Luo - In the Dark

First of all let me be the first to say "Thank you and welcome back Computer Jones" our frequent poster from across the pond. We have been missing your mathalogical insight's hehe.

Second off my my my I have to say its been a hot minute since a song/video has moved me as much as this one by Luo. This is a full band version of what is essentially experimental producer Josh Trinnaman who has released some incredibly solid glitch, hop, math, jazz blender love.  This live version gives it a certain post rock feel and ups the emotion to a power level of over 9000! truly you must check this out even just for those skillfully wielded drums.

Luo - In the Dark (Live Session) (SWEET FANCY ITS GOOD)

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Elzhi and Will Session- Elmatic (2011)

My friend Greg recommend this album to me months ago, but it was completely lost in a long list of "notes" on my phone full of music recommendations from many different people and kept in a very unorganized manner. Once again, I do not know much about this album: I know that is a solo album by eLZhi, a slick former member of Slum Village; I know that it is a re-imagining of Nas' debut album, Illmatic (much as Rise Above is a remake of Black Flags Damaged); and I know that it is produced by someone named Will Sessions. Hopefully I do not come off as a jackass for not knowing who he, or they, are; it seems as though a lot of the time, things end up that way with me.

Its no matter. This is some truly outstanding hiphop. Excellent production, awesome instrumentation, great flows... what more can you ask for? Check it: track 3 off Elmatic, Halftime:



elmatic

Zucchini Drive - Being Kurtwood (2006)

 Zucchini Drive is an electronic Hip hop duo from Brussels and Sweden. My taste in such fair is pretty selective so if your surprised don't be these guys are very excellent. Lyrically at times they can be easy to dismiss but this is more than made up for with emotional beats and an interesting lo-fi aesthetic.  I wasn't sold on first listen years ago it did take a couple passes but in the end it was worth it. Like i said those these beats are pretty creative often utilizing acoustic guitars and having a decidedly old school flavor. Its possible that this isn't for all parties but it's worth a shot if any of what I just said perked your ear.


Zucchini Drive - Being Kurtwood (2006)

Nicolay- City Lights Vol. 1.5; Here (2005-06)

Its easy to say that Phonte Coleman has really found his own voice and sound since leaving Little Brother. Although Phontes voice goes a long way, a big part of his sound comes from the connection he has with Dutch producer Nicolay. I love all the things these two make together, and recently realized I had dug deep into Phontes earlier work, but had neglected checking further Nicolay.

City Lights 1.5 is a 20 track album of mostly instrumental hiphop tracks; a few have guest rappers rhyming or giving Nicolay a shoutout, but for the most part it is tight, chill beats and nice instrumentation. Here came out a year later, and is an 11 track collaboration he produced and wrote, but it features vocals throughout, focusing on the vocal melodies, rhyming and harmony over the longer instrumentals on City Lights. Both are very nice; heres track 4 on City Lights, Light it Up:



vol. 1.5
here

Phonte- Charity Starts at Home (2011)

I have proclaimed much love for The Foreign Exchange, and afterwards Little Brother, and a big part of my appreciation of these two groups came down to the Phonte factor; Phonte fronts Foreign Exchange, and began his music career in Little Brother. He is a gifted vocalist/ rapper, renowned (in not only my own world) as a chorus genius, proficient foremost in creating vocal harmonies that go 6 parts deep with hooks to match. I mean, check out the chorus of the Foreign Exchanges track, Maybe She'll Dream of Me. Ain't no room for suckers in that studio; just the straight sickness right there.

So, 2011 finally saw to Phonte releasing his first solo effort as an artist, Charity Starts at Home. As usual, when given the mic to talk about what is on his mind, Phonte rises above any fronting and speaks about life as an artist making it through each day to rise and shine with the next. His rhymes are very personal, introspective and creative, and he knows when a tracks melancholy only requires subtly, and knows when to drop a serious chorus to enrich the positive emotions he talks about (as he does in Sending All My Love). It seems Phonte favored focusing on his rhyming on his debut solo release, letting some lovely female vocalists fill in on his hooks while he focused his own vocal parts on the verses. Great stuff; he worked with a number of producers for this release, including a much anticipated (for myself) reunion for a few tracks with 9th Wonder as his beat maestro; track 2, The Good Fight, properly kicks the album up a notch after starting so very strongly with Dance in the Reign (produced by Swiff D). Blam: The Good Fight:

Phonte - The Good Fight
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charity starts at home

metaghostin' Vol. X - Any Color You Want

Any Color You Want - 38'35"
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1. The Juggaknots - "Jivetalk" / Clear Blue Skies (1996)
2. Souls of Mischief - "What a Way to Go Out" / '93 'til Infinity (1993)
3. Pharoahe Monch - "Hell" / Internal Affairs (1999)
4. J Dilla - "The $" / Ruff Draft EP (2007)
5. Lootpack - "Weededed" / Soundpieces: Da Antidote (1999)
6. Raekwon the Chef - "Glaciers of Ice" / Only Built 4 Cuban Linx (1995)
7. Dr. Octagon - "Girl Let Me Touch You" / Dr. Octagonecologist (1996)
8. Count Bass D - "Ohio Playas" / Dwight Spitz (2002)
9. El-P - "Truancy" / Fantastic Damage (2002)
10. Goodie Mob - "I Didn't Ask to Come" / Soul Food (1995)

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NO MESSAGE

metaghostin' vol V - Deadly Duos

Deadly Duos - 34'26"
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What's better than rapping by yourself?

Rapping with your best friend, of course.
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1. "The Science of the Two" - Edan (w/Insight) / Beauty & the Beat / 2005

EDAAAANNNNNNNN! Obviously it's his prerogative, but I really wish Edan would release some new rap material instead of the occasional mixtape blender thing. His beats are too dreamy. (Swoon)

2. "Bring it On" - Organized Konfusion / Stress: The Extinction Agenda / 1994

I wonder if it was sad to be Prince Po, an undeniable force on the mic, yet still getting upstaged on every track by Pharoahe Monch. Pharoahe's verse is probably about as vicious as an emcee ever got, going so far as to point out that he buttfucks other emcees. He also molds brains like pottery, apparently.

3. "What a N---- Know?" - KMD / Black Bastards / 1994

MF Doom in his earlier incarnation as Zevlov X still rapped hella drunk. I feel like if I keep typing "rapped", I'm eventually gonna type "raped".

4. "RE:DEFinition" - Black Star / Black Star / 1997

Mighty Mos and Talib Kweli, back before they were dudes whose albums you didn't care about.

5. "Wheelz of Steel" - Outkast / ATliens / 1996

Outkast got the best basslines in hip-hop.

6. "Survival of the Fittest" - Mobb Deep / The Infamous / 1995

I can't really listen to this album because I find it too damn depressing, but it's got an abundance of hot trackz. I wanted to pick a Big Noyd track, but then it wouldn't be much of a "Deadly Duo" thing, would it?

7. "Off (with) Their Heads (Be Prompt)" - Latyrx / The Album / 1997

Probably the least well-known group on here, being late 90's West Coast rap that didn't really fit the mold of any of the big names at the time and being way more chilled out than the East Coast underground of the era. Kinda funky, kinda stoned out.

8. "Lower da Boom" - The Artifacts / Between a Rock and a Hard Place / 1994

Every rap album needs a weed jam! So authentic.

9. "Scream Phoenix" - Cannibal Ox / Cold Vein / 2001

They made one LP and it's so good.

The Pharcyde-Labcabincalifornia-1995

Three years after Bizarre Ride, the Pharcyde released another classic album, Labcabincalifornia. Although it is a bit more mellowed out and introspective than Bizarre Ride, it was a natural progression of their styles, and their production skills took a similar progressive step. It is lined with classics just as much as Bizarre Ride is; Bullshit opens the album on a chill note; Somethin' That Means Something speaks to their position as a successful hip hop group desiring deeper relevance; Runnin' is a chill ass jam talking about taking care of your business; and their track Pharcyde, number 2 on the album, talks about coming back full force and saying "fuck ya'll" to the haters. Classic flows ensue:



Legend has it that the album title refers to the cabin that the group lived in while they produced the entirety of the album; most importantly, they apparently did so in a ridiculously fast time period, and completely bonkers on mushrooms. I cant remember if its 2 weeks or a months, but these folks just went balls out trippin' and produced some of the finest jams of the mid 90s. Fuck yeah Pharcyde.

labcabincalifornia

Madlib Sampler 2

I wanted to do another post of some of the various work Madlib has put out through his career. Theres just so much great shit to chose from; my itunes is chock full of projects of his, and its really tough to find 3-4 tracks that really showcase his skills.. his shit runs deep. Certain albums could be posted alone and do him good justice, but i want to spread it out a bit.

Im going to start with a track from the Strong Arm Steady album he produced in summer 2010. This one is especially relevant because not only does it feature great madlib production with some smooth MCs, but its got Phonte from The Foreign Exchange/ Little Brother on vocals for that awesome chorus. I just recently picked up The Foreign Exchanges recent album, Authenticity, and it is some really great stuff. I will probably be writing about it soon.



Next, a track from the killer collaboration album Jaylib, where madlib and j dilla got together to fuse their skills and drop something sick. In their track The Red, a few things really show through in the recording; how great madlib and dilla both were, throughout their work, at finding really nice vocal samples to line the choruses of their songs; how hilariously bombed out madlibs rhyming is; and also how much fun the two of them must have had together.



Up next, short and sweet, is madlib getting down and dirty with Guilty Simpson on their album OJ Simpson; dude has a great aggressive flow a lot of the time, and madlib backs him up right with such a great sounding assembly of instruments.



Finally, another track from his collaboration with MF Doom, Madvillainy, which i have decided is the showcase album for you all to start on if you havent heard much madlib previously. It is the best of hip hop, and Accordian is one of many tracks i could have chose from to post, but not only is it a great song but it was apparently also released as a single; at least, thats the only reason i could see them producing a nice video for it. Love that line "ive got more lyrics than the church got 'oh lords'"

Big Boi-Shutterbug

This will be a mini-This Music Moment. I was talking to metaghost earlier this night about how, before just a few weeks ago, the only Outkast i knew beyond their singles was Speakerboxx/The Love Below, and how strange of a place to start it was. At that time, the double album was in fact split up into 2 separate discs where Big Boi and Andre were in charge, respectfully. I picked up Stankonia recently, with Mrs. Jackson, So Fresh and So Clean, etc, and instantly began reconnecting with another recent purchase, Big Bois solo album Sir Lucious Left Foot. Big Boi brings it in considerable style, as usual, and offered this single right before the album dropped:



Such a sick video for such a sick song. Love that obvious product placement at the start, but damn this is such a good track. Its just goddamned sick all throughout, with that at first hilarious but then, when integrated into the future sound, just badass deep vocal rhythm line, the tight rhythm guitar bass and drum, and his smooth flow. That chorus is just so fresh. A little dirty though.



I wanted to also offer up his epilogue before the outro to Sir Lucious, The Train pt. 2. Again, with most hip hop that i listen to, production is my first impression for new listening. Big Boi doesnt ever disappoint, which i am now realizing as i dig deeper through their catalog. Outkast had it from the start, and as solo artists Big Boi and Andre have found their own styles and sound and have done well growing.
Shit do i love those palm muted licks that get their just deserts in that instrumental outro.
sir lucious left foot

The Left Rights- Im On Crack

A friend showed this to me the other day; holy moley. I love how great the video is, there is obviously a lot of time and effort going into the visual trickery for a track called Im On Crack. But those freeze frames kill me. I love that first one with all the 70s stars and the font. Having a Tupac impersonator as your main character is also a huge plus.

Subtle - For Hero: For Fool

Starting something so concise for these guys is almost impossible.  I dont care how your feelings sway when it comes to Dose One (Adam Drucker) high register mc spitting, this is just to good to be bogged down by anything. Subtle is a mish mash of talents, therefore giving it a very hard tag to pin on it. Heres where it gets dangerous...cough...cough ....

...Rap Rock *

WHO SAID THAT?! YOU? WAS IT YOU?! NOT ME!


In all seriousness it is so much more than that. Just easy escape for what I cant really say. It really brings together some savage hooks, pretty bouncy pop, vintage synths, samples, live instruments everything but the kitchen sink. You truly have to listen. This album is possibly in my top 10 of all time lost in space/ Apocalypse album choices. The reason behind this is its honesty. Dose spins a story of middle class stagnancy and really its a whole lot more complicated than that. There are three albums in the story of hour hero yes. A New White White the precursor to For Hero and Exiting Arm the last release. Both are very enjoyable in their own way. For Hero is just so self assured that it doesn't matter whats happening there's just such commitment to the instrumentation and production that I dare you to point out chinks in the armor. This begs for more exposure. Spread this into your life and you will not be sorry.


*saying that three times, like beatljuice, reforms Limp Bizkit. No one wants that. So it is only mentioned once in the write up.

check comments for linkage

Deep Puddle Dynamics - The Taste of Rain....Why Kneel (1999)

 Underground Hip-Hop

 The Anticon super group featuring Sole, Alias, Dose One and Slug. Anyone even casually familiar with underground hip-hop understands the importance of the Anticon label. This was practically the labels mission statement on life and their musical battle plan. While each of these MC's have/had great solo careers after this, truthfully they are at their strongest trading verses here. With quick verses each MC is not allowed to fall into his own short comings. Each idea is well developed and each song follows a particular theme. Not too mention there are some sick beats backing the whole affair up mostly by Jel (currently in Subtle) and Abilities. A surprising first effort.




The Taste of Rain.....Why Kneel