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“There’s not a lot of dudes making me rewind these days. Everything now is fast forward, next song. Everybody wants to go in the studio and not write their rhymes. What good is not writing your rhymes? It shows!” Blaq Poet’s words drip with venom, his face contorted like some mask in a Greek tragedy when discussing the current state of rap music. This is hardly a new diatribe. But the verbal slings take on renewed vitality when voiced by an artist who has participated in one of rap’s greatest feuds —the Bronx vs. Queens— as spearheaded by KRS-One and MC Shan, respectively. In this derivative era of MCs with their noses open, their eyes closed, and their imaginations overactive, Blaq Poet’s unapologetic streetwise bluster is refreshing and welcome. And the irony of getting back to rap’s essence —“bangin’ boom-bap, crazy lyrical content”—as something novel isn’t lost on the grizzled Queensbridge native.

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5.00 (1 votes)

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There’s a reason that Speech Debelle’s debut album is called “Speech Therapy” and that’s because she speaks straight from the heart, with complete intimacy, as if only addressing one person. As if she expects the record never to be heard.

Perhaps in some way, that’s not an unreasonable assumption. The 25 year old South Londoner has been through the mill both before and since she started working on this set of recordings. The oldest song on here is called “Finish This Album”. It was the tune she first played when she visited Big Dada almost five years ago. Its theme is that she has to hold it together, look after herself and try to get the record done, as if the act of finishing will somehow liberate her from the problems in her life. It’s both intimate and epic, moving back and forth between the personal and political, the mundane and the spiritual. It’s a journey acoss London and a journey across her life thus far. Speech is both young and old beyond her years. At the age of twenty five her fragile voice can make her sound like a teenager, but she’s packed in enough experience to last most people forever.

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5.00 (1 votes)

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With their latest opus, The Lovemakers have engineered a carefully orchestrated blend of early-eighties electronica with Marshall-stacked, go-to-11, wall-of-sound thunder that would make both Siouxsie Sioux and Phil Spector (creepily) proud. This September sees the release of Let’s Be Friends, the Oakland quartet’s fourth album, and already a potential candidate for best electropop album of the year.

The Lovemakers  – See What I Wanna See

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4.33 (6 votes)

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Anyone who went to college parties in the 90’s will recall that when the US3 hit song, Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) came on, all those hot, scantily-clad sorority chicks would go absolutely bananas – and if they were drunk enough, they might even flash you some totally gratuitous boob.  So while you might have moved on to some boring desk job after graduation, the US3 clique, led by funky London producer/instrumentalist Geoff Wilkinson is seven albums deep into their jazz/hip-hop journey and still going strong.  Their newest opus is the newly released, harder-edged, stripped-down LP titled stop, think, run.

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That Underworld was triumphant at the Fox Theater in Oakland August 7 wasn’t really a surprise. After two decades of touring, they are self-assured, charismatic performers with a substantial army of tricks. But because they almost play in 20,000 seat venues or festivals, seeing them up close, indoors, in a beautiful venue had “event” written all over it.

So it’s also not surprising that the show was as beautiful as the venue. Underworld has long been known for their impeccable visual taste and everything, from Karl Hyde’s shiny jacket, which could have been equally at home on the shoulders of Judy Garland or Michael Jackson, to brilliant backdrops, floating balls and those moving pillars from the 2007 tour, worked in tandem to prove the point.

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5.00 (2 votes)

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KID606 is dedicated to bringing his uniquely reckless fucked up and beautiful music to our fucked up and beautiful world. Insipired by the best of electronica, punk, jungle, hip-hop, bass, dancehall and techno, Kid606 Fuses it all together with a love of pop culture that Andy Warhol would approve of. Apart from running the labels Tigerbeat6, Shockout, and Tigerbass, Kid606 has performed all around the world many times over, and released records on highly regarded labels such as Ipecac, Wichita, Mille Plateaux, Fatcat, Souljazz, and Carpark. His highly original productions helped spearhead and define the edgy and confrontational glitch and mashup styles that are now common in modern music production. His album “Down with the scene” (2000) was a landmark release for the burgeoning international electronic music scene, with everything from hardcore ragga jungle and serene ambient to abstract IDM and the dubby soul classic “Secrets 4 Sale” with Mike Patton. Things only got more exciting as Kid606 delved deep into the seedy overworld of mainstream music with critically acclaimed unofficial remixes that many people wanted to hear yet no one else was willing to make. All the while releasing his own original and diverse productions as well as official remixes for Amon Tobin, the Rapture, the Locust, Foetus, Depeche Mode, The Bug, Peaches, Dälek, Ellen Allien, Saul Williams, Super Furry Animals, and countless others.

Kid 606 – Samhain California Leonard de Leonard Remix

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Kid 606 -Be Monophobic With Me Dolby Anol Remix

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Kid 606 – Be Monophobic With Me Genuine Guy Remix

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Polly Scattergood writes ethereal pop songs. Here is the original mix of Please Don’t Touch (video) below and then you tell me what remix does it for you? I’m a little fond of the Dub Mix…..its very Blondie-esque.

Polly Scattergood – Please Don’t Touch (The Golden Filter Remix)

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Polly Scattergood – Please Don’t Touch (The Golden Filter Remix)(Pop Mix)

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Polly Scattergood – Please Don’t Touch  (The Golden Filter Remix)(Dub Mix)

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5.00 (1 votes)

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Words By Steve Yates

What would you do if, one decade into your career, you suddenly saw your latest release named album of the year by one of the world’s most influential music websites? If you’re Karin Dreijer Andersson, formerly singer with ‘90s pop hopes Honey Is Cool and now one half of The Knife, the answer is to take a couple of years off and return as a solo artist under a new name.

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4.00 (2 votes)

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