Been a very busy week at work, even had to come in today for some OT. No long post for tonight, time to relax! Here’s an excellent performance of Shadows on Behalf by The Stepkids. The 12″ for this one is sweet, not sure why I haven’t grabbed it yet.
MED & J Rocc – Axel F
New Stones Throw Podcast came out yesterday, was very happy to see it coming from a couple of my favorite artists over there. ST Podcast #75 is a mix of new material from MED and J Rocc, whose collaboration I have been wishing for ever since hearing the two on the track Superman off MED’s Bang Ya Head III Pt 2 (the extended Superman on this new mix is badass). As I’ve said before MED is probably my favorite ST emcee if I had to choose one and I have been a huge fan of J Rocc’s production stuff ever since his first album Some Cold Rock Stuf which I promise I’ll get around to writing about one of these days. Only makes sense that they would collaborate! Made a sample for you above if you don’t believe the hype, those that trust me can download the full thing here. Hoping for more of this stuff, I would definitely purchase a full album of this material.
PS: Yes I know, another J Rocc related post… It’s not my fault there is so much to share lately! Also, check out the sweet artwork for the podcast 
Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express – Straight Ahead
Haven’t written about an album for quite awhile, thought tonight would be good for a short ramble. I normally like to spend a lot of time writing about an album for these posts but I don’t have much free time since starting my job a few weeks ago. I will eventually write some more like I have in the past, but that won’t be for a bit anyway.
I figure Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express – Straight Ahead is a good one to write about since the record is only five tracks. That might sound short but as you can see from the Discogs page they are pretty long (and excellent!) jams. This is the type of album that I toss on the record player as I’m going to sleep, which is exactly what I have been doing almost every night this last week. The whole band is fantastic, but it’s ultimately Brian Auger’s smooth singing and fantastic keys (seriously, these keys are amazing) that give me that calming/relaxing listening experience. I hadn’t heard of this group before listening to Madlib’s Mind Fusion Volume 2 which I’d highly recommend finding if you can. I know by now it sounds like I get way too much of my music just from Madlib, but finding gems like this so often from his mixes is the reason why I’ll continue grabbing records from what he’s spinning.
Above you’ll find my two favorite songs from the album. Straight Ahead, the title track is the smoothest one on this in my opinion. The singing is nice, but when Auger gets into his groove on the keys this song gets seriously amazing. This is the one I keep playing over and over again, can’t get enough of it. The other track is Beginning Again which is the cut found on Mind Fusion and the reason why I had originally purchased the record (by the way, this one is super cheap! I think I paid around $5-6 shipped on eBay, def grab it if you see it). I think Madlib only plays the first couple minutes of the song, hadn’t realized until playing the whole thing how long of a jam this song is. Certainly happy about that fact, the congas and guitar really shine over Auger’s keys on this one.
That’s about all I have to say about this record. One other quick note, another reason why I would recommend grabbing this on wax is for the cover art, pretty sweet in my opinion. In the end I was actually surprised about how much I enjoyed the album, I’m definitely going to check out more of their work in the future.
Songs included above are Straight Ahead and Beginning Again.
Posted in Album, Artist, Music, Ramble
Tagged Brian Auger
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Skin Alley – All Alone
Was VERY happy the other night when someone finally discovered this track and posted it over on STMB. A lot of folks it seems have been interested in this one since hearing it on Madlib’s Medicine Show #6 and until the other day it seemed like we would never find out where it was from. Some would say that it is the coolest song from the mix, but I would take it even one step further saying this has to be one of the sweetest tracks I have ever heard Madlib throw on any of his mixes (just my opinion!). The original version is great but Madlib really made this one special through his mixing on the Brain Wreck Show. Check out the video below to hear this song’s appearance on MMS #6.
Strong Arm Steady – Premium
New Strong Arm Steady + Statik Selektah collab in the works over at Stones Throw. After checking out the new video above I have to say I’m looking forward to this one now. I had never been much of a SAS fan until their excellent collaboration with Madlib who completely produced In Search of Stoney Jackson (one of my favorite albums that year!). Even with that album though I have always felt it was Madlib’s material that really made them shine (just my opinion anyway). I guess the point I’m trying to make can be seen with the shift in quality from their Stoney work to their next album which lacked the Madlib beats. I actually had never heard of Statik Selektah before but if these guys can put out an album of stuff like their new single here, it should turn out quite well I imagine. Will have to check out more stuff from Statik, the beat is excellent. The video is also badass, one of the cooler ones I’ve seen from ST folks in a bit.
Posted in Album, Artist, Music, Song, Video
Tagged Madlib, Statik Selektah, Strong Arm Steady
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Beat Junkies – For the Record
[vimeo 44995287 w=580 h=326]
Wrote about this documentary last week, the full thing came out a few days ago. Excellent video, really cool to hear some of the crew’s stories and experiences from the last 20 years together as the Beat Junkies. Very interesting stuff, highly recommend watching it if you have any interest in what a lot of people (including me!) consider one of the greatest DJ crews ever!
Everyday Shooter
One of the coolest music games I have ever played. Was very excited about the concept of this one when I first heard about it back in 2007. Every level contains a different gameplay mechanic/environment and unlike the usual explosion effects that you would hear in your typical shmup, you instead add guitar riffs to the excellent soundtrack as you destroy your enemies. Even more impressive about this game is the fact that it was completely made by a single person, the very talented Jonathan Mak. The first Playstation 3 I owned was honestly purchased for this game as there wasn’t much else to play back then. Fortunately it got a PC release on Steam, I would highly recommend grabbing it there if you don’t have a PS3/PSP (Plays great with the 360 controller on PC!). The port to PC also allowed me to rip the soundtrack, which is available to you here. The background soundtrack is nice, but to achieve the full greatness of the music you should really play it. The gameplay really adds to the listening experience!
Definitely check this game out if you have any interest in shoot ’em ups, easily one of the best ones I have played.
New Additions
Got a package from Fat Beats today, some good deals on great music! I have to stop checking out their Facebook posts, they always put something up that turns into an impulse purchase. Kev Brown’s Random Joints on clear vinyl was the record this time around, but I’m also happy I noticed that James Pants 12″ for only $4 too (Been wanting that for awhile now). This is only the calm before the storm, when I start getting paychecks soon I intend on building up my collection after a long time of being too broke for records!
Posted in Collection, Photo
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Geto Boys – Still + Puppies
It’s Friday. Been a long week and I’m feeling lazy. Here’s a badass video of Geto Boys’ Still with a bunch of puppies. Might have to watch Office Space tonight.