BitsBits: Mystery Mix March 2014

this month's Mystery Mix features material from: Mr. Oizo, DMX, Booka Shade, Sun Ra, Napalm Death, De La Soul, Al Di Meola, The Unicorns, Moby, Spindrift, Cabaret Voltaire, Frank Zappa & The Mothers, Post Prandials, Omar Rodriguez Lopez & Jeremy Michael Ward, Brian Posehn, Clutchy Hopkins, Slum Village, Howlin Wolf, The Beach Boys, Ugly Duckling, 2 Low, MJG, Hank Williams Jr., and d'Eon

http://www.mixcloud.com/ryanbirch54/mystery-mix-march-2014/

BitsBits: Music 2 Drink 2 Vol. 2

little mix I put together featuring: Henry Adam Svec, J-Zone, Louis Logic, Ween, Justice, San Quinn, E-40, Goldy, Spice 1, Kendrick Lamar, Prince Paul, Kimya Dawson, Hank Williams III, Brandon Patton, The Moody Blues, Tash, King Tee, Knocturnal, J Beam, T-Pain, Detail, DJ Paul, Lord Infamous, The Click, Blackalicious, and Tom Waits 

http://www.mixcloud.com/ryanbirch54/music-2-drink-2-vol-2/

Album Reviews: March 2014 Week 2

The Octopus Project - "Fever Forms" 2013

These guys are a hard group to describe. Definitely extremely psychedelic. Their sound is mostly built from keyboards, but the majority of the songs still seem to have a more rock n roll feel to them, if that makes sense. They do a really good job with sound placement, where every noise in the song sounds like it's coming from different places, but each noise has it's own space within the speakers or headphones. Most of the songs are instrumental, but there are a few songs with vocals scattered here and there. Highly recommended. Buy it or listen to it here. Check out the videos for "Whitby" and "Sharpteeth". (These videos are excellent). Also check out "Mmkit", "Deep Spice", and "Perhap".

A$AP Ferg - "Trap Lord" 2013

This is one of the more entertaining rap albums i've heard in a long while. His flows are very interesting and varied. He goes from a Danny Brown-esque flow at times, to flows that fit in with his A$AP Mob crew, to rapid fire, sing-songy, lightly laced with patois sounding flows, that sound like a cross between members of Bone Thugs N Harmony (who actually make a guest appearance on a song) and members of Strange Music at times. There is almost always an element of comedy to his lyrics, and it gives the album an overall fun feel, even when the subject matter gets gritty or crass. His background vocals are hilarious. You can usually hear some sort of echoed and filtered track of him chanting and wailing like some alternate universe Ol Dirty Bastard that's trapped in a different dimension. The production is incredibly solid. Most of the beats are engaging on both a basic level and a deeper psychedelic level as well. Almost every one is a banger. Check out the videos for "Work (Remix)" featuring A$AP Rocky, French Montana, Trinidad James, and Schoolboy Q, "Shabba" featuring A$AP Rocky (this song gets stuck in my head like crazy), "Hood Pope", and "Let It Go". Also check out "Fergivicious", "Fuck Out My Face" featuring B-Real, Onyx, and Aston Matthews, and "Murda Something" featuring Waka Flocka Flame.

Rob Sonic - "Alice In Thunderdome" 2013

As far as I heard, this is like a demo version of his next album that he most likely scrapped most of, because I think he just leaked this material to the internet himself randomly one day. I don't know that for a fact though, but it seems plausible with the way this album sounds. There's a few gems on here for sure, but there's also a few complete duds that I would hope never make it to an official release. There's a song that's clearly produced by Tobacco, and that's a cool surprise. Most of these beats sound like he self-produced them, and there's a couple that sound really intricate, and I can say the same thing about them as I said in the Octopus Project review above about sound placement. Some of these beats have great sound placement and there is nobody else that has this same style that I know of in the hip hop world. It's very unique without being too weird to listen to, which is a hard balance to achieve. I can't find any links to any of these songs to share, but this album isn't hard to find online.

BitsBits: Blogmix March 2014

Here is the monthly audio summary of this blog. The best new songs I heard within the last month, presented as a listening experience. This month's mix features: Sieren, Ras G & The Afrikan Space Program, Boys Noize, Chromeo, G Sudden, All Pigs Must Die, Warbeast, Sebastien Tellier, Freddie Gibbs & Madlib, Fortune Howl, Arts The Beatdoctor, Black Milk, Matthew Dear, Michna, Loden, Grape God, Childish Gambino, Captain Murphy, Viktor Vaughn, Earl Sweatshirt, Thundercat, Filastine, Thornato, Rustie, Blue Daisy & Unknown Shapes, Hulk, Funtcase, Daniil Svetlov, Thee Oh Sees, Ghost, Miami Nights 1984, Kill Frenzy & Sacha Robotti, B-Ju, Clams Casino, Tropics, Troy Gunner, and The Melvins. Enjoy...

http://www.mixcloud.com/ryanbirch54/blogmix-march-2014/

Album Reviews: March 2014 Week 1

Moka Only - "Martian Xmas 2013" 2013

As far as I know, he's been doing these special december releases for the past 4 years running now. It's impressive how good these songs sound with how loose they seem to be recorded. Him being prolific is nothing new, he's been putting out a flurry of steady releases for almost 20 years now. It's just admirable how he never releases a bullshit product and gives his fans what they want, while still seeming to be very laid back about it all, when in reality it takes a lot of hard work to make this many songs and have them all be pretty decent sounding. Check out "Chicken Holiday", the only song I could find on youtube. If you are interested in listening or purchasing, here is the bandcamp page for this album.

Roosevelt - "Elliot" 2013

Nice little blind download. This is a 4 song EP of some very hazy sounding yet upbeat electro-pop. I really like the filters they chose to run all the sounds through, especially the vocals. It makes it so the vocals don't overpower everything else, like what tends to happen to most stuff that falls in this vein. This band kinda reminds me of early MGMT in a way, or a more funky, less electronic version of James Blake, and maybe a touch of AM & Shawn Lee. Not quite committed to any one particular genre. I'm not completely blown away by this EP, but it does spark my interest for this group and what else they might have out there. Check out the videos for "Sea", "Elliot", (I really like this video) and "Montreal".  Also check out the other song, "Around You".

Hellfyre Club - "Dorner vs. Tookie" 2013

Hellfyre Club is a clique of LA based weirdos of the hip hop scene led by Busdriver. Other members include: Open Mike Eagle, Nocando, Milo, The Kleenrz (a duo of Self Jupiter & Kenny Segal), Rhetoric Ramirez, VerBS, Taurus Scott, and KAIL. There is a couple duds on here, but most of this compilation is pretty stellar, and is the type of hip hop that actually excites my brain instead of lulling it to sleep like most new hip hop does to me nowadays, and also has great production to back it up. Check out the videos for "Beat On The Drum", "Ecclesiastes", "Apologies", and "DVT". You can listen to the whole album or download for free here.

"Fake Four Record Label Sampler Vol. 5" 2013

Self-explanatory title, I have to say i'm not quite as impressed with this one as most of the previous ones, but this is still a good crop of songs and they are still one of the best labels that exist today. The artists featured this time around are: Sadistik, Astronautalis, Factor, Open Mike Eagle, Sister Crayon, Bike For Three (Buck 65 & Greetings From Tuskan), Grayskul, Child Actor, Blue Sky Black Death, Tommy V, David Ramos, Louis Logic, F.Virtue, Rickolus, Cars & Trains, Ceschi, Paranoid Castle, Gregory Pepper & Madadam, Awol One, Zavala, Moodie Black, Loden, and Sole. You can listen to it all or download for free here. 

Album Reviews: February 2014 Week 4

Loden - "Beaus$Eros Instrumentals" 2013

This is the instrumental version of the last Busdriver album. He hired this relatively unknown, upcoming, European producer (i've seen some conflicting info online about where he's from. I've read both Belgium and Germany) named Loden to do all these beats, and it's pretty stellar. It's interesting how different these songs sound without Busdriver's over the topness. It really gives these beats a chance to breathe and show their nuances, instead of being glossed over as you try to comprehend Busdriver's complex flows. I'll definitely be checking for this guy in the future. He has this whole album available as a pay what you want or free download here. You can also just listen to the songs there as well.

Sebastien Tellier - "Confection" 2013

I was expecting this album to be more of a progressive pop album like his previous ones, but about 1/3 of the way through this I started to realize that this sounds like a sweet score to a film. After reading about this album, apparently that's exactly what it is. He made some music for a movie and then the movie got shelved or they decided to go with a different composer, or something went amiss where this isn't an actual soundtrack to a movie anymore. In any event, this album is full of beautiful, lush sound scapes. Hearing this stuff loud on headphones almost makes me feel like i'm being taken away to a different place. This is highly recommended to anyone who is a fan of Air or even Mr. Oizo. Check out the video for the only song on this album that has vocals, "L'amour naissant". Also check out "Hypnose", "Adieu", "Coco", and "Le Delta Des Amours".

Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - "Deeper EP" 2013

It's interesting to me how much different Freddie Gibbs sounds on Madlib production vs. the usual stuff he rhymes over. They've released enough songs together now where they have at least half an album's worth of material, they should just go ahead and put together a full length. I enjoy the combo of these 2 very much. Neither of them show any signs of slowing down or falling off any time soon. Check out "Deeper" and "Harold's", the only 2 songs that they actually collaborated on here. This EP also contains some Madlib bonus beats in the form of "Ups & Downs" and A Long Walk Home (couldn't find a link).

All Pigs Must Die - "Nothing Violates This Nature" 2013

This band is described as being a hardcore punk band, but it sounds like heavy metal to me, but what do I know... What I do know is that this album goes hard as fuck. I heard their first album when it was new, and it impressed me, but this new one blows that one out of the water easily. They stepped it up on every level. This would have easily made my Top 20 or even Top 10 of 2013 list if I had heard it when it was new. Check out "Chaos Arise", "Bloodlines", "Aqim Siege", "Sacred Nothing", "Silencer", and "Holy Plague".

Filastine - "Looted" 2013

I enjoyed the regular version of this album, "Loot", well enough. Filastine seems to fall into a similar musical pocket as Beats Antique, but they are maybe not quite as far into that realm. This is an impressive remix album. All the contributors seem to have really gave it their all, making this a cohesive listen as an album, as opposed to most remix albums, which usually end up having 2 or 3 jams and many duds. Check out "Circulate False Notes (The Clerk Remix)" and "Hypnotico (Live Version)", which are the only 2 songs from this up on youtube for whatever reason. Not a great representation of how good this album is.

Album Reviews: February 2014 Week 3

Miami Nights 1984 - "Early Summer" 2010

I was a fan of their 2012 album, "Turbulence", and I found this in my internet journeys, and figured i'd check it out. Definitely more of the same, which is cool with me. I enjoy these cheesy 80's sounding, synth based, instrumental creations. Makes me want to play Out Run or something. All the fan made videos that are on youtube are pretty entertaining. Check out "Miami Funk", "Early Summer", "Sunset Cruise", and "Elevator Of Love".

Ras G & The Afrikan Space Program - "Back On The Planet" 2013

I've said it before and i'll say it again. Ras G is the most psychedelic sounding person that is involved with the beat scene. His beats aren't just crazy insane, they sound like they weren't even conceived on planet Earth. This album is a little more refined sounding than some of his recent EP's, but the element of fucked-upness is still fully intact. These are beats to send your mind into the next dimension. Check out the videos for "All Is Well", "OMMMMM", "CosMc Lounge Kisses", and "GSpot Connection" Also check out "Culture Riddim", "One 4 Kutmah", and "Natural Melanin Being".

Childish Gambino - "Because The Internet" 2013

This is an interesting pop album. He's attempting to do the 'Drake thing' and be both a rapper and singer, but take a more progressive sounding route. I think he maybe thinks he's more talented than he actually is, but at the same time the scope of this album is admirable. He clearly knows what directions that pop music is pointing to for the future and going with that instead of being one of the many people that are stuck in the now, or even worse, the past. I would say that my favorite songs by him have been bangers like "Unnecessary" and "Toxic", but I think this album is his most high quality release so far, in terms of full albums. Check out the videos for "The Worst Guys" featuring Chance The Rapper and "3005". Also check out "Flight Of The Navigator", "Worldstar", "Sweatpants", and "Life: The Biggest Troll (Andrew Auemheimer)".

Duppy Gun - "Bookfa b/w G Sudden" 2013

The regular versions of the 2 songs on here are decent reggae songs, but the alternate versions (labelled as the "Dupp'd Versions") are completely fucked. Very detailed and ever-changing, these are much different takes on these songs, and create a whole new universe within that sound scape. I couldn't find any links to any of these songs, but I did find this little 6 minute documentary about Duppy Gun that is really good and worth a watch, and features both of the songs from this single. Check it out.

Warbeast - "Krush The Enemy" 2010

I saw these guys in concert last year and they were pretty phenomenal. Very tough sounding thrash metal. They bring an energy and feel that I rarely hear in newer metal nowadays. Check out the video for "Scorched Earth Policy". Also check out "Krush The Enemy", "We Are The Vultures", "Born With A Blackened Heart", and "Guardian Angel".

Arts The Beatdoctor - "Lazy Thunder" 2013

I'm unfamiliar with his previous work, but I enjoy this beat scene oriented EP a lot. The songs are very detailed and take your mind on adventures. Check out "Ghost In The Machine", "Little Brother" featuring Ella, "IL404", and "Mobieus' Travels".

Solid Gold - "Eat Your Young" 2012

Albums like this are a good example of why i'm always wary of checking out local bands from Minneapolis. It almost always inevitably ends up being bland, generic, prozac laced, insomnia curing, poorly written drivel. These guys remind me of elements of other bands such as U2 and The Flaming Lips, but it's like if you took away anything good about those bands. Albums like this also make me realize how much i'm not feeling what people around here generally seem to enjoy. Check out the video for "The Pendulum".

BitsBits: Mystery Mix February 2014

this month's Mystery Mix features: People Under The Stairs, Rebirth Brass Band, Ke$ha, Weird Al Yankovic, Tom Waits, Umberto, Woody Guthrie, Kanye West, Patton Oswalt, Navicon Torture Technologies, Aloe Blacc, Gary Lewis & The Playboys, TheFlaming Lips, Devonwho, Yama, Madvillain, Immortal Technique, The Big Bopper, Beastie Boys, Men At Work, Andre Williams, Cat Stevens, Radar Men From The Moon, Flesh Consumed, Garnet Silk, Dom Kennedy, & Angelo Badalamenti.... Enjoy...

http://www.mixcloud.com/ryanbirch54/mystery-mix-february-2014/