew in turn launched the careers of Roxanne Shante, Masta Ace, Biz Markie, Kool G Rap, etc. These two albums feature all of those mentioned above, also LL Cool J (Marl produced his million-selling Mama Said Knock You Out), Big Daddy Kane, Heavy D, and more. The cuts are bright and crisp with sampled 'n looped hooks galore. Cool.
In contrast to the exceptional compilation from Trojan records of 70's Jamaican producers and vocalists performing Marley's numbers, this reeks of major label exploitation. "Duets" with the legendary Bob Marley and contemporary chartbusters Erykah Badu, Krayzie Bone, Guru, Rakim, Busta Rhymes, Lauren Hill, Lost Boyz, MC Lyte, The Marley Brother & The Ghetto Youths Crew, Steven Tyler & Joe Perry, Chuck D, and The Roots.
Just as Master P (the P stands for Perry if you must know...) has brought his trademarked "Ugh!" to universal recognition for symbolizing all things id (i.e. fucking, getting fucked up, fucking other people up, etc...), he releases his final album. Joined by his No Limit soldiers (Sylkk the Shocker, Mystikal, Mia X, and the newly signed Snoop Dogg), P has created a claustrophobic hip hop masterpiece of beats so hard they're brittle under the weight of the superb vocal delivery. As with all No Limit records, it's complete with the utterly gauche yet entirely captivating, Jeff Koons-as-a-teenager-with-Photoshop graphics... this time with holographic cover.
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The flood of Bill Laswell-related material continues, and as a result it's hard for us to keep up and get even some of it on this list...so, better late than never, here's the newest disc from Bill's long-running and generally-interesting band/project Material. The title of "Intonarumori" refers to Italian Futurism, a more relevant title might have been "The Guest MC Record", featuring as it does the likes of Kool Keith, Flavor Flav, Scotty Hard, Killah Priest. Other participants include Material-alum Lori Carson, Bernie Worrell, Ted Parsons, Mr. Ken, Eddie Def, DJ Disc, DXT...a cast of thousands, actually, too many to name. Anyway, this is a pretty cool hip hop album. Fans of any of the above names, as well as Wordsound/Crooklyn Dub stuff in general, should check this out.
Mellowhype is the latest subversive sonic missive from the uber hyped Odd Future hip hop crew, which finally shines the spotlight on some of the other members after Tyler The Creator and Earl Sweatshirt getting most of the love up until now. But Mellowhype, aka Hodgy Beats and Left Brain, were in fact responsible for much of the production on those records, but unlike the spare sketelal horrorcore creep of Tyler's Goblin, and the stripped down minimal thump of Earl's jams, the sound of Mellowhype is much more lush, but no less twisted, what on the surface sounds like radio ready hip hop, seems to melt before your ears, sounds changing pitch, beats slowing down and speeding up, vocals constantly shifting, the sound peppered with glitches and tape dropouts, the melodies warped and woozy, it's the kind of shit that SHOULD be all over the radio, it's got all the elements required, but fortunately for us, that stuff is filtered through Odd Future's cracked perception of hip hop, and comes out the other end all mangled and fantastically fucked up.
After hearing this we imagine it's only a matter of time before big hip hop names start tapping these guys for remixes, or even just for beats, cuz these guys have crafted a serious slab of WTF here, a dizzying hybrid of purposefully problematic Odd Futurisms melded to surprisingly hooky hip-pop, and irresistible melodies, some killer flows, ominous loops, beats that slip from Southern crunkified skitter, to pounding black rocking crunch, resident Odd Future RnB-er Frank Ocean even drops in for a bit of crooning, and in true OF fashion his swoonsome hook is set amidst a jumble of warbly synths, hiccupping beats, and some damaged confusional lyrics. Awesome stuff. More than lives up to the hype.
We sure do love MF Doom. That laconic, tongue twisting, marble mouthed drawl, and the dense cartoonish hip hop-scapes he flows over. So so good. Here's a live forty minute set (frustratingly tracked as a single song) to hold you over until the next full length. All the hits are here, lots of between song banter, some crooning. Sounds as good as the record, if a little sloppy and fucked up. In fact Doom sounds a bit out of it, a little wasted maybe? But somehow it only seems to make everything sound better, Doom's flow is even more slippery and confusional, tripping gleefully over all the unlikely samples and the chopped up loops. Doooooooom!!!!!!!!!!!
The return of the masked mad villain AKA Viktor Vaughn, Xev Love X, and the first proper MF Doom record since Operation Doomsday. The recent Madvillain record, which paired Doom with Madlib, was one of the hip hop records of 2004 and hipped the public at large to what the hip hop world already knew, MF Doom was the ultimate hip hop arch villain. Lethal with the mic and always armed with a mouthful of weird wisdom. And Doom, like all great super villains, has a new obsession or plan for world domination. This time, it's food. Yep, FOOD! Not many folks could pull that off with out it turning into an unfunny joke, but Doom is obviously not your typical hip hop villain.
If you liked the Madvillain record you NEED this. The sound is not quite as dense and comic book-y, but it's still weird and wonderful, snippets of movie themes looped into hiccuppy groovescapes, lots and lots of dialogue from cartoons (even the Herculoids!!!) and movies, most about superheroes vs. supervillains or of course, food, simple bumping beats, and funky jazzy riffs, all very playful and humorous (occasionally even laugh out loud funny). But as always it's all about Doom's flow, a lazy, mumbly drawl, sort of stoned, sort of sleepy, but always sharp tongued and rife with alliteration, ridiculous metaphor, and dazzling wordplay.
Some of the best tracks though are the crazy sonic collages, with no rapping, entirely built from triumphant superhero soundtrack loops underscoring ridiculous sort-of-coversations about food and foes, cobbled together from various film clips and sonic snippets.
The cover is amazing as well, rendered comic book / grafitti style by artist Jason Jagel featuring Doom eating cereal with little marshmallow Doom masks, petting a murderous kitty while smoking a cigar, and of course eating food!
This could very well have been the hip hop record of 2004 if that Madvillain record hadn't also come out this year!
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Seven new tracks and seven new instrumentals from ex-members of the now legendary KMD. Some of the freshest hip hop we've heard in a little while.
Let There Be Drums! Whoo, cool to have this old fave reissued on vinyl! Especially with previous anthologies on Strut and Mr. Bongo now out of print, original lps of course also being hard to come by...
What the heck was the Incredible Bongo Band, you might ask, and what was so Incredible about it? Well, just listen to the soundclips of "Apache" and "Last Bongo In Belgium", we bet you'll recognize 'em. The Incredible Bongo Band are one of those almost anonymous groups who in fact contributed quite a bit to hiphop and dance culture, with many of their breaks being sampled literally HUNDREDS of times. In fact, it can be argued that IBB cut the "original breakbeats"! Kinda funny to realize that they were in fact Hollywood-based studio session players, led by producer Michael Viner (responsible for several Sammy Davis, Jr. hits), who came together to record chase music for the Ray Milland/Rosey Grier horror flick "The Thing With Two Heads" - and ended up putting out records now revered the world over by the hiphop/DJ community. Their debut "Bongo Rock" 7" sold over two million copies in 1972; that is, apparently after they pulled the cover that showed how white they were and replaced it with a closeup of racially unidentifiable hands playing bongos. During the course of their career, supposedly such big names as John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Harry Nilsson, and Glen Campbell all dropped by to play a little.
The band's main bongo player Jim Gordon (who co-wrote "Layla") later went cuckoo and killed his mom, but despite that tragic association, the IBB's music is super fun, and more than a little kitschy, good not only for DJ sampling purposes but also enjoyable groovy listening on its own. The 8 tracks on this reish of their 1973 full-length include both funky originals, and equally bongo-riffic cover versions, like the aforementioned surf classic "Apache", also Iron Butterfly's heavy psych epic "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", believe it or not (lotsa room for a bongo workout in that one). And who can forget "Duelling Bongos"?
After a year or two of track stealing cameos, on records by Mariah Carey, Kanye West, Lil Wayne and loads of others, Nicki Minaj finally unleashes her long awaited full length, and people for the most part seem to be bummed out. Mostly because it seems she decided to go pop instead of straight hip hop. But it would definitely be a mistake to write off Pink Friday, cuz there's some seriously twisted kick ass shit here.
For those who need a history lesson, or who have been living under a rock, pretty much every hip hop jam of the last 24 months, if it was worth hearing had Minaj spitting some twisted rhymes on it. Probably most notably on the recent Kanye West record, where her cameo on "Monster" dusted even Jay-Z. She's a mini bombshell, pneumatic figure, robotic composure, and a voice that slips from sweet croon, to deep bellow, slipping in and out of accents, making sound effects, woofing like a dog, growling like a dragon, spitting expletives like a longshoreman, but what a way with rhymes, and for the most part, that's on display here big time, the bummer is that there's also plenty of pop fluff. But like we said, it's still worth it. And as far as pop stuff goes, it's pretty decent. And hell, we'd much rather see Minaj all over the radio than Katy Perry.
By now you've probably heard the Buggles sampling "Check It Out" (the video is a kick, and if you're not crushed out on Minaj after that, there's something wrong with you), with it's "oh oh" refrain, and Wil.I.Am, and yeah, we sort of dig it, but even here, Minaj's rap is twisted and fucked up and WAY weird, rhythmically off kilter, the rhymes unlikely and funny as fuck. And on "Blazin", with its classic '80s sampling loop, Kanye returns Minaj's "Monster" favor and delivers a pretty excellent guest spot of his own.
But the two best jams are tucked away right at the beginning, after the pop opening, "Roman's Revenge" is spare and stark and fierce and fucked up, the music minimal, and Minaj is on fire, mean and nasty and funny, and she's teamed up with Eminem who spits out his own serious nastiness over a weirdly creepy children's choir backdrop. A whole record of this sort of sick hip hop genius would have made Minaj a legend for sure, and all the haters would be bowing down, but a track like that would never make it on the radio. Neither would the next one "Did It On 'Em", a woozy, synth driven syzurp slither, with its "Did it on 'em, shitt'd on em" refrain, and some gleefully nasty lyrical madness, including "if I had a dick, I would pull it out and piss on 'em", all over a stripped down lo fi beat, and a hazy wheezing buzz.
But sadly, those two tracks are really the only vestiges of the mixtape Minaj everyone wanted more of. That Minaj does pop up here and there throughout the rest of the record, but only occasionally and briefly. So if you have a low tolerance for radio pop, then Pink Friday might be tough going, and you'd probably be better off tracking down those infamous mixtapes, but if you don't mind a little pop, you could definitely do worse, and you get the occasional blast of bafflingly brilliant Minaj, which to us, seems well worth it.
Surveys show that, like, 25 percent of Icelanders believe in elves. And we're pretty sure the other 75 percent fervently believe in post-rock. Actually, there's probably a lot of overlap there... Here's the first album from Miri, "four guys from the remote east fjords of Iceland" who play a mostly instrumental form of indie pop post-rock, with a knack for pretty melodies amidst their moody mathiness. What we weren't expecting - and what immediately grabbed us - was how the very first track is chock full of dubby attacks, everything suddenly all awesomely echo-effected out. Love that!!
Other interesting production twists exist throughout the album, courtesy of Icelandic electronica artist Curver, who similarly also added a lot of cool glitch to a disc we liked long long ago by metalcore act Minus. And in addition to the electronic studio trickery of Curver, this is graced by guest musicians, among 'em members of Mum and Benni Hemm Hemm, who expand the group's instrumentation to include harmonica, vibraphone, flute, and marimba. Also, we noticed Brooklyn's Scotty Hard (of WordSound fame) namechecked in the credits, we don't know what he had to do with this exactly (since we're not fluent in Icelandic) but were were surprised to see him there, or maybe not, what with that aforementioned dubbiness!!
Sometimes noisy yet sunshiney, mildly mathy yet melodic, often calming but also rhythmically compelling (do Icelandic elves dance to stuff like this?), Miri's Okkar is definitely a contender for post-rock record of the month. Heck, let's declare it post-rock album of the winter (it's not even winter yet, but they're from Iceland so it's appropriate... plus this will keep us warm then, with its bright, mesmeric grooves).
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An excellent breakbeat LP for DJs needing good material to scratch, all compiled by one of our fave turntablists and Mission resident DJ Quest (Live Human) and DJ Too Fresh. Funny quotes about people 'scratching', awesome human beatbox stuff (some over the theme to the Pink Panther!), interesting and nonpredictable breakbeats. Recommended for DJs. Vinyl only, naturally.
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The sexy mustachioed Invisible Skratch Pikl, and now Beastie Boys DJ, breaks out with this excellent full length. As Oliver Wang rightly points out in the SF Bay Guardian, this record is worlds apart from the recent Shiggerfragger Skratch Piklz cd, which featured multi-turntable improvisations. Anti-Theft Device is more tightly composed, never lets up for a second -- it's clear that the Mix Master worked really hard on this record... and has come up with a full on car-stereo-worthy beatbox classic. Refreshingly free of "filler", and most of us here think it is much better than the Beastie Boys record. Lastly, the CD booklet folds out into a mini-poster.
Maybe I haven't had enough coffee today or my cold is blocking these beatz from my brain, but San Francisco native Mix Master Mike (see also Invisibl Skratch Piklz; see also Beastie Boys) bringz it hard with his newest releaze, Bangzilla. MMM's technique is maztered here and with no MC diztraction, hiz mixez are of a near-vomituz rate. But iz it awezome? Indeedz.
Beastie Boys' DJ and Scratch Pikl MMM is back on wheels of steel with this four-track ep.
Beastie Boys' DJ and Scratch Pikl MMM returns with the follow-up to his cdep Eye Of The Cyclops.
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One of the very best, dynamic and exciting pieces from Mike's recent Anti Theft Device album, "Suprize Packidge" utilizes a cool sample from "The Taking of Pelham 123", and is here presented in its original form plus a remix by the ubiquitous Automator (we mean that in a nice way, Dan). Also included are three other pieces, at a very budget price for the cd format. You can't go wrong.
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3 turntablist pieces from the sexiest Skratch Pikl.
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There's a disembodied cartoon wrist on cover.
Ambitious album that goes in many different directions form spiritual jazz to classical to folk and dance floor excursions. There are some really amazing moments on here, but there are some misses as well.
Some of us were ready to concede the fact that Mos Def may have evolved into a much more important and amazing actor than rapper, but with The Ecstatic he grabs us forcefully and reminds us that he is most definitely still a potent musical force to be reckoned with! Any record that opens with a Malcolm X soundclip and goes right into a song that samples the music of Turkish psych singer Selda is setting the bar pretty high, and Mos Def just keeps pushing that bar higher and higher, as The Ecstatic is his most intense, immediate and powerful record in a long time.
The Ecstatic features some of the best hip-hop producers around (Madlib, Oh No, Georgia Ann Muldrow, Mr. Flash and even the late great J Dilla). While those producers help flesh out the strong beats and slightly Eastern vibe, the strength of the album is all about the presence of a rejuvenated Mos Def who sounds so commanding, in control and at ease on the mic. His flow and intensity on the record reminds us of classic Eric B. & Rakim, the kind of hip-hop that hits you hard on first listen but keeps unveiling more of its potency on repeated listens. Can't imagine a better hip-hop record coming out this year. So great!
It's the much anticipated follow up to his highly acclaimed Black On Both Sides from way back in 1999. By his resume it was looking like Mr. Def was going to continue with his acting career and forsake his brief stint in the music business. With a cameo from Shuggie Otis on guitar, and production from the likes of Kanye West, we thought for sure we were going to hear something great. Did The New Danger meet our (high) expectations? Yes, and no. Some of us here were thrown a bit by how different this eclectic album is from its predecessor. And not everyone is a fan of all the styles that Mos Def throws into the mix on this genre-hopping disc. Whatever the case, others of us and our peeps think this record is one of the best pop music releases of 2004 -- yes, pop. Despite its heavy, slice-of-reality lyrics, and occasional use of metal riffs, this is a pop record.
The New Danger flows like a beautifully made mix-tape, moving through a variety of genres with remarkable continuity. From early Funkadelic funk/blues ("Black Jack") to gritty urban hip-hop ("The Rape Over"), to Marvin Gaye-inspired soul ("Modern Marvel") to catchy funk/metal ("Zimzallabim"), Mos Def pulls out all the stops... and manages to combine them into a cohesive whole. Part of that is directly attributable to the extremely talented Black Jack Johnson band that Mos Def has assembled. Talk about street cred, Black Jack Johnson has it all over the place. The roster reads as follows: funk keyboard legend Bernie Worrell (P-Funk), drummer Will Calhoun (Living Color), bassist Doug Wimbish (Sugarhill Records, Tackhead, Living Color), and guitar by none other than Gary "Dr. Know" Miller of Bad Brains! These guys insure that no one will ever mistake Black Jack Johnson for Body Count, as they combine taste and restraint along with their considerable chops. There is plenty of fine musicianship, but it's the songs that really stand out. Worrell, in particular, is great on "Freaky Black" which comes off like the best of Schoolly D as rapped over infectious funk-metal all held down by positively filthy funk keyboards.
Maybe this record isn't genius, maybe it isn't going to be as influential as Black On Both Sides, and maybe it does make too many concessions to being a pop record (endlessly repeated choruses etc.). The thing that is certain is that "The New Danger" is spectacularly produced, extremely well-played, full of surprises, and relentlessly listenable. This moved into heavy rotation at my house after only a couple of spins, and two weeks later it has yet to disappoint.
DUMBEST IDEA EVER. A special "no art work" (no booklet!!) rushed version to beat the folks who leaked the album onto the internet before the actual release date... WTF?
