July 2012 Hotlist Week 4

Amon Tobin - "Box Set Disc 3: Selected Scores" 2012

This is really even above the expectations I had for it before listening. Some pretty epic sounding stuff here. It's like he was born to make scores for movies and video games.

"Spring Is For Dancing: Spectral Sound Spring 2012"

A little sampler of some new techno songs that sound pretty decent.

Nathan Fake - "Iceni Strings" 2012

I never really hear Nathan Fake talked about too much, but he really seems like an artist to watch. All 3 of the songs on this EP are great. He kinda reminds me of Four Tet a little bit.

J Dilla - "Dillatroit" 2012

I have no idea what this actually is. I saw it available to download and I snatched it up. It seems like it has to be some sort of bootleg that's not official. Most of the songs on here are either instrumental or dub versions of songs on "Rebirth Of Detroit" but versions of stuff from "Ruff Draft" and other older albums are on here too. I heard the weird little Mick Boogie noise on a couple of the tracks, maybe this was something he put out, like he did with that J Dilla & Busta Rhymes album. Then I would at least think this was a semi-official release that Ma Dukes was down with. The sound quality is pretty bad on some of the tracks, but as with any download, I would have to have a physical copy to know for sure if it's really that bad. With all that said, this is still a dope little mix for Dilla addicts.

Borgore - "The Filthiest Hits... So Far" 2011

Borgore wouldn't be half bad, if he would just shut the fuck up. His "rapping" is repellent in every way, from the fake British accent (he's from Israel, I think), to his "I wanna be dirty and gross like Necro but I don't know how to do it right" lyrics. The saving grace is that some of these beats are pretty bangin, and on songs like "Love", he keeps his lyrics down to a couple lines, so it doesn't ruin it. This is a sort of greatest hits collection of most of the regular versions of the songs from his singles and EP's thus far.

Oh No - "Ohnomite" 2012

Another new Oh No album, this one released outside of Stones Throw for some reason. The concept of this album is that it's all samples derived from Dolemite stuff. Instead of doing it like his Dr. No stuff, where it's more like Donuts, this is a rap album with many different guests, like he did with the "Exodus Into Unheard Rhythms" album.  Rudy Ray Moore's voice and phrases work really good for DJ drop type stuff, and Oh No uses that to good effect. The music samples within the beats are really great, I especially like the one that LMNO guests on. Just another awesome Oh No album to add to the stack of many.

Louis C.K. - "Chewed Up" 2008

This was my introduction to him and his perverse world when it was a new special. Someone at work told me I needed to check him out, and this was his newest special at the time. I don't wanna call him a genius or anything, but he's really good at what he does.

Matthewdavid - "DISK II" 2012

I read something about this dude somewhere that said he made his stuff with tape clips and reel to reels like BBC Radiophonic workshop style, but I don't know the truth to that. This album is mostly just hazy glowing noise, nicely layered into some kinda organized psychedelic warp. This album probably sounds awesome if you're smoking salvia or DMT or something.. haha.

Lord Finesse - "Funky Man: The Prequel" 2012

I'm not extremely knowledgeable about his history. The first album I bought from him was the "The Awakening" in 1996, and then after that I went back and got the older ones I was missing. As far as I can tell, this is a collection of some vinyl only singles that came out before his first LP. Some pretty decent late 80's/early 90's stuff.

Broken Bells - "Meyrin Fields EP" 2011

I assume this is just 4 leftover songs from the album's recording sessions. Nothing special, but not a dud either. You'll like this if you like the album.

Clams Casino - "Instrumental Mixtape 2" 2012

I don't dislike Clams Casino. I would rather hear his washed out lo-fi-ness in popular songs than some sugar coated pop styles. But this album really makes him seem like a one trick pony at this point. It would be hard for me to sit and listen to this all the way through and not be bored as hell, but it works good to have on the ipod for shuffling purposes.

Melvins - "Freak Puke" 2012

The new album is good. I like the weird orchestral arrangement they have on some of these songs. I guess this is considered "Melvins Lite" due to the fact it's only 3 of them and not the full band, but I like this setup, and these songs are good. It's interesting they chose to do a Paul McCartney cover on here too. It's a pretty straight up cover, but they really make it work. (It probably helps that it's one of my favorite McCartney songs too). I'm looking forward to the show at Grumpy's next month.