Sach O assumes the real rap comes at halftime.
Halftime 09 Rap Mix (Z-Share download) Rap wise, it’s hard to find fault with 2009 so far. You can spend your time complaining about what the next guy’s listening to or shouting the praises of whatever specific movement you advocate from the rooftops like a disenfranchised Iranian, but truth is we’ve all been spoiled for choice this year. A collapsing music industry means artists are getting back to honest-to-God collaborations again and whatever specific batch of emcees you think should end up on XXL’s cover, they’re dropping good music for their audience and (hopefully) proving music can survive the internet economy. This blend puts together some of my favorites from the first 6 months a year from Wale and MF Doom to Lil Boosie and Kurupt. If the next 6 are half as good, we may finally get Nas to shut the fuck up. (Tracklisting after the jump)
(more…)

Now in its 30th year, the Montreal Jazz Fest is only tangentially about Jazz or even music. As the city’s biggest annual event, the amount of tourist dollars riding on the event is enough to record Blue Note sides from now until infinity and the lineup is accordingly focus grouped and carefully weighed so as not to ruffle any feathers. Although the indoor shows tend to deliver enough adventurous material to keep open minded enthusiasts emptying their bank accounts (with names like The Bug, King Sunny Ade, Femi Kuti, Burning Spear and the Orb - none of which this blogger could afford to check out), the free outdoor events tend towards milquetoast world music or boomer superstars whose fan bases swarm the venue turning what should be a bargain deal into a nightmarish experience justifying the usual 100$ ticket price.  

(more…)

One last M.J. post–no more eulogizing in this space–just a simple re-direct to Pop and Hiss, where last week I ranked Jackson’s five greatest hip-hop samples (in no particular order). For a more comprehensive list and more MP3’s, head to T.R.O.Y.

LA Times:  Break-Beat It: Kanye, Nas and the best Michael Jackson samples in hip-hop

Download:
MP3: Michael Jackson-”I Can’t Help It”
MP3: De La Soul-”Breakadawn”

MP3: Michael Jackson-”People Make the World Go Round”
MP3: Mobb Deep-”Apostle’s Warning”

Great Scott interviews Disco Vietnam. The world will never be the same,

Scott Towler: Aight, so I have to confess right out of the gate here: I literally just learned your name through our correspondence about this piece.

Disco Vietnam: Yes, well my full name is Disco Irwin Vietnam.

ST: Let’s dive right in, shall we? Dolphin-safe tuna: myth or reality?

DV: It’s a myth. No one is safe from a dolphin’s wrath, least of all a school of tuna fish. Incidentally, I’ve recently discovered veggie tuna salad is superior to regular old tuna salad.

ST: If you were at a Waffle House and they asked how you wanted your hash browns (without looking at a menu, mind you), what would you say?

DV: I would ask my hash browns be reverse engineered into French fries.

ST: You realize that’s an insult in more states than Kentucky, right?

DV: As long as one of those other states isn’t North Carolina I suppose I’ll have to be ok with that.

(more…)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_CLm1NXZeo

Sasha Frere-Jones said it well: if you miss Fripp-Eno eBow guitar styles, check Citay, who foolishly did NOT call their album “Livin’ For The.”

Ezra Feinberg & Co. would be also well-served with “New Jack Citay”(M.O.P. version), “Bright Lights Big Citay” (Capo cover) or “Built This Citay” (Diplomats not Jefferson Starship).  I interviewed Citay’s frontman for the Times last week. If you’re into pretty prog-rock filled with gravity bong guitar solos, this may be for you. Their last album, Little Kingdom was my 29th favorite of 07 and according to Feinberg, the new one features heavier guitars, Galaxie 500 covers, and free tabs of orange sunshine.

LA Times: Upcoming: Citay at the Silverlake Lounge

Download:
MP3: Citay-”First Fantasy”

Nick Rallo has stupid crazy Cetacean swag at Whale Fight. 

Nobody knows the hot months better than Ray Bradbury. The cool smell of lightning, and the snug tennis shoes on your freshly socked feet: Mr. Electrico from Something Wicked This Way Comes is summer. Personally, I don’t get tired of reading about it–the same way when you’re a kid with a flashlight in the dark. You find new things. Luckily, Bradbury is still around to talk about it:

Last week, he spoke at Barnes and Noble about his new book, “We’ll Always Have Paris.” The collection focuses on his forty-year love affair with France and, not surprisingly (or cliched at all), love itself. He raised his hands to the crowd–his palms out like he was blessing us: “My hands are antennae. I feel everything. If you want to write you have to stop thinking.” These songs do that to me–they dilate the eyes and stop you from thinking–they’re good, crisp songs about a rush of feelings. It’s what this mix is about: an explosion. An overload of the senses, like the huge surging-to-the-stars twelve string guitar in “Closer to Heaven,” or the whiskey sadness in “Golden.” Bradbury wrote about it, and damn it’s true. To him, the summer was about the circus–to me it’s about music.

(more…)

My Times review was severely truncated due to space constraints, so I’m posting the original below the jump, complete with tons of corny but apropos Back to the Future jokes. In short, Back to the Feature is blandly enjoyable. Wale’ s ambitions are minimal this go-round–a bizarre shift for someone with obviously grandiose goals. If I were a betting man, I’d wager he’s saving the heavy artillery for Attention Deficit–let’s hope. Let’s also pray for more State Prop and less 9th Wonder. With the contemporary underground churning out the likes of Exile, Jake One, Flying Lotus, Black Milk, et. al, is it really necessary to rely on these melted soft serve sounds?

Also, let’s be unequivocal, complaining about someone un-following you from Twitter is the most trifling dilemma I’ve heard since Asher Roth bitched about forgetting his iPod on an airplane. That said, I’ll still ride for Wale. Flaws aside, this is a good tape with good rapping–it’s just that you get what you pay for.

(more…)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HN1Rwjbr70

When it comes to better US/Jamaica crossover attempts, last year’s “Anything Goes” is more than the sum of its parts. Wayne and Lexxus’ singer/Deejay chemistry is in full swing and for once, the American emcees feel like an integral part of the song rather than a calculated attempt at mainland rotation. Finishing each other’s lines (they rep when drunk and sober), Capone n Noreaga display more energy and enthusiasm than on the whole of their comeback album. While CNN’s attempts at recreating another War Report is admirable, I’d rather them become the 2009 Beatnuts sans-production skills than drop sub-Cormega Thun rap. Bonus points for the slightly better than average JA hood video too.

While they create the NWA, Sach creates the nWo.

Do not adjust your browser, while Jeff’s taking a week off to chill at the Yacht Club with Rick and possibly Diana Ross, I’ve begun phase one in a hostile takeover of the Passion. Expect angry comments from disgruntled trap-rap bloggers, passionate appraisals of rare Jamaican/Brazilian/Nigerian records and a secret pro-Canadian agenda. Also, if Douglas Martin passes through, a pro Secretly Canadian agenda. In other words, we now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

 Burning Spear - Invasion

Despite being decades removed from any significant commercial success, Michael Jackson was omnipresent at my elementary school. See, I went to a Jewish private school and thus attended a staggering number of Bar and Bat-Mitzvah’s (many of them catered by Pickle Barrel, ‘natch).

If you had a bar or bat mitzvah party, there were a few pre-requisites: you had to have glow sticks, terrible chicken nuggets, virgin cocktails and you would always, always, always play Michael Jackson. “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough”, “Blame It On The Boogie” and most importantly, “Billie Jean”. A pop song about avoiding paternity suits, recorded by the son of a steel mill worker, was and will continue to be ubiquitous at parties attended mostly by upper middle class 13-year old Jews.

(more…)