Audio Absinthe

I picked “Coastin’” as one of my favorites from this year and earlier today the new video for the Zion I track was just posted online.  It’s great.  It actually looks really professional.  Is Zion I underground hip hop anymore?  I think people dropped the underground part and Zion I is just in the hip hop category now.  In my opinion, the production has always been the best part of Zion I.  When I first heard Mind Over Matter, it was the apparent electronic influence on Amp Live’s beats that always separated Zion I from the rest of the underground hip hop acts.  10 years later, here’s what we got…

http://www.zioni-thetakeover.com
http://www.myspace.com/zioni
http://www.zionicrew.com

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”

—-

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

—-

Mixtapes:

Wale & 9th Wonder - Back To The Feature

TiRon – Ketchup
Miguel featuring TiRon – “Go”

It’s not really May 28th right now but that’s when I wanted to post these songs.  I went on vacation before I wrote anything for them but now I’m back…

Wilco’s new album, Wilco (The Album), is due on June 30th.  A blog my friend showed me a couple of weeks ago showed me a link (here) back on May 13th so I was able to listen to a copy.  I wasn’t immediately impressed as I was expecting, but the more I listened, the more I liked it.  Now I think it’s great.  These guys have something special and it really shines on this latest album.  I might like Sky Blue Sky a little more but we’ll see what I’m saying in another few weeks.  It really does seem like it gets better the more I listen though because I didn’t think it was that great when I first listened.  I did say that I might come around with Wilco and this album, and I definitely have.

MP3: Wilco  (The Song)

-

Doves released their new album Kingdom of Rust in April 2009.  I would describe their music as new wave, electronic rock but I’m sure the fans who have been listening to them since the early 90’s would want to describe them a little differently.  Their song “Jetstream” is one of my favorite tracks of this year and the album is great.  Thanks go to Scott S who, aside from introducing them to me in the post he wrote a while back, also recommended the new album to me.

MP3: Doves – Jetstream

-

Zion I’s debut album Mind Over Matter was released back in 2000 and I’ve been paying attention ever since.  On May 26th, Zion I released Don’t Lose Your Head – EP and The Takeover (Bonus Edition).  The EP is 5 tracks, 4 of those 5 are versions of “Don’t Lose Your Head” which was originally released in 2007 on a Too Short and Friends album.  The Takeover was released 5 months ago and now they’re rereleasing it with a music video of one of the songs added at the end.  Whatever the story behind these re-releases is, I still like Mind Over Matter, a lot.

MP3: Zion I featuring Brother Ali – Caged Bird

MP3: Zion I featuring Too Short – Don’t Lose Your Head