Ultra-talented young producer Shag is back this week with Revolution, a free new album brought to us by Cult Classic Records. This Shag, rather prolific, is improving by leaps and bounds with each release- Revolution finds him moving well beyond…

Last night was a big one for El-P . After emerging from the kind of semi-exile that swallows lesser rappers whole following 2007's I'll Sleep When You're Dead , El released two of the year's best rap albums, in two consecutive weeks: the incendiary Killer Mike record R.A.P. Music , which he produced entirely, and his own majestically gloomy fourth album Cancer for Cure . He is in the giddy flush of a late-career resurgence, and at Santos Party House, he gathered everyone responsible for the moment together. Inside Santos, the camaraderie was thick-- I overheard people claiming ...

“This is my 19th release, and out of all 19, I’ve definitely had the most fun working on this collection. I hope you feel as much joy in listening as I had in creating the music. My life... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

When we listen to the Monster Rally & RUMTUM mixtape the Ohio duo sent our way, it brings to mind cocktail music at a party decored in shag carpets, cheap lei garlands, vodka gimlets, and clear egg-shaped lounge chairs in a penthouse built into the side of a mountain on Mars. Monster Rally's always been a master of retro-futurism and exotic escape textures, while RUMTUM delivers the darker expanses and corners just beyond the safe havens. The duo are in ying and yang balance. In the cou...

May is here and when you're in Myrtle Beach that means only one thing: Bike Week is Back! It's been a tumultous spring and the dates of this year's rallies have been a thing of much dispute locally, with some organizers from the Harley-Davidson rally wanting to move their rally closer to Memorial Day weekend and the county threatening to not issue vendor permits before giving in in the end. The "official" rally dates for the Cruisin' The Coast Spring Rally are now May 14-20, with many businesses also hosting events the previous weekend. On the other ...

This is a compilation album including remixes, their instrumentals, and a couple of bonus beats that weren’t quite good enough to hop on other releases. I went back and updated the mixing a... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

The problem with varied line-ups is not the lack of cohesiveness, but predicting the response from the public. It was a semi-cold Friday in Sheffield and Bungalows and Bears was teeming with people. From the stage, the exceedingly well crafted blues of Mudcats Blues Trio overpowered many a fan (and a couple of newly converted too). It [...]

Underage lab rat Shag returned last week with a collection of remixes and B-sides, provocatively titled Remixes And B-Sides. Tackling unassailably legendary tracks like “C.R.E.A.M” and “Life’s A Bitch” right out of the gate, the kid is nothing if not…

When it comes to the progressive ingenuity of yesteryear few records could even conceive of doing battle with Gloss Drop : an explorational work of avant-garde invention, it saw the streamlined New York outfit punch well above their weight. It is and was their opus, and it remains revolutionary. This time however, although it may again be Battles' name on Dross Glop (the droll epithet attached to this collection of radical overhauls) and even if their madcap freeform fingerprints may be smeared indelibly all over it they've handed the gloves over to a plethora of pioneering genre straddlers to beat ...

So one of Clash’s favourite LPs of 2011, ‘Gloss Drop’ has been remixed. This induces mixed emotions. Scanning the list of well-wishers it all looks incisive, but appearances can be deceptive. Gui Boratto kicks things off with ‘Wall Street’, removing the epic delirium with a loping euro kompakt-esque re-run built of convention. ‘Sweetie & Shag’ gets stretched by The Field into a numbing wander into oblivion, whilst ‘Ice Cream’, perhaps the original LP’s best moment, is privy to a frivolous re-rub by Gang Gang Dance. These however are the low points. Where ‘Gloss Drop’ was remarkably alive and capable of inducing synthesesia, it suffered from an autistic mania that may be too much for some listeners. Thankfully here we find modern producers such as Kode9 and Shabazz Palaces grounding its cosmic opera to the bass shaken ground of planet Earth. The sonic terrorist of Kode9 brings new ideas to ‘Africastle’ by shaking up the percussive styles like batshit; it’s a delight and heightens any dancefloor break the trio of Battles ever managed. Likewise Shabazz Palaces’ take ‘White Electric’ and make it very much their warped own, no bad thing on a remix project. Thus overall ‘Dross Glop’ may please and frustrate in equal ...

Within the first 30 seconds of Never Saw It Coming , Iowa have laid down a shag carpet of fuzz that sticks around for most of this first album. That opener ‘Complete Control’ cements the alternately lethargic and angsty delivery of singer-guitarist Dylan Stewart as well as the shadow of Dinosaur Jr and other ’90s rock luminaries. It weaves noise and melody in an endless gloom, the only brightness coming when Stewarts tries out a bit of falsetto at the very end. But primarily the Melbourne trio throw themselves into guitar-driven songs that swell and overflow with anxiety. Take the next ...

Artist: Battles Album: Dross Glop Released: 2012 Style: Experimental Rock Format: MP3 320Kbps / FLAC Size: 160 Mb Tracklist: 01 – Wall Street (Gui Boratto Remix) 02 – Sweetie & Shag (The Field Remix) 03 – Futura (The Alchemist Remix) 04 – White Electric (Shabazz Palaces Remix) 05 – Africastle (Kode9 Remix) 06 – Inchworm (Silent Servant Remix) 07 – Toddler (Kangding Ray Remix) 08 – Dominican [...]

Not much grows in the desert. The heat sees to that. Vast swathes of earth as far as the eye can see, only interrupted by a single track that stretches off towards the horizon. Oh, and Sleepy Sun - they're out there as well. A rambling, vagabond psychedelic collective, the band's stoned, Sabbath jams have made them cult heroes. Returning to the desert with Queens of Stone Age and Eagles of Death Metal alumnus Dave Catching, Sleepy Sun laid down material for their new album under the ceaseless California sun. Managing to find their focus out there in the ...

Daniel Kitson is an enigma; a complex juxtaposition of traits that make him very funny and accessible to a wide range of people. Popularity is something that Daniel himself struggles with. Despite him being somewhat of a Luddite, eschewing Facebook and Twitter, his website boasts a fan base of 20,000 people, much to the apparent dismay of Daniel. For someone who wanted to be a comedian ever since he was 13 years old, as confessed in his latest production Where Once Was Wonder , he says he isn’t in the game for fame or fortune. He also warns us ...

Girls From Mars : Jitter Joe [ purchase ] I was going to post this this week in any case, but the last post by 1001 Songs of Carolina Girls makes a great lead-in to this one. You see, now we are going to talk about swing dancing. I am old enough that this is the dance music of my parents’ generation. My father never talked about dancing, but my mother grew up in New York City during the swing era, and she liked to cut a rug in her younger days. Jitter Joe was a hit for the group Cats and the ...