It’s been a long time…

…I shouldn’t have left you without a dope beat to step to.

Today I just wanna chuck in all the info, condensed stylee, that I should have really been giving in detail over the last couple of months. I’m falling desperately short with the amount of ‘meaningful’ blog entries on here, and for that I am sorry. I’m juggling my 6 working days a week and this blog, and the blog is getting a pasting by the opposition; the merciless 6 day working week. The thing, however, I am most guilty of is realising I don’t have time to do a full track by track review of a new album, and so not even mentioning it at all, which isn’t really fair. So I’ll start by listing some good new stuff that has either come out recently or is about to come out soon.

The new Wax Tailor album Hope and Sorrow has literally just dropped. The French cut’n'paste hip-hop producer extraordinaire gave us Tales of the Forgotten Melodies back in 2005 and his new 2007 effort is just as heavy! The 15 track album delves deeper into the mind of a man with an obvious fascination with nostalgic story telling and rich beats. It also features some fantastic artists on the collab, including; Sharon Jones, Marina Quaisse, Charlotte Savary, and Ursula Rucker, to name a few. Already being a big fan of the Tailor’s work, I was instantly drawn to Hope and Sorrow, but like a fine wine it does indeed mature with age. Repeat listens will only strengthen your love for these exquisite beats and samples. One track I am totally hooked on at the moment is this one…

Wax Tailor - Alien In My Belly feat Charlotte Savary
>> download track
>> buy album @ Amazon US / Amazon UK
This download link will expire on 4th April.

Also recently released was the iTunes exclusive Kovas EP The Arrogance Of Youth. If you have been reading this blog for a while then you may remember the Chocolate Swim feature I did last September. Well Kovas featured on that with the track Up In Here, but now he has released a full EP of material. This is hip-hop with real attitude, but more in the style of ripping it up on the dancefloor than shooting the place up on the streets. Kovas makes tight, addictive beats to get yo’ ass movin’! Give this track a go for starters…

Kovas - Say What
>> download track
>> buy album @ iTunes
This download link will expire on 4th April.

Japanese turntablist DJ Kentaro has finally dropped his debut album Enter. For anyone that pays attention to the turntablism scene, you would’ve probably heard all bout Kentaro when he won the DMCs back in 2002. Or maybe you heard of him when he dropped that wicked Solid Steel mix CD for Ninja Tune in 2004. But either way, all that matters is that his album is finally here! I’ve gotta say, it has lived up to all the expectations. There’s a distinct volume of drum ‘n’ bass sounds throughout the album, but between Kentaro’s fantastic production and the impressive guest appearances on the album, it is much more than your average d’n'b record. Enter features the likes of; The Pharcyde, Spank Rock, New Flesh, Hifana, and Fat Jon. A subtle blend of hip-hop and d’n'b sounds presented in an intelligent turntablist style will leave you wanting more, so here’s a little something to get those taste buds tingling…

DJ Kentaro - Rainy Day (Ft. New Flesh)
>> download track
>> buy album @ Amazon US / Amazon UK
This download link will expire on 4th April.

It’s been just over a year since the sad passing of J Dilla, but to celebrate that anniversary, Stones Throw have re-issued his 2003 EP Ruff Draft into a full LP. The new version is available on both vinyl and CD (as well as the super-rare cassette tape that has been kicking around) and features 14 tracks as well as a bonus ten instrumentals with the CD purchase. It’s funny cos I knew of J Dilla long before his passing, so I always had an idea of his sound and what he had done. So when I heard relatively new fans saying “oh this is way more ghetto than I was expecting!”, I was left thinking “ghetto?!”. The truth be told (and it is fitting with the fact this stuff originally came out in 2003) it reminded me a lot of the McNasty stuff, which was I guess slightly ‘ghetto’, but not in a huge way - some people just don’t realise that Dilla was also an emcee with attitude, not just a production guru. Ruff Draft shows this side of Dilla, and with classics like Wild, The $, and Make’em NV, you cant fail to fall in love with Dilla all over again. Give Make’em NV a listen right now…

J Dilla - Make’em NV
>> download track
>> buy album @ Amazon US / Amazon UK
This download link will expire on 4th April.

One half of People Under The Stairs, Thes One has released his first solo album Lifestyle Marketing and it is strictly instrumental hip-hop. Although it goes one step further than that: the entire album is reworkings of Herb Pilhofer’s back-catalogue. Now, you are probably wondering who the hell Herb Pilhofer is. He was a producer from the 60s and 70s that made a lot music for commercials. So Thes One decided to rework the original material into some heavy sample based instrumental hip-hop tracks. But just so you can try to work out exactly what Thes has done, the CD comes with a bonus disc that includes 33 of Herb Pilhofer’s original pieces. Don’t be put off by any gimmick feeling you may be having, this is some seriously good stuff right here! Shop Hy-Vee everybody…

Thes One - Hy-Vee
>> download track
>> buy album @ Amazon US / Amazon UK
This download link will expire on 4th April.

Still waiting for your ‘weird’ fix? Well CocoRosie have a new album and it is called The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn. It will freak you out, amaze you, surprise you, baffle you, and so on and so forth, but somewhere amongst all of these reactions and emotions, CocoRosie have dropped a real killer of an album. Not as cinematic as Joanna Newsom’s Ys, but just as addictive and quirky, this new album combines all the elements necessary to present a folk-indy-pop-avant-garde masterpiece. There’s singing, wailing, beatboxing, instruments, samples, and plenty of other unexplainable noises, but give it half a chance and there is every possibility is will take you in its grasp. Hearing is believing folks…

CocoRosie - Werewolf
>> download track
>> buy album @ Amazon US / Amazon UK
This download link will expire on 4th April.

I think that’s enough for now, don’t want to overwhelm anyone! But, I also want to say, although I have been a little slack on the blog for a while, I have been regularly releasing new volumes of my podcast. Don’t you be sleeping on the Just Like Music podcast now! There’s nothing difficult bout downloading podcasts and it wont cost you a penny, so no excuse really. Plus it’s another good way to discover good music, both new and old. Check out the list of other cool podcasts in the sidebar of the blog too.

Look out for my extensive review of the new album Rawville by The Bamboos. I hope to put it up on here within the next few days - you wont want to miss it, it’s a cracker of an album!

Useful links:

• Wax Tailor MySpace page
• Kovas MySpace page
• DJ Kentaro MySpace page
• J Dilla MySpace page
• Thes One (Tres Records) MySpace page
• CocoRosie MySpace page
• The Bamboos MySpace page

Get In The Seven Inch Scene

A confession: I’m totally addicted to collecting 7″ vinyl. I just cant get enough of the little bastards. Got over 60 of them now, and that is less than three months of collecting. If you love your music and have a few coins to spare, buy a turntable and get collecting 7s! Your vinyl collection doesn’t take too much looking after, it’s not like a pet fish that will die of hunger. You just need to make sure you keep it stacked upright (not on top of each other) and out of direct sunlight, and it will be yours for (nearly) ever. Nothing beats the warmth of the vinyl experience. I think it is the culmination of senses used to experience, not just the music, but the whole vinyl package, as it were. It’s very hands on, requires your respect not to damage it by manhandling too much or generally mistreating, and gives such an authentic listening experience. There really is no need to get technical with the whole “vinyl versus CD” debate, no-one cares anymore - if you want a CD instead of vinyl, just buy the CD… I buy both formats anyway.

Anyway, this leads me on to my next point. The Bamboos, those funked up Aussies on Tru Thoughts, are dropping their new 7″ on 9th April. The A-side is Get In The Scene feat. Ohmega Watts, and the B-side is the instrumental version. This track is taken from their upcoming second album Rawville that is due out in May. The track is an upbeat funk affair with a laid back style. It features some funky guitar work with a catchy brass and wood melody - not to mention Ohmega Watts’s consistently wicked flow - a great blend. Get In The Scene is beautifully structured and really pays homage to those classic laid back funk sounds, whilst still sounding fresh as a daisy. Catch a clip of the track below…

[audio http://www.2-funky.co.uk/mp3/36758_000100010001.mp3]

From what I understand the new album will feature quite a few vocals on the tracks, unlike the debut album on Tru Thoughts from The Bamboos, but if they work anything like as well as this track does… then I cant wait!

Useful Links:

• The Bamboos website
• The Bamboos MySpace page
• Tru Thoughts website
• EtchShop

6 Questions: with… Bless 1

I’m back with another edition of 6 Questions. This time I have Bless 1, an emcee (and producer) from Chicago. First time I heard Bless 1 I was instantly impressed with his flow. He raps intelligent, smooth, soulful, and catchy rhymes. I was also surprised to see how little exposure he seemed to have so far, criminal! So, on the cusp of his debut album release Starving Artist, I have the answers straight from the man himself…

1. Who are you? Bless 1 from the west side of Chicago.

2. What do you do? I’m a hip-hop artist. I rap and produce tracks.

3. Why do you do it? I’ve had a love for hip-hop since high school. Writing rhymes came natural for me and I used to love to freestyle in ciphers.

A couple years back I tried to link up with local producers to create some music, but nothing was working out. I began getting into production myself, and the learning process was exciting to me. I started to understand how some of my favourite songs were created. Creating beats was like falling in love with the music again, and I began to have tracks to flow over.

The funny thing about it is that once I started to post my songs on MySpace, different producers began contacting me to work together.

4. So what’s new? Well I just finished recording the songs for my first album called “Starving Artist”. A French producer, Rythm From Art, produced the entire album except for two tracks that I did myself.

The album will be available for free download probably by the end of this month. If I don’t have my website by then, it will be linked on my MySpace page.

5. Who are you listening to at the moment? I listen to a lot of different music, but I’ve got a couple of favourite hip-hop songs that get repeated play, Devin the Dude - “What a Job”, Nas and Jay-Z - “Black Republicans”, Lupe Fiasco - “Dedicated”, and Talib Kweli - “Black Girl Pain”.

I’ve been bumping Rythm’s beat tapes and a song called “My Existence” off of my album too.

6. What’s your best nugget of wisdom? I don’t know where I heard it from, but about a year ago I heard the saying, “Prayer without works is dead”. Living in the hood you see as many churches as liquor stores, but progress has escaped us. I’ve seen too many people rely only on going to church and praying but not putting the hard work into changing their situation.

I’m a firm believer in the Creator, but I also believe that you need to work hard as well as keeping the faith for Him to bless you with an increase.

Our rewards are not always in arms reach, but they are always reachable.

Bless 1 was also kind enough to share the title track from the upcoming debut LP Starving Artist…

Bless 1 - Starving Artist
>> download track (YSI)
>> find out more @ Bless 1 MySpace page
This download link will expire on 25th March.

My thanks go out to Bless 1 for making me aware of his music, taking his time to answer the 6 Questions, and also sharing a track from the LP. Now please take your time to visit his MySpace page, add him to your friends, and cop Starving Artist when it comes out shortly - it will be free, everyone’s a winner baby!

Useful Links:

• Bless 1 MySpace page
• Rythm From Art MySpace page
• Download - Bless 1 - Starving Artist

I’ve Been Tru Thinking

If you read my “Best of 2006″ blog entry, you may have noticed the label Tru Thoughts pop up more than a few times. If you don’t know who Tru Thoughts are, have a quiet little sob to yourself for being so out of touch, and then read on.

Dry your eyes, it’s time for a fat slice of factuality…

Tru Thoughts is an independent record label out of Brighton, England, founded in 1999 by Robert Luis. They specialise (for want of a better word) in the more funky, jazzy, electronic, breaks, hip-hop areas of the musical spectrum. Some of their earliest releases include Bonobo’s Animal Magic and Quantic’s The 5th Exotic. Anyway, I’m hoping you know most of this already, so fast forward to now and the label is as strong as ever - was the best label of 2006, as far as I’m concerned.

2006 came to a close and was proof, in the medium of calendar, as a very successful period of time for the label. TM Juke dropped his much acclaimed second album Forward, Nostalgia 77 Octet won Jazz Album Of The Year at the Gilles Peterson Worldwide awards, the legendary Spanky Wilson made an appearance with The Quantic Soul Orchestra, and Alice Russell gave us a nice little remix album - a mere handful of memories out of plenty. But this is 2007 and time waits for no-one! No better way to kick off a new year then with a compilation showcasing just what’s going on, Tru Thoughts (and a little bit of Zebra Traffic) presents Shapes 07:01.

Shapes 07:01 is culmination of the current talent on both Tru Thoughts and its sister hip-hop label Zebra Traffic, it is due for general release on 2nd April. When this one turned up on the doorstep I was like a kid tearing through the wrapping paper of a Birthday present! This is the tracklisting…

1. Alice Russell - Hurry On Now (Boub Remix)
2. Spengler - Good Things
3. Freddie Cruger - Pushing On Feat. Linn
4. Up Hygh - Compatible
5. TM Juke - Skin (Remix) Feat. Rup
6. Quantic - Politick Society Feat. Noelle (Quantic Remix)
7. Jumbonics - Last Nite
8. Spanky Wilson & The Quantic Soul Orchestra - Waiting For Your Touch (Instrumental)
9. Nostalgia 77 - Wildflower
10. Lanu - Dis-information (12″ Mix)
11. The Bamboos - Happy
12. Me & You - Ze Zam
13. The Quantic Soul Orchestra - Paintings & Journeys
14. Diesler feat. Carla Alexandar - Into The Woods
15. Rup - Step
16. Dirty Diggers feat. Fourteen Corners - It’ll Be Ok

It kicks off with the Boub remix of Hurry On Now by the ever impressive Alice Russell. The notes on this track basically state that this remix turned up at Tru Thoughts HQ and they liked it so much they released it! Essentially this is a sort of dub/reggae slant on the original - it works beautifully and never gets tired. You may have heard this on Under The Munka Moon II, I think I listen to this version more than the original! Next up is Spengler with Good Things. I’d say I know Tru Thoughts pretty well, but I actually wasn’t familiar with Spengler until hearing this track. Still, that’s what compilations like this are for right? Discovering new things you may have over looked or just never heard of. This track is really soulful. Has that whole start-stop head nodding groove thing going on. It’s really smooth. The guitar, subtle keys and on-key dual vocals work a treat.

Freddie Cruger (AKA Red Astaire) is up next with the track Pushing On featuring Linn. The Swedish reggae/hip-hop maestro is a relative new comer to the Tru Thoughts stable, but is already asserting himself with style. I love this track. The beats are chilled but carry a certain level of funk to keep the groove moving - the samples are precisely placed and Linn’s vocal is silky. Pretty addictive stuff by all accounts. Up Hygh are the other act I wasn’t exactly familiar with until listening to this album, but their track Compatible had me intrigued. It’s a strange style of hip-hop that makes you stop in your tracks, contemplate if it ‘works’, then conclude that actually, yes, it is pretty damn heavy! It’s a laid back affair with heavy, heavy beats, clever rhymes and a hard chorus… “Me…and you………we’re not compatible!……..What was I thinking?!”. Give this the time it deserves, it’ll grab you at some point.

Man of the moment TM Juke presents a remix of Skin featuring the hottest Rupert since the bear. Rup first hit us hard with his cypher on Wilderness Kids from Juke’s first album a couple of years back. But on the cusp of his own debut album release, here he is adding his unique vocal wizardry to this Juke banger. I actually asked Rup bout the lyrics for this track and he had this to say “The lyrics are about humanity, truth and having a drunken dance with a member of the opposite sex or whatever you happen to be into. It’s all about that Skin!”. Well there you go, straight from the horses mouth. It’s a tight track anyway from TM Juke, with ragga style beats and arrangement, you wont be able to sit still, but with one of UK hip-hop’s hottest talents on the mic, it just adds an extra pinch of flavour - more on Rup later in this feature, but for now give this track a listen…

TM Juke - Skin (Remix) Feat. Rup
>> download track (YSI)
>> buy Shapes 07:01 @ EtchShop (out in April)
This download link will expire on 10th March.

Quantic is up next with his samba’esque Politik Society featuring Noelle on the vocals. This has bundles of rhythm and energy, as can probably be expected. A tight melody and structure from Quantic, with an exquisite vocal delivery from Noelle - this is, frankly, infectious! You heard of Jumbonics? You have now! They give it to us a straight with a fierce funk cover of Last Nite, originally by The Strokes. This track is being rinsed by plenty of people right now, and I’m one of them! If by some freak chance you’ve ever wondered what a funk cover of Last Nite might sound like, quit your wondering and check it out - I picked up the 7″ vinyl a few weeks back, it’s top stuff indeed.

60s soul singing legend Spanky Wilson teamed up last year with none other than Quantic to release a full LP, and what we have here is an instrumental version of one of the tracks; Waiting For Your Touch. It’s a funky affair to be sure. Mean brass stabs, a consistent funk beat and some eerie strings. I bet it would sound great live, goes without saying really. Nostalgia 77 serves us up a jazzy number with Wildflower. A tribal sounding deep jazz track with soulful female vocals, this is real nice. Just another example as to why Nostalgia 77 has picked up so many accolades of late.

Lanu of The Bamboos has released some solo stuff and shares with us the 12″ mix of Dis-information. This is a real loungey nu-soul track with plenty of funk added for good measure. A total summers day kind of track - it’s chilled, but has attitude. And straight after that is The Bamboos track Happy. Happy indeed, sounds like it has been taken straight off the soundtrack of a blaxploitation film. It’s a killer track for sure - plenty of brass, keys, and a heavy bassline - a funky excursion into the world of this Australian funk band. Check out their album Step Up for more of the same.

Ze Zam is credited as being by Me & You, which is actually Alex Cowan (TM Juke) and Robert Luis (Tru Thoughts head-honcho). This track bizarrely blends samba/bangra/breaks to create what you can only really describe as some sort of avantgarde floor-filler. It’s a rhythm filled and effects drenched electro banger. It speaks pure energy and will leave you wondering what else these fellas have instore for us! The Quantic Soul Orchestra then give us a taste of their latest brew with Paintings & Journeys. I always find one constant thing with any track remotely involving Quantic is the bass. Emphasis always seems to be on the bass - which is cool in my book, and this track is no exception. But there are plenty more layers to this fantastic composition. The strings are a beautiful touch and work well with the other orchestral elements, namely; guitar, drums, and other organic parts of the percussion.

Northern lad Diesler presents the latin groove Into The Woods, featuring Carla Alexandar. This is a tight production, a downtempo latin creation with Carla killing it on the vocals. I cant understand a word of it, but that doesn’t matter, it sounds good. Remember Rup from earlier? Well this is his track Step. The intro reminds me a bit of the tracks on Lewis Parker’s It’s All Happening Now, sort of dark yet chilled. Then in comes Rup, armed with the intelligent flow I know him so well for. This track is wicked. He serves it up with honesty and maintains relevance throughout. Too many emcees these days seem content with simply rhyming any old crap, but Rup proves it is still possible to create well thought out and clever rhymes and deliver them in a creative and sonically sound manner. His debut LP, Rup On Zebra, drops round about now, get it seen to.

The last track on the compilation is by Zebra Traffic’s Dirty Diggers with It’ll Be Ok featuring Fourteen Corners. The Diggers have dared to mess with what some people see as a grey area; hip-hop with rapping AND singing. It’s ok, stop it with the cringing… it works… this time. Cast your prejudice to one side and give it a thorough listen. The track is solid. Real smooth beats and samples and flowing rhymes from Young Max & Pat Stash.

Tru Thoughts also recently relaunched their website, so make sure you give that a visit… http://www.tru-thoughts.co.uk …it features all the latest news etc… and they even have a forum, very fancy! One other cool thing is the creation of a new Tru Thoughts podcast by Robert Luis. You can find the feed URL in the sidebar of this blog and also on the Tru Thoughts website - it’s definitely a good way to hear what the label is up to music wise.

Useful links:

• Tru Thoughts website
• Tru Thoughts MySpace page
• Zebra Traffic website
• The EtchShop
• Download - TM Juke - Skin (Remix) Feat. Rup