Check out live audio and live video footage from The Roots. Link

Brad Hammers, the voice behind Phlegm, will soon be releasing “Cut-ups of a Paper Woman”, his new solo venture on his little-known record label “3 Sides of a Circle”. Hammers created much of the soundscape himself, taking up production duties on most tracks, save for one produced by former partner Solomoshun, two by label-mate Nobs, and one by Australian-band Just Like Us.

Slated to be released earlier this fall, the album faced a few setbacks, typical for independently run labels without major funds - where the artists bare the bulk of the gruntwork. However Hammers seems to be confident that the album will indeed be released within the following months, as he expects to receive his order from the pressing company within the next week. Keep up to date on this release and other 3 Sides of a Circle happening’s at their forum.

Cut-ups of a Paper Woman
1. one bedroom apt
2. mechanical … and stuck in a downpour
3. a. i play dead , b. return rewound
4. black & white
5. half world
6. a. sinking summer boat b. water drops and record pops
7. cliff notes
8. a. lookbehindu … and the pregnant way to carry an art textbook b. psychedelic scarecrows
9. footstep (a smile in script)
10. a pickpocketed memory clip b. hiking kit
11. arms made 4 hugs like wrenchmetal
12. hic-cup
13. a. loose brain thread b. from a hole in my dining room
14. one bedroom apt. (fully furnished)

Download the classic and long out of print Count Bass D album - art for sale. He sings for 95% of this. Free, thanks to the Count himself, artwork and all. [update 12.29.04 - mp3s taken down]

don’t think I’m that strange, but you wouldn’t believe just how strange people treat me sometimes. Not like all geeking over me or anything, but people just act strange. Like I’m a black Buck65 or something. I remember sleeping on Dibbs’ floor with Slug, Buck65, Signify, & Egon. I remember me treating Buck65 strange just like people treat me now. For real, do I act funny? If you’ve met me do you think I’m strange? (random out of context quote from Count Bass D’ s journal)

The first record from GRANDGOOD is now available at So Far West and other spots in California, like Amoebas in San Fran & Berkeley or Access in San Diego. Grandmaster Caz of the Cold Crush Brothers and Dj Signify of the 1200 Hobos recorded this for us last year with help from Waterbed Kev of the Fantastic Five. Grandmaster Caz sounds as strong as ever after 25+ years rhyming with Dj Signify on the Sp1200 - arranged and mixed down later by Steinski and Signify (who have a record or two coming out in 2005 with Bully Records). Spots in NYC should be getting copies soon and stores everywhere else will eventually be able to order from our distributors. Individuals can also get this directly from us. If you’re a dj, buy doubles.

Mum’s the Word - Live From the Crib Vol. I
60 Minute DJ Mix
from Grey Label Recordings in Los Angeles

Intro
Impeach the President break/White Stripes - “There’s No Home For You Here”
(Gil Scott-Heron “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised sample)
Tetrack - “Only Jah Jah Know”
Kan Kick - “A Song For My Forefathers”
Freddie Hubbard - “Povo”
Gary Burton - ” Open Your Eyes..You Can Fly” (rearranged)
The Main Ingredient - “Euphrates”/Beatnuts - “Hit Me With That” acapella
Mr. Scruff - “Blackpool Roll” w/Digable Planets - “9th Wonder” (acapella)
Esther Phillips - “And I Love Him
The Mindclouders feat. Iriscience - “Paranoia Sheik”
The Invincibles - “Heart Full of Love”
Mum’s the Word - reworking of “Heart Full of Love”
Sylk 130 - “Gettin’ Into It” (Brother ? Remix inst.)/
The Pharcyde - “Y?” (jaydee remix inst.) w/
Common - “I Used To Love H.E.R.” acapella
Phat Kat - “Don’t Nobody Care About Us” inst.
ATCQ - “Oh My God” (Know Naim remix)
Lee “Scratch” Perry - “Ketch”
Ethiopiques - Metche Dershe
Stan Getz - “Club 7 And Other Wild Places”
Love - “Good Time” (snippet)
Orpheus - “She’s Not There” (snippet)
De La Soul - “Saturdays” (Ladies Night Decision remix)
Fugees - “Fugee-La” (remix inst.)/Jay Dee - “Tomita” inst. / Jay Dee - “L.L” inst. w/ INI - “Fakin’ Jax” acapella
Freddie Hubbard - Sky Dive
Ronnie Foster - “Some Neck”
Truth Enola feat. De La Soul - “Voicetress”
De La Soul - “Stakes Is High” (DJ Spinna remix)
Ahmad Jamal - “Swahili Land” (snippet)
The Monkees - “Hard to Believe” (snippet)
Lonnie Liston Smith - “Voodoo Woman”
Brian Augers Oblivion Express - “Don’t Look Away”
Bobbi Humphrey - “Harlem River Drive”

Interesting interactive exhibit that presents unsuspecting young people’s opinions on classic pieces of art. The dialogue is in French but you can still enjoy the great use of music and video as an enhancer. For those of you familiar with the work of graf-head turned Warhol-buddy Basquiat, make sure to check for that interpretation. [You'll need the latest shockwave plugin but I urge you give it a try, via BoingBoing, props to Xeni!]

Not that it matters much but Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five didn’t make the cut. I wonder what criteria the judges use to make the final decision.

“Passed over for the Hall of Fame were legendary British punk rockers the Sex Pistols, whose singer, John Lydon (a.k.a. Johnny Rotten), once said the Cleveland museum is where “old rockers go to die.” The Pistols were among a group of 10 artists who were eligible for induction but passed over this year.Fellow punkers Patti Smith and the Stooges also didn’t make the final cut, along with Southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd and one of the pioneering acts in hip-hop history, Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five, who would have been the first rap act to be inducted into the hall.”

Last month’s selection will probably stay up for a while. This yousendit is working out pretty well. Enjoy and support the artists if you’re feeling it!

Blueprint - Mission Statement
Official
Buy

C-Rayz Walz - We Live
Official
Buy

MF Doom and MC Paul Barman - Hot Guacamole (Produced by Prince Paul)
Official
Buy

Nas and AZ - Serious
Official
Buy

Noah23 and Ceschi - Chicken Soup
Official
Buy

Ol’ Dirty Bastard - Thirsty
Ol’ Dirty Bastard with Rhymefest - Dirty Dirty - not from album
Official
Buy

Pedestrian - anticon
Official1, Official2
Buy 1/24/04

Sage Francis with Will Oldham - Sea Lion (produced by alias)
Official1, Official2
Buy 1/10/04

Sole - Sin Carne
Official1, Official2
Buy 1/24/05

“…a case that could help decide the future of content delivery in the digital age…. Grokster and Morpheus are Internet file-sharing networks used to swap music, movies and software. At issue is whether or not such networks should be held responsible if copyrights are infringed by users of their software.” [read more]

Here’s a trailer for This Revolution, which is slated for a 2005 release date. The clip shows Immortal Technique going off on a cop and it makes you wonder how Stephen Marshall and Rosario Dawson actually felt when they were arrested for real while shooting for the film.

Courtesy of Guerrilla News Network (large quicktime)

Short video interview with good guy Rjd2

Wired article on the difference between vinyl and cd audio. [Link, scroll down]

THE GREAT DEBATE: VINYL VS. CD

Among great technological squabbles, vinyl versus compact disc has almost the same cachet as PC versus Mac. The superiority of one over the other is a matter of preference, but there are differences. Fundamentally, audio reproduction is about physics, and optical, binary CDs diverge pretty far from analog LPs. For each vinyl purist’s argument, there is a digital rebel’s rebuttal. Here’s the basic science. - David Goldenberg

VINYL: The irregular, analog grooves of an LP produce a smooth, continuous sound wave.To make a record, a microphone’s diaphragm transduces sound into back-and-forth motions that are encoded as grooves in a vinyl platter. As a needle plows through the groove, its movements are converted into analog electrical impulses that drive a speaker, producing sound. Those smooth, continuous vibrations yield sleek sound waves. But as the needle traces the groove, dust and other debris can get in the way, degrading the sound. And over time, the needle wears out the record, slathering the music in a layer of noise.

CD: Tiny pores of a CD represent minuscule increments of sound.Going digital means converting a continuous sound wave into a string of 1s and 0s. This is done by measuring, or sampling, the audio signal thousands of times per second; when played back at the same rate, the samples reconstitute the original sound. For CDs, that rate is too slow to capture subtle nuances, critics say. The new DVD-A and SACD formats pack in much more information per second of audio. Nonetheless, vinylheads claim that chopping audio into pieces, no matter how small, corrupts the music.

Good essay on Hip-Hop from the roots to it’s current flex on pop culture. Here’s the intro:

How Hip-Hop Music Is Slowly Transcending Its Circular Culture

Hip-hop started out as a counter-culture expression of pain-laced, defiant joy by New York’s penniless and angry. You make studio time and instrumental tuition too expensive for me, place me in ghettos I lack any means to escape or improve, cut off the power to my housing block, keep me locked down in a miserable job for pathetic pay and generally treat me as a politically powerless and racially inferior minority? I will mix records together with no respect for their discrete heritage or creators; set your anthems as backing vocals for the rhymes I’ve spent my fruitless hours of drudgery whetting with pent-up bitterness; paint your greyly hideous constructions wildly, vibrantly beautiful; and funnel the electricity from your streetlights into my decks and speakers, to dance with my peers in new and explosive ways that pay homage to our frantic, cooped-up energy. And I will tell my people that they are beautiful, and that you cannot hold us forever, for this raucous, rhythmic, illegitimate music will bring us together, and in its crude but irresistible power we will find and share our impoverished strength and soul once more.

“Hand polished gold plating to match your gold teeth.” I think I’ll stick with the ones that came with my 1200s. But now I won’t feel so odd when I rock them around my neck! On sale for big willies everywhere at DigitalGravel.

Nate Patrin sounds very disappointed with the new Handsome Boy Modeling School album. He pretty much fronts on the whole concept, from the guest appearances to the comedy-skits to the production. I guess he didn’t get as excited as I did when Lord Finesse starts spittin right after the transition in HHCNRRLT Pt II. And why shouldn’t Finesse try to set the record straight about how Fatboy Slim sampled him (arguably for his most popular song) and never paid him a dime?

Anyway, I hope his disappointment from the album didn’t influence his decision to shut down his blog. Or, I hope whatever disappointment he’s experiencing (blog or whatever) doesn’t influence his writing for too long. I for one enjoyed reading his rants. Link to review; Link to Nate’s blog; Link to Nate’s old blog; Link to other reviews

80s-style remix of Sage Francis’ first single from A Healthy Distrust might have you feeling oddly comforted in light of the serious subject matter. Link

Fairly extensive interview with Sixtoo. He speaks on his solo career, why he doesn’t rap as much anymore and a possible 1200 Hobos record? Link