the homie collaborated with on a great '90s-themed mix that was just released by streetwear label . it's called and it's a round-up of alt-rock hits by bands ranging from cibo matto to sonic youth. i helped out on the project by mining my digi-crates for some of the songs the guys used in the set. (i haven't seen the cd yet, but word is i'm thanked in the liner notes alongside matt pinfield and daria morgendorffer - sweet.) a limited number of physical promos were given out to retailers last week at magic. the is available for free to everyone else. grab it!
bonus: here's a '90s fave they didn't use for the mix. maybe it'll end up on volume 2?
our real good amigos in have a new digital ep called out now on . it's an odds-and-ends collection featuring a new song; remixes by , (with scratches by ), and (winner of the ); and a cover from (which he made by spiffing up and swapping the original acapella out with his own vocals - cool!). the ep's kick-ass cover art was designed by hunter mack, who runs gold robot. you can see more of hunter's work on .
here's the track list:
1. we wouldn't want it any other way (débruit remix)
2. throwing away broken electronics (mochipet remix f/ dj lion)
3. you're right. it's ballin'.
4. they do (multi-panel remix)
5. they do (roman ruins version)
there were lots of other great "they do" remix contest entries. we'll do a post soon with some of our favorites.
but right now, let's check out one of the tracks from we blame you, shall we?
here at sneakmove, we get a lot of new music sent to us by publicists. most of it is very bland, but once in a while we get a track that can only be described as u-fucking-nique. pr reps: y'all need to keep it interesting and send us more wild shit like this!
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From: ahoora mazda
Date: Tue, Aug 19, 2008 at 1:29 AM
Subject: (song of year) the best new rap song of ali tanha(alone) feat tricky-m
To: sneakmove
hi im ziba karson one of the fan of your site
this is the best rap song of rap-trance style's
ali tanha feat tricky-m this song have 3 part
enlish german and persian so ali tanha sing enlish and persian
and tricky-m sing german rap. this song wanna candid for geramy award
and so may be it be the song of year plz insert it in your site
p.s.
thank alot:ziba karson
the name of song:beauty
is an art and music exhibition i've been working on over the past few months with the good people at via my job at . the project is based on the idea of creative reuse and is made up of 12-inch circular artworks and eight-second audio loops. we launched into infinity's online component a couple of weeks ago and are now planning a number of physical installations.
the exhibition includes pieces by , , , , , , and a bunch of other great artists and musicians. all of the works are published under a creative commons copyright license, which lets people download, share, and remix them for noncommercial purposes. we'll add new submissions regularly, and we'll eventually invite the public to submit their remixes of the pieces for possible inclusion in the exhibition.
i've currently got two loops in the mix. you can listen to my loops by visiting the and clicking "eriksolo mmc." the site's programmed to pair a random audio loop with a random visual piece every time you navigate to the next display. play around with it for a bit and you'll come up with all sorts of cool combinations.
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abstract rude has not contributed any artwork or loops to into infinity (if you read this, abbey, holler at us and submit something!), but he did do a track with abstract tribe unique several years back called "blast off into infinity," and it would make a great theme song for the project, so i shall post it here.
i've posted about the before. there's not a lot of info about the group out there, but i've pieced together that it was made up of three guys who went to risd in the mid-'90s. they hooked up with wordsound to put out a few records, then capped their discography with an album on load.
the first hawd gankstuh rappuhs album, is awesomely bizarre (an amazon user review puts it pretty well: "some people say that it sounds like the beasties retaded cuzins, a battle between 3 flava flavs, or nwa meets the butthole serfers, or the beatnuts after they got pushed off a subway platform in front of a moving train."). the second one, , isn't quite as good, but still has some great moments.
my favorite track on wake up … is "the bong (get in the)," which parodies cypress hill's laser-like focus on rapping about marijuana. (did you know that b-real smokes pot? it's true, he does! in fact, it makes him very stoned.)
these days, devin flynn, aka guy albino, is in the band and is an animator who has worked on wonder showzen and the aqua teen hunger force movie. there's an with him from earlier this year up on the vice blog. he also has his own series, y'all so stupid (the title refers to obscure (but great) dallas austin-related hip-hop group). the show is disgusting and weird in much the same way that the hawd gankstuh rappuhs music is. RAD!
here's my favorite episode:
from what i understand, seth cooper, aka flybot van damn, makes some of the music for y'all so stupid. cooper also helms an experimental electronic music project called . his new album, upside down helicoptor is available to purchase directly from the label.
growing up, i had a few friends whose moms were very strict christians and wouldn't let them listen to rap music because it is dirty and corrupting. then dc talk came around in the early '90s and offered respectable beats and rhymes that even the blessed virgin mary could get loose to. thank goodness! too bad the group's songs sucked.
there are many cornball rap tracks in the dc talk discography, but 1991's "i luv rap music" epitomizes why the group was never able to connect with real hip-hop audiences (despite being HUGE stars on the christian music scene). the song is a hamfisted rip-off of a variety of popular secular tracks of the era, with lyrics that are delivered in a way that recalls a junior high principal reaching out to students on their level to communicate the virtuous joys of recycling … via rap!
the group's lead vocalist, toby mckeehan, had clearly been listening to a lot of fresh prince around the time this song was recorded (check out the part where he does a squeaky, silly impersonation of his mom - it's a move jacked straight from the "parents just don't understand"/"fresh prince of bel-air theme" playbook). meanwhile, the intro is clearly intended to invoke the same sort of apocalyptic superseriousness that leads off several public enemy songs. in his deepest and most earnest rap voice, mckeehan hilariously bellows "some people out there givin' rap a bad name!". suffice it to say, he is no professor griff, and this song is no "bring the noise."
i was going through some records i have tucked away in a closet and found the 45 for debbie harry's "french kissin'," which was also released as "french kissin' in the usa." i bought the record when it came out in 1986 because i'd heard the song on the radio and the drum sounds at the very beginning reminded me of the beastie boys' "paul revere." (i even made a very clumsy pause tape-like mix that included bits of both tracks - if that sucker turns up in further closet searchin', i'll mosdef post audio from it here).
i forgot how great this song is. i searched hype machine, and it looks like no one's posted it before, which surprises me because (a) it's from the '80s, (b) it's by debbie harry, (c) it's got the word "french" in it.
debbie harry - "french kissin'" (aka "french kissin' in the usa")
it's fun to explore a musician's early work, especially when the stuff they created in their formative years is drastically different than their current output.
, whose career has been through a variety of stages, used to go by the name stinkin' rich. in 1994, he released a 7inch with a song called "who you frontin' for?," which provides a great example of how much an artist's work can change over time. it's very much influenced by the upbeat, headnod hip-hop of the era. buck's delivery seems a little off and his voice is sorta squeaky (not b-real squeaky, but there's a definite beastie boys influence in there somewhere). it's not an amazing track, but it's a fun listen and shows buck beginning to figure out where he wanted to go with his music. check it out.
carly simon's "why" was produced by chic's nile rodgers and bernard edwards for the soundtrack to a movie called the film bombed, which should be no surprise: you know your romantic comedy's a stinker when is your leading man. anyway, the song was a big hit in europe, but not so much in the US. it should have been a worldwide smash, though, as far as i'm concerned. it's a perfect hybrid of sad ballad and weird disco-reggae. sorry, that description makes the song sound awful, but it's actually really really great.
very cheesy and awesome post-disco ballad set in the future about a woman on earth trying to call her husband on mars (by way of an intergalactic operator) to tell him she misses him.
this is an early '80s lite rock gem that you probably heard a lot on the radio when you were a lot younger. listen again -- it's really good! it was written and produced by russ ballard, who was the frontman for argent and who wrote their hit "god gave rock and roll to you."
nick catchdubs & mr. ducker's "radio friendly unit shifter" mixawesome as hell.mmc's "we blame you" ep is out nowfrom the inbox: persian/german trance-rap with FILTHY english interludeswhaaaaaaaaaaat?thou art infinite; infinite art thouand inside that bong is a baby bong!holy shit
i have tears running down my face from listening to the bong song
thanks for the research, i'm def gonna look these guys upright on. i'm glad you liked it. seriously, the first album is an absurd classic. thanks for commentin'.
