Featuring nine non-sappy “dedicated to the ladies” cuts coolly baked in a summery, ’90′s neo-soul & boom bap chill, To…From…, the debut project from Cali-based hip hop trio Tomorrow, Yesterday, arrives just in time as salvation for those concerned over where they’ll get their new new-Native Tongues fix post-Slum Village’s recent deterioration.
Most recommended? The Pharcyde-meets-Dwele mid-set joint “Fight”, which makes good use of the umpteenth sampling of Michael Jackson’s tender Thriller ballad “The Lady In My Life” for members Yep and T.i.E’s playful look at how silly relationship squabbles can lead to the most intense make-up sex sessions (“We can yell loud now/ Yell loud later/ Two different ways/ But they both wake the neighbors”).
Hear the cut below, then download the rest of the excellent To…From… (for FREE) here.
It’s no question that the greatest thing to emerge from the introductory season of HBO’s mildly received, new original How To Make It In America (aside from Kid Cudi’s thespian contribution) is the show’s theme song “I Need A Dollar”.
Sounding like it was peeled directly off an old Bill Withers’ album, the haunting track, by Cali-born Stones Throw-signed vocalist Aloe Blacc, is a potent slice of gritty throwback soul that compellingly nails the frustrations of being down and out.
“I need a dollar dollar/ Dollar that’s what I need,” Blacc moans on the hook, his weathered tenor projecting nothing but sunless woe as the arrangement’s insistent horn blurts and piano key strut illustrate the caged-in suffocation he’s mired in. And little hope emerges as the track progresses, it’s depressive, spiritual-esque air growing even thicker with gloom as Blacc unsuccessfully pleas for his boss not to let him go (“But he gave me my last paycheck and he sent me on out the door”) and ends up spending the last of his dough on his “good ol’ buddies” whiskey and wine in an attempt to grasp some sort of temporary solace.
Is it a bit of a “Debbie Downer” record? Totally. But damn if it’s polished retro sound and bleak, relevant-for-today narrative (especially heart-crushing inquiries to the skies like “What in the world am I gonna to do tomorrow?”) don’t grab you smack dab in the middle of your gut, making for a handy go-to reference to quiet “fogey”-ish acquaintances who spend their days endlessly whining about how today’s music lacks the depth and soul of yesteryear.
Catch the video below, anticipate Aloe Blacc’s Good Things album sometime later this year, then take a listen to an amazing gem from the singer’s 2006 set Shine Through: a cover of John Legend’s “Ordinary People” done entirely en español (!!!) and given a light tropical spritz.
It almost seems like a joke that after an EP’s worth of leakages from Big Boi‘s super-delayed solo debut Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty over the past couple of years, the rapper would now be unleashing the set’s official first single, but whatever, we can appreciate a new Outkast-affiliated track however it’s being tagged…especially if, like “Shutterbugg”, it has us wishing that we could skip the next couple of months and be smack-dab in the middle of a summertime heatwave blasting it through our opened sunroofs.
A sort of futuristic, Cali-funked sibling to “The Way You Move”, Big Boi’s 2003 tribute to the good-times, “Shutterbugg” orders your body to “cut a rug” from it’s first clap stomp and robo-beatbox burble, two of several excellent beat elements producer Scott “Possibly On A Come Back” Storch embeds into a track that acts as a sonic playground for Mr. “Daddy Fat Sacks” rapid-fire flow and wit-heavy lyricism to dally around in.
Special shout-outs to the talkbox-tweaked vocals, slick soul-man crooning and random burst of Soul II Soul karaoke that pop up in and around Big Boi’s verses, and their success in keeping us from ever once thinking during “Shutterbugg”‘s initial few playings how much cooler this song could be if Andre 3000 was involved.
Sir Lucious Left Foot is scheduled for a May release, but we’d be fools to think that date was set in stone.
Since The xx crept it’s way onto the blogosphere around a year ago, it seems that nary a week has gone by without umpteen DJ’s/ producers/ remixers/ masher-uppers offering their own respective tweakings on the London trio’s entrancingly, ebon-hued indie-pop.
The latest artist to inject his two cents into this ever-popular gig is San Francisco DJ Wait What, who, after becoming intrigued with the idea of hearing the vocals of Notorious BIG’s rags-to-riches classic “Juicy” atop the instrumental of The xx’s “VCR”, was then moved to create an entire mash-up mixtape marrying the two acts.
Not every cut works, an expected result when it comes to projects like these, but The Notorious XX surprisingly ends up more hit than miss, producing more than a handful of genuinely awesome cut-n-paste moments across it’s eleven-track span (whether it’s hearing Romy Croft hesitantly co-sign the mezmerizing powers of Biggie’s mic chops on “Basic Hypnosis” with a clever “I still let you in” cut-in, or having Biggie reflecting on his come-up while “hook-boy” Oliver Sim chimes in “Where would I be/ If this were to go under?/ That’s a risk I’d take” on “Islands Is The Limit”).
Peep the video for project jump-off “Juicy-R”, alongside offerings of two of our favorites, below, or simply pick up the entire album here.
On “Excuses”, the first single lifted from The Morning Benders‘ sophomore album Big Echo, the Cali indie-pop band (previously given love here for their intimate re-imagining of The Cardigans’ “Lovefool”) offer a gorgeously executed riff off of Phil Spector’s oft-referenced “Wall of Sound” studio trickery to support an engrossing play-by-play of young “soulmates” bathed in the euphoric bliss of making love for the first time.
The track, co-produced by lead singer Christopher Chu and Grizzly Bear‘s Chris Taylor, will initially spellbind you with it’s faux-vinyl haze and a dreamy doo-wop sway divinely seasoned with acoustic guitar strum flickers, rumbling bass drums, shuffling percussion, twinkling piano notes, sorrowful strings and “dah-dah-dum” background vocals seemingly birthed from angels perched atop the clouds above.
But being blessed with such ornate grandeur isn’t “Excuses” only satisfying bid at timeless pop-crafting; it’s lyrics, sweetly brought to life via Chu’s languid croon, prove just as endlessly endearing in their impressive stab at classic romance novel text, whether describing key moments of passion (“When you try to taste me/ And I take my tongue to the Southern tip of your body…”) or dishing out swoon-worthy lines like “I put no one else above us/ We’ll still be best friends when all turns to dust”.
Pick up the studio-version MP3 below, followed by an equally magnificent live take lensed by Yours Truly.
Remember back in the day when hip hop dances used to be easy to master? When you can pull out a decent Wop, Cabbage Patch or Running Man and earn an onslaught of cheers from your peers? Nowadays, you can get tired just watching the way kids pull off over-complicated steps and contort their bodies in odd, almost in-human like fashions. Not to mention the fact that it seems like every other hour, a new dance craze is being birthed from some different corner of the nation.
Out of Cali arises the jerkin’ movement, an urban youth sub-culture that seemingly (if understood by the many You Tube posts revolving around it) consists of hyphy-esque beats, skinny jeans, knee bends, backwards Running Man moves and having a “geeked up” swagger.
Helping give it a push into the mainstream’s light is “You’re A Jerk”, a corny, though slightly catchy, cut by L.A. teen-rap duo/ future one-hit-wonders New Boyz (a sort of Cool Kids for the “Rugrats” set). Unsurprisingly, the track doesn’t carry much depth, but if you desire trunk-rattling sparse minimalism, goofy horny boy braggadocio (“Got your girl on my swag/ She lovin’ them jerkin’ songs/ Like the new iPod, just touch it and turn her on”) and a silly titular hook that will surely be echoing throughout your brain for hours after the track ends (whether you want it to or not), think of it as an early Christmas present (that you’ll likely forget all about come December).
“You’re A Jerk”: pure for-the-moment hotness, or the latest sign that hip hop is on the verge of dying…again? Discuss amongst yourself.
There’s not enough good things you can say about Sam Sparro‘s still-fire “Black & Gold”. The 2008 (Grammy-nominated!!) breakout single from the Australian newcomer totally delivered what anyone would want from an electro-toned, blue-eyed-soul record (erm…about searching for God). Hell, we bet even Prince had to tap a high-heeled toe once he became aware of the jam.
With that being said, it’s come as a bit of a surprise that rappers haven’t fallen over themselves trying to tap into it as a sample-base “Paper Planes”-style, especially considering they seem to “bless” damn near everything else with a major blog following. Enter Shawn Chrystopher, a Cali-born emcee/ producer currently blazing through the mixtape circuit, to finally give “Black and Gold” a lil’ hip hop touch.
Interestingly, though, it’s not Shawn’s rapping contribution that stands out here as much as his production work. Cooking up a slightly jazzy, slower tempo-ed frame that’s all echoing synthesizer and frantic drum taps, Chrystopher’s work behind the boards is sharp and so complimenting to Sparro’s vocal that we wish it could’ve supported the whole of Sam’s song instead of just keeping the singer’s “involvement” to looped sample hook duties.
Ahhh, “Lovefool”, that candy-coated pop gem of ’96. To any Top 40-raised child of the nineties’, just mentioning The Cardigans‘ big hit stirs up memories of those “golden” years, not to mention reminding one of the utter babe-aliciousness of the band’s frontwoman Nina Persson.
Cali indie-pop favorites The Morning Benders help revive some of those fond recollections on this lovely remake, part of their new Bedroom Covers EP (which you can download, for FREE, here) that also sees them taking on Paul Simon, The Ronettes and The Smiths among others.
Their intimate reading beautifully grasps the underlining darkness of the original, re-painting around it’s lyrical desperation with a spare tambourine jiggle, hushed acoustic guitar strokes, and some of the creamiest male harmonies this side of Simon & Garfunkel. When Nina dreamed for her ex to “love me, love me” again against her version’s bubbly disco rush, you got the feeling that her period of depression would be brief (hotties like her don’t stay single for too long); the nerdy introvert vibe given from the Benders presents a far more infinite emotional concavity, their downbeat swoons seeming to summon up the dour realization that if she doesn’t take them back, they’ll probably never get a shot at love with another live soul ever again.
As nice as it is to get free music, think of how much better your soul would feel if you purchased it the old-fashioned way.
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(MP3 posts are for promotional and/ or previewing purposes only; if any artist or their representation wish to have the links removed, contact me and I will happily comply!)
Featuring nine non-sappy “dedicated to the ladies” cuts coolly baked in a summery, ’90′s neo-soul & boom bap chill, To…From…, the debut project from Cali-based hip hop trio Tomorrow, Yesterday, arrives just in time as salvation for those concerned over where they’ll get their new new-Native Tongues fix post-Slum Village’s recent deterioration. 
Remember back in the day when hip hop dances used to be easy to master? When you can pull out a decent Wop, Cabbage Patch or Running Man and earn an onslaught of cheers from your peers? Nowadays, you can get tired just watching the way kids pull off over-complicated steps and contort their bodies in odd, almost in-human like fashions. Not to mention the fact that it seems like every other hour, a new dance craze is being birthed from some different corner of the nation.
There’s not enough good things you can say about 
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