Sir Froderick "Scrunchface Mix"

Recently I have been on the hunt for good mixes to share with you and magically, Sir Froderick (you can check out some of his own music on his bandcamp) tweeted me a new mix he created. So do yourself a favor and check this out (also check out his music.)

Scrunchface Mix by Sir Froderick

Tracklist

benjamin x prof.logik - freezepop
mattron - malt
dela - rosariodawson
ahnnu - loozer
caiobella - sheluvme
mayerhawthorne - thinmoon
aeon - cold front
actionbronson - shiraz
sweeneyfrod - btchwld
bitchesbrew - knxbrew
sirfroderick - chasingamy
swarvy - 4thbeat(savebeer)
sirfroderick - justice ft devwho
ericlau -thisisforyou
elaquent - formypops
sirknx - nova
sirbliv - treesnburgess

Michael Feinberg "With Many Hands"

One thing that always frustrates me is how when people talk about "young" or "up and coming" jazz musicians the artist tends to be mid to late 30s and have released 5 or 6 albums not to mention are often professors at prestigious musical schools, these are established artists and have been known to jazz aficionados for close to 10 years. So when I find someone who is actually a young and up and coming jazz musician, I feel the need to announce it loudly and what is even better is when you find a group that is made up of musicians under the age of 25 who have talent beyond their years and even better when they have originality and are not afraid to explore the full spectrum of jazz. That is exactly what has occurred with Michael Feinberg's group (Michael Feinberg: bass; Noah Preminger: tenor saxophone; Godwin Louis: alto saxophone; Julian Shore: piano and keyboards; Alex Wintz: guitar; Daniel Platzman: drums) on "With Many Hands" and what makes the album even more impressive (besides what I shall tell you below) is that all the songs were written by members of the group, most by Feinberg himself. So sit back, and let me tell you about one of the most exciting and talented young jazz groups around today, here it goes.

The piano and sax take the lead on the beginning of "With Many Hands" that quickly grab a hold of you and take you deep into the song. Just as you begin to feel extra warm and comfortable, Feinberg takes over the lead on the bass sucking you in deeper as you are forced to really focus on the music. Julian Shore does a beautiful job of holding the piece together holds this piece together even on solos, as both saxes shine as well. In reality, each musician gets a chance to stand on their own and provide structure for each other before all coming together in their full glory near the end of the track. When that happens, the listener is almost forced to take a step back as the sheer power of the group hits your ears and your soul, you can feel what they have to offer, but that only lasts for a few moments before the song starts to fade back down after its exciting climax.

Each time I hear "Temple Tales" I am blown away by the work of the saxophones (Noah Preminger on tenor saxophone and Godwin Louis on alto saxophone) my ear almost automatically thinks of a young Coltrane (lofty praise I know but the sound is there.) It begins with sax, bass, drums and piano playing in almost perfect harmony, note for note, before the sax begins to go exploring and search for the truth (isn't that what all music is really looking for.) The sax then comes back to meet the others, but it is never quite the same, the sax has learned and is going to keep going off on its own. Then silence as the sax disappears and the keyboard, bass and drum have their own little dance, with the keyboard leading the way, the bass and drum trying to keep it in line but always a step behind (not really they are just holding a steady rhythm while the keyboard goes on its own exploration,) then the guitar, which you barely even realized was there, flies away, while the sax returns this time in the background for a bit, before it takes the spotlight. The song is beautifully done and what surprised me is with all the freedom for the instruments, it was written by the drummer, Daniel Plaztman, one of the two who never really gets to go exploring, the other being the band's leader, Feinberg. It is plain to see that this is not a selfish group by any means, that they are much more interested in the whole group and sound than taking the spotlight for themselves, they are comfortable with each other and pushing each other.

"NBD" begins as a calm conversation between the sax and piano, with the drums and bass conversing along in the background. Problem is that the piano decides it never needs to listen and actually just speaks louder and louder, forcing the sax to do the same, until eventually it gives up and the bass tries to reason with the piano. This time it is an actual discussion, piano listens to the bass, at least for a while. But then piano takes over again, even as the bass continues to speak, the piano over powers everything until it fades as the sax enters and rules the sound space. The piano, not willing to relax starts to answer back and even an epic conversation ensues, almost a screaming match, before they both calm down, only for it to come build to a climax again as the track abruptly ends.

"The Hard Stuff" has a rather ominous feel to it due in large part to the bass and guitar that begin the track, slowly the sax enters in and tries to lighten the mood a bit, it does succeed a bit, it inspires the guitar and bass to change their voice, bringing a much more funk inspired feel to the track. Just as it begins to build to sonic fury, the track drops back into the almost depression fueled state of the beginning, even bringing the sax for the ride, my mind goes to "Live at the Cellar Door" and the levels that exist on that album, each musician is playing their part in almost a fusion sound but as whole it some how comes off as a different feel, bordering on the "avant garde," as they join forces again in a sonic explosion of emotion before cycling through a near manic depressive pattern. The track ends with a great 30 plus second drum solo by Platzman.

Feelings of a cool fall day begin "August" as the band creates a soothing sound, keeping the tempo nice and slow and putting the listener in a dream like state. After the first two minutes you are sure you know how this song will go, it will keep this feeling throughout mainly a duet between bass and guitar, with some piano and drums mixed in. And guess what? You would be correct. While it does not measure up to some of the other more complex composition, "August" shows us that the group can handle a ballad just as well as any other style.

If "August" sent you to a calm and peaceful place, "Fighting Monsters" takes you away from that place from the beginning as the piano comes out quickly along with drums and it isn't long before the sax joins in creating a great toe-tapping bebop song. While the drums, guitar and bass are present on the track, the two saxes and piano steal the show dueling with each other, trying to take the listener's attention away from the others. The song be the shortest on the album (coming in at 4:31) but it is fire from beginning to end, leaving the listener wanting more and the musicians possibly exhausted.

The album ends with "Lost and Found" a track that begins as a regular toe tapping jazz song with sax, drums, and bass, then falls into controlled chaos after about 30 seconds as everyone joins the party, but that only last for about 10 seconds before a much more clear sound takes over again. This battle continues throughout most of the track (hence the title "Lost and Found" chaos mixed with order etc.) But it does change up a bit, when the sax takes the lead for a short burst around the 2 minute mark, only to be met by a piano with growing confidence 30 seconds later and then the battle ensues. The sax cannot be touched on this segment making some incredible runs before eventually giving into the piano so that it can have a moment in the spotlight, again incredible uptempo work is done, before piano fades into a VERY short but very well done, drum and bass moment. But just as you assume that is how the song (and album) will end, everyone joins in for the last 20 seconds leaving you wanting this dance to continue, but sadly it does not.

On "With Many Hands" Michael Feinberg creates a well thought out jazz album, showing the diversity of him and his group, they can go from fiery free flowing compositions, to wonderful ballads, and straight up bebop, without any problems. The group shines both individually and as a whole on the album, showing that they have no problem working together and challenging each other to create great music (have to give Feinberg credit for gathering such a group of musicians, a key trait of a quality bandleader.) The next time someone tells you about some rising star in the jazz world, do not be surprised if you already know their name (especially if you are a regular reader of any half knowledge jazz blogs) but listen nicely to their suggestion and then inform them of a group of remarkable jazz musicians who are not afraid to push boundaries, I am of course talking about Michael Feinberg and his fellow musicians.

You can purchase the album here.

autolect "autology volume two"

About 2 weeks ago I posted volume one of "Autology" now elmattic has dropped volume 2, bringing us mostly instrumental music by Autolect which helps to form an even better picture of the artist, so take a listen and get ready for whatever drops next. And check the write up that Elmattic did on his site about the mix here

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Tracklist

Prize (vs. Derek Walcott) / Non Other (vocal) / Psycosis / The Differance / Others / Circumvent / Live / Supernova Combust / Shukem (elmattic loopstrumental) / Therapy (vs. Saul Williams) / Burnout (vs. Amiri Baraka) / Bb77 / Huh / Weekends / Collectors Choice / At One (vs. Ben Okri) / Evolve Or Die (vs. Langston Hughes)

Jasiri X "Jordan Miles"

Check out the video by Jasiri X entitled "Jordan Miles" people from the Pittsburgh area should know the story, but for the rest of the world check out the video and then read Jasiri X's post about the video. Let's show the world the power of hip hop and how it can be used to take a stand and make a difference in the world



Jasiri X tells the story of Jordan Miles, the 18 year old honor student who was brutally beaten by 3 undercover Pittsburgh Police officers while walking to his grandmother’s house. “Jordan Miles” was mixed by Diezel and directed by Paradise Gray.

Call Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala at 412.350.4400 and demand he file charges against the 3 police officers who brutally beat Jordan Miles.

For more info go to
http://justiceforjordanmiles.com/

Rusty Redenbacher & Mr. Kinetik "Cashin In"

Official video for "Cashin' In" off of Rusty Redenbacher's & Mr. Kinetik's "The Professor and the Hustler." I highly recommend you grab the album right here.

Passive 65ive "Shambolique"

More and more it seems like almost everyone I talk to is a rapper or a producer, maybe it is just me, but they are everywhere. But then sometimes you come across someone who is neither and on a few rare occasions you come across someone who is neither but still makes hip hop, one such person is Passive 65ive. But wait, you may ask, what does he do then? He is an artist who lends his vocals to create pieces of hip hop art. How is that different from a rapper? For one, a rapper feels the need to fill as much of the song with lines, Passive 65ive knows sometimes, you need to let the instrumental breathe for a while, even between lines or at times...words. This is probably not making sense to a lot of people (unless you have heard an artist who does the same thing) but I shall try and explain it to you, I will tell you that Passive 65ive's newest album "Shambolique" is a quality album that you need to check out, but let me explain it to you like a normally do, track by track, so here it goes.

The title track "Shambolique" begins with what sounds like a rain storm or waves softly hitting the beach and some soft hollow drums with a bit of synths that continue throughout the track. Right away the listener comes face to face with the concept of letting an instrumental breathe a bit before Passive 65ive speaks on the track, a full 30 seconds has passed. Now I am sure many of my readers are wondering what the heck the title means, well thanks to Merriam-Webster I know shambolic is "chiefly British" and means "obviously disorganized or confused." And guess what ladies and gentlemen that is exactly the scene that is set by this track. "Prices rising to the point of stupidity, debts of the third world eradicated, spent externally. Ends not meeting unless protests due to their last robbery, its coming to a head now, credit crunching, monopolies, atrocities funded by governing autocracies" and that is just the first half, so by now you should have a rather clear picture of what this track is all about as well as were Passive 65ive is coming from on the album.

"Think of random access memory, think of random thoughts of choice," these lines begin (with the exception of some music fading in) "Random Thoughts of Choice." Trying to describe the beat created by Insted is rather difficult, the best way I can think of is just what the chorus says, Random Access Memory, almost computer like, pieces of information flowing through your ears, rough cuts, no smooth fades, but infectious. At points the vocal samples almost compete with Passive 65ive's voice for your attention. Almost how there are so many different ideas out there all trying to dominate one another. Which ever you focus your ears on can easily dominate the other, but if you just sit and don't choose sides you can hear them crashing into one another, almost canceling each other out...sound familiar to any arguments or debates you've heard recently?

Fellow The Hinderance member, Issuez, joins Passive 65ive on the self-produced track "ProperGander." The beat fades in and out almost pulling me closer and closer into the computer, forcing me to take a "proper gander" at the situation (just happens that situation is my review.) Does Passive 65ive blame the general population for not seeing all the problems surrounding us? Well let me quote you a few lines, "even with my eyes squinting and I'm severely brain dead, I can still scrutinize, decipher the brainwash." What do you think? Maybe Issuez has a more optimistic view of the situation. Or not, "if this is freedom I'd hate to be locked down." There are also some rather funky and almost mind distorting effects added to Issuez's verse, with the final word of each line riding in on the abstract fades of the beat. It may sound distracting, but sonically it is incredible.

The DJ for The Hinderance, MrManOne makes an appearance on the 1s and 2s for the Dig Dug (Agartha Audio) produced "Spyware + Scratch." Any regular reader of the blog or twitter follower of mine is well aware of my appreciation and fandom of Mr. Dig Dug and his beats, and he does not disappoint on this beat either (and MrManOne just adds to the quality with his work.) A very layered track (sirens, horns, drums, guitar, etc) form around Passive 65ive's vocals about everything that "like Spyware influences data mining." While going in on the government, fake people, and all other lizard like creatures, he still mixes in some very dope references such as "The Twilight Zone" and "Icarus, Perseus, and the Golden Fleece."

"Glacier Mint" has Gold Panda returning to the production (also produced the title track and a few others) and offers a more of that whispery smooth and mellow beat with some very spaced out synths. The vocals, softly spoken match the sound of the beat "I have no currency in my hand, right now all I have in my hands is air, atoms, from nuclei, composed of many things that are decomposed." Then fades into silence and
once again, Passive 65ive lets the track grow on its own until it transforms at around the 1:30 mark and hits you hard before slowly fading back. But by this point, the vocals are in full effect, with Passive 65ive taking a much more aggressive approach than earlier in the track. But then again, Passive falls back, almost like he has released what anger he needs and the beat goes on its own for another 30 seconds before it hits again. Instead of putting in some unnecessary chorus, the beat takes its place, letting it really sink in.

Sometimes I read a track title and think that either an MC or producer needs to be o it. Such is the case with "Slimeballs," I automatically think, "this needs to be a Dig Dug track." (no I am not in anyway calling Dig Dug a slimeball.) What makes this occasion rare is that I was actually right, and to make it even better, MrManOne adds some wonderful scratches to the Dig Dug beat. The ominious beat could easily have fit in to "The Hollow Earth". After Passive 65ive provides us with a lecture of all the instances of slimeballs and what they have done to control the world, his final lines are "If this has been figured out, then perhaps you are a slimeball with the craving." Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside right? Then again, who would want a track called "Slimeballs" to be an uplifting track right?

Speaking of cheerful tracks, "Darkus Howe" begins "this is beat is darkus howe, this beat is darkus howe, how dark is it suppose to be, as dark as you like it." What does the beat actually sound like? Imagine the Friday the 13th and Halloween music mixed together and made more hollow and echoed, that is the beat of "Darkus Howe." "Artistry in many ways is subject to creativity," a great line, is the first actual line from Passive on this track. Then the details of the song start to take shape as the picture of just a few of the world's evils are painting by Passive 65ive and all those who help to make them grow and thrive.

On the next track, "Slider" there is a notable absence, that of Passive 65ive, instead, it is, as Passive 65ive describes it "This is a journey into sound led by ManOnes spooky turntablism and Gold Panda's soundscapes," and that is a perfect description of the concept. A beat drum and synth beat crafted by Gold Panda, with some alien type of scratches from MrManOne plus a distort voice, set the scene for this captivating track. Picture hiphop from Mars, assuming Mars is how the Flaming Lips imagined it in "Christmas on Mars" then you will have this track.

Sometimes I say something in a review that I wish I would have saved for another track, such as the case on "Real Play" another Dig Dug produced track. What should I have waited to use, this track belongs on "The Hollow Earth" in fact if there was a "The Hollow Earth 2" or "Lost Earth" this track has to be on it. It will make you look over your shoulder searching for all the reptiles who reside above the surface. Both producer and MC bring their A game to this piece, highly recommend you check it out, even though I did not say too much about it.

A dream like waiting room sound kicks off "The Wild Key" while a spaced out beat continues throughout, Passive 65ive and Mystiq (who is new to me but a very talented MC who happens to be female) go in about addiction, vices, and drugs. The feeling is summed up to near perfection by Passive 65ive, "reality only exists in one form of pain relief." If there is a flaw to this track, it is the apparent disconnect between Passive's verses and Mystiq's. While Passive takes the negative viewpoint of the vices, Mystiq's verse (when she speaks as marijuana) paints a much more positive picture. Then again a drug will have a much more positive feeling about itself than the addict. To give you a taste of Mystiq"s verse (just a taste, after that you have to pay) she concludes with, "All four elements are there, I die in flames, bringing your mind the most uplifted air." The track then rides out on the spaced out beat by Nac 1.

Just in case this album did not have a diverse enough sound, the beat by Lex aka Alex Larelli for "Cradles and Chainsaws" brings an Indian music feel to the table, but picture the music being performed in an empty church, then you have the right sound. This time Passive 65ive decides to take on the health care and education systems, "being of sound body and mind is a very hard ambition, it would be idealistic for someone like myself with a high level of cynicism to worry about healthy, wealthy." But what really makes this track shine, is once again Passive 65ive's ability to realize when to not speak and let what he said before sink in and let the listener really experience the music as a whole.

The closest thing to a straight up boom bap track is the Gold Panda produced "Bitangai Bop," but in reality it is no where near your standard boom bap track, it is Passive 65ive's version of boom bap, instead of abandoning his style and rhyme concepts he meshes the two to create a sound that is unique and certainly his. First off, the beat is certainly Gold Panda, with a ethereal feel that instead of using heavy drums, uses a soft clap, giving a different feel. Personally my favorite few lines are near the end, "Might consider performing at SoHo Square with 38 howler monkeys and a purple circus bear, all with permits and prior permission, warning and seating, as long as the bear knows that the monkeys aren't for the eating." This is a perfect example of how while many MCs claim to be "abstract" there are only a few who really fit that, and Passive 65ive is one of them.

Gold Panda brings us the most minimalist beat o the album by far, and one of the most minimalist you will hear with "Beastmaster." A light airy woodwind instrument with a faded drum is all that composes this beat. While in a soft but strong voice, Passive 65ive begins, "Charmed by aristocratic serpentine charmers, taking more than enough pleasure from choking farmers, the infant scapegoat bombarding brains with fear, the ending is always supposedly near, but never close like tears." He goes in more on how humans destroy the earth without thinking of the consequences, for animals, plants, and human life in general. Instead of chorus, we are greeted by some more high quality scratches by MrManOne and the track ends the same way, before it fades out.

The album ends with another sound scape created by Gold Panda and MrManOne, entitled Outro (I Know you don't I.) I think sound scape is a great explanation of this track, because it wouldn't fit into most people's definition of a song, there are a group of sounds created by both, whether it is a beat, vocal samples, their own distorted spoken words, and of course scratches. The track is sure to throw you around your own head as you try to piece it together and try to figure out just what are the two trying to say in this wonderful sonic piece of art, I have yet to figure it out, but I will tell you I thoroughly enjoy it, whatever the message might be.

As I said in the beginning, this is not your standard hip hop album and Passive 65ive is not your standard MC. Instead we are given a piece of sonic art and asked to digest it, I did what I could to help you but in reality, this is something you have to experience for yourself, each listen you find something new and interesting that may change what you thought was right before. If you are interested in hip hop for the hard hitting beats and quotable everyday lyrics, this album is not for you. But if you are into hip hop and music in general because it pushes boundries and does things that the normal person wouldn't think of doing, if you are into music because it is art then "Shambolique" by Passive 65ive is certainly for you. I recommend you give it a listen and do so with open ears and an open mind and prepare yourself for a great sonic journey.

You can stream and download the album here.

Autolect "Autology Vol 1"

I consider myself to be rather well versed in the world of "underground" hip hop, or whatever that means. But occasionally I find something that I missed along the way, normally it is an album or a new artist. But on rare occasions it is an artist with a full discography. Today I just happened to notice a conversation between Nasa of Uncommon Records and Elmattic where they mentioned an MC, Autolect, and asked them about him, got the link to his label's website and started to listen to some of the music. I was blown away and wanted to know where to start to find out more about him and his music. Then a few seconds later elmattic informed me he had actually done a mix of some of Autolect's best tracks (and has another mix of more tracks coming shortly) and was ecstatic. Listened to it and was blown away, so I asked if it was ok to share with my devoted readers who are also searching for new forward thinking music and got the green light, so let me present to you Autolect "Autology Volume 1" created by elmattic (check out his site here.)

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download the mix here