So Wednesday was my designated “CMJ Day” where I decided to take in a couple of the shows the festival had to offer. Here’s a bit of a rundown of what I saw and heard.

DROM-Brooklyn Bodega Showcase

I started my night here with the homie Dee Phunk from Trees for Breakfast. One thing as a club/show patron and a DJ that I can’t stand are venues with sub-par sound. Its definitely not cool when its a bar or lounge with DJ setups, but its really unbearable when you have a stage and call yourself a performance venue! For that, Drom gets 2 thumbs down. In addition, they charge $7 for Budweiser. WTF.

Brooklyn Bodega puts on several shows a year including the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festivals, which is arguably one of the best NYC summer events every year. They also do an annual showcase in conjunction with CMJ. It is an opportunity for us to get familiar with some dope up and coming artists as well as see more established crews. This year’s lineup included singers Kimberly Nichole and Jesse Boykins III, The Chosen (who are signed to the Bodega’s Savannah Boogie Label), Diamond District, Tanya Morgan, and Pacific Divison aka Pac Div.

I honestly can’t say anyone had a particularly good or bad performance due to the sound, but every artist who performed is definitely quality. So instead of telling you what I thought about each, I’ll just give you some info on the performers, link up some music, and let you be the judge.

Kimberly Nichole, who I hadn’t heard of before the show, has a really great voice. She just dropped her new album Yellow Brick Journey which you can purchase on her site. She also has a series of videos of her performances as well as some songs streaming as well.

Jesse Boykins III was on next. He too has an album out called The Beauty Created that’s on iTunes right now. He has been performing in NYC and appearing on project with artists such as Theophilus London and Melo-X. He’s got a great sound that’s in the vein of other great contemporary soul singers such as Dwele, with solid production that only enhances the overall experience he aims to create. He also hasn’t boxed himself in as just a crooner-he delves into some upbeat grooves as much as he does sexy slow jams. I hear his next project will have a lot of production by Machinedrum which I am super excited about ( I’ll touch on him another day, another blog entry because I.Love.Machinedrum.)

Diamond District has released one of the best hip hop albums this year. In the Ruff is just straight dope-classic production (by MC/Producer Oddisee) that isn’t trite and no tricks. MCs X.O. and Y.U. round out the trio. They released a clean version for free download that had the internets going nuts. Do the Google (c) G.W. Bush to see if you can find a link since it is no longer available on their site.  The dirty version is on sale on iTunes and the vinyl LP just dropped so get thee to your local record shop! You can also download a new track from them here.

Tanya Morgan also came out with one of the best albums this year, Brooklynati. I am biased when it comes to Tanya Morgan and I am unapolegtically so. I’ve been a fan of Von Pea since The Waa’s (ha!) and heard a few tracks from Ilyas and Donwill when they were Illwill that I dug as well. 3 MCs with varied styles and different backgrounds forming a great group. I highly recommend you buy Brooklynati off iTunes.

Pac Div ended the night, though I left before their performance ended since I thought I was running late. Another hip-hop trio! They are from SoCal and have found fans in folks like Pharrell Williams and ?uestlove. The recently released a new mixtape Church League Champions and have a full length album coming out soon. Check their website for updates!

Crash Mansion-Plug Research Showcase
With VJ Deluge of Punchdouble , MC Melodee , and DJ INT (also known as La Melodia ) in tow, we trekked to the next CMJ showcase presented by Plug Research. I have to say that La Melodia is the shit. MC Melodee is one of the top MCs in the Netherlands and “Time” is a track I love vibing out to. Here’s the video.

 
If you’re in NYC, you have one more chance to catch them live this weekend at Plan B .

So, on to the Plug Research show! Plug Research, who recently released the Shafiq Husayn album I spoke about not too long ago, is building up a pretty good roster of acts. They recently signed Om’Mas Keith (another third of Sa-Ra Creative Partners) as well as Bilal and I look forward to hearing their projects that should be coming out next year. The showcase featured Blu and Exile, Shafiq Husayn, and Bilal, with special DJ sets by Large Professor, Jrocc of the Beatjunkies, DJ Spinna, and hosted by Pharaoh Monche and was held at Crash Mansion.

The venue was a step up from Drom, but there were some sound issues which caused the show to run extremely late. Doors opened an hour later than advertised.

Blu and Exile were up first. Exile is one of my favorite producers out right now. The first track of his I ever heard was “Time Has Come” was an early staple when I first started to spin. In 2007, Exile partnered up with Cali MC Blu for the album Above the Heavens which was a favorite of many a hip hop fan. Blu also did another project with producer Mainframe in 2008 called Johnson and Jonson which you can cop on iTunes. Blu and Exile are working on a new album together which I would expect to be coming out next year. They did a quick set of mostly new tracks with a couple from Above the Heavens and they closed out with Exile just doing some nasty live beats on stage with a turntable and his MPC. On a side note, Blu released a very low-rent mixtape earlier this year (circa Valentines’s Day) called Her Favorite Colo(u)r which I really enjoyed. You can download it here.

Then Large Professor came on stage and DJed a quick hip hop set of straight headnodders-both old and new (so new they had DJ Clue tags on the tracks! yikes!) and kept shouting about how he just wanted to hear some hip hop which I’m always down for. What totally grabbed me about his set is he didn’t DJ with headphones. That’s 20+ years of experience right there (and a great trust in Serato).

Next up, Shafiq Husayn. Apparently there were some more sound issues right when he was about to start his set so there were further delays. He started in with “Nirvana” but his back-up singers could barely be heard. This continued throughout his set. He said this was the first time he performed the album and you could tell. I really think he should have selected the songs that had other vocalists rather than rely on the tracks where his vocals were more prominent since he didn’t always sing on the album. The sound at Crash Mansion wasn’t helping the situation either. I would say the highlight of his set for me (apart from him closing out with Sa-Ra’s “Glorious”) was Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, who was part of Shafiq’s live band. He is an accomplished musician/composer/arranger who did something pretty damn amazing last year: He orchestrated select Dilla tracks and released them with the title a Suite for Ma Dukes. He also conducted a live performance of these orchestrations and I really regret not being able to travel out to California to attend. I was really hoping they’d bring this to NYC!

The album was released on Mochilla  (same folks who brought you KeepinTime and BrasilinTime) so I’m sure a DVD is forthcoming. Miguel Atwood-Ferguson was absolutely beautiful on the violin during Shafiq’s set. I really just zoned out and listened to him for most of the performance.

By the time Shafiq ended his set it was 1am and a sista had to go to work in the morning so unfortunately, I missed Bilal’s performance.

Hopefully my rundown of a just a very small sliver of CMJ happenings in the city makes up for me not posting for a few days. I highly encourage anyone in the NYC area to try and catch the tail end of the festival. There are a lot of great acts performing and many will be dominating your radio airwaves eventually so check them out while they still have drive and ambition to make “good” music!

For those in the NYC area, CMJ Music Fest 2009 begins today (or was it yesterday? whatevs, its here)

There are a ton of live music performances, panels, and more going on in venues across the city. I’m definitely trying to hit up a few but so many of the ones I’d like to hit up overlap!!!!

I’ll be here tomorrow night.  If you see me, say hi

 
(I’m very jealous Karen O has found the perfect shade of red for her lips. I’m still looking!)

I can’t say that I’m a die hard Yeah Yeah Yeahs fan. I do know when I first heard “Maps” I was pretty much sold. I enjoyed their first 2 studio albums Fever to Tell and Show Your Bones a lot.

Earlier this year, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs released their third studio album It’s Blitz!, which was a little more electronic and dance oriented than what others would call their punk rock “roots”. Some folks may not have dug it but I think it was a pretty good foray into danceable music without sounding pop and less edgy and less like themselves. “Zero” was the lead single but I think “Heads Will Roll” is really the main attraction on the album. Its just a great track all the way through and A-Trak just made a great track better with his remix, which is finally being released after burning up radio and the internets for the past few months. He’s quite the busy man between this release and his Duck Sauce project that’s supposed to be coming out next week!

According to Disco Dust, A-Trak and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs wanted to spread it via blogs as well so here it is!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs-Heads Will Roll (A-Trak Remix) (Right Click and Save As)

Thank to Disco Dust for posting up the song on their blog.

On a side note, I wish The Noisettes had taken their cue on moving into new directions musically from It’s Blitz! rather than Back to Black. I can’t say I enjoy Wild Young Hearts so much. However, I do enjoy the mashup of the album with Kanye’s 808s and Hearbreak that Mick Boogie and Terry Urban whipped up and here’s a link to that right here!

Alright! So in the interest in trying to keep things interesting and music related while putting you all onto other things, I’m going to try something new. Every week or so (while supplies last), I’m going to introduce you to one of the super-talented people I’ve been blessed to call friends. Maybe we’ll talk music, maybe we’ll talk art or politics, or maybe we won’t talk at all and I’ll just tell you about them. First up, my pal Dee Phunk.

 
If you are ever out and about at a dope party in NY, chances are Dee is either there, helped promote via Rare Form Promotions, or made the flyer or all three. He’s a design geek, music nerd and all around man about town. He’s a great freelance designer  and he also runs a great site called Trees for Breakfast. If you see him, say hello! He’s friendly. Buy him a Blue Moon Ale while you’re at it.

So Derreck and I share music. Mostly, I leech off him. (That’s what friends are foooooor!) So he put me on to this group, Quadron, a Danish group with soul and electronic leanings (side note: what’s up with overseas lately? they are killing it with the new music!). So being the ever opinionated lady I am, I struck up a bit of a convo about their album

me: Hi

Dee: Hello

me: I listened to that Quadron

Dee: Like it?

me: Not really but I want to give it a few more listens. I like Jeans but that song is silly.

Dee: OK

me: I can’t figure out why I dont like it so I need to give it some more plays.

Dee: They’re in that same vein as Little Dragon. Dont you like them?

me: Well I didn’t think LD’s first album was so great. I like Machine Dreams a lot. I don’t really see that much of a similarity between the two even if I just compare their first album to Quadron. Other than that theyre both Swedish [Note: they are Danish. I was wrong] and both have music that is soul and electronic, I don’t think they really sound the same. Little Dragon is a little more bass heavy, Even on the first album. This Quadron is a little more light I guess. I can’t think of a better way of describing it.

Dee: The “soul and electronic thing” is what i like. Thats the meat and potatoes of it

me: Little Dragon executes it better so that it is a little more familiar. Quadron’s sound is more unique. What song is your fave?

Dee: Simili Life and The Day

I’m not 100% sure if Quadron’s album is available for purchase on iTunes but you can check our their Myspace to hear their songs. I have to say the verdict is still out with me as far as whether or not I really like them. I’ll be giving them a listen hard this weekend.

Speaking of weekend…adios! I’m heading out of town for the weekend so no more posts until Monday. Here are a couple of new songs to tide you over.

N.E.R.D. feat Santigold-Soldier
Ok. If this was 2 separate songs-one N.E.R.D, one Santi, they’d be decent. Together, not so much. I do, however, appreciate Pharrell delving into punk waters with that flow.

Theophilus London-Enjoy the Sun
Someone actually told me they were surprised I like Theophilus. I don’t love everything he does but with Machinedrum production, he almost can do no wrong. Machinedrum is the shit.

It is a yummy condiment on fried rice.  It is also a new project and collaboration between dance music super producer Armand Van Helden (who has made some of my favorite house songs) and DJ A-Trak.

Their EP “Anyway” comes out on Fool’s Gold on October 26th. In the meanwhile, check this hilarious video and great song …might have to go into this dance mix I’m working on.

I also want to shout out Fool’s Gold. They release dope music and their blog is always full of musical goodies. I especially like Rappin’ Ass Thursdays.

Yes, I hate that album. I’m sorry! I hate it and I’m still mad I bought it. There are at best 2 songs that don’t compel me to wanting to rip my hair out and that is a very generous statement.

However, in 2009, I can say something good came of this album: a group from New Zealand took a song title off that crap album and named their band after it.

I present: Electric Wire Hustle (no Flower, thank god)

I’m sure I’m late on them but who cares? The lead singer’s voice sounds like Marvin Gaye and its dope. Hello?!? They are flipping Minnie Riperton’s “Inside My Love” in this video on their website!!!!

I’m just going to stop typing now so you can get to clicking on these links

Here’s an mp3 download of their song “Chaser” courtesy of the Couch Sessions

Here’s a link to another song of theirs which is equally dope.

Not sure if the album is available stateside but I’ll definitely be looking into it this weekend!

As a side note, I want to thank everyone giving me good feedback on the site. I’m definitely trying to update it every (week) day with whatever music I run into that should be shared. I know the site formatting is horrible and there has been some access issues. To that end, I’m hoping to roll out my “real” site by the end of next week (or sooner) and there may be some period of time between today and tomorrow where the site will not be available so I can move servers. Thanks for the patience and support!

-Tionne (aka T-Boz) in “Belly”
 
So today’s post theme is Africa. A couple of albums have finally made it on the ipod that are a bit African-inflected that I find very interesting

First up from Stones Throw is the new instrumental album by Bay Area native Oh No called Dr. No’s Ethiopium.

I have to say I really don’t enjoy a lot of instrumental hip-hop (ish) albums. I just get bored after a while. Especially the super-jazzy ones. Its great background music but I’m not a background music kinda girl. I like my stuff to knock and grab my attention always. However, I have made exceptions in the past for the following beatmakers-Madlib, Dilla**, and MF Doom. They manage to make instrumental albums interesting-from cutting in TV/movie dialog to adding a bit of texture with dirty elements like hand claps and record static. Oh No comes from this same school of beat-cd making. I would imagine he would, since he’s also Madlib’s younger brother.

Ethiopium reworks samples of old Ethiopian songs into dope beats. I’m trying really hard to refrain from comparing it to Donuts-just because Mountain’s “Long Red” is used and there’s some handclaps and manipulates vocal samples from the songs to sound like words that make those with immature senses of humor giggle doesn’t mean anything! All jokes aside its a great beat CD. I’m sure its only a matter of time before someone uses this as the base for their next mixtape.

Next up is by Shafiq Husayn of Sa-Ra fame (wasn’t I talking about them not too long ago?) and his solo venture Shafiq En’ A-Free-Ka.

All beats were done by Shafiq and he brings along some Sa-Ra affiliates such as Bilal and Rozzi Daime and even Om’Mas Keith (who now works for Diddy and is all over MTV’s Making His Band andlooking quite handsome if I must say) to bring forth singing vocals to his spoken pieces. Honestly, he talks too damn much on this album and most of the time it hurts the song rather than helps but its his album so do you Shafiq! Its still a great album if you can get past whatever it is he’s saying. I definitely plan to work in a few songs off the album into future mixes.

Both albums are out now and I encourage you to check them both out.

Buy Dr No’s Ethiopium
(download a quick taste of it here)

Buy Shafiq En’ A-Free-Ka
(download a quick taste of it here-this is actually a remix of a track off the album that was done by Nottz)

**you’ll learn as this blog progresses that I’m a huge Dilla stan. I may look familiar to some of you if not by DJing, by the fact I’m the girl who serves you donuts and begs for donations every year at Donuts are Forever

Last week I had the pleasure of attending another Roots Jam Session.

As you should know, The Roots are the house band for Jimmy Fallon’s late night show. They’re definitely turning the idea of a house band on its head and ?uestlove is turning out to be quite a musical director! Can’t wait until they offer him major award show gigs.

Since they’ve been in NYC for extended periods of time, they’ve decided to bless their fans yet again (you have NO idea!) with a series of Jam Sessions at Highline Ballroom. They’ve been occuring weekly (with some breaks) and they have continually sold out. You get to see one of the best bands perform with awesome musical guests such as Living Colour, Angelo Moore (Fishbone), Craig G, Jeru the Damaja , Imani Uzuri, and many others. All of this for only $10. Its definitely not a typical performance: don’t expect to hear your favorite song off “Things Fall Apart”. You might hear a song or two but it is exactly what it claims to be: a jam session. I went to one back in spring and had a great time. I definitely wanted to make another one but hadn’t yet gotten around to it until now.

I won a contest through Brooklyn Bowl, who was hosting a special Jam Session on October 1st. Its a great venue-bowling alley/concert hall/bar/restaurant with food by Blue Ribbon. The bowling alley is definitely not for a couple to have a little bowling date since prime-time rates are $50 an hour for a lane but if you get a decent number of folks together, its definitely more affordable. However, since it was just my brother and I, we settled for $6 dollar local beers at the bar by the stage and a pizza by the L train on the way home instead of the award winning cuisine served up at the venue.

I have to say the highlight of the show for me was at the very beginning, when two gentlemen came out and sat down-one at a drum kit, the other in front of a Korg-and began to play music that I can only describe (perhaps not accurately) as Portishead meets Bjork meets Beirut. These two gentlemen are known as Pattern Is Movement and have now unseated fashion designers Costello Tagliapietra as my new favorite bears.

They have a few songs on their myspace here. One of the songs they performed was “Sound of Your Voice” which was my favorite. They also brought in the entire Jam Session band (?uest included) and did two covers that make me think that they secretly wish they were an R&B act: Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love” and D’Angelo’s “Untitled”. They totally managed to make it their own and even a bit strange with the unusual warblings of singer/keyboardist Andrew Thiboldeaux on “Untitled”. I enjoyed every minute and the Chris Ward is absolutely nasty on the drums.

After that it was a cavalcade of familiar affiliates of The Roots (Ursula Rucker, Talib Kweli) and a hip hop meets reggae meets afrobeat group called Bajah and the Dry-Eye Crew, who hail from Sierra Leone. After all that typing about these jam sessions specifically *not* being concerts, this one was pretty structured with even The Roots themselves doing some familiar songs. They closed out the session with a great rendition of “I Can Understand It”  based off the New Birth’s version of the Bobby Womack song, which in my opinion, is the best.

Here’s footage of Pattern Is Movement doing “Untitled”

There’s an addition to the Music section of this website. Please check it out and let me know what you think!

Also, thanks for bearing with the site! I know the color on some browsers is pretty awful. I’m hoping to get that remedied soon!

Mr. Magic Marley Marl

I feel like I’m always posting about deaths! I’m not a “death comes in threes” or a ” omg! too many deaths!” person because people die every day-fame exaggerates and people tend to get up in arms over celebrity deaths but every life is precious. But this year is a tough one! This morning, Mr. Magic died of an apparent heart attack.

If it were not for Mr. Magic, hip hop would not have become what it is. From Stetsasonic to Whodini to the infamous Boogie Down Productions/Juice Crew rivalry (back when rap “beefs” produced great music-remember that?) to Public Enemy (NO MORE MUSIC BY THE SUCKERS!-that was Mr. Magic) to the MC I quoted to start off this post.

An MC, a DJ, a groundbreaker, a revolutionary, and one of the cornerstones of the foundation of hip hop. Rest In Peace