Retrospective Review: Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Piñata

Freddie Gibbs and Madlib - Piñata Review

In order to prepare for their hotly anticipated sophomore album Bandana by hip-hop duo, Freddie Gibbs and Madlib, I wanted to take a step back and look at their first collaborative record together, Piñata, released half a decade ago. Piñata came at a time I never knew I needed. Madlib was an inspiration for me for many years, having followed his multiple alter egos Quasimoto, Yesterday's New Quintet, The Beat Konducta, and The Loop Digga. His albums opened my mind to the world of hip-hop with the masterpiece alt-hip-hop album, Madvillainy, which was a team-up of Madlib's beats and MF DOOM's narrative rap flow, as well as The Unseen, the debut Quasimoto release that blew my mind up with his stream-of-consciousness, jazz-infused, hazy raps, all wrapped in a sleazy, cartoon swine. Naturally, I was curious in this newly announced collaborative effort.

Nox - The Formula EP Review

Nox - The Formula Review

Long Island emcee Nox released his fine-tuned and diverse debut EP, The Formula late last year, getting his pure styled productions and raps in before the year’s end. Much like the hit AMC program Breaking Bad, The Formula is a recipe of music that's been cooked with enough ideas and winning ingredients to create a euphoric chemical bliss for fans of conscious and creative hip-hop.

Claud5 - Claudscape Review

Only a couple months after releasing his debut concept album, Dogs Carry Knives, Claud5 is back again with a tropicana, hip-hop, and nujabes-infused summer album, Claudscape! Not to put his debut, atmospheric, electronic debut in the rearview mirror, but in a way, to show another side to his persona, Claudscape is best enjoyed while kicked back on a warm, summer day, with a drink in hand, and it's an exciting genesis for an artist who clearly has been saving his songs in the bank and allowing them to grow in quantity and quality.

Tyler, The Creator - IGOR Review

What? Tyler, The Creator is evolving!

I'll admit, I had lost my interest in the self-described creator ever since his follow-up release to his major label debut, WOLF. I had an early interest in Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All when they first arrived on the scene, boasting a large entourage of rappers and producers and putting out multiple albums and mixtapes and cross-promoting each other with features. I mostly just kept tabs on Tyler while I predicted that his protegé Earl Sweatshirt was going to eclipse him artistically. While over the years, Earl, who has stayed largely in the same minimalist, lo-fi musical landscape, Tyler, The Creator, has grown in style and ambition and has created an entirely new image for himself in his acclaimed hip-hop, R&B, and funk soaked album, IGOR.

Flying Lotus - Flamagra Review

Flying Lotus has become an amalgam of jazz, hip-hop, and electronica ever since he burst onto the scene with his minimalist beat-driven debut LP, 1983. A dusty, stripped-down collection of beats and electronic songs which defined him and defined an era of the late 2000s glitch hop scene. Since then, he has continued forward in big and exciting ways, releasing his touchstone classic, Los Angeles, and pushing forward into more styles and genres that all seem to melt into one signature sound in his follow-up works, Cosmogramma, Until The Quiet Comes, and You're Dead! This was a period of serious experimentation and collaboration into the genres of hip-hop, jazz, fusion, and cinematic, orchestrated greatness, and Flying Lotus, aka Steven Ellison, began a wild career full of all-star collaborations on these records. Artists such as Thundercat, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Erykah Badu, Radiohead's Thom Yorke, Snoop Dogg, and Kendrick Lamar, are just a few of the many team-ups gracing Ellison's catalog, and these artists and his forward-driving sound give them all a special place in history. Like Ellison's past work, Flamagra continues this tradition with more of that definitive experimentation in his most dynamic album to date.

E Dono The Gaijin - The #Donotape Review

A good friend who’s mixtape I slept on has new material, features, and previews to share in an exclusive release featured for free download on his website https://edonothegaijin.com !

A past radio cohort on the "Adrift In The Airwaves" radio run, E-ryDa, aka e dono The Gaijin, is a Waterbury, Connecticut producer and rapper, originally from the Bronx. His past cuts included guest features from members of his Woof Crew and Tyrant Lyfe members on his Error of Judgement 2 album, but the #donotape's got a raw flavor and style to it that showcases work that will appear in his sequel, the 3rd EoJ.

Crystallize DEBUT LP by DJ Dark Flow OUT NOW!!!!

Update: DJ Dark Flow - Crystallize LP Release

This June 1, 2019, Crystallize, my debut electronic LP, will be released into the world on all music platforms! I have had a long and exciting journey with music ever since my DJ alias was founded in 2008 for my late night radio program. Now, 11 years later, and 4 years after the release of my debut self-titled EP, comes my first full-length release!

Milestones Part III: Writing

Ever since I was exposed to music, I really felt an appreciation for written lyric, and wanted to be a songwriter myself... As you might already have noticed, all of my milestones and creative passions funnel back to music. For that I always have to thank my dad for inspiring me and promoting it in my life. From writing written lyrics with my acoustic guitar, I began to get a feel for rhyming and poetic storytelling. It was exhilarating creating and recording my own acoustic songs on my 16-track Fostex, some of which are still around today, buried in my computer files. 

Additionally, reading fantastical stories of adventures in western wastelands (Stephen King's Dark Tower series) or bleak post apocalyptic winters (Cormac McCarthy's The Road) would leave marks forever burned into my memory. As I combined these and other intense stories with instrumental playlists I would create, I was enthralled and inspired by the power of written storytelling.

Marvin Gaye - You're The Man Review

Preserved in a time capsule and shelved for decades, Marvin Gaye’s “lost album” You’re The Man finally sees the light of day on March 29, 2019, nearly half a century after its originally intended release, and I can’t believe that I have the pleasure of reviewing a Marvin Gaye album as a “brand new” release! The original sequel to his landmark classic album What’s Going On, You’re The Man was shelved due to political differences between Gaye and Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, and also due to poor reception of his title track lead single, but whereas What’s Going On was intended as an anti-war album, You’re The Man is a triumphant anti-hate album.

Retrospective Review: DJ Shadow - Live in Manchester: The Mountain Has Fallen

DJ Shadow - Live in Manchester: The Mountain Has Fallen Review

Performing live in 2017 at a sold out show in Manchester, England, DJ Shadow produced his first live album in nearly a decade, and showed growth in areas of his original music to great effect. I personally was left in the dark regarding the existence of this masterful mix of music, but I am so glad to have discovered it. 

I normally keep track of DJ Shadow's studio productions, having played his latest full length, The Mountain Will Fall, from 2016, multiple times through and blasting his hypnotic, eccentric beats in my car system and headphones. Upon realizing that he has since produced a follow up EP titled The Mountain Has Fallen and a live concert CD/DVD combo of the same name, I had to jump on my own personal journey through it and subsequent analysis.