Aloe Blacc asks for your ear and a dollar.

Pay that man his money. Why?

Exhibit A:
Billie Jean? Aloe kills this, and the ghost of MJ approves.  Joe Jackson and Pepsi do not.


Exibit B:
Off the excellent Now-Again Re:Sounds. Aloe lulls you with spoken word before a filthy organ and bass drop in.  Wow.


Exibit C:
Even the dude's iTunes-friendly song is pretty great.  If not, it's worth sticking around after the 2:50 mark.


Exibit D:
Another cover, this time a Velvet Underground track.  Smooth as hell.

Xylophone, FTW

Rain... hail....SNOW

If Flying Lotus lived in a Famicom game cartridge...

...what would he sound like?

Clutchy Hopkins vs. Steamboat Willie

I call it a "draw".  A draw.  Heh...
I want to thank whoever decided to put this together.  Brilliant.

Oh No vs. Now-Again... oh yes

If you can find the album, put it on and enjoy not skipping any of the 29 tracks.  Nice for a change.

Late Night Listening - Flying Lotus "MmmHmm"

Check out this year's "Cosmogramma" LP and "Pattern + Gridworld" EP...

Mos Def needs someone

We love that the dude's flow is smooth as marble, that his slow, weeded demeanor belies a curious, active mind.  But it's obvious Mos Def is better when he's shoulder to shoulder with other giants.  His work with Talib Kwali in Black Star, Michel Gondry in Be Kind Rewind...  and just when everyone wrote him off as an emcee, he pulled in production from Madlib, Oh No, J Dilla, and The Neptunes to record The Ecstatic last year...  a surprisingly good album considering the phoned-in crap that preceded it.    Without a decent structure (like the bulletproof, sample-heavy beats from Stones Throw guys), Mos drifts off into pseudo- sing-songy shit that chafes after a few tracks.  He needed them, but hey, it's ok to admit the ol' lone wolf works better in a pack.

One of the better examples on the record, with Slick Rick over a Madlib bollywood beat:

Black Milk, the neo-J Dilla

Still listening to Black Milk's "Album of the Year", trying to figure out if that was more boast than fact. This track does nicely though. Amazing to think Dilla still gets name-dropped in 2010...

Theme music (Driving in My Subaru)

Reason #346 to love stand-up bass

Chessboxin' Remix

Behold Lego Wu:




El Michels does Wu Tang doing who-knows-what:




The original:



"Gotta get up and BEEEE SOMBODAAAAYYY!"

Must-see TV

Reality TV gets the 'bad' gasface.  Seriously, what the hell happened to this country?  Once upon a time, we used to broadcast drum battles. DRUM BATTLES. I would watch the hell outta that.

I'M NOT SHOUTING

JUST REMEMBER ALL CAPS WHEN YOU SPELL THIS MAN'S NAME:



MF DOOM wears a mask to hide his gasface.

The Black Venom Gasface...

...via the Budos Band.

Recorded:


Live at KEXP:


Seeing them in front of a bouncing, sweaty, funky crowd last month at Dante's makes the last clip seem sedated.  Great show...  was gasfaced the entire time.

My Gas Face... Explained

The Gas Face, according to 3rd Bass and Urban Dictionary:

1. (v) To show someone a sign of disrespect. 2. (v) Make a stupid face towards someone you don't like.

As in, giving someone the "who farted?" face.  The bad kind of funk. Nasty, as in nasty.  Bad, as in bad.

But if Newton's Third Law taught me anything, it's that there's a good bad-nasty-funky face too.  A few things that give me a gasface:  alley-oops... hanger steaks... finding $20 in an old coat...  curvaceousness... nasty rhythm and horn sections... hatching plans... strong coffee... making the yellow light... beating mini-bosses... taco trucks... sludgy guitars... dirty bass lines and grimy beats.  I could go on.  In fact, I fully plan on it... at least until I get bored.  Five, maybe six weeks?

Too many gasface-worthy things in this world, so I'd like to put them out there, good or bad.  Mostly good.  What gives you the gasface?