September 2012 Hotlist Week 1

Knxwledge - "Karma.Loops.Prt3" 2012

More of the same old from him. These beats are cool, don't get me wrong, but after a while they all start to sound the same. 

Mayer Hawthorne - "The Walk" 2012

This new remix of "The Walk" must be the 2012 version of the misguided euro-trash remixes that plagued hip hop in the  late 80's and early 90's. Whoever Rizzle Kicks is, needs to kill himself, seriously, for ruining this great song. On The flipside, there is a superb Chromeo Remix of "A Long Time" that redeems this single.

Eprom- "64 Bytes Remixes" 2009

I like all of these remixes. Nice and hyper without going overboard. A nice blend of sweet synth sounds, booming bass, Speak & Spell samples, and video game noises. Check out his remix of his own song.

Buckethead - "Shadows Between The Sky" 2010

This album is another really mellow one from him. People of all ages and musical tastes can enjoy this, and I never thought i'd ever be able to say that about a Buckethead album. Check out "Rim Of The World"

The Flaming Lips - "The Flaming Lips & Heady Fwends" 2012

So, this finally got a proper release, so I gave it another shot. I really think that with this guest lineup, this should be a way higher quality album. It's like he just wanted to get a Handsome Boy Modeling School style list of collaborators, and force them to do something that might be slightly more avant-garde than they normally would, but instead of it sounding really special or unique, it's just kind of annoying, and makes me think they've lost it as a band and lost touch with what actually sounds good. The only guest that makes sense to me on here is Yoko Ono, who's annoying voice fits in perfect with the production style of this album. Check out this one with Erykah Badu to see an example of how something that could have been good went wrong with their bland psychedelia.

Sixo - "Free Floating Rationales" 2012

Newer release on Fake Four Records by Sixo, a beatmaker I am unfamiliar with. I'm definitely digging this sample based production similar to labelmate Factor. Fake Four is certainly shaping a sound of their own within the underground of rap that is a lot closer to indie rock than anything that i've ever heard come out of the genre so far. This is not a bad thing at all, most of these songs sound really fresh and the opposite of generic. Check out "Government Bonds" featuring Sole and "Trees" featuring Myka 9.

Eprom - "The Bay Area EP" 2010

Best album cover ever??? He's probably been my most listened to artist on my ipod so far this month. Lots of bumpin beats and laser noises to keep me moving. 

Melvins - "Stag" 1996

This is probably going to sound bad no matter what way I say it, but I listened to this album and have no recollection of what it was like or what I thought of it. Getting old??? Do I seriously need to start taking notes for making this blog? Fuck.... This song sounds cool right now

Eprom - "Feldspar" 2011

This is just a single. The A-Side title track is cool, but the B-Side "Psycho" is super dope. I like how he keeps it semi-minimal within a hyped up theme.

August 2012 Hotlist Week 4

Kid606 - "LSDMTB303" 2012

I might need to listen to this some more. There's some cool stuff on here, but it's not hitting me the right way the first time through, but I feel like once I get used to these songs, I'll like this EP a lot.

Melvins - "Stoner Witch" 1994

I never heard this when it was new. Pretty awesome. I still prefer their post 2000 sound more than this era's stuff, but this is some amazing 90's music that I missed out on.

Joan Armatrading - "Starlight" 2012

I like this album more than anything she's released since the 80's. If you've never heard of her, go check out her old 70's and 80's stuff also. She falls into some weird niche in between folk and R&B, but has hints of jazz and blues as well. She's a very talented guitarist with a sometimes Nina Simone-like voice.

Babu - "Konichiwa Bitches" 2012

This mix is ridiculous. A bunch of super funky stuff that you don't normally hear, masterfully cut up and arranged by DJ Babu.

Knxwledge - "WrapTaypesPort2" 2012

I really, really, really hate listening to people freestyle, so that pretty much ruins anything good about these beats for me. It would help if the freestyles were a little better too.

Amon Tobin & The London Metropolitan Orchestra - "Royal Albert Hall (Box Set Disc 7)" 2012

It's always interesting to hear full orchestra covers of songs you've heard a bunch of times, only to see how truly complex and beautiful the original songs actually are. This exceeded my expectations by a lot. I didn't think it would pan out THIS well.

Casual - "He Still Think He Raw" 2012

Casual is trying to inject some life into his career by doing an album like this with DJ Fresh doing all the beats. It sorta works. I do enjoy this more than anything he's released since his first album, but it's still not an album full of bangers either.

Frank Nitt - "Stadium Music" 2012

This is the Frank from Frank N Dank fame. This album has a weird dynamic. It's like he's just trying a bunch of different styles hoping someone, somewhere will like him. Obviously a few of the more Dilla-esque sounding songs appeal to me, but there's some weird misguided sounding commercial attempts on here too. Those songs remind me of bad 90's major label rap albums, where the people at the label would force people to make a quota of those style songs on an album, and 99% of the time, NOBODY liked those tracks. Not the old fans or the intended, hopeful, new pop audience.

Doug Stanhope - "Sicko" 1999

Some older Stanhope. It's cool to hear how much he's evolved since then, but that he's still able to make me laugh with this material too.

August 2012 Hotlist Week 3

Schoolboy Q - "Habits & Contradictions" 2012

I heard someone refer to this as "hipster rap". I don't know about all that, but this dude sounds like a good up and comer. Nothing spectacular, but definitely not the run of the mill, usual boring shit I hear coming out of most rap nowadays. He seems pretty versatile.

"Dave Chappelle's Block Party Soundtrack" 2006

Busted this one out the week I saw him do standup earlier this month (which was awesome). Just a few songs from the live performances and a new studio song by BlackStar. Not too great, but i've noticed that it seems to be really hard to capture how great The Roots are as a live band on live recordings. I've never heard any live songs by them that were released that accurately displayed how amazing they are in person.

Serpdot - "Career Ender Vol. 1" 2012

Another hilariously dope album from the Machina Muerte camp. All kindsa crazy shit on here. I was dyin listening to the "Pink Lemonade" song from here the other day.

Ab-Soul -"Control System" 2012

This is similar to that Schoolboy Q album (possibly the same producers even), and just as enjoyable. I prefer listening to dudes that sound like this instead of Wiz Khalifa and Mac Miller, who are less lyrical to me. Not saying Ab-Soul and Schoolboy Q are lyrical geniuses, but they seem to be better at this than a lot of their counterparts. Ultimately the beats are what I listen to on albums nowadays anyways, and this album has got some good ones too.

Benga - "Icon" 2012

The title track of this single is just straight gross, syrupy pop music. I'm sure Beyonce fans will enjoy it. The B-Side is a Pixel Fist remix of "I Will Never Change".  Some dubstep-lite. Nothing memorable.

Melvins & Lustmord - "Pigs Of The Roman Empire" 2004

Relatively enjoyable collabo LP. Some of the more Lustmordy sounding songs I could do without, but this album is very solid.

Amon Tobin - "Box Set Disc 5: Isam Reinterpretations" 2012

This entire boxset has been really fun to listen to. This is the proper remix album for his newest full length. I will say that this might be my least favorite disc in the set though.

B. Dolan - "House Of Bees Vol. 2" 2012

I didn't think much of him when he first switched from poetry to rapping, but now that he's a little more seasoned as an MC, he's grown on me more. It seems like now that Sage Francis kinda fell by the wayside, B. Dolan and Sole have stepped up and provided me with music that gives me the same type of feelings as Sage's older stuff did, thankfully. Everyone needs to check out the song "Which Side Are You On?", one of the best rap songs i've heard in a hot minute. He's saying things that need to be said in today's society, which used to be a lot more common in rap back in the days, but nowadays it seems like more of a rarity to hear people do this.

Four Tet - "Jupiters" 2012

Gearing up for his new full length, which I think both of these tracks are included on. Kinda underwhelming, but only because I really wanted him to blow my mind and he didn't. Cool progressive dance stuff.

Strong Arm Steady & Statik Selektah - "Stereotype EP" 2012

6 song teaser EP for the full length coming out this fall. Statik Selektah is really hittin everyone with a lot of beats right now, and most of em sound good. He's giving Alchemist a run for his money within that style of rap production.

Melvins - "With Yo Heart Not Yo Hands" 1996

Little 3 song EP of some goofy songs by them. I had heard the "Anal Satan" song before in a DJ mix and didn't know where it came from.

High Rankin - "Breaking Hearts & Minds" 2012

What happened? I like a few of his older songs, but this whole EP is just noise pollution corny garbage.

Buckethead - "Captain EO's Voyage" 2010

Mostly laid back and normal sounding for him. Almost bluesy sounding at times, but not in a corny "white-blues" way. I like how most of his newer albums are all instrumental.

Louis C.K. - "Word- Live At Carnegie Hall" 2012

Can't wait for the show in October to hear the new stuff he's got.

Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - "Shame" 2012

Sometimes all it takes for me to see that a current "hot rapper of the moment" actually deserves some of his shine, is to hear them over actual good production. Madlib really hooked this up. Very Dilla-esque.

Melvins - "Tanx" 1991

7" release from the early 90's. The rip I got is pretty low quality, or maybe that's the way it is really. It's hard to tell if these are live songs or not with how distorted it is, but I think all three of these songs are from a show.

Dan Le Sac - "Space Between The Words" 2012

Don't know anything about him, but he seems like he's trying to be a jack of all trades electronic producer, and hasn't quite put in the time to be that diverse yet. I like his ambition though, and I like the various genres that this goes into without it seeming like a mixtape or something. It still rolls through as a cohesive LP.

Noah23 - "Pirate Utopias (77 Lost Scrolls)" 2012

Randomly saw a mediafire link download on Noah23's facebook page one day. This is a lot of songs to give away for free. It's a lot of freestyles and guest appearances from over the years,and I honestly don't know how far back this material dates. Some of it sounds pretty old. Noah is great on the mic, but you can tell in his old days he used to collaborate with a lot of people who were not on his level, probably just to get recording time at their houses or something. That is the only thing that brings any of these songs down. The straight internet nerdyness of some of the other rappers.

Girl Unit - "Club Rez" 2012

This EP didn't impress me too much outside of one track- "Double Take", which fits in nicely with the trap sound everyone loves right now.

I:Cube - "Cubo Edits" 2012

I like that this artist hasn't pigeonholed themself into a particular style yet. It's just some cool dance music of various styles, and definitely not boring.

Starkey - "Nucleus" 2012

I wasn't very impressed when I saw him live, and i'm also similarly not impressed with this EP.

Del McCoury & David Grisman - "Hardcore Bluegrass" 2012

This album is great, but the similarity from song to song wears thin when you listen to it straight through. Good for shuffling though. It's nice to have some quality bluegrass pop up now and again.

Jam City - "Classical Curves" 2012

This album sounds like half of the tracks are missing or something. I'm sure if I was a more advanced DJ, I could figure out how to run these songs over other songs and make it work as a good blend, but the sounds aren't that good either, so why would I bother. I'm not into it.

Doug Stanhope - "Something To Take The Edge Off" 2000

The guitarist playing behind him throughout this is kinda weird. It makes it seem like he wants to be Bill Hicks too much or something. It's funny that since then he's become better than Bill Hicks ever got, in my opinion. Some of the stuff on here is a little more crude than it needs to be, but he always gets a lot of laughs. This also contains his most downloaded track, a bit called "Bobbie Barnett" about a girl he had a fling with here in Minneapolis in the 90's.

I:Cube - "In Alpha EP" 2012

More techno-like than the other EP I heard. Still pretty fresh.

Buckethead - "It's Alive" 2011

This is one of his lively albums with lots of rippin solos and crazy edits. Love this one.

Buckethead - "Look Up There" 2011

Just 2 long jammy tracks. I prefer the first one, which is shorter, and kinda similar to his signature song "Nottingham Lace".

Amon Tobin - "Box Set Disc 6: Recent Excursions & Remixes" 2012

This is probably my 2nd favorite disc in the boxset, next to the "Monthly Joints" one.

Dimlite - "Abscission" 2012

I don't even know how to describe this because i'm not even sure what kinda music this is. When I first heard Dimlite, I thought of him as a crazy progressive electronic artist, but this new one is almost like an album by The Residents that has been rendered slightly more dancey. Pretty damn great.

August 2012 Hotlist Week 2

Aeroc - "Remixes" 2012

A EP's worth of cool remixes by or for Aeroc. Nice and chill.

Buckethead - "Best Regards" 2010

5 discs worth of these guys jamming out. Some of it is cool, but a lot of it is a bit much. This is my least favorite of his many releases from the past few years.

August 2012 Hotlist Week 1

Matthewdavid - "Jewelry" 2012

This EP is just stellar. The opening track, "Gold Rope" is probably my most listened to song this month. The way he flips The Rolling Stones "Miss You" sample is beyond impressive. I want to hear him do more beat scene oriented stuff like this, instead of his other more experimental noise based stuff.

Chelsea Grin - "Evolve" 2012

I'm not good with metal sub-genre categorizations, but these guys are semi-unique sounding to me, with their approach to the vocals. Nothing mind blowing, but it's a good listen. The standout track on here to me is called "Lilith".

NGUZUNGUZU - "Fact Mix 334" 2012

This mix is pretty damn fresh. They know how to get a dance floor moving while maintaining full credibility with people like me. Not an easy feat.

J Dilla - "Respect The Detroit Architect" 2012

Not sure exactly what the nature of this release is, but it's one of 3 new Dilla albums floating around out there right now. I already had about 1/3 of these songs already in my collection, but there is come cool shit on here I never heard before, or only heard in DJ sets before. Mostly rap songs and not instrumental stuff.

Todd Barry - "Super Crazy" 2012

I hadn't heard much of his stand-up before, but i'm liking it a lot. This is his new Comedy Central special. I like his super sarcastic observations. The Tom's of Maine bit on here had me crying laughing.

Louis C.K. - "Live At The Beacon Theater" 2012

The historic game-changing $5 download. In audio form. I love the bit about the kid in his daughter's class he hates.

The Gift Of Gab - "The Next Logical Progression" 2012

It's Gift Of Gab, so you know it's still good, but this album doesn't really hold a candle to his first solo album, or the first few Blackalicious albums. He's one of those artists that fell into the trap of making the greatest music of his career during the earlier part of it, and now he's not wack, or even really fallen off, but the new material just isn't as interesting in comparison.

Karriem Riggins - "Stones Throw Podcast #74: Karriem Riggins Produced That" 2012

Just like the title says. This mix is a good representation of how unappreciated this guy is as a producer. He has a bunch of classics under his belt, but is not even close to a household name.

Buckethead - "3 Foot Clearance" 2011

Just Buckethead, doing what he does, as usual. Pretty dope.

Mayday - "Take Me To Your Leader" 2012

Something new from Strange Music. This album kinda uses the Drake approach, where they want to appeal to people who like rap and pop, and try to give people the best of both worlds. I'm not really into it, but I feel like this album would go over well with people who like Yelawolf a lot.

Fiona Apple - "The Idler Wheel" 2012

I don't know why i'm so surprised at how good this album is. At this point I should just realize that the stuff she puts out is going to be pure gold no matter what. Maybe it's the long lengths of time in between albums that makes me wonder about quality of new stuff, I don't know. Her older woman voice is really amazing, and I actually prefer it to her younger voice from the first couple albums. I'm sure this will be a contender for album of the year at the end of the year.

Amon Tobin - "Box Set Disc 4: Rarities" 2012

I don't like this one as much as some of the other discs in this box set, but it's still got a few great songs.

Mobius Band - "City vs. Country EP" 2005

Something old I got from my Ghostly International subscription. Pretty lame sounding rock music, in my opinion.

Gojira - "L'enfant Sauvage" 2012

Seems more mainstream sounding than their older stuff, but not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes it's OK to try and be slightly more palatable to the 93X crowd, as long as you don't let the music actually suffer because of it. Definitely a strong new metal release.

"Fake Four Record Sampler Volume 4" 2012

Collection of a lot of the new and upcoming singles from what has become more or less the premier indie rap label. It's not all hip hop though. There's stuff like Child Actor, which is like some avant-pop type stuff, and also Gregory Pepper, who is a weird Why?-like artist. Even a lot of the "rappers" on the label are making stuff that barely resembles rap sometimes, like Busdriver or Ceschi. They definitely are THE label to watch for nowadays. They always keep you on your toes.

Louis C.K. - "Hilarious" 2011

Can't get enough Louie.

Melvins - "Lysol" 1992

Brushing up on my Melvins again, now that I know that i'm going to the Grumpy's show in September. This album really isn't too memorable in the grand scheme of their career for me, but it still rocks.