musicleech » Mos Def

Soundbombing II

Mark Jackson — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 01:55:25 +0000

Sorry for not posting for a while. I've been listening to a bunch of older stuff recently, mainly hip-hop, so expect more of this kind of stuff to come shortly.

To start, here's one of the more popular tracks off Soundbombing II, an album released by Rawkus Records in 1999. It features a really long list of big names, so read more about it at Wikipedia.

Common - "1-9-9-9 (feat. Sadat X)"

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My Top Albums 2009

Rad Parker — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:40:41 +0000

I realize I am putting this out really late. I always put this off until winter break, thinking I'll have tons of time to listen to the albums, but always underestimate how much I actually need to listen to. But honestly, that isn't a bad thing. I think we are living in a time where there is a lot more new and interesting stuff coming out than ever before. Last year, I probably listened to about 75 albums for my top albums article. Some of them only half way through (because I could tell they wouldn't make the cut) and some in excess of 20 times. I don't feel like doing the math on that, but it takes an incredible amount of time. This year I stepped my game up and literally wrote down every album that made it on at least a few top lists from around the music blog, newspaper, magazine community, including the big wigs: pitchfork, sterogum, prefix, spin, etc.

I think most top lists aren't really substantial if they don't talk about what makes albums 'top albums'. I want to let you know what helped me decide. Basically, I listened to albums all the way through and gave each song a rating (1-5). A 3 being a song that is good, but nothing special. A 4 being a song that is something special, but you can get tired of it. 5s are songs that never get old and never get skipped. I once heard someone say that if you could only keep 1000 songs from your library, they would be all of the 4s and 5s. Then I check out what each album averages, giving extra points for originality, interesting overall themes, track cohesion, genre mixing, or basically anything that makes it more of an album than a bunch of songs.

Now, once I have a list of albums that are generally agreed upon to be good by the blog community, I go through and weed out bands with sounds that I know I won't find appealing. Albums that are automatically omitted include basically anyone who doesn't make their own music or write their own lyrics, anything considered pop punk, alternative metal, or anything termed just rock or pop, because frankly, I'm not interested. Does that make me seem like a music snob? Kinda. Do I try to be unbiased when the headphones are on? You bet.

This year I at least tried out about 100 albums. If you have any comments, questions, or albums you think should have been considered, drop me a line below.

1. Phoenix -

Wolfgang

Amadeus

Phoenix

Phoenix - "1901"

2. Grizzly

Bear -

Veckatimest

Grizzly Bear - "Two Weeks"

3. The

xx -

xx

The xx - "Crystalised"

4. Animal Collective -

Merriweather

Post

Pavilion

Animal Collective - "Summertime Clothes"

5. Real

Estate -

Real

Estate

Real Estate - "Beach Comber"

6. The

Flaming

Lips -

Embryonic

The Flaming Lips - "Watching the Planets"

7. Girls -

Album

Girls - "Laura"

8. The Smith Westerns -

The

Smith

Westerns

The Smith Westerns - "Tonight"

9. Neon

Indian -

Psychic

Chasms

Neon Indian - "Deadbeat Summer"

10. Cymbals Eat Guitars -

Why There

Are

Mountains

Cymbals Eat Guitars - "And the Hazy Sea"

2009 Honorable Mentions (in no particular order):

Mos Def - The Ecstatic
Passion Pit – Manners
Drummer - Feel Good Together
Atlas Sound – Logos
The Antlers – Hospice
Blakroc – Blakroc
Woods - Songs of Shame
10 ft. Ganja Plant - Bushrock
Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Bibio – Ambivalence Avenue
The Strange Boys – The Strange Boys and Girls Club
Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… Pt. II
Miike Snow - Miike Snow
Kid Cudi - Man on the Moon: The End of Day
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!

EP, Mixtape, Compilation, and other non-album Mentions:
Bon Iver - Blood Bank EP
Kid Cudi - Dat Kid From Cleveland Mixtape
Drake - So Far Gone Mixtape
Wale - Back to the Feature Mixtape
Toro Y Moi - My Touch EP
The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs with Henry Rollins and Peaches - The Dark Side of the Moon (Cover Album)
Various Artists - Dark Was the Night Compilation
Animal Collective - Fall Be Kind EP
Modest Mouse - No Ones First and Your Next EP
Washed Out – Life of Leisure EP
Deerhunter - Rainwater Casette Exchange EP
Various Artists – Underwater Peoples Summertime Showcase 2009

For comparison's sake, here is my list from 2008:

deerhunter - microcastle
little joy - little joy
plants and animals - parc avenue
mgmt - oracular spectacular
los campesinos! - hold on now, youngster
vampire weekend - vampire weekend
the dodos - visiter
bon iver - for emma, forever ago
the sea and cake - car alarm
starfucker - starfucker

2008 honorable mentions (in no particular order):

lil' wayne - tha carter III
white denim - white denim
atlas sound - let the blind lead those who can see but cannot feel
the ruby suns - sea lion
women - women
beach house - devotion
q-tip - renaissance
albert hammond, jr. - ¿como te llama?
dr dog - fate
girl talk - feed the animals
hot chip - made in the dark
french kicks - swimming
passion pit - chunk of change ep
cut copy - in ghost colours
black keys - attack & release

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The Blakroc Sessions

Mark Jackson — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:47:10 +0000

While The Black Keys and 11 hip-hop artists put together their dream collab album Blakroc, someone was taking video of it all. The footage has been edited to form ten webisodes that were released periodically.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Part 5:

Part 6:

Part 7:

Part 8:

Part 9:

Part 10:

The album is out on Black Friday, 11/27.

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Download two songs from the Blak Roc album (The Black Keys + 11 Hip-hop Artists)

Mark Jackson — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:46:46 +0000

mp3: Blak Roc: "Stay Off The F**kin' Flowers" featuring Raekwon
mp3: Blak Roc: "Ain't Nothing Like You (Hoochie Coo)" featuring Mos Def and Jim Jones

You probably heard about this ridiculous collab project: The Black Keys and Damon Dash in the studio with 11, that's right, ELEVEN different hip-hop artists (legends). You can find the whole list here, or if you're not in a hurry you can watch a teaser below, with the Mos Def/Jim Jones song accompanying some pretty cool scenes in the studio:

The album is out 11/27. Mark your calendars!

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Black Star reunite for two NYC shows

Mark Jackson — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 02:46:46 +0000

Talib Kweli and Mos Def don't perform together regularly anymore, as annoying as it is. Kweli joined Mos Def on stage in February (video), but that was out of the ordinary. Now, we have awesome news.

Black Star will reunite for two shows on May 30th at the Nokia Theater. Tickets go on sale tomorrow (3/27) at noon. Buy tickets for the 7pm show here and for the 11:30pm show here. Get 'em quick, they're popular folks in the big apple.

Talib's solo dates:
April 18: Columbia University, NYC, New York
April 23: SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz, New York
April 25: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
June 29: Summerfest, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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Video: Talib Kweli & Mos Def: Live at the House of Blues

Mark Jackson — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:41:30 +0000

Mos Def promised a "very special guest" at his post-Grammys show a few weeks ago, and so it was: a Black Star reunion!

"Definition" and "Respiration" from the Black Star LP

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Stream: Mos Def – “Life In Marvelous Times”

Mark Jackson — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 18:48:11 +0000

The first single off The Ecstatic, out 11/4: Election Day.

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Video: Q-Tip “Gettin’ Up” (Unofficial Version)

Mark Jackson — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:15:16 +0000

At the recent Rock The Bells rap/hip-hop festival, Q-Tip rocked the stage with some new jams off his upcoming album The Renaissance, which is due out 11/14.

The song is called "Gettin' Up". A few weeks ago rumors began buzzing about it and now it's yours in full form. Check it out:

Q-Tip with Mos Def - "Gettin' Up"

The video is unofficial. The audio is from the studio and good quality, and the video is live from one of Tip's Rock the Bells shows. Adds a nice little touch if you ask me.

[via Okayplayer]

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Spotlight: Rock The Bells Festival Series 2008

Mark Jackson — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 05:44:09 +0000

Featuring arguably the best hip-hop/rap lineup of the summer, Rock the Bells Festival is one of the premier festivals this summer for the hip-hop scene.

The lineup is as follows: A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, Mos Def, The Pharcyde, De La Soul, Rakim, Method Man & Redman, Raekwon & Ghostface, Immortal Technique, Dead Prez, Murs, Spankrock, Wale, Santogold, Jay Electronica, B.O.B., Kidz in the Hall, and Amanda Blank

UPDATE: Diplo is scheduled to perform on select dates

Too good to be true, right? A Tribe Called Quest is a must-see for any hip-hop fan, Nas is set to release his hyped untitled album, Mos Def will most likely perform tracks from his TBA 2008 release The Ecstatic, and the list of reasons goes on. Buy your tickets at Ticketmaster!

July

26 – Mansfield, MA - Comcast Center
27 – Columbia, MD – Merriweather Post Pavilion

August

3 - Wantagh, NY - Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
9 - Devore, CA - Glen Helen Pavilion formerly Hyundai Pavilion
16 - Mountain View, CA - Shoreline Amphitheatre
23 - Englewood, CO - Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre

September

19 - Quincy, WA - Gorge Campground
20 - Quincy, WA - Gorge Campground
27 - George, WA - Gorge Amphitheatre
27 - George, WA - Gorge Amphitheatre

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