Sunday, August 30, 2009

Blu's Endeavors...

Lately I've been wondering what's going on with Blu, who as an artist definitely resides on "Ben's top ten favorite rappers list". After finally taking the time to do a little internet searching, I have discovered that he has been quite busy collaborating on some Dyelon-6-records-at-a-time ish. Here's the scoop:

He did an album with Ta'Raach, as C.R.A.C. Knuckles (pronounced Crass) entitled The Piece Talks -- and although I like Ta'Raach's voice and his Detroit heavy Dilla-esque style, some of the beats on this project are a little repetitive, and combined with some bad interludes, the whole thing seemed kind of rushed to me. There are some stand-outs...and if you are a fan, it's worth a listen for sure.



Another project is the group Johnson & Jonson, comprised of Blu and producer Mainframe. I just got the album, but as of right now have only heard a few tracks from their Myspace page, and I am really feeling it. The samples of old soul records seem to better compliment the maturity and depth of Blu's lyrics.





Make sure you support Blu and his many endeavors...buy the records on iTunes, go see the shows when they come through, and let your people know what time it is. He has a new solo EP out called "No Sleep For A Day" but it sounds like him experimenting with an MPC for about 10 minutes with the same samples and sounds...and he also put out an EP last year with Sene called "BeSene" -- I'm saying! If you are unfamiliar, check my previous post showcasing some of Blu's older work HERE.

Lazy Sunday grooves...



Friday, August 28, 2009

Set it free...

Only you can break the chains holding you captive in your own mind...



...stop the suffering.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Coming with that soul...

Leave it to Maxwell...showing some range on this one, too. Using more of his low voice than the usual falsetto where you can barely understand the words. I love how the beat starts out real simple with the MPC clap, and then turns into a thick live drum beat, with the rolling hats and the tight snare and kick variations. Nice track...and excellent work Maxwell.

You can click the picture below to check it on Youtube, but I felt like the soul came across more without the video, so I embedded the uncut version from Grooveshark:



Notice how it starts out a lot like "This Woman's Work," which is another classic of his...

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Water and a flame...



The new album by Daniel Merriweather is actually pretty decent. There are a few skippers, but I love soul singers with some pain in their voice. If anything, it was the song selection - a little sleepy-time, some poor choices. I personally wanted to hear more of those funky upbeat soul jams, but I'm sure the album will grow on me if I give it chance.

Anyway, he's doin' his thing for sure. Currently residing in Manhattan, originally from Melbourne, Australia, dude is a perfect match to rock this duet with UK born "blue-eyed soul" sensation Adele (see previous post about her HERE). Nice ballad, check it out below.



Check out Adele TV, her site. She's one of the greats.

This track with Wale is an example of the upbeat side of the album, which was unfortunately limited:

Remembering ATL underground...

...reminiscing on a lazy Sunday. Without a doubt, some of the greatest in ATL underground music, ever. These guys were around during the same time LOA was doing our thing. Peace to all the true-school heads out there.

The Hemisphere:
Much love to U-George...

Unfortunately, couldn't find any media to embed, but check them out on Myspace, some dope artists...



Scienz of Life:
Peace to John Robinson aka Lil Sci...



MassInfluence:
Peace to the one and only H2O aka Kid Captain Coolout...


Friday, August 21, 2009

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Flamenco Chill...

Chambao is a flamenco-electronica group from Málaga, Spain. It's like a cross between Gipsy Kings and Sweetback. She has a cool voice, and they make pretty chill, laid-back music to help pass the work day.




Chambao's Official Website

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Pics from our left coast getaway...

In case you're interested, here are a million pictures from our trip to San Fran and northern Cali. The first few have captions explaining where it is, but I haven't gotten around to filling in the rest (and clearing out all of the bad ones). I always take way too many pictures, so that at least a few will come out alright, then I end up liking something about all of them, so I have a hard time deleting them...(nerd)

San Fran Part 1

This second batch here was basically the last day, when we conquered Haight St., Twin Peaks, a ferry ride around the bay AND an evening chillin' in the Mission with my homie Hudson and his beautiful lady, Carter (who we just happened to bump into on the Bart on our last day in the city...crazy story, will delve into more detail later). I am still planning to write a few posts/stories to accompany the pics, but until then, these images should suffice. Peace and harmoniousness.

San Fran Part 2

Monday, August 10, 2009

Relaxin' in the mountains...

I just returned from my annual escape to the Blue Ridge Mountains with the extended fam. We've dubbed it the BooMan Reunion, since celebrating the life of Mike D is the driving force behind our excursion (BooMan is what Mark D calls him). As usual, it was beautiful getting to reminisce with everyone, and truly amazing to see how much all the kids have grown already. Check out little JT, chillin' with the toy guitar.



"Autumn leaves must fall down, growing old..."



We went up a day early this time, so we got to go rafting on the Ocoee with Mark D on Friday afternoon, and then still had a whole weekend to feast and catch up.



In between heavy drinking and a non-stop Cornhole tournament, there was continuous gorging on delicious Houston's grub (thanks Kim!!)... I'm talking everything from fillet Mignon burgers and steak, smoked salmon with dill sauce, tuna steak, veggie burgers with the soy glaze -- ouch, I'm hurting myself just thinking about it. I think I'll need to fast for the next two weeks to clear all the meat out of my system. Sorry if I've offended any vegans or vegetarians, but that shit was absolutely carnivorously delicious!!

One of my favorite moments was the 2 hour freestyle session with Steck and Tadpole (the original emcees for Live On Arrival) while everyone else went hiking or to the lake with the kids. Already looking forward to the next BooMan Reunion...



And don't think I'm sleeping on the San Fran posts, just trying to collect my pics and thoughts on that one...

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Quotes of the day...



"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity."

-- Frank Leahy

Monday, August 3, 2009

Greyboy the Allstar...

Something about that Conspirator song by Quantic Soul Orchestra reminded me of this Greyboy track...



If you haven't heard of him, he is a really talented acid-jazz/hip-hop DJ/producer from San Diego, who has been an influence of mine since 1993. He has a great ear, and his music opened my mind to different ways to layer live instrumentation on programmed drum beats. Look him up, and learn about The Greyboy Allstars. Super funktastic shit...

Here's a couple more tunes from that same Greyboy album, Mastered The Art, which is one of his most recent...



Sometimes he enlisted an MC or two, not the greatest or worst I've heard...love the beat...kind of wish it was an instrumental so I could really enjoy it, though.

Quantic Soul Vibes...

Discovered this producer named Quantic today at work while using up 8 of our freshly renewed Pandora hours...

(I knew it wouldn't be free for long, now they only offer 40 hours a MONTH, then you have to pay or upgrade your account. Laaaaame... I've slowly been trying to build a catalog on Grooveshark, which is cool but you have to work it, make your own playlists, delete the duplicates and incorrect files people uploaded. The good thing is you can listen to song after song of one artist at a time, and it even lists similar songs if you look closely at the track details...but since it is not a radio, nor intuitive like Pandora, it hasn't really been helpful in discovering new artists. You kind of have to know what you are looking for... Slacker Personal Radio is another alternative, more along the lines of Pandora, but I just couldn't stand the ads, they pop-up every couple songs, sometimes two in a row.)

Anyway, on to the actual inspiration for the post...the song I happened to hear on Pandora was by The Quantic Soul Orchestra called "Conspirator (Main Theme)". Here is a tubed version:



Here is an instrumental by Quantic, aka Will Holland:



...and a song featuring Alice Russell (see previous post about her HERE).

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Back from San Fran...

What an incredible experience...while I gather my thoughts and organize my photos to share with you I just wanted to express my gratitude to all of the people that reached out to help us plan our brief but fascinating excursion to the left coast, we could not have done it without you...James and Kaitlin, Angelo, Austin, Hudson and Carter, Solon, Nancy-Kate, my mom, pops and Judy, Carlton and Kari, TK, Nicholas, Eli, Max, everyone I forgot to mention, and every kind soul that we came across while floating through that beautiful city. Thanks for everything!



We'll be back...
Find out what motivates, captivates and rejuvenates me on my never-ending quest for knowledge and art.
Peace, fam, thanks for checkin' in...