BEATCAKES.

DOWNLOAD via Treasure Fingers’s website, here.

This song has been on repeat on my playlist for the past week. Here’s the original for good measure. And for more Treasure Finger mixes, check out our old post here.

DOWNLOAD “Melt!” here. (from Los Angeles 2008)

DOWNLOAD “Roberta Flack feat. Dolly” here. (from Los Angeles 2008)

DOWNLOAD “Robo Tussin” feat. Lil Wayne” here. (from Los Angeles 2008)

> http://www.flying-lotus.com/losangeles
> myspace.com/flyinglotus

It’s impossible to divorce Steven Ellison aka Flying Lotus, from his native Los Angeles,home to a wildly creative underground hip-hop scene of singlar artists who hybridize sounds beyond classification- Daedelus, Madlib, Georgia Anne Muldrow, and in his final years, the late J Dilla. Flying Lotus’ promising 2006 debut, 1983, drew some criticism for mimicking the scene’s stylistic tropes from half-speed beats to staccato chops of whining keyboard melodies. But on Los Angeles he finally integrates those influences into a shockingly original voice.

Ellison’s tracks now teem with sonic references, as if he were leading an electronic orchestra. The result is an album that unleashes one brilliantly crafted devastating beat after another. “Melt!” merges African drums with whisling birds and shaking maracas. “Parisian Goldfish” melds silky electro-house with B-boy high has percussion. “RobertaFlack” lays Dolly’s dazed jazz vocals over galactic lasers and opiate-slow trip-hop. But “Golden Diva” is the most wondrous ambitious ballad that bounces along with a classic car strutting on hydraulics.

(more…)

Nas Announces 2008 Summer Tour: THE JONES EXPERIENCE

Influential and often controversial multiplatinum New York rapper Nas (Nasir Jones) has announced his full summer tour schedule, in support of his untitled ninth studio album. Produced by Guerilla Union (Rock the Bells, Paid Dues), THE JONES EXPERIENCE–”a big show in an intimate venue,” as described by Nas–will feature him along with special guests Talib Kweli, Jay Electronica and DJ Green Lantern performing in small clubs across North America. The 21-date tour kicks off Tuesday, July 22 in Montreal and wraps up Labor Day weekend in Minneapolis. The shows will take place in between Nas’ previously announced appearances on this summer’s Rock The Bells 2008 International Festival Series, which will also feature Jay Electronica and DJ Green Lantern.

Dates below….

In conjunction with the previous post, here’s the video for “My Drive Thru”. I’m not going to lie its pretty amazing…as is Santogold’s marching band-esque jacket.

The show originally scheduled to take place tonight (July 10) at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple was cancelled, so the first event of this weekend’s Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival will instead take place Friday at 6pm in DUMBO. The main performance day with KRS One and DJ Premier is Saturday in Empire Fulton-Ferry State Park at 4pm. Things finish up Saturday night at Southpaw. Full schedule and more details at the festival site.

DOWNLOAD “Lesson 4″ here.

Apparently, this is Shadow’s first record from 1991. Taking Steinski and Double Dee’s mixes as direct inspiration it’s mostly a breakbeat mix from old funk records with some famous samples thrown in. The real Shadow deal was to come later but not under the “Lesson” name.

DOWNLOAD “The Third Decade, Our Move” here.

Five years later, Shadow had obviously improved his skills beyond the original ‘Lesson 4′ mix to the point where he was establishing his own unique sound. I picked up this tune on a compilation given away free with Select Magazine from 1997 and I loved it so much. Still do. The song is essentially a four and a half minute collage about hip-hop using spoken word snippets about samples and rap. What pleases me the most about the song is that it’s still undeniably lo-fi in construction. The beats are so wonky and straight up, you can almost see the turntable they were looped from.

via nialler9

DOWNLOAD here.

DOWNLOAD here. via the tripwire.

Kanye West’s unbelievably late performance at this year’s Bonnaroo festival struck a chord with many fans. Festival attendees chanted less than kind things about the hip hop star, portable toilets were spray painted “Kanye Sucks,” and his recent blog rants have shown a less than impressive side of his personality. Now, we’re not going to point fingers, as we weren’t at the fest and frankly could care less about his online rants, but the interwebs have definitely been buzzing with Kanye negativity as of late.

Rather than just bitching about West, indie-folk musician Ben Sollee decided to write and record his very own open letter, simply titled “Dear Kanye.” From what we’ve been told, the song was recorded yesterday morning using the internal mic on his laptop. We couldn’t help but smile has Sollee sang “you don’t need a light show / just good flows.” Nicely done, Ben.

> http://www.myspace.com/bensollee

DOWNLOAD here (courtesy of Fool’s Gold)

Love how this song puts together two new upcoming rappers and produces a surprisingly good result considering now that whenever I think of Kid Cudi, all I think about is that annoying singing/rapping “Day N’ Nite”.

I watched both videos just to see what would happen next and not necessarily to hear the entire song. Oh those smart bastards. It makes a not so interesting song, slightly interesting. Friggin’ wordpress doesn’t allow me to resize the videos so you guys can see them side by side. Try opening both videos up in separate windows for the full effect.

Start the second video as soon as it fades to black after the countdown. Enjoy!!!

> http://www.myspace.com/poplevi

“You on point Phife?”
“All the time, Tip.”

So Much Silence brings us two old B-Sides off A Tribe Called Quest’s classic promo CD single of “Check the Rhime.”

DOWNLOAD:

• A Tribe Called Quest | Check the Rhime (Mr. Muhammad’s Mix)
  

• A Tribe Called Quest | Check the Rhime (Skeff’s Mix)