February 2013 Hotlist Week 4

The Gaslamp Killer & Cut Chemist - "Low End Theory Podcast #23" 2012

As usual, this podcast never disappoints. Just really great mixes through and through. I'm a little sad that the Cut Chemist mix is only 15 minutes long, but it's short & sweet. Check out the site for these podcasts here. You can download this and all the previous episodes as well. It's well worth it. DJing at it's finest.

Oneman - "Solitaire Vol. 1" 2013

This is a pretty cool mix with a wide range of moods, but he always keeps it moving. You can get it for free here at his Soundcloud page.

Cathleen John - "Calidora Aqua" 2013

This is someone who I discovered by them following me on Mixcloud. I decided to check out some of the many, many mixes on their page. It seems like about 2 or 3 mixes a week are getting dropped by this person, and all are filled with great music, most of which i've never heard of before, and in the electronic vein. Their home page says they are from Germany, so that might explain a little, but still, this person is doing some extreme digging all over the web and finding a lot of great new music in pockets of the music world that I haven't happened upon yet, which is a rare thing. Check out this mix here.

Why? - "Mumps Etc, Etc." 2012

The cover art is pretty self explanitory. This is all the demo versions of the songs from both "Mumps Etc." and "Sod In The Seed". It actually makes for a good listen. His primitive versions of his songs are still pretty awesome in their own right, which is probably why he released these. I guess this is a cassette only release from Anticon's website. I can't find any links to listen to these versions of these songs anywhere, but I guess if you're a fan and didn't know this existed, now you do.

Bok Bok - "Southside Remixes" 2012

This little remix EP is cool enough, but stuff like this tends to get boring to me after a little bit. Still a couple nice songs to throw in sets. Check out "Reminder (L-Vis 1990 CC Remix)", "Charisma Theme (Bok's Own Remix)", and "Silo Pass (Sir Spyro Remix)".

EPROM - "Pipe Dream" 2011

I keep going back and finding these EPROM singles and EP's that I missed the first time around. This one is great just like most of the others. All 3 of these songs are crazy good. Check out the title track and "The Symbiote".

Cathleen John - "Fractis Cor" 2013

Check out this mix here. I highly advise you to check out this and other mixes on their page. High quality stuff.

Doshy - "Scatter" 2010

I don't know how I let this incredibly awesome EP slip through the cracks for me, but this is right up my alley with all the video game blips and lush bass tones and hyperactivity. Check out the title track, "Chip", and "Space Attack".

L'Orange - "Still Spinning" 2012

I'm unfamiliar with this person's other work, but this is a pretty cool J Dilla tribute EP. It seems like they took the original samples Dilla used and made different beats out of them. Some of them ended up pretty cool. Check out "Peace", "Dewitt", and "Detroit Skyline".

Circassian - "Procrastinational" 2012

Nice little blind download. A little 3 song shoegazey sampler. I'd like to hear more from this band. This EP is pretty damn solid. Someone on youtube was kind enough to set up all 3 songs as a playlist so here you go.

Four Tet - "Solid Steel Podcast #154" 2013

What a superb mix. All vinyl and all awesome. He really digs in the crates and creates an eclectic mix of mostly jazz and electronic stuff, and just really keeps it interesting without making it boring or too weird. He walks a fine line. I can't find any links to give for this, but I know it's a free subscription on iTunes.

DJ Muggs - "Sound Clash Business" 2012

Apparently DJ Muggs has made the full switch from producer of Cypress Hill to electronic artist. These beats sound really tight. My only criticism would be that some of the vocal drops are a little corny sounding, but all of these beats fit firmly into the current sound of today, and the bass is super low and clean on these tracks. This is a free download from the Mishka site. You can also just listen to the songs there too.

Helloween - "Straight Out Of Hell" 2013

Sometimes I just want to listen to some super cheesy 80's sounding metal that puts a smile on my face and this fits the bill. Sometimes it gets a little too high on the cheese scale, but this is a pretty funny album. Check out "Burning Sun", "Nabataea", and "Asshole".

Thavius Beck - "Symphony Of Spheres" 2012

One of quite a few releases he put out last year. This one is oriented mostly on shorter beats, and they sound really great. This is music that works good as background music, but also has enough details to keep you interested listening on headphones. He straddles the line between hip hop and electronic influences perfectly to me. Apparently this a free download from the Plug Research website and is a mix of a lot of his unreleased songs. This does not sound like cutting room floor material at all. Check out "Catch" and the title song, which are the only 2 up on youtube right now.

SkyRider - "The Sunday Slow Down Remix" 2012

This is a ridiculous concept being executed perfectly. Skyrider, who is mostly known for being one of the people providing Sole with all the dope beats he's been ranting on the last 5 or so years, took a current top 40 radio broadcast, and "remixed" the entire thing. Everything has been chopped up into little pieces and all seems to flow together perfectly well as it's own composition, and most definitely, to my ears, sounds infinitely better than the source material. Listen or download for free here.

Miami Nights 1984 - "Turbulence" 2012

If you couldn't tell by the artist name or the artwork, this is some seriously cheesy retro 80's shit going down here. This album is actually really enjoyable, but more as a novelty. I don't really see how an act could continue on a whole career like this, but as a one off album, it works great for what it is. It perfectly fits the mood it's trying to create. Check out "Ocean Drive", "The Getaway", and "Tiger 42". P.S. these fan made videos on youtube are pretty awesome.

Voivod - "Target Earth" 2013

I'm not a long time fan of theirs, and have only heard songs in passing, hanging out with people, but I remember their older stuff being a little harder sounding and death or thrash metal oriented than this is. My memory might just be bad too though. This has definitely got the stamp of doom/stoner metal on it, but not limited to only that zone of metal music, and at times the vocals remind me slightly of Alice In Chains. Not was I was expecting when I put it on, but this ended up being a really solid album. It's good to see groups from the 80's that are still bringin it and not sounding washed up. Check out the video for the title track, also "Kluskap" and "Mechanical Mind".

The Sugarman 3 - "What The World Needs Now" 2012

Daptone Records mainstays come with another album full of instrumental funkyness. This is a great record to just lounge out to with a drink and smoke and listen to them jam out. It never gets too complicated or jammy, it's more like instrumental versions of songs with vocals minus the tedious verse/chorus structure. Check out "Rudy's Intervention", "But It's Alright", and "Love Went Away".

French Fries - "What To Do" 2012

This is one of those singles where the B-Side wins. The A-Side title track is relatively annoying, but the B-Side, "One Ting Dub" is the saving grace here. Great remix.

Lil B - "Task Force" 2012

Lil B is a very unique artist. He's somehow managed to be treading new water within the hip hop world in this day and age, which is incredibly hard considering how saturated the market is, but that's part of his strategy in reaching and maintaining his fanbase is saturation. This is just one of probably 15 (!) or so full length albums he put out in 2012. Averaging more than 1 album per month is insane, and what this amounts to is that the world gets to hear literally every single thought that pops into Lil B's mind. This is obviously both good and bad, but it makes for some interesting and amusing music sometimes. He probably has some of the biggest range of quality out of any artist out there, where his good songs are pretty dope, but when he sounds wack, it sounds REALLY wack. Also, I think it's funny how he cultivates this Stuart Smalley-like, positive thinking attitude within his persona, but has a wealth of very negative sounding lyrics as well to contradict that. Sometimes his flow and delivery are very "professional" sounding, more like "normal" rappers, but then other songs he almost sounds like some weird combination of Bizarre from D-12 and Wesley Willis, and these songs are the ones that make me laugh uncontrollably. His background vocals alone are enough to send me into hysterics. I don't know if that means that this music is good, but it's damn sure entertaining. Check out "Ryan Seacrest", the title track, and "Thuggin Til Death".