Beat Tape: Lokid- Oldies & Cakes

Here is an old beat tape I came across from French producer Lokid from 2008. A lot of versatile loops and cuts all from the low, low price of $free.99.


Download: Lokid- Oldies & Cakes

Video: Black Milk- Album of the Year Trailer

He murdered it in 2008 with Tronic-- can he do it again? On another note, I think I know where BM got his name from: the incredible track from Massive Attack's 1998 album Mezzanine. Confirmation?

MP3 Download: Sulaiman- Stay Cool

Chi Town MC Sulaiman drops off a fresh new summer track to stay cool with. Be on the look out for his upcoming record, We're Just Disappointed, with fellow Brainiac Society MC Vic Spencer coming at you very soon.


Download: Sulaiman- Stay Cool (Prod. Raw Stiles)

Video/MP3 Download: Black Spade- I Heart ft. Simeon & Vic Spencer

"i Heart" Black Spade from Drew Jordan on Vimeo.

I'm not too familiar with the versatile musician out of St. Louis known as Black Spade (other than the infamous Chuck Hamilton beat stealing debacle), but now I am all ears.

I Heart is a track off his upcoming mix tape, Build & Destroy, presented by The Smoking Section, Union LA, and Trackstar the DJ. The track features a nicely flipped Beatles sample, as well as vocal assistance from Simeon of The Primeridian and Vic Spencer.

Video above, download below.

Download: Black Spade- I Heart ft. Simeon and Vic Spencer

Sahtyre- Friday Raps (Week 1 & 2)

Sahtyre. Swim Team. Los Angeles. Recognize.

MP3 Download: Incise- Paving the Way ft. Okay City, Shad K and David Morin

In 2008 Canadian producer Incise came out of nowhere to share his debut record Nobody's Story, which featured numerous guest spots from Tunji, Muneshine, The 49ers, Don Cerino, and spotlighted his dreamy, feel good production talents that was then unknown. This year Incise brings us Daily Methods, which features almost the exact same cast, but a more polished and put together end product. This boast is proven in one track (my personal favorite) called Paving the Way-- an infectious tropical banger to blast on your next boat trip through the jungle.


Daily Methods (Goontrax) is currently only available in Japan, but keep your eyes peeled for a US release.


Download: Incise- Paving the Way ft. Okay City, Shad K and David Morin

MP3 Downloads: Raujika & Cradle Orchestra- The World Outside In ft. Othello (Remix) + City of Twilight

Jay love Japan and so does Ryan.

Over the years I have shouted from the hilltops numerous times just how much I love the jazzy hip hop instrumentals and collaborations making their way out of the land of the rising sun each year. After finding a new world of sounds through Nujabes, I continued to absorb beautiful compositions from Mabanua, Shingo Suzuki, Cradle Orchestra, Samon Kawamura, and many more-- each with their own style and twist on jazz laced hip hop, but all share a pristine sense of how to compose a serene and, well, beautiful hip hop track.

How many times have you said "that was a beautiful hip hop track" in your lifetime?

Composer/Violinist Raujika made me say that once again with the smooth remix of Cradle Orchestra's collaboration with one of my favorite American MC's, Othello, in The World Outside In. This track is featured on Raujika's debut record, Fairy Tale; a dreamy japanese record full of glistening classical compositions wrapped in boom baps. The record is available on iTunes and various Japanese online retailers now via Pallete Sounds.

Here is the Othello track and a bonus instrumental track from the record below.



Download: Cradle Orchestra- The World Outside In ft. Othello (Raujika Remix)


Download: Raujika- City of Twilight

Free MP3 Downloads: BLEE- The Beyond Here ft. Othello + Everything I Do ft. Substantial

Fresh off the release of his 2009 debut record, Solution, South Korean born producer BLEE connects with some familiar friends-- Othello, Substantial, Supastition, Mainflow, Wise Intelligent, and more-- to bring us an exciting new album full of sporadic jazzy collaborations and instrumental interludes entitled Cosmos Road.

It's obvious who BLEE connects best with (Supastition, Substantial, and Othello) and the obvious  disconnection with the other artists make the record sound confused and out of place at times. Despite the haphazard feel to the album, BLEE continues to grind and provides us jazz heads another cool collection of conscious candy to ride to in 2010. You can't go wrong with these four below.


Download: BLEE- The Beyond Here ft. Othello


Download: BLEE- Everything I Do ft. Substantial


Download: BLEE- Figured Out ft. Wise Intelligent & Othello


Download: BLEE- Speaking from the Heart ft. Supastition (Remix)

Big Bang Big Boom

BIG BANG BIG BOOM - the new wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Big Bag Big Boom is the latest video to be released by the ridiculously amazing street painting crew Blu. Their explanation for the project is as follows: “an unscientific point of view on the beginning and evolution of life … and how it could probably end.”

Incredible.

Free Beat Tape Download: Dela- The Robert Glasper Beat Tape

I just flipped my late pass on your desk so I could share this fresh Robert Glasper influenced beat tape I missed while on hiatus.

French hip hop producer, Dela, who had every jazz-hop fanatic on the internet going nuts with his flawless Atmosphere Airlines series, has compiled a beat tape beautifully sprinkled with a mix of trickling ivory from the hands of Blue Note jazz pianist Robert Glasper and dreamy drums and samples from Dela. Sometimes sad, sometimes summery, but always crisp.

Dela continues his quest to make the hip hop world just feel good-- and executes once again.

Download: Dela- The Robert Glasper Beat Tape

MP3 Download: Carnage 45- Don't Phase Me

Got to show some Virginia love. Here is a new video and track from Norfolk, VA MC Carnage 45, who recently released a free album, Test of Time, which you can download by clicking here.




Download: Carnage 45- Don't Phase Me

Punch Brothers- You Are + Alex

Who knew that a small hiatus from hip hop would swerve me into the progressive bluegrass lane?

I was frightened at first. Like Pinnochio and Lampwick turning into donkeys after drinking, gambling, and smoking in Pleasure Island, I thought my debauchery back home was turning me into a flat out jug blowing (pause) redneck. Turns out that some of this stuff is just flat out good!

After a few months full of Old Crow Medicine Show, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Phish, and The Devil Makes Three, I have heard a wide range of bluegrass/alt-country music, all which led me to an amazing "prog-grass" band, Punch Brothers. Led by lead vocalist and mandolin player, Chris Tile, Punch Brothers mix fleeting bluegrass instrumentation with buttery folk vocals.

Antifogmatic, the Punch Brothers latest 10-track album (released June 15th) named after a type of 19th-century alcoholic drink that was meant as a cure for the effects of fog and other inclement weather, serves as a fantastic introduction to the band's schizophrenic style and infectious compositions. Below are just a few of my favorite tracks from the record (there are many), as well as a live performance of one of their spoon-to-knee slappers, "Rye Whiskey." The album is highly recommended.





Download: Punch Brothers- You Are


Download: Punch Brothers- Alex

Film Review: Ken Park (2002)

Plot: The film begins with the public suicide of Ken Park at a local skateboarding park. The film features four friends: Shawn, Tate, Peaches, and Claude. It covers their interactions with their families (or lack thereof), and their friends in a dysfunctional society. The film depicts controversial topics such as sexuality, sexual experimentation, incest, teenage suicide and, to a lesser extent, murder.

The title "Ken Park" does not refer to a location, but rather to a character in the film, whose death is used as a plot device at the end of the film. Although never directly stated, Ken Park appears to be set over several days, spanning Friday to Sunday. The plot of Ken Park is non-linear, and often switches between different characters over this time period.

Review: If you have seen director Larry Clark's critically acclaimed 1995 film KIDS, then you are already familiar with his raw style, lurid atmospheres, and highly provocative content.

You ain't seen nothing yet.

From scene one and on, Larry shoves small town dysfunction, violence, and adolescent sexuality so far up your throat it gets stuck inside your mind and crawls through your thoughts hours after the ending credits climb up the black. Ken Park skates through the veins of a taboo suburban world and exposes an unyielding community full of mental instability and sexual deviation. The colorless lives of the film's characters are captured perfectly by Clark's signature use of 35mm film, which gives achromatic visuals to an achromatic upbringing.

Much like KIDS, Ken Park's characters lure you in and play with your emotions; however, one character, the sociopathic demon spawn of American Psycho's Patrick Bateman, Tate, takes the entire film and flips it on its head. Despite a great performance by James Ransone, Tate's character sucks the raw reality of the film and replaces it with splashes of over the top socio-circus shock. I can believe his character, but sense Tate was taken a little too far for the sake of shock and awe.

Visually, Larry Clark (a director and photographer that Martin Scorsese admits to being influenced by) knocks it out of the skate park, but Tate's antics mixed with vividly uncomfortable "child" pornography and unnecessary cock closeups (the pissing scene with Claude's father) take away a lot of the film's power.

Great Performances From: Wade Williams (Claude's Father), Julio Oscar Mochoso (Peaches' Father) and James Ransone (Tate).

Recommended to: KIDS fans, skaters, and people that want their eyes to bug out.

Rating: 82/100

Thaione Davis- Quality Control Video

What would be one of the most overlooked records of 2009? Easy-- Thaione Davis' Still Hear; proof that  breezy jazz laced street conscious hip hop blows strongest within the alleys of Chicago, Illinois.

"Quality Control" is the second single from his upcoming album, GOODENOUGH, which I don't have the official release date for at the moment. You can purchase the Quality Control digital 12" through his bandcamp page. 

BigBuffalo Import

I decided to import an old blog I was doing before I went on a small 'internet hiatus'. BigBuffaloLarge now grazes the Whiskey Teeth fields. More downloads and stuff to click on if you're ever bored and want to reminisce.