I remember having the homie U-Tern (1/2 of OLIVER) play one of our parties back about 4 years ago ('08 poster game like whoa) & thinking this man needs to be producing big pop records. Not on some cheese shit, but on some serious talent level shit. Could you imagine a pop record with U-Tern & Treasure Fingers (another one of those "how has a major name not put him in studio yet" guys) behind it? One day...
Nice to see his OLIVER project making serious moves (from Kitsune release to Holy Ship inclusion & upcoming Hard LA love)... all-while staying true to mission of pushing modern disco to the masses.
JAM! Been lovin' this Floorplan (aka minimalist Robert Hood's side project) joint since I first caught wind of it 2 months ago. No finer way of infusing a techno backdrop with James Brown goodness.
I don't know much about this Poka cat, but I do know this - he's from Athens, and he's damn good with his disco-house. First bumped into the "99 Style" track roughly 3-4 months ago and have since been steady grabbing his material (II).
I didn't want to up this back when I first heard it (August?) 'cause I wasn't sure whether or not Mark Ronson would include the homie U-Tern's edit in the release. Seems even though released as a bonus cut on Ronson's "Record Collection", it was made available for free download. Although partial to U-Tern's fondle, the original and Count & Sinden versions are absolutely great in their own rights - so all 3 are worthy of the grab.
UK's Monarchy just saw a recent revamping of their "Love Get Out Of My Way" single - with the help of some top notch dj/production talents. All versions stay true to the remixers' by-now-expected sounds (Sinden with the upbeat touch, Treasure Fingers with the disco approach, etc).
Shit. Speaking of Hawthorne (previous post) - just bumped into this gem. Mayer covering a Tony Bennett original, for a tri-company collab (Stones Throw x HUF x Freegums). As biggups to the close of Mayer's recent tour, the three heavyhitters teamed up to create the below video, a limited t-shirt, and a heart shaped USB drive with the Bennet cover. Peep it all here.
I watched that "How To Make It In America" show for the first time last week. Didn't live up to the hype, in my opinion. I thought it was going to crazy on the perma-grind-to-make-it tip, but it seems the dudes "struggling" are still livin' a life far from difficult (wasn't surprised to find out it was created by the minds behind dream-life Entourage). One thing I do approve of, however, is the series' choice of opening theme - Aloe Blacc's "I Need A Dollar". Stellar song.
Treasure Fingers back with another disco touched goodie. This time a remake of an OH SNAPP!! joint, with minor sampling of his own "Cross The Dancefloor".
Was just talking about Saadiq yesterday. Big tour, comin' through every nearby city but ours, wondering whether or not people here would be up on his stuff enough to support an Ottawa tour date. This be the typa sound I'd love to eventually book here... just wish I was more in touch with the clientele & crowd that feels it as much as I do.
Very excited about tonight's booking. We have NYC's DFA Records signee Hercules & Love Affair rollin' through town for a very special dj set. Expect a lot of great jazzy funky disco house.
Is everyone up on their Mayer Hawthorne-ness? If not - get familiar. My single sentence scrunched run-down of Mayer goes as follows: Michigan bred modern replica of the 70s' finest original soul recordings. His lengthier, slightly more detailed, bio version can be found here.
No surprise Stones Throw (a label that I've previously praised for leading by example & signing properly deserving artists) was, once again, on the ball with the talent snatch-up.
"I think Mayer is the only artist in the history of the label that I've signed after hearing only two songs. Sometimes, you just know it’s the right thing to do." -Peanut Butter Wolf
I finally put together my top 5 tracks of August for The Docking Station music site. Just as the month before, the choices are what I've had on heavy rotation @ home, as opposed to new releases for the month of August. Few of the joints are recent, rest are almost forgotten goodies.
Snatch the pickings below, or hop on over to the chart on TDS for a slightly more detailed writeup of the songs.
* UPDATE: Got a Blogger DMCA takedown notification for this post. Not sure which of the below tracks (they never specified) are considered copyright infringement, but they've already taken the post down twice... so you'll have to find the versions yourselves. Sorry!
La Roux - Bulletproof (Nacey Remix ft. Matt Hemerlein) [link removed]
Busy Signal - Da style deh (Douster Dagga remix) [link removed]
Sticky K - The Weirdo [link removed]
Calvin Harris - Ready for the Weekend (Dave Spoon Remix) [link removed]
I always hear people bitchin' about how the music industry is plummeting, and how nobody makes real material anymore. I can't stand hearing that shit. I won't front on the fact that 80% of current releases are plain wack-attack ('cause they are), but I will front on the fact that people don't take the time of day to really look past the mundane and discover the other 20% that exist around the corner.
Not gonna lie, trynna find an appropriate picture to post by google image searching "wildlife nature" was the worst idea I've had all week. Shoulda expected to get riddled with pics of trees, bears, waterfalls, birds, & freelance wildlife/nature photographer advertisements.
But hey, meet the leaf-less Wildlife, a Brooklyn trio composed of Gabriel Cohen-DeVries, Andrew Doga, & Tomek Gross. They have 20 myspace friends & make me wanna start my own label so I could start releasing & putting out music like their "Nature" joint before others jump on it.
This the typa shit I love to see. Homeless jail hopping hidden musical gem "Red the Rap Stallion" gettin' his unmistakeable talent youtube'd into a record release. No vocoder, talk-box, or studio manipulation... just straight beatboxing & funk vocals with chest punching twists.
Here is the original footage of Red alley kickin' his "I Should Tell Ya Momma on You" creation. Recorded (December '08) behind Cali's HVW8 Art & Design Gallery, the clip was filmed & thrown online by the HVW8's Tyler "Ty G" Gibney.
Red's demand for label exposure & opportunity to showcase his skills has, due to the video's 360,000+ youtube & 1.3 million worldstarhiphop.com hits, become more than just possible. A buncha cats have since upped their edits & renditions of the original, but it wasn't until the gallery's people hooked up with the Stones Throw Records heads that shit got serious.
The original "I Should Tell Ya Momma on You" saw an EP release through iTunes just last week (July 23rd), with official remixes by Dam-Funk (Stones Throw) & CHOPS (Bun B, Jeezy, Game). Damn, that West Coast sound is nice.
I'm really feelin' his "a setback is a setup for a comeback" mentaility.
"Proceeds of this album will go to Red with the intention of getting him off the street and ending the vicious cycle of the California prison system, with the hope of a better tomorrow."
This Cinderella story needs pushin' - hit the iTunes purchase page for your contributing nudge.
Ayo! I just started a monthly top 5 chart thingy over @ The Docking Station site. Most of you blogger mahfuckas are on a mission to grab music while hurdling the short essay explanations of the songs... so these monthly charts will prove to be a quick 'n easy snatch. Figured since we have multiple contributing writers over there, might be a good look to throw together a "what I'm feelin right about naooow" go-to spot... without it having to reflect only the newest or most blogged about artists/songs.
For quicker streaming & downloading, see my July picks @ the chart listing OVER HURR, or zshare'em from below.
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