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Author Archives: Gabe Meier

Lil B and Main Attrakionz Producer Nem270 Releases New EP

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February 7, 2012
New Music
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It has always astounded me how artists like Lil B and Main Attrakionz, and to a lesser extent A$AP Rocky, will look in the most obscure places for their beats. It is fair to say that Clams Casino would have never reached his current level of fame without Lil B putting him on three years ago. The same could be said for the rising Keyboard Kid, or for what Rocky has done for SpaceGhostPurp or ASAP Ty. That is why it is no surprise that the newest beat tape from Nem270, who has recently produced for Lil B, Main Attrakionz (as well as solo work for Squadda B) and Shady Blaze, is straight fire. Nem, an Ottowa native, has been making beats for the aforementioned artists since 2010, but hasn’t received much acclaim until recently. Nem’s newest tape, Desktop Pain, is a collection of unreleased beats selected by Brooklyn/Western Massachusetts “download fashion boutique” Triple You Tapes. Like Clams Casino’s Instrumentals, the tape easily stands on its own, as opposed to say, the recent araabMuzik (who has some pretty oversized opinions about himself) tape. Some of the beats fit into the ambient range favored by Main Attrakionz (“Desktop Pain”), while others have banging percussion (“Perfect Cold”). Not all are meant to rapped over, but all do stand up well as individual tracks. The EP is a little bit rough around the edges, but should stir up some intrigue in the young Ottawan. Download/stream Desktop Pain below.

New Curren$y FreEP

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February 7, 2012
New Music
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Amid Sunday’s Super Bowl hysteria, we managed to miss a brand new freEP from the hot spitta himself, Curren$y. The most consistent hip hop artists of the past five years is back with the Here EP. The tape is more of a short mixtape than an EP and features Kanye’s “Drive Slow” beat and a redone version of Madlib’s “What Can I Do” (and its Luther Ingram sample). Like most Curren$y releases, he spends most of his time waxing poetic about weed, women and his crew. Download Here at Dat Piff.

New Cities Aviv Track: “Flex Your Gold”

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February 6, 2012
New Music
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Got a new track from Memphis spitta Cities Aviv for you today. Cities makes self-dubbed “pop music for the unpopular,” but it is more along the lines of old school Three 6 Mafia mixed with some West Coast futurism. Aviv’s heavily layered tracks can come off as dense at times, but the sample heavy production fits into the “cloud rap” genre inhabited by the likes of Main Attrakionz. Cities has a new track called “Flex Your Gold” and it’s the beat is pure fire. Not sure what that sample is, but it’s executed masterfully.

New Harmonimix: D’Angelo – “Left & Right (James Blake Remix)”

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February 6, 2012
New Music
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Yesterday, I highlighted L-Vis 1990’s D’Angelo remix and mentioned that a number of other remixes have become popping up across the electronic music spectrum. The Night Slugs headman definitely put his mark on “Untitled,” transforming it into a pulsing house track, but I believe he has been bested. One of 2011’s most hyped artists, James Blake, debuted his remix of “Left & Right” off of D’Angelo’s classic Voodoo, on BBC Radio One. The track is the newest member of Blake’s Harmonimix series, and brings the listener back to the Londoners fuller, earlier works (his A Milli remix is a favorite of mine). For now, a stream of the radio rip is the only version available, but hopefully we’ll get lucky, and get graced with a 320.

aaronisnotcool Provides Some Visuals For Blu’s “Jesus” (Prod. Madlib)

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February 6, 2012
Videos
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*Jesus does not appear in this video, but images of the lord are everywhere. Seek and ye shall find and by way, Blu is not Jesus and neither are you, Thank You*

That’s the message scrawled across the screen at the beginning of the video for his Madlib produced single, “Jesus.” Provocative to say the least. The technicolor visuals go hand in hand with the warm vibe of the track, while the imagery is a mixture of religious monuments and LA gangbanging scenes. A drive-by shooting, prostitutes and parties are interspersed with various churches and beautiful Southern California boulevards. If you’re not interested in reading too deep into what Blu and director aaronisnotcool are attempting to say through the clips, just enjoy the revitalization of one last summer’s best collaborations as the weather warms up.

New LDFD Mix In Anticipation of Mini-Tour

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February 5, 2012
Mixes
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Nice little mix from Dropping Gems representative LDFD in anticipation of his upcoming US mini-tour. LDFD falls on more hip hop/glitch oriented Dropping Gems artist scale and this mix features a hard hitting combination of originals and recent contemporary tracks from A$AP Rocky, Young Jeezy and indomitable Riff Raff. Stream/download below.

Update: LDFD is actually a member of Daedelus’s label, Magical Properties, not Dropping Gems


Sounds From The Astral Plane (Week Three)

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February 5, 2012
New Music
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Photo from http://wearenotgirls.tumblr.com/

Back with the third installment of “Sounds From The Astral Plane.” We missed last week, but we’re back to satiate your thirst for the best tunes from the independent/underground worlds. Enjoy.

Stream: Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – “Tapes & Money (Soundcloud edit)”

First off, we have a preview of the brand new single by everyones favorite Jurassic raver, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. The track, titled “Tapes & Money” will not not be released for another two months, but this three minute preview will have to do for now. The Oxford native turns in another solid effort here with another feel good track with some bouncy synth stabs and a catchy chord progression. “Tapes & Money” will be released in April followed by TEED’s debut album in May.

Stream: Shlohmo: “wen uuu (Salva Remix)”

Friends of Friends label mates Shlohmo and Salva team up for this remix in anticipation of their upcoming European tour and the Tuesday release of Shlohmo’s Vacation EP. Here, Salva takes the ultra-smooth, meandering “wen uuu” and turns it a completely different animal. Maintaining the pitter patter sounds and the chopped vocals, Salva adds a nice kick and some futuristic synths to create an uptempo banger. Cop Vacation on Tuesday and check out Salva or Shlohmo on tour if you’re in the EU.

Download: D’Angelo “Untitled (How Does It Feel?) (L-Vis 1990’s Own Way Edit)”

Amid all the hype surrounding D’Angelo’s return from his decade long absence, a bevy of remixes from across the electric music spectrum have started popping up. My favorite so far has to be from the Night Slugs head honcho himself, L-Vis 1990. L-Vis takes D’Angelo’s “Untitled” and turns it into a subtle house track.

Stream/Download: JJ DOOM – “Cockney Rhyme And Slang” Feat. Dels

JJ DOOM is the collaboration between experimental hip hop producer Jneiro Jarel and the legendary MF Doom. Several months ago, Dave Sitek released a remix to the duos track “Rhymin Slang” and set the indie and hip hop world ablaze. Now, Grime MC Dels has added a verse to the track to add another dimension to an already hot song.

Happy February friends.

Is Wolfey Next Up In Line?

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February 2, 2012
New Music
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Everyone is always looking for the next big thing. At the moment, that big thing is the next artist in the vein of Jamie XX and James Blake. Subtle electronic music has risen to prominence in recent years. First, the Pitchforkians (who I hesitantly include myself among) fell in love with Aphex Twin, then it was Burial, but recently, there has been an influx of like-minded artists. Alexander Wolfe aka Wolfey may be next in line. Wolfe graduated from Berklee College of Music and is currently attending McGill in Montreal. He has opened for Jonwayne and Eskmo and released his debut EP, titled Sleep Country, in December. While only three tracks long, Sleep Country is a thrilling listen from start to finish. Empty space is ushered out in a beautiful fashion. Seemingly random bleeps and bloops form together in a complex, rhythmic fashion. Vocal samples are altered and chopped (“Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City” by Bobby Blue Bland on “A Marvelous Persona”) to bring out emotion from an otherwise bleak 13 minutes. I’m not necessarily calling Wolfey the next big thing, but there is certainly potential here, and I am eagerly awaiting more material from Mr. Wolfe.

“Maine Stage” at Sasquatch?

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February 2, 2012
Festivals
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Photo by Madeline Feig

Earlier in the week, we wrote about the Sasquatch website malfunction that revealed a few acts from the lineup. Before the entire lineup is released tonight, we have another bit of information that leaked out when the website glitched. While this news is completely unconfirmed, several reports have articulated that this years festival will have an all Northwest hip hop stage called the “Maine Stage.” This is in line with confirmed reports that the festival will have a fifth stage, although the name is highly questionable. Probably a reference to hip hop slang, but who spells it that way? They really couldn’t have come up with a better name? Anyways, like the name or not, this is great news. The lineup leak included Grynch, Dyme Def, THEESatisfaction, Sol, Fatal Lucciano, Fly Moon Royalty, and SPAC3MAN, so if the stage is real, it is shaping up pretty well. Check out Guerilla Candy’s take on the stage, and their insights into the “Macklemore effect.”

CMJ and SXSW Rival Noise Pop Takes Place Feb. 21-26

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February 1, 2012
Festivals
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One of my favorite seasons of the year is almost upon us. As Winter segues into Spring, another season begins as well: Festival Season. Coachella usually marks the start of the season, but another upcoming festival, Noise Pop, is taking a stab at the supremacy of festivals like South By Southwest and CMJ. These are not traditional camping festivals, instead opting to be held in urban environments, and across many different venues. Instead of highlighting massive headliners, and the previous years “up and comers,” these festivals are all about finding this years “up and comers.” Noise Pop is held in San Francisco and is put on by the same company, also called Noise Pop, that holds Treasure Island Music Festival in the Bay. It will take place February 21-26 Like all festivals, Noise Pop does have some major headliners, namely The Flaming Lips performing The Soft Bulletin, Die Antwoord, Porter Robinson and Sleigh Bells.

The above bands will undoubtedly put on a great show, but the smaller bands are the lifeblood of the festival. It’s incredibly difficult to predict who will make it big in the lead-up to festivals like Noise Pop, but here are a few random guesses. Check out the rest of the lineup after the jump.

Tropical Popsicle – San Diego four-piece band that has yet to settle on any specific niche, much less any genre. I don’t know what to call it, but I like it.

Born Gold – Don’t really know anything about Born Gold. He/she claims to be from US minor outlying islands and creates synth-pop with an emphasis on the synths.

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