Rescuing a Lost Era of Jazz History

1000+ discs of live jazz recordings, majority of which only aired once on radio (between 1936 and 1940), discovered and in the lengthy 10 month process of being restored.

Full article in the New York Times here.

Coachella 2010 lineup announced

This year's Coachella lineup was announced last night. Stacked, as expected.

FRIDAY APRIL 16: Jay-Z, LCD Soundsystem, Them Crooked Vultures, Vampire Weekend, Deadmau5, Public Image Limited, The Specials, Grizzly Bear, Passion Pit, Echo and the Bunnymen, Benny Benassi, Fever Ray, Grace Jones, She & Him, Erol Alkan, The Avett Brothers, Calle 13, The Whitest Boy Alive, The Cribs, La Roux, Yeasayer, Lucero, DJ Lance Rock, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Proxy, Ra Ra Riot, Deer Tick, Wolfgang Gartner, Aeroplane, Iglu & Hartly, Sleigh Bells, P.O.S., Baroness, Hockey, Little Dragon, White Rabbits, Wale, Kate Miller-Heidke, As Tall as Lions, Jets Overhead, Alana Grace, Pablo Hassan.

SATURDAY, APRIL 17: Muse, Faith No More, Tiësto, MGMT, David Guetta, The Dead Weather, Hot Chip, Devo, Coheed and Cambria, Kaskade, 2Many DJ's, Major Lazer, Dirty Projectors, Gossip, Z-Trip, The xx, John Waters, Les Claypool, The Raveonettes, Mew, Sia, Camera Obscura, Tokyo Police Club, Porcupine Tree, Old Crow Medicine Show, Aterciopalados, Bassnectar, Frightened Rabbit, Dirty South, Flying Lotus, Corinne Bailey Rae, Pretty Lights, Shooter Jennings, RX Bandits, The Almighty Defenders, Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros, Craze & Klever, Zoe, The Temper Trap, Portugal. The Man, Band of Skulls, Girls, Beach House, Steel Train, Frank Turner.

SUNDAY, APRIL 18: Gorillaz, Pavement, Thom Yorke????, Phoenix, Orbital, Spoon, Sly and the Family Stone, De La Soul, Julian Casablancas, Plastikman, Gary Numan, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Sunny Day Real Estate, Yo La Tengo, MUTEMATH, Deerhunter, Infected Mushroom, Club 75, Matt & Kim, The Big Pink, Gil Scott-Heron, King Khan and the Shrines, Florence and the Machine, Yann Tiersen, Little Boots, Miike Snow, Talvin Singh, Ceu, B.o.B., Babasonicos, Owen Pallett, The Glitch Mob, Mayer Hawthorne, Local Natives, Rusko, The Middle East, Hadouken!, The Soft Pack, Kevin Devine, Paparazzi, Delphic, One EskimO.

Straight Goods presents: FRENZY - Mixed by Drastik

WE ARE FINALLY RELEASING THE MIX!!!

After countless manhours and sleepless nights, Drastik has finally escaped his cocoon (that is his room) and agreed to release his newest mix. The only thing more painful than the process was the sitting on it once completed.

Much like the name and cover art suggest, the hour long compilation is a straight up genre-hopping rollercoaster ride. All in proper flow and stride, the collection embraces Drastik's favourite sounds of past and present - from classic intros, short vocal samples, and single guitar riff loops, to current dancefloor heaters, blends, and synth-infused bangers. With a turntablist approach to cuts, drops, and track transitions... this musical ride showcases the often forgotten fundamental methods of molding countless sounds (without having to rely on software galore).

The Straight Goods camp is pleased to present:

DJ Drastik - The Frenzy (zShare)

* we ask that, if possible, you use our above zshare link when re-hosting download *

Art by FourplayLab.com
Bookings: straight-goods@hotmail.com

PerfSpot Music interviews Awkward Props

The lovely music peeps over at PerfSpot hit me up for a quick music-oriented interview this week. For those unfamiliar with the site, it is a huuuge networking centre - spanning 195 countries and 32 million members. Their ever-growing music section is a haven for those in search of new tracks, independent artists and labels, recent releases, as well as links to outside sources that help further such hunts.

Peep the interview (and tracks I talked about) HERE.
Just scroll down and click on the blog banner to fully open it up.
Bigups to Matt for the linkage and lack of editing out my mention of my wife Jessica Alba.

Also - their previous blog feature was an October chart with Big Stereo (good peoples). If not already a regular visitor, then become one.

Also Also - as of next week I'll be picking a hip hop track of the week for the PerfSpot music section, so keep checking back with them (page is linked under my "fam-lay" section).

TheDockingStation.ca

So zShare has been down for quite some time now, meaning none of the songs I've thrown on this blog are playable/downloadable anymore. Either they step their game up (and are back up soon) or Imma have to switch file sharing hosts.

BUT...

this wackness gives me a chance to properly introduce you guys to The Docking Station website. The site showcases an eclectic collection of all good up-to-the-minute released music, whether it be electro, hiphop, house, dancehall, indie, or any 841530 sub-genres in between. Not to mention, it's currently getting over 1,000 unique daily hits (a number that sees a 15% increase every month)... which stumps the shit outta my lil' ol' blog.

Earlier this week I was asked to jump on board as a contributing writer and, without a moments hesitation, I said fffffsho. The Docking Station peeps and I have kept in close touch over the past few months... trading tracks (they even pushed the Tom Wrecks Kanye edit I sent them to the 6th most downloaded song on the internet spot 2 weeks ago), mixes, youtube videos, used socks, and semi-scandalous pictures of hot chicks of mixed-backgrounds. Our tastes mirror, really.

No foot dipping, I'm straight jumping in - so make my 2nd home your 2nd home!!!

> > > THE DOCKING STATION < < <

Eminem back with a new...

SONG:

Eminem - I'm Having A Relapse (zShare)

BOOK:

"Illustrated with never-before-seen photographs of Eminem’s home and life along with original drawings, The Way I Am is filled with reflections on his greatest hits, previously unpublished lyric sheets, and other rare memorabilia. Providing his millions of fans with a personal tour of Eminem’s creative process, it is poised to be hailed in much the same way as Tupac’s The Rose that Grew from Concrete, Bob Dylan’s Chronicles, and Journals by Kurt Cobain."

The 208-page autobiography is due for release on the 21st on Dutton Adult (a division of The Penguin Group).

T-SHIRT:

Undcrwn released an Eminem edition t-shirt yesterday, in honour of the above-mentioned book.

Deadmau5 far from dead

In fact, he's killing everybody else. For those who need a history of this killer, here's a quick re-cap: in 2005, a tiny mouse crawls into a computer hub, gets stuck, and dies there. One month later, 24 year old Hamilton native Joel Zimmerman finds it (thanks to the rotten stench) and starts calling himself Deadmau5. He starts producing music under this name. Within a year he wins a Beatport Music Award for Producer of the Year. He takes the following year to produce, collaborate, and tour. Early this year he wins a Juno Award for Dance Recording of the Year (which was "All U Ever Want", with Billy Newton-Davis) and just recently, goes on a rampage and takes the following standings at the 2008 Beatport Music Awards:

Daaaaaaamn, he cleaned up.

Here's an older Deadmau5 edit that never seems to get old:

Daft Punk - Harder Better Faster Stronger (Deadmau5 remix) (zShare)

Deadmau5 website here.

Deadmau5 myspace here.

Buy Deadmau5 music here.

Disorganised & Straight Goods merger!

BIG NEWS!!! The Straight Goods fam (DJ Drastik & myself) are pleased to announce our merger/fusion with one of Canada's most notorious monthly parties, Disorganised.

For anyone unfamiliar with the Disorg movement, it is a 5 year strong no-format dance party headed by DJs Booth & Chameleonic (aka Jokers of the Scene). The night has showcased some of the top artists of today and tomorrow, from MSTRKRFT, Diplo, Crookers, and Girl Talk... to Kid Sister, Flosstradamus, Switch, and Crystal Castles.

Just over a year ago, Drastik and I teamed up to do something very similar... host a monthly party where we introduce some our favourite foreign music talents to Ottawa's dancefloors. We've done our best to bring in names that have never been through this city before (Pase Rock, Treasure Fingers, Stretch Armstrong, Eli Escobar, U-Tern, among others).

Our 2 companies have always had parallel party aspirations: throw sweaty genre boundary-less jams alongside some of tomorrow's finest djs/performers. We will continue to do so until our knees buckle/ears fall off.

This Friday (@ Babylon) will be our merger kick-off jam.


From this point on, we welcome you to the renovated Disorganised - which will continue to go down the very first Friday of every month (always at Babylon).

Fatal plane crash, DJ AM & Travis Barker in critial condition

Pic by Bret Flashnick (Associated Press)

Holy fuck. I'm in complete shock right now. Been calling people (basically anyone I know that is friends with Adam) to hopefully get an update on their state. Adam Goldstein (DJ AM) & his music collaborator/former Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker are currently in critical condition after their plane crashed mid-night, killing the other 4 passengers on board. The flight was following their Friday night outdoor concert near the University of South Carolina - a free gig that drew over 10,000 people into the streets.

My thoughs and prayers are with the boys, their families, and the families of the perished.



UPDATE:

OneLove Artists now launched!

This is the 1st of my two big announcements. About 2/3 years ago, I started promoting hiphop concerts and parties for Kapacity Entertainment, an Ottawa based business headed by good friends Mikey & Graeme. What started as a small local hiphop movement back in '99 quickly evolved into one of Canada's premiere concert/club promotion companies, bringing everyone in from De La Soul, Clipse, and Talib Kweli, to A-Trak, RZA, and Chromeo. Mikey & Graeme were the guys that got me into this music-driven lifestyle. My involvement with their events, bookings, venues, talents, and crowds eventually led to my own bookings and parties (of non-conflicting music genres) & management of Drastik. I owe it all to these two homies, so I'm beyond excited for them and their brand new branch of Kapacity - a talent bookings & management firm by the name of OneLove Artists & Entertainment.

Their official OneLove roster is stackeddd, to say the least.

Live Acts (alphabetical)
4th Pyramid
Black Moon
Boot Camp Clik
Buckshot
CunninLynguists
Daybi
EMC
Flight Distance
Jeru The Damaja
J-Live
Joell Ortiz
Kidz In The Hall
Looptroop Rockers
Masta Ace
Necro
Prince Paul
RA The Rugged Man
Ruste Juxx
Sean Price
Special Teamz
Theology 3
Virgin Blonde Fantasy

DJs (alphabetical)
9th Wonder
Drastik
Grandmaster Roc Raida
Ill Insanity
J-Live
Kid SL
P-Plus
Precision
Prince Paul
Rob Swift
Skratch Bastid
Stylusts Crew
Tasc
Tom Wrecks
Total Eclipse

For full company & booking/tour info, hit up the new OneLove A&E website.

PS. OneLove & I will be working together to book a Drastik & Kid Fresh (holder of 3 worldwide, 2 European, & 5 national ITF & DMC DJ championship titles) North American tour this coming spring. Keep your eyes & ears peeled.

100TH POST!!! + A-Trak x Sinden

It ain't no Wilt Chamberlain feat, but still. Bigups to all who frequent on the reg, the newbie visitors (Russia, central US, where you at?), and fellow blog friends that exchange tunes & keep me in the loop of goodness.

Now a song. Graeme Sinden's recent edit of A-Trak's "Say Whoa". I think it bangs better than the Boys Noize version too.


A-Trak - Say Whoa (Sinden remix) (zShare)


ALSO - 2 BIG ANNOUNCEMENTS COMING THIS WEEK!

Blogger arrested for leaking Guns N' Roses tracks

Note: the above pic is not of him, or the arrest - it just looks intense.

3 years in prison.
$250,000 fine.
+ civil lawsuits by copyright holders.

Daaaaaaaamn.

Peep the article here.

Eliminating zShare timer script!

Posts have been kinda lacking due to the discovery of THIS. A script that eliminates the wretched 60 second ad-infused wait when downloading off zShare. I've been spending, and now saving (in minute intervals), my time collecting music like a madman.
Anywaaaaays - once you click a zshare download button and get hit with the countdown, just paste the below script into the address bar, press enter, and poof, you're a minute ahead of the game.

javascript:var time=0

Ronson grabs Wale so Dupri reaches for deodorant

I'm eager to witness these collabos bloom.

1st - Mark Ronson's Wale pick-up. The snatch is somethin' else, and couldn't have come at a better time. Ronson's recent fusion of his Allido Records with Interscope will equal maddddd Wale flow all up in everyone's ears. Let's hope he does Wah-lay like he dunn' Amy Winehouse and the Grammy Awards.

Wale - Nike Boots (ft. Lil' Wayne) (zShare)

Mark Ronson ft. Wale - You're All I Need To Get By (zShare)

The debut album is due to drop before the end of the year. Plenty more time to hype the hype.

2nd - Jermaine Dupri and his freshly announced industry Tag-team (pun intended) partner. JD and his Island Def Jam Music Group tied the knot (on April 10th) with Tag Body Spray, parenting a new hip-hop record label, Tag Records. The new label promises 10 times the usual $1 million marketing support for it's still undisclosed signees.