Audio Absinthe

The smooth and stylish José James is back with his sophomore release, Blackmagic.  He’s been called a jazz singer for the hip hop generation which is particularly fitting for his collaborations with Flying Lotus who produced several songs on the new album.  Blackmagic was released on February 1st.

MP3: José James – “Blackmagic (Produced by Flying Lotus)”

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Blackmagic (Brownswood, February 2010)

A couple of weeks ago, I saw AM at the Hotel Cafe and it was an awesome show.  His music reaches across a number of genres from psychedelic rock and folk to soul and classic rock, even jazz.  AM’s new album, Future Sons & Daughters, draws on an eclectic variety of musical influences to create a blend of 60’s rock with well arranged, folk-rock pop music.  It’s easy to hear the influence of past artists such as David Axelrod and Jorge Ben which produces a result somewhere between more modern influences such as Beck and Shawn Lee.  Some of the songs have parts that really remind me of Clutchy Hopkins and Shawn Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra.  The wide ranging influences and the seamless blending of so many genres makes it hard to categorize as any one kind, but is entirely AM’s own, unique brand of music.  Future Sons & Daughters is something special for serious music enthusiasts and casual listeners alike.  And definitely make sure you check out the live show if you get a chance too.

MP3: AM – “Grand Opinion”
Future Sons & Daughters (August 2009)

Sample more songs from FS&D:
The Other Side
Jorge Ben
Darker Days

It took me a while but I finally got around to posting them all.  In no particular order, here are my favorites from 2009, so far…

Phoenix
MP3: “1901”
MP3: “Lisztomania”

Dan Auerbach
MP3: “When The Night Comes”

Grizzly Bear
MP3: “Two Weeks”

Wilco
MP3: “Solitaire”
MP3: “One Wing”
MP3: “I’ll Fight”

Quantic and His Combo Barbaro
Amazon: “The Dreaming Mind”

Andrew Bird
MP3: “Oh No”

Franz Ferdinand
MP3: “No You Girls”

Doves
MP3: “Jetstream”
MP3: “Kingdom of Rust”

Yeah Yeah Yeahs
MP3: “Hysteric”

Black Crowes
MP3: “I Ain’t Hiding”

White Rabbits
MP3: “Percussion Gun”

K’naan
MP3: “Take A Minute”

Manchester Orchestra
MP3: “I’ve Got Friends”

Mocky
MP3: “Birds Of A Feather”

Kutiman
http://thru-you.com/

Black Moth Super Rainbow
MP3: “Born On A Day The Sun Didn’t Rise”
MP3: “Twin Of Myself”
MP3: “Fields Are Breathing”

Animal Collective
MP3: “My Girls”

Matt and Kim
MP3: “Daylight”

Silversun Pickups
MP3: “Panic Switch”

Curumin
MP3: “Compacto”
MP3: “Salto No Vacuo Con Joelhada”

Emiliani Torrini
MP3: “Me and Armini”

Zion I
MP3: “Coastin”

Junior Boys
MP3: “Parallel Lines”

General Elektriks

MP3: “You Don’t Listen”

St Vincent
MP3: “Strangers”

Coconut Records
MP3: “Any Fun”

Matisyahu
“One Day”

Method Man and Redman
MP3: “A Yo”

Tosca
MP3 Link: “Joe Si Ha”
MP3: “Fondue”

The BPA
MP3: “Toe Jam”
MP3: “He’s Frank”

Bishop Allen
MP3: “The Ancient Commonsense of Things”

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Newer acts:

Band of Skulls
MP3 Link: “Death By Diamonds and Pearls”
MP3: “I Know What I Am”

Empire of the Sun
MP3: “Walking On A Dream”

One eskimO
Link to listen: “Given Up”
MP3: “Givin Up (Don Diablo remix)”

Nickel Eye
MP3: “Brandy of the Damned featuring Wale (Mark Ronson remix)”
MySpace link to listen: “Bonnie and Clyde”

Mayer Hawthorne
MP3: “Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out”

Zee Avi
MP3: “Bitter Heart”
MP3: “The Story”

Passion Pit
MP3: “Moth’s Wings”
MP3 link: “The Reeling”
MP3: “Little Secrets”

Fight From Above
MP3: “Between The Curves”

Vosotros Presents: The Years
MP3 link: “Lose My Number”
MP3 link: “Heartbreaker”

Daniel Merriweather
MP3: “Change” featuring Wale

The Big Pink
MP3: “Velvet”

The Temper Trap
MP3: Sweet Disposition

Thenewno2
MP3 link: “Yomp”
MP3 link: “Give You Love”
MP3: “Crazy Tuesday”

Asa
MP3: “Jailer”
MP3: “Subway”

The Very Best
MP3: “Warm Heart of Africa”

St Motel
MP3: “Dear Dictator”

Danny Chaimson
MySpace link to listen: “This Is Life”

Hey Champ
MP3: “Cold Dust Girl”

Jaydiohead by Minty Fresh Productions
MP3: “Wrong Prayer”

Asher Roth feat. Busta Rhymes and New Kingdom
MP3: “Lion’s Roar” produced by Oren Yoel

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Mixtapes:

Wale & 9th Wonder - Back To The Feature

TiRon – Ketchup
Miguel featuring TiRon – “Go”

There are only a handful of albums I have ever really anticipated like Quantic’s upcoming album, Tradition In Transition, due July 14th.  This album could be truly amazing.  ”The Dreaming Mind” is the song in the video teaser for the album below and it’s featured on Quantic’s myspace page as well.  It might be one of my all time favorites.  Between the string arrangements and the funky percussion, it’s a cinematic-style masterpiece that just kills me.  If I like half of the songs on the album as much as I like “The Dreaming Mind” I might find the answer to the “if you were on an island and could only have one album” question.

Bonus MP3: Quantic and His Combo Bárbaro – New Morning
Bonus MP3: Quantic and His Combo Bárbaro – Arianita

More

Everyone loves covers, remixes, and mash ups.  Here are some of my recent favorites and some I just haven’t posted until now…

• MP3: Radiohead VS Dave Brubeck – Five Step
• MP3: Kings of Leon – Use Somebody (RAC Remix)
• MP3: Franz Ferdinand – No You Girls (Trentmoller Remix)
• MP3: Phoenix – 1901 (Build Remix)
• MP3: Daft Punk VS Does It Offend You, Yeah – We Are Technologic (LightsoverLA mash up)
• MP3: Major Lazer – Hold The Line (LehtMoJoe Remix)
• MP3: Slum Village – Fall In Love (Remix)
• MP3 Link: Cara Robinson – California Soul (acoustic -Marlena Shaw cover)
• MP3: Camp Lo – Coolie High (Remix) – (got this from djnodj.com, Michael Jackson sample was never cleared so it may be the first you’re hearing this)

Daniel Merriweather – Change (Gigamesh Remix)

More

SoulCulture in the UK recently interviewed jazz, neo-soul singer Jose James.  SoulCulture is a great place to find more news, interviews, and videos like this one.  Check out the video below and more at SoulCulture.co.uk.
In the interview below, Jose James shares his thoughts on today’s music and reveals some details about his upcoming album.  I especially enjoy hearing that he’s working with Flying Lotus again.  I didn’t know who Jose James was early in 2008 when I saw that he had covered Freestyle Fellowship’s “Park Bench People”.  The song is creative but complicated- it’s not for everyone.  Performing the song requires an incredible sense of timing and rhythm.  Jose James nailed it.  The song was featured on James’ debut album, The Dreamer, which also had a bunch of other impressive tracks that instantly turned me into a fan.  The new album is something you’ll definitely want to check out.

MP3: Jose James – Visions of Violet (Produced by Flying Lotus)
MP3: Jose James – Park Bench People

Jose James – Love

More

Here’s another pretty awesome music website that let’s you create playlists you can share with you friends.  It’s called GrooveShark.com and it’s got a pretty big library of music.  It allows you to upload your own songs so you can login from anywhere in the world and have all of your music.  It also allows you to search for and play full songs and albums.  The way this works reminds me very much of Napster (the original Napster) since it seems like the search results are based on what people have uploaded.  This is probably why GrooveShark has a very respectable library of music to find.  There were a bunch of songs I wanted to add to the playlist below that I couldn’t find in their library but it’s still got much more than I expected.  The site also has a great custom widget builder that allows you to embed songs and playlists on any website.  The one I made below is a poor example because I’m colorblind so you can’t really see how fancy you can make it look.  The playlist is based on a mix I made a couple of years ago called Beat Juice.

I really had this Pete Rock track on the mix instead of the one included above but GrooveShark didn’t have it.  And it’s too good not to link here…
MP3: Pete Rock – Pete’s Jazz

Copy and paste this into your browser if the link above isn’t working:
http://www.flexx.org/blog/pete%20rock%20-%20pete’s%20jazz.mp3

More

There are a lot of cool ways to share music with your friends.  I used to make a lot of mixes and I still have a lot of my old playlists.  The iLike Playlist Editor let’s you make and share your playlists with anyone.  You can send a link for your playlist to your friends or you can put your playlist on any website page like facebook and myspace or like I did below.  Unfortunately, you can only choose up to 8 tracks and you can only play 30 second samples of each song.  But it is a fun way to share mixes you’ve made.  The one I did below is 6 tracks from an old mix I used to fall asleep to, Epic Nightscapes.

MP3: Billy Cobham – Heather

About a month ago, a great remix album was released- Nat King Cole: Re: Generations.  It features classic Nat King Cole songs remixed by a number of great artists like The Roots, Cee-Lo, Bebel Gilberto, Stephen and Damien Marley, Cut Chemist, Brazilian Girls, Nas & Salaam Remi, and TV on the Radio.  It’s an unbelievable remix album.  When I talk with people who think classic songs should be left alone, I’ll be sure to bring up this album to show them why I disagree.

MP3: Nat King Cole – Lush Life (Cee-Lo remix)
MP3: Nat King Cole – Day In Day Out (Cut Chemist remix)

Nat King Cole: Re: Generations

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Speaking of great remixes, how about a great cover song?  Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings released this soulful version of the Shuggie Otis song “Inspiration Information” for the Red Hot charity compilation Dark Was The Night.  The original album, Inspiration Information (1974), was one that I found at the USC radio station, not too long after it was reissued back in 2001.  I instantly fell in love with the album and started collecting as much Shuggie Otis material as I could.  I was thrilled to hear a new take on what I consider an unappreciated classic.

MP3: Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings – Inspiration Information
Mp3 Sample: Shuggie Otis: Inspiration Information

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Mos Def did a 12 minute cover of Kanye West’s “Say You Will” when he played the Blue Note in NYC back in January.  I’ve said it before and this MP3 is just another example of how Kanye is a better producer than anything else.  He’s so much better when he’s behind the scenes than when he is in the spotlight.  I don’t think he could ever handle that though.  After seeing his response on his blog to the “Gay Fish” episode of South Park, I don’t think Kanye could ever be happy with just being behind the scenes.  Anyway, Mos Def has a lot of soul and he’s got a great common man’s voice in my opinion.  He’s not an incredibly talented singer, he’s not even a great singer, but his voice is really good.  I was skeptical when I first heard about the cover but, after hearing it, I love this song now.  And usually I don’t like live recordings but this is a good one, the recording reminds me of a live version of Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready” I have…

MP3: Mos Def – Say You Will (Live at the Blue Note)

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When I first heard about a Beatles‘ “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” remix, I thought it had to be terrible.  But I quickly changed my mind after I listened to Streetlab’s remix.  Streetlab gives the song a whole new feeling and it’s a lot of fun.  I think it’s great but I’d be willing to bet most Beatles fan’s hate it…  I checked out Streetlab’s other material and I thought a lot of it was really good.  Check out these other cool remixes:

MP3: The Beatles – Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Streetlab remix)
MP3: Beastie Boys – Sabotage (Streetlab Remix)
MP3: The Blue Van – Man Up (Streetlab VS Sean MF’in Roberts remix)
MP3: Rolling Stones – Gimme Shelter (Streetlab remix)

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Once again, a recommendation that I got from Ushkow has turned into a great listening adventure.  He suggested I check out Manchester Orchestra’s new material on their myspace.  At first, I didn’t think it was anything special.  I listened at work though, so I didn’t have the volume up and wasn’t really able to get into it.  After checking it out again at home, I loved it and I’ve been listening to it all day.  Here are some of the tracks from their new album released last week, Mean Everything To Nothing.  

MP3: Manchester Orchestra – The Only One
MP3: Manchester Orchestra – I’ve Got Friends

Kutiman Mixes YouTube <—–Click that.  It’s amazing.  It’s the brand new project from Kutiman and, to date, it’s one of the greatest things that exists on the internet.  I know it’s a bold statement, and I stand by it… one of the greatest things.  He takes random YouTube clibs of people playing different instruments, or people doing things that create different sounds, and he cuts them up, and restructures them for a new, single song- and there are 7 songs.  He samples YouTube to create his own brand of funky, soulful beats.  It must have taken a very long time since he samples between 10-20 youtube videos for each song.  A little personal history on Kutiman (this kind of ties it all together for me)- I bought his debut, self titled album back in 2007 and I loved it.  It’s extremely funky and soulful and draws on hip hop, rock, and world music which creates a very mature, passionate overall sound.  That’s why I was surprised to learn that Ophir “Kutiman” Kutiel was born in Jerusalem in 1982.  He was 25 and his music sounded like it was made by someone who’s been making music for decades collaborating with people from all over the world.  After this new project, all i can say is- what a talent.  What a modern, musical genius.

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Don’t know much about this track.  Haven’t really researched it at all.  Found it, loved it, wanted to share it.  It’s Nickel Eye featuring Wale- the Mark Ronson remix of “Brandy of the Damned”.  And it’s pretty “damned” good if you ask me.
Nickel Eye – Brandy of the Damned Feat. Wale (Mark Ronson Remix)

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Redman and Method Man are coming out with a new album.  Awesome.  I still play 1999’s Blackout and I think it would have to be in my top 20 best albums in hip hop.  So when I heard these two tracks I haven’t heard before, I got a little excited about it all.  They’ve always managed to combine hardcore style with goofy lyrics and the music is cool, fun, and has some serious mainstream appeal.  At least it did.  I’m not so sure Redman and Method Man’s new album will do that well but not because of the songs alone.  It’s more because of the fact that they are old news in a world that’s overwhelmed with new acts everyday.  Check out the new tracks.
Redman and Method Man – A Yo / Broken Language

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I feel pretty bad that the last song is a Kid Cudi song and I’m not really going to talk about Kid Cudi.  I picked this song to talk about Kanye West because Kanye bugs me.  But he is a great producer and there’s no doubt about that.  I just wish he would always let great emcees rap over his beats instead of saving the best beats for himself.  I don’t think he’s a good emcee and he tries way too hard to be a rockstar for me to really like him.  Kanye produced this new Kid Cudi track, “Sky Might Fall”.  Kanye’s beat is only ok, but what’s great about it is that it’s sound really captures the style of the music of this decade- the 00’s.  The sixties, seventies, eighties- when you think of the sound of music from each decade, certain songs stand out more than others.  It’s similar to what happens with art and artists who become popular- and I hope I don’t get too into this for you- certain artists really capture something unique about a culture and time and they’re work becomes relevant and, in time, valuable.  Seriously though, Kanye is a b.
Kid Cudi – Sky Might Fall