tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12321831494972980792024-03-13T16:43:44.301-07:00misshapedmixtapesMC Foxtrothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317239407159409041noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1232183149497298079.post-3643411536767146992011-12-13T00:47:00.000-08:002011-12-14T15:53:59.007-08:00Talib Kweli - 4 Hours, 3 Discs And 2 Years (a misshapedmixtape)<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I realize that I skipped last week. Posting a tape that is. Turns out it's not a good idea to work on three mixes at the same time. Multi-tasking = fail.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Also, I'm getting a job job now. So that may hinder the sick amount of time that I spend on this shiznit. Bloggity blah blawg. But it is so fun. When it's not feeding my hoarding tendencies that is (I tell you, fingernail clippings and mp3s... I can never throw them away). Anyway, to those of you that are worried, I promise I will not quit the blog. And SOMETIMES I swallow the fingernails (when I chew). So that helps to keep those from accumulating too much.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What was saying? Oh yeah, I promise I won't forsake you forever. Though next year may mean more infrequent visits. Or less frequent. Double negs? Bi-monthly humpty dances. Trouble begs. That wasn't a double neg after all. Keep your hovercrafts out of the bubble baths.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I'm tired as shit right now coz I overstretched myself on this Talib action. This is what I did: First, I put together a gorgeous (if I do say so myself) tape with selections off of his two most recent studio albums, "Gutter Rainbows" (2011) and "Revolutions Per Minute" (2010). The latter was a collaboration with Hi-Tek (Reflection Eternal) and was the better album of the two. But "Gutter Rainbows" has some great songs on it. And then there's this little group thing called Black Star? You might have heard of them? 1, 2, 3... Mos Def and Talib Kweli-eee-ee. Yep. They're back together. Dropped two singles this year and an album will come out in 2012. Call me excited. It better be good.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So yes. Talib Kweli. The BK MC. I made that first mix. It was sub-80 minutes. Ready to post. Hoist the sails. But then I did more. Lots more. Four hours of Talib. Is that too much? Nah. Am I tired as shit? Did I already mention that I'm tired as shit?<br />
<br />
I do it for the love, mane. Great songs here. And they're all from the last two years. Wait, I lied. The last ten tracks on this mix (#54-#63) are from 2009 (and actually the Royce track is from '08) but I decided to add them because they were simply too good. And I really liked the idea of hitting the 4hr/3cd mark so I could top my previous <b><a href="http://misshapedmixtapes.blogspot.com/2011/08/xv-2xlp-misshapedmixtape.html">double-LP drop</a></b> and completely overwhelm you with Lil B-multiple-MySpace-page-levels of sma'mazing music. Also, I liked the idea of referencing the Palme d'Or-winning cool <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4_Months,_3_Weeks_and_2_Days">Romanian abortion movie</a></b> for the title of this tape. Romania can always use more love.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Believe it or not, I actually had to cut a ton of tracks that Talib featured on from the last two years (partly because I scrambled to track down every single one, which was a silly, silly thing... but I was 98% successful at in the end). Regardless, my interweb virtua-crate-digging led to discoveries of some pretty sweet artists I'd never heard of before. That's one awesome thing about Mr. Kweli -- he has such a great collaborative/giving spirit about him (which, when it's done in an authentic way, is something I love about hip-hop in general). So yeah, I wanted the second and third CDs of this mix to represent that: the best and most interesting features from Kweli. So yeah, no Gucci Mane </span><b style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxM1DIRPZ3A">"Poltergeist"</a></b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> -- which was interesting... but more in a "how the fuck did that terrible idea come to be?" way.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">About Talib. Hmmm... You already know, right? So yeah, he's always been one of my favorites. But I must confess that he kind of meandered off my grid sometime around, oh, 2002-ish. I don't know why exactly. "Quality" (2002) was a pretty decent album. But it seemed like his days of putting out classic material ("Black Star" & "Train Of Thought") might be over. So I moved on to other stuff. So it goes.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Be that as it may, Talib Kweli is firing on all cylinders now. These last two years have been ridiculous -- for both the quality of his material AND the quantity. I mean, he's always been a prolific artist... but he's taken it to another level now.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
So yes, this download is ginormous. 450 MB, what what? But definitely worth it. Especially the first tape/discus (first 21 tracks) which pulls from the studio material. Essential listening. And the new Black Star stuff. You have heard the new Black Star stuff already, right??!?? Gah.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The other two discs (disc two is twenty tracks and disc three is twenty tracks -- but with two bonus tracks that would NOT fit on a CD, so don't you try breaking the 80 minute barrier, danger danger! ok?) have lots of fantastic songs. And yes, I made an extra effort to put on the (relative) no-name artists who bring it. I'll be keeping my eye out in the future for Derek 32zero especially. Even though he spells Derek the wrong way. Rack of spices. I lack the vices. Inside joker. Ringside mocha.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Here's the tracklist, already (go to bed, self!) -- get your download link in "the comments" (or right click on the picture jpeg thingie, that's cool too):</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">CD 1:</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">101 - Black Star - Fix Up<br />
102 - Black Star - You Already Knew<br />
103 - Gutter Rainbows<br />
104 - Cold Rain<br />
105 - So Low<br />
106 - Self Savior (ft Chace Infinite)<br />
107 - Wait For You (ft Kendra Ross)<br />
108 - Uh Oh (ft Jean Grae)<br />
109 - Palookas (ft Sean Price)<br />
110 - Tater Tot<br />
111 - Strangers (Paranoid) (ft Bun B)<br />
112 - In This World<br />
113 - Got Work<br />
114 - Just Begun (ft Jay Electronica, J Cole & Mos Def)<br />
115 - Lifting Off<br />
116 - Ballad Of The Black Gold<br />
117 - In The Red<br />
118 - City Playgrounds<br />
119 - Back Again (ft Res)<br />
120 - Ends (ft Bilal)<br />
121 - My Life (Outro)</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">CD 2: </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">201 - Talib Kweli - 1st Time (ft Consequence)<br />
202 - Statik Selektah - The Thrill Is Gone (ft Styles P & Talib Kweli)<br />
203 - Joell Ortiz - So Wrong (ft Talib Kweli, Brother Ali & Jean Grae)<br />
204 - Hezekiah - Fired Up! (ft Talib Kweli & Bahamadia)<br />
205 - Break Science - The Alliance (ft Talib Kweli)<br />
206 - Union - Time Leak (ft Talib Kweli)<br />
207 - Mistah F.A.B. - In My City (ft Talib Kweli & Royce Da 5'9'')<br />
208 - The Next - This American Life (ft Talib Kweli & Immortal Technique)<br />
209 - Talib Kweli - Papers Please<br />
210 - The Away Team - Set It Off (ft Talib Kweli & Rapsody)<br />
211 - Fashawn - Life's A Bitch (ft Talib Kweli)<br />
212 - Bun B - Don't Die (ft Talib Kweli, 88-Keys & Colin Munroe)<br />
213 - Kanye West - Chain Heavy (ft Talib Kweli & Consequence)<br />
214 - Chrisette Michele - Let Freedom Reign (ft Talib Kweli & Black Thought)<br />
215 - Doc Ish - Is It A Dream (ft Joe Budden, Talib Kweli, Sean Price & Angelica)<br />
216 - Animal Farm - Test Of Time (ft Talib Kweli)<br />
217 - Kyle Rapps - Universe Traveler (ft Talib Kweli)<br />
218 - Derek 32zero - Lift 'Em Up (ft Talib Kweli)<br />
219 - Quincy Jones - Ironside (ft Talib Kweli)<br />
220 - MED - Classic (ft Talib Kweli)</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">CD 3:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">301 - 9th Wonder - Never Stop Loving You (ft Terrace Martin & Talib Kweli)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">302 - Lostribe - No Other Word (ft Talib Kweli, N8 The Gr8 & Maryann Hunter)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">303 - Statik Selektah - You're Gone (ft Talib Kweli, Colin Munroe & Lil Fame)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">304 - Toki Wright - Trakhouse (ft Emazin, Talib Kweli & I Self Divine)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">305 - Stat Quo - Allright (ft Talib Kweli)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">306 - Cory Mo - Gettin To The Money (ft Talib Kweli, Killer Mike & Mitchelle l)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">307 - Jean Grae - R.I.P (ft Styles P & Talib Kweli)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">308 - The Foodchain - Fucc Niggaz (ft Talib Kweli)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">309 - Blaqstarr - War Of The Roses (ft Talib Kweli)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">310 - Clinton Sparks - G.O.O.D. Music (ft Common, Talib Kweli & Consequence)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">311 - Talib Kweli - Someday (ft Torae, John Robinson & Tiffany Paige) </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> (Madwreck Remix)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">312 - Bamboo Bros. - Let It Go (ft Talib Kweli & Kendra Ross)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">313 - The New Congress - Anguish, Love & Romance (ft Talib Kweli)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">314 - Melanie Fiona - Give It To Me Right (Remix) (ft Talib Kweli)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">315 - Shaun Boothe - Concepts (ft Talib Kweli)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">316 - Alchemist - Therapy (ft Evidence, Blu, Talib Kweli & Kid Cudi)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">317 - Royce Da 5'9'' - Give Up Your Guns (ft Talib Kweli & Raekwon)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">318 - Chester French & Clinton Sparks - I'm So Tall (ft Bun B, Talib Kweli & </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Mickey Factz)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">319 - Skyzoo - When I Rhyme (ft Talib Kweli & Reks)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">320 - Talib Kweli - My Favorite Song</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">321 - MC Hush - Let It Breathe (ft Talib Kweli) [BONUS TRACK]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">322 - KRS-One & Buckshot - Oh Really Remix (ft Talib Kweli & Geo) </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> [BONUS TRACK]</span></div><br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.megaupload.com/?d=R7HOMV7I" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAKMIHqVq3lq8vY0xaTZXFckGd_3SX-TQKQjj0tEZIGnWK8635dTOVD-GtlHSz9C10VRRh64yfLROfRhH9TLYZPM_i74lrTwwqzZ0rKnAWvsaQ-P0Oww5SeKeVzHRJDTd7A0EA6JrGsHM/s400/Talib+Kweli+%25286x4%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div>MC Foxtrothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317239407159409041noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1232183149497298079.post-23485770447782924952011-11-29T19:28:00.000-08:002011-11-29T20:03:31.327-08:00Miranda Lambert – This Country Ain't So Bad After All (a misshapedmixtape)<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><m:smallfrac m:val="off"> <m:dispdef> <m:lmargin m:val="0"> <m:rmargin m:val="0"> <m:defjc m:val="centerGroup"> <m:wrapindent m:val="1440"> <m:intlim m:val="subSup"> <m:narylim m:val="undOvr"> </m:narylim></m:intlim> </m:wrapindent> </m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So here’s the thing. I hate country music. I mean really, REALLY hate it. There have been a few times in my life when I’ve even been subjected to listening to country music RADIO… usually while trapped in someone else’s a moving vehicle… and that was some touch-and-go shit. I mean, most radio stations suck and are stuck in a quagmire of stale baseball card bubblegum slobber, but when you add a “twang” to some really, really bad lyrics it is like a deep-fried-racquetball-testes-sandwich with barbeque sauce.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Okay. I do like SOME country music… you know, Johnny Cash (of course), Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Iris DeMent, Gillian Welch, Bob Dylan, Wilco, Nappy Roots, Andre 3000… wait… were we talking about country music? Shit. I guess I don’t really know what THAT is, so I’ll stop.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Anyway, a couple of years ago I decided to give Miranda Lambert a shot. She kept popping up on <b><a href="http://www.metacritic.com/person/miranda-lambert">Metacritic</a></b> with super duper lauded albums, so I figured I should give it a shot. And hey, my wife likes country music (when she gets real upset she reverts to a Kentuckian country slang… it’s cute), so I thought that if nothing else it would give her something new to throw into her rotation. And here’s the thing: it turns out that Ms. Lambert (Miranda not Adam) is legit. She writes her own stuff, she’s got an incredible voice, her songs rock, the ones that don’t make you well up (e.g. <b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQYNM6SjD_o">“The House That Built Me”</a></b>... unless you have a tin heart), she’s gorgeous, and she’s bad-assed to the maximus (case and point: <b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg-mvVYZ4tc">“Gunpowder & Lead”</a></b> -- a song about a battered woman who goes “Hey Joe”-style on her lover)... and <b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6UmLNYGRDo">"White Liar"</a></b> and <b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB7ONnfIjaI">"Kerosene"</a></b> REALLY blow yr socks off as well.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Every single one of her releases (she has four full-length albums) is worth checking out (along with her mad decent “supergroup” album that she put out this fall as Pistol Annies with Ashley Monroe & Angaleena Presley) -- though a good starting point is “Revolution” (her third album) which is pretty much the cat’s pajamas. Wait though… actually this TAPE is the best starting point :) </div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Crap. I am SO bad at self-promotion.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So yes, this mixtape, entitled “This Country Ain't So Bad After All,” is a MUST download. Coz I’m the coolest. Even if you claim to hate country music (like me) this might change yr mind. It is more on the rock end of the spectrum (and I picked the rocking-est of her songs coz that's just me... AND her band can REALLY rock it out too). I also added in a Pistol Annies sonic and her cover of Loretta Lynn’s song <b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pnpbxw43Nq0">“Coal Miner’s Daughter”</a></b> which was on the “Tribute To Loretta Lynn” album. The song also features Loretta Lynn. And Sheryl Crow. So that’s neat.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I really dig Miranda’s songs that feature her wicked-whipsmart sense of laissez-faireish Liz Phairesque humor. <b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Pp66FNd54M">“Only Prettier”</a></b> is the best of those. Give it a few listens for sure.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I put this together around Thanksgiving time, which explains the double-entendre album title “This Country Ain’t So Bad After All” (insert Jay-Z saying, “I said country… get it?) and the fact that there are twenty-four tracks for the 24th of November. I'm not gimmicky, but my alter-ego sure is.<br />
<br />
If you want to listen to music that would fit more into the “This Country Sucks, After All” category, I recommend checking out Immortal Technique’s free new mixtape, <b><a href="http://www.2dopeboyz.com/2011/10/27/immortal-technique-the-martyr-album/">“The Martyr”</a></b> (except I think that quite a few songs off of that tape kind of suck, but the <b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRhsswpEjYo">track</a></b> with Killer Mike, Brother Ali and Chuck D TOTALLY redeems the whole thing).</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Thanksgiving actually made me feel happy to be living in the USA again. It’s not so bad. And the Lions aren’t either. Not that I care (that much).</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Happy belated Tryptophan Day, everybody.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Voila: the tracklist for Miranda Lambert – “This Country Ain't So Bad After All (a misshapedmixtape)”... and if you want to download it, check for the link in the "comments":</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">01 : Gunpowder & Lead [Crazy Ex-Girlfriend]</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">02 : Only Prettier [Revolution]</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">03 : Fine Tune [Four The Record]</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">04 : Me And Your Cigarettes [Revolution]</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">05 : All Kinds Of Kinds [Four The Record]</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">06 : Sin For A Sin [Revolution]</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">07 : Guilty In Here [Crazy Ex-Girlfriend]</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">08 : Takin' Pills (with Ashley Monroe & Angaleena Presley)<br />
from [Pistol Annies - Hell On Heels]</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">09 : Maintain The Pain [Revolution]</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">10 : Down [Crazy Ex-Girlfriend]</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">11 : Mama's Broken Heart [Four The Record]</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">12 : Kerosene [Kerosene]</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">13 : White Liar [Revolution]</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">14 : Dry Town [Crazy Ex-Girlfriend]</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">15 : Baggage Claim [Four The Record]</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">16 : The House That Built Me [Revolution]</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">17 : Greyhound Bound For Nowhere [Kerosene]</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">18 : Oklahoma Sky [Four The Record]</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">19 : Love Song [Revolution]</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">20 : Famous In A Small Town [Crazy Ex-Girlfriend]</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">21 : Mama, I'm Alright [Kerosene]</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">22 : Coal Miner's Daughter (with Loretta Lynn & Sheryl Crow)<br />
from [Coal Miner's Daughter: A Tribute To Loretta Lynn]</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">23 : Makin Plans [Revolution] [BONUS]</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">24 : Look At Miss Ohio [Four The Record] [BONUS]</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YLU6LSUC" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuTscs7jFrYx-3cA3CtS7HCI4_HaxnaxCj5eizKIaFPASsxyz9arUbXGsEhpmp7zLQyBscwJ0QCh0VdZf0QLykSB2UfIP4H5XruIbPsZU4M7v2WbisDKWO1EADRuXYkrK575Ztnv73vK4/s640/Miranda+Lambert+1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div>MC Foxtrothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317239407159409041noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1232183149497298079.post-45081178851488298822011-11-21T23:22:00.000-08:002011-11-22T10:41:12.622-08:00Tom Caruana Presents The Wu vs. The Beatles - McCza, Ghostface Harrison, J.Lennon The Chef & Ol' Dirty Ringo (a misshapedmixtape)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: left;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Okay, I guess I decided I should make a quick mixtape for this week after all. It IS Thanksgiving week... so I thought people might want some good traveling music. I was debating between Wu-Tang and The Beatles. And then I was like, wait, Tom Caruana did that dope-ass mashup mixtape of BOTH OF THEM two years ago that a lot of people slept on. Perfect.<br />
<br />
And actually, Caruana's crafted something that IS really close to perfect... especially considering that mashups (particularly mashup albums) are usually novelty items whose appeal wears thin after... oh, about the second listen. THIS is a definite exception... and deserves a place next to Danger Mouse's <b><a href="http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/2540-the-grey-album/">"The Grey Album"</a></b> which also picked from the Beatles back-catalog and combined Liverpoolian-loops with Jay-Z's not-classic (by Jay-Z standards) "Black Album." But yeah, "The Grey Album" rocks... and I'm a BIG Danger Mouse fan (as you can see from last week's Broken Bells post).<br />
<br />
However, I would go so far to say that Caruana's product is even BETTER than what Danger Mouse put out -- this could partially be because I have always been a hard-core Wu-Tang fan, but it's also because I think that Tom Caruana's sampling is less heavy-handed and he has created fresh SOUNDSCAPES for the Wu's cadre of MCs to demonstrate their special techniques of shadowboxing. In other words, he's making NEW beats, not just flipping a sample with an "I know that!" signpost attached to it. In fact, many of the tracks on Caruana's mixtape (which was called "Wu-Tang vs. The Beatles: Enter The Magical Mystery Chambers") pull from other artists' covers of Beatles songs and other (relatively) obscure material. So yeah, it's actually quite a challenge to "name that sample" as the album progresses. Please post your findings in the comments section! It'll be fun!<br />
<br />
I will cheat a bit... in <i>Arts Beat</i> (a section of the New York Times online material), Caruana did reveal the source material contained in the especially epic sounding "Uzi (Pinky Ring)" (which has verses from 8 of the original 9 founding members of the Wu... ODB was incarcerated when "Iron Flag" -- the album this song was on -- came out):<br />
<br />
<i>“Uzi (Pinky Ring)” has got a lot of samples on it. There’s “Glass Onion” (U-God), then it went to an Arif Mardin version of “Glass Onion” (Raekwon), then when Ghostface comes in it goes to “Getting Better,” then RZA comes in and it’s a Ramsey Lewis version of “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey.” Then Method Man comes in and that’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Then Inspectah Deck comes in and it’s a cover version of “Hey, Jude.”</i> [Note: he doesn't name -- and I don't know -- the sample on Masta Killa's part]. <i>And then GZA’s at the end, and that’s “Why Don’t We Do It In the Road.” - <b><a href="http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/roll-up-the-beatles-meet-the-wu-tang-clan-in-magical-mystery-chambers/">Arts Beat</a></b> (</i><span class="timestamp published" title="2010-01-26T09:31:55+00:00"><span class="date">January 26, 2010)</span></span><br />
<br />
Anyway, if you love Wu-Tang this is a MUST listen. And if you love The Beatles (and who doesn't), see if you can pick it all apart and fall in love with the WTC at the same time.<br />
<br />
I know that the rather recent <b><a href="http://soundcloud.com/wugazi">Wugazi</a> </b>mashup (Wu-Tang vs. Fugazi) which was done by Doomtree affiliates is getting hyped now (and it is worth the free <b><a href="http://bit.ly/olPPtZ">download</a></b>), but Caruana's pretty much kicks the shit out of that (though the first track on Wugazi: <b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ourDnKp6x14">"Sleep Rules Everything Around Me"</a></b> IS killer). And Doomtree is great (especially Dessa and P.O.S.'s solo material... which is ridiculously dope and I will NOT do misshapedmixtapes for because their albums are solid the whole way through and are must-buys). Just saying.<br />
<br />
Anyway, back to Tom Caruana. Evidently he's a music teacher in the UK and took two months off to put together this Wu-Tang vs. Beatles compilation. He has also put out a lot of other stuff on the Tea Sea Records <b><a href="http://teasearecords.net/tomcaruana.cfm">website</a></b>, I am especially intrigued by his new <b><a href="http://teasearecords.net/okaybollywood.cfm">"Okayplayer: The Bollywood Remake"</a></b> album... but unfortunately I haven't had time to give it a listen yet.<br />
<br />
As far as "Wu-Tang vs. The Beatles: Enter The Magical Mystery Chambers" goes, there were only six tracks on the original 27-track album that I didn't really care for (not that they were terrible, just not up to the VERY high quality of the rest of the tracks)... so I omitted those and did some other minor re-sequencing and tweaking. So yeah, this is the version to the "Magical Mystery Chambers" album that I listen to. And it's been FAR MORE than twice. It's blisteringly rad. I also added "The Heart Gently Weeps" as a bonus track. It was on the Wu's "8 Diagrams" album and is Beatlematicmadness as well (with John Frusciante and Erykah Badu on the track too... what! -- RZA you are a crazy genius).<br />
<br />
Here are the tracks on "Tom Caruana Presents Wu vs. Beatles - McCza, Ghostface Harrison, J.Lennon The Chef & Ol' Dirty Ringo (a misshapedmixtape)" [dl link in the "comments"]... I wrote in the featured artists on each track in the order that they appear for those of you who might not be obsessed with all that the Shaolin crew has done. That'll assist you in following that end of the equation at least. Help me with naming those samples tho :) Happy Triptophan Day to all! Enjoy:</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
01 : Wu vs. Beatles (Intro)<br />
02 : C.R.E.A.M. (ft Raekwon, Inspectah Deck & Method Man)<br />
03 : Got Your Money (ft Ol’ Dirty Bastard)<br />
04 : Uh Huh (ft Method Man)<br />
05 : Criminology (ft Ghostface & Raekwon)<br />
06 : Daytona 500 (ft Raekwon, Ghostface & Cappadonna)<br />
07 : Labels (ft GZA)<br />
08 : Smith Bros (ft Raekwon)<br />
09 : R.E.C. Room (ft Inspectah Deck)<br />
10 : Wu vs. Beatles (Skit) (ft Ol’ Dirty Bastard)<br />
11 : Mighty Healthy (ft Ghostface)<br />
12 : Clientele Kidd (ft Raekwon, Fat Joe & Ghostface)<br />
13 : Cutting It Up (ft Raekwon, Polite, Chip Banks, Ghostface & Trife)<br />
14 : Release Yo Self (ft Method Man)<br />
15 : City High (ft Inspectah Deck)<br />
16 : Run (ft Ghostface & Comp)<br />
17 : Uzi (Pinky Ring) (ft U-God, Raekwon, Ghostface, RZA, Method Man,<br />
Inspectah Deck, Masta Killa & GZA)<br />
18 : Back In The Game (ft Inspectah Deck, Method Man, GZA, Raekwon,<br />
Ghostface & Ron Isley)<br />
19 : Save Me Dear (ft Ghostface)<br />
20 : Wu Tang Cream Team Line Up (ft The Harlem Hoodz, Raekwon,<br />
Inspectah Deck, Method Man & Killa Sin)<br />
21 : Wu vs. Beatles (Outro)<br />
22 : The Heart Gently Weeps [BONUS] (ft Raekwon, Ghostface, </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Method Man, Erykah Badu, Dhani Harrison & John Frusciante)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.megaupload.com/?d=06477FZ1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRbk6JTb1NJXpFcUtYB1aXgyjV3n19RAU5P76KaMH-85SSeIVr0CIziy90IYJXww3dvIiLyjZLfUyIMtLMkwGtXSaeU_Y0uyHjJDF6ABSJDMt1cU6oDgbs7D1A7FfYRK4dZ2w60_BfCas/s400/Tom+Caruana+Presents+Wu+vs.+Beatles+%2528a+misshapedmixtape%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>MC Foxtrothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317239407159409041noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1232183149497298079.post-11222466160370850332011-11-13T22:38:00.000-08:002011-11-21T23:45:16.033-08:00Broken Bells - rEProduced (a misshapedmixtape)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: left;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I'm going to take next week off (possibly), so that is my reason for posting two tapes at once. Also, I haven't posted a rock tape since September (don't worry, I have a doozy career-spanning behemoth planned for the end of this month!). Also, I've had this mix laying about for awhile anyway, so I figured it would be easy enough to throw up here quickly. So here comes the word vomit.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Broken Bells have three amazing songs that I love. I mean love love. They have helped to carry me from Southeast Asia back to the U.S. They give me chills. They are the anti-thesis to the new terrible Coldplay album. They are that hyphen that didn't belong in that last sentence. Yes, they are that cool. But no, I'm not going to tell you which three songs they are. </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This is an EP-ish lengthed doohickey (third in my rEProduced series). It's probably not technically speaking an EP... it was going to be just six tracks off of their self-titled debut (which came out in 2010), but I ended up adding three more ("bonus") songs off of the strange but wonderful EP they released this year.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Danger Mouse is a great producer. James Mercer (from The Shins) is swell. And The Shins are (/were?) a great band. In fact, I think that The Shins MIGHT be doing something next year. I'm not sure about that. I've been out of the loop on rock music.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Anyway, I have listened to the Broken Bells debut album in this form for quite some time (meaning the first six tracks of this tape). And it's magical. Good music. Download. Support the artist. Their debut album is altogether mad decent. Buy a bell and don't break it. Whatnot and wherefore. Icebird (the new RJD2 project) kind of reminds me of this. In a good way. Check that out too. Keep it rocking, world. Good night.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Here's the songs on "Broken Bells - rEProduced (a misshapedmixtape)" [with your link to 'em in the "comments"]:</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">01 : The High Road<br />
02 : Vaporize<br />
03 : The Ghost Inside<br />
04 : Sailing To Nowhere<br />
05 : Trap Doors<br />
06 : October<br />
07 : Windows [Bonus Track]<br />
08 : Meyrin Fields [Bonus Track]<br />
09 : Heartless Empire [Bonus Track] </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.megaupload.com/?d=S0YH2UMX"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO4WHbvf5j6g59ggdatnxESDrqNABsdeSGiHEpIfVIwm_iTQWv6FB61l-cXo_utRIfZec0qysZLarcBKIseZFAvokrYwaU64VVD9vDdDp4d5r3Gmhq1SqqKh6ylQBc9WFwU5gEWen2H68/s400/Broken+Bells.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>MC Foxtrothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317239407159409041noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1232183149497298079.post-50759319278792739762011-11-13T21:58:00.000-08:002011-11-13T22:58:07.077-08:00Lil Boosie - Boosie's Blues (a misshapedmixtape)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS4sGFB7MJlCs7ZqUh2Hsn9wSulzsHDWjnVnUVBBqmE734d7h196Ba2Bdbdt7kR1VNsvkIYtHMHeQxSBOzvR7nDCk_GWQRZQDGPUs3jrdzBRWcYcgRsLIfSVumcPCgcSLflfRUDpt_gEI/s1600/Lil+Boosie+1+-+Boosie%2527s+letter+to+Alex.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS4sGFB7MJlCs7ZqUh2Hsn9wSulzsHDWjnVnUVBBqmE734d7h196Ba2Bdbdt7kR1VNsvkIYtHMHeQxSBOzvR7nDCk_GWQRZQDGPUs3jrdzBRWcYcgRsLIfSVumcPCgcSLflfRUDpt_gEI/s640/Lil+Boosie+1+-+Boosie%2527s+letter+to+Alex.jpg" width="492" /></a></div><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This (above) is Lil Boosie's letter to Alex, a troubled fifteen year old who appeared on the television program "Beyond Scared Straight" in August this year and named Boosie as a role model. "Beyond Scared Straight" actually looks like an intriguing program (it premiered on A&E this year and builds upon the concept of the 1978 documentary "Scared Straight"). I've worked with a lot of youth that could be on this show. Anyway, you can hear the soundbyte from Alex's appearance on this mixtape (track one)... which is fitting because it sets the tone for </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the Baton Rouge MC's</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> litany of laments and regrets that are featured on this week's tape, "Boosie's Blues."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Lil Boosie? On this blog? Seriously? Yes indeed. I realize that I'm coming completely out of leftfield on this one folks. I'm guessing most of you (white people at least) have never heard of him. Or if you have heard of him it's probably for all the wrong reasons. As you can see from his letter to Alex, Boosie is in prison. This puts him in familiar company. I can rattle off of decent sized list of rappers that have been incarcerated/arrested in recent years: T.I., Lil Wayne, Gucci Mane, Waka Flocka Flame, Young Jeezy & Mystikal (and that's just naming southern rappers). The difference is that Boosie is still there (I just found out that Mystikal had been released from prison... which is actually semi-old news).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Actually Mystikal is a fairly good comparison to Boosie as an artist. Or some people have compared Boosie with Ja Rule. I'm not a fan of Ja Rule (he did help launch J-Lo's singing career... bastard), but the comparison is valid. Boosie, like these two artists, raps with vocals that rumble. The SOUND of his voice is cinematic... it drips with emotion and earnestness. Basically, everything he says sounds awesome. How could it not? And, more importantly, he NEVER comes across as faking ANYTHING. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">He is a true storyteller. I don't know what else to say. No one is doubting this dude's credibility. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Okay, but here's the thing: most of Lil Boosie's music is, in my opinion, not that good. He is one of those artists that puts out 90% mediocre (or club-oriented) songs. Maybe that's a bit harsh. I am lumping most of his hits into that category, so someone obviously thinks they're good. But it's just not my cup of tea... these songs often focus on acts of debauchery (partying), gaining material goods for oneself, having sex, making threats, and being an all-around bad ass. Oh, and it's often misogynistic too. </span><br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Let's focus on the other 10% instead. And wow, are these twelve songs (featured on this week's mixtape) phenomenal. If you're familiar with Boosie's mainstream material, this will catch you completely off-guard. He pours out his soul on these tracks and looks deep inside. And it's really fucking great. Though if you get offended easily by gangster rap (how you feel about "The Chronic" is a good litmus test), then you might just want to steer clear of this one.</span> But I encourage you not to. These songs are stories that you should sit through at least once. They're important to hear.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I'm not going to go into the charges that Boosie faces or the <b><a href="http://boosiejustice.com/">"Free Boosie"</a></b> movement on this post. Whether he is guilty of the crimes he's been charged with or not (he maintains his innocence on the murder charges) is irrelevant in a way. Boosie's letter to Alex, and the songs on this tape, speak to the tragic trajectory of Boosie's life... a trajectory that too many youth from marginalized and low-income communities also follow.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So here it is. Don't expect any apology songs a la T.I. Also, don't expect him professing to becoming a changed man like Lil Wayne (who is a codeine-free/alcohol-free free man now). Boosie spits equal parts pain and vitriol. It's the blues.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">By the way, today (November 14) is Lil Boosie's 29th birthday. So yeah... "Happy birthday, Mr. Torrence Hatch." And if this incarceration marks the end of your music career, you have left us with some gems. Thank you for opening your heart to the world through your poetry.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Here is the tracklist for Lil Boosie “Boosie's Blues (a misshapedmixtape)" below with the album that it came off of in parentheses (check for download link in “comments”):</div><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">01 : Intro - Scared Beyond Str8 [Clip]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> 02 : Devils (ft Foxx) [Incarcerated]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> 03 : No Mercy [SuperBad]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> 04 : Where Would I Be [unreleased]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> 05 : Goin' Thru Some Thangs [Bad Azz]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> 06 : If I Could Change (ft Lil Quick & Money Bag$) [The 25th Hour]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> 07 : Hatin' [Bad Azz]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> 08 : Bank Roll [SuperBad]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> 09 : Betrayed (ft Webbie) [Incarcerated]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> 10 : I Ain't Mad At Cha [The 25th Hour]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> 11 : Long Journey (ft Webbie) [Incarcerated]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> 12 : Pain [SuperBad]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> 13 : Mind Of A Maniac [SuperBad]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> 14 : Outro - Boosie's Letter To Alex (read by his cousin)</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BZFD6FSB"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2wxeBLnP9DJiwB-yOmfNaQM_XIfv5dYnJwAH05LpCQ6KdNRbiUxULTZb3CDAibX9DdxIqqcAEpzJ5D2yao4oT0MBX0rFU7gUaqUpEjDwC8_AdKrGbQ-7ObxkzH-v01BCqPLlwps50RAM/s400/Lil+Boosie+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>MC Foxtrothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317239407159409041noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1232183149497298079.post-43370673278858177782011-11-09T11:36:00.000-08:002011-11-09T12:06:17.668-08:00Lowkey - The Model U.N. (a misshapedmixtape)<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">First of all, I'm fucking annoyed with the U.N. I may or may not have been at a film festival last weekend that was sponsored by the local chapter of the U.N. and that may or may not have something to do with it. But whatever. That's not for this blog. My filmmaking is work. This is meant to be fun.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">My favorite show on television right now (because "Mad Men" is still on hiatus) is "Community." It's guaranteed hilariousness... and is often times transcendentally awesome (my favorite episode all time is the one where they play D&D for the whole show). This season, their third, has been fucking KILLER. And (to circle back to the U.N.) their "Model U.N." episode was right on the money. Brilliantly executed.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Somehow, this episode seems like a perfect pairing to Lowkey's latest album, "Soundtrack To The Struggle."</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Well, wait... actually it's not. Actually "Soundtrack To The Struggle" is pretty much the best COMPLETE hip-hop album I've heard in a LONG time. I feel bad about even doing a Lowkey misshapedmixtape for this reason (but I think he's flying under the radar in the US, so that's my justification). In truth, "Soundtrack To The Struggle" is an album that needs to be heard in its entirety. It plays like a documentary (like a documentary SHOULD be... not a promotional video done by the U.N. about dying kids in Africa that makes poverty somehow sexy... damn it, I need to stop on that).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">In short, just promise me that you're going to <b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Soundtrack-to-the-Struggle-Explicit/dp/B005JF1H9O">buy</a></b> "Soundtrack To The Struggle" after you listen to this mixtape. It'll make me feel MUCH better. Coz this mixtape, though it does feature my top-favorite Lowkey songs, feels quite incomplete in comparison to his proper album. So many GREAT tracks and poignant interludes that hold the album together. Oh, and for further Lowkey awesomeness, check the youtube linklings that I have to his official music videos down below (they are the bluey/purple songs in the track list) because they are pretty neat also.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Quick note on Lowkey (in case you're still like, "What the fuck kind of mixtape is this?... Can you please get to the point?"): Lowkey is an English-Iraqi MC/activist. He raps about shit that is important. He's wicked smart. And he flips some pretty dope rhymes too. Anything else I could possibly say about him is CERTAINLY better said by Lowkey himself.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And as for "Community." I love it. If you want to see the episode that I culled samples from (to intersperse throughout this mixtape), you can check it out here on <b><a href="http://www.hulu.com/watch/280299/community-geography-of-global-conflict#s-p2-so-i0">Hulu</a></b>. Of course, you can only watch things on Hulu if you live in the USA. If you don't live in the US, well, then... sucks for you! (actually this link expires tomorrow, so maybe it sucks for everyone)</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Maybe that last line irreverently sums up the point of this whole post/mixtape. It's the smugness that is captured poignantly within the model U.N. episode from "Community." It's the anger Lowkey expresses on "Soundtrack To The Struggle" when he's blasting Obama and America's heinous international relations. And it's me, grimacing to see my film packaged into a festival promoting the good work that the U.N. is doing world-wide. Ummm... remember the work I did in Kosovo six years ago? Fuck.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Here's the tracklist for</span><span style="font-size: small;"> Lowkey - "The Model U.N. (a misshapedmixtape)" [with yr download link in the "comments"... I also highly recommend checking out the jumpoffs to his music videos below]:<br />
<br />
01 - "look it up!" (community s3e2)<br />
02 - <b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4OI0GUCI_A">Obama Nation</a></b> </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">03 - <b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBNeD57-RVg">Hand On Your Gun</a></b><br />
04 - <b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmBnvajSfWU">Terrorist</a></b><br />
05 - <b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3_2hJfhwro">Something Wonderful</a></b><br />
06 - Dreamers (ft Mai Khalil)<br />
07 - "crisis alert!" (community s3e2)<br />
08 - <b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gA8G0xHknQ">Cradle Of Civilisation (ft Mai Khalil)</a></b><br />
09 - <b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p1CJwTNC9M">Long Live Palestine</a></b><br />
10 - <b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL0Y4MZ45bo">Dear England (ft Mai Khalil)</a></b><br />
11 - Haunted (ft Mai Khalil)<br />
12 - Terrorist Part 2 (ft Mai Khalil & Crazy Haze)<br />
13 - <b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y547vgzCnC4">Million Man March (ft Mai Khalil)</a></b><br />
14 - "blue u.n. wins!" (community s3e2)</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MNNE7NOW"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRO_Ae9cedJ-DGonJWtouitCx2CHTZSCRQ-sxXemIZ5x1O_c9MfXfrXb4T48DaHZQB4hwZxAJqTNNiXn7znXvGuZuGb4OjNzV5Um-aixIU8ZNBOT0sumgwFS1gpoC2J101pobpyWD0THk/s400/Lowkey+-+Interview.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>MC Foxtrothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317239407159409041noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1232183149497298079.post-2778490074063552512011-11-09T10:36:00.000-08:002011-11-11T12:17:46.698-08:00Beyoncé - Fo(u)r rEProduction (a misshapedmixtape)<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This might be a curveball to ya'll... but I actually really like Beyoncé's music. Okay, not all of it... but when she is on her game, she is brilliant. And her voice absolutely DESTROYS other artists that you might lump her in with (mistakenly) such as Shakira, Gaga, Rihanna, Brittney, Nicole Scherzinger </span><span style="font-size: small;">or Katy Perry. Why do I name those artists? Well, they're sex symbols of our generation (and </span><span style="font-size: small;">Scherzinger's on the "X Factor" so I think that's why her face popped into my head)</span><span style="font-size: small;">. And they're all pretty HUGE pop stars. No doubt. But do they have Beyoncé's heart or pipes? Hell no. So if you haven't given delving into Beyoncé's solo career much of a chance before, here's your opportunity. Because she is more than her ear-worming smash hits or the "Bootylicious" video that branded her (I would actually argue that it is because she did become a "brand" that it became easier </span><span style="font-size: small;">for many of us to</span><span style="font-size: small;"> dismiss as an artist). In truth, </span><span style="font-size: small;">Beyoncé</span><span style="font-size: small;"> is a pure, unique talent. And, what might be even more surprising to those out of the know, she has consistently put out very good ALBUMS. I would give three-out-of-four at least a B+ (her third, Sasha Fierce, is the only one that I don't care for... pretty inconsistent, so it wouldn't make the grade by me).</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Beyoncé's latest album (4) is a bit of anomaly. She has released four singles off of it so far (on the radio) -- “Run the World (Girls)”, “Best Thing I Never Had”, “Countdown”, and “Party" -- and I don't really care for any of them (so they're not on this mixtape). In fact, I think that these four songs misrepresent where Beyoncé is as a person now. She is pregnant after all. These aforementioned songs are juvenile (which makes them good radio songs I suppose). But when B's on her grown-up shit, she is so sultry, smart and sweet. "1+1" is a flat-out brilliant song... and I can't imagine anyone EXCEPT Beyoncé being able to pull it off (maybe Whitney circa '92).</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">With all of those plaudits said, some music works better for me in a short-form small dose versus long-form. Beyoncé's latest album falls into that category. So I cut it down to seven songs (note the EP in "rEProduction"). In fact, this mixtape is shorter than 30 minutes long. So there's no excuse to not give it a chance -- if you're worried that even listening is going to ruin yr "indie coolness cred" :) -- but I must say (as you can see from the mixtape title) this is bedroom music more than anything. That said, I don't want to misrepresent this as a str8-up "getting freaky" mix. In looking at relationships, it's equal parts questioning and certainty. It's intimate. And yeah, actually... the last track on this mix IS str8-up freaky. </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Anyway, I hope that you enjoy this one and that it works to push those of you who have had a pre-existing Beyoncé stigma. Now I'm curious to see what kind of music she comes out with AFTER she has a baby.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Speaking of which, one reason that I put a steamy R&B mixtape out this week is because so many of our friends are pregnant, just had babies, or thinking about having babies. So yay on you guys!</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">We're happy with our dog for now.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Here is the tracklist for </span><span style="font-size: small;">Beyoncé - </span><span style="font-size: small;">“</span><span style="font-size: small;">Fo(u)r rEProduction (a misshapedmixtape)</span><span style="font-size: small;">” [you can find the download link in the “comments”]</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">01 : 1+1</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">02 : I Care</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">03 : I Miss You</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">04 : Start Over</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">05 : I Was Here</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">06 : Rather Die Young</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">07 : Dance For You</span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.megaupload.com/?d=X7FMGTOL"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0iL_ANym85dvJPxnX6Kt3pY-juelRvT98KWjDYHoyL4m-YcYtrcVcyBrYIw7fQZ-3acnfFUcCyAN85A_P9DHjOAM5hZDWEIeNMZm3DGWpS68lh4glvEaT1ErMcXqUwPUyIu1kmT1oEjI/s400/Preggers+Beyonc%25C3%25A9.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>MC Foxtrothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317239407159409041noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1232183149497298079.post-60956023761559405352011-11-02T12:23:00.000-07:002011-11-09T09:41:17.605-08:00Macklemore - White Privilege (a misshapedmixtape)First of all... yikes! I've fallen behind on my posting! Never fear, I'm going to make up for lost time in the next couple of weeks... All that said... I might be a bit less eloquent on the write-ups (coz I am still trying to find a REAL job... though I do WISH that I could get paid for blogging... sigh....)<br />
<br />
Okay then. This mixtape features select cuts from the Seattle MC, Macklemore. To be honest, I didn't even know this dude existed until like last month... but he has some fantastic songs out. So I wanted to introduce you to him in case you haven't heard of him. He is an excellent songwriter, ranging from rapping about his former addiction to cough syrup ("Otherside"), the implications of coveting expensive sneakers ("Wings"), the question of whether it's cultural-pillaging to be a Caucasian rapper ("White Privilege"), and, last but not least, a tribute to the Seattle Mariners ("My Oh My"). I appreciate someone rapping about their baseball team... I wish that Royce/Danny Brown/Elzhi would drop a Detroit Tigers song (produced by Black Milk and/or Apollo Brown).<br />
<br />
That said, a lot of the songs contained on the mixtapes that Macklemore has dropped (he has four that I am aware of) don't really appeal to me. I mean, the dude has a party song about being Irish that (while it seems to be pretty popular from the look-in on <b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29UMACdfyZw">youtube</a></b>), I personally find to be stupid as shit. I mean, House Of Pain pulled off this kind of thing (quite <b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXwtHJQ66Rk">awesomely</a></b>), but Macklemore just doesn't do it for me. In fact, I find it rather embarrassing. <br />
<br />
I'm going to move on (after all, this mixtape is a mixtape coz it separates wheat from chaff to save you the time of doing it yourself), but it does worry me to hear how often Macklemore makes reference (in his releases) to the fact that he wants to be a pop star (and I understand, he hasn't released an official album yet and he needs to get paid)... but he's an artist that thrives operating under the radar. I worry about hip-hop artists reaching for stardom. What is the cost? I have officially kicked Wale off of my radar because of this fact (his latest release is mediocre.... at best)... which is sad because Wale's earlier stuff showed such hunger and had deeper substance. This is a topic for another post.<br />
<br />
Anyway, all that said (overstream vs. underground), Macklemore DOES have other great songs. In fact, he has EXACTLY fourteen great songs. So here they are, presented in misshapedmixtape form (after doing some extensive digging) to get you acquainted with him. If you like what you hear, I recommend scoping out his visuals on youtube (this <b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/RyanLewisProductions">link</a></b> takes you to vids uploaded by his frequent collaborator and producer, Ryan Lewis). Macklemore has some love songs and other shit that I didn't feel deserved making the cut... but they're okay if you're into that kind of stuff. However, the last track I put on this mixtape, "The End," is a touching ode to prom night that samples a piano line from Antony & The Johnsons (unless my ears deceive me).<br />
<br />
So here it is [with download link in the comments], the tracklist to Macklemore - "White Privilege" (a misshapedmixtape):<br />
<br />
01 : Vipassana (ft Ryan Lewis)<br />
02 : Fallin<br />
03 : Wings (ft Ryan Lewis)<br />
04 : City Don't Sleep (ft Don-P)<br />
05 : Otherside (ft Ryan Lewis)<br />
06 : I Said Hey<br />
07 : Make That Money (ft Ryan Lewis) <br />
08 : White Privilege<br />
09 : My Oh My (ft Ryan Lewis)<br />
10 : The Magic<br />
11 : Ego<br />
12 : Hold Your Head Up (ft Xperience)<br />
13 : Can't Hold Us (ft Ray Dalton & Ryan Lewis)<br />
14 : The End (ft Ryan Lewis)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4C53W87G"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3m5qDk0MnvIcxLsG4g-zAYlT6cB5WXsRRCesN-Ycvh5qM77Erx_UiFPzIVzFWlDeP8BwHomOAIITmCm0faYw4gp3qKut1oqPjf5_YwzVdUkC0cd_IGkRQpowBsaL4aGszUiAZ0-oqBIk/s400/Macklemore.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>MC Foxtrothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317239407159409041noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1232183149497298079.post-37542960153333371742011-10-17T11:39:00.000-07:002011-11-11T08:32:48.527-08:00Deolinda - Neo-Fado (a misshapedmixtape)<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">If A<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">loe Blacc or Raphael Saadiq (two of my favorite contemporary artists) can be called neo-soul (which in actuality is not really a proper label for either), then I figure the Portuguese group Deolinda can be called neo-fado. I have been listening to Deolinda for the last couple of years after being put onto them after reading some dude's blog (where else?) and their music comes from such a soulful, heart-place (which is a BIG reason why I’ve been more and more attuned to world music in recent years… because it seems that so much American [esp. Caucasian] music comes from such a head-place – in short, it doesn’t make me FEEL much).</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Anyway, neo-fado (a made-up genre name that I just coined and, coincidentally, the name of this mixtape) is in reference to the Portuguese style of music, fado, that can be traced back to at least the 1820s according to <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fado">wikipedia</a></b>. Oh, and the word “fado” also translates to English as meaning "destiny" or "fate." However, unlike traditional fado music (which is mournful and is traditionally performed in all-black attire), Deolinda have put their own twist on it... and the stunning vocals of Ana Bacalhau don't hurt either. This is the kind of music that you can listen to a lot and never grow tired of it.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">A little backstory: <i>The band is named after the fictional character of Deolinda, a 40-year-old spinster who lives with her cats and goldfish in a Lisbon apartment and watches through her window as the world goes by. This "character" is merrily unmarried, in love and out of love, and writes her own songs by peeking through the curtains of her window, drawing inspiration from the old gramophone records that once belonged to her grandmother and by the bizarre and strange life of her neighbors.</i></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">I am job-hunting today, so I’m cutting some corners on this write-up. The fact that I can’t speak Portuguese is a good excuse also. Though Portuguese has GOT TO be the most beautiful language in the world...</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">To read more about Deolinda, I highly recommend checking out this fantastic <b><a href="http://thebluegrassspecial.com/archive/2011/may2011/bordercrossingmay2011.html">article</a></b> that was posted on The Bluegrass Special website [note: Deolinda sounds nothing like bluegrass, so sorry/happy to disappoint depending on which side of the fence you're on in that regard... but hey, everybody likes Carolina Chocolate Drops, right?]</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">My biggest task in this week's post was to attempt an English translation of one of Deolinda’s songs (working from a rough English translation that a native Portuguese speaker posted on the internet), which seemed like a good thing to do, as their song “Parva Que Sou” relates to my state of being right now. Deolinda performed “Parva Que Sou” at the beginning of 2011, and though it has not been officially released as a single, it has been a sensation in Portugal and in Europe (see youtube video <b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8lo82tXbWU">here</a></b>).</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">One would imagine that “Parva Que Sou” will appear on their third album, which will face the daunting task of trying to equal their first two records: “Canção ao Lado” (2008) and “Dois Selos e Um Carimbo” (2010). I wonder if "Parva Que Sou" may in fact mark a shift in the Deolinda-aesthetic, as its message seems to come from a younger voice and not from the mouth of a 40-year-old spinster? Maybe it is the niece of Deolinda. I am not sure. Regardless, this mixtape features tracks from those first two albums, plus a live version of “Parva Que Sou” as a bonus track.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">And here is my attempted translation “Parva Que Sou” ("What An Idiot I Am")… excuse any mistakes… like I said, I was working from an existing translation: </span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">I belong to the “without a wage” generation </span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">And I do not mind this being so</span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">What an idiot I am</span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Because things are bad and will stay so</span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">I’m lucky enough to even be an intern</span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">What an idiot I am</span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">And I keep thinking, what a stupid world</span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Where to become a slave, </span></span></i><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">one must first earn a degree</span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">I am from the “homes given to us by our parents” generation</span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">If I already have everything, why want anything more?</span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">What an idiot I am</span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">I keep putting off having a husband or children </span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">And I still have to pay off the car</span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">What an idiot I am</span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">And I keep thinking, what a stupid world</span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Where to become a slave, one must first earn a degree</span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">I am from the “why bother complaining” generation</span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">There is always somebody worse off from me on TV</span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">What an idiot I am</span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">I am from the “can’t take anymore” generation</span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">As this situation has gone on for too long</span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">And I am not an idiot</span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">As I keep thinking, what a stupid world</span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Where to become a slave, </span></span></i><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">one must first earn a degree</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">-- </span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Without further ado, here is the tracklist for Deolinda – “Neo-Fado (a misshapedmixtape)” [peep the download link in the “comments”]:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">01 : Mal Por Mal</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">02 : Fado Toninho</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">03 : Não Sei Falar De Amor</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">04 : Contado Ninguém Acredita</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">05 : Eu Tenho Um Melro</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">06 : Lisboa Não É Cidade Perfeita</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">07 : Fado Castigo</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">08 : Ai Rapaz</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">09 : Canção Ao Lado</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">10 : Garçonete Da Casa De Fado</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">11 : Clandestino</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">12 : Se Uma Onda Invertesse A Marcha</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">13 : Um Contra O Outro</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">14 : Não Tenho Mais Razões</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">15 : Passou Por Mim E Sorriu</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">16 : Sem Noção</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">17 : A Problemática Colocação De Mastro</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">18 : Ignaras Vedetas</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">19 : Quando Janto Em Restaurantes</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">20 : Alvalade E As Portas De Benfica</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">21 : Canção Da Tal Guitarra</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">22 : Fado Notário</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">23 : Parva Que Sou (Live)</span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2I5KY43T%20" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8MyN6qVWJ9X_JlBFAVZmkDUEfdayjf79IoRaapGqb1Uf5D8qdLu6CAUof9dF0YgYv7qvYNwbKfM9DrmoE7t-k6XzgzzCrbR9m0MlBAyoKEOhG6NFwyBmTW9hYg70QhiFLf2cNVCmmmxY/s400/Deolinda%25282%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></div></div>MC Foxtrothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317239407159409041noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1232183149497298079.post-57407260651211051572011-10-13T11:28:00.000-07:002011-11-01T22:59:00.991-07:00Lupe Fiasco - L.ast A.lbum S.ans E.rroneously R.ecorded S.ongs (a misshapedmixtape)<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><m:smallfrac m:val="off"> <m:dispdef> <m:lmargin m:val="0"> <m:rmargin m:val="0"> <m:defjc m:val="centerGroup"> <m:wrapindent m:val="1440"> <m:intlim m:val="subSup"> <m:narylim m:val="undOvr"> </m:narylim></m:intlim> </m:wrapindent> </m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">[</span><span style="font-size: small;">Pre-warning: this post is my shambling mess of a ramble of some loose-thinking semi-logic... and there's no download link... so buy the tracks and then re-sequence them like this (oh what fun!)... see comment below...]</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>"I remember bein' in Chicago the day Obama became president-elect. He was playin' basketball, and I was actually in the gym where he was playin'. The people I was with was shakin' hands and takin' pictures, and I was like, I can't shake his hand because I don't know what he's gonna do. It would be dishonest of me to shake his hand 'cos I don't really believe in the American system like that. So I went home, because I didn't want to go to Grant Park to be in the midst of the madness, and watched his speech on television. As soon as he said, 'We need to get our troops out of Iraq,' I was like, 'Yaaaay!' But then he said, ' … and get 'em to the real war in Afghanistan,' and I was like, 'Aw, fuck. I gotta pay for some more bombs.' That kinda pissed me off." </i></span><span style="font-size: small;">– Lupe Fiasco (quote from the March 3, 2011 issue of <i>The Guardian</i>)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">Lupe Fiasco doesn’t fuck around. He is a free thinker. He challenges us. He challenges himself. He’s a brilliant artist. I consider Lupe to be one of the greatest writers of our age (rappers are in the Norton Anthology now too, in case you didn’t realize it).</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">Then, last March I heard “Lasers” (his third album). Simply put, I was flabbergasted. His first two albums were perfect 10s for me. Not many albums of the last five years are up there for me. But then “Lasers”? This one was... um... maybe a 6... with a couple songs that flat out sucked. What the shit happened, Lupe?</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">Well, many would say that the answer to that question is simple: Atlantic Records.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>"We wanted Lasers to be a humongous record. There are so many ways of doing that. You can approach it in a very sleazy way – just throw money at it, go get a lot of the big-name artists, let them hijack it for you and just ride that wave into success. Or you can knuckle down and try to make a really great, different, classic, Kid A kid of thing, with commercial appeal and broad subject matter. The label wanted to do it the sleazy way." </i></span><span style="font-size: small;">– Lupe Fiasco (from <i>The Guardian</i>) </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">So why am I posting about this on misshapedmixtapes? After all, none of this is news to anyone who remotely follows good hip-hop (and therefore has heard ALL ABOUT Lupe’s fallout with his label on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasers_%28album%29"><b>internet</b></a>). </span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I guess the reason I’m writing about Lupe today is that on Tuesday night (this week) the whole “Lasers” saga came full circle (in my eyes).</span> <br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.bet.com/video/hiphopawards/2011/performances/hha-perf-lupe-s1.html"><b>Here</b></a></span><span style="font-size: small;"> was Lupe on stage at the BET Hip-Hop Awards performing “Words I Never Said” (a song off of what has become a commercially-successful "Lasers" album) while wearing an #OCCUPY t-shirt alongside Erykah Badu providing backing-vocals (who was concealed for most of the song behind a burka). </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><span style="font-size: small;">And you know what? It was awesome. It’s a great song. And I can’t fault his message. It rings true. And while I’m sitting on my ass watching the baseball playoffs, I’m sure that there a lot of Lupe fans (or other smart free-thinking people… maybe Animal Collective fans?) who are out and part of the #OCCUPY movement now. And this movement has a lot going for it. I think that it’s pretty neat.</span> <br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">So, in that way, the BET performance felt redemptive of what has been a strange past twelve months for Lupe. However… while watching the performance, I couldn’t help but getting a weird double-take feeling in seeing Lupe in full-on activist/protestor/bad-ass mode. After all, it was last October when the whole “petition to release the album!” movement was going on in full-force and a number of Lupe’s fans protested outside Atlantic Records' offices in New York City on October 15, 2010 (Atlantic and Lupe had reached a stand-off at this point and Atlantic was seemingly never going to release ANY of his shit). </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">I’m all for protesting and exercising our right to free speech and shit… but what did those Lupe fans end up with? A pop-rap album with SOME good shit and some songs that completely blow (Trey Songz needs to step off my favorite artists’ albums). This doesn’t even mention the song that DIDN’T make the (label’s) cut and was passed on to his label-mate B.o.B. – who made “Nothing On You” a smash hit. [sidenote: I have heard Lupe’s verses on the original, never-officially-released “Nothing On You” and they were probably the most lackluster lines that he ever wrote… so maybe it never seeing the light of day was for the best. {side-sidenote: I thought that B.o.B. actually pulled the whole “pop-rap album” off remarkably well – even though the cool-kid critics gave him <a href="http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14242-the-adventures-of-bobby-ray/"><b>SHIT</b></a> for it… though I hope that he can one day break free of Atlantic Records and can put out the kind of music that he wants to… or just keep dropping mixtapes on the side that are better than his actual albums like most rappers do these days} end side-sidenote. Wait. [re-start with side-sidebar {oh yeah, I put Lupe’s version of “Nothing On You” as a bonus track to this week’s misshapedmixtape coz it’s REALLY bizarro to listen to}.]. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">(Fuck worrying about putting periods inside or outside of brackets/parentheses?!?! I’m going to protest that!).</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">Where was I? Oh yeah, I guess I’m just thinking out loud about where this whole #OCCUPY movement fits in as its own populist movement? What expectations do we have for it? In short, what’s going to be the net gain? I don’t mean to sound cynical (a number of my friends are into the #OCCUPY movement and I respect them for that), but what are we going to end up with? </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">(I want to put a footnote here but I don’t know how to do it on blogspot. As you can tell from this post [spoiler alert] I’m attempting to equate #OCCUPY with “Lasers”… and while I’m not sure they’re perfectly synonymous to each other, I do want to cite the earlier Lupe quote that he had hoped that “Lasers” would be “a Kid A kind of thing, with commercial appeal and broad subject matter.”) {Follow-up question: how many people have listened to Kid A and even know what the message behind it is? I saw Radiohead at Bonnaroo. I would say maybe 10% if I was being generous}</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">I truly adore Lupe. He can be sage-like. I respect the fact that he didn’t shake Obama’s hand at the basketball court… and that “Words I Never Said” calls Obama out (lyric: <i>“Gaza strip was getting bombed, Obama didn’t say shit</i></span><span style="font-size: small;"><i> / </i></span><span style="font-size: small;"><i>That’s why I ain’t vote for him, next one either / I’m a part of the problem, my problem is I’m peaceful / And I believe in the people.”</i>) He’s brave. No doubt.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">That said, we need to tread carefully in these times and keep our heads on as straight as possible and our expectations in check. Coz maybe in the end, our protests will bless us with something like “Lasers”… an album that is exasperating and in the end falls short in SO MANY WAYS. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">As you can tell, I’m a pessimist. But that’s just because I used to be such a die-hard, never-flinching optimist... who springs from the grave, leaping gracefully onto my right shoulder now and screams: “Hey! In retrospect “Lasers” did have its moments of greatness and (by re-sequencing the album and cutting out the bullshit) it can be appreciated and treasured! Think globally, act loca---”…</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">So I’m going to do a misshapedmixtape on “Lasers.” </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">Shit, I BETTER do one. I’ve written enough about it already!</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">I could go into an in-depth analysis of each of the strange creatures that inhabit Lupe’s “Lasers” album as songs (Exhibit A would be the ultimate fuck-you-to-the-label-if-you-listen-carefully-to-the-lyrics Modest Mouse sampling song that Atlantic Records forced on him and Exhibit B would be the really grating “State Run Radio” that I hate SO MUCH but I had to put on this mixtape because it’s basically the theme song of this post).</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">However, in the end, all of that would serve as side-chatter to my main concern of living in this modern age as an artist/human being. Lupe was quoted saying that the process of “Lasers” made him suicidal. As an artist, he was UNABLE to compromise. But he was locked into a contract. And we, for better or worse, are locked in the American system and/or any number of other disconcerting big intangible thingies.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">I’ll stop my post here… because I’m not exactly sure where I’m going with this… Instead, I’ll let Lupe finish this off:</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>“Solzhenitsyn put it very quaintly. Basically, there's a duality in everything – there's two sides to every story. Sometimes they complement each other, and sometimes they conflict… I can be Picasso if you want that, and I could do Guernica for you all day. Or, if you want me to paint your dog, I'll come to your house and paint your dog. Once I know my role, I'll play my role to a T. If I'm supposed to be the slave artist, chained to the desk, painting poodles, so be it. Make me rich! You'll get rich in the process as well. But I'm gonna let the world know I'm painting poodles."</i></span><span style="font-size: small;"> – Lupe Fiasco (from <i>The Guardian</i>)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><span style="font-size: small;">Here's the tracklist for Lupe Fiasco - "L.ast A.lbum S.ans E.rroneously R.ecorded S.ongs (a misshapedmixtape)" [you can check for a few added notes -- I obviously added lots of songs that weren't on the original album -- in "comments"... but no link]:</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">01 : Letting Go (ft Sarah Green)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">02 : Words I Never Said (ft Skylar Grey)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">03 : Beautiful Lasers (2Ways) (ft MDMA)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">04 : Break The Chain (ft Eric Turner & Sway)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">05 : All Black Everything</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">06 : If You Want To (ft Travis Barker & Pharrell Williams)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">07 : State Run Radio (ft Matt Mahaffey)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">08 : The Show Goes On</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">09 : Till I Get There</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">10 : I'm Beaming</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">11 : Shining Down (ft Matthew Santos)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">12 : Never Forget You (ft John Legend)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">13 : We Can Do It Now (ft Common & Jennifer Hudson)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">14 : Resurrection (ft Kenna)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">15 : Don't Look Down (ft Mos Def, Kanye West & Big Sean)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">16 : Don't Stop! (ft Pharrell Williams & Kanye West)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">17 : The National Anthem (ft Thom Yorke)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">18 : Us Placers (ft Pharrell Williams, Kanye West & Thom Yorke)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">19 : Building Minds Faster</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">20 : Tightrope Remix (ft Janelle Monáe & B.o.B)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;">21 : Nothin On You (ft Bruno Mars & B.o.B)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGmC-1YkUuBbyOVyqO3sdja2ejyBNnBl3V9Zq2reF-DKnNi2NVcr5Isc344P8rC2SAC1st3asey2xAe3RxMjLLYN3BPVlamzDRg3cBIf5Uvnt6rBtMBpW6F2Xjk6tEywj0zIboQv9wPbQ/s400/101111-music-lupe-fiasco-occupy-wall-street.jpg" width="400" /></span></div></div>MC Foxtrothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317239407159409041noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1232183149497298079.post-66659621634194894772011-10-05T17:41:00.000-07:002011-11-11T12:36:23.798-08:00Nneka - From Africa 2 U (a misshapedmixtape)<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><m:smallfrac m:val="off"> <m:dispdef> <m:lmargin m:val="0"> <m:rmargin m:val="0"> <m:defjc m:val="centerGroup"> <m:wrapindent m:val="1440"> <m:intlim m:val="subSup"> <m:narylim m:val="undOvr"> </m:narylim></m:intlim> </m:wrapindent> </m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">I know that I am two days late on this one. But trust me... it's worth the wait.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">N</span><span style="font-size: small;">nek</span><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">a is a Nigerian/German artist that I'm not going to classify. Coz labels are usually lame and sell things short. And I'd probably call her post-post-colonial or something retarded like that. So I won't.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Anyway, she is GREAT. If you like female artists such as Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu or Mystic (or, to name some newer artists: Janelle Monáe, Dessa or Santogold) then be prepared to fall in love. All six of those artists are among my top-favorites... and Nneka is pushing her way up to join them.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">So yeah, that's my pitch. Download this shit already.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">A bit more context, Nneka released her latest album, "Soul Is Heavy,” last week in Europe (not yet in the US though). "Soul Is Heavy" follows the two excellent albums that Nneka already released ("Victim of Truth" in 2005 and "No Longer at Ease" in 2008). Unfortunately, neither of those albums ever officially crossed the Atlantic, but there was a 2010 release ("Concrete Jungle") that packaged some of her best songs together on an album for an American audience.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">This mix features my personal favorites culled from all three Euro-released albums (including her latest... plus a J.Period remix and two other songs off of an EP) painstakingly sequenced to feel like a real album. </span><span style="font-size: small;">I probably spent TOO MUCH time on this tape... but I think that in the end it actually flows together better than "Concrete Jungle" did (in general, Nneka does cover a lot of ground and different styles in her releases, so it was a good challenge).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">I hope it serves as a proper introduction to Nneka... though I did omit some fantastic songs ("Come With Me", "The Uncomfortable Truth", "Beautiful" and the album version mixes of "Heartbeat" and "Walking" are just some that come to mind), in part because I wanted to encourage you to actually BUY Nneka's stuff (that you can find). These are the types of artists that we need to support (especially in the USA).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">An added bonus is that this mix has a manageable length that can fit onto one CD (if that's still the way you prefer to digest yr musical vitamins... actually I try to shoot for sub-80 minutes most weeks).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">You'll find the download link in the "comments" section... and here's the track list below:<br />
<br />
Nneka - "From Africa 2 U (a misshapedmixtape)"<br />
<br />
01 : Africans [Victim Of Truth]<br />
02 : Camouflage</span><span style="font-size: small;"> [Soul Is Heavy]</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> 03 : Focus </span><span style="font-size: small;"> [No Longer At Ease]</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> 04 : Showin Love</span><span style="font-size: small;"> [Victim Of Truth]</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> 05 : Heartbeat (Remix ft Nas)</span><span style="font-size: small;"> [Heartbeat EP]</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> 06 : God Of Mercy</span><span style="font-size: small;"> [Victim Of Truth]</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> 07 : Sleep (ft Ms Dynamite)</span><span style="font-size: small;"> [Soul Is Heavy]</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> 08 : Walking (J.Period Remix ft Jay Electronica)</span><span style="font-size: small;"> [The Madness]</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> 09 : Soul Is Heavy</span><span style="font-size: small;"> [Soul Is Heavy]</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> 10 : Suffri</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> [No Longer At Ease]</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> 11 : God Knows Why (ft Black Thought)</span><span style="font-size: small;"> [Soul Is Heavy]</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> 12 : Changes</span><span style="font-size: small;"> [Victim Of Truth]</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> 13 : Mind vs. Heart</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> [No Longer At Ease]</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> 14 : Stay</span><span style="font-size: small;"> [Soul Is Heavy]</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> 15 : Kangpe (ft Wesley Williams)</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> [No Longer At Ease]</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> 16 : Burning Bush</span><span style="font-size: small;"> [Victim Of Truth]</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> 17 : Shining Star</span><span style="font-size: small;"> [Soul Is Heavy]</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> 18 : From Africa 2 U</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> [No Longer At Ease]</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> 19 : V.I.P.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> [Soul Is Heavy]</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> 20 : Heartbeat (Chase & Status Guitar Mix) [Heartbeat EP]</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZB0KOHTA"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR0AKx7v4hjIvpIe3rauWXJJsDjYfvahkdsAI5Xmi1TtPGM7cTPnyjWoETK3WVNq9Ad2D3nFgQrmgYXJo2vD3NSGOHG4O9CQoDPUSxJT1zRPG9J4y2HjoMyU-sMzFwKZXli6njY4bhSzg/s400/nneka_1.gif" width="400" /></a></span></div></div>MC Foxtrothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317239407159409041noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1232183149497298079.post-81889032546766832712011-09-26T13:02:00.000-07:002011-10-05T18:13:20.689-07:00J. Cole – Cole’s Mined (a misshapedmixtape)<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><m:smallfrac m:val="off"> <m:dispdef> <m:lmargin m:val="0"> <m:rmargin m:val="0"> <m:defjc m:val="centerGroup"> <m:wrapindent m:val="1440"> <m:intlim m:val="subSup"> <m:narylim m:val="undOvr"> </m:narylim></m:intlim> </m:wrapindent> </m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></div><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I’m listening to a preview of J. Cole’s debut album, “Cole World: A Sideline Story,” as I write this post up. It will be officially released tomorrow (September 27) through Roc Nation, and I have been looking forward to it for a long time. But now that I’m listening to it, an album that some claimed would be a 2011 “Illmatic” (um… talk about setting someone up for disappointment), it frankly isn’t as great as I was hoping it would be (not that I thought it would touch “Illmatic”… I was thinking maybe “College Dropout”). I need to listen to it more, but my impression at this point is that “A Sideline Story” is a very, very good album… with tracks that range from phenomenal (“Lost Ones”) to excellent (2/4/11/13/14/15) to… ummm… a song with Trey Songz and another with Drake. Like most albums it’s a mixed bag… (I think that someday I really ought to post a list of recent albums that ARE solid the whole way through because there HAVE been some great ones lately).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So yes… before I introduce my “Cole’s Mined” mixtape and laud Cole’s profound skills as a producer and lyricist, I feel a need to place a little asterisk here from the get-go. </span><br />
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">*here </span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />
</span></div><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Because, in all honesty, I meant this mixtape to be a promotion for people to go out tomorrow and grab what I anticipated would be the best overground hip-hop album of the year. Coz yeah, people talking about how mainstream hip-hop sucks (ok, most of it does) has been really pissing me off lately, and I wanted to see something that was being marketed AND was smart. Anyway, I’m losing some momentum on this push as we speak... and even as the album is getting much better from track 10 on, I didn’t want to extol something before listening to it first (I may have made that mistake with the Beck-produced Malkmus album that I was so amped up for earlier... I mean, it was A-okay, but did not end up being a great album either… sorry!).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Regardless, I’m thinking that you, my dearly discerning readers, should listen to this ridiculously good mixtape instead of buying the album (for the time being), as it contains what I consider to be the crème de la crème of free music that J. Cole has released online (through mixtapes) for the past four years. Then, once you fall in love with J. Cole’s genius, you can go out and support him and his music by buying his official album (with the realization that it may not live up to the hype). Because shit, listening to kick-ass track after kick-ass track on this svelte misshapedmixtape, you’d be crazy to not get really, really sma’xcited about what this young Fayetteville, North Carolina native will be bringing to the music industry for years to come. (One note: I was tempted to make this mix a double LP but decided to pick the finest -- like I civet who chooses carefully and then poops out only the best coffee beans -- so that we could stay under the 80 minute mark).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Okay now, where to start? First and foremost, I think that it’s important to note that J. Cole is both a rapper and a beatsmith… and that, in my opinion, he’s equally adept at both. For those that have been following this blog from the beginning, J. Cole actually contributed two beats that are on the XV mixtape (“Smallville” and “Watch Me Go”). As an MC, he showed tremendous potential and hunger when he dropped his first mixtape, “The Come Up Mixtape Vol. 1,” back in 2007. And he’s only gotten better since then (and signing with Jay-Z surely helped). I especially love his storytelling ability (check the heartbreaking “Killers”; identity-searching as a teen in “I Got It”; or the self-deprecating love-song “Dreams”).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I don’t want to put up any of his “quotable” lyrics here because I think that when J. Cole is working at his peak, he is able to produce poetry of the highest level. So please, enjoy this latest misshapedmixtape installment. And yeah, then maybe you can even go and grab the album. If you want.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span><br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">J. Cole – “Cole’s Mined (a misshapedmixtape)" tracklist below (check for download link in “comments”):</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">01 : Too Deep For The Intro [Friday Night Lights]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">02 : Premeditated Murder [Friday Night Lights]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">03 : Killers [The Last Stretch]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">04 : Losing My Balance [The Warm Up]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">05 : Leave Me Alone [Roc Nation 2011]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">06 : Blow Up [Friday Night Lights]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">07 : Playground [For The Ville]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">08 : Before I'm Gone [Friday Night Lights]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">09 : World Is Empty [The Warm Up]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">10 : Dolla & A Dream [The Come Up]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">11 : Shook Ones (Freestyle) [For The Ville]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">12 : The Badness (ft Omen) [The Warm Up]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">13 : Cost Me A Lot [Friday Night Lights]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">14 : Dead Presidents II [The Warm Up]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">15 : We On [The Last Stretch]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">16 : Dreams [The Warm Up]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">17 : Enchanted (ft Omen) [Friday Night Lights]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">18 : Show Me Something [For The Ville]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">19 : I Got It [For The Ville]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">20 : Lil Ghetto Nigga [The Come Up]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">21 : The Last Stretch [The Last Stretch]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">22 : Farewell [Friday Night Lights]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.megaupload.com/?d=F1ZMSZOK"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrt4aQeQAPQ9kPbfZX5XFB7sA9rt5Te7HmaFCBCpXkgfZtlR7ukzDHjFm_apgwn8Af5GDPX0zb70JfXOydPmtvdvb12yl9YQsR5isucmgwjN9_uXXsnfV6TZpb3VX40LNHxLO1v8WsEIo/s1600/J.-Cole-235x300.jpg" /></a></div>MC Foxtrothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317239407159409041noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1232183149497298079.post-13481960124379769922011-09-19T22:35:00.000-07:002011-11-11T12:33:25.806-08:00Belle & Sebastian - Another Sunny Day (a misshapedmixtape)<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><m:smallfrac m:val="off"> <m:dispdef> <m:lmargin m:val="0"> <m:rmargin m:val="0"> <m:defjc m:val="centerGroup"> <m:wrapindent m:val="1440"> <m:intlim m:val="subSup"> <m:narylim m:val="undOvr"> </m:narylim></m:intlim> </m:wrapindent> </m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It’s September. It’s 70 degrees out. Baseball playoffs are coming soon. I’m about to head to the dog beach. I’m feeling pretty happy that “Mad Men” won the Emmy for best drama yet again. In short, in my universe it feels like perfect Belle & Sebastian weather.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I’ve had a soft-spot for B&S for a long time. They are simply oh-so-good. Every time a song of theirs pops up as part of a movie soundtrack, I get chills. And goodness me, they have such a killer catalog of songs. Unless you never pretended to not be a hipster, you probably love Belle & Sebastian as well. Damn hipsters.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But, if I’m perfectly honest, they only have one album that I completely love (“If You’re Feeling Sinister”). The other ones just don’t quite work as ALBUMS for me. But that’s just me. Please convince me of my wrongness and drop a comment. I would like being proven wrong. But I’m wrong about as often as Shanna Zolman misses a free throw (which was 4.3% of the time during her record-setting season at Tennessee). </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So here’s a collection of my personal favorites from the Glasgow chamber-pop dang-it’s-hot rockers. To be honest, I haven’t checked out their latest stuff... so this just spans their big six of albums between 1996-2006.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Here’s the tracklist for "Belle & Sebastian - Another Sunny Day (a misshapedmixtape)" [download link in "comments"]:</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">01 : Women's Realm [Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant]</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">02 : She's Losing It [Tigermilk]</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">03 : Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying [If You're Feeling Sinister]</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">04 : If You're Feeling Sinister [If You're Feeling Sinister]</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">05 : I Fought In A War [Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant]</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">06 : Lord Anthony [Dear Catastrophe Waitress]</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">07 : Expectations [Tigermilk]</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">08 : Dress Up In You [The Life Pursuit]</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">09 : The Stars Of Track And Field [If You're Feeling Sinister]</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">10 : Sleep The Clock Around [The Boy With The Arab Strap]</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">11 : Don't Leave The Light On Baby [Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk...]</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">12 : The State I Am In [Tigermilk]</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">13 : Like Dylan In The Movies [If You're Feeling Sinister]</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">14 : It Could Have Been A Brilliant Career [The Boy With The Arab Strap]</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">15 : You're Just A Baby [Tigermilk]</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">16 : Another Sunny Day [The Life Pursuit]</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">17 : Piazza, New York Catcher [Dear Catastrophe Waitress]</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">18 : The Chalet Lines [Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant]</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">19 : The Fox In The Snow [If You're Feeling Sinister]</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">20 : Is It Wicked Not To Care? [The Boy With The Arab Strap]</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DNM9PYU0"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvlK8TgqycvZF1VoJewgaUguT6m0VlHrNjiSkrfEY0r0ADlAa4AV0ExkXVroGBECzXTNC1FloNkcJ-dtIOQVqll3Lsfdp5mt6Zt1wlMLwCoKIR0OQBrm5nUle3HpkagxuSAVACfSdpHmE/s320/Belle+%2526+Sebastian+-+Another+Sunny+Day+%2528a+misshapedmixtape%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>MC Foxtrothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317239407159409041noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1232183149497298079.post-70269499457874531142011-09-12T16:06:00.000-07:002011-11-11T12:32:22.632-08:00KiD CuDi - CuDi's UnCommon '08-'09 (a misshapedmixtape)<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><m:smallfrac m:val="off"> <m:dispdef> <m:lmargin m:val="0"> <m:rmargin m:val="0"> <m:defjc m:val="centerGroup"> <m:wrapindent m:val="1440"> <m:intlim m:val="subSup"> <m:narylim m:val="undOvr"> </m:narylim></m:intlim> </m:wrapindent> </m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sometimes I can be so stupid with music. Exactly two years ago (9/12/09) when Kid Cudi released his debut album, “Man on the Moon: The End of Day,” I completely wrote it off. No, I did more than that. I thought that it sucked and I went out of my way to tell people that they should NOT listen to Kid Cudi... this after casually listening to the album all the way through (once)… and seeing the underwhelming “Make Her Say” video (more than once). </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">It didn’t help that “Make Her Say” </span><span style="font-size: small;">sampled Lady Gaga, </span><span style="font-size: small;">was cutesily degrading towards women (but not Lady Gaga), had lyrics that seemed written for 12-year-olds, and that Cudi’s verse was the worst part of an overall bad song (though Common and Kanye were also lame on it). All of these things together instilled a confident smugness within me that Cudi undoubtedly sucked -- which got me to the point where I shouted out “Man, you guys sure sound a lot better without Kid Cudi overtop your music!” at a rad Ratatat show. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Okay, maybe I only shouted that in my head. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But if I was off my medication it would’ve happened out loud. And that’s beside the point because I DID shout it in my head. So there. Zing! Anyway... did I mention that I can be stupid about music sometimes? Coz yeah, I was wrong about Kid Cudi. Real wrong.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">To defend my original snap judgment, Kid Cudi isn’t a great rapper. And he’s a worse singer than rapper (and he sings a lot). And “Make Her Say” was the worst song on the album – not because of the other faults that I mentioned (or because it was mainstream radio fodder) – but more importantly because it does not fit with the theme of the rest of the album (and now I promise not to talk about that song for the rest of this post even though I listened to it the other day for the first time in a long time and it made me chuckle and I thought for a second that it wasn’t half-bad). </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">However, be that (i.e. all these negative things that I’m blathering on about) as it may, Kid Cudi is a brilliant songwriter. I mean, brilliant. He’s also easily one of the most original artists putting out music (regardless of genre) these days and has the balls to do whatever he wants (supposedly a rock album will be his next release). So yeah, I owe Kid Cudi an apology… Dear Kid Cudi, your debut album was actually (almost) perfect and you were releasing straight fire in 2008 & 2009 and you are a nice guy and it’s pretty cool that you recruited Ratatat to be on your album and I like that you’re from the Midwest and your (other) music videos are freaking cool. In summary, your music is good. I’m sorry.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But back to the now-you-know-it’s-actually-awesome “Man on the Moon: The End of Day” debut album. There is one unfortunately bad thing about it that remains. Alas, motherfucking Common narrates throughout the album (arghhh!) effectively destroying the flow of a masterpiece while contributing completely uninteresting debonair-voiced commentary that has made me hit the >> button on ITunes WAY too often. Why did you have to do that Common? Why?</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Actually, allow me to rant (even more), Common had a terrible 2008 & 2009. Not only did he release the ONLY bad album of his career (actually “Universal Mind Control” teeters past bad and into god-awful territory), he also graced the silver screen as an actor in TWO ultra-shit movies: “Street Kings” and “Terminator Salvation.” I am a big Common fan (with an unhealthy affinity for the weirdness on “Electric Circus”), so I am not just being mean. I expect that when Common’s new album comes out later this year, it will be good. I might even go to see him in concert for a third time. But I will NEVER forgive him for ruining such a beautiful album.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But wait, what happens if you cut out ALL of the Common narration from “Man on the Moon: The End of Day” and take out a few other throwaway tracks (including the song that is not to be named again) and ADD some virtuohsick songs off the “A Kid Named Cudi” mixtape from 2008? Here it is: “CuDi's UnCommon '08-'09 (a misshapedmixtape).”</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In conclusion, if you’re familiar with Cudi’s debut album you will see that I did NOT tinker much with the track order/flow of it for this mix. He DEFINITELY knew what he was doing when he sequenced that album together in what he classifies as “Five Acts.” However, I put in “Man On The Moon” (off the mixtape) as track one (prelude to Act I) and then took some creative liberties after the end of the third act to (in my opinion) improve the final two acts. I’m really proud of this one, so please share it with your friends and loved ones, and bring some more traffic to the misshapedmixtapes website. We had tons of hits on the launch (granted, that XV mix is tough to top), but this is all good ass shit. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">I’m sadly aware that this music is truly “misshaped” – coz I wish I could give each of you a Maxell 110-minute double-sided cassette instead of a download link – but these mixes take as much time and love to craft as back when I was using the ol’ stop-start on my parents’ stereo. So enjoy it. And I’m sorry, but my tape recorder is broken now (sad face).</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
Tracklist below (check for download link in "comments):</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">01 : Man On The Moon</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">02 : In My Dreams (Cudder Anthem)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">03 : Soundtrack 2 My Life</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">04 : Simple As...</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">05 : Solo Dolo (Nightmare)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">06 : Heart Of A Lion (Kid Cudi Theme Music)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">07 : My World (ft Billy Craven)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">08 : Day N Nite (Nightmare)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">09 : Sky Might Fall</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">10 : Enter Galactic (Love Connection Part I)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">11 : 50 Ways To Make A Record</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">12 : Alive (Nightmare) (ft Ratatat)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">13 : Cudi Zone</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">14 : Pursuit Of Happiness (Nightmare) (ft MGMT & Ratatat)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">15 : The Prayer</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">16 : Embrace The Martian</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">17 : Up Up & Away</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">18 : Heaven At Nite</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.megaupload.com/?d=I0TWYE7R"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAFiSqF6ToYRv0_q_TRsy64C-VYKEtKplUAgvclRn0MI422jtkF8cgWxmYv_VvGx3D1Daw4Vheks6RWsue7PZUb9eOoac94qHZoPMjVDg4-IIof_YmSOd5SKnnqeCV2MI1soZqJayj2lM/s320/KiD+CuDi+-+CuDi%2527s+UnCommon+%252708-%252709+%2528a+misshapedmixtape%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>MC Foxtrothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317239407159409041noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1232183149497298079.post-65183614470595915152011-09-05T21:46:00.000-07:002011-11-11T12:30:53.513-08:00Sparklehorse (a pair of misshapedmixtapes)<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><m:smallfrac m:val="off"> <m:dispdef> <m:lmargin m:val="0"> <m:rmargin m:val="0"> <m:defjc m:val="centerGroup"> <m:wrapindent m:val="1440"> <m:intlim m:val="subSup"> <m:narylim m:val="undOvr">When Mark Linkous died a year-and-a-half ago (taking his own life), a truly great artist was lost -- and he was lost pretty quietly too. I’ve recently talked to a number of people that have “heard of” Sparklehorse but never “heard them,” which is a damn shame. As for me, I probably would’ve been in the same boat except that I saw Linkous open for Tortoise at the Metro about 8 years ago (one of the most unique concert pairings that I’ve experienced). I loved his set from that show and the whole “It’s A Wonderful Life” album (minus the Tom Waits song). But then I lost track of Sparklehorse (probably as a result of listening to 95% hip-hop for a stretch there) and didn’t come back to Linkous until my good friend Ben re-introduced me to his stuff a few years ago. I’m so glad that he did. </m:narylim></m:intlim></m:wrapindent></m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
I won’t spend too many words attempting to describe his music (achingly delicate?). I have been listening to a lot of it over the past couple of years and it locks perfectly into a particular mindspace of my own. It is what it is. It’s good.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I made two mixes. The first (“Sick Of Goodbyes”) is a short one (38 minutes) that covers more of the rocking ground. It’s a good introduction to Sparklehorse. If you liked alt rock in the 90’s, you’ll like this.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The second one (“It’s A Sad & Beautiful World”) is the one that I prefer. I guess you could call it chill mood music (you can play it while napping!) but I hope that doesn't sell it short. I made this particular mix awhile ago (then tweaked it a bit) and have listened to it more than any other album of the last five years (except for Eluvium’s “Copia”). And yeah, I usually don’t listen to one thing over-and-over-again… unlike certain former roommates that I’ve had.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">One note: the songs on these mixes are Sparklehorse songs… so there’s nothing from the collaborations with Fennesz or Danger Mouse/David Lynch. Also, please please go and buy an album if you like this stuff. It’ll be something that sticks with you. I will say that one reason I do like absorbing my Sparklehorse in mixtape form is that the albums sometimes veer into too many sonic territories for my personal liking. And yeah, at least one or two abrasive noise-experiments tend to pop-up on each Sparklehorse album proper… and those are rad for like a listen or two, but then end up being tracks (or ends of songs) that I skip. </div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This week, September 9th, would have been Linkous' 49th birthday. Listen to his cover of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” (on the second mix). That sums up what I’d most want to say.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Here are the track lists for the two tapes (download link for both together is in "comments"):</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Sparklehorse - Sick Of Goodbyes (a mishapedmixtape)</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">01 : Piano Fire</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">02 : Sick Of Goodbyes</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">03 : Hey, Joe</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">04 : Maria's Little Elbows</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">05 : Hundreds Of Sparrows</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">06 : Don't Take My Sunshine Away</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">07 : Mountains</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">08 : Knives Of Summertime</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">09 : Comfort Me</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">10 : Chest Full Of Dying Hawks</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">11 : Saturday</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Sparklehorse – It’s A Sad & Beautiful World (a mishapedmixtape)</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">01 : Homecoming Queen</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">02 : Spirit Ditch</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">03 : Heart Of Darkness</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">04 : Sad & Beautiful World</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">05 : Painbirds</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">06 : Saint Mary</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">07 : Sunshine</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">08 : Come On In</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">09 : All Night Home</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">10 : Box Of Stars, Pt. 2</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">11 : Junebug</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">12 : It's A Wonderful Life</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">13 : Gold Day</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">14 : Sea Of Teeth</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">15 : Apple Bed</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">16 : Eyepennies</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">17 : More Yellow Birds</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">18 : Little Fat Baby</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">19 : Morning Hollow</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">20 : Getting It Wrong</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">21 : Shade And Honey</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">22 : See The Light</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">23 : Return To Me</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">24 : Some Sweet Day</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">25 : Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd cover)</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">26 : Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain (aka Maxine)</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9GNWHY0X"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUT2GgusII0jFjlk4UpWnD-yptwSnVauOD_DPaNqTo_wsRypxHkf4C1lITxo8Z5uq4Pf3m-spn8UIuX7rwkZpMK9ptPcQTmSmyH0xQcwL_6DE4IpsakbYAZywITvhJvI-FYENNA53Cm5M/s1600/mark-linkous-sparklehorse.jpg" /></a></div>MC Foxtrothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317239407159409041noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1232183149497298079.post-88050863805288506502011-08-29T00:41:00.000-07:002011-11-11T12:26:47.318-08:00Danny Brown - XXX rEProduced (a misshapedmixtape)<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><m:smallfrac m:val="off"> <m:dispdef> <m:lmargin m:val="0"> <m:rmargin m:val="0"> <m:defjc m:val="centerGroup"> <m:wrapindent m:val="1440"> <m:intlim m:val="subSup"> <m:narylim m:val="undOvr">Danny Brown is dope. Filthy dope.</m:narylim></m:intlim></m:wrapindent></m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">He also perfectly fits my criteria for making a certain kind of misshapedmixtape magic. Coz man, with just a little tweaking of his latest album, “XXX” (cutting out some excess / re-sequencing), you’ve got a flat-out classic.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">So yeah, Danny Brown will be the first of my “rEProduced” misshapedmixtapes. See what I did there? I used capital letters in the middle to imply that it’s gonna be an EP (length). I’m meta-lame. And I used my recycle bin liberally in making this mixtape (but not enough when typing this post), so you’re left with a lean 32 minutes of buttery hotness. Yeah, your fingers might get sticky. But it’s nasty goodness.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">So, um… it’s hard for me to draw comparisons between Danny Brown and another artist. He often raps in a shrill super-high-pitched voice, makes associations between tropical fruit skittles and his manpiece, does a lot of drugs (and raps about that), and then will go on another level and tackle a subject like hustling by collecting (ahem… stealing) scrap metal. And he’s funny as hell. So yeah, instead of comparing him to an individual, I’m going to draw a parallel between him and a classic group: The Pharcyde.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">That’s high praise for a comparison (and no, I’m not placing them side-by-side just because two of Pharcyde’s MCs [Slimkid & Imani] have weird high-pitched voices too). Anyway, what I mean is that Pharcyde is elite company. Coz yeah, they’re like ridiculously ridiculous (How ridiculous? Um… they ripped the stage WAY harder than A Tribe Called Quest at 2008’s Rock The Bells show in my ears). But that’s another tangent. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The main point is that you can’t get any more “left field awesome” circa early-to-mid-nineties than The Pharcyde… unless you cast yr sights north to the Bay Area at that time (Barry Bonds [pre-steroids]… or Del... if we’re still talking about hip-hop). </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">What was I talking about? Oh yeah, to preface all this silliness you should listen to Pharcyde’s song <b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBO9-RqsmsQ">“Oh Shit.”</a></b> Coz that song, in three parts, pretty well sums up Danny Brown’s latest album.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Got it? Done. Okay, now here’s a mini-review of Danny Brown’s “XXX,” the follow-up to last year’s “The Hybrid,” in the form of a GRE cheat sheet: </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Exhibit 1A… First third : “XXX” :: First verse : “Oh Shit”</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="line" style="font-size: small;"><i>SLIMKID: </i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="line" style="font-size: small;"><i>Like a kill thriller driller tiller out with the miller brew</i></span><span style="font-size: small;"><i> <br />
<span class="line">Filler up, took it 'til the damn Dutch puked</span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The wordplay throughout “XXX” is special. Free-associative, fun and often triggering “a pause and go back 10 seconds” reflex to double-check if Mr. Danny actually just said that which I think he might have said… and how the shit did he end up there? The title track (album opener) is plain silly. And yeah, from there it keeps going. And a lot of the songs are about substance abuse too. Not “miller brew” so much as… um… everything else.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Exhibit 2X… Middle third : “XXX” :: Second verse : “Oh Shit”</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="line" style="font-size: small;"><i>IMANI:</i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="line" style="font-size: small;"><i>Imani and your mom sittin' in a tree, </i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="line" style="font-size: small;"><i>K I S S I N G</i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I have to admit, the second verse of “Oh Shit” always makes me squirm a bit. Imani's lyric (above) segue ways right into some major filf about mom love (Samberg and Timberlake didn’t go NEARLY this far on their SNL song). Coincidentally, the buttermilk raunchyness of “XXX” became harder for me to stomach as it ratcheted up in the middle third (especially upon multiple listens). So yeah (spoiler alert), for the sake of my rEProduced mix I scrapped a lot of the middle third. But YOU should listen to the whole “XXX” album after you spin my take on it (Danny Brown’s giving it away for free anyway), and there’s at least one gem of a line on each track that I cut.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Exhibit 3F… Final third : “XXX” :: Third verse : “Oh Shit”</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="line" style="font-size: small;"><i>FATLIP:</i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="line" style="font-size: small;"><i>Rollin' in a purple Samurai Suzuki</i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="line" style="font-size: small;"><i>Dookie braids</i></span><span style="font-size: small;"><i> w<span class="line">as an aid to her sex appeal</span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ok. So 13 tracks into his 19 track odyssey Danny hits the patch where he abandons his helium squeekies and starts rapping in a vulnerable everyman voice. He gets poignant. And focused. And dips into str8 storytelling mode. He’s at his best (Pharcyde’s best = Fatlip). He talks about how substance abuse is in his “DNA.” It’s really, really good stuff. So yeah, just when I had gotten dangerously close to OD-ing on his over-the-toppedness, he brought it back to an organic heart place. The last seven tracks are all dope. Though he doesn't hook up with a transvestite in any of those songs (like Fatlip).</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So here is, “Danny Brown - XXX rEProduced (a mishapedmixtape)” [check for download link in comments… and the original “XXX” track number is listed below in parentheses]:</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">01 : XXX (1)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">02 : Die Like A Rockstar (2)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">03 : Pac Blood (3)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">04 : Radio Song (4)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">05 : Outer Space (11)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">06 : 30 (19)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">07 : Scrap Or Die (18)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">08 : DNA (13)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">09 : Nosebleeds (14)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">10 : Party All The Time (15)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">11 : EWNESW (16)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">12 : Fields (17) </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3AXISARW"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC5taXTzd4cnvApmjCoftG00W4qdzsLHY4WWSqHTcvz4Xwim9bB8Of5jsoG6FfaCd3XjG7EPqFMMvNs9HoxtKrzbbpKvkDKDsTtOvdmdZIzuJZoVfc-f2WBxW83SV7-WyonLUSKXm1OWU/s320/danny.jpg" width="212" /></a></span></div>MC Foxtrothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317239407159409041noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1232183149497298079.post-27823825382306290512011-08-22T01:45:00.000-07:002011-11-11T12:28:05.665-08:00Stephen Malkmus - Fractions & Feelings (a misshapedmixtape)<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I love Stephen Malkmus.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So yeah, since he is dropping a new album tomorrow (Beck produced it!), I figured that it would be proper to bestow some Malk-magic upon ya'll.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Now I'm the first to admit that Malkman's solo career has had its ups and downs. But unlike other Pavement-heads who stopped listening to his music post-"Wowee Zowee" (coz Pavement stopped being "a band" after that -- [interjection] for the record, I absolutely LOVE "Brighten The Corners"... and will bite anyone's elbow who says that it's lame), I have actually been keeping up with the S&M's 21st century.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And actually, it's been pretty dope.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This mixtape is representative of S'malkmus's four solo abums BEFORE the album that drops tomorrow (that everyone should just up and buy ASAP). If you're not convinced, I think that if you give this tape a few spins you WILL want to buy it :)</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I've run out of cool nicknames for the former leading man of Pavement (and it's, what, 3:43 A.M.!), so I'll stop my rambling now.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Here's the tape (link in "comments"):</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">01 : Pencil Rot [Face The Truth]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">02 : Jo Jo's Jacket [Stephen Malkmus]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">03 : Gardenia [Real Emotional Trash]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">04 : Craw Song [Pig Lib]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">05 : Malediction [Face The Truth]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">06 : Phantasies [Stephen Malkmus]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">07 : We Can't Help You [Real Emotional Trash]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">08 : Baby C'mon [Face The Truth]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">09 : Animal Midnight [Pig Lib]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">10 : Kindling For The Master [Face The Truth]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">11 : Out Of Reaches [Real Emotional Trash]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">12 : Ramp Of Death [Pig Lib]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">13 : Freeze The Saints [Face The Truth]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">14 : Church On White [Stephen Malkmus]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">15 : Fractions And Feelings [Pig Lib EP]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">16 : Loud Cloud Crowd [Face The Truth]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">17 : Baltimore [Real Emotional Trash]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">18 : It Kills [Face The Truth]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">19 : Sheets [Pig Lib]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">20 : Wicked Wanda [Real Emotional Trash]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">21 : Black Book [Stephen Malkmus]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ETS3O0HV"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAwiDZFGvzjOjbVu_yXi4itpb-A2LY58pQsw1_A2yieFALWZuurtgQT1m5S_l4KTNvuyNz5QreTZ27kmVY1S30hJ73v1sJVoUBZ26fXNvG3pXAvAqqepOd3FUEZ-_QB04TMt74J1Du_WM/s1600/Stephen+Malkmus+-+Fractions+%2526+Feelings+%2528a+mishapedmixtape%2529+-+200x200.jpg" /></a></span></div>MC Foxtrothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317239407159409041noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1232183149497298079.post-89530105869068974732011-08-15T15:07:00.000-07:002011-12-14T15:54:31.478-08:00XV - 2XLP (a misshapedmixtape)<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">For anyone that hasn't heard of the rapper XV yet... well... you're about to.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
XV is a ridiculously gifted lyricist who has released a string of excellent mixtapes. His most recent mixtape, "Zero Heroes," blew me away -- especially the track "Pictures On My Wall." Hopefully when he drops his official album through Warner Brothers (someday), it won't disappoint and it'll fall more on the Kendrick Lamar major-label-debut end of the spectrum than on the Wale side.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Anyway... I dug through seven of XV's best mixtapes (and his personal website) to serve up this fantastic collection of songs. The mixtape kept building and building... and ended up being double LP length (nearly two-and-a-half hours long). Personally, I don't think there's any filler on this. It's all essential listening. And nice beats to match.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Even diehard XV fans will find pleasant surprises on this mix, including never-before-released NoDJ/tagless versions of four songs from his "Everybody's Nobody" tape: "Blinded," "Me, You," "Everybody's Nobody" and "Vizzy, Vizzy, Vizzy." How did I manage to get those on here? Well... I'm not going to reveal my secrets...</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Also... I cut out what I considered to be weak verses from guest MCs on a number of tracks: no Big Sean on "Life vs. Living," no Harlem's Cash on "Carmen Sandiego" (though I left in his decent verse on "Blinded") and definitely no Mac Miller on "May The Force Be With You" (but Killer Mike's part is still there).</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
Other than that, I scrubbed out the word "faggot" from the one song it popped up on. I mean, I'm as anti-FCC as it gets, but that's uncalled for (and thankfully out of character for XV -- who overall seems like a pretty decent, open-minded guy).</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Without further ado, here is "XV - 2XLP (a misshapedmixtape)" [check for download link in the "comments"]:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> 1 : The Rabbit Hole [Everybody's Nobody]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> 2 : Mirror's Edge (ft Mike Posner) [Vizzy Zone]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> 3 : Farewell [Planet Squaria: The Square in the Circle]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> 4 : Smallville [Zero Heroes]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> 5 : Now Look [Everybody's Nobody]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> 6 : Watch Me Go [iamxv.com release]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> 7 : Nevermind [Vizzy Zone]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> 8 : Pictures On My Wall [Zero Heroes]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> 9 : Everybody's Nobody [Everybody's Nobody]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">10 : Everything Is Cool [Planet Squaria: The Square in the Circle]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">11 : 2015 [iamxv.com release]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">12 : Reset Button (ft Talib Kweli) [Vizzy Zone]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">13 : Me, You [Everybody's Nobody]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">14 : All These Foolish Things [Recycle Bin]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">15 : Life On Mars [Planet Squaria: The Square in the Circle]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">16 : That's Just Me [Zero Heroes]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">17 : Life vs. Livin' [Everybody's Nobody]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">18 : The Return (ft Bling) [Recycle Bin]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">19 : Falling Awake [Vizzy Zone]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">20 : Wichita [Zero Heroes]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">21 : Carmen Sandiego (Gov't ReMix) [Please, Hold]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">22 : Blinded (ft Harlem's Cash) [Everybody's Nobody]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">23 : American Dream [Recycle Bin]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">24 : Bad News (Nobody's Somebody) [Everybody's Nobody]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">25 : Textbook Stuff (ft Kendrick Lamar) [Zero Heroes]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">26 : 1997 [Planet Squaria: The Square in the Circle]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">27 : Lift The Game [30 Minute Layover]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">28 : U.F.C. (ft Kristina Rose) [Zero Heroes]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">29 : May The Force Be With You (ft Killer Mike) [Vizzy Zone]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">30 : Well, Come To Earth [Planet Squaria: The Square in the Circle]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">31 : A.D.D. [Everybody's Nobody]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">32 : Foreign Exchange Student [Zero Heroes]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">33 : One Thing [30 Minute Layover]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">34 : Vizzy, Vizzy, Vizzy [Everybody's Nobody]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">35 : Vizzy Zone (ft Kid Cudi) [Vizzy Zone]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">36 : Hey There [Recycle Bin]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">37 : Undeniable [Everybody's Nobody]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">38 : When We're Done [Zero Heroes]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">39 : In Due Time [Everybody's Nobody]</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">40 : The Kick [iamxv.com release]</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BUW0JZ5N"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDf0elpHfODhmkO57muNkW5SPynUcHDQo3Ery_eKsCts6EmSq7gpeevfkbB2XdSjGTJ9vZyMf9OmEcO8cDYtTO_mnqNK4YmFHE-EIEk8CLQX034nzLqBYwULjGfbTIXcOiKjmW4SXOAIg/s320/XV+-+2XLP+%2528a+misshapedmixtape%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>MC Foxtrothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317239407159409041noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1232183149497298079.post-20583436319678885072011-08-15T07:46:00.000-07:002011-08-15T15:18:17.446-07:00Welcome to misshapedmixtapesThis blog will provide you'ns with good music -- some old, some new, some popular, some obscurish -- with mixtapes released every Monday.<br />
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Please note: these mixes are for promotional use only. If you are an artist and wish for me to remove posts contact me & any links will be taken downMC Foxtrothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317239407159409041noreply@blogger.com1