Detroit rapper Danny Brown has teamed with Scion A/V for his new single ‘Grown Up’, an irresistible and gorgeous track.
It is both stylish and slick as Brown’s trip down memory lane, looking back on his younger days, is accompanied by snappy snares and pulsing piano. His 2011 album XXX apparently received quite a lot of praise and made many a best-of year-end lists. Time for to check out the record I think.
Listen to ‘Grown Up’ below or download it from ScionAV website.
Four-time Irish DMC champion and all round turntable wizard, DJ Tu-Ki is back with his first full mix since Pre:Seed just over two years ago.
Just A Ride is astonishing good, like we’re surprised? It is a little more club orientated than it’s predecessor which is still on frequent rotation two years later. Just A Ride began life as an elaborate intro a la Pre:Seed before taking some sage advice from Bill Hicks, he decided sure its ‘Just A Ride’. The mixtape is made up of tracks he was unable to stop playing/mixing over the last year or so. The artwork is from Killian Walsh and the video trailer is by Diarmuid Moloney, Niall O’ Brien and Tu-Ki.
This mix is just so good, don’t take my word for it, download it below now.
Download the full mix here.
The new issue of Lookleft has hit the shelves across Ireland this week. Here is an interview with Captain Moonlight from the previous issue. Lookleft is available in every Easons north / south & other selected retailers.
Obsessive about politics, philosophy, literature, music and hurling, Kilkenny rapper Captain Moonlight tackles serious political issues, creating intelligent, hard-hitting, often humorous hip-hop in the process. Barry Healy met the man behind the new album ‘Offenses Against The State’.
Coming from a county famed more for hurling only one first question for Captiain Moonlight: “It began with the break dancing scene back in ’84”. It was through this he discovered “the musical side with the likes of Mantronix, Public Enemy and Rakeem. ’86 to ’91 was the golden era of hip hop for me; this is what got me into it. I started writing raps in ’88 but it was a while before I found my own style. Hearing Scary Éire blew it open for me, it showed how it could be done. I was always into more political hip hop like Public Enemy or British hardcore like Gunshot, Black Radical and London Posse. They had a very aggressive rat-tat-tat-tat sound which had a really big influence on me.”
Captain Moonlight’s new album ‘Offenses Against The State’ is record number four and the first since his ‘Agroculture’ trilogy. “How different is it to the ‘Agroculture’ albums? I’m not sure. It’s still me. its closer to the sound I’ve always wanted. It’s more to do with the hip hop I grew up listening to. This one’s far rawer than before, more sample based and influenced by early ‘90s, hardcore and British hip hop.” Lyrically he feels it is “a belligerent response to the way things are right now. It is as much to do with people and their response as much as it is to do with the government, but, with plenty of humour too.”
For example ‘Financial Rape Crisis At High Noon’ is “a song about people who give out about how bad things are, yet vote the same candidates in. Locally we have John McGuiness (of Fianna Fail) who criticised his party’s leadership and government when he was stripped of his Junior Minister’s job. The electorate voted him back in comfortably, seeing him as some sort of pseudo Irish rebel. Its bullshit, a nod and a hoodwink. People are voting the very same, they are not changing the system, just the heads of it”. Other songs like ‘Uniform State’ “deal with ideas of the alpha male Garda mentality” while ‘Fuck You Captain Moonlight’ is a “self-dissing take on the ‘Don’t Flop Ireland’ battle raps which I don’t do myself but there’s really sharp stuff happening there”.
Moonlight is fully aware of differing opinons on Irish hip hop, saying “nostrils tend to get raised when people hear an Irish lad rapping in his own accent especially in this country. It’s a strange thing, it has a divisive effect, a lot of people are really into it while others just can’t get it”. He’s unperturbed, “personally I write music for myself and through a love of hip hop and not for anyone else. I see a lot of artists like this too who deserve to be heard by a far wider audience. I don’t take what people think too much to heart but yes people see a difference between ‘hip hop’ and ‘Irish hip hop. Hip Hop as a mainstream it is probably the biggest selling genre in Ireland but most is imported from America. UK grime is making some headway which isn’t a bad thing but it’s taken so long for British hip hop to gain respect in its own right.”
“There’s a lot of really great Irish rap artists now. In the last five years a whole generation of lads coming through like Collie, Redzer and Nugget who have their own identity. They are the predominant sound now. It’s very hard to know how or when but some of these artists will breakthrough at some stage and if one gets through three or four will follow. I’m not sure how it will turn out at all but I’m happy with the level I’m at.”
Captain Moonlight will be gigging in December and January to promote his new album before starting work on his next release, ‘Scenes From A Land War’.
Captain Moonlight – The Nod And The Hoodwink
Download: Captain Moonlight – Banana Republican
Download: Captain Moonlight – OCD
Raised in grey, British suburbia of his hometown of Slough, MC and lyricist Byron, has been bubbling under the surface for a while releasing numerous mix-tapes and tracks. Fueled by a passion for poetry, a diet of UK Grime and Garage and a desire to have his say, he has turned his insight and frustration into something terrific.
His frustration, story-telling abilities and articulation culminate in intelligent and informed stories of what he sees all around him, lyrics are delivered with razor-sharp wit, humour and sometimes aggression and anger. The music has a very Garage and Grime feel to it. ’Don’t Hate, Work Harder’ is a perfect example of this, while ‘All Part Of The Magic’ and ‘Don’t Judge A Book’ display his story-telling abilities.
Byron is a talent and a very promising one at that. There is no reason why we shan’t be hearing much more about him in the future.
You can spin a few tracks below or dowload his latest release, Deep Lyrics Dirty Beats Part II for free.
Download: Byron – All Part Of The Magic
Download: Byron – Don’t Hate, Work Harder
Download: Byron – Check This Out (Freestyle)
‘DoYaThing’ is the latest in a string of ’3 Artists 1 Song’ campaign from Converse. They have facilitated impressive musical collaborations from the likes of Hot Chip, Santigold, Graham Coxon, Bill Ryder-Jones and Paloma Faith in the past.
This time it is the turn of Coxon’s Blur colleague and Gorillaz frontman, Damon Albarn, to team up with James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem and OutKast’s Andre 3000. The mere thought of this trio working together in a studio is in itself a cause for excitement.
Thankfully we’re not left short changed. This is by far the most impressive recording from the campaign to date. Put simply, ‘DoYaThing’ blows everything else out of the water. It is an upbeat, lively and giddy track with a distinctly Gorillaz vibe to it, just wait till 2.15 mark for everything to kick in gear and you will be convinced at it’s awesomeness.
Rumour has it there will be an extended version released later in the year. For now you can stream the track below or pop over to the Converse website to download it for free.
Gorillaz featuring Andre 3000 and James Murphy – ‘DoYaThing’ via LBYB
There’s a few DJ’s in the world which continually excite me. DJ Yoda is definitely in this category. Ever since hearing his How to Cut and Paste, Vol. 1 I’ve been in awe, smitten some might say, of the London DJ’s turntable wizardry.
Anyway, he has just released Bestimix 85: Million Dollar Flavour, a free 30 minute mix for Bestiblog. Hip-hop is at the heart of this one, as well as funk and soul as he shots through a whole host of samples and mic legends, including Missy Elliott, Nicky Minaj, KRS One and MF Doom. Yoda is no ordinary DJ, prepare yourself for a masterclass and get ready to bounce.
You can give it a spin below and head over to Bestiblog for the download. The tracklisting is after the jump.
Costello featured on the blog last month with Street Literature and their excellent Products of the Environment album.
Costello now has a brand new video of his own featuring G.I. It is taken from his forthcoming album Illosophical which is out later this year on Workin’ Class Records. This is impressive stuff from Costello who’s stylish delivery is backed too by a series of neat head-nodding-beats and samples.
As Irish hip hop continues to grow and impress hopefully 2012 will be a big year for the genre. There is also a good interview with the man himself in the latest issue of Rabble.
Photo: John Squires
One of my favourite things about music blogging is the steady stream of new and exciting music that comes my way. You never know what awaits you in your inbox each day or what might be found on another favourite blog. This year has been littered with some really impressive new and emerging artists, bands and acts – too many to be fair so bare with me and I indulge myself in yet another list, this time my top five new / breakthrough artists from 2011.
New York trio Gorilla Warfare Tactics broke through this year capturing the imagination of many hip-hop fans with their debut EP, Premier. The EP and subsequent singles saw them embrace the essence of old-school hip-hop, pitting Kid Dilla’s flowing verses with CakeXCrumbs’ old-school soul samples and head-nodding, bouncy beats into smooth feel good hip hop. Original beats and classic street level rap, GWT are one of the most promising hip hop acts I’ve heard in some time.
Gorilla Warfare Tactics – The Tale of Mr. Street via ClarkWill47
Wirral 6-piece By The Sea come from arguably one of the richest sources of musical talent in the world, Merseyside. Their prodigious talent made itself known through the release of a slew of sublime singles in 2011. Their shimmering heart warming indie-goodness is steeped in 60′s psychedelia, as they channel in very different ways, parts The Byrds, The Coral and Shack with a joyous amalgam of lush breezy harmonies and summertime haziness. With talk of a record in 2012 we could be in for a treat.
Download: By The Sea – Old Coasts
It has been a big year for Portadown-born hip-hop producer SertOne, who’s debut EP The View From Above received widespread and deserved praise this year. It introduced us to his undoubted talent and skillful weaving of an electronic patchwork which combines his obvious hip-hop influences with his own unique qualities and ear for fresh electronic and hip-hop beats and silky samples. His live show impressed me too as did the release free album WIDTS. This guy is destined for a very bright future.
King Krule (formerly known as Zoo Kid) is the moniker of London teenager Archy Marshall, who made quite an impression under both pseudonyms this year. His musical style falls somewhere between that of Billy Bragg and Jamie T. It is melancholic yet warm, assured and always sounds wise beyond his tender age of 17. The King Krule EP was released in November and established this standard. Sounding like a combination of two of my favourite artists, I’m expecting big things for KK in the future.
King Krule – Portrait In Black & Blue
It has been a remarkable year for 18 year old Newbridge native Moths, AKA Jack Colleran, who’s chilled electronica sent blogs across the world buzzing with excitement. There’s little else to be written which hasn’t been already said about the guy. His music is as simple as it is slick, it is super chilled, fresh and organic sounding electronic jams. Now signed, the next year is going to very interesting for this very talented young man.
Download: Moths – Jimmy Francis
2011 has been a great year for Irish music, there has been a fantastic amount of great albums, EPs, songs and shows. It has been particularly good year for new and breakthrough artists with the likes of Sertone, Moths, REID, We Are Losers, Girl Band and Monto all impressing so much. Irish music is alive, well and more diverse and vibrant than ever.
Instead on doing a straightforward list of my favourite Irish songs from the past 12 months I’ve gone with a mixtape again. I only hope I do it and 2011 justice, and that you enjoy this as much as I did putting it together. The tracklisting is after the jump.
Download: BarryGruff’s Irish Songs of 2011 Mixtape
Back in ’98, Mos Def and Talib Kweli joined forces to release the classic album Mos Def And Talib Kweli Are Black Star. The illustrious duo of Black Star have come together once again (albeit with Mos Def changing his name to Yasiin Bey) for a new record in honour of Soul legend Aretha Franklin.
The album still doesn’t have a release date but they have graced us with some tasty new jams, ’Fix It’ & ‘You Already Knew’. Black Star still sound like one of the strongest hip-hop alliances in the world and seem as though they never left us, which bodes well for the new album.
As a consistent producer of intelligent hard-hitting hip hop with a penchant to speak his mind on any number of controversial or political issues, it comes with little surprise that Captain Moonlight has decided to air his views on the Occupy movement.
The brand new track ‘Occupational Therapy’, comes as we eagerly await the release of his fourth album, Offenses Against The State. The beats are great, the lyrics potent and his ability to rap and rhyme is sublime – as usual he doesn’t disappoint.
‘Occupational Therapy’ is a surprising treat before the new album arrives in the coming weeks. That’s not all, he’s also made ‘Well Now’, featuring Limerick’s finest Rubberbandits, available for free download. Grab ‘em both below.
Download: Captain Moonlight – Occupational Therapy
Download: Captain Moonlight – Well Now (Rubberbandits Remix)
Ghostpoet has already left his mark on 2011 with his rather unique debut, Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam.
Not content with that he has teamed up with one of his biggest fans, Mike Skinner and Rob Harvey (The D.O.T.) to collaborate on a new track ‘Trouble’ for the latest Rizlab’s project. Fans of the contributing artists will, like me, be delighted with this development and even more so when they hear the result which is brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Damu’s rework is fantastic too adding steel drums, a hard edged sound and a general freshening up.
Don’t just take my word for it, give them a spin below and make up your own mind.
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