My Life

Pretty much in a nutshell. Not that I’m mad at it… Not mad at all. I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death #RealRap

Video Premier – Hang Glider “The Landings”

Nothing bothers me more than people complaining that there’s no good new music coming out anymore. There is so much good music that is constantly released it’s almost hard to keep up with it. I understand the sentiment that perhaps sounds change and that what is “new” may be outside of the comfort zone of what people are accustomed to, what is “new” may be a departure from what it sounded like when one formulated one’s taste. But to paraphrase the late great Cannonball Adderley, “Music ain’t supposed to stand still.” That’s a philosophy that I try to embrace, and run with, more and more each day.

Now like I said, there’s so much music that’s constantly released that it’s hard for me to keep up with it. It is a discipline, but often songs and albums get lost on the sauce that is my inbox. But not too long ago I hunkered down and ran through a bunch of joints – mostly crap honestly – but at some point went over an EP by Hang Glider. Seriously good. Like GOOD good. I honestly had to exclaim that I had found a new favorite band, and the Hang Glider record was one of the most exciting thing I had heard all year.  One song stood out as my favorite track.  Today I am proud to exclusively world premier the very first Hang Glider music video for that song– “The Landings”. It’s directed by Hilton Carter, and it includes malt liquor, dancing garbage bags and an alien abduction. Hope you enjoy it. I sure did… Watch it on Youtube in it’s full size here or you can just peep below

Now again like I said, I’m a big proponent of supporting new music, and a crucial step in that support is actually going out and buying it when you can. There are a few places where you can peep the entire record (and the entire record is really good) so I suggest you do so. Click here and you can stream the full EP. Click here to download it from iTunes for only $3.99 (less than a Starbucks cup of coffee.) And click here to cop the physical product, either on limited edition (300) 12″ vinyl or on CD (this is recommended.)

I’m definitely going to be watching for more from Hang Glider and I think you should too. Follow him on Twitter @thehangglider or check him on Facebook.

Rap Music Fucking Rules

I figured today was a good day to post some rap music videos. Just some good shit that I love. Shout out to Grand Puba who for so long was considered one of the top top top MCs at his time. It would be the type of thing where a guest Puba verse sold you on a record. Also shout out to the people in charge of art direction for 2000 which was pretty bad (“See, we’re gonna have you lean on a Lambo – that’s so 2000!”) At least the people in charge of Akinyele’s art for his album were kind of on point, even if it’s unbelievably crass… But yeah, rap music fucking rules, straight up.. Go Birds.

POST SCRIPT – I’ve fallen into the habit recently of posting some phenomenal YouTube clips on my personal Facebook page. There’s some fucking awesome shit up on there, so check it out.

POST POST SCRIPT – Stay tuned to this site this week for a lot of good shit going down.

POST POST POST SCRIPT – Let’s go Birds.

El Guincho

I first heard about El Guincho a few years ago while I was in Austin for SXSW. With so many things happening during the festival it’s really hard to keep up on going to shows – not to mention all the shows of artists that you’re not in the loop about. On top of that, while I’m at SX for the most part my own performance schedule is pretty brutal, so it’s tough to get time to see bands and balancing time spent hanging with friends or just kicking it. I’ve seen some fantastic live acts at SXSW, like Kanye West, Major Lazer, Chromeo, Motorhead, Bun B, Boris and (my personal favorite show) X. For the most part, SXSW (as well as WMC) is like summer camp for DJs – everyone that you know is in one place for one short period of time, so a lot of the time is spent just trying to catch up with folks. Anyway, I remember hearing a couple friends of mine talking about they were going to check out this groovy Spanish one-man-band named El Guincho. He was performing in what I think was the Biz 3 crib, which is a space that feels like an intimate house party. I decided to do something else (that probably included Shiner Bock) but afterwards my folks were raving about this performance.

Fast forward to earlier on this year and I came across the video for “Bombay” by El Guincho. It definitely was video of the year in my opinion, with a serious helping of Alejandro Jodorowsky styled imagery and attitude. For those of you who would really like to understand me, this video is like a look inside my brian, except if it had more black people.

So I dunno man, I think this is some pretty great stuff. Kind of a 21st Century Spanish Talking Heads or like a new, less estrogen fueled Os Mutantes. All pretty bad comparisons, I will be the first to admit, but I really love it when I discover a group that is completely inexplicable when it comes down to me filing in the “genre” field in my iTunes. There’s something about the way this music moves. And for the record, I am the biggest hater of anything “world music” (although I hate that term even more) but there is definitely that air about it. No Pan flutes, please.

Anyway, yeah… That’s pretty much what it looks like inside my brain.

Okay since I mentioned Os Mutantes, X and Talking Heads I might as well post some great Youtube clips, including some incredible live footage… Oh yeah, if you’re in NY tonight come out to Sway, as I will be performing there tonight. My interpretation of this stuff, via rap music.