Archive for November, 2010
I was going to try to write something about how Thanksgiving is a holiday celebrating genocide, and how the best way to exorcise the worst of the tryptophan demons is to put on some damned good dance music and get your friends and fam around you, but to be perfectly honest, it wasn’t hanging together very well, so I dropped the whole thing.
Instead, free of any and all associations, you should absolutely 110% download and listen to the first release from Chief Boima and Oro 11, aka Banana Clipz. The duo is formerly Bay Area based – though now Chief Boima hangs his hat in America’s New York City – and their eponymous EP reflects it, with cumbia-inflected grooves and guest spots from Bayliens like MC Tidal and LxNxM favorites Los Rakas.
Just because clever puns elude me (and no, I won’t make any jokes about how Chief Boima goes by Chef Boima while cooking turkey) doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy clever music. Get it in.
Download: Banana Clipz – Banana Clipz EP (right click “save as”)
this video has been rightfully blowing up the blogs today. and swedish not-quite-pop star robyn has been blowing them up for a couple years now. i like it. diplo produced the beat and co-directed the video, so obviously mad decent has a pretty nice remix over on their site.
Mr. Zia Mohajerjasbi and crew have done it again. When it snows hardy in Seattle, you can expect greatness from the Blue Scholars camp and this time is no different. If you’ve never seen the original “Coffee and Snow” video, I recommend watching it before clicking on what’s above. Just for reference on where Blue Scholars are coming from with this current cinematic adventure. The boys work well in bad weather and “Coffee and Snow 2″ is a damn good job considering they created it in less than 48 hours. I hope Zia has found some time to rest. I can imagine they were burning the midnight oil getting this one ready. You’ll even notice that Zia makes an appearance at the end. And you’ll hear Geo make references to the teacher in Spokane that got suspended for passing out the lyrics to a Blue Scholars song. So it goes. Thank God it snowed.
Also, if you’re looking to download this track and the “Barf Riddim” instrumental for remix purposes, they’ve made it easy for ya.
If you’re like most Americans, you’re probably gonna have some serious downtime in the next couple of days. So, to help you pass the time, here’s a mini-documentary on the history of the boombox courtesy of NPR.
As always, Fab 5 Freddy comes through with the hip hop history. But, really, I’m surprised that there’s no mention of or clips from “Do The Right Thing” featured in this video. If anyone is the quintessential representative of the late 80s boombox culture (as far as fictitous characters go), it’s Radio Raheem, no doubt.
so after i posted that awesome matthew africa mix, one of the guys from sweater funk, vinylrichie, got in touch and that was nice. he’s got a pretty great blog (and pretty great mixtapes too). today he brought the movie wheedle’s groove to my attention as well. wheedle’s groove is about the 1970s funk and soul scene in seattle, and i’d encourage everyone to check the extended trailer above. (as an aside, i love that the first dude we meet in the trailer is a record collector from detroit.) and thanks to chorizo funk in the comments of vinylrichie’s post for letting me know that i can stream the whole film right here. for those snowed in here in seattle, kill some time with wheedle’s groove.
gvsb tipped me off to a new track available from so-cal funk-ineers the samps, which is great because i’ve been looking for a way to post about this band. the new track is pretty typical for the samps in that it starts a little ragged before riding the hi-hat for a minute and then slowing down and ending with some good old robot voice. good stuff, and head over to gvsb to stream and download. the samps have only put out a few tracks thus far, but they’ve all been solid, and seem to be riding the line of the LA beat scene and the boogie/modern-funk resurgence. they’re also affiliated, or at least share members, with nite jewel, who are responsible for one of my jams of the year. the track above–”peppergood”–is also one of my jams of the year, and the fan video (a tribute to rudy ray moore, aka dolemite, aka disco godfather) is pretty great too. download “peppergood” and stream a samps mixtape after the jump.
Here’s a new gem from West Coast fam Tha Bizness and one of their newest artists, Parker. Just when I think I’ve got a grasp on all of the hip-hop talent Seattle has to offer, I get pleasantly surprised by one of the better flows I’ve heard locally in awhile! I don’t know much about this cat but you can tell from the beats, rhymes, and creative visuals that he’s swinging for the fences and I’m excited to hear more in the future. #WhoisParker???
Here’s a cut from one of Miz Korona’s closest collaborators, Moe Dirdee, that I think more folks outside of Detroit need to see. Moe has been on his grind for awhile and is probably one of the best street rappers in the city. It would be a shame if his music didn’t branch out further because lyrically, he’s got bars and heart and hustle and he represents “the fourth letter” better than anyone. Be on the lookout for more Moe Dirdee projects dropping in early 2011. And if you want a quick glimpse of what Detroit cats are really like, this is definitely worth watching.
Here’s a song that’s been out for awhile which happens to be dancing around my brain relentlessly at the moment. Actually, it’s been in my head tough for the past few days so it seems appropriate to big up Chino McGregor and share this track with the masses. It only feels right. We here at LxNxM do our best to hip you to the finest new jams that we can suss out each week, with the exception of our mostly throwback Drunk Funk column. Occasionally though, there’s a need to highlight material that isn’t old or new. It’s just good. And this jam from the Big Ship stable is top-ranking style good.
In case you’re wondering, yes this is the son of lovers rock king Freddie McGregor and that lends itself to the professionalism of the tune. You can just feel the vibes coming from this and the message is positive so anyone needing uplifting should watch the video. I think at one point this song was called “From Mawning” but now it’s called “Never Change” with a slight tease of Chino’s “Pon Your Head” toward the end.





