Audio Absinthe

New Kingdom is headlining the El Rey on Friday, July 31.  The LA based, electro-funk rock band has gained a strong following on the strength of their high-energy performances but recently they’ve been in the studio working on an EP (or maybe an album?).  The show Friday night is one that you don’t want to miss.  The band’s singer, Noah King, was featured on the recent debut album from Asher Roth which Oren Yoel produced. Recently, Oren, who has been working in the studio with Macy Gray on her upcoming album, plays keys for New Kingdom along with Joe Rausch on bass and Evan Turner on drums.  Each one of these guys is extremely talented and the chemistry they have together is impressive to say the least.  These guys are the real deal.  Check them out Friday night…

Massive Jerk Interviews New Kingdom

The New Kingdom blog – Comeroundhere

More

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”

I went out to Coachella this weekend and, for the most part, I wasn’t really that impressed.  A lot of acts just don’t know how to get the crowd going.  One band that is the complete opposite of this is Dr. Dog.  They were very impressive.  It was my third time seeing them and I was blown away, again.  They might be my favorite act out there right now.  Even when they were having some sound problems with one of the guitars on stage, it was still an awesome set.  I think their most recent album Fate is great, one of the best albums of 2008, but the songs sound so much better when they’re performed live (at least for me).  The band’s touring experience is starting to show and it makes for a great live performance.  ”Army of Ancients” is a perfect example of a song that is much better when it’s live (again, for me).  I still can’t get it out of my head.  ”The Ark” was another personal favorite of mine and also of a friend who hadn’t ever seen or heard of Dr Dog before.  They opened with a slightly sped up version which made the crowd go completely nuts and set the pace for the rest of the show.  Needless to say, my friend’s a fan now.

MP3: Dr Dog – Army of Ancients
MP3: Dr Dog – The Ark

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Asleep In The Bread Aisle hit stores today.  ”Lion’s Roar” is definitely a stand out track for me. Asher Roth comes pretty hard on it but I don’t think Busta Rhymes has sounded this good since Leaders of the New School and his early solo career.  With all the leaked tracks out there, by now you should know- if it’s a Oren Yoel production it’s gonna be dope.  And the smooth hook from New Kingdom’s Noah King ties it all together and makes it a song you want to rap and sing along to.  Oren Yoel’s also worked with another great up and coming hip hop artist in TiRon whose mixtape Ketchup is featured in the LA Times for the top ten best hip hop albums of the year.

Asher Roth ft Busta Rhymes and New Kingdom – Lion’s Roar (produced by Oren Yoel)

TiRon – Shine On (produced by Oren Yoel)

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An interesting Nas remix album was released last month called the Far East Project.  From the name, it sounds like it’s a bunch of Nas tracks remixed by Asian DJ’s and producers.  Because “Far East” could mean Asian, right?  I’m not racist, I swear.  Anyway, I haven’t heard of any of the guys who remixed the tracks but some of them are really well done.

Mp3: Nas featuring AZ – Life’s A Bitch (Jugg remix)
MP3 SAMPLE: Nas featuring Amerie - Rule (Ajap S remix)

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Recently, I’ve had a couple of tracks sent to me via email and SoundCloud.com.  Some of the songs were actually really good.  I don’t know why I expected anything different but I was kind of surprised at how much I enjoyed these:

• The first is “Folkie Song #2″ by Rosie and Me out of Curitiba, Brazil.  It’s indie, acoustic, folk music but it’s got a rock kind of edge to it.  And like all things Brazilian, I pretty much love everything about it.  It’s a very cool track they got here.  As if they didn’t even care when recording the song, you can even hear the microphone get bumped a couple of times, but it just makes the song sound cooler.  I’m really digging this one.
  MP3: Rosie and Me – Folkie Song #2
• The second is by The Unravelling from their album 13 Arcane Hymns.  They’re a rock/progessive act out of Calgary and if you check out their myspace, you’ll hear some serious metal.  ”In The Safe House” isn’t exactly metal though.  It’s catchy and dark at the same time and it’s a really well arranged song.  Their other songs on myspace are well written tracks too.  These guys probably have awesome live shows with lots of energy and songs that build and really get crowds going.
  MP3: The Unravelling – In The Safe House
• The last one is by a group called Pree.  These guys are from D.C. and their music combines a lot of elements from different genres that I like a lot.  Give the whole song a listen, it’s really impressive stuff.  The quality isn’t amazing, but the track is a great one nonetheless.  These guys have something very interesting going on and now I’m definitely paying attention.
  MP3: Pree – In The Parlor

Rosie and Me

The Unravelling

Pree