Young MC Still On Planet Earth
Tossing that AutoTune shit aside for slowing down tempo and pitch, Young MC reminds us he’s still relevant with this new recording. Download only if Bust A Move isn’t just an addicting video game to you.
What Planet Is Kanye West On?
This year, for my birthday, I watched the VMAs. Every year, MTV becomes the relative you barely see anymore and gives you a present to remind you just how out of touch they are with your life. I never payed attention to these Jonas boys but if there is one word I want to use when describing my musical taste, it’s definitely “safety”. The night concluded with a performance live via the end of the world (apparently) from Kanye West debuting his new single.
Is there anyone more inconsistent than Kanye West? Don’t criticize because the man will literally fight you. Sure, he gives a pretty bizarre performance at the VMAs but you know what? I actually liked it. Kudos, Kanye.
You see, I really want to like Kanye West. I really do. The album he produced for Common was some of Common’s best work in my opinion. I think Kanye West is a uniter. He is the key to getting you closer to your “regular” friends; an act you can both sit down and enjoy. But man, he BLEW IT with his last album. In the war between him and 50 Cent, neither won. Both albums were horrendous.
But here we go again with a new single. It’s not another “Stronger” but you know I actually kind of liked that song when it first came out. Kanye is the king of putting out great singles that annoy the hell out of you a month after the fact. Anyhoo, now we have “Love Lockdown”. It makes you wonder where he’s going with all of this. After downloading 5 different leaks of it, I buckled and bought the single from iTunes and wouldn’t you know it, the production is still sloppy and gritty as hell. But you know what? Maybe that’s how I like my Kanye.
Fwiday with Don Rimini & TANZ / TANZ
So France’s own Don Rimini released a beast called “Hools” that absolutely crushes. It will probably be remixed to death but Swiss duo TANZ / TANZ throw their remix out there early. The result is epic.
Hey remember when I used to post a lot of music? Consider this the start of what I like to call “getting back on the horse”.
Don Rimini - Hools (TANZ/TANZ Remix)
R.I.P. Evan Tanner
On a personal note, I tried my hand at boxing once again late last year. The decision was 100% inspired by Evan Tanner. Sharing now and then exchanges which I’ve never confessed to hardly anyone in my life, I don’t think I can even begin to describe how devastating it is to hear he was found dead this afternoon. But I was very fortunate to have those exchanges at all. He left a trail of amazing accomplishments. Sorely missed.
“It is a shame that in this society we’ve been taught to judge a man’s worth by what he owns instead of who he is. Everything is surface, and so few look beyond it. A man will sell his soul, he will lie, cheat and steal, for money. If he has it, he can buy respect. Wear the right clothes, drive the right car, have the right friends, that’s all that matters. Our lives are consumed in a selfish, self absorbed quest for possessions, the latest and the best in a never-ending cycle until the day we die. We forget what it means to be truly human. We forget the things that really matter. We lose the magic of what life should be.
I won’t live by rules that make no sense to me.”
Rest In Peace, Evan.
The Sugar Party Mix
A couple weeks back, I DJed for a Sugar City show to benefit the opening of a new art space in Buffalo. From beginning to end, the show was a lot of fun. Starting off with a lot of old funk and disco to capping the night off by getting busted up by the cops. You couldn’t ask for anything more. However, the police disrupted the peak of the set I was playing. Therefore, I did a one-take of the set and now I’m posting it online. Hope you enjoy it. It runs a bit over an hour so find a comfortable seat. Track list after the cut.
Lee “Scratch” Perry
A friend of mine just had Lee “Scratch” Perry perform at his venue in Madison. It reminded me of how ridiculous this man is. PUM PUM!
Progress Report
Jeez, that was quite a vacation, wasn’t it? Anyhoo, I’ll be resuming activity on here soon. I’m in the home stretch with the EP. It’s sounding pretty great thus far and will be recording the last bits tomorrow and the next few days. Then it’s on to piecing this big monster together. So far, so good. I haven’t listened to any music except “Sweetest Girl” by Wyclef on repeat and that song came out last year I think. Oh well. See you all soon!
Where’d You Go?
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s summer. And in Buffalo, that lasts maybe like 2 weeks. So lately, I’ve been enjoying eating outside and I bought a yacht (lie) to boat across Lake Ontario and declare war on Canada.
Divine Machine
Divine Machine is what happens when the love of analog meets the obsession of horror. And it never hurts to have one of the most talented tattoo artists in the country, Cory Cudney, taking his passion of said genre and plowing it through Buffalo, NY. One listen of any of their recordings draws so many parallels to Goblin or any other soundtracks of your typical 70s / 80s horror films. It’s one thing to try and recreate aura of the era, but it’s another to make it enjoyable, which Divine Machine does very well. You may remember another act that is currently dabbles in horror samples… a small French outfit named Justice. Pushing any sampling aside, Divine Machine could easily be mistaken for the real deal sounds of anything from Italian to early 80s American pulp horror. Remaining relatively low key, Divine Machine is quite an impressive sound.
Divine Machine - Hyperspace Cadets