sensual harassment: carnal spirits.

dl: SENSUAL HARASSMENT - Carnal Spirits (YSI)
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I'll admit it. When I posted "Mirror" a few months ago, I wasn't sure whether Sensual Harassment would ever appear on this blog again. At the time, I wasn't really sure what direction their sound was heading towards, and confession number two---I'm still not sure.

While I referred to "Mirror" as being "on the verge of power-dance-emo", their new tune sounds like Afrika Bambaataaa meeting up with Daft Punk for some watermelon lemonade. Listening to them back to back, I thought I'd struggle to recognize it's the same band, yet the instrumentation is consistent enough for the two songs to flow into one another. Compare these two tunes to "The Journey Has Merely Begun". Huh? WTF? It's somehow consistent but it's not! I don't know where these guys are going or where they've been, but I can't wait to hear them once they reach their final destination.

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- SPACE IT - HYPE IT -

inflowential: caged bird.

dl: INFLOWENTIAL - Caged Bird (YSI)
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Raleigh, NC may not be the first place you think of when it comes to blossoming underground hip-hop acts, eh? In fact, when I first heard "NC Shit" (a North Carolina variation of Busta Rhymes' "New York Shit") it was just as odd as falling upon a "CT Shit" shoutout to Bridgeport while listening to Hartford's Power 104.1. I don't know why a Raleigh anthem threw me for a loop. I mean, it's not as if I hadn't heard of Inflowential and the Kooley High crew. My friend Crystal tried to put me up on them ages ago, but I wasn't really hearing them until she forwarded me an invitation to their show at the John Street Bar & Grill. The e-mail's subject heading was not a suggestion, but a demand-- "We're going to this." And go I went.

Upon stepping into the performance space, I got worried. A crew of three guys stood on stage "rapping" over Daft Punk. Now I love me some Daft Punk, but if you ain't gonna have any flow over it...don't flow over it. Just because Kanye and Busta did it*, doesn't mean that you can. Also, can someone please explain this Daft Punk sampling trend? Even Janet Jackson and her people jumped on the bandwagon by sampling Homework's "Daftendirekt" on her new album Discipline. This is going too far. Are Daft Punk hip-hop's new James Brown?

Rant aside, I needed some Jack Daniels in my system after that experience. And then Inflow took the stage, and all that tension disintegrated. Charlie Smarts and Tab-One on the mic, Bender on bass, Kyle Phelps on guitar, DJ IllDigitz on (er) DJ stuff, and A-did on vocal percussion. Yes, vocal percussion. I'm talking real beatboxing, not some Blake-Lewis-college-a-cappella-group shit. Think Rahzel, and you'll probably get an idea why so much of the Inflow press is littered with comparisons to The Roots.

Their live show is not one to miss, as you can't get a glimpse of how impressive the group is by solely listening to the recordings. Their command on an audience was particularly impressive on "We Get Down". Having never seen the group before, I found myself joining in with the veteran fans as they bent their knees and got "down". While the mood may have gotten stale during a string of slower songs, Inflow was ready to bring the crowd back up with an energetic jam.

Speaking of energetic jams, I have unconditional love for a currently unrecorded tune that could be referred to as "One-conditional". The song plays on gender roles, as the two male MCs complain about a girl (or girls) who only wants them for their bodies. It maintains a level of hip-hop machismo by presenting a "damn, I'm so hot and chicks want me" attitude but spices it up with sensitivity and vulnerability. It makes them infinitely more likable, and makes it clear that they're not just spitting lies on the Evolutionary Process EP's "Love Is".

This EP is the first release from the group, available for free download on their site. And whether the EP's "Caged Bird" is a nod to Maya Angelou or a song inspired by a trip to the Raleigh-Durham Caged Bird Society, it holds a place as one of the standout tracks. Accompanied by Blu Thompson on saxophone and a soothing bass line, Charlie Smarts and Tab-One deliver a message of hope that wouldn't serve as a bad choice for Barack Obama's campaign.

Experience the hope, love, and nodding heads live this Friday March 14th at Blaggard's Pub & Restaurant (8 W. 38th Street, NYC).

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BONER TRACK: KOOLEY HIGH - NC Shit (YSI)
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- BUY IT - SITE IT - SPACE IT - SPACE IT -

ced hughes: and the technicolor sound wave

CED HUGHES made a mixtape, and it's pretty much better than anything you're going to hear from 50 Cent or Kanye West.

I recognize that this is a heavy claim to make, and I will say at the very least...this mixtape is better than Kanye's. Seriously. Can we raise our standards music bloggers? I mean, dude defecates all over Peter Bjorn & John and bitches are flipping their shit over it? I deleted that mp3 seconds after you told me how awesome it was.

Ced takes a variety of hype-worthy artists including (but not limited to) Amy Winehouse, Daft Punk, Justice, Mark Ronson, Interpol, Sa-Ra, and Stereolab and raps over their songs. And the result is often mind-blowingly great. These songs don't seem to be chosen for their hype-factor, so much as the sheer appreciation of the other artists' music. Dispersed throughout the mixtape we have a few of Ced's original songs, which provide evidence that he doesn't only sound good on other people's music...and talent beyond his rapping. Three of these songs are original productions by Ced himself.

But don't let me convince you that he needs talent beyond his skills on the mic. Upon first listen to this mixtape, I immediately drew comparisons to Lupe Fiasco, 7L & Esoteric, Pigeon John, Black Thought of The Roots, Common, etc. Ced is a talented emcee. He's not just some guy who thought it'd be cute to rap over "We Are Your Friends".

He's also not 50 Cent. Holy crap, he's such a shitty rapper. I once read on some obnoxious kid's space that "Fiddy rap like he got a dick in his mouth". Originally I found this extremely offensive and homophobic, but that kid may have been on to something...

If you feel compelled to go out this September 11th and purchase Curtis or Graduation...do yourself a favor. Stay home. Just download Ced and the Technicolor Sound Wave.*

TRACKLIST:

1. Greetings from the Firing Squad (Interpol mix)
2. Say Hello and Make Sure You Applaud (Sneaky Soundsystem mix)
3. Friends Don't Let Friends Use Protection (Justice vs. Simian mix)
4. Polyphonic Prostitution (Mark Ronson & Kasabian mix)
5. The Juke Joint (produced by Ced)
6. On My Lean Casually (produced by EJ and Steve)
7. My Cool is the Envy of Iceman (produced by Ced)
8. Jus Move (produced by Nick Speed)
9. Ced Can't Hold Her (Amy Winehouse mix)
10. Instead of U and I, It Could Be Us (featuring Kid A, produced by Gabe Niles)
11. Moonlight TigraRhymeKiller on the Misty Planes of Neptune (Justice mix)
12. ReWorked Angles (Justice vs. Daft Punk mix)
13. Nething U Want 2 Do (Sa-Ra mix)
14. Blame It On Ced (Phoenix mix)
15. Simple Addiction, Boy Meets Girl (produced by Ced)
16. We Don't Care. Really We Don't (Mark Ronson & Daptones mix)
17. Are We Gonna Give Up Umm No (produced by Flying Lotus)
18. Sunset Round Up the Galaxy (Stereolab mix)

-- DOWNLOAD ENTIRE MIXTAPE --

dl: CED HUGHES f/ KID A - Instead of U and I (YSI)
dl: CED HUGHES - ReWorked Angles (Justice vs. Daft Punk mix)** (YSI)
(two hip-hop mixtape tracks)
- space it - virb it -

* Okay, so neither of those other albums are seriously as bad as I'm making them out to be. But Ced's shit is free. You honestly can't lose anything but a minimal amount of space on your hard-drive.
** I honestly swear that posting two Daft Punk mixes in a row is a coincidence. I can't resist the "Guitar Hero" solo on this song.

easter egg: pour it up.

EASTER EGG has recently released a full mash-up album of “hipster hop” entitled Pour It Up.

I’m not the hugest fan of long-form mash-ups because I'm way too A.D.D. for them, but there are some exceptions. Some of these exceptions exist on Pour It Up. The other tracks on the album come close but don't always make it. With that said, Easter Egg shows incredible potential to create great songs out of other people’s music.

The few low points of this album have to do with the choice of acappellas, most of which are southern, novelty, or "ringtone rapper" hip-hop songs. Newsflash: No matter WHAT you do to “Party Like a Rockstar” it will not become a good song. I haven’t heard a single remix of this song that made me like it more, and I never expect to in my lifetime.*

Then there are moments of mash-up magic that disintegrate after a minute or so into the song [see “Let’s Make Roses” (Andre 3000 vs. Cansei de Ser Sexy) or “7 Months to Gossip” (Missy Elliott vs. Data)]. When taken in small doses these are certified ass-shaking jams, but I’d rather bump the originals at my dance party.

And that is the ultimate mash-up test—Would you play this at a dance party?

When “Pop, Walk, and Love It” is the mash-up in question, the answer is “hell fucking yes”. The song places Huey’s tune “Pop, Lock, and Drop It” against Daft Punk’s “Digital Love”. From Busta Rhymes to Kanye West, it seems everything in hip-hop is a little bit better when you add Daft Punk to the recipe.**

Overall, Pour It Up is a decent party album to play when you forget to make a playlist before your big dance party. Particularly if you only hang out with southern hip-hop enthusiasts and electro-hipsters.

Download the album here, featuring the following: 8Ball, Cassie, Chromeo, Clipse, Copy, CSS, Daft Punk, Data, Dead Prez, DJ Unk, Dr. Dre, E-40, Huey, Juelz Santana, Justice, Keak Da Sneak, Lil Scrappy, Lil Wayne, Ludacris, Mannie Fresh, Mike Jones, Missy Elliott, Mistah F.A.B., Miss B, Outkast, The Pack, Pharrell, Ratatat, Shop Boyz, Simian Mobile Disco, Slim Thug, Souls of Mischief, Spank Rock, Three 6 Mafia, Too $hort, Twista, UGK, YACHT, Ying Yang Twins, Young Buck, Yuksek, & Yung Joc.

dl: EASTER EGG - Pop, Walk, and Love It (HUEY vs. DAFT PUNK) (YSI)
dl: EASTER EGG - Giving Up Florida (TWISTA & PHARRELL vs. COPY) (YSI)
("hipster-hop" mash-ups)
- space it -

* This might be a challenge all you DJs, producers, remixers, and whatnot. Before I die, I want you to TRY to create a remix of “Party Like a Rockstar” that I legitimately enjoy. You have until the day I die, an unfortunately vague deadline.

** Though I don’t think even Daft Punk could save “Party Like a Rockstar”. Sorry, I had to go there.

le squid: i can feel this.

LE SQUID is a mysterious Swedish musician I happened to come across on someone else's space.

By "mysterious", I mean that I literally know very little about him. His name is Emil Oldberg? He uses Garageband? He likes or knows The Teenagers or Justice? Calamari may be his favorite food? The latter three questions are based purely on speculation.

Sometimes (well, usually all the time), tunes speak for themselves. You don't need to know who someone is, their story, who they roll with...because without a doubt, you are tapping your foot at your desk jamming to their tune. It's a pleasant feeling. It's even more pleasant when you're not at work and you can let the tune propel you into a seizure-like chair-dance. These songs don't even need to have real names. In fact, they're better off without names. I can feel them, can feel them move. My body. For those who need some sort of description before you listen to something...I will say that this is like Daft Punk's second-grade little sister. Or the third cousin once-removed of Boy Crisis. I mean that as a total compliment. This is the jam.

dl: LE SQUID- lic 30 (YSI)
dl: LE SQUID- lic 20 (YSI)
(Swedish electro-dancestuff)
- space it -