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.