Metal Lungies

The benevolent Salaam Remi continues to empty his vault, taking R&B whippersnappers like Trey and Jazmine back to when R&B didn’t suck. And apparently there’s a lot more where this came from:

Download: Trey Songz – Spray (produced by Salaam Remi)

via SoulCulture

I could get used to weekly Terrace Martin tracks. On the R&B tip this time and of course, Terrace’s sax makes an appearance.

Download: Terrace Martin – Stop Calling (ft. J Black)

via Devi Dev

If you’re looking for the polar opposite of the honey sweet dance remix from my last post, here some body-dumping music from an electronic group called 3:33. The mysterious and brooding instrumental track has windshield wipers, screeching tires, and a haunted piano. It’s best experienced by yourself at three in the morning in an abandoned factory, if you can manage it. EP-1 is due April 6.

Also check out the amazing “Mass” by Virtual Boy. His album Symphony No, None is also due out on AlphaPup this year.

Remember The Knocks? I do. They got shit popping with Big Boi at NYU. The hard-boiled outlaws behind Metal Lungies rarely delve into dance-pop (unless you count DJ01 listening to that Taio Cruz song before he goes to sleep every night), but we can make an exception when it’s extra funky, as is the case here.

Listen to or download the original, which borders on too sugary for my palate.

Download: The Knocks – Dancing With The DJ (’96 Bulls Remix)

Torae’s new mixtape Heart Failure is candy and flowers, not grenades and broken glass. But just because the Coney Island slugger is dropping a mixtape on Valentine’s Day with Honey Magazine, it doesn’t mean he’s gone soft. The heartthrob theme is way more interesting than another stale NY indie rapper promising a boom bap revival. And that cover is fucking hilarious. Just listen to the Khrysis-produced “Let It Go” and all your worries will be gone. It’s basically Tor’s take on “Doin It.”

Listen at DocumenTORAE

Also peep “Point of View”

More ethereal soul from Jose James. Flying Lotus’ work with Jose James is far more interesting than anything he’s done with a rapper.

This is Kanye and Jay-Z just having fun. It’s almost like Kanye needed a breather after spilling his soul on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Jay didn’t feeling like conceptualizing something as grand as “Empire State of Mind,” so they got a Lex Luger beat (for you sophisticates, that’s Waka Flocka’s right hand) and blacked out. You can tell Kanye is really enjoying himself as he brings out a casual vulgarity that he usually saves for guest verses (see the “Deuces” remix) and Jay raps faster than the mass audience is used to. It’s great to see rappers this huge throw something cool together without any artistic pontification or market research.

Update: Alternate art via Gimme Noise

Mic check, come through
Hit you with the one two
All I do is son you
Warrior — Sun Tzu
AWOOOO

Noreaga > Shakespeare

Download: Noreaga – Sun Tzu (ft. French Montana, Joell Ortiz) (produced by Charli Brown)

via 57thAve

This hook is undeniable. Very different from another 6th Sense joint called “Losing My Mind.”

Atmospheric jam from Russian producer Long Arm whose album The Branches drops February 11.