Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Imeem steps up in the race

« Mapping Noise | Main | The Raconteurs Drop It While It's Hot »
Imeem Opens Its Massive Media Catalog to Third Parties
By Eliot Van Buskirk EmailMarch 25, 2008 | 8:32:02 AMCategories: Digital Music News, Music Software and Sites, Music Widgets, Social Media

Imeemapps Like MySpace and Facebook before it, imeem will allow third-party software developers to create applications that run on its music-oriented social network, it announced Tuesday.

This puts imeem's massive catalog of licensed music at developers' disposal. The service has deals with all four major labels and many indies that allow its users to legally post just about any song for others to enjoy.

Applications created by outside developers using the imeem Media Platform will have access to the entire catalog, which could make for some compelling music-discovery and listening tools. Every photo and video on the site is also fair game.

Using the just-released application programming interface, or API, developers will also be able to offer a customized imeem media player, automate the uploading of content, create playlists, add favorites to users' profiles and leverage "imeem's social graph, including users, friends and associated profile data," according to the service.

Imeem says its API will differ from its MySpace and Facebook counterparts by letting developers build the site's music, videos and photos into their apps:

Imeem is providing the imeem Media Platform, as well as the underlying infrastructure for hosting, transcoding and delivering media, for free. Developers supply the creativity; imeem provides the rest, including access to our growing community of over 24 million users.

This is much bigger than just allowing people to port their existing apps to imeem -- it’s about enabling a new wave of completely new apps, powered by imeem’s video, music and photo content. Other social networks have opened their platforms to third-party developers; only imeem is providing the critical media piece of the puzzle.

In the coming months, imeem says it plans to add support for OpenSocial so apps created for MySpace, Hi5 and other networks can be ported over.

Developers who want to get started creating an imeem app should head to the site's developer area for access to the API. As for the rest of us, we can sit back and wait for the apps to show up.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Does It Offend You, Yeah

Does It Offend You, Yeah?
You Have No Idea What You Are Getting Yourself Into
[Virgin; 2008]
Rating: 2.3
Buy it from Insound
Download it from Emusic
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Does It Offend You, Yeah? are a hard band to warm to. There's the name, for one thing: a question whose only tempting reply is an exaggerated shrug. But at least ask yourself what kind of sonics might fit that name. Howling batteries of unreconstructed noise? Try again. High-strung mall-emo with serious entitlement issues? If only. Barely adequate dance-rock to keep you occupied until the next Klaxons record? Now we're talking!

As this album trundles on, its title turns unpleasantly sarcastic. Any one of these tracks will give you a very strong idea what you've gotten yourself into, and that'll be the only strong idea you meet. Does It Offend You, Yeah? play doggedly ugly, riff-driven electro. Their harsh, crunching keyboards might sound raw and immediate, if it wasn't for the way the hooks slide out your brain so fast. Their ranting vocals might seem confrontational, but they're autotuned so often they feel diffident and defensive. Their beats might be so propulsive as to make all that irrelevant-- except all the band's rhythmic ideas are stuck a decade ago, like they've bought up some old Chemical Brothers kit on eBay and haven't read the manual yet.

So this record's creative and artistic value is pretty much nil-- in fact it only just hits competent. But that's OK-- I don't get the feeling the band are shooting for "art" anyway, and competent music can still be functional music: a good accompaniment to more exciting activities. Does It Offend You, Yeah? have already licensed songs to the FIFA Street 3 game, for instance: I can imagine the yelpy "Battle Royale" sounding fine if half-heard while doing digital ball-juggling.

Other songs will also have their uses. It's probably a bit stale for advertising, but the tolerably aggressive "We Are Rockstars" might work over a montage of camphone footage in a sales presentation. Partygoers throughout 2008 may wake up grateful the band wrote a song called "Let's Make Out" so they could burp the title into someone's ear. The best track, which for two minutes does recapture Klaxons' playful frenzy, could be great on a sweaty college dancefloor. It is still called "Attack of the 60 Ft Lesbian Octopus", but you have to start somewhere.

The closing songs do find the group stretching themselves a little more-- "Epic Last Song" and "Being Bad Feels Pretty Good" lose the electro-vox and go for something a little slower and a lot more pained. To no great surprise, when they drop the nu-rave trappings the band fit perfectly into a long-shuffling queue of British plod-rock, somewhere between Shed Seven and Gay Dad.

But the thing about offending people is that you can nearly always find someone to take the bait. In the band's own world, Does It Offend You, Yeah? are electro punks with nostalgia in their sights: They talk in interviews about how old-school ravers are disgusted by their rock sounds and instrument-smashing stageplay. I suppose it's possible-- maybe they're just rightly pissed at the band's tired ideas and terminal complacency.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Speaking of GirlTalk

After spending the lion's share of his time since 2006's Night Ripper on tour, Gregg Gillis is hard at work recording the next Girl Talk album for a late spring/early summer release. And while Girl Talk is very Web 2.0-accessible in concept and execution, the new record has not leaked, despite the appearance of an imposter this week.

In a MySpace blog post from Thursday, March 20, Gillis wrote, "Yesterday, someone posted a fake 'leak' of my upcoming album. I was not involved in this at all. The music posted had nothing to do with me. Please spread the word that the leak was fake." Done!

Now that we've got that cleared up, let it be known that the actual new Girl Talk record is tentatively titled Wild Peace IV: Feed the Animals, Raise the Dead, and in a press release, Gillis says it was created in the same way as Night Ripper but in a different spirit:

"I come up with little pieces of new material to experiment with at the live performances each week, and the general direction and style of the album naturally evolves over time... If you've seen me live recently, you've heard new material that will show up on this release...

"This album is going to be dense with samples like my previous releases, but I'm trying to give some of the parts more room to breathe. I'm focusing less on sporadic chops and more on having pieces of the album build. The new material definitely has its share of quick cuts, but it's less dependent on that style. I think it's more dynamic because of it."

Whenever it comes out, Illegal Art will give Wild Peace its online and CD release, while Wham City will handle the vinyl. And speaking of non-stop touring, Gillis has a few shows lined up; scope those below. [MORE...]

Friday, March 21, 2008

Atmosphere new Video

Luna Lounge/Hope Lounge Excursions

Palmsout presents everyone on brooklyn. Luna lounge was packed to the walls with people sweating and dancing like an indoor rave from the nineties. The lack of lighting was startling at first but it did not matter since the number of camera flashes lit the room. Dancing on stage, on the floor, backspins and the man with the balloon head(brilliant) along with a performance from Maskmen(upside down wu tang symbol) made the night glow. Shout to PASEROCK, DJ MORSY and Chris. Cool dude doing they thang. Hold it down.

PS buy Peedi Crak

Thursday, March 20, 2008

The Living Legends-A decade and more

Setting the pace for 2008, the entire Living Legends crew locked down at Encore Studio (Dr Dre's The Chronic 2001, Eminem Marshall Mathers LP, etc.) to record The Gathering, set for nationwide release on their own Legendary Music label, Tuesday April 8th. Each song in this brand new collection features every single MC on every single track, and it is definitely the most well crafted batch since their inception.

As a collective, the prolific Legendary crew has sold well over a quarter million records between them. The line-up includes Murs, The Grouch, Luckyiam, Eligh, Scarub, Sunspot Jonz, Aesop, Bicasso,. Legendary Music has been owned and operated by the members themselves for nearly a decade. Recently, the Legends brought on a full label staff of qualified industry veterans known for an expertise in grass roots marketing and label development, signed a new distribution deal with the leading independent record distributor in the US (ADA Distribution), and signed with the forefront agency in booking independent and transcendent Hip Hop, The Kork Agency. As a unit, the group is thriving more than ever and making distinct moves to further awaken an already rabid and devout fanbase.

Since signing with Kork, the Legends have a headlining theater tour booked in March that is punctuated with a headlining showcase at SXSW and a featured performance on the 3rd annual Paid Dues Festival, co-founded by Legends member Murs with Hip Hop juggernaut promoters, Guerilla Union (Rock the Bells, Smokeout, etc). Along with the Legends, the bill includes Sage Francis, Little Brother, Dilated Peoples, Jedi Mind Tricks, Hieroglyphics, Boot Camp Click, POS, and others.

The Gathering is a 7 song collection highlighted by a socially conscious anthem for peace, in which the Los Angeles via San Francisco area crew are doing their civic duty, while not forgetting to move the crowd with heavy bangers, catchy hooks and fire-spitting verses on all tracks, celebrating all of their true roots. The record was mastered by Grammy Nominated Mike Lazer (Gnarls Barkely "St. Elsewhere") at Paramount Mastering and Recording and has a sound bigger than anything coming from the independent hip hop movement.

The Gathering, a precursor to a full length coming in late '08, serves to warn the greater hip hop massive: Don't forget the longtime leaders of the Wild West coast! (Press Release)

Upcoming tour dates:
Mar 6 2008 THE CATALYST Santa Cruz, California W/ LUCKYIAM
Mar 7 2008 THE FILLMORE San Francisco, California W/ LUCKYIAM
Mar 8 2008 THE NEW OASIS Sparks, Nevada W/ LUCKYIAM
Mar 9 2008 KILBY COURT Salt Lake City, Utah W/ LUCKYIAM
Mar 10 2008 THE OGDEN THEATRE Denver, Colorado W/ LUCKYIAM
Mar 13 2008 VOLUME Austin, Texas SXSW Showcase
Mar 16 2008 THE SUNSHINE THEATER Albuquerque, New Mexico W/ LUCKYIAM
Mar 17 2008 OLD BRICKHOUSE Phoenix, Arizona W/ LUCKYIAM
Mar 22 2008 Paid Dues @ NOS Events Center San Bernardino, California Living Legends, Sage Francis, Little Brother, Dilated, Hiero & more
Apr 25 2008 Luckyiam & MURS @ Coachella Indio, California (each have solo sets)

oi Dizzee Rascal taking over----i am telling you

Prepare for the invasion.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Spankrock at SXSW

No disrespect to anyone who listens to the dude/group Spankrock, but when is the new record coming out. Fo reel. Keep the party going.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Busy Weekend

I was up to 5 in the morning the last few nights and each night was worth it. The weather is warming up, the time has changed and spring breakers are leaving the city. On Thursday, March 13th i was able to dabble in the underground rap and dance scence at two different venues. First, i went to the Bowery Poerty Club to listen to rappers of all facets spit their gritty tales and win a few bucks. The event was called RockStar Arena, a traveling Open Mic and Performance Showcase that gives New Yorkers a chance to see the good and bad of rap all in the same venue. Other rock acts played but no one was interested. Shout out to the bartender for the free whiskey and boob shot.I ended up at Glasslands in Brooklyn where the party should have begun. The place was packed, the hipsters, and hipettes were out but the music was off the heezy. A bmore infulenced New Jersey crew tore the roof off the motherfucker and made the place shake like it was a reshoot of Guess Who is Coming to Dinner. An unknown UK Dj finished off the night with a plate of grime, crunchy house and dub influenced techno. On Friday, March 14th I hit Le Royale in the west village where Busy P rocked the place to perfection. After an hour wait, they finally let my ass in the club where it was not packed to capacity. ha. I went upstairs to hear the music with my drunk ass and the crowd was swaying back and forth like it was church. Busy P kept the congregation under control with spins of Uffie, Dj Mehdi and some Kayne West. A good start and then the dirty music quenched our thirsts for rudeness and jobless struggles of the third kind. While drinking a bottle of vodka during mixes and sharing his drink with the women lost in his essence upfront, the french dj from Ed Banger Records proved to NY that he and his crew are not stopping with madison square gardens. After 30 minutes of neck breaking, sweating your ass cheeks off crunchy synthesized 4/4 house music, there seemed to be nothing left in the system and then there was more. His set breathed rockstar without the status. No video game could come close to the spiritual release we all felt from this set. Busy P did the damn thang.

Because she is hot

MURs Rules the World


Assuming everyone likes sex and jokes and video games, Murs has an everyman appeal that's hard to deny. Couple that with a self-effacing, totally energetic stage presence, and you've got one of the best shows I saw this week. It took a while and a couple of utterly mediocre mixtape rappers for him to reach the stage, but when he did, it was worth the wait. Murs is such a generous performer, manifested literally through his vocal support of people who download his music, and he complimented his song choices with banter like, "MySpace fucked up my life. All these girls promise to give you some pussy, and then all they want to do is watch movies." The highlight of his crowd-altering set was "Bad Man!": sexual, frustrated, and hilarious, all at the same time.
Posted by Dave Maher

Friday, March 14, 2008

everyone gets laid

ok, i show on this bitch so pay attention.

Saul Williams

Whew. Over at Fader.com, they said Saul Williams just blew the roof off the motherfucker down at SXSW. Of course he did.

Sex and Booty music. YEAHHHHHHH

y Nolan Strong

Memphis, Tennessee rap group Three 6 Mafia has launched a strip club tour to promote their latest single "I'd Rather," from their upcoming album Last 2 Walk.



The group will make 20 stops in the south and mid-west during the tour, which kicks off on March 17 in the group's home state of Tennessee and ends on April 14 in Saint Louis, Missouri.



"We are doing it because our first two singles are sex and booty songs," group member DJ Paul told AllHipHop.com. "Its Spring Break and Summer is coming up. It's about to be alotta sex going on in the U.S. and we gonna do the score music for hotels, dorm rooms and the back seat of cars!"



Three 6 Mafia's "I'd Rather" also comes with an Internet video featuring former New York Governor, Eliot Spitzer.



Spitzer, who resigned on Wednesday (March 12) after being caught patronizing a 22-year-old prostitute, is cleverly worked into the remix of the song.



"I wish him luck," said DJ Paul. "I never wish harm on people. He got caught up. I just hope she had some real good p***y."

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Del is back and he makes a Gorilla Statement

el the Funky Homosapien
The 11th Hour
[Def Jux; 2008]
Rating: 6.8
Buy it from Insound
Download it from Emusic
Digg this article
Add to del.icio.us
Del the Funky Homosapien was one of indie rap's leading stars by the end of 2000, and he did it with a pair of albums that couldn't be much more diverse: Deltron 3030, a conceptual space-rap opera about an AWOL mech soldier turned supernaturally powered anti-corporate freedom fighter, and Both Sides of the Brain, where his lyrics concerned things like Dreamcast games and weed and people who smell really bad. The next year, he appeared on two singles from the smash hit Gorillaz album-- a brush with mainstream pop fame he capitalized on by dropping a few verses on Hieroglyphics' Full Circle in 2003 and then disappearing from the public radar almost completely save the occasional guest spot. This wouldn't be the first time Del's been on semi-hiatus; 1993's No Need for Alarm took seven years to receive a mass-market solo follow-up, thanks in part to Elektra terminating his contract and relegating 1998's lost classic Future Development to a delayed indie distribution four years later. But there's still cause to wonder how much popular momentum Del might have lost by ducking into the sidelines all these years.

Especially once you take into account how much momentum he's retained in just about every other department, at least if 11th Hour is any indication. Del's newest album and first for Definitive Jux is a straightforward and uncluttered record that flows surprisingly naturally for an album that's been so repeatedly delayed. Part of this could be credited to the production: This is one of those strange records where you forget most of the beats 15 minutes after you put away the CD but get completely hooked by them while they're playing. Del's production skills have been largely underrated as one of the things that keeps his albums held together, and he's stated in a few interviews that the beats on The 11th Hour came before the lyrics did-- maybe it's not obvious at first, but once it sinks in how that unobtrusive digital funk is complemented and augmented by a voice that knows every in and out of the beat's mechanical structure and jabs back at it in intricate ways, the more that the production's unpretentious simplicity makes perfect sense.

As a lyrical exhibition, almost everything that makes Del the MC he is is in full effect: A taunting, sing-songy flow, internal rhymes that remain intricate without getting too convoluted or highfalutin', and the tendency to mix tightly-packed gymnastic verbiage and straightforward talk. One vital component that's missing, however, is the detailed storytelling and earthy day-to-day humor that informed records like Both Sides of the Brain and 1991 debut I Wish My Brother George Was Here alike. What we're mostly left with, aside from a few stress-rap cuts like the self-conscious "Hold Your Hand" and the anti-rumormongering "I'll Tell You", is Del sticking to one aspect of his subject repertoire-- his skills. He's got 'em, you don't, he likes MCing and making beats, rocking crowds because he's good at it-- yeah, it's the alpha and omega of rap lyricism to big up yourself, and it's not anything Del can't back up. But the more he flaunts it-- on "Raw Sewage", "Bubble Pop", "Naked Fonk", "I'll Tell You", "Workin' It"-- the less it seems to stand out from one boast to the next. It actually comes as a relief when he manages to express it as a basketball metaphor ("Slam Dunk"), which says a lot coming from someone who sat through that tiresome Dan the Automator NBA 2K7 comp in its entirety.

Still, for an album that pushes the limits of how much you can say about so little, the stuff that's said rarely fails to be entertaining in the pure linguistically structural sense. That aforementioned flow of Del's prods into your subconscious when you're focusing on anything but the lyrics, like you're hearing fragments of a spirited conversation in an adjacent room, and when you switch your attention to the words themselves they click so well it's almost hard to believe they sound like that and still make some kind of sense, even if they look perfectly normal on paper. (One highlight, from "Last Hurrah": "The faintest notions that they're finna get some/ It's dumb, I spit some of this wickedest wisdom".) And the barrage of lyrics is exhausting without being tedious, with endlessly-parseable knots of phraseology and weird little asides everywhere to keep your attention. With the battle-centric focus of No Need for Alarm given an additional 15 years' worth of experience and perspective, The 11th Hour is a tight and ruthlessly efficient 48 minutes of boasting-- if only its lyrical personality was as outsize as the voice delivering it.

-Nate Patrin, March 13, 2008

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Buraka Som Sistema - Sound of Kuduro

new sound but an old sound. Big up to Eddie Stats at Fader for the exposure. Oh yeah, MIA on the chorus

Listen-this could be video of the year





Look, i am not saying The Roots took some pointers from Gym Class Heroes who took some pointers from The Roots. Lets just say, the old learned some new tricks.

Dizee Rascal in the flesh Oiiiiiiiii!!!

Last night at Southpaw, i was able to muster up enough money for a ticket to broolyn extravaganza where i saw Game Rebellion-The new PE, Rye Rye-fire from Bmore and Dizee Rascal. Plus a nice session of beats from Dj Synapse. Game Rebellion as usual tore the roof off the motherfucker with hard beats, hard rhymes and a frontman that makes every other rock band out look like pussies. Yeah i said it. Brooklyn son. Peep out their new mixtape Searching for Rick Rubin. One question, Do you guys drop the DJ?

Next Dizzee Rascal showed that he was taking over the US, starting with Brooklyn. With his record being released via Def Jux and a fanbase that is so secretive even the blogger himself was caught in between chants of OI, jus a rascal and let me be old school. Dizzee tore the roof off the motherfucker with club beats, dub influenced grime out funkness and the bass hitting harder than miami alpine speakers. Boom. Aaron LaCrate controlled the ones and twos into the night.

Finally, Rye, Rye, the phenom from Baltimore wrecked havoc with her Bmore beats, old school earrings and Salt N Pepper style. Backed by the godfather of Bmore, Scottie B, she showed dance moves, energy drink jump n jack flash and a willingness to challenge anyone who denied her stardom.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

LORN-Drum Machine

This is a cool track that i was able to hear a few days ago. Great for djs. A little electro funk hurts no one.


ICE CUBE is BACK with RAW FOOTAGE

By Mike Winslow

West coast Gangsta rap pioneer Ice Cube announced that he will release his ninth solo album, titled Raw Footage.



The album will feature guest appearances by Scarface, Westside Connection member Dub C., Nas, Musiq Soul Child, while Wreck, Maestro, Emile and others handled the production.



Raw Footage is the follow up to Ice Cube's 2006 gold-selling album Laugh Now, Cry Later, which debuted at #2 on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop sales chart and #4 on Billboard's Top 200 sales chart.



Ice Cube, who is currently in the recording studio tweaking the album, will perform the album’s first single “Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It” and other material next week at the South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival on March 15.



The rapper has partnered with Microsoft’s new Silverlight technology to stream his SXSW performance live via his new website, uvntv.com, which was launched with producer DJ Pooh.



"We are excited to partner with UVNTV.com and SXSW to bring this live concert into the homes of people globally, using our Silverlight technology which delivers the high-def experiences that Ice Cube's fans will love," said Rob Pulciani, Microsoft’s senior marketing manager.



Ice Cube’s new album Raw Footage is due in stores June 17th via Ice Cube’s Lench Mob Records.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

SantoGold is coming to a store near you

Gravy the NEw BIGGie Uh!


Jamal Woolard - The Notorious B.I.G.
Angela Bassett - Voletta Wallace
Derek Luke - Sean Combs f/k/a Puff Daddy
Anthony Mackie - Tupac Shakur

Here’s what the Hollywood Reporter had to say:

Woolard, who also is known as Gravy, is not a total unknown. He has
released a number of albums, though he’s perhaps best known for
being shot before a radio appearance outside the New York hip-hop
station Hot 97 two years ago, after which he proceeded with the
interview and became a part of hip-hop lore.

Like Biggie, Woolard was a drug dealer before he became a rapper.
He had released a number of albums on indie labels in the 1990s
before being signed by Warner Bros.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

New Gnarls Barkley-Welcome back

Del the Funky Homosapien: "Workin' It"

The second time-traveling video today from MTV's Subterranean blog is less flashy and a bit more futuristic than the MC Justin Timberlaked-out clip for Gnarls Barkley's "Run" a couple of hours ago. Del the formerly Funkee immerses himself in a studio that might as well be a space shuttle and plugs himself full of wires in the clip for "Workin' It", from his forthcoming The 11th Hour. Then he appears in a hat and shades like some kind of stylish old-style soul crooner, with a phonograph keeping the title phrase revolving. The track itself is a lot less adventurous than the previously posted "Bubble Pop", though there are still some "Jetsons"-like electronic squiggles around the hollowed-out beat, vinyl hiss/scratches, and occasional guitar hits. Del doles out extended metaphors in quick, measured phrases: "Punish ya if/ You're comin' to get / Some of my chips/ I summon the blitz." For all the sci-fi/retro visuals, this Homosapien's got another thing to say, too: "I'm a real dude."