Here is a short EP that was just released on the blog High End Heathens. It was created by one of the contributors there, Rimar. As a blogger you get these things in the mail not really knowing what to expect. That was the case with Rimar. But I downloaded the EP and pressed play and I was totally swept away.
On these tracks, Rimar shows off his prowess as master beat maker. His use of samples and looping is what sets these tracks apart for me. Drawing on all kinds of music, Rimar extracts some smooth jazz, tropical, lounge music, hip hop, and exotica here. Bending each sample to his will, he sews together these tracks that will bore themselves deep inside your brain. And there they will stay.
Really though, the EP is definitely worth getting. You can snag it for free on the blog.
Keyboards is Drunk is hands down one of my favorite blogs. Now they do not update it very often, but when they do I find myself expecting two things. First of all, the music is more often than not brand new to me. And second, it is always quality. So it is with much gratitude that I thank them for introducing me to Zoo Kid.
Zoo Kid is a sixteenish-year-old from London who makes music mature beyond his years. Pinning him down to one genre is something of a chore. Some of his songs bleed surf rock, other times he’s wearing a bluesy mask. He even manages to cram some almost spoken word hip-hop in there (a la The Streets). If there is any justice in the world, this kid will go far. There is just way too much creativity in this redhead to go unnoticed.
To hear some more of his jams visit his periodically updated bandcamp.
Thanks to the awesome Pasta Primavera, my day took a sudden turn for the better. He introduced me to Poitier, and all of a sudden the world doesn’t look so crappy anymore. Poitier is first and foremost a hip-hop artist, but to leave it at that would be a heinous crime. There is so much more to him and listening to his music is just pure enjoyment. The diverse genres of music that he taps into make it clear that he is fully immersed in the current independent music scene (he even samples The xx’s “Intro” on his track “Catch 21”).
If you enjoy the pop-culture immersed, self-aware music of cats like Das Racist or Childish Gambino then you will no doubt enjoy Poitier’s mixtape Validity. You can download the whole thing for free on his tumblr page. I can’t recommend it enough. I am just really really enjoying it. So get on it.
Theophilus London - “Flying Overseas” (ft. Solange Knowles and Lightspeed Champion)
Last week I told you about my discovery of Theophilus London. I dished about his wonderfully eclectic influences evidenced on his mixtapes.
Today on P4K I read about the brand new single that Theophilus released via Mt. Dew’s hit-or-miss Green Label Sound. Then I read two guest names that made me click “download” as fast as my mousepad would let me: Lightspeed Champion and self-proclaimed indie rock enthusiast Solange Knowles. Now that’s a dream team if there ever was one.
The song is called “Flying Overseas” and is about as smooth a jam as you could ever want. Theophilus makes his delivery sound effortless while Solange and LC croon away in the background. It’s great, grab it below.
From Charm City, Maryland comes LEXX. The music, as he describes it, is “beats for the Gusher snackin’, Snick watchin’, Nintendo generation.” After listening to it, I would have to agree. The songs are short, spastic, and full of 8-bit sounds and TV clip samples. If the music were a person, it would most definitely have ADHD.
If you like the instrumental hip hop stylings of cats like Star Slinger or Cloud., then I would suggest giving LEXX and his 90’s TV-addicted beats a chance. You can download Slime Time as well as some other albums on his myspace.
The Odd Future collective is really starting to blow up. I wrote a blurb about Earl Sweatshirt earlier this summer, but since then a couple other prominent names have risen out of the Odd Future camp.
Most recently, Domo Genesis put out his album Rolling Papers and it has really taken hold with alot of listeners.
If you are familiar with Odd Future, you had better associate yourself with them as they will continue to make a splash in the coming months. Best thing is that they offer all of their albums and mixtapes for free on the Odd Future site. So start with Domo Genesis, but make sure you also download stuff from Earl Sweatshirt and Tyler the Creator.
Here’s the new Wale mixtape called More About Nothing. Its’ a follow-up to his critically-acclaimed, Seinfeld-inspired Mixtape About Nothing. Both mixtapes are free can can be found here:
Earl Sweatshirt is a surpsingly young dude who makes some (ahem) mature rap music. Earl’s music is really good, just don’t play it when your mom is around. His style and his beats are pretty sharp and noisy with a healthy respect for hip hop’s past. This is what hip hop should be. You can download his free album, EARL (along with some other material), on his site. It took me a couple clicks and scrolls to find it, so in order to save you the trouble, here is the link.
