Rapology.org

I posted about Santogold last fall, and her long awaited full length album is finally here.  After an extra two months of cold, rainy weather in Seattle, summer has also finally been DELIVERED.  It’s 80 degrees outside and the sky is a perfect blue.  I was driving around today, with my sunroof open, windows down, the new Santogold blasting and I felt like king of the world on a rail of cocaine. 

The songs range from electronic to a more acoustic arrangement.  My Superman and Starstruck make me remeniscsent of Siouxsie Sioux. Lights Out is syrupy sweet indie goodness.  Unstoppable, You’ll Find A Way and Creator give M.I.A. a run for her money.  

This album is good medicine, a quench to my musical cottonmouth. I’m eating it up. Drop everything you’re doing right now, and devour.

Here are some tracks that haven’t already been posted to rapology before:

Lights Out
Starstruck
My Superman
Unstoppable

Snowboarding has been my calling since December began and my friends see less of me than my snowboard does, unless they are accomplices in my insatiable lust for powder.  Everything else has fallen by the wayside, including keeping this blog updated.

I’ve been on a techno bent this winter and one gem of recent discovery for me is Burial.  There’s not a lot of information available about the man behind the music. He remains anonymous and claims that only five people know what he does.

The music is very dark and hypnotic. I love the all-consuming bass and mixture of melodic R&B type vocal samples. Metacritic named Untrue the best album of 2007, so it must be worth a listen!

Archangel
Near Dark
Etched Headplate

The Cleveland Steamers are a triumverate of hip hop artists out of Portland, Oregon. What sets them apart from other artists in the conscious hip hop arena is the rhythm of their flow. There is nothing unique about the subject of their politically charged words, and without this lyrical edge, they would fade into the underground hip hop oblivion.

A little about the artists individually, borrowed from their myspace profile…

“In imagining the standard, stereotypical hip-hop group, listeners will find that the Cleveland Steamers are anything but. Comprised of Mic Crenshaw, a Portland, Oregon poetry slam champion and national finalist, Gen.Erik, a satirical lyricist with the ability to transform into a hip-hop DJ and producer, and DJ Aero, who has toured the world with Tommy Lee, as part of Methods of Mayhem, and with Tony Hawk’s Boom Boom Huck Jam, the group’s creative cohesion has mesmerized numerous crowds since the three members decided to form a union. Although each member of the Cleveland Steamers is a veteran to the music industry, they have emerged as a group, combining Crenshaw’s socially conscious clever lyricism and Gen.Erik’s thought-provoking wordplay with DJ Aero’s melodic, head-nodding beats.”

Fists High
The Decider
It’s My Life

This is quality hip hop worthy of a listen. If you like what you hear, you can download the album from CD Baby.

Elizabeth Goodman of Rolling Stone did a much better job of reviewing Santogold than I will. The blog, which I developed for rollingstone.com, is worth following. It’s focused on breaking artists in the music industry. Despite Rolling Stone’s orientation towards mainstream pop culture, the writers for this blog have a good pulse on the underground.

My own 2 cents:
* Santi is very experimental with her voice. I think of Tori Amos and Erykah Badu when I hear it.
* Maybe their sound is a bit like MIA, but it is much more menacing. 

The music:
You’ll Find a Way
Creator - Freq nasty + Santogold
Shove it

Cee-Lo is a figure of grace, a pillar or strength, a reviver of faith. When I listen to him sing, I remember that after pain there comes pleasure. After death, new life. That there are countless unwritten chapters to look forward to.

Cee-Lo humbles me. His words guide me. Lately I’ve had his “best of” album in heavy rotation, especially on good days. Listening to it recharges me emotionally, and reminds me that there are so many things much bigger than I.

I’m standing on the other side of a great deal of pain, looking back on it with new eyes. If only we had the perspective of hindsight in the midst of coming unhinged. I was too sensitive and self absorbed by what I was going through to see straight. Too self righteous to be patient. With my new eyes, I can embrace this and forgive myself.

Many of you may be familiar with Cee-Lo’s project Gnarles Barkley (w/ Dangermouse.) I’m drawn to the complexity of his rythym and the soulfulness of his voice. By a simple change of tone, he can make you feel his heartbreak, or just as easily his brightest moments with the same intensity that he does. He sings like that of an angel.

The Art Of Noise - ft. Pharell
Gettin’ Grown
Living Again

And for something a little more edgy:
Closet Freak
I’ll Be Around - ft. Timbaland

Discovering Booka Shade last year made me realize that innovation in techno was still possible.  Infact, I loved their album “Movements” so much that it made my top ten albums of 2006 list.

I think the Germans have techno pegged.  Booka Shade is a duo out of Frankfurt.  Partners in crime Walter Merziger and Arno Kammermeier founded Get Physical Records in 2002, and made their first big mark on the scene with their 2005 single, Body Language.

Booka Shade has recently released two singles.  Their sound seems to be going in a minimal direction, but still not lacking in the beauty that makes them stand apart from all other techno artists. 

From the new singles:
Karma Car
Numbers (Extended Vocal Mix)

My favorites from Movements:
Wasting Time - my number one favorite
Body Language
Night Falls

Hi kids,

My site was being raped for mp3s from external sources, so I renamed the music directories for posts prior to September.  If you’re actually reading this and are interested in hearing the music, you are still welcome to the tracks.  For any broken link, place an underscore before the month/year folder name. (example: http://www.rapology.org/music/_0607)

Mophono was the first Pandora recommendation to really catch me. This duo sprang from San Francisco with their debut release “I Cry” in 2004. They have yet to produce another album, but I’m hoping it’s shortly in the wings.

I Cry traverses many different musical styles. The tracks range from hip hop to downtempo to IDM. In them, I hear influences of DJ Shadow, Aphex Twin, Booka Shade, Four Tet and maybe even a little Wax Tailor.

Idiom Creek Remix
Lily
I Cry
Shredding

I’ve posted the album in its entirety for those of you who are interested. It won’t take much digging for you to find it.

This last track falls outside of everything else I’ve heard from them. You can find it on the Golden Gate Breaks compilation. Here’s to feeling free, and many joyous days to come.

Sun Power

Hi kids!  I know it’s been a long time since I’ve posted, so I hope you’re all still with me.  It’s been a tumultuos month, but I think I’m coming out the other side now.  Atop all of the madness, a good friend of mine passed about three weeks ago.  This one’s for you, Frank Crist.

I’ve been using Pandora for music discovery as of late. I entered in all of my favorite hip hop artists and I’m amazed at the bulk of music that is similar to my tastes that I’ve never heard before. I don’t think I’ll ever hit the ceiling.

I have a backlog of music that I want to write about and thought it might be fun to give you a grab bag of tunes that have been rockin’ my world to tide you over. 

I Know I’m Bad - Arrested Development
North By Northwest (Jake One Remix) - Blue Scholars
Live Human Break 7 (DJ Centipede Remix) - Mophono
That Night - Atmosphere
Testify (Live) - Common

I am having a love affair with Beirut.  This is no ordinary love affair.  Every word, every note, every breath rips my heart out in pleasure and pain. 

Pulse quickens.  Tears vein my cheeks.  A culmination of all emotion stirred.

When’s the last time music made you feel something?  I mean really feel something?

I’m sure indie writers the world over have already disected Beirut’s new album, The Flying Club Cup. I’ll spare you an attempt and just share with you instead, my ineffable musical affliction.

Nantes
Guymas Sonara
A Sunday Smile
Cliquot