The Musik Lounge

For quite some time I've wanted to do a weekly feature reviewing a random CD. I went into Easy Street and copped 10 dollar albums and was ready to go. Life got in the way and I've been off the internet for quite some time. Nothing new round these parts. In my recent move I brought my CD collection to Seattle. This means that box of 10 discs is competeing with some piles of shit. I don't know what ya'll are gonna get hit with. Kicking it off this week is the last album from Acid Reign out of LA. Coming out in 2008 on Alpha Pup didn't quite mean what it means today. Not that Alpha Pup has upped their rep that much but Daddy Kev is a resident of The Low End Theory and viewed as the surrogate father of the sprawling beat scene that's been on a steady rise for several years now. Acid Reign is two emcees Beond and Gajah, they have been rapping together since they were teenagers and have made the rounds with the project blowed cats coming up through the LA underground ...

In 24 hours I've been inundated with some amazing tunes. First it was the previously blogged about Dibiase mix, find it here . Today I was cleaning my car out with the iTunes on shuffle and after hearing "South Bronx" a song came on called "Weed Smoker Music" and captured the mood well. The dude responsible for the track was named Starlito, upon further research I found out he used to go by All Star and was at one point signed to Cash Money. No more from the looks of things. If his Renaissance Gangster tape with DJ Burn One is any indication of what his extensive back catolog might offer I'm very excited. Hailing from Nashville and demonstrating excellent story telling capabilities along with an honest side, we see him expounding on harsh truthes many fail to properly grasp. With guys like Freddie Gibbs and Pill making a name for the righteous gangster and Wiz Khalifa and Currensy getting highed up on the daily and writing raps about their adventures, Sta...

I hate writing about people I know nothing about. Perhaps it's because it forces me to focus solely on the music. Gonjasufi's debut album A Sufi and A Killer solves that problem by being across the board the most eclectic album full of disparte sounds I've ever heard. It's heavy, melodic, soulful and moody just at the surface. Digging deeper will only make you sink further into the maze of musical styles prevalent here. Gonjasufi is a dreaded man and sings hauntingly poetic verses over LA beat scene canvases that sound as though they were made specifically for the man to make his own. The album opens with a recording of chanting, while the title references an acient Indian dancing tradition. " Ancestors " was the first song to leak from the project and it's a great choice as it's one of the most straight forward and melodic songs on the album. Over a chopped guitar and piano sample along with gritty and stuttering drums Gonjasufi sings about those tha...

Nosaj Thing had a big year in 2009. We're not even 2 weeks into 2010 and he already has remixes floating around the net. First he tried his hand on the monster rap cut "Forever." While the original was little more than publicity for Drake, Nosaj Thing's minimal beat compliments the vocals on the hook far better than the original. Add to this a consistent thumping bass kick and, in typical Thing fashion, some spacey synths you can't help but vibe with. His beat is like a contradiction to the verses yet they all sound fresh and when Em comes in for his stellar verse you will probably be asking yourself if this LA kid can get on Relapse 2 . Yeah. The XX had a lot of hype surrounding their debut release and their age. I downloaded the album and struggled to finish it. Don't see it, but that's ok I haven't been on some rock type ish since Kid Rock & Limp Bizkit - obviously I'm not the person to ask when it comes to what classifies good rock. Nosaj g...

Yes I was up listening to beat tapes late last night, and the night before. I’ve always enjoyed instrumental Hip Hop – the Strictly Beats blog was my introduction to the music blog scene – and as such I figured why not give some new beat tapes a listen. As it is every year, the first quarter generally starts out fairly slow on the release of new music. Luckily the industry is changing and while our favorite rappers won’t be coming out readily with new music a number of up and comers have been blessing us with great music non stop since before the 2009, and it seems that it’s only going to continue. Dert is a talented producer. As I mentioned in the Jansport J post below , sometimes beat tapes are inspired by one source, as is the case with Talk Strange , an instrumental project inspired by the tunes of Icelandic songstress Bjork. My familiarity with the music of hers is fairly minimal. I heard the Timbo produced tracks and may have ran through the last album once? A couple of her olde...

Any album that’s first words spoken is “first blunt of the day, time to make a beat” I’m fucking with! Ras G would be one of the current new crop of beat musicians coming out of LA. While new is a relative term, his teammate Flying Lotus has been making waves for awhile now and hopefully leading more to discover Ras. Regardless of when you enter the mans world, I imagine he has been conquering record bins for years and will be filling them up with his own creations in the years to come. Originally dropped on wax courtesy of the Poohbah label as a 6 track EP, here we find his Beats of Mind flushed out to a full 21 tracks of selector goodness. Drawing on numerous sounds from throughout the universe you are bound to hear a few you might be familiar with… and many you aren’t. Using clips from the classic Sun Ra flick Space is the Place Ras G and his Afrikan Space Program rock out! As a big fan of Sun Ra, you hear the influence come through as the disc plays out sometimes slow and hypnot...

And we're back one mo' gin for another round of what we do on Sunday - give y'al them music you need! This week's podcast is just a little heavy on the LA cuts and given that I'm depressed by the crappy weather up our way why not celebrate the place where the sun shines? The Musik Lounge Podcast Vol. 4

Evidence had some big shoes to fill following up his debut solo album , and if The Layover EP is demonstrative of what we will be hearing more of on his sophomore follow up next year, Cats & Dogs is my most anticipated album of ’09. But that’s the future and I’m sure I’ll have ample opportunity to speak on it at a more appropriate time. Right now I need y’all to try and follow me as I attempt to explain why I think you need to buy this album, like right now. Evidence was on tour with Khrysis last year and I would imagine being two beat makers they had some things to talk about and eventually those conversations led to some music creation. Originally this EP was going to be a free download with Ev going in over five heat rocks from Khrysis, things changed and instead we get two tracks from him – but after hearing them you won’t be mad. With the opening two cuts, Khrysis lays it down here! The title track knocks hard filled with more sounds than should work, but somehow it does and...

I hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving! I’m getting paid! Although as much as I keep telling myself I don’t care that I’m here in the office all day it does feel just a little strange to not be home right now – never not been with my mom and fam on a Thanksgiving, and I’m thankful for my past so I guess I’ll survive today. That’s not why you are here though. I haven’t stopped banging The Layover EP all week (it’s the perfect length for my walk to work) and tomorrow it will be revealed just exactly how I feel about it, like you don’t already know. Today though I figured why not take a look at what is responsible for my impression with all that Ev touches these days. The Weatherman LP . As I made it known Monday , I wasn’t feeling the last few joints from Dilated Peoples. I heard some talk about a solo joint from Ev coming out on ABB but I was busy being a hater, screaming that he and his crew fell off and I didn’t care – never have I had to eat my words quite so harshly. Eviden...

I woke up this morning and took a walk over to EM (Everyday Music) did some digging and picked up The Layover EP . I’m planning a full review for Friday, but I’m as impressed as I expected to be. If you haven’t been following the internet hype campaign Ev and company created to get this record known, it was an impressive one and included shooting five videos, four of which are included on a DVD with the EP. The video plan worked well as far as I can tell as they are all fresh and different showing the versatility Evidence holds. Evidence “The Layover” Evidence ft. The Alchemist & Fashawn “Far Left” Evidence ft. Defari “Don’t Hate” The ending of that joint is DOPE! That beat is hypnotic and they both destroy it, this is indicative of the entire record. The Alchemist has long been down with Evidence – since before either of them were who they are today, and they have begun creating music together under the name Step Brothers. Here on the EP we are presented with their first official ...

With Evidence dropping his new EP tomorrow - I won't lie I think it's about to be one of the best releases of the year - I've got a week of Ev & Alc posts ready so if you don't know get ready, and if you do kick back and enjoy! Whenever you are a fan of the artist it’s just a little harder to dissect the music. I’m a fan of Evidence. Dilated Peoples was forever my shit, and then they slowly got consumed by the music industry machine and I lost interest. But my boy Swerve kept telling me to check out The Weatherman LP . I took my sweet time, but finally I stopped sleeping and was blown away. Since then Ev has steadily impressed, reminding me why I loved Dilated back in the day. For his first mixtape venture he links with DJ Skee and together they put out The Layover Mixtape . While Skee’s involvement is minimal, a few drops over good verses and the occasional shout out, it’s a good bet he was involved in setting up just a few of these collaborations. The most notabl...

With the end of the year rapidly approaching, I had to weigh in on a couple more producer comps the year has seen released. With strong showings from both Jake One and Statik Selektah you would think we had been blessed with enough heat from the always on their gind underground beatmakers, but instead we have also been blessed with two from west coast legends DJ Revolution and DJ Babu. Babu dropped the third volume of his Duck Season joint filled with his dusty brand of funky and thumping Hip Hop tracks. The Beat Junkies/Dilated Peoples representative digs deep pulling a number of fresh and unknown samples out of his crates and sets them up with hard drums and a great assortment of guest emcees. Opening with his crew for a quick burst of energy to get you into the mood Duck Season 3 knocks from the start. Quickly getting into album cuts we see M.O.P. do what they do best on “Dearly Departed” - Babu sounds like he was meant to give the Brownsville bombers those heat rocks. DJ Babu f...