Mix: BitsBits- January 2013 Hotlist

This is like a condensed audio version of the blog. An hour of the best new songs I heard this month. You can stream it on Mixcloud or download it here.

January 2013 Hotlist Week 4

Culprate - "Nightmares In Reality" 2012

I've been into this dude's music for a year or two now, and it seems he's finally hitting the mainstream a little bit and getting some recognition. The problem with this is that it seems as though he's dumbing down his music for the masses. I much prefer his more progressive sounding stuff, but I still like all the songs on this EP except the title track featuring Maksim. I'm just not into the British rapper thing. Check out "Hall Of Mirrors", "Tooth Fairy", "Diablo", and "Two".

d'Eon - "Music For Keyboards Vol. II: What's My Age Again Variations" 2012

This is some instrumental avant-garde jazz keyboard stuff in the same vein as Shnabubula. It's just what the title says it is, and yes it is the Blink 182 song. It's an interesting listen. Here's the first section of the album, the 2nd section, and the 3rd section.

Four Tet - "Pink" 2012

So, I finally got around to checking out the new Four Tet album, and it's pretty damn cool. Definitely techno oriented, but he puts so many great layers and textures in here, it works equally well for dance floors and headphones. Check out the video for "Pyramid", also "128Harps", "Lion", "Jupiters", and "Peace For Earth".

Deltron3030 - "Positive Contact" 2012

Apparently this is some 10" vinyl associated with a beer that was brewed and named after the song from the first Deltron album. I found this as a random download marked as a new release, and there are no real track names, it's 4 tracks long, and all instrumental. I heard there is a new Deltron album coming soon, and i'm assuming these are 4 of the instrumentals from it, judging from the sound. It's definitely Automator and Kid Koala sounding good. This actually has me excited for the new album. I hope Del can get back on track and rhyme good again for this one.

Wiz Khalifa - "O.N.I.F.C." 2012

New official album from him. A good portion of the beats on this album are dope, but it's mostly wasted on Wiz bragging about how rich he is now that he made it big, but how it didn't change him. There's flashes of decent flows here and there, but for the most part, on this album he sounds like a super pansy version of Juicy J or something. This is pretty good for a major label album though. If you're into this style of music, it pretty much bumps all the way through, with maybe only 2 fast forward worthy songs. Check out "Fall Asleep", "Got Everything" featuring Courtney Noelle, "Time", the ambitious "No Limit", and "Initiation" featuring Lola Monroe.

January 2013 Hotlist Week 3

The Heliocentrics - "Collateral Damage" 2012

First teaser for their new album about to drop in a couple weeks (first week of February, I believe). Judging by these 3 songs, it's going to be a very psychedelic affair, and I can't wait to hear more. Here is a link to listen to the 3rd track on here, from Now Again Records' Soundcloud page. I can't find any other links to post for this EP where people will be able to listen to the songs.

Filastine - "Loot" 2012

I remember thinking I should check this album out when a couple tracks from this album came up on shuffle, but listening to it as a whole LP, it's pretty unimpressive. Some flashes of promise happen. "Spectralization" is a decent track with many changes throughout, and a delicate middle eastern sounding influence. This remix of Y La Bamba's song "Juniper" appears here and is pretty lush and beautiful while maintaining a rough and bumpin edge. "Colony Collapse" is pretty decent but also a good example of how listening to a whole album by this artist can get a little boring. Works good to throw one or two songs in the mix though. I'm interested to see how this artist develops over time.

Baauer - "Dum Dum" 2012

So this is the 2nd single i've heard from him, the first being "Harlem Shake", which was obviously a massive club banger. This is more of the same, leading me to wonder now if he's just a one trick pony. In any event, it's a pretty dope sounding one trick, if that's all he's got. These songs bump like crazy too. Check out "Dum Dum", "My Nose", and "Swerve". It's hard not to dance to this stuff, guaranteed club bangers. We'll see what his new collaboration with Just Blaze ends up being like. It'll be interesting.

Peaking Lights - "Lucifer In Dub" 2012

I flipped through the regular version of this short album/long EP and didn't find it very interesting or good in any particular way, but I do admit that I didn't give it a real chance and sit down and actually listen to the whole thing to find out for sure. I happened upon this dub version of the album and gave it a whirl. Pretty decent. The sterileness of the regular versions of these songs has been washed away and replaced with a hazy filter of psychedelicness that sounds decent to my ears. Still nothing special, but i'd rather hear these versions than the regular ones. Check out the video for "Beautiful Dub". Also check "My Heart Dubs 4 U" and "Cosmick Dub".

Bassnectar - "Freestyle EP" 2012

This is cool but not spectacular. He certainly does release a lot of material. No complaints here, i'm enjoying a good portion of it. This youtube link gives you access to listen to all the tracks on the EP, which includes him doing remixes of hip hop artists Zion I and Eligh. Pretty cool to see that team up happen.

Jay Tee & Baby Bash - "M.S.U." 2012

This is a humorous bay area compilation and every single song is about weed. Nothing serious here, and a few of the songs are pretty corny, but for the most part, this album serves it's purpose well and is good music to smoke to. I would definitely recommend this album to anyone out there who's into bullshit like Kottonmouth Kings but would like to hear some slightly more skilled rappers rap about weed. Check out "So High" featuring B-Legit and Young Dru, "Buddah Love" featuring Paul Wall and Berner, and "Doobie In The Ashtray" featuring Young Dru and Devin The Dude.

Ty Segall & White Fence - "Hair" 2012

I can't say enough good things about Ty Segall. He's just been hitting the world with a barrage of high quality releases full of good old fashioned rock n roll. There is a certain charm he has that other new rock music does not to me. I can't quite put my finger on it, but he definitely has that certain special something that sets certain artists apart from the rest of the music world and puts them on a pedestal. Check out "I Am Not A Game", "(I Can't) Get Around You", "Time", "Scissor People", and "Easy Ryder".

The Hacker - "Magical Voyage" 2012

Cool little 3 song EP that hits the midrange of electronic music for me, where it is cool enough to bump, but not cool enough to make me go WOW about anything. Still, nice. Check out "Night Drive", "Through The Ether", and "Mind Games".

AraabMuzik - "Instrumental University" 2012

Put out through J. Armz, who seems to drop the mixtapes of all the instrumental versions of all the newest mainstream rap songs, which is good because most of the time I personally don't want to hear the rappers that are on the tracks anyways. This is like the AraabMuzik edition of the J. Armz series, a bunch of beats he did for rappers recently. Pretty damn dope. Check out "American Greed", "Got Em Hands Down", "A Diamond Life", "Rubber Band Stacks", and "1,2,3 Grind".

Cradle Of Filth - "The Manticore & Other Horrors" 2012

I'm not a long time fan or anything, so I don't know how to judge this against their previous material, but this album didn't impress me. There's flashes of stuff I enjoy within sections of songs, but it doesn't ever stay going for a whole song... the enjoyment, I mean. I guess whatever they're doing here is not really my cup of tea, but not awful either. Check out "The Abhorrent", "Huge Onyx Wings Beyond Despair", and "Illicitus".

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - "Meat + Bone" 2012

First new album from the Blues Explosion in quite a few years, and apparently they haven't lost a step. If you like the older stuff, then you'll probably like this new one. If you never heard of them before, but are a fan of stuff like The Black Keys or The White Stripes, I would suggest checking this band out. Check out the video for "Black Mold", the video for "Bag Of Bones", and "Get Your Pants Off". I also wish they would do more funky instrumental jams like the album closer, "Zimgar" (no link, sorry).

Sean Price - "Mic Tyson" 2012

Half of Heltah Skeltah and member of Boot Camp Clik is still alive and kicking. This album is OK, but nowadays i'm just not as much of a fan of these east coast albums with a few super dope beats, some OK punchlines, and some clever gun and drug talk mixed in. It all gets kinda monotonous after a while, but at least this album is pretty decent sounding. Check out "BBQ Sauce" featuring Pharoahe Monch, "Bar-Barian", "Bully Rap" featuring Realm Reality, and the video for "Genesis Of The Omega".

J. Rocc - "The Minimal Wave Tapes: J. Rocc Edits- Vol. 2" 2012

The title is pretty self-explanitory. I think he did an excellent job with these edits. He adds new dimensions to these songs and adds many different subtle touches that the common listener might not even be picking up on. Unfortunately, I can't find links to listen to these anywhere, but there's previews on the Stones Throw page for it.

January 2013 Hotlist Week 2

Guided By Voices - "Keep It In Motion" 2012

New single. Pretty short and sweet. Not spectacular, but some cool songs. The title track almost reminds me of Tom Petty in a way. Check out the video for the title track starring comedian Jon Glaser from the show Delocated.

Bassnectar - "Vava Voom" 2012

I found this release to be slightly underwhelming. It's OK, but he's clearly trying to move on from dubstep to whatever the next thing is, and i'm not sure if he knows what that next thing exactly is. Check out "Butterfly" featuring Mimi Page, "Nothing Has Been Broken" featuring Tina Malia, "Laughter Crescendo (2012 Version)", and the video for the title track featuring Lupe Fiasco.

Danny Brown - "The OD EP" 2012

Man, Danny Brown is just coming from all angles right now, and even though most of his flows are about his sexual conquests, he does it in such a way where it just always sounds good. His voice kinda reminds me of some weird combo of Greg Nice and B-Real, and it definitely annoyed me when I first heard it, but now that i've grown accustomed to hearing him, I actually enjoy it a lot. This EP is just 3 songs with the accompanying instrumentals, but all 3 songs bang. Check out "Baseline", "Shouldn't Of", and the ridiculous video for "Witit". Hopefully his next full length can be this crazy/awesome. I really like these beats a lot.

Soulja Boy - "Keep Living Keep Playing" 2012

Jesus this is terrible. It's almost comedy with how shitty of a rapper he actually is. I would nominate him for any celebrity deathmatch type show if something ended up existing in the future.

Noah23 - "Wingfoot" 2012

So, this relatively awesome underground rapper decides to quit making music suddenly, right when his buzz is at it's highest point and he was on the verge of becoming known for his skills. He took a year off and this is the first product he's released since then. Pretty decent. Some flashes of brilliance. This album seems like it was written and recorded within a few days or a week by an incredibly skilled individual, just going through some practice motions to get back into the game. It'll be interesting to see what he has in store for 2013. Check out "Wonder Why", "Higher Self", "Young Horse", "Ice Water", and "Hipster B-Bop Junkies".

Komonazmuk - "Komonazmuk" 2012

I had only heard this artist before from dubstep singles from the Hench Records compilations, and this is nothing like those songs. Very mellow and kinda underwhelming. It almost reminds me of some of the lower budget type people that used to be on Ninja Tune in the late 90's early 2000's like Neotropic, Animals On Wheels, and 9 Lazy 9. Less trip-hoppy, but still. Check out "Underground", "Theorem", and "Centimental".

Cody Chesnutt - "Landing On A Hundred" 2012

So, Cody Chesnutt has FINALLY put out his long awaited 2nd LP 10 years after blessing the world with his (in my opinion) amazing debut double album "The Headphone Masterpiece". There are 2 questions I had in my mind about this album before I listened to it. Question #1: How is he going to transition from making low budget/lo-fi recordings in his house to working with professional producers in real studios? The answer is quite well, actually. The production on this album is lush and full and he sounds right at home over it. Question #2: Most of what i've read about his sudden absence right when he was poised for big fame was that it was an Al Green style move where he went super Christian to the point where he felt it was wrong to make "secular music", so is this album going to be full of "god songs"? Answer is, not really. There's a couple preachy religious songs, but it's only like 2 or 3 songs out of 12. This album reminds me a lot of the last Aloe Blacc album, but this doesn't come off as a fake Bill Withers album like that one did to me. Cody still has his own personality that shines through in his songwriting. It will be interesting to see if this album stands the test of time or not. It's hard to tell if this is just something i'll listen to this year or for forever. Check out "Under The Spell Of The Handout", "Don't Wanna Go The Other Way", and "Chips Down (In No Landfill)".

Lazerbeak - "Lava Bangers" 2012

One of the producers from Doomtree's solo beat album. This stuff is OK, but nothing about any of these beats really stands out to me either. Just some decent, non-offensive background music. Nothing wrong with that. Check out "Thimble Man", "Ay Bay Bee", and "Had Enough".

The Prodigy - "The Added Fat EP" 2012

This will probably make you feel a little older reading this, but The Prodigy just released a 15 year anniversary edition re-release of their album "Fat Of The Land". The bonus disc that comes with it is new 2012 remixes by some currently popular artists, reworking a couple of the songs into more modern sounds. This sounds really lame on paper to me, but the end results are great. Check out "Firestarter (Alvin Risk Remix)", "Smack My Bitch Up (Major Lazer Remix)", and "Minefields (Baauer Remix)".

"Lawless Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" 2012

So this was the newest movie Nick Cave directed, and naturally he put together the soundtrack as well. They kind of did it T-Bone Burnett style, with a general theme and production style and a few guests, this time in the form of Ralph Stanley, Emmylou Harris, and Mark Lanegan. This works out to be a pretty decent soundtrack, and i'm eager to see the film as well. Check out "So You'll Aim Towards The Sky".

The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band - "Between The Ditches" 2012

It finally happened. Reverend Peyton finally got the production level he deserved all along for an album. Whoever did this makes them sound great. They got his voice sounding right. His wife's background vocals are more prominent, which is a welcome touch. The guitars are laid in just right. This is just an all around great quality country album. People need to stop sleeping. Check out the video for "Devils Look Like Angels", and also a video for "Something For Nothing". One of the stronger tracks on the album "We'll Get Through", is not on youtube for some odd reason. Also check out "Shut The Screen". Unfortunately most of the songs from this album are not up on youtube to share, but anyone that likes intense guitar playing or actual GOOD country music and not bullshit should check them out. I'm eagerly awaiting them to come here in concert again.

Gandhi's Gunn - "The Longer The Beard The Harder The Sound" 2012

A blind download that turned out to be decent. Some cool stoner metal. I would recommend them to people who like The Sword, Mastodon, or Queens Of The Stone Age. They kinda hit various angles of those band's sounds, to my ears. Check out "Under Siege", "Breaking Balance", "Hypothesis", and "Haywire".

January 2013 Hotlist Week 1

Boys Noize - "Out Of The Black" 2012

This is a solid full length electronic release, but not stellar. I don't know if there's any super bangers on here, for me anyways, but there's still plenty to dance to, and plenty more ear candy. Check out this sweet video for "Ich R U". Also check out "Touch It", "Missile", and "Rocky 2". People that enjoy music by acts like Daft Punk, Justice, SebastiAn, and Mr. Oizo, will like this.

Willie Nelson - "Heroes" 2012

So, I did listen to the Boys Noize album and this one back to back. Not really that weird for me to switch from electronic to country, but what I found funny was that Snoop Dogg appears as a guest on both of these albums, and doesn't sound out of place on either one, even though both are very far away from the genre he's from. This new Willie Nelson album is pretty solid. He puts out a lot of albums over the years, and a lot of them are crap, but this one is definitely enjoyable. Check out "Roll Me Up" featuring Snoop Dogg, Jamey Johnson, & Kris Kristofferson, "Every Time He Drinks He Thinks Of Her" featuring Lukas Nelson, and "Hero" featuring Jamey Johnson and Billy Joe Shaver. Just some good country music.

Ta-ku - "Re/Twerk" 2012

I found out about this beat maker through his 50 Days For Dilla tribute series. This seems to be a collection of remixes of other artist's songs, some of which he just makes new beats for the vocals and some of which he just makes completely new compositions out of parts of other song's vocals and his original beats. Either way, there's a lot of cool styles being represented here, and he definitely put his name in my mind for people to watch for in the coming year. Check out "Diamond Mouth", "Get It Girl", his remix of "Dance Bear" by Snakadaktal, and  the phenomenal textures of "Sweat Like Keith".

Ikonika - "I Make Lists" 2012

The EP isn't bad, but there's nothing about it that makes it stand out in my mind either. Just some good upbeat electronic music to have on in the background. Check out the title track, "I Make Lists", "With Your Mouth", and "Cold Soaking".

SoKo - "I Thought I Was An Alien" 2012

A blind download that definitely paid off. I had to look up some info on her and found out that she's from France. Very unique songwriting for someone that is basically using no electric instruments at all. Pretty much every song on here is great, her voice and lyrics are captivating without her sounding like she's trying to be that way. It's just flowing naturally. Check out "Don't You Touch Me", "For Marlon", "How Are You", "I Just Want To Make It New With You", and "No More Home, No More Love". I can't stress enough that people should check her out.

Purity Ring - "Shrines" 2012

Why is it that most groups that get touted as being great by Pitchfork usually are very bland and generic to me? This is definitely no exception to that. I don't understand the draw of this group, unless you're the type of person that hasn't heard any newer electronic music from the last 3-4 years, and then this might sound semi-innovative. Everything about this album is so cold and calculated, there's no warmth or emotion at all to me. Just the same washed out filter effects and chopped up vocal stabs, poorly executed the exact same way on every track with no variation. It's like they took some of the production techniques from a lot of music I actually do enjoy, and turned it into a color by number painting or something. Some of this could be excused if this singer's voice was cool at all, but she sounds just as flat and generic as the music behind her. There's nothing interesting or moving about this music at all. Check out the video for "Fineshrine".

Elusive - "Illumination Knock" 2012

I remember Elusive from making beats for a lot of west coast people from Project Blowed and Living Legends mostly from about 10 or so years ago. He seems to have re-emerged and trying to be part of the beat scene now. Sometimes it works out pretty good, but other times I think it sounds like he's forcing some awkward timing and drum programming just to fit in the overall feel and sound of the beat scene, and the songs themselves suffer a little bit from it. Check out the bandcamp page for it, since none of these tracks are on youtube.

Two Fingers - "Stunt Rhythms" 2012

This is just Amon Tobin putting out music that's more palatable for the masses under an alias. It still carries his basic sound, and maybe sometimes his weirdness needs a little bit of "dumbing down" sometimes, so a normal person could enjoy it as well. This is an incredibly solid album, I would say the only missteps are the rap guests on a couple tracks not being good enough at what they do to be appearing on beats so fresh, but there's tons of great material on here. Check out "Lock86", "Deep Jinx", "Smurf", "101 South", and "Magoo".

Beneath The Massacre - "Incongruous" 2012

Very solid metal release. This one goes pretty hard. I like the guitar solos on this a lot. Check out "Left Hand", "Damages" and "Unheard".

The Chicharones - "Swine Flew" 2012

The Chicharones is the duo of Josh Martinez and Sleep from Oldominion. This album is a good listen, and definitely a better alternative to stuff that is currently hitting right now like Macklemore & Ryan Lewis that is in a similar vein. In a similar way to how Boots Riley from The Coup is album to infuse comedy with politics, these guys infuse comedy with emo/self-help type hip hop, and do so in a way that doesn't make them come off preachy or corny and after-school specially (*cough Macklemore*). This is actually music that is genuinely fun to listen to, and it doesn't sound like they're talking down to you or anything. Both of these guys have a sing songy style that works out well and makes everything palatable. Check out "Never Had It Easy",    "Oldfashioned", and "Bankers Bonanza".

Apathy - "It's The Bootleg Muthafuckas! Vol. 3: Fire Walk With Me" 2012

As with the first 2 volumes of this series, there's a wide range of quality due to the wide range of guests and sources of these songs. It's worth checking if you like his older stuff though. He's not as washed up sounding as some of his counterparts, but he also still sounds like he's partially stuck in the past a little bit too. Check out "Dancing On Your Grave (Remix)" featuring Xzibit, Paul Wall, Ryu, Murs, and Scoop Deville, "If You Forgot My Name" featuring Royce Da 5'9", and "Most Murderous Music".

Ty Segall - "Twins" 2012

Ty Segall is someone I discovered via a blind download of a 2008 release of his. Fast forward a couple years, and all of the sudden his name is everywhere. It's great to see a QUALITY rock artist like this get his just due, and hopefully this era is just the beginning for him, because I see him being a major figure within music for years to come. Check out "There Is No Tomorrow", "Thank God For The Sinners", "You're The Doctor", "Would You Be My Love", and "Ghost".

Igorrr - "Hallelujah" 2012

All I have to say about this album is WOW! This literally blew me away. This is one of the dudes from Whourkr's solo stuff, and I think I like it better than that material, which I enjoy a great deal. The crazy thing about this is that he wears all of his influences on his sleeve (Venetian Snares, Mr. Bungle etc.) but this music is arguably better sounding to my ears today than those act's music is. This isn't for the faint of heart or musically unadventurous, but there is an underlying beauty to the way these songs are put together and carefully edited. Check out "Damaged Wig", "Cicadidae", "Vegetable Soup", "Absolute Psalm", and "Infinite Loop".

Tony Trimm & Hannibal Buress - "Charcuteries & Champagne" 2012

I don't know why this concept hasn't been done before, to my knowledge, but this is so awesome. A DJ laying down some cool music and Hannibal Buress talking shit over the songs about whatever pops in his head. Download it here.