February Heatrocks

Without music life would be a mistake.
~Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

DOWNLOAD those February Heatrocks!

It's about that time once again y'all! New month, time to run through those tracks tht got me through the last 30... well 28 in this case. February was a great month, stayed busy, partied and listened to some great music! Did you cop that Magnectic Blackness 7"?

As per usual in the first months of the year it's always slow to hear new music. But I still stayed at it digging up just a few jams and going back into time to bump some older gems.

Dibia$e has been making a name for himself in the LA beat scene and his 10" with P.U.D.G.E. def deserves some shine. The track "Smoke It Over" is a great stoner vibe out jam that you are gonna have to get blunted to. Take (who will be dropping the follow up in that 10" series soon) dropped an album called The Dirty Decibles of Thomas Two Thousand. While not quite as dope as his debut from a few years back, "Fall In Love Again" is a great flip of an old Dilla sample. On the album he also does his take on "Lightworks" turning it into "Lie-Twerx." It's hot. If you ain't fucking with the LA beat scene, get hip!

I keep telling myself I need to start featuring random Bandcamp projects on the site. Bandcamp has provided a number of aritists with a great oppurtunity to get their music out to the public. I found Jinesis on there and wasn't blown away by the project. "Great Smile" sticks out though. Knocking.

The first vocal track of the collection. B.O.B. & Asher Roth join up for a great song discussing the goals people have when getting into this business. For those that don't know, this business is feirce and if you can't handle it, it will destroy you. This song touches on things I've seen, things friends have seen and things anyone in the industry will see inevitably. There is a lot of fun to be had, but sometimes the art has to expose some of the downfalls too.

Gotta give some props to Mr. Radjaw on this one. Metronomy is a group I probably never would have heard if it wasn't for his praise (and giving me the mp3s). The track here "The End of You Too" is a trippy electronic meets band instrumental jam session. Slowly building up, more instruments steadily working their way in. The break down is something else and by the end of it you may swear you heard everything, but I garuntee that you didn't.

Many props to Jack Devo over at Bring that Beat Back for posting a grip of classic 206 Hip Hop albums from an assortment of years and styles of artists. I found this album by High Heat titled 1st Degree Burns and it was cool, nothing to special. "Money's Having Problems" seems to define my life on the daily, needless to say the song spoke to me. It's got a smooth beat that is laid back and perfect for the sing song chourus and the bars deal with the struggle to get your bread up while living life. Real talk.

Jose James is a voice that the world needs to hear. It's beautiful, melancholy and heartfelt. There is a depth in his voice that compliments his backing tracks. "Code" is the kick off track to his latest solo album Blackmagic. Produced by Flying Lotus but sounding about as far away from anything you are familiar with from the man. He plays some great keys throughoug the track and lays down some wicked soft but hard drum hits. James does his vocal thing and you all but forget his last album featured a band on the music.

Curren$y is a monster. Cats saying he doesn't belong next to Mos Def and Jay Electronica are in gonna be in for a suprise! This kid left Lil Wayne's camp knowing that he was a bigger star. He might not be there yet but he ain't hurting and with a flow that can traverse regions, a life that takes him everywhere, and a passion for recording it won't be long before he is the superstar he envisioned himself as. Smokee Robinson was a HOT tape and the second track, "Smash On O'Leary", is a must repeat. "Ain't nothing going on but them bomb ass rap songs" is so true. Watch that DD172.

Dyme Def has been making a little bit of a comeback. After killing our party on the 20th of last month they rocked the Tractor in Ballard to send off this years Seattle class to SXSW. All these appearences had me going back to check some cuts. One that I dug up was a leak on 2DB last year some time entitled "Dreaming." They dropped a number of cuts on the web since the debut. Many of them far better than anything found on Panic. Here's hoping The Sextape makes up for it. Either way this is a great song about chasing those goals everyone tells you are unrealistic. Nike said it, just do it.

Seattle just keeps coming with the heat these days. This time from some young guns. Brothers From Another are two senior's in High School. They rap. Well. Have some hot beats and 2 EPs to their name. This song caught me thanks to the video. I've been repping for this track hard, playing it twice back to back on the radio show at one point. It screams Hip Hop to me. If someone wanted to know what Hip Hop was, you could play this one for em and they should know what is up. The beat has a gnarly little synth workout in it that turns it from a smooth jazzy styled beat into something much harder. For 17/18 year olds they hold it down, not letting go of the energy contained in the track. I could go on. Rebel is a beast that needs to be fucked with by everyone in the city. BFA needs to be watched, nourished and given some shows!

The 206 goodness just can't stop. Fresh Espresso dropped their acappella's on the producers and DJ's last week and we've seen a few things pop up. OC Notes doing the whole album was an unexpected and incredible joyous treat that gave us a great soundtrack while packaging the Magnetic Blackness 7" (which you can cop using the botton at the top of the right hand column). Before the acappella's were availible the OFS camp let the FileJerks get their hands on it and they delivered the kick off. Their take on Diamond Pistols is spectacular. With some of the hardest bass and great synth work outs you can't help but want to pistol whip the club when this comes on. I even heard one local blogger claim he found it better than the original.

The LA beat scene has finally let it's first Emcee loose. NocanDo has been a staple of LA area rap for a minute. Having had face and mic time at the renowned Project Blowed back in the day and now being the sole resident emcee for Low End Theory he has certainly payed the dues. His album Jimmy The Lock is a stellar album for 2010 that hasn't recieved much attention. His lead single had me hooked, but after one night out I had to go so far as to plug my computer into my car stereo auxilary input just to hear this song on my drive home. If that doesn't qualify it for inclusion, I'm not sure what does.

I don't think anyone in the US or any developed nation can understand the concept of not having enough water. We waste water like it's nothing. I guess in some ways it is. But there are still places that can't get enough and this song captures the pain of that experince well I think. Anjolee's voice slightly cracks from time to time but it only adds to the atmosphere.

Kool and the Gang. What's not to like? They are great and fun. "Summer Madness" was the reason I bought this album but discovering the Dilla sample in "Fruitman" was a great plus! Copped in SF at Groove Merchant Records - I gotta get back! Diggin through the digital crates I had to pull this one back up for a little reprise rocking.

Having not fully dug into Gnawledge's project I'm only going to say the fact that he put this together for an acedemic institution is quite cool. Moving to a country, meeting local musicians and merging their abilities with his own and the help of his production partner to the end of releaseing a full album is awesome. I need to listen to this album. Check this song and I think you will too.

Another disciple in the Brainfeeder tradition, Lone recently dropped a follow up to the album "Orange Tree" can be found on. Lemurian is a dusty and bleepy tour into the mind of another young kid steeped in hours of hip hop loops and breaks and video game sound effects. Fuck with it. Zone out to "Orange Tree."

Cosmogramma couldn't be more expected in many circles. Flying Lotus stock has only risen since his debut 1983 and I will say it's exciting to know that he only keeps moving forward. With the legions of imitators he has spawned - this is not meant as a dis, I'm a fan of many but at the same time FlyLo and Brainfeeder represented orginality at it's finest the best of those influenced by him are showing their own colors as well - he keeps things off beat and kinda wonky. Just enough to get you wet until that first week of May gets here.

Take was another early name in this so called Beat scene, his album Earthtones & Concrete still gets regular play. Getting it at KSUB I instantly called up Leeor, his radio rep at the time, and started finding out all I could. He seemed to drop off the map for a minute but has reemerged sounding as good as ever. Here he flips the classic Dilla sample for his own take of "Fall in Love."

Hudson Mohawke will finally be playing in Washington state, although not in Seattle. His name on the Sasquatch bill is singlehandedly the biggest reason I'm wishing I was gonna be at the Gorge in a couple months. This remix of the Jodeci classic is ridiculous. If he drops it during his set, some babies might just be concieved right there in the pit.

Smooth, dark, expressive, happy, ominous... I could continue. "Eeridance" by Jazzpresso is all those things and more in it's seven minutes and twenty six seconds of playing time. Opening with a beautiul piano melody and the perfect snare and hi hat melody before the addition of horns this song is awesome. At the one fourteen mark when everything comes crashing in after seconds of scilence you can't help but be consumed. But it's not done. The trumpets play, the song builds. And ebbs. It's just beautiful music, what more do you want?

DOWNLOAD those February Heatrocks!