Tasty Morsels Volume 2

Here's the newest installment in the Best of Vinyl Appreciation series. A selection of live sets from the monthly record jam at Muse Arts Warehouse. This one features four short sets that run from classic rock gems to deep psych mysteries.

Download the mix for free.

Speak Easy "Coronas, Condoms and Cigarettes"

Speak Easy aka Sean Fahie drops his second free album this week. The ATL-based MC and visual artist also had a show with the same name "Coronas, Condoms and Cigarettes." It's sort of a guide to gully living. Noteworthy production from Danny! and Unda, among others. You definitely need to be down with this.

Timbo King "High Ranking" ft. R.A. the Rugged Man

This video is dope. Goes to show you how a concept and a sense of humor trump a budget any day. The beat is dope. The verses are funny. The whole thing just works. Hip hop is all about being the best. This here is how the competition is supposed to play out - who's got the dopest lines.

Flying Lotus' "Lovers Melt 2"

Been hearing a lot of stuff coming from Flying Lotus the last few months, and I'm not complaining. The batch of previously unreleased stuff he put up on Soundcloud had some real gems, then there was a nice mix for/of Thundercat, and now this, the follow-up to Lovers Melt 1. Enjoy the waning days of summer. Check it out via BrainFeeder.

New FKi

These guys aren't going to teach your kids how to respect women or make the life choices that send people to Ph.D-ebt, but FKi sure does know how to make strip club anthems and low-keyed southern night riders. This new joint is one of the latter.


They've got a new project on the way called Fuckin Kickin It Vol. 1. If you haven't heard them already, go find some of their old Ben Stiller inspired mixtapes Blue Steel 2.0 and Zoolandish.

Yung B da Producer

 Check this super catchy cut that is Golden Era to the max. Chill jazz samples and first wave drum machine texture. Yung B is just starting to make moves in Jersey. Hopefully Slightly Older B sticks with it and keeps making good music.
  Yung B Da Producer- LIKE THIS AND LIKE THAT by manifestmovement

B.Lewis

What? You need more beats? This here is hitting like Ray Lewis. A free download of B.Lewis' Plug EP:

New J-Live Mixtape

 This guy might be one of the most hip hop embodying human beings on the face of the planet. Rocks the mic, the mix and the beat machine. Go ahead and grab this for free and appreciate how he's still dope after more than 15 years of the music grind.

Christina Bray

Bray is an ATL-based painter with a show at AASU opening early next week. If you're on the Southside next week, swing by and check out her whole show.
From the press release:
"Street Journal: An Exhibition of Documentary Paintings by Atlanta artist Christina Bray, August 15th through September 9th. The paintings focus on Bray’s fascination with urban exploration, graffiti, and abandoned buildings that have been transformed by decay or destruction."

Summary of Recent Discoveries Pt. 173

 Here are some things I've enjoyed recently:

• A Flying Lotus mixtape of Thundercat songs (the emerging electronic musician, not the classic cartoon of the late 80s), including stuff from his new album, plus some older joints, remixes and unreleased material.

• A superb reggae documentary streaming online.

• A stream of the highly anticipated (and released digitally today) Jay-Z x Kanye collaboration album Watch the Throne, which is cool to listen to first, but which I can unequivocally say is one of the strongest hip hop albums in the mass cultural cache division, and good enough to merit purchasing it in order to make a statement that major labels need to promote hip hop as much as ignant club/trap rap. Money talks.

• Roy Ayers discusses the merits of sampling. 

Bosco's Pacer EP

Brittany Bosco has been doing her thing up in Atlanta for the past few years. She left Savannah firmly planted in the emerging electro-soul-jazz sound, but has since gone on a stylistic sojourn, messing with rock n roll, soul, and left-field tendencies, plus plenty of visual art and fashion dalliances. The Pacer EP has been in the works for a while now, and here's the first taste. I wish the vocals were pushed further forward, because Bosco can sign like nobody's business, but I see how the effect adds to the whole melting, psychedelic distortion cave with penguins kind of vibe.
  Pacer by bbosco18

Pre-Revolution Iranian Funk

On a recent ride up to Atlanta to return some art and do some record shopping, I was talking with Ray about whether there was any good Iranian funk. Having heard so much good Turkish psych and funk, and being familiar enough with the history of Iran to know that they had a pretty good thing going before the Ayatollahs stepped in, I was sort of surprised that there weren't any compilations available. A few hours later, we were in Criminal Records staring at a copy of a Persian Funk Comp from Secret Stash Records.

It's a really good disc, and I'd highly recommend picking it up. There's a cover of Stevie Wonder's "Past Time Paradise" (the foundation of Coolio's "Gangster's Paradise") that is off the chain.

Then, mere moments ago, Stones Throw/Now-Again announced an Iranian funk re=issue of their own. Boo-yah.

So, now there's no shortage of Iranian funk to get acquainted with...Warn the Midwest that Sharia Law can't be far behind.

AM & Shawn Lee

It's like gritty Postal Service. There's the ethereal, fragile male lead punctuating an analog low end and a steady beat. I dig it. This is playing at a moderate volume in lounges at 11 p.m. and then again at wind-down after-parties whose attendees are still capable of conversation.



This duo is opening for Thievery Corporation on the west coast in September, and then "co-headlining" with Fool's Gold on the east coast.

Check out more here.

Ethereal

Dope underground ATL ish.

N.W.A. on Arsenio

MC Ren keeps it real.

Houseshoes x Paul White

Damn, DJ Houseshoes has been busy. Posted the Daily Bread mixtape last week, just before the album dropped, and now he's back with a 30 minute mix preview of Paul White's new project. The mixtape has some joints off the new album and some previously unreleased older joints. If you don't know Paul White, he's been making real cool beats for a minute now. So far as the new album goes, there's a nasty cut with Guilty Simpson. He's also got collabs with Homeboy Sandman and a bunch of other notable underground heads. If you don't know Houseshoes, go back and do some homework, he's the guy who vouched for Detroit hip hop before any body knew the D had its own steez.
  Rapping With Paul White - The DJ House Shoes Mixtape by alexchase