I ain't into rappin' you know. The whole ghetto/gangsta shit is just ridiculous and I ain't buyin' it. It was ok like 20 years ago, now it's just stupid. Well no need to be a rocket scientist to get this type of music if you get my drift. Enough with this ghetto language here's a selection of six videos that some of you might find interesting.
First vid is for a non-talented guy with a bunch of talented friends (well Bon Iver beats them all but he's not in the clip; guess his talent will overshadow the rest). Kanye West's brand new video "Monster" is... monstrous. For the first time I think Nicki Minaj looks cute and her part is probably the best one in the clip.
Second vid is by a hip-hop duo I know nothing about. Their video is hot and steamy and I can watch it on replay 24/7 thanks to the chicka in it. The song's good but who cares when you got a naked chick dancin' around. Just FYI this clip is NSFW.
Third video is from a guy I think is overrated. Not that he's bad or anything. It's just that he ain't so fresh nor so special. Dig a little deeper and you'll find lots of kids that can rap better than him. I think he relies too much on imagery, always tryin' to be shokin'. Well his newest clip ain't shocking, kinda boring though.
Fourth video is from that Day 'N' Nite kid. Well this clip comes as a no surprise as this shit is way too common among rappers. Kid Cudi joins the big family of chronic blunt smokers such as Snoop, B Real, Jadakiss, Wiz Khalifa and LOTS more who simply show the whole world the meaning of life as they know it. Gonna pass on the song but the vid is fun.
Fifth vid is by Vast Aire. He's big like for real. Member of the legendary Cannibal Ox. Got new album and already released two singles that are dope. Every mc can learn a thing or two from him. Absolutely brilliant. Song's the proof. Check it!
Sixth and final video is from Kidz In The Hall. Two kids from Chi Town. Signed to Duck Down but were relatively unknown despite some good tunes released over the years. They got a new one. Still catchy with some fine ladies hangin' around. KITH why did you put semi-nude women in your vid? Break it down for me, will ya?
Kanye West - "Monster" ft. Rick Ross, Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj, Bon Iver
I'm going to be taking the weekend off because I'm exhausted and there is some utter stupidity going on in my corner of the world. That said, bright spot might be the arrival of my vinyl copy of the new J. Rocc record tomorrow, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that priority mail gets it here as promised. Too bad my bank can't make such promises. Ever had them promise to send you a new debit card when your old one was about to expire only to have it never arrive? I called and they told me there was plenty of time, only to later tell me that was a mistake and now they'd have to deactivate my card early so a new one could be issued. Generally speaking I don't bitch too much about my bank, but I know I'm not the only one who lives day to day on the ability to use their debit card.
Anyway, my crappy attitude and shitty worldview aside, I've gotten a lot of e-mails from people recently about interesting music that is either being made available for free or can be checked out prior to purchase and I wanted to let you guys know about some of it.
Eskimeaux - Two Mountains
I got an e-mail from Gabrielle Smith telling me about her band's new album which is available for free download via their bandcamp page. Eskimeaux's sound is trippy bedroom folk/pop and has a haunting quality to it, what with the dreamy vocals and beautiful instrumentation. It reminds me a bit of Twin Peaks, albeit in a different way. It's hard to describe properly but it's not as haunting in the same way as Badalamenti, Lynch and Cruise's works are, rather there is a peaceful nature throughout the music, but there is something dark about it too, hiding behind the beauty.
Hit Eskimeaux'sbandcamp page and download the album or listen to it on their soundcloud page. They also have an official site which you can visit here. Very cool stuff!
I also received an e-mail from a fellow named Owen Dennis that gave me a link to his soundcloud page where he has an album streaming from his group/project, Galactaron. It's pretty cool stuff, filled with lots of synths and vocodered vocals. There is a story running throughout about aliens that come to earth and meet a young lady with whom they collaborate. Actually, the young lady's vocals are probably the least interesting part of the album to me, reminding me of an overly mellow Nancy Whang from LCD Soundsystem and The Juan MacLean, although her vocals are pleasant nonetheless. On the other hand, the vocodered alien vocals are trippy in the way that older electro-themed records (think Neil Young'sTrans) often sound, although the overall vibe is less "run you over with my jet cruiser" and more "let's explore this wonderous universe". I'm feeling this and I think a lot of you will as well, so check out Galactaron'ssoundcloud page and if you like what you hear you can purchase the album on iTunes. You should also check out Owen's site which has more images from the album. He's teaching English in China right now which is very cool! I'm sure he'd appreciate any support you can give him, especially financially.
If you haven't heard about The Weeknd yet, don't worry, I'm sure you'll feel overwhelmed soon enough. That said, it's worth going overboard about these guys because the album is great! It's been a pretty well kept secret until recently who the people involved were, but now the identities of vocalist Abel Tesfaye and producers Doc McKinney and Illangelo have been revealed. You might know Doc better for producing the dark and dreamy grooves of Esthero'sBreath From Another, and it shows here with he and Illangelo creating a sexy, druggy mood for Abel's wonderful vocals. Massive Attack and Sade are easy comparisons, though the mood here seems to get darker throughout. I don't want to say the whole record is a slam dunk but I'm sure you'll find yourself fully enamored by The Weeknd's charms.
House Of Balloons is available for free download via The Weeknd's official site, so go and grab it. I'm sure someone is trying to snap these guys up for some major label as I write this.
Mondo Vanilli, aka MV Inc., is the long-abandoned band that R.U. Sirius, of Mondo 2000 fame, formed in the mid-nineties and recorded an album for Trent Reznor's Nothing Records. Due to a number of unspecified issues, despite Nothing/Interscope providing full funding for the recording of the album, no contract was signed and the album remained unreleased. At some point, Sirius decided to put the album up for free download on one of his sites, but that was a long time ago and the links have gone cold. I've wanted to hear the full album for a long time and still haven't had the chance to do so, which is kind of incredible since things never seem to fully disappear on the net, though two tracks from the album have been placed on Mondo Vanilli'sbandcamp page which can be downloaded for free. This stuff is kind of dated sounding but it's still quite cool, so check it out and wonder what was going on. And if anyone reading this has the full album, drop me a line as I'd LOVE TO HEAR IT!
I'm sure everyone has heard about Tyler and the Odd Future crew by now, but I'm surprised how many people haven't heard this album yet. Of course, it doesn't help that Tyler's download links seem to go down regularly and the Odd Future site uses limelinx as their link provider. That said, since the album is free I didn't think it would hurt to throw this up for download. And yes, I know, it's kinda violent and Tyler says a lot of things that will make your mother cringe, but it's legitimately good music and we should all expect great things from the Odd Future crew. Visit their site and get more goodness!
More Odd Future stuff that isn't available from their site for some reason. This is probably going to be getting a physical release at some point so I'll be deleting this when that happens, though get it now because it's frickin' insane! Hell is the track!
Self - Could You Love Me Now?
This ISN'T free at all, but it's great and it means Matt Mahaffey is back! You buy this track at Amazon but check it out first and tell me you're not diggin' it! Seriously, this is great stuff!
