I urge you to download the latest JE podcast and furthermore, subscribe to Juan Epstein’s RSS feed (iTunes link) I don’t know if a lot of ML readers are really checking for podcasts, so I want to recommend a few of my favourites. If you like Juan Ep, I recommend checking out other funny dudes bullshitting for about an hour:
You Look Nice Today: 3 nerdy and funny guys speak on subjects ranging from work out routines to computerized career counselling. Bills itself as an “audio-based Journal of Emotional Hygiene”.
Jordan, Jesse, GO! : Jesse Thorn, of the Sound of Young America, and Jordan Morris, of FUEL TV do a semi-weekly podcast of entertaining banter and weirdness. Often has guest appearances by personalities like Andrew WK and John Hodgman.
The Flop House: Funny discussion of recent film flops. Great stuff.
Post your own podcast suggestions in the comments.
Dude caught my attention when Sit Down Stand Up posted his Pete Rock-produced Oxygen, which as my friend Grant points out, sounds a lot like Hip-Hopcrisy off PeteStrumentals. Conveniently enough, he dropped a new mixtape last week.
Hosted by Rapper Big Pooh of Little Brother and mixed by Cosm Roks, A Change Gon’ Come is a nice collection of sharp lyrics and classic-sounding sample-based beats, which you might like if that Curren$y mixtape wasn’t your thing.
Marco sent this over a few days back while I was in the process of a high blood pressure filled move back home for the summer. Anyway, all you Euro hip-hop heads better check this out.
The Dates:
May (2008)
14 – Berlin @ Cassiopeia (Germany) 15 – München @ Atomic Cafe (Germany) 16 – Bucarest @ Arenele Romane (Romania) 17 – Zürich @ Dynamo (Switzerland) 18 – Weinheim @ Cafe Central (Germany) 20 – Hamburg @ Mandarin Kasino (Germany) 21 – Bielefeld @ Hip Hop Kongress (Germany) – Festival – 23 – Münster @ Skaters Palace (Germany) 24 – Gothenburg @ Pusterviksbar (Sweden) 25 – Copenhagen @ Loppen (Denmark) 26 – Kiel @ Luna (Germany) 28 – Köln @ Bogen2 (Germany) w/The Beatnuts 29 – Stuttgart @ Altes Zollamt (Germany) 30 – Lodz @ City Festival (Poland) – festival – 31 – Breda @ Boogie Down Breda Festival (Holland)
June (2008)
1- Paris @ Elysee Montmartre (France) 3- Hannover @ Faust (Germany) 5 – Oslo @ Bla (Norway) 6 – Amsterdam @ Tropenmuseum (Holland) 7 – Graz @ Arcadium (Austria)
You know we’re impressed with EL here and we want to continue to push this talented cat. EL sent me two new songs, both off his upcoming free promo album, A Major Minority, out this summer. I’ve been impressed with everything I’ve heard by this budding MC so far and ML is going to continue to post new material by him as he sends it our way. Black ELement’s official site for the album is now live so there’s no excuse to not get familiar.
A lot of the tracks off of Elzhi’s mythical tour CD Euro Pass have been floating around over the last few months. I wanted to wait for some quality versions to make a judgment, so I put in the effort (five minutes on Google) and found just what I was looking for.
I’m tempted to say this is the most exciting rap of the year. Every track makes me want to spark a fat bleez and bop to the beat. Elzhi’s lyricism is as tight as ever, and Black Milk, well, fuck, hes a god. I ordered my copy a while back here. But it seems to be sold out. Im sure you guys will figure somethin out.
Kidz In the Hall, comprised of University of Pennsylvania graduates Naledge and Double-O, are set to release The In Crowd with Duck Down Records. Heres what Double-O had to say about the album:
fans can expect to hear a tremendous growth with The In Crowd. Our debut was a stepping stone in our movement. The In Crowd is a masterpiece and a concise reflection of our sound, as it’s a bolder and bigger sounding album made for huge shows and cigarette lighters. We have taken our experiences and our year of traveling and performing and morphed it into a true musical experience with some of the best rappers and musicians around—the true In Crowd.
After reading that and checking the list of contributors (Masta Ace, Camp Lo, and Sean Price to name a few) I expected something pretty great. But, gasp!, it kind of sucks. Their style is all over the place, with little cohesion to be found within the overall theme. “Drivin Down the Block,” probably one of the better songs, sounds like a recycled Clipse joint. “Let Your Hair Down” is going for a more laid back feel, but it just comes off as cheesy and poorly thought out. And I dont even know what to say about “Lucifer’s Joyride” (Travis McCoy? seriously?). For me, it was a let down, for sure. Check it out for yourself (by that I mean buy it on iTunes, obviously).
The upside of the situation is that El-P went to work on “Drivin Down the Block” and turned a good track into a great song.
