Brother Ali's Mourning In America and Dreaming In Color, is due out soon.
Brother Ali just threw himself into some rap beef – but in typical Ali fashion, he just made everybody smile. For those of you who didn’t know (which included yours truly), Common and Drake have been having quite the back and forth, with Common calling out Drake, essentially, as too emotional. Brother Ali saw this going down and took it upon himself to call on all parties to “squash the beef/and get you a piece [of pie!].” The track, that riffs off Common’s “Sweet” (the track that started all this ruckus – see the link above), makes light of the situation while still incorporating Ali’s infallible wit and lyricism. Grab it for free here, courtesy of Rhymesayers entertainment. Check it out below:
Further inspiring proof that the real world doesn’t stop people from dreaming: Daniel Hymanson, an aspiring film-maker, has a new project brewing, and he needs your help! The film, as planned, will tread the grey area between documentary and fiction, and will be based on the in-home installation work of Jackie Seiden, a Chicago-based artist and educator. Hymanson has started a kickstarter, and as of 11pm EST, he has 18 days and a little less than $2,000 to go. Check out the preview above, and consider helping him out! For more info, head over to the link above, or continue reading after the jump.
Amir Mohamed, better known as Oddisee, is a hip-hop producer from the DC area who is leading up to the release of his newest work, Rock Creek Park. A mixtape that escapes the realm of post-dilla that FlyLo has so readily claimed as his own, it stakes a new territory for itself in innovative sampling that reminds me of what Curtis Mayfield might have done if he owned an MPC and knew about sampling.
It’s easy to see where the sound and influence of this album comes from; just read this short history that accompanies the Band Camp stream:
The Carter Barron is named after the park’s amphitheatre, a 4,200 seat outdoor performance venue in Washington, DC. Located in Rock Creek Park. The amphitheatre opened in 1950 in honor of the 150th Anniversary of Washington, DC as the nation’s capital. The National Park Service operates Carter Barron, offering a variety of quality performances, including Hip-Hop, reggae, Latin, classical, gospel, musicals, pop, R&B, jazz, new age, theater, and dance. Many of the performances are provided free of charge. The Carter Barron has seen performances from Harry Belafonte, Louis Armstrong, the Temptations, Ella Fitzgerald, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, B.B. King, the O’Jays, Smokey Robinson, and The Four Tops.
Rock Creek Park is out on Vinyl tomorrow, and was released digitally on Sept. 6th. Download it off of the BandCamp, and please do support underground music! For a taste, check out the appropriately titled track, The Carter Barron, which has been stuck in my head for the better part of a week:
About two weeks ago, a mysterious and much-talked-about group of Italians converged on Wesleyan’s campus and lit an artistic fire under almost anybody who came into contact with them. The group, known as Dewey Dell, was brought by the Wesleyan Theater Department for a two-week residency that included two performances, one to open and one to close their residency, as well as daily rehearsals and workshops.
The group is an artistic collaborative of three siblings and one close friend: Teodora, Demetrio, Agata Castellucci and Eugenio Resta. The four founders grew up together artistically, sharing the important formative experience of the Stoa the School for the rhythmic movement based in Cesena, Italy. Demetrio, also known as Black Fanfare, composes music of a unique, experimental electronic breed. Teodora choreographs to Demetrio’s compositions (and vice versa), and Agata designs costumes. Finally, Eugenio is the light designer and technical manager – and each individual brings their own touch to the set.
In the performances at Wesleyan it became apparent that each of these young artists (aged from 20-23) were more than willing to think well outside the conventional box for their movement, sound, and vision. Eugenio composes his sets via what some might consider backwards thinking; his point of departure is the unlit stage, and carefully considers how to create artistic, theatrical movement with light. The costumes are created with the body in mind and are always meant to exaggerate specific bodily aspects. And the choreography is, well, stunning. It’s hard to describe in words, but the way in which these dancers move their bodies emphasizes a total separation of every joint and bone with the highest technical proficiency, and yet the body remains a unit, moving smoothly in harmony with itself, the other dancers, and the music.
An example of the unique stage design by Dewey Dell
The group, however, does not consider themselves a dance troupe; on the contrary they like to think of their work as experimental theater, as conveying a plot and story through their movements. As such every work begins at a story. In their second, longer performance titled Cinquanta Urlanti Quaranta Ruggenti Sessanta Stridenti, the group considered a ship at sea, and how the object of the vessel becomes one with the subjects of the sailors to create a living, breathing organism that gets battered in storms, fights within itself, and breathes the salty air. Their movements, the staging, and the music, are all meant to convey what it is to be one with the ocean and to hear the creaking of the vessel as it, and the sailors, wage a peaceful war in their quest to reach their next destination.
For an idea of what I’m talking about, watch the two preview videos from the performances the group gave at Wesleyan, as well as Black Fanfare’s medley of music. If you can see this group, do not hesitate.
Furious Fifties, Roaring Forties, Shrieking Sixties are proper names of three groups of winds that blow over the seas of the Antarctic. Our work springs from a reflection on the ship and its inhabitants. There’s no difference between the sailor and his own ship. From the very moment when the ship leaves the harbor a new, single, floating body is born. This new being, tied indissolubly to the water and the wind, becomes an enormous organism whose borders are blurring. The noise of screeching ropes, the creaking of soaked wood, the sound of embarked objects that answer to the ship rolling on the waves, melt into sailors voices and merge with orders screamed by the captain. An obscure jumble becomes the general breath: the sound of a world where the man, the wind, the ship and the sea, inextricably combined together, form the only conceivable protagonist.
Happy Monday, and if you are, like me, back at school, this means figuring out how to get out of bed and to class on time. And if you find yourself recently graduated, it probably means figuring out how to get into the job market, or grad school, or learning how to commute. Regardless, all of these things take energy. And lots of it. So in that vein we at TNC are proud to bring you music that will get you out of bed and to class/the subway on time, and that music is being made by one of the flyest DJ/Producer duo’s LA has to offer: Market Price. Well versed in the latest and greatest electronic trends and studio techniques, Market Price throws the highest degree of studio quality behind their unique blend of Moombahton/Dutch House/Hard-hitting Electro (Evidence is at their SoundCloud). That said, these qualities are not why the duo is here today; on the contrary we’re featuring them for their exemplary, complete remix of the now-ubiquitous Kanye/Jay-Z album Watch The Throne that boastfully features no a-capella samples, no stems, just pure, old school remix techniques. Best part is, they just want rep, so it’s all yours, for free! Without further adieu, here is Market Price’s Mark The Throne:
Steve Stoute, the infamous music exec, is at it again. Notoriously ahead of the curve, specifically with hip hop, his foresight is back with a new sense of urgency. This time it’s with reference to America’s rapidly changing populace and economic situation, and how it all relates to hip hop’s crossover success. This week, keep [...]
Kanye and Jay-Z have finally released the long-awaited collaborative album, Watch The Throne, to mixed reviews. Some people say it’s not lyrically strong, others say the beats don’t sound polished, and still more say that it is the pinnacle of 21st century sample-based hip-hop. Personally, I think that Kanye stays real for once (especially on [...]
Here’s a quick Friday afternoon treat. The title is pretty self-explanatory on this one, but that shouldn’t take away from the powerhouse performance by the trio of Sharon Jones, Charles Bradley, and Grace Potter on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Backed by the superior house band, this is a treat that is not to [...]
Adrian Younge‘s story begins over a decade ago, in the late ’90′s stew of L.A.: A man fed up with the MPC decides to take matters into his own hands. Then a budding Hip-Hop producer, Adrian decided it would be in his best interest to drop the beat-making and learn the instruments for himself. And [...]
Hudson Mohawke, the Warp-signed Irish producer, uploaded his soon-to-be-released EP, Satin Panthers, to Youtube for your streaming pleasure. It’s a wash of electronic colors and deftly chopped samples – a veritable display of synth mastery and beat-making skill that, though glitchy in nature, flows with ease. As the EP plays through there are track listings [...]
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