Thursday, September 13, 2007

prefusion 1973...

this is prefuse 73. he's a music producer. i've got a few of his CDs. they're awesome. we're playing a festival with him in london, on thrs. sept. 20th. check out his myspace page. here's the poster for the gig: for those of you who may not be familiar with his music, here's a little something to check out. it's called vocal studies & uprock narratives. it's got a bunch of rappers we like on it. (mikah 9, aesop rock, mf doom.) click here to download it. also playing: stop die resuscitate. they're rad too. check them out here. and, of course, your favorites, ok cobra. also on the bill, figure & ground, thesis sahib, and toolshed...

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

sheepsh*t...



rakehell row productions inc.
presents
sheep shit.

tues. sept. 18, 2007, 7:30pm-2am
the alex p. keaton
580 talbot st.

london's premiere productions studio is releasing its summer production 'sheepshit,'
starring david lahti, leon cox, ryan somers, and marc gammal.

genre: comedy.
run time: 35 mins.

produced by mark potter
cinematography by armando gomez
productions design by warren stanley
edited by bill carson
sound design by eric conway
written and directed by sean stanly

watch the trailer.

Monday, September 10, 2007

help...



-help.



[yours truly, marc gammal, and troy from queens of the stone age.]

-it's been ten days since my last shift at work. my second or third last night, queens of the stone age were in town. played a gig at centennial hall. came into the bar after their show. made a couple of phone calls, got them what they needed. i think they had a good time. 4am, troy shows back up, lost his wallet. we found it under a table. a fine thing...

-feels a little strange to not be working. i think i might even miss the place a little bit. what kind of person quits their job when they've got no money saved up, taking a month or two to just live and write/record new music, not really knowing how they're going to eat or pay rent? me, i guess. i don't know, it had to be done. sometimes you just have to trust that the universe will provide. the dude abides...

-would you want to hang out with this guy?...






-got a new batch of remixes in from a bunch of different cats. not sure what we're going to do with them yet. maybe release a remix album online or something? or maybe just put 'em up one at a time for free. stay tuned...

-hey kids, on moving day, when they give you the option of buying extra insurance coverage, it might be a good idea...




-just got home today from ten days in toronto. it was nice. i didn't realize how much i missed the big smoke. no phone. no email. just hanging with sarah, helping her get settled into her new city. we even caught a baseball game...




-new single from aceyalone...



from the press release:

Revered southland emcee Aceyalone is set to release his latest high
concept LP, Lightning Strikes, on New York label Decon. His newest
collection, consisting of 15 dancehall-inspired tracks, is a
distinctively off beat blend of hip-hop and dancehall. The dancehall
and sound selector scene of the islands is what led to the birth of
hip-hop, so it’s only natural for Aceyalone to be drawn to this style
of music. Working with LA producer Bionik, who’s known for crafting
dub, dancehall, and reggae inspired tracks, Aceyalone went into the lab
and began work on what will be the first in a series of albums inspired
by other genres of music. The result is a new sound that blends Acey’s
vocals with the up-tempo vibes of dancehall and the laid back riddims
of reggae. The single, “Easy” which features Chali 2na of Jurassic 5,
is a rapid fire head-knodder, sure to get bodies moving on the dance
floors.

eazy [feat. chali 2na]
suicide

find more info here.

-that's it for now, i'm tired, and got a hundred or so emails to delete...

g'night...

charlie kick a hole in the sea...

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

wise boyz making noize...



-played another gig in bayfield on friday night. at the black dog. session at the smokehouse before the show. bayfield's own wise boyz noize. sj the wordburglar. toolshed. thesis. yours truly. dj dalia. dj bnutz. listen to it on their page...

new and improved...



- remember delinquent habits? they had a moderate hit a decade ago with "tres delinquentes," on some spanglish/mariachi steez. i remember catching them live when i was 19 or so, they came to london. a bunch of us kicked it with them after the show and did an interview for my 'zine. anyway, they got a new one out now...

lola...




lola festival
is happening again this september in london, ontario. it's the second year for this festival. we're playing the opening party, with prefuse 73, stop die resuscitate, figure & ground, thesis, and toolshed.

invisible rhythm...



-mindbender has a new album available for download. it's called invisible rhythm showcase. it's an acapella album. get it here.

eight, eight, eighty-eight...



my homie tim the turk just sent me a link to download this album. here's the "story:"
"Introduction: 17 years ago a small recording studio, TOP SHELF, located in the basement of a brownstone in the East Village section of New York, was looted during the Thompkins Square riots of 1988, displacing the recordings of many soon-to-be Hip Hop stars. The studio had been the meeting place for many rappers, neighborhood kids, and producers that would later be responsible for the greatest period of the Hip Hop age, "The Golden Era." A search commenced soon after the recordings were lost, but nothing was ever found. So sought after were the tapes, they soon acheived Holy Grail status amongst Hip Hop circles. Despite years of searching, and dozens of hopeless crusades, the tapes remained lost. No one was quite sure who took them or where they were... until now.

After an extensive investigation and search that lasted two years, the recordings have finally been recovered by Fab 5 Freddy and myself (Benjy Grinberg). They were found dozenss of miles from the site of TOP SHELF in an abandoned strage faciilty in North Jersey [woot! Jersey represent!]. ...We sought after the lost recordings of TOP SHELF because they were rumored to be among the hottest songs from that era, and we thought it was a tragedy that the world never got to hear them. It turns out that these two-inch tapes are truly a treasure chest--a time capsule of the energy and excitement of 1988 Hip Hop."


do you believe it? not sure if i do either. i'm downloading it right now. i haven't listened to it yet. i'll let you know once i do. what do you think? here's another message i got from the turk shortly after...

"...was bumpin that Top Shelf comp in the ride but now on listening again.....i
think some of these shits is faked and they are new..........like that kane
song.....thats NOT 88

heres what dude was sayin

Here's a little hip-hop mystery for you all...

A friend hit me on IM and said, "hey, what have you heard of this Top Shelf
album?" I had no idea what he was talking about so he sent me here. The
short story is that, supposedly, this compilation is made up of recordings
lost back in 1988 when Top Shelf Studios in New York were looted. 19 years
later and some of the tapes were found and voila.

If this story seems to push the edge of credulity, it's probably because it
does (to me at least) sound rather implausible for a variety of reasons, not
the least of which is that for such a "Holy Grail" set of recordings, what
is it doing on a super-limited distribution CD from Japan? Moreover, you'd
think someone, at some point, would have shared, "oh yeah, there's all these
lost tapes of hip-hop giants missing from '88."

The thing is though - the recordings themselves both lend credence to this
back story's validity as well as undermine it because, in some cases, the
songs really do sound like they could be vintage but in many cases, they
also don't sound anything like what hip-hop in '88 would have been like,
especially in the production department.

On the side of, "hey, maybe this is real," there's the Craig G (mis-typed on
the album as Graig G) and "Catch a Lyrical Beatdown" which is a f r e s h
cut in any era. Of course, his reference of Die Hard (which came out in
1988) seems juuuuuust a little too convenient but the flow and voice sounds
right for the late '80s/early '90s and the beat is also reminiscent of the
period though it sounds just a tad too sophisticated to be '88.

That's definitely why Biz Markie's song, "My Name Is..." (which I really
like) doesn't sound convincing to me from the era. He's supposed to be 18 on
this? Word? And the beat feels a few steps beyond, say, "Return of the Biz
Dance" or "Albee Square Mall" (songs from '88).

You have to say this much: if this is a hoax, all the artists did a great
job of trying to kick styles that sound "right" for the era, especially in
some of the lyrical references to historical icons and nomenclature (the
LQ!). And there's a few songs, like the Grand Puba and Black Sheep cuts,
which, if not from '88 sound like they're still more vintage than what
you've heard them kick in contemporary times. Intriguing.

wierd some DO sound authentic and then some cant be.......oh the japanese..."

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

re:up...



just picked up the latest issue of re:up magazine. props to my man peter a. for the book review. peep it...


Friday, August 17, 2007

ok cobra remix files...



okay, last call for the OK COBRA REMIX album. deadline for submissions is aug. 31, 2007. below, you'll find links to download the originals, instrumentals, and acapellas, with BPMs. pick a song, and go to town. we're focusing on "child in time," "time flies," "beautiful," and "fall dumbass," but feel free to hit one of the other ones as well. any questions? email me. ryansomers at gmail dot com...

child in rhyme...
original.
instrumental.
acapella (110bpm).

time flies...
original.
instrumental.
acapella (110bpm).

beautiful...
original.
instrumental.
acapella (130bpm).

fall dumbass...
original.
instrumental.
acapella (100bpm).

bury the bodies...
original.
instrumental.
acapella (88bpm).

juggernauts...
original.
instrumental.
acapella (85bpm).

hush...
original.
instrumental.
acapella (92bpm).

letter...
original.
instrumental.
acapella.

on the bus...
original.
instrumental.
acapella (89.29bpm)