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FREE DOWNLOAD – Freddie Gibbs “COLD DAY IN HELL” Mixtape

November 1, 2011 in Music, With Video

Freddie Gibbs‘ journey to where he sits now in the music industry is incredibly telling.  Hailing from Gary, Indiana, the rapper comes from an area that is among the most notorious in the nation for it’s levels of impoverishment, violence, and crime.  Not surprisingly, his lyrical content is often fueled by tales of pimping, crack dealing, and murder.  Such subject matter clearly isn’t revolutionary for the rap game, but his level of sincerity and his approach to how he delivers it is something that has become increasingly rare.  Folded into “Gangsta” Gibbs‘ tales of street life are various reflections about topics as intimate as the death of his grandmother to the miscarriage of his child.  It’s this directness that really makes the listener feel like they can trust what is being relayed in the tracks.  Whether that means that you believe that he’s experienced what he’s detailing or simply believe that he Freddie will honestly kill your ass if you cross him, there’s an authenticity to his words, as well as with his delivery.  There’s an ability to verbally paint landscapes in a very matter of fact style that neither glamorizes or rejects the environments created.  It’s a quality that greats like Tupac used to possess; a feeling that the artist has become a rapper only because they have something to get out and needed a forum, not that they are simply trying to come up with something to say, because they were infatuated with the idea of becoming a rapper.  And the rising rap star definitely has plenty to say, as evidenced by the endless material that seems to pour out of him (including one full 81-track mixtape).  With one mixtape after the other, Gibbs has stayed true to his motto of “Str8 killa No filla“, by continuously maintaining a high level of quality throughout the ridiculously prolific amount of material that he’s released in such a short time.  Making most of his work available for free download, Gibbs appears to be in no danger of running out of new material , displaying more than a minor amount of confidence about his staying power or his willingness to continuously move forward.  Now, with his latest 16-track (17 w/bonus song) mix-tap, Cold Day in Hell, Freddie doesn’t miss a beat, providing another stack of grimy cinematic, gangster rap joints, absolutely free of charge. Read the rest of this entry →

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EL-P Uses LEGITMIX to Sample RUSH for “DRONES OVER BKLYN” Remix

October 29, 2011 in Global Destruction, Music, Technology

EL-P (aka: Jaime “El Producto” Meline) is, arguably, one of the most important hip-hop producers of all time.  I use the term “arguably” because, I’m personally willing to argue that fact, if anyone really wants to get into it.  In the 90s, Meline started the highly influential rap crew Company Flow and released the doom-laden classic Funcrusher Plus (an extended version of their independently produced Funcrusher ep), the very first album ever put out by the then-upstart “underground” rap label RAWKUS Records.  Eventually, EL-P told RAWKUS to eat a dick and bounced, opting to form Definitive Jux, with the intention of maintaining an artist friendly label, helping to develop the artists’ careers while making sure that they received both the credit and monetary compensation that they were owed (something that he didn’t feel was happening with RAWKUS).  Using DEF JUX, EL-P went on to help make household names out of artists like AESOP ROCK and RJD2, while releasing 2 remarkable and highly innovative solo albums of his own.

A little over a year and a half ago, we posted an article which included a statement from EL-P announcing his intention to officially and indefinitely place Def Jux on hiatus.  Part of his main reasoning behind the decision was to focus on becoming an artist again, because all of the time and effort put into producing albums for others and running a label was beginning to interfere with his abilities to do so effectively.  The silver lining for Def Jux fans is that EL-P has been making good on that promise.  Since the announcement, Company Flow has reunited to perform Funcrusher Plus in it’s entirely for ATP in London (plus, a few other select dates),  Producto has released another mixtape, and even produced and/or appeared on tracks for artists like Killer Mike and Das Racist.  Seeing as the rapper/producer hadn’t released a proper solo album since 2007‘s I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead, the main question for a lot of us was when that was gonna happen.  That answer came back in August with the news that EL-P had signed to Fat Possum records for a 2012 full-length titled Cancer for Cure, and the free download of the sample track, “Drones Over Bklyn.“  Now a remix of Drones has arrived with an extremely well-known and recognizable sample; one that Meline never bothered to disguise in the slightest.  What’s more is that he’s actually openly selling it -albeit for for charity (Mr. Dibbs hopital fees)- without ever getting the sample cleared and, thanks to a new service known as LEGITMIX, he may not even have to. Read the rest of this entry →

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CITY ARTS FEST 2011 [Seattle] – What Sets It Apart & What Not to Miss

October 9, 2011 in art, Movies / Television, Music, With Video

CITY ARTS FEST 2011

OCTOBER 20-22

(buy tix)

These days, the festival format is pretty much dominating the live music industry.  Not only is it a reflection of a financial necessity to redirect focus on the performance element in an age where recorded material is pirated to such a degree that “consumers” actually expect the product to be free of charge, but the idea to corral multiple artists and genres to present them like an audio smörgåsbord mirrors the desires of the growing demographic who listen to mp3s on shuffle and have come to rely on immediacy, expecting to have the ability to switch between any number or variety of options with no more than a simple finger swipe on their ipads.  The 90s had one primary standout festival, the touring Lollapalooza; now resurrected as a yearly one-off that doesn’t move from it’s static location in Chicago.  That model was mimicked with a more streamlined focus for the female-centric Lilith Fair (97-99, 2010), by the jam band revival set for the H.O.R.D.E. Festival (1992-98), and with the punk  fueled Warped Tour, which has opened it’s arms to a slightly more eclectic lineup -along with extreme sports- in more recent years.  There was also a couple of attempts at multi-day fests like Woodstock, but… I think we all know how that turned out.  Once Coachella started to really get rolling at the turn of the millenium, Bonnaroo picked up the formula on the other side of the country.  Then, slowly (and then, quite a bit more rapidly) the multi-day festivals with huge varied lineups really began popping up all over the country.  Rothbury, Wakarusa, Treasure Island Music Fest, ACL, Vegoose, Fun Fun Fun Fest, Outside Lands, etc. etc. etc….  The tours weren’t traveling as much anymore, so the people began to.  And what about those that can’t travel?  Well, if you won’t have a handful of festivals rolling through your city throughout the year, then I guess every city’s gonna have to throw a shit ton of festivals themselves.

Here in Seattle and the greater Washington area, we’ve already had the Sasquatch! Festival, The Capitol Hill Block Party, Bumbershoot, and Decibel Fest, this year, with the Earshot Jazz Festival scheduled for next week.  Last year, the folks at City Art Magazine decided that wasn’t enough and came up with the brilliant idea to launch the city-wide Heineken sponsored CITY ARTS FESTIVAL.  Not only did they toss yet one more festival into the already overflowing pile, but they also had the nerve to do it in the Fall, in an attempt to drag out the “festival season” which had, by all intents and purposes, already officially ended.  Summer’s over.  People are going back to school.  It’s getting cold, especially here in this city.  Is another music festival really fucking necessary?  Well… I’m not gonna waste my time with rhetoricals.  Instead, I’m just gonna explain why, in fact, it definitely is relevant, by pointing out some of the factors that set it apart from the others and make it a unique experience, while bringing attention to particular elements, performances, and artists that might be overlooked.
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GRIMIER THAN GRIME: Death Grips “Ex Military” Mix-Tape [Download/Review]

July 22, 2011 in Global Destruction, Music, Reviews, With Video

Quite a few weeks back, I received a Facebook message from a friend of mine that read, “I just saw this and it immediately seemed like something I should post to your wall.“  Accompanying that comment was one of the most surprising videos that I have seen in a long time.  It’s true that there’s always gonna be new footage of some random goon snapping off their leg grinding a rail, a toddler stealing a car, or some ignorant bastards blowing shit up that they didn’t intend to blow up, but this was different.  It wasn’t a pet with a box on it’s head or even of one mock playing an instrument -let’s face it, Youtube is the America’s Funniest Home Videos of the new millenium.  What I was sent was a simple music video.  It didn’t have amazing special effects or a groundbreaking, elaborate storyline, either, and it wasn’t some young new tween talent to discover, who will inevitably get signed by someone like Ellen Degeneres or wind up starring in some traveling Broadway fiasco.  In fact, the production quality looked budget as fuck and the “vocalist” of the “group” was anything but “accessible”.  Even more surprisingly, it was a rap video; a genre that seems all too content with riding auto-tune until the wheels fall off.  The surprising part was that this track felt real, both in intention and in delivery.  Shiny chains, ridiculous wealth, and terrible pop hooks are like drinking gallons and gallons of warm milk, these days.  The sheer fact that what I was witnessing was the antithesis of that, might have been enough to draw me in at first, but after researching more and more and discovering more and more about what the creators, DEATH GRIPS,  have to offer, I can easily say that this crew is producing some of my favorite shit right now, hands down. Read the rest of this entry →

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“Aesop Rock/Kimya Dawson Slip&Slide Picnic/Potluck Thing” – [w/Photo Set]

July 8, 2011 in Music, Reviews

On September4th of 2009, we spent the night at Seattle‘s NEUMOS, attending a performance by two previous Monster Fresh interviewees, Daniel Johnston and Kimya Dawson.  Kimya was asked to open the show by her past collaborator -Daniel appeared on her 2004 album, Hidden Vagenda (K Records)- and even had Johnston briefly sit in behind the drums during her set.  Long-time clean and sober, the all-ages friendly Dawson made the extremely rare exception to perform at the 21+ event just to have the opportunity to appear with her old friend once again.  She did, however, bring along a handful of members from her all-ages, no experience/tryout necessary, community-based Olympia Free Choir, to accompany her on stage for a few songs (including, “We Are The World“).  One track that Kimya performed independently was a brand new one that had yet to be titled, at the time.  Back in February, that song resurfaced with dark, choppy piano thumps and heavy boom-bap hip-hop percussion under the title “Miami Advice“.  The added depth of this new studio-produced version was further increased through vocal contributions by the Free Choir and a much more unlikely collaborator… Aesop Rock.  Last month, I got the opportunity to see Kimya perform the track for the first time since hearing it at that Seattle debut nearly two years ago.  Not only was she joined by her new rapping cohort, this time, but it was also one of the most all-ages friendly venues that anyone could possibly hope for.  In fact, the event was casually titled as the “Aesop Rock/Kimya Dawson Slip & Slide Picnic/Potluck Thing.” Read the rest of this entry →

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RAINY DAYZ – RAEKWON Live in Seattle [Video/Photo-Set]

June 4, 2011 in Music, Reviews, With Video

RAEKWON

Nectar Lounge

Seattle, Wa

May 08, 2011

A week ago, quick posts started showing up all across the internet, informing us that, “Gil Scott-Heron is dead.”  In recent years, the legendary poet/musician had struggled with fairly public substance abuse problems and had triumphantly returned with a his first full-length of new material in 16 years with last years, I’m New Here (XL recordings).  Although the title track was a cover song from the 2005 album, A River Ain’t Too Much To Love by SMOG (aka: Bill Callahan), it’s inclusion on the album and, perhaps more significantly, as the album’s title, were clearly decided upon for profoundly personal reasons.  With lyrics like “no matter how far wrong you’ve gone, you can always turn around” and the titles of such other songs as “Me and the Devil“, “Running“, and “The Crutch“, it was evident that Heron was turning to more introspective subject matter than such politically driven classics as “The Revolution Will Not Me Televised” and “Whitey on the Moon“.  Often referred to as “the godfather of rap,” Heron‘s last collection of new material came with the album Spirits in 1994 and contained the lead-off track “Message to Messengers“, which criticized the direction of hip-hop and what he saw as superficiality and destruction of/within the artform.  Just as I’d like to view I’m New Here as his last big statement before his death, his warnings and pleas to the hip-hop community were one of his last big statements before his extensive gap in productivity.  Around this time, another album called, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) was really beginning to pick up steam. Read the rest of this entry →

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