Review: Grand Analog - Calligraffiti
Posted on 10 May 2008 | No Comments
A month or so ago (or at least the last time I saw him) my uncle Craig said I had to take a listen to Grand Analog’s Calligraffiti. So I did and I liked it. Now I’m not a hip-hop head or anything even close, but take my word that this is some pretty good shit.
So even though Grand Analog calls Winnipeg, Canada home but they sound of parts much further South. On Calligraffiti dub-reggae mixes with bluesy hip-hop that sounds supremely casual and endlessly catchy. Maybe a little like K-OS? The live instrumentation give the music some additional depth and funkiness that much of today’s hip-hop seems to be missing.
I should probably thank my uncle for pointing me in the direction of Grand Analog. “Thanks.” Now I’m pointing you.
MP3 | Grand Analog – I’ll Walk Alone Calligraffiti
MP3 | Grand Analog – Touch Your Toes Calligraffiti
Filed Under: Album Reviews, Hip Hop
Review: The Go! Team - Proof Of Youth
Posted on 15 November 2007 | No Comments
So earlier this year The Go! Team released their sophomore full-length called Proof Of Youth. I know I’m way behind here, but like its predecessor (2005’s Thunder, Lightning, Strike) it is full of volcanic youthful energy, classic horn arrangements, and is just so damn much fun and so melodic it is really hard not to crack at least a little smile when listening. And while Proof Of Youth didn’t knock me on my ass like their debut did, it is more of the same cheer-core guitar squalor backed by hip-hop beats the girls and guys from The Go! Team imported from England last time. Check it out.
MP3 | The Go! Team – The Wrath Of Marcie Proof Of Youth
MP3 | The Go! Team – Doing It Right Proof Of Youth
Filed Under: Album Reviews, Hip Hop, Indie Rock, Pop
My New Favorite Blog
Posted on 13 August 2007 | 3 Comments
My new favorite blog is called Eazy Emo (thanks Eric). Now besides having a clever and hilarious name, Eazy Emo features the blogger’s own mashups of indie and emo artists like Coldplay and Fugazi with hip hop stars like Biggie and Busta Rhymes. Below is just a sampling of the tracks you’ll find over there, so head over to Eazy Emo and show him some love.
MP3 | Eazy Emo – Busta Rhymes vs. Braid (Urbana’s Woo Dark)
MP3 | Eazy Emo – Coldplay vs. Clipse
Review: Girl Talk - Night Ripper
Posted on 16 July 2007 | 1 Comment
The skies were gray and pouring down rain as I made my way home from work this afternoon. Luckily I was listening to Girl Talk’s utterly fantastic mash-up album Night Ripper to cheer me up. It then struck me that I didn’t include this album in my best of 2006 posts nor have I ever posted about it. Shame on me.
Most of you probably know and love this album, and if you don’t, you should. On this (his third full-length) Girl Talk’s Gregg Gillis takes hundreds of samples and smashes them into one another with reckless abandon. A few of the artists sampled on Night Ripper include:
2 Live Crew, 2PAC, 50 Cent, 69 Boyz, Abba, Paula Abdul, Aerosmith, Amerie, Annie, Arrested Development, David Banner, Rob Base, Bel Biv Devoe, George Benson, Better Than Ezra, Beyoncé, Black Box, The Black Crowes, Black Eyed Peas, Black Rob, Black Sheep, Boredoms, Boston, Bow Wow, Boyz II Men, The Breeders, Chris Brown, James Brown, Bun B, Busta Rhymes, Calloway, Candyman, Mariah Carey, Cassidy, Chicago, Ciara, Clipse, Phil Collins, Nikka Costa, Crime Mob, D12, D4L, DJ Assault, DJ EZ Rock, Dem Franchise Boyz, Digable Planets, Diplomats, Dinosaur Jr, Dr Dre, Jermaine Dupree, Elastica, Missy Elliot, Eminem, The Emotions, En Vogue, Fabolous, Fall Out Boy, Fatman Scoop, The Five Stairsteps, Fleetwood Mac, Folk Implosion, Foo Fighters, G-Unit, The Game, Garbage, Genesis, Andrew Gold, Al Green, Peter Gunz, Hall and Oates, Sophie B. Hawkins, Honey Drippers, Hum, Donnie Iris, J-Kwon, JJ Fad, Jay-Z, Jefferson Airplane, Joe Public, Elton John, Mike Jones, Junior Mafia, KRS ONE, Kansas, Kelis, Alicia Keys, LCD Soundsystem, LL Cool J, Lady Sovereign, Laid Back, Lil John, Lil Wayne, Lil Webbie, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, Lord Tariq, Ludacris, M.A.R.R.S., M.I.A., Madonna, Main Ingredient, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, Marky Mark, Paul Mccartney, Michael Mcdonald, George Michael, Mobb Deep, Mark Morrison, ‘NSYNC, Nas, Nate Dogg, Naughty by Nature, Nelly, Neutral Milk Hotel, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, Noreaga, Notorious B.I.G., Oasis, P. Diddy, Pavement, Phantom Planet, The Pharcyde, Pharrell, Pilot, The Pixies, Positive K, Public Enemy, Punjabi MC’s, Purple Ribbon All-Stars, The Rentals, Smokey Robinson, S.W.V., Salt N Pepa, Juelz Santana, Seals and Croft, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Slim Thug, The Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, Britney Spears, Billy Squier, Gwen Stefani, T.L.C., James Taylor, Tears For Fears, Technotronic, Three 6 Mafia, Timbaland, Trillville, Trina, The Verve, The Waitresses, Paul Wall, Warren G, Weezer, Kanye West, Whispers, Wings, Steve Winwood, Stevie Wonder, Wreckx-N-Effect, X-Ray Spex, Ying Yang Twins, Young Gunz, Young JeezyYeah. Amazingly (to me at least) as we were listening to this earlier this evening, my wife was picking out samples from LL, Rob Base, Black Box, etc… I guess there is a reason I keep her around. Night Ripper is out now on Illegal Art. So, are you ready for this?
MP3 | Girl Talk – Smash Your Head Night Ripper
MP3 | Girl Talk – Bounce That Night Ripper
Filed Under: Album Reviews, Hip Hop, Pop
Review: Kinetic Stereokids - Basement Kids (or) around the river
Posted on 12 June 2007 | 1 Comment
Kinetic Stereokids come straight from the mean streets of Flint, Michigan and they meld hip-hop with indie rock in way that is similar to what Beck did with Mellow Gold. You know, loosey-goosey rapping with samples, folk-rock guitars, and all the trimmings that’s taped and glued together with 4-track production values. Their debut Basement Kids is a mellow and somber affair and it’s out now on Overdraft.
MP3 | Kinetic Stereokids – Barefoot In The Rain Basement Kids
MP3 | Kinetic Stereokids – Explosions Were Heard Basement Kids
Filed Under: Album Reviews, Hip Hop, Indie Rock
A vague stab in the direction of
Posted on 22 February 2007 | No Comments
I’ll be the first person to admit that I don’t really know a lot about hip-hop and rap. Whatever. What I do know (however) is that former Wu-Tang member Ghostface Killah’s 2006 album Fishscale is pretty damn phenomenal. If you haven’t had a chance to hear this album yet, do yourself a favor and listen. If I’d actually heard this album before I posted my best of 2006 list, you can bet this would have been on it.
PS: The OC is over. I’m kinda sad about that.
MP3 | Ghostface Killah – The Champ Fishscale
MP3 | Ghostface Killah – Shakey Dog Fishscale
Filed Under: Hip Hop
Post grindin' on the NPR
Posted on 31 January 2007 | 1 Comment
I was listening to NPR on my way home from work this afternoon, and I heard them review the newest Clipse album Hell Hath No Fury. It is (as we’ve pointed out here) is a fantastically brutal record with some of the dopest beats The Neptunes have ever laid down. NPR likes ‘em. You should too.
MP3 | Clipse – Mr. Me Too Hell Hath No Fury
MP3 | Clipse – Chinese New Year Hell Hath No Fury
Filed Under: Hip Hop
Review: Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury (or) introducing the magic of knowing
Posted on 21 December 2006 | No Comments
NOTE: Below is Kurt’s first contribution to Can You See The Sunset… Next time I’ll make him write a freakin’ preface so that I don’t have to.
We live in a world where hip-hop heroes shouldn’t be trusted, from indie favorites like Cannibal Ox (I dare you to make it through Vast Aire’s solo album all the way; sure, I’ll wait) and Atmosphere (Slug might not like being called emo-rap, but until he gets his face off of Fuse and in front of a mic to drop a verse that’s not so, well, emo, he’s the Pete Wentz of hip-hop) to mainstream kingpins like Jay-Z (his new album is a half-hearted lazy jingle for Budweiser and Nascar and, where I come from, is liable to get a motherfucker shot) and Nas (his new song, the one with the In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida sample, is just embarrassing; Nas rhyming over Iron Butterfly: hip-hop really is dead). Well, friends and brethren, there’s a pair of brothers from Virginia that are here to remind us that to some rappers, word is bond.
Clipse, made up of brothers Malice and Pusha T backed by the best of the Neptunes’ tracks, first showed up on our radars in 2002 when Grindin’ became a mini-hit. But the album it came off, Lord Willin’ never really hit; it went gold, sure, but this was at the height of the Neptunes media exposure and N.E.R.D. and all that. To make a long story short, the Clipse didn’t feel they were treated fairly during and following the dissolution of Arista into the bigger Sony/BMG camp, and now after four years, we have their re-up, Hell Hath No Fury, their no-holds-barred, safety-off, return to the stash house.
To put it simply, Hell Hath No Fury is the best hip-hop album of the year, and it’s more honest and heartfelt than anything the emo/indie/Elliot Smith retread set has to offer. The lyrics drive the album. The first single, Mr. Me Too, is classic Clipse: an angry, drug-infested affront to the followers and haters. “Wanna know the time?/ Better clock us/ Niggaz bite the style from the shoes to the watches/ We cloud hoppers, tailor suits like we mobstas/Break down keys into dimes and sell ‘em like gobstoppers,” Malice says to lead off his verse, and it’s déjà vu all over again. This is what we waited four years for: the violent imagery and drug deals balanced against the sweet taste of candy. Look at how Malice refers to children with the opposition of hoppers (the neighborhood young-uns that run from dealer to stash to grab product) and gobstoppers; see the people in this game may sell drugs and kill people, but they’re kids and kids eat candy. Also of note is that built in to this is the subtle image of Willy Wonka (you know, that guy who invented the Gobstopper?); Clipse are Willy Wonka: reclusive-ass motherfuckers who are larger than life because of their magical product, but who are ultimately dissatisfied because nearly all their customers are degenerate addicts.
Almost overlooked in all the lyrical deconstruction is some of the best Neptunes production ever. Sure, Pharrell may pimp watches and laptops and sunglasses and trucker hats and be Esquire’s best dressed man, but when he hooks up with Chad Hugo and they get serious about the beats, the Neptunes can set it right. Hell Hath No Fury bounces to a sparse, futuristic soul so crisp it makes the West Coast g-funk on the Game’s new album (which is quite great, by the way) sound downright stale. It sounds like there’s a giant silver orb hovering above my head at the ready to drop the tractor beam. Pharrell can keep giving tracks to Gwen and Britney and shooting ads for Louis Vuitton as long as he keeps his synth fingers nimble. The tracks are understated, but loud in a way that reinforces the lyrics and highlights the sing-song choruses just right. It’s the synths just above the horizon; it’s the snare wound so tight you wonder if it could be a sample of a gunshot tweaked a little; it’s the alien lazer-bass that made the Neptunes famous.
We like Clipse because we believe Pusha T when he says, “Mask on face, Glock in hand/ I was in and out of homes like the Orkin man.” These are enthralling street narratives, and not in the sociologically interesting because I’m a white graduate student way. No, this shit is scary. And it’s brutal. And it’s true. Malice and Pusha T are a couple of real thugs with real gifts for storytelling and rhyming, and this is their opus. Hell Hath No Fury keeps everything street and keeps the references to guns, drugs, and childhood. Clipse are no hustlers; they are too honest, and it’s that honesty that makes this album a dirty shit talking masterpiece.
MP3 | Clipse – Mr. Me Too Hell Hath No Fury
MP3 | Clipse – Chinese New Year Hell Hath No Fury
Filed Under: Album Reviews, Hip Hop
Review: Gnarls Barkley St. Elsewhere (or) your mom goes to college
Posted on 27 March 2006 | 5 Comments
While Charles Barkley was known to many as “the round mound of rebound,” this Barkley is something altogether different. Gnarls Barkley is a unique collaboration between rapper (and Goodie Mob member) Cee-Lo Green and DJ/producer extrordinaire Danger Mouse (who recently produced the Gorillaz album Demon Days. The above picture of them dressed as Napoleon & Pedro is hilarious. You can view it uncropped on their myspace page.
While the first single “Crazy” is set for release on April 10, it has been floating around the internet for months now. The accompanying album entitled St. Elsewhere will hit stores on May 2 in the US. Needless to say many people (myself included) are very excited. You can also hear Gnarls’ take on the Violent Femmes classic “Gone Daddy Gone.” You can catch this dynamic duo this summer at both Coachella and Lollapalooza.
MP3 | Gnarls Barkley – Crazy St. Elsewhere
MP3 | Gnarls Barkley – Gone Daddy Gone St. Elsewhere
Filed Under: Album Reviews, Hip Hop, Pop
Review: Bonobo - Dial M For Monkey (or) please wait system is initializing
Posted on 23 March 2006 | 2 Comments
I only recently discovered the downtempo music of Brighton, England’s Simon Green (aka Bonobo). He infuses organic atmospheric tones with catchy little melodies and ties them together with thumping beats. Equal parts chilled-out hip-hop, weighty jazz, broken beats, Latin, funk, and soul, his most recent full-length Dial M For Monkey is a great multi-layered and mesmerizing album. Because Green played all the instruments and did all the sampling and sequencing for the album, there is a cohesiveness that is often missing from instrumental hip-hop and electronic releases. Put on a fire, pour a glass of wine, put this on the stereo, and just relax.
Dial M For Monkey was released in 2003 by the Ninja Tune label, while they released his Live Sessions EP just last year.
MP3 | Bonobo – Wayward Bob Dial M For Monkey
MP3 | Bonobo – Nothing Owed Dial M For Monkey
Filed Under: Album Reviews, Electronic, Hip Hop
In the blogs this week
Posted on 3 March 2006 | 4 Comments
Hopefully everyone has checked out Aquarium Drunkard lately and snagged all the Ryan Adams rarities he’s posted lately. Unfortunately he removed Suicide Handbook and 48 Hours, but you can still get the awesome XM Radio Loft Sessions. Highly recommended.
And although it’s not a blog, Radio Indie Pop has the new Mogwai album Mr. Beast streaming for all to sample. They also have an all Ramones stream that will always get you going.
My man K over at Analog Giant called me out for not bringing enough hip-hop sounds to the Southside even though I’ve recently posted stuff by Blueprint, Q-Unit, and The Streets. I admittedly don’t know a lot about hip-hip except what sounds good to these jaded old ears. Anyhow, last week I was introduced to a song (which is evidently massively popular) that caught my attention and (subsequently) wouldn’t get outta my head. So K, the group is D4L, and (since I tend to overdo everything) below are about a million versions of the song, so go on and shake that laffy taffy. Hopefully it’s enough to purge this song from my skull.
MP3 | D4L – Laffy Taffy (Album Version)
MP3 | D4L – Laffy Taffy (Wassup To All Da Hoes Remix)
MP3 | D4L – Laffy Taffy (DJ Smalls Remix Ft. Busta Rhymes)
MP3 | D4L – Laffy Taffy (Acapella Version)
MP3 | D4L – Laffy Taffy (Lethal Weapon 69 Remix)
MP3 | D4L – Laffy Taffy (Funkymix 91)
Filed Under: Hip Hop
Shrapnel in my back pocket
Posted on 22 February 2006 | 2 Comments
Because The Streets have a new album called The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living coming out in April (and also found their new single via the blogs) I listened to A Grand Don’t Come For Free again today and loved every single second of it. Mike Skinner’s disaffected everyman rapping fits perfectly with the sparse skittering beats of this record. And what Mike lacks in flow he makes up tenfold in pure storytelling ability.
MP3 | The Streets – When You Wasn’t Famous The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living
MP3 | Bloc Party – Banquet (The Streets Remix) Previously Unreleased
MP3 | The Streets – Could Well Be In A Grand Don’t Come For Free
Filed Under: Hip Hop
50 cent meets freddie mercury
Posted on 17 February 2006 | 5 Comments
You all probably jumped all over this when it first came out last fall, but I’m not sure if any other music blogs have posted this yet so here goes. My brother emailed me this afternoon and said, “Check this shit out. It’s pretty funny, and sometimes good.” Agreed. He was referring to the Q-Unit mashup from The Silence Xperiment.
As the name may (or may not imply) it is indeed a 50 Cent & Queen mashup that is everything my brother said it is. You can download the entire thing via torrent here or check out the individual (and hilariously titled) tracks below. Enjoy!
MP3 | Q-Unit – This Is How We Bite The Dust
MP3 | Q-Unit – If I Can’t Be A Champion
MP3 | Q-Unit – Crazy Little Pimp Called Love
MP3 | Q-Unit – Under Pressure All The Time
MP3 | Q-Unit – We Will Rock You In Da Club
MP3 | Q-Unit – Just It All
MP3 | Q-Unit – Old Fashioned Outta Control Loverboy
MP3 | Q-Unit – Disco Language
MP3 | Q-Unit – Candy Bottom Girls
MP3 | Q-Unit – Flash Questions
MP3 | Q-Unit – Bohemian Wanksta
Filed Under: Hip Hop
Review: Blueprint - 1988 (or) I can hear it now
Posted on 17 February 2006 | 2 Comments
I can hear it now, “Has Eric gone crazy? He never posts any hip-hop. What’s going on here?”
Well, I’m taking another cue from Kevin over at So Much Silence and his remarkable ear for great hip-hop. A few weeks back he posted about Ohio native Blueprint. While I’m not much of a hip-hop guy, reading that Blueprint has worked with the likes of RJD2 (they have worked together as Soul Position) and Aesop Rock made me take a notice and download the tracks Kevin posted.
“His lyrics and flow, which changes up with each song. There are times when he comes off with confidence, other times it feels like he’s opening his heart and pleading in a vulnerable manner, at the same time knowing that the motivation to rap that way is merely for you to effectively decipher his messages, which are as clear as day.
[As a producer] he compliments the words with beats that perfectly go hand in hand. While it can be a challenge to produce for others and hope that they will compliment your production skills, it is a bigger challenge to do both and be able to execute it and make it work. Blueprint knows himself, so Blueprint makes beats for Blueprint’s lyrics, and Blueprint rhymes in a manner that also puts Blueprint’s music on a higher level.” – Rap Reviews
All I know is that this is some great “back-in-the-day” sounding positive hip-hop that is a fitting tribute to “the beats, breaks and themes of possibly the most revered year in Hip Hop, 1988, and the great hip-hop pioneers that set the stage for today.
This is good stuff and Blueprint’s latest 1988 is out now on Rhymesayers.
MP3 | Blueprint – Trouble On My Mind 1988
MP3 | Blueprint – 1988 1988
Filed Under: Album Reviews, Hip Hop
Review: Yesterday's New Quintet - The Funky Side Of Life (or) lay down sally
Posted on 9 January 2006 | 3 Comments
Everyone loves Madlib. I do. You do. He is the producer/beat-making genius behind such projects as Madvillain, Quasimoto and Yesterday’s New Quintet.
Now I was not too familiar with YNQ until recently when I heard Madlib’s Sound Directions The Funky Side Of Life which began as an offshoot of YNQ. It is Madlib’s first full length collaboration with session musicians (including wicked UK drummer Malcom Cotto) and is a collection of “vintage soul grooves, electronic freewheeling funk, and fusion-oriented jazz breaks” that are all given the Madlib treatment. His grimy abstract hip-hop beats still mess through the tracks but aren’t necessarily their central focus. By incorporating live instrumentation (including drums, bass, horns, rhodes, and guitar) Madlib pays homage to the old school jazz that has influenced him and lets us come along for the glorious (and certainly funky) ride.
Madlib presents Sound Directions The Funky Side Of Life is out now on Stones Throw Records.
MP3 | Sound Directions – Dice Game The Funky Side Of Life
MP3 | Sound Directions – On The Hill The Funky Side Of Life
Filed Under: Album Reviews, Hip Hop, Jazz
