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Showing posts from 2009

Once Again!!! TML Radio on the Comeback

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You thought we slipped up didn't ya? Never, B.A. Baracus and I are back once again with the jams and slow burners for your ear hole! Download this shit here and be sure to drop some comments to let us know if you are getting with what we got goin on over here!

TML Radio Returns!

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So after much delay it is my pleasure to reintroduce you to TML Radio. As you may remember this was a tradition begun towards the end of last year. Gone are the "hot" new tracks from 2db, instead it is myself and partner in crime B.A. Baracus coming together again like we used to do in college. We are dropping whatever we feel like and talking that shit. If you like what you hear drop us a line and let us know what you think! TML Radio Vol. 2 Issue 1

November Heatrocks

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Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons. You will find it is to the soul what a water bath is to the body. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes Oh shit! It took me far to long to get up in here with November's heatrocks. Y'all didn't really think I'd drop October on ya and split? Yeah, I feel you. But I didn't I'm right here! November was great and in getting settled back in Seattle I also got to catch up on music both locally and nationally. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm getting heavy into some electronic tunes. Towards the beginning of the month I was listening to this comp Aquatic Lab Sessions and the track “Right Here” from Flash just struck me. Reminding me of Burial and why I got into dubstep to begin with this song is haunting. The vocals will stick with you and the beat is hypnotic. Great stuff! Yesterday I took the time to give BK-One's album Radio Do Canibal a spin and it rocks. Another great release from RSE this year. What else is

Thoughts, Post Go! Machine

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I returned to Seattle 54 days ago. Just in time to see probably my favorite rapper of all time grace the stage of Key Arena. I sat at the top of the stadium that once housed the Sonics and was awed. Four days ago I experienced the same feeling standing in the crowd at the Crocodile for the first night of Go! Machine, an event that's been described as Seattle's (Hip Hop) Woodstock. We all knew it was coming. Radjaw and the rest of the OFS crew put in the work they have a reputation for and threw a great couple of shows. My return to Seattle was inspired by the fact Jigga was coming, but my staying was wholly connected to the music happening here. When I heard Pomz say this summer “Who get's to say they were in Seattle when Grunge was blowing up?”, we both new that those in Seattle circa 2009 are the lucky few who will get to say they were part of something new, something different, something inspiring once again found within the artist community here. Get it here! Hip Hop ha

Twitter Goodies from Dam Funk!

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If you haven't been up on Stones Throw's latest phenom then get familiar! Toeachizown is killing the game right now and you need it in your life. Honestly i'm still learning about this style they call boogie but it's freaking great! So full of life and unlike much of my musical preferences it's happy. He is the founder of a night called Funkmosphere in LA, if I ever get back I'm going in an instant. Check out this "commercial" he has released for the night! And if you aren't one of his followers on twitter than you missed out on his free goodies (and you should probably fix that following problem) in preparation for tonight's event. I'm so pleased with these jams. They show both where he has been, where he is and where he is going to take his music in the future. Dig IT !

Get Californicated

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Seattle Hip Hop is staying decked in banging free music and the latest batch of jams you can get your dirty hands on comes courtesy of the SOTA boys . The State of the Artist crew (Parker, Thad & Nate) are on their grind hard these days getting in the lab with a who's who of the town, just stay tuned! Right now I'm here to talk about this quick little EP they have delivered. Fresh off a trip to sunny CA, specifically LA, SOTA has The 'Hank Moody' EP available now ! At only three tracks and less than 10 minutes worth of music I guarantee you that this will be time well spent. Filled with a laid back Cali kinda vibe but still just slightly tinted towards the Northwest's overcast demeanor these tracks will have you nodding your head to 'em and pressing repeat. The 'Hank Moody' EP works as a perfect bookend to their Shapeshifters mixtape from the summer and shows the growth that has been a continual trend for the SOTA crew. If you are unfamiliar take s

Monthly Heatrocks: Ocotober 2009

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“Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music” -Sergei Rachmaninov It what has to feel like typical fashion by now, I vanished from these parts of the Internet once again. As usual there is no telling when and where I'll strike again but one thing I hope to continue in the coming months will be collections of tracks that were in my ear for the last month. October was crazy for me as I quite my jobs and left Oregon to once again return to Seattle – I just can't stay away! Between the move, not having a place of my own and the general craziness that is life on party mountain I wasn't surrounded with as much time to devour new music as per usual. I did have 10 cuts catch my attention and I hope they might catch yours as well. Anyone around me lately knows that I've become fascinated by all things electronic music. While mainly focused in the dubstep sub genre, house, glitch, electro and an assortment of other sounds have been blowing my mind. B. R

Jay-Z & Raekwon... My Thoughts

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In the early to mid 90’s Hip Hop fans would have been ecstatic to be treated to new Jay-Z and Raekwon albums in the same month, let alone the same week. Today it generated a moderate amount of media attention and a whole lot of internet attention. Bloggers love the superstars and the legends. While Jay-Z may be a bit of both he showed the superstar side of himself a bit more than the legendary skills he took the thrown with. Raekwon on the other hand has never been one for big numbers or mainstream appeal. He has however always repped for the Wu Tang and maintained a loyal following – all of whom should be saluting the man right about now for delivering a suburb follow up album to an album that it could easily be said should have been left alone. What makes Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Part 2 succeed is exactly where Blueprint 3 fails. While Raekwon didn’t go back to RZA entirely, he has the abbot doing what he does best – fitting the appropriate pieces where they should be. Getting Dilla

Sapient "Make Morphine: The Remixes"

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For a crew with the rep Sandpeople have amassed over the years on their grind it seems crazy to think they are giving music away for free. Shouldn’t they be on some major indy by now? Truth is told in this day and age you can probably do just as good on your own – if you are willing to put in the work. Apparently they have been going so hard that they have too much music and decided to give away three albums for free over the next three months. The first was given away on the first of this month (as the next two will be in the following two months) and is Sapient’s Make Morphine . Filled with a different producer for each track tackling an original from Sapient’s self produced Make More , it is a somewhat scattershot collection with a to be expected wide variety of styles. Some work well with Sapient’s own steez and some leave you craving the original. While not completely in a new order, some songs are in new places but “Here” is still the opener and I would say DJ FlipFlop did his t

Saturday Spin: Dave Matthews Band "Big Whiskey & The GrooGrux King"

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In honor of the Dave Matthews Band long standing tradition to play at the Gorge this weekend, and given the fact that I was supposed to be there but work got in the way, I thought it only right to feature their latest album in this weeks installment of Saturday Spin . While it seems like being a fan of the DMB crew went out of fashion with the 90s they have always delivered pop rock for their loyal following and made a name off stellar live shows as anyone who has seen them at the Gorge, or anywhere else, can attest. At this point in time they don’t have anything left to prove and deliver an impressive album filled with the sounds you know and love. While the band has always played an integral roll in the live dynamic of the band, here on Big Whiskey & The GrooGrux King it seems like they have upped their involvement in studio recordings as well. Featuring a fuller sound, that is composed of multiple tracks of guitars, drums, horns and other more subtle elements this album will h

Q & A With P Smoov

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Last month my roommate, our friend Ryan and I made the decision to cruise into Seattle for an evening of debauchery courtesy of a pair of shows. We only made it to one them – I guess that tells you how quickly the antics began. The show we did catch was Fresh Espresso (You might remember a little review I ran a few weeks back?) and they killed it like they seem to be doing with ease these days. After the set I got a chance to chop it up with one half of Fresh, P Smoov, via a ride home. Here is our ensuing conversation. TML: Have you played at the Crocodile before? P Smoov: Last week at this exact time. Well not this exact time but last week Mad Rad played with Head Like A Kite and Dyme Def and it was a ton of fun. It's actually my favorite Seattle club right now. TML: Are you happy with the response to the album? P SMOOV: I'm very, very happy. It's a good thing and I hope that the tunes live up to the expectations, live up to the praise. I really hope, just keep on burnin

Curren$y & Wiz Khalifa "How Fly" Review

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Two of Hip Hop’s best kept secrets found each other, seemingly through a thick haze of weed smoke – stoners do tend to unite. While Curren$y did enjoy a brief moment of semi fame rolling with Lil' Wayne, he left for potentially greener pastures (addressed splendidly on “S.D.L”) and has been steadily on his grind with the Fly Society behind him. Wiz Khalifa on the other hand has been making a name for himself on both the blog scene and the tour circuit, although he hasn’t made it out to the North West yet. His hustle never did seem appreciated by Warner Brothers who saw a star years ago when they signed him, but sit on the shelf he did until finally gaining his freedom just over 2 weeks ago. Independent is the way to roll and these two obviously share more in common than a fetish for the greenery, fresh kicks, and designer labels. The album gives you much of what you would expect and some of what you might not have. The beats are rocking almost all the way through, some however le

Saturday Spin: The KLF "The White Room"

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As I learn more about music from the electronic realm it amazes me how little minute details will factor into something being classified as a whole new genre. From what I can learn The KLF were innovators of something dubbed “Stadium House” - house music for stadiums? Listening to The White Room , I can see why although I can imagine stadiums being packed to rock out to this. The album opens with some interesting vocals over subtle back ground music before flashing into an incredibly up beat house banger with a barely capable emcee riding it. His flow is staggered and feels like everything flowing should not be. While his rhymes aren't bad, nor are they great, his inability to gel with the music is a problem. “Make it Rain” features none of the lame rapping and a better assortment of drums, synths and back ground vocals – the song feels like it could be perfect for a rainy day and music that conveys feeling like that shouldn't be denied. When they slow it down and let the musi

Q & A with Othello

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In a dark parking spot behind Rotture on the final day of the PDX Pop Fest 2009 I climbed into Othello's (of Lightheaded) whip to chop it up with him about the town, Hip Hop and music. A laid back dude, he had a lot to say and was a great conversationalist. After seeing him rock a set the night before at The Someday Lounge , I knew the Lightheaded reunion that was about to take place on stage (above picture is from there set) was gonna be something special. They rocked it right and had the crowd going crazy - which I can't say I saw much of the rest of that night. Allow me to introduce to you Othello . Q: Where are the three members of Lightheaded living at the moment? A: I'm living in Beaverton. Braille is living in Beaverton, actually right next door [Braille has since announced he will be moving to San Marcos, CA towards the end of the year]. We share the same wall. We got these town house type spots in Beaverton. We ended up moving into the same neighborhood at the

Slaughterhouse "Slaughterhouse"

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After all the hype, video blogs and constant internet chatter Slaughterhouse united for an official album. What began as what looked like drunken chatter in the lab between Joe Budden, Royce Da 5’ 9” and Joell Ortiz turned into a number of scathing tracks (“Move On,” “Fight Club,” etc.) and talk of a super group album. But like so many previous talks of collaborative albums dropping I’m unsure how serious people took them. Earlier this month all the doubters were silenced as the four headed monster came through to deliver the official self titled album. While the hype placed fairly large expectations on this release, if there were ever four emcees who could live up to them it is these guys. Prior to the album dropping they all took time to assure the masses that the album would be surprising and demonstrate different sides from the team. Not entirely clear on what this meant, the album pretty much delivers exactly what it is we have come to expect from these guys – four of the truest

IAME: The Questions & The Answers

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So I dropped off a little article meets review (of his new album I Am My Enemy which you need to peep if you haven't) on IAME Thursday night and now, as promised here is the full Q&A transcript. I hope you enjoyed the article and gain some insight into one of Portland's up and comers. Q: Can you introduce yourself and give a quick history lesson of the Sandpeople? A: My name is IAME. Basically as Sandpeople go, it was crew that started about 2004-2005. It was originally me, Moby and Simple we had a group called Red Shield and that was like the first project that I was ever involved in seriously outside of just messing around – the first album that I put out. Shortly after that period we started working with more artists within the region and decided to do a bigger crew effort and so we did this album. This album was the very beginning stages of the group, it wasn’t like we became this group and then made an album – the group was still getting defined when we made the firs