cubikmusik

the robots are taking over

btw: check out the big tune played on bbc1xtra tonight w/ mistajam, the streets and ted mayhem. the streets w/ giggs.
via @skinnermike
Download The Robots Are Taking Over

46 days of lent...day 17

gearing up for some quality hip-hop and all round fun tonight with q-tip and his live band coming through town tomorrow night at the button factory and then the afterparty, with q-tip dj'ing, at twisted pepper. gonna be a big night all round no doubt.

so, going old school with J jabre & mc melodee with 'and you don't stop'.

Download And you dont stop

46 days of lent...day 13

just lovin' this. first heard it on benjib's show last week. had seen @RealTalibKweli mention it but hadn't picked up on it.

from yearoftheblacksmith:
"Kweli and Hi-Tek are in the studio working hard on their long-awaited second album. They wanted to let all their friends online know they've linked back up, so they made this ode to technology, with a throwback funk feel to it. The legendary Bootsy Collins was chillin in the studio with Hi-Tek and wanted to jump on the song as well. This is just some different stuff to let y'all know they're on the way back."

Download Internet Connection feat. Bootsy Col

if you liked that, check this out.

also, trying to put together a mix of all this kinda stuff that i've been coming across lately: rollin', deep bass, west coast, boogie, bbq, summer party tunes so hopefully will have that up in nexk week. need to call in assistance of my mate sam for some 'technical assistance' though. ;)

diego's donut

"For Corners is the first full length album from Diego Bernal, a civil rights attorney and beatsmith, located in San Antonio, TX. For Corners is Diego Bernal's love letter to the music, cultures, era and people that nurtured him.
The music is dusty and layered with Latin soul, from the triumphant blasts of horns to the laid back groove of lowrider melodies. It is a call to return to the simplicity and integrity of hip-hop's best moment and an invitation to enjoy a slightly different kind of southern comfort. Not so much dirty south as directly south. The full album is a completely free download. Enjoy!"

i particularly like " from the triumphant blasts of horns to the laid back groove of lowrider melodies". and the bit about being a civil right attorney.
kinda reminds me of tommy guerrero but with fuller, southern style beats and bass and more latin feel.

this one goes out to ya'll in atx (and cali) who'll bop their heads along to this at summer bbq's and parties, especially covert.

Download 13 MC Rakim Cool Kane and the Furiou

46 days of lent...day 7

for krissy

michna. that's all you need to know for this big up style, bad bwoy tune.

interesting stuff about michna:
"growing up in both NY and Miami, Michna (real name: Adrian Michna) is that unique breed of artist that draws from both the urban and the tropical. As a youngster, Adrian started DJing parties with cassettes and playing trombone in a band on the NYC bar circuit including the infamous Lion’s Den and CBGB’s."
...from ghostly

Download 02 Swiss Glide

also get over to rcrd labl for 'triple chrome dipped'.

buy: iTunes

46 days of lent...days 5 & 6

apologies to all (especially ken) for missing yesterday's post. got much sidetracked over the weekend.
gonna post two tunes today to make up for it.

first up is junior boys (playing dublin, march 14th). much thanks to covert for turning me onto this album. i've had it on and off for the past two weeks with some tunes off the album, Begone Dull Care*, grabbing more attention than others but overall a really interesting and enjoyable album to listen to.

Download 07 The Animator

dunno why i hadn't posted this next tune before. nialler9 he talked about jaydiohead back in january, describing the album as "2009s first worthy mashup album" and great stuff it is with 'wrong prayer' being such a big tune. jay-z is just a powerful rapper. pure poet skills.
get the album here.

Download 02 99 Anthems

*Begone Dull Care is also a movie made in 1949 which has a plot , as described by imdb as being 'Abstract images drawn directly onto the film are accompanied by three pieces of jazz performed by the Oscar Peterson trio.' posting the whole thing here as its great and this then counts as a design/art post aswell as i'm due one.one the best depiction of music i've seen and its drawn like an animation. brilliant.

black mags

if i was back in Austin i'd defintiely be heading to the q-tip/ cool kids show at stubbs this thursday.
top beats and treats guaranteed there i tell you!
so, for those of you going, this is for you.

enjoy ya'll.

Download 06_black_mags.mp3

buy: tickets, tune (iTunes)

now that i believe

 
a few weeks ago gilles peterson started dropping some tunes from the q-tip album, The Renaissance, on his radio show  (where you need to check out the latest show which is a vinyl only, hip-hop brownswood basement session). these tunes captured the imagination and you just knew that this was going to be such a great hip-hop album that harks back to the golden years while managing to effortlessly pull the sounds onwards and upwards in a way that only q-tip and a few others can do.

i got the album last week and am lovin' it. there have been a good few tunes posted from the album already and i'm surprised that this tune 'won't trade' hasn't been hyped up more. the track excellently samples ruby andrews powerful voice, kickin' beats and beautiful piano loops from 'you made a believer out of me' which is a classic (northern) soul tune.

while we're at it, might as well check out the video for 'move' off the same album. choice!

Move

Download 01_you_made_a_believer_out_of_me.mp3

Download 02_wont_trade.mp3

buy: 'you made a believer out of me': (iTunes), Amazon (US)
buy: 'the renaissance' : CD @ Amazon (UK), (US) , Download: Amazon (US), iTunes

sunshine

I wandered into town to meet a friend and watch 'Man On Wire' yesterday and I highly recommend you go check it out. Afterward we had a few pints and then it was off home to get ready for another week of work.
It was drizzling rain for most of the walk home but I was fine. My ears were perfectly enclosed in my kick-ass headphones that I love and I was doing the iPod shuffle.
As I walked up the streets still bustling with tourists and weekend shoppers I saw the Dublin Spire ahead of me and in the dark, drizzly rain its lighting was stunning along one side and so I naturally followed the light to the top. As I did so, this song came on, and along with it some great memories of timed shared with someone special and so, in the rain, I smiled and kept on walking home, past the inviting taxis, delighting in the rain.
That's why I love music so much.

Download 11_sunshine.mp3

Buy: iTunes, Amazon (US), (UK)
Handsome Boy Modeling School.

black

Back in August '05 I posted the original of this tune and I gotta say that Dan Black does a pretty interesting job on covering this classic.

Born in London but based in Paris Dan Black is unsigned and has just released this as a white label.
As said by Mr. Black himself:
"I knew what kind of music I wanted make, but at first I found it hard to get these conflicting desires to blend well outside of my head. I’d been making these weird remix/mashups for my occasional Djing, so I thought, I’ll take the method I’ve been using for that but use it for song writing instead. The very first thing I tried was HYPNTZ.”
And from the offical blurb:
"Fusing the ubiquitous beat from “Umbrella” with heavily chopped-up samples from the film soundtrack of John Carpenter’s “Starman”, Dan audaciously decided to cover one of the holiest scriptures of hip hop: “Hypnotize”. By bending Biggie’s brutal, braggadocio, mouth-twisting flow over his own aching, passionate melody, almost miraculously, he transformed the ultimate rap brag into a deeply heartfelt, bittersweet epic."

It really is infectious. Lovin' it.

Download 01_hypntz.mp3

get it on

sleeve from 'sleeve & lowman' fame as featured on cubikmusik back in November 2006, brings us back with some old school sample slinging covering de la soul, arrested development and more with this choice summer tune that you can be sure to drop to get everyone smiling and grooving. I know that a certain JC will be into this and I look forward to playing this on a (hopefully) sunny Friday afternoon in his back yard in two weeks.

Out on the excellent 'single minded' compilation from Freestyle Records that also brought you Lack of Afro (cubikmusik post here) amongst others such as Chaka Khan, Fred Wesley, Soulive, Chali 2Na.
Check out some pretty impressive accolades on Freestyle Records here.

Download 03_get_it_on.mp3

buy: 12" (direct from label-UK), digital @ gigacrate (US) , clickgroove (UK)

bay slap

this past weekend I got (delightfully) exposed to some excellent hip-hop aptly slanged as bay slap; heavy on the slow roll of bass, west coast party crunk that is far more appealing to me than its southern cousin as its rapping is more complex, structured and well, more thought through shall we say. ;)

coming at you from z-man and dnae beats this is a tune from machete vox records out of San Francisco on their upcoming sampler (find out more here).

this goes out to a friend celebrating some hella birthday tonight way back on the west coast. i know it'll be a top night filled with good food, wine, laughter, bass and dancing.
big up!
Download Shuddup.mp3

not afraid

A right little beat driven gem is this one. Totally irresistible voice of Jessica Fitoussi over some dillaesque beats and looped samples from Mister Modo and Ugly Beer Music. Too short but oh so sweet.

Check out the upcoming album, Modonut out on Favorite Recordings.

*May 13th: File removed at the request of label and replaced with stream*

Buy: iTunes (US), Juno Download (UK)

polar crunk

Been sitting on this for a few weeks now and wasn't gonna post it as I thought I had picked it up from another blog. Tonight I went to try and find where I got it and realised that I bought it and I don't think its been posted elsewhere.
Pure party tune here full of top old school hip-hop feel and a new crunk feel that is guaranteed to get the booties shaking, rattling and rolling as its bassline drops and pops.
Prodcued by Mooqee and released on the Bomb Strikes label this is a must have for your next house party when the sun has been up and all are up for a top night.

Can you tell I am ready to get my party on? 
Soon. Soon....

A little about Moqee:
"In between creating tracks and co-managing infamous label Bombstrikes, Mooqee can be found pedalling his genre twisting sound through what are becoming legendary dj sets. Mooqee's sets are grown from the same philosophy as his music. Constantly bringing on the funk, it's all about fusing different sounds to rock the party. Mooqee has been gathering some serious heat over the last year with airtime from Radio 1 in the UK, hook ups with label mates Beatvandals and Russ from Cuban Brothers…..all with the usual Mooqee style devastation. In addition to the guest bookings he can also be spotted holding down a residency with leading Breaks, beats and funk night 'Sugarbeat club"

(May 15th: Track removed after limited at the request of the artist/label.)

Buy: Dancetracks Digital (US), iTunes (US) Juno (UK)

bossy

Last week I mentioned a tune in a post that I just had to have. Well, mission accomplished. It took some digging and emailing but I managed to get a copy emailed to me (cheers Max).
Keils may have brought all the boys to the yard but Blundetto brings everyone to the dancefloor with this perfectly mashed-up Bossy

Out on the every excellent Stix label that brought us Taggy Matcher's 'My Adidas" amongst other greats.
Keep your ears peeled for Blundetto's next releases with some Missy Elliot laying it dow and if you wanna check out Blundetto and you happen to be in Lyon in May you gotta go to Nuits Sonores where you can also hear Pilooski and many others. By the way Nuits Sonores translates to 'Noisy Nights' so you know its gotta be good.

Buy Bossy (7" vinyl only release): Banquet (UK) Phonica (UK) Picadilly (UK), Conch (NZ), JetSet (JP)
Also check out other Stix releases over at Dusty Groove

honey

In all honesty this is not a pairing I would have made but damn it works out just fine.
Much thanks to Mad Decent for getting this out. A blissed out Seiji deep bass and broken beat Erykah fest.
I love the lady Badu with her super cool fro and (excuse the pun) honey drenched voice. The original was produced by 9th Wonder (who also produced the fine tune, beats).
Download honey_seiji_mix.mp3

Buy Honey: iTunes (US) DJ Hut (US), Fat Beats (US)

bird's eye view from Austin

One of my favourite Austin artists Bird Peterson is on xlr8r TV this week showing us around the fine town of Austin. Fair dues to him for wearing a t-shirt for the excellent Table Manners Crew that played at our party during SXSW. Those guys can lay it down something special. Top blokes and choice tunes.

Anyways, back to BP.
Remixing the likes of Cadence Weapon, Spankrock and Wu-Tang Clan Bird Peterson is one of the few top quality beat makers coming out of this rock ' n' roll town. The tune below, Bills is a mix of some Mexican influences, Dirty South, glitch and hip-house. All marvelously wrapped up in some serious bass and spit out through the woofers.

Download bird_petreson_bills_feat_mugsy_flowz.mp3

Watch xlr8r TV slot:

Buy some BP over at Gigacrate.

Update (04/16): I have just realized that my title is almost the same as over on xlr8r and that I am posting a video from there along with a song that I downloaded from their mp3 section. xlr8r, if you are reading this, I am sorry. Don't they say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery? Even if it is un /subconscious.

kop this

Nice one to the Kop for winning the Champions League quarter final game against Arsenal today.
Celebrating with us tonight is Riuven with 'Tha Liv'. Great stuff..I just hope he's a Liverpool fan! ;)
Download 01_tha_liv.mp3

buy: 7Digital (UK Download) iTunes (US Download)

ride on

As the days get warmer and the nights longer there is nothing like some good West Coast hip-hop sounds to get you in the mood for afternoons in the sun, bbq's with friends and the sound system laying down some bass and deep groovin' organ.
Mochipet, with Rasshan (Crown City Rockers) and Mike Boo deliver just the song from the newly released album, Microphonepet, out on the excellent, fun and eclectic Daly City Records.

This one is for Krissy in San Diego.

Download 07_ride_on_featuring_raashan_of_crown_city_rockers_and_mike_boo.mp3

Buy: Direct from label (CD-US and Intl.) iTunes (US)

Also check out the great Mochipet interview of Planktonman from the Nortec Collective.

all i need

After Radiohead's In Rainbows came out last year, turning many people in the industry upside down and causing a lot of much needed discussion about where it was all going, Oakland artist Amplive announced that he was making his remix album, Rainydayz, available for free to anyone who provided proof of 'purchase' of the In Rainbows album.
Anyways, he got a cease and desist order about this causing some confusion to many as the original material has been available for free.

None the less-he's back and here is some of the text from his email this morning with 'all i need' remixed after that.

"as you probably know, a cease & desist put the breaks on the project last month, and its future has remained unclear. Until today. While Amp acknowledges that he probably should have contacted Radiohead (who were not involved in the project) to seek approval prior to making his interpretations publicly available, an agreement has been reached between all involved parties and Amplive has been granted permission to release Rainydayz Remixes for free to the general public.


For the next eight days, Amplive will release one Rainydayz Remix track a day via his iLike iCast, which means you can plaster these mixes all over your Facebook profile and beyond. All you need to do is head over to Amp's iLike page and click the iLike logo to get these tracks and future Amplive releases delivered straight to you."
Download 05_all_i_need.mp3