Hip Hop Attack!

I am blown away this week. It’s been a little bit since I appeared here. Been inundated with new tunes, and this week has been no exception. If you’ve been spinning these albums, you’ve been offline, too:
First off, I got the second release from Gnarls Barkley, “The Odd Couple.” If you’ve seen “Austin Powers” you’ll remember those little goofy musical interludes (with the Posies’ frontman/part-time R.E.M. member Ken Stringfellow, don’tcha know?) with those goofy little early 60’s pop riffs. Producer/DJ Dangermouse appears to have been diving into those crates for inspiration. Fantastic album. And no “Crazy”-like song to be overplayed on every damned station. “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul” is on KEXP and I don’t think I’ll get sick of it anytime soon. “Odd Couple” is in heavy rotation but it’s outshined by….

Lyrics Born’s “Everywhere at Once”. I tend to think the “where” in this case is the Eighties. And that’s no dig. He’s not chillin’ with Ronnie or Max Headroom or Spuds Mackenzie. I think he’s been tippin’ back cold ones with the Sugar Hill Gang and got Kool and the Gang or maybe Nu Shooz as his backing band. Give “Differences” a test spin at your fave music store. Longtime collaborator Joya Velarde (duh, she’s his wife) is there anchoring the song with the backing vox and keeping it sounding familiar, but there’s another vocalist (male) there. (Haven’t found his name yet - damned iTunes. -ed.) Tons o’ handclaps, funky deep background guitar riffs, snare hits, synth fills, all dope Casio keyboard stuff. ‘Cept in way higher fidelity than anything your older sister was rockin’ in ‘84. Spoiler Alert: Almost NO scratching. D-Sharp and DJ Shadow have LEFT THE BUILDING. Just like LB left Quannum.
This album is a natural, but totally unexpected, progression since LB started to implement the live-band show in the past few years. If I had been in town Sunday night, I would have been at the show. I really want to know how this new recording is performed live. If you’ve got his Quannum releases stuck on REPEAT, prepare for your mental CD to start skipping, because this is not “Send Them” or “I Changed My Mind”. His trademark rhyme delivery is here and just as fresh as when the first Latyrx came out, but it’s this new instrumentation. Totally unlike anything I’ve heard in the hip hop world. “Cakewalk” is spinning now, and I get the distinct visual of that last fade out shot in “Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo” as the street’s full of dancers… Dunno, can’t shake that.

HowEVER, another live-band-backed hip hop outfit is rockin’ in my earphones now:
The Roots‘ RISING DOWN just dropped. I am working my way through it. Stomping my left foot as I type. Goosebumps. This is the freshest, and not by virtue of being newest. It’s tight. I’ll save you the played out metaphors. I am gotta listen really close a few times through before I can say anymore than _go_get_this_album. Talib Kweli is here. Peedi Peedi is here. Mos Def is here. (I hear white people LOVE Mos.)

Popularity: 23%

Seattle’s Best Hip Hop Group is…

Its the P-H-Y-S-I-C-S…aka The Physics

Get Familiar

Their debut album “Future Talk” was one of my favorite releases last year (any genre, any town) and stays in heavy rotation. Spring/summertime will bring more spins of this record for its cool-out, crack a brew, holler at the ladies, backyard cookout vibe.

MC Thig Natural possesses such a great combination of infectious flow, intricate wordplay and effortless delivery that “rewind that” will become a regular part of your vocabulary. Producer/MC Just D’amato builds some seriously soulful beats that put you in a good mood all by themselves, and holds it down on the mic as well.

This record should be available at local retailers and I highly recommend you go buy yourself a copy. If they don’t have it, tell them to get it. Do it for yourself. Do it for the kids. Do it for the town.

Popularity: 99%

My Introduction and (very tardy) Top 25 of 2007

Hi there,

I’m new to this blog thing. I was asked to join this here site and add my two cents regarding the music I like and know the most about: Hip Hop, Funk, Soul, Breaks, ect.

I am sure some of you are not Hip Hop fans, and that is perfectly OK. What I plan on doing is getting those that are fans of the genre (or curious enough to give my recomendations a chance) hip to what I would consider good hip hop. As many of you know, it does not get many spins on the radio or that reality TV channel that, for some reason, still has the word MUSIC in its name. I personally don’t listen to the radio, nor pay much attention to what is hot on the “streets.” I like good music to nod my head to, plain and simple.

So with that here is my hip-hop related top 25 of 2007…don’t be scuuurrred, you just might like some of it.

1. UGK ft. Outkast - International Players Anthem
2. Jay-Z - Roc Boys
3. M.I.A. - Paper Planes
4. DJ Vadim ft Zion - Got to Rock
5. Kanye - Flashing Lights
6. Nas ft. Kanye - Still Dreaming
7. Dj Jazzy Jeff ft. Rhymefest - Jeff n Fess
8. Little Brother - Good Clothes
9. Jay-Z - Party Life
10. Cancer Rising - Erryday Bidness (local)
11. Timbaland ft. Jay-Z & JT - Give it to me remix
12. Galactic ft. Juvenile - From the Corner to the Block
13. The Roots - Here I Come
14. Ghostface - Greedy Bitches
15. Dyme Def - Get down (local)
16. Devin the Dudeft Andre 3000 - Whata job this is
17. Nas - Surviving the Times
18. Galactic ft. Boots Riley - Hustle Up
19. Outkast - Art of Storytelling part 4
20. Talib Kweli ft. Kanye - In the mood
21. Brother Ali - Uncle Sam Goddamn
22. Nas - Can’t Forget About You
23. Pharoahe Monch - What It Is
24. Dj Jazzy Jeff ft. Twone Gabz - Hip Hop
25. Fabolous ft. Jay-Z - Brooklyn

Popularity: 30%

Win Tix for New Years Bash w/ The Blakes and The Saturday Knights

The Seattle Wolves FC, kick off New Years with an all-star line up. The quickly expanding Football Club is throwing down on their home turf at the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila. The evening features local Seattle hip hop stars the Saturday Knights opening for NWMusicblog favorites, the Blakes (PDX).

Tickets for the New Year’s Party start at $35 and are available through www.SeattleWolvesFC.com. A limited number of hotel and VIP packages are available for the event as well. Event happens at Starfire Sports and Entertainment Complex, 14800 Starfire Way, Tukwila, WA 98188

To Win 2 Tix on the Guest List email us here with your full name.
Winner will be selected randomly and announced Friday Dec 21st

Popularity: 27%

De La Soul this Thursday at Neumo’s

De La for ten bucks? At Neumo’s? Dang. Even if it is co-sponsored by Red Bull, and they aren’t supporting a new album, it’s ten bucks and local. 

Popularity: 33%

A Summer-y of Summer Shows and Albums

Though I was in LA for half of June, working all of July, bed-ridden with SARS for six weeks after July 30th and MIA for most of September, I still managed to bear witness to some rock and some roll and a lot of hip hop this summer.
I downloaded the new Common album, “Finding Forever” and despite the rough and dissonant track “Southside”, wholly endorse it top to bottom. You have probably heard “Misunderstood” with the Nina Simone sample on KEXP. This was in heavy rotation in my work van until…
Talib Kweli’s “Eardrum.” Dang, Kanye was busy, what with producing some of this album plus “Forever”. Judging by the credits, it’d be hard to beat this album: Pete Rock, Madlib, will.i.am (now off the hook as Fergalicious is off doing something else) and longtime producer Hi-Tek are responsible for its release. The beats and themes bounce all over on “Eardrum” as much as his flow on “Country Cousins.” (Is that an “Earth, Wind and Fire” sample in there?) Try to put this one down.
By the time I saw Lyrics Born and Rodrigo y Gabriela rock crowds at Bumbershoot, I had probably played Queens of the Stone Age’s “Era Vulgaris” about 30 times. These artists bolstered my faith in the State of Music 2007 as much as the subtext of “Era Vulgaris” tried to question it.
A special thanks to a couple of NWMBers for inviting me along to the Spoon show last month. Like an old locomotive trying to gain momentum, the band had to fight the mass of their last album - too slow and cumbersome for this listener - to get the show going. Once into the second half of the performance, though, they found their groove and sated up the sold-out Showbox crowd.
Surprise surprise at my friend Michael’s wedding reception at the Sunset Tavern: a private show by our beloved Cops. A great preview of the new album followed a short set during the cocktail hour that featured “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” and “Ballroom Blitz”. Hell yeah! Since my last visit to The Cops in late 2005, they have added a guitarist (Brandon of Free Electricity) and replaced founding bassist Brian Wall with Drew Church. They as solid as ever. I am eager to see them again this week with The Blakes at the Croc.
A fellow NWMB editor invited me out to see Two Gallants at the Croc earlier this month. The harmonics and minor-chord whiny-ness of Modest Mouse plus the two-piece frenetics of Hella. They totally underwhelmed me but it afforded me the opportunity to check out Blitzen Trapper, newly signed to hit maker Sub Pop. My idea that night: Radiohead mates with The Eagles and has a rockin’ Wilco baby. Whatever that whiskey-stained thought means. Check ‘em out and decide for yourself. Or grab the free show on the “KEXP Live Performances” podcast on the omnipresent iTunes.
I have been missing out on the goldenthroat rock, so tomorrow I am going to see Chris Cornell do something at the Paramount. Maybe he’ll take his shirt off. Or maybe he’ll play Billie Jean and I will try to sing along. Lately he has been covering Zeppelin’s “Thank You” and that out to be goldenthroat-tastic.
If Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings are on the road, I will have to catch the support of their third release. Anyone into it?

Popularity: 65%