Category archive: Audio

On his second major release as a solo artist, Black Milk shows tremendous growth as a producer, adopting more live instrumentation and introducing more complex arrangement than his previous sample-heavy work. He also shows marked improvement as an emcee, and carries most of the album himself with only three guest verses on the entire album (from emcee royalty Pharoahe Monch, Royce Da 5’9″, and Sean Price). Not even two years removed from his breakthrough release “Popular Demand,” Black Milk proves on Tronic that not only is he growing as an artist, but that Hip Hop music as a genre still has room to grow. PRE ORDER the album on Fatbeats. Thanks to Kicksnare.

Your are invited for Black Milk’s online album listening party.

After Simbad’s first album Supersonic Revelation, he’s back with a new project called TettoryBad (aka Simbad, Grooveman Spot & Tettory BLK).  If you didn’t hear any music from Simbad before, we suggest you to go dig for “Soul Fever”.  The new album entitled Unite was released on Jazzy Sport.

Tettorybad – Unite

Tettorybad –  Somewhere far

Clutch of the Tiger sounds like a collection of film-noir tracks run through the Clutchy Hopkins and Shawn Lee magical music machine. It’s dusty and mysterious junkyard jazz that’s powered by sly beats and other-worldly funk. Famous comic book creator Jim Mahfood (who has worked on Spiderman/Marvel, Clerks, Grrl Scouts, Stupid Comics, among others) liked the tunes so much he provided the killer artwork for the package! FYI – Inside the album is a hidden code that gives customers a deal on limited edition prints of the Mahfood artwork, available exclusively from the Ubiquity website. To buy or read more click here.

Shawn Lee & Clutchy Hopkins – Dollar Short

We’ve been waiting a while for this album “The Beauty Created” from NY based rising star Jesse Boykins III. The album will be released on november 11th and will be the follow up to Dopamine: Life On My Back. Which was one of the most slept on soul albums this year. If you are into the sound of Moovmnt’s favorite male vocalists like Eric Roberson, W.Ellington Felton, Dwele, OliverDaySoul, Bilal, Bilal Salaam, Anthony David you definetely have to check out JBIII. Watch these videos from JBIII & The Beauty Created.

Jesse Boykins III – Amorous

Jesse Boykins III – Pantyhose (Unmastered)

After releasing both his guest-filled production album, Dirty Science, and his critically acclaimed full-length collaboration with Blu, Below The Heavens, within a year of each other – as well as landing major label placements with Mobb Deep & 50 Cent (”Pearly Gates”), Jurassic 5 (”Baby Please”), and Kardinal Offishall & Akon (”Graveyard Shift”) – it seems as though Exile has been taking some time off since 2007. But looks can be deceiving, as Ex has merely been locked up in the lab, experimenting and plotting another onslaught of releases for 2009. Projects already on the agenda include a full-length albums with rising talent, Fashawn, a handful of tracks on the latest from longtime collaborator, Blame One, a solo MC effort from Ex, and there have even been talks of an album with underground favorite, Shawn Jackson. But before any of those – there is this: Radio.

A sampling experiment gone right, Radio quickly turned into a passion project for Exile – one that has already taken years in the making. Rarely one to take the expected path, Ex decided to flip the script a bit and instead of doing the typical instrumental album, challenged himself to only sampling sounds taken from his local L.A. radio waves to make his beats & statements with. The result is a sonic collage of crisp drums, static feedback, talking samples, and sounds from a wide array of genres – all filtered through Exile’s signature seamlessly chopped-up, tempo-switching style, and composed to convey succint life messages to the audience.

For the unveiling of this new project, Exile was kind enough to bless me with a few tracks from the forthcoming album, which I’ll be spreading out between now and the album’s release on January 20th. So to start it off, here’s a free download of “In Love,” a track which most people have been trying to hunt down ever since Ex first debuted at the Red Bull Music Academy in Barcelona a few weeks ago. A few quality low-quality rips from the video have surfaced, but this is the official, full-length, mastered version – available here for the first time anywhere. One of the easier-to-place selections from Exile’s radio waves palette, the main samples of “In Love” consist of re-arranged quotes from a fundraiser on Carlos Nino’s Spaceways radio show on KPFK, matched with chops of a Dwight Trible song from the same broadcast.

And per usual, stick around after the jump, where I’ve provided three personal highlights from some of Exile’s lesser known instrumental works, taken from various compilations. More Radio leaks, single announcement and cover art (peace to Wuzz> and Lyle Owerko for the above art) are all coming here soon, so stay tuned. Re-posted from Kenny Fresh…Freshclusive on FreshSelects.net.

Exile – In Love

[audio:http://www.moovmnt.com/download3/Exile_-_In_Love_Freshselects.net.mp3]

Appletree producers Beau Love, Louis Bordeaux and Sotu the Traveller embarked on a journey to southern France. On Beau Love’s initiative the three beat conductors packed a van full with all the equipment needed to conduct some massive beat making. Along with sound engineer Elio “Delta Beats” Debets and Appletree CEOs they set off to the scenic village of Esclauzels. Arriving at the picturesque cottage, with a great view of nature’s finest work, Esclauzels was the perfect scene for a week filled with, relaxation, creativity, joy, inspiration and jamming.

The three producers got back to basic in the improvised studio, built on the spot with Elio. There, on the in the mountains of Midi-Pyrenees, for the first time ever Beau Love, Louis Bordeaux and Sotu the Traveller started making music together.

The beautiful nature surroundings, fun, good French wine and food, long nights, philosophizing, jamming and spending a week with people you don’t know too well and getting to know them better, are all ingredients for a diversified, palette of musical beats.

The fruit of this labour is called Pêche Noire and is released as a free download in October 2008. New Orleans based designer Nessim Higson was kind enough to create the artwork for this release.

The Pêche Noire project displays how 3 producers with various styles can come together and create a consistent homogeneous album. Yet, still compliment the individual producers strong aspects and leave room for each one of them to shine. It consists of some out takes from late-night jam sessions, tracks made together, some solo joints, and even a magical 15 minute jam!

The first encounter the general public had with the musical abilities of Pêche Noire was: ‘Loopwheeler‘. Inspired by Nike and Loopwheeler, beat collective Pêche Noire held a studio session in dedication to the craftmanship of how the Nike AW77 sweater is made by the Loopwheeler company in Japan. In Elio “Delta Beats” studio they relived the chemistry they had in Esclauzels and with Japanese samples and drums, the Dutch beatmakers created a musical piece.

Pêche Noire – Cacahuete 

Featuring J.Rocc. Madlib’s 5 & 6th volumes of Beat Konducta are his & J.Rocc’s tribute to J Dilla.

Advance digital sale on this week.
Vinyl release date is in December.
Vol. 5-6 CD released in early 2009.

01. Dill Withers Theme
02. First Class (The Best Catalogue)
03. Lifetime (Lifeline)
04. The Electric Zone (Plugged In)
05. So Much (Music)
06. Smoked Out (Green Blaze Subliminal Sounds)
07. Another Bag of Bomb (No Seeds)
08. All Love (The Movement)
09. Detroit Playaz (Gator Walk)
10. Blast (Computer Rock)
11. J.B. And J.D. (Interlude)
12. Never Front (Ears Up)
13. Dillalade Ride (Contact High)
14. Suffer (Concentration)
15. Show Me The Good Life (Chip Stack)
16. Slapped Up (Snap N’ Clap)
17. Another Batch (Play It Again)
18. Full Figure Pockets (Pay Jay)
19. Smoke Interlude (Hawaiian Punch)
20. The Sky (Beyond Sight)

Madlib – Dillalade Ride (Contact High)

buy the album in the Stonesthrow Store..

Mentored by Giles Peterson, the six member Berlin-based DJ collective Jazzanova has created a compelling fusion of musical genres on their 2008 studio album, Of All The Things. Jazzanova has built a strong and loyal following among DJs, musicians, and music fans around the globe. They have leant their talents to a diverse roster of artists including Lenny Kravitz, Common, Azymuth, and Calexico. Jazzanova set out to compose an album that is interconnected, composing each track, recording live vocals and instrumentals, selecting and creating samples from tracks already created for this album. Featured vocalists include Leon Ware, Dwele, Phonte, Paul Randolph, Ben Westbeech, Jose James, and more. Release date: 21 October. Pre-Order here.

Jazzanova – Look What You’re Doin To Me Feat. Phonte

Jazzanova – Let Me Show Ya Feat. Paul Randolph (Snippet)

After the release of The Big Payback with Byron, Tribute EP with Pretzal and “Chinoiseries” French/Vietnamese beatmaker Onra released his second solo album entitled “1.0.8“. Onra whose distinctive style is known for soulfull hiphop with Asian samples, as well as non quantized drum patterns, shows his variety of styles on this new album. “1.0.8” contains 19 short beats, but shouldn’t be seen as just another Beattape. Buy “1.0.8” here.

Keep an eye out for Onra’s All City Beatstrumental series.

Onra – Super Genesis Feat Hazel

Onra – Dreams

Reefer is Nick Thorburn (Islands, The Unicorns, Human Highway) and Los Angeles-based hip-hop producer/engineer Daddy Kev (Busdriver, Freestyle Fellowship, Awol One). Mutual admirers of each other’s work, the two developed a close friendship over the years after being introduced by avant-rapper Giovanni Marks (Subtitle). The idea to create a record together was hatched at SXSW party a few years back where Nick and Kev decided they should take their disparate music backgrounds and create something in an environment much different than their normal lives in Montreal and Los Angeles, respectively. Quite possibly a drunken agreement — as Nick was ejected that evening from the venue for sneaking in booze — they still followed through on their brilliant idea and isolated themselves on the Hawaiian island of Maui to create their vision.

Thorburn has been no stranger to drawing inspiration from hip-hop, as evidenced in much of the work of Islands and especially in the post-Unicorns rap project Th’ Corn Gangg. Differing from MCs rhyming over the eclectic arrangements of Islands, Reefer is Nick crafting his darkly tinted pop over the foundation of Kev’s sweeping, smooth beats crafted from tropical samples with flourishes of steel guitar and ukelele.

Their self-titled mini album (previously entitled The Life Narcotic) contains six sun-dripped songs and three interludes, plus remixes from Dntel and Flying Lotus. The album was composed on the Maui coastline in Makena, and was finished soon after in Los Angeles at Daddy Kev’s studio, the Echo Chamber. Reefer is very much influenced by the beautiful tropical surroundings, the sounds of the ocean, and being far away from their regular daily routines. Not predictably sunny in tone, the minor-key arrangements and Thorburn’s playful wordplay conjures up images of something more sinister than cheeseburgers in paradise. Kev’s subtle, controlled production fits each songs mood nicely and draws from Hawaiian pop influences. Initially considered to be a one-off project, Reefer hopes to make another album when they meet again in a new exotic tropical location.

Reefer – Let it Go (Flying Lotus Remix)