Showing posts with label nosaj thing. Show all posts

In the ever murky marriage of art, music and corporate sponsorship it has to be said one company are showing themselves to be remarkably in tune with where the money should be going and that's Red Bull. Suddenly their Red Bull Music Academy seems to be everywhere: music workshops with some of the industry's top names; recording studios across the globe; some of the best line ups imaginable in their live events; and even free daily papers in London. There's a whole conversation that needs to be had regarding this and we'd love to hear your thoughts but for now we can't help but give a mention to their upcoming event with Brainfeeder next Wednesday. The line up is ridiculous.

Flying Lotus (Brainfeeder, Warp, Los Angeles)
Kode9 (Hyperdub, London)
The Gaslamp Killer (Brainfeeder, Low End Theory, Los Angeles)
Martyn (3024, Washington DC)
Dorian Concept (Kindred Spirits, Vienna)
Dimlite (Now-Again, Bern)
Daedelus (Brainfeeder, Ninja Tune, Los Angeles)
Nosaj Thing (Brainfeeder, Alpha Pup, Los Angeles)
TOKiMONSTA (Brainfeeder, Los Angeles)

Wednesday 10th March, 9pm–4am, Tickets: £12,50.
Fabric, 77a Charterhouse Street, London, EC1M 3HN

Download: Nosaj Thing - IOIO / alt link

This should really be experienced live but just incase (like us who shall be making do with Nosaj Thing at Start The Bus in Bristol on Tuesday) you can't make it the great thing about these events is they're all recorded for RBMA Radio. There's absolutely loads of incredible music on there, right now we're listening back to their Culture Clash event with a Sound System show down between Soul II Soul, Trojan Soundsystem, DMZ (Digital Mystikz and Loefah) and Metalheadz (Goldie & Co) all hosted by Don Letts (who drops a killer special of Riot Music). Here's the links to each part of the night.

Part 1: The Warm-Up

Part 2: The Selection Round

Part 3: Entertainment Round

Part 4: Mixed-Up Styles Round

Part 5: Final Round - The Decider


We're still waiting for them to upload the set we caught from Andreya Triana in Bristol at the weekend. The new Ninja Tune signee performed a stunning version of the classic Eurythmics track Sweet Dreams and her live version of Tea Leaf Dancers (the track she recorded with Flying Lotus) was just beautiful. Her solo Sonar performance from 2007 is available to listen to here but it's without live band and not quite as confident as the Bristol show. Still worth a listen mind. Also, her new single drops April 5th, here's a little taster...

Download: Andreya Triana - Lost Where I Belong - Flying Lotus Remix (Preview Edit) / alt link

It's been a while since Free The Robots dropped his debut EP onto the world and in that time his contemporaries on the West Coast scene such as Flying Lotus and Nosaj Thing have firmly wedged themselves into our collective psyche. Now finally we have a full length episode of the FTR show and it's certainly been worth the wait.

The name of Chris Alfaro's project is most definitely apt. This is the kind of freedom that Johnny 5 tasted and all those other androids out there have been dreaming of since. The re-education of the robots takes on a history lesson of their portrayal in human culture with tracks like Sci-fidelity, a straight up 50s B Movie robo-invasion over a killer beat which we can’t help but picture Doom tearing up… ripe for the mash up we’d say. The rest takes in everything from 60s Eastern influenced psychadelia to modern crunk, all translated for the knowledge hungry robot's out there, whilst tracks like Voices takes the education further approaching the emotional side of things and teaching them about the relationships between pain and beauty.

Finally as the freestyle nature of The Eye (a collaboration with Mars Volta's Ikey Owens on keys) really highlights the computer as instrument and with the education complete you can almost feel the life force surging through their circuits. The Robots have most definitely been freed.

Ctrl Alt Delete drops via Alpha Pup Records on March 30th.

Download: Free The Robots - Orion's Belt Buckle / alt link

A Scribble Jam winner and Low End Theory host, NoCanDo is no stranger to those with any kind of connection to the current West Coast scene, so it's perhaps a little surprising then that his debut full length is only just upon us. Dropping courtesy of Daddy Kev's Alpha Pup label and with a producer line up that includes the likes of Nosaj Thing, Daedelus, Free the Robots and Thavius Beck, we were obviously excited about this album before it even hit the player. It doesn't dissapoint either, one of the most well rounded Hip-hop albums for a long time Nocando switches up styles, flows and deliveries in a way that truly showcases his long term love of the music without having his nostalgia chip jammed in any particular heyday. From crunked up club bangers to more instrospective head nodders, this is serious business which never takes itself too seriously.

The West Coast Hip-hop scene has always been a diverse and divided bag of noise. From classic Gangsta Rap to the Good Life Cafe attendees back in the late 80s and 90s, or Bay Area Hyphy and the kind of artists who grace the upper echelons of Low End Theory. Although this album is perhaps a little too grown up to truly cross over and a little too contemporary for the traditionalists, it joins the dots for the current scenes well and in many ways brings everything else up to date. Grab it!

Jimmy The Lock is out on Alpha Pup from January 26th but we have a copy of the new single for you here.

Download: NoCanDo - Hurry Up and Wait (produced by Nobody) / alt link

What a perfect combination, one of the leaders in the new school of West Coast digital beatsmiths reworks one of our favourite new bands of the year. This has got excess amounts of hyper cool dripping from every orifice.

Download: The xx - Islands (Nosaj Thing Remix) / alt link

Yours Truly Presents: Nosaj Thing from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

XLR8R Magazine have an incredible mix from Kid 606 currently up on their website. Over an hours worth of funked up filthy bass heavy Electronic beats ranging from DJ Nasty to Drop the Lime and Rustie to Dexplicit with a few of his own freakishly phat productions thrown into the 47 track deep mix for good measure.

Kid 606 - Megachurch Meltdown @ XLR8R

(YSI) Kid 606 - Mr Wobbles Nightmare / alt link


Also up on the site is a Top 20 of their most popular April MP3 downloads with the Robot Koch mix of Th' Mole's How 2 B Cool from our latest Fre-Release single holding the top spot! We've included a few of our other choicest cuts below, but for a full phat selection including Ras G, Mochipet and Mr Lif head over to XLR8R.com now.

(YSI) Nosaj Thing - Coat Of Arms / alt link

(YSI) Flylo & Blu - GNG BNG (MeMix) / alt link

(YSI) Serengeti & Polyphonic - My Patriotism / alt link

(YSI) Daedelus - Off to the Races (Meanest Man Contest Remix Feat. Cuzzo) / alt link