The story behind the scratchtastic Brainfreeze breaks set using only 7 inch 45s. Includes lots of additional funky breaks from Dusk, Heir, Marvski, Dante, Numark and Z-Trip. Also an interview covering the background of the project. This rocks y'all. Ding!
Nelly's MySpace webmaster has set the site not to accept other artists as friends. That is possibly the stupidest thing I've ever heard of. Especially since her hip pop makeover. Why are they scared? Do they think people will go to her page, see she has me as her friend and visit my page, then forget she ever existed? This makes me sad :o(
The album of the year. Buy this now! And I thought it would be shite like every other thing he's done...
Funky sample based hip hop loops.
Extended re-release of Scottish club music.
Has a few decent tracks on here production wise. The rapping isn't great but has some catchy hooks.
Always thought Mint Royale were shit after hearing one track a long time back. Turns out they're mint. This album features the song from a recent VW advert.
A truly outstanding showing from one of the greatest acts of all time and an original big beat survivor. Who would expect anything less!? Not as fresh as Tricka Technology but still extremely robust in today's climate of wuss rock and trance dance. Let's hope A.Skillz returns for another collaboration.
Excellent as usual.
As per the last album these songs are good, but not Freestylers good. What happened!? Not enough Jay Rock, Navigator and Tenor Fly. That's what. Too many whiney plebs here. But still excellent compared to most.
Wonderful electronic soul. Worst album yet though - really misses the guests of Hinterland.
Refreshing and brilliant. Buy this album as it's for a good cause - every purchase donates money to finding a cure for Lupus. I know it sounds made up but it's very real.
Not as good as Phrenology or The Tipping Point but still very well produced and listenable hip hop.
3 good songs. The rest is shite rock music, not because it's rock, just because it's shite. This one comes with a DVD. I haven't watched it yet as I'm still too angry.
First album without Cut Chemist and Charli 2na, although he guests on one track. This is still superb multi layered music with excellent vocals. They continue to have both edge and accessibility to their sound.
Here's a picture of me hanging out with J5. And yes, it was cool.
Now this is the shit. Krafty Kuts' new album out this month and A.Skillz has a bunch of mix albums out now!
Again truely brilliant. New stuff coming soon. I've heard two tracks and they're already stuck in my head.
Amazing second LP from the Helsinki dudes. I truely can't wait for the third because you just know it's gonna rock.
To kick off another round of old ones we have the superb debut from Mr Roc. Highlights being Can You Feel with MC Det, Fallen with Gary Lightbody, Makin' It Hot with TC Islam and Post Punk Progression with Snow Patrol (who are shite usually). Let's hope his new album also has such excellent guests. I've heard a few songs on his MySpace page and it's looking good.
This is the second LP from PSB yet to be released in this country. It's excellent and I'd expect nothing less from these very talented people. It does lack a slight edge that was present in the first album, but it's still very, very strong considering the current state of music. Not a bad song on here. I bought this direct from Amazon Japan.
The original Japanese copy of Fakevox with different coloured artwork and an extra track. I bought this direct from Amazon Japan.
I bought this original Canadian version of BV3's Glee because I love them so much. This version has one different song, an extended version of a song and an original all French version of another. Also it lacks 2 other songs added for the worldwide release. All the tracks sound slightly different, like they've been mixed down somewhere else. It almost feels a bit more raw. I bought the CD from a nice Canadian on eBay, but payed in US Dollars.
This latest LP from Basement Jaxx doesn't have any stand out songs like their previous albums. Usually you can find 5 really strong tracks that will become the singles, but it's all very samey here. It's like they've raised their game so the quality is level throughout. Their shit songs have moved up to become OK, but their great songs have moved down to become OK too. It's good but not great. Also, another vinyl cover that takes me back to my childhood. Cool, but not very effective here.
Here's an updated photo of my music collection using my new Nokia. I've upgraded my blog to the Blogger Beta service, which means Flickr won't automatically forward any new photos, so I'm doing it manually for the moment. Expect some new reviews soon with better quality pictures.
Well Simon's back presenting the new series of Never Mind The Buzzcocks, which is the perfect vechicle for his pop based comedy stylings. Also, this means that the utter twat Mark Lamar has finally left. Hooray!
The second side to the special hologram cover of Idlewild. Let's hope the film is as funky as the inlay. The trailer does look promising.
The sixth Outkast album is the third worst or the forth best, which ever way you want to look at it. Big boi shines as usual and Andre is a bit crap when on his own. They're at their best when producing together and when they bring The Dungeon Family in for vocal support duties. Let's hope the next album has a bit more cohesion between them...
Excellent debut from Lyrics Born. I heard Same Shit, Different Day (the same album with remixed tracks) first, so it's kinda odd listening to this now. It really does sound different, which is a testament to the quality of the remixes. Truely innovative hiphop.
MF Doom and Danger Mouse come together with a bunch of Adult Swim cartoon characters to produce this interesting concept album. It's pretty good but no Gnarls Barkley or ...And Jemini. Adult Swim have enrolled Peanut Butter Wolf to produce the next one out sometime soon.
About fucking time too. I can finally throw that CD-R away.
My second purchase from Amazon of the .com persuasion. This album is described as a hiphop classic and it comes very close. With a lot of Prince Paul production on here this album has aged well, unlike Justin who now fronts a wuss-rock band. Definately worth the purchase if you can find it in the UK. Although Drugstore Cowboy sounds nothing like it does on Brother's Gonna Work It Out!
Funky soul music from The Dungeon Family cohort.
Finally it's here! Play took their sweet ass time getting this one to me. I think stocks must've been low because it's so fucking good. Right, this isn't their best album, in fact it's their worst. It does miss Cut Chemist as some of the guest producers are a bit shite. But a bad J5 album is still a damn fine album. Actually I wouldn't describe it as bad. No album with 4 world class MC's and 1 world class producer (and a bunch of OK ones) is bad. Buy this now!
A few good songs on here, especially Melody. Not sure why Pomo bothered showing up though. This isn't as good as you'd expect from Nu-Mark, much like Cut Chemist, it seems he's saving the best bits for J5 and I'm not complaining.
Surprisingly shit. I would have preferred the lessons plus the few good tracks on here. OK, so it's not bad. If it was anyone else I'd say it was fucking great, but it isn't just anyone, it's Cut Chemist and I guess I expected better. Thinking about it Nu-Mark's album wasn't that good either. I'll review that next.
This double CD includes UD's second album Taste The Secret and their The Leftovers EP of spare tracks. It's excellent value and unbelievably good. I love Ugly Duckling they just keep getting better. Taste The Secret tells the story of a battle between Meat Shake and the Veggie Hut restaurants. It's funny, intelligent and amazingly funky. Little Einstein's production is top notch and Andy and Dizzy's rhymes are killer as always. The Leftovers EP is almost an album in itself in terms of quality. Buy the Combo Meal now and always eat Veggie Hut!
My first purchase from Amazon.com, since they opened the US site to international customers, is this Japan only release from UK breakbeat outfit Fused and Bruised. The mixing duties for this label showcase are performed by one of my favourite artists to fall off the face of the earth - DJ Scissorkicks - now just known as Scissorkicks. Where did his second album go? Anyway I've been trying to get hold of this mix for around 7 years. In the end it took an American company based in Germany to import it from Japan and mail it to England all via Amazon Marketplace. It wasn't worth it. OK, so it's not bad for 3 quid (the strength of the pound ladies and gentlemen). There's a few good songs on there but you'd be better off buying Scissorkicks' debut Video Computer System. It's much better showing up the rest of the FAB artists.
Standard disc comes with additional DVD containing 5.1 surround music set to funky visuals and a booklet of photos. Also has a few extra remixed tracks.
Beck's finest and most consistent work to date - not a bad song on here.
Yay, Outkast have finally given a concrete release date for Idlewild, their new album and film. I had it on pre-order at Play for about 6 months before giving up and cancelling it. According to their newsletter it's out on August 25th, but that's probably just the US. Should be interesting to see what the film's all about. The first single Mighty O is available now via digital download. Check out their MySpace page for the latest.
We're expecting new albums from J5, Cut Chemist and DJ Shadow in the month of July. It's worrying that I'm hearing rumours that Cut Chemist has left J5. Let's hope he's just on leave while he promotes his solo work. I've previewed a few new J5 tracks on their MySpace page and they rock as always. If any of these albums get delayed I imagine it will be Shadow's as it's completely out the blue and still isn't listed on Amazon yet. Not long to wait now!
UPDATE - Actually Nelly I love the new album. I really do. It certainly is hip and has plenty of pop, so hippop does indeed live on. I think you've created a new genre there or at least made it you own. I still don't think Tim has another credible project outside yours, but I have to say he really has outdone himself this time, a la Dangermouse via Gnarls Barkley. It must have been your amazing vocal talent and beautiful smile that did it. More guitar and less dancing next time though, not that you can't dance or anything, you flick hair like a goddess. Buy this album now folks!
Come back Track and Field! Timberland knows sweet fuck all about hiphop and even less about pop. This album is very poor. It's only just made listenable because of Nelly's wonderful vocals. Don't buy this get Whoa, Nelly! or Folklore instead. Sorry Nelstar I still love you but this is shit and a complete let down.
This album, produced by Prince Paul, is really good in a white boy rappin' kinda way. There's some funny and intelligent lyrics and the production is top notch. It can be hard to take this kind of project seriously, but if the hiphop hardcore can get through the whack-barrier they'll find it rocks on the other side.
Well Terry really is worth the BBC money as he makes Eurovision barely watchable. He rocked us again as Finland took the title with a very bad metal song. Funniest Terry quote: This song brings suspenders to a whole new level! Funniest song lyric: Your love is like America, always invading my heart! Classic.
DM's only project worth a look outside Gnarls Barkley. It's funky shit, maybe a bit hardcore rap in places, but nice enough. Jemini puts in a good performance with some cool messages wrapped in his raps and world class DJ Yoda provides the scratches.
Easily his most consistent album. This guy and his super cool friends keep getting better and better. For the time being Har Mar isn't producing anything as he pushes focus towards his brother's crap band Sean Na Na.
This is Prince Paul's finest work to date in his own name. That's not hard really as his other 3 albums are shite. This is good though, very tight and original and it comes with a message too. It's a shame he feels this is a detour from his usual style when this kicks arse over his other stuff. There's nothing wrong with making commercially viable music, especially when it sounds as good as this.
