Terrible Chris' Fave Albums of 2010, Part the 2nd

i know, i know, you were so blown away by yesterday's list, you're wondering if you can take anymore. All the money i spend up in this bitch, you best believe you are.

6. Alex B, Moments--i dig Alex B's sound in a BIG way. Possibly my favorite beat album of the year.

7. Teebs, Ardour--Or maybe this one. Both were damn fine beat records. 'Nuff said.

8. Grinderman, Grinderman II--i've said it before, and i'll say it again--i can only hope and pray that my mid-life crisis sounds 1/100th this kick ass. This, my friends, is gutter rock blues at its finest.

9. Big Boi, Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son Of Chico Dusty--The until-now-less-heard-from-half of Outkast proves his worth and then some on perhaps the best rap CD of 2010.

10. Erykah Badu, New Amerykah, Part Two (Return of the Ankh)--Ms. Badu continues her perfection of odd funk and R&B.

ED. NOTE: ALL MP3 LINKS WERE REMOVED FROM THIS POST AS DICTATED BY THE MAN.

Beat Week: J Dilla Day

If the cosmos see fit to send me two Dilla-related tracks on the same day, well, who am i to deny the kid a try?

Luminary Youth recently opened for Bonobo and TokiMONSTA, so you should know off the bat the kid has skills. Upon receiving his new EP, Paper Constellations, two things struck me immediately: 1. If remixes by other artists are any indication, this kid keeps good company (read: Boards of Canada, Persona La Ave, and Washed Out, among others) 2. LY knows the Masters, as evidenced by this excellent J Dilla Tribute. i understand he's got a new LP in the works. Based on this bad boy, i can't wait to hear it.

mp3: Cloud Walking (J Dilla Tribute) (Luminary Youth from Paper Constellations)

As i am apt to do, i was checking out some of my fave artist sites yesterday and stumbled across this gem from my beat hero, Alex B. In his own words: "I found the original sample that dilla used on his track 'Players.' For personal enjoyment i remade the track to sound similar to his with my own twist on it. Enjoy!" i think you'll find that last command an easy thing to do.

mp3: Players (J Dilla_SV REMIX) (Alex B from his website)

And this last number came out months ago (early April, to be exact), but for whatever reason, it got lost in the piles of music constantly going through ye ode iPod. i intend to make amends today by sharing this mixtape banger by the Roots putting their instrumental spin on some of Dilla's classics.

mp3: The Stars (The Roots from Dilla Joints)

mp3: Look Into Her Eyes (The Roots from Dilla Joints)

Free Music Friday...ON A THURSDAY!!! The Everything INCLUDING the Kitchen Sink Edition

Guess what, kids? i'm headed to NY tomorrow for a couple of Prince concerts, so this is probably it for me this week. If you happen to be at either the Meadowlands on Friday night or MSG on Saturday, i'll be the sexy motherfucker getting his groove on in the aisles.

i suppose today's post could have just as easily have been a "Beat Meet," "More Xmas Music" or even an "Otherwise Engaged" post, but you get all of 'em rolled up into one, big ball of aural goodness! You lucky, lucky, friggin' bastards.

If you're not going to be in NYC on Friday, but will be in DC, i highly recommend catching Liz Phair at the 9:30 Club or Gene Ween at the Black Cat on Friday night. i hate when there are a preponderance of excellent shows all happening at the same time, but what can you do? Me, i take drugs, but that's another story entirely.

Let's get into that tunage now, shall we?

Xmas tunes first...

White boy soul singer Mayer Hawthorne tackles the Charlie Brown classic with quite fine results.

mp3: Christmas Time is Here (Mayer Hawthorne from Mayery Christmas to All!)

The Pallers had this to say: "While working on our debut-album we decided to celebrate you all by recording this winter greeting.This is to say "We think about you, we will meet again, sometime after the snow is gone and the days are longer!" But for now we´d like to share with you this Christmas song, this warm caress with a promise, this Arctic Hymn." Sounds like a plan to me.

mp3: Artic Hymn (Pallers from Artic Hymn)

Yeah, yeah, sure, sure, but where's my Xmas beat, bitches? Keep your pants on, kid. We've got your back. Not sure if the second track is Xmas-specific, but it certainly is holiday oriented. And it has beat boxing, which makes everything, even anal probes, more enjoyable.

mp3: Xmas Rush (Dub) (Nathan Fake from XLR8R.com)

mp3: Dancing in the Snow (Ernest Gonzales from Been Meaning to Tell You)

And now, for something completely the same, if we're discussing your normal Free Music Friday.

Korallreven puts together a nice and smooth beat for Victoria Bergsman to get her jam on to with this lush number.

mp3: Honey Mine (ft Victoria Bergsman) (Korallreven from Honey Mine 7")

If you feel your beat music could use a little funk, Georgia Anne Muldrow is a name you need to commit to memory. To make you want to buy her latest, VWETO, she's been gracious enough to offer up this beast of a groove. Me likey oh so much.

mp3: fOnkRocker (Georgia Anne Muldrow from her VWETO)

As the LA Series comes to a close for the year, they've decided to break my heart. This new, stuttering jam from TokiMONSTA makes me hate myself even more for missing her open for Bonobo a while back. God damn, this is a booty shaker!

mp3: Park Walks (TokiMONSTA from LA Series 8)

MORE beat music? Hell, give 'em the knee shooters, i always say.

i'm only just getting into Mux Mool, but if Alex B sees fit to remix the guy, i'm hooked.

mp3: Hog Knuckles (Alex B Remix) (Mux Mool from Wax Rose Saturday EP)

KRS-ONE is going to get posted here every opportunity that comes my way. That being said, is it just me or is old boy's voice starting to hit a wall on this one? Don't get me wrong, he's still one of the best in the game, but i think someone might have suggested a lozenge and a cup of tea to Kris before he picked up the mic this time.

mp3: 5% (ft. KRS-ONE and Grand Puba) (DJ Premier from Get Used to Us)

And just because i'm telling you it's the right thing to do, we're going out with some Beans.

mp3: Deathsweater (Beans from End It All)

Free Music Friday

To start, many happy returns of the day to The Missus. Doesn't have a damn thing to do with today's Free Music Friday, but, hey, it's half my blog, so i'm going write about what i'm going to write about. Plus, you dig the Missus, too, so you should wish her one, too.

Anyway, we received some nice tunes the past couple of weeks while i've been traveling all over the place, so you get to enjoy the fruits of those looms, as it were.

Surprising no one, Stones Throw continues to give out more freebies than whore with poor pimp management. i don't know about you, but i've always been a huge fan of voice boxes. Fuck that auto-tune shit, i'm talking about the original real deal. Whereas Roger Troutman popularized the sound (using his own variation on the instrument), the ST crate diggers have uncovered a treasure trove from Bruce Haack, the inventor of “Farad," one of the first truly musical vocoders, and first to be used on a pop album. Also from the gang, Aloe Blacc's Good Things finally hit the stands, and to celebrate, they dropped this ultra-groovy, soulful number to get your juices fellow in a most mellow manner.

mp3: Electric to Me Turn (Bruce Haak from Farad: The Electric Voice)

mp3: You Make Me Smile (Aloe Blacc from Good Things)

Daytrotter did a session with the folks in Admiral Radley, and it's a good one. Go check it out. We keep telling you how good Jason and his crew are, so maybe this will make true believers out of you.

mp3: I Heart California (Admiral Radley from Daytrotter Sessions, 9-22-10)

Sadly, i've been a little less impressed with each new Thermals offering, but i am kind of digging the new single from Personal Life. Call me crazy, but the lo-fi noise of their self-titled EP remains their high water mark for my money. Sure, they've grown musically and lyrically, no doubt, but where's the fun in that? i first saw the band open for Sleater-Kinney years ago, fell in love with Kathy Foster while she was bouncing around on stage tearing up the bass, and have been hooked on and off ever since. This one goes a decent ways towards making me need to call my sponsor again.

mp3: Never Listen to Me (The Thermals from Personal Life)

i know what you're thinking, a live DOOM album? There's been a lot of talk about if this is even a real live set, how old it actually is, blah, blah, blah. All you need to worry about is the fact that DOOM spits fire, this is loads better than Live From Planet X, and the first track is free. The Villain is back, y'all, so don't sleep on this one.

mp3: Beef Rap (DOOM from Expektoration)

Another new Alex B track just hit the interwebs, so you know i'm going to post it here. It's about smoking weed and it's more bottom heavy than your fat-assed prom date, so you know it's worth listening to.

mp3: Dro on the D-Lo (Alex B from 1320 Records Volume II)

And to close things out, the latest from 0OoOO's eponymous EP. Personally, i dig the track, but i'm not sure about this "witch core" nomenclature. Really? Sure, it's spooky and has ethereal, seemingly disembodied female vocals, but is that honestly the new sub-genre name we want? Eh, fuck it, it's glitch, and it's good, and that's enough.

mp3: Burnout Eyess (oOoOO from oOoOO)

Beat Meet

i really need to come up a name for this recurring column. "Beat Meet" seems to be both truthful, as we're here to discuss the latest i've dug up from the beat music scene, plus the double entendre in the name is just childish enough to work for me. i'll gladly accept other suggestions should any of you care to post in the comments, but we may just have a winner here.

Anyway, as luck would have it, we have a particularly good haul this week.

From one of my all-time favorite labels out there today, the folks over at Project:Mooncircle have remained busy. Hell, Robot Koch apparently is working on the Madlib model and will drop his Songs for Trees and Cyborgs this October. The LP comes essentially on the heels of his phenomenal Listen to Them Fade EP, which came out just a few months back. This time around, the Mad German Maestro teams up with the likes of Boxcutter, 1000 Names, Doshy, RQM and Graciela Maria, amongst others. Koch happens to be one of my favorites in the game right now. His stuff demonstrates a bit more of the European sensibilities you don't always find in U.S. beat scene, more structured and textured than a lot of the other players out there. Just to get you pumped, we've got an early listening treat for your ear holes.

mp3: Brujeria (robot koch vs graciela alatorre) (Robot Koch from Songs for Trees and Cyborgs)

The other main reason this week is so good is that i finally got off my ass and downloaded a new browser, thereby allowing me the ability to download from the fantastic XLR8R site. Holy Christ, it's like a freakin' treasure trove of grooves over there! And guess what? They had even more Robot Koch, remixed by my hero, Alex B.

mp3: Devil Drums (Alex B Remix) (Robot Koch from Friends of Friends Volume 3)

What's more, Alex B just released a brand new podcast mixtape for XLR8R, thereby bringing perfect symmetry to where we are. And thus, it all returns to foot wear.

mp3: XLR8R Podcast: Alex B - August 24, 2010 (Alex B from XLR8R website)

Hell, while we're at, i dug up a boatload of remixes over there that need to be shared with you lucky bastards. Truth be told, i don't know too much about the first two actual artists, but you know of my love for Shigeto and Flying Lotus. Of course, the last one is just the opposite; i'm way down with Baths (thanks, Ernie and Bert!), but couldn't tell you too much about the One AM Radio or the Los Feliz Ladies Choir. All share one thing in common, however, and that's that they're all bad mama jammas.

mp3: Lost Where I Belong (Flying Lotus Remix) (Andreya Triana from Lost Where I Belong)

mp3: Black Canyon (Shigeto's As I Inhale Mix) (Ana Caravelle from XLR8R site)

mp3: Hall (The One AM Radio Remix feat. The Los Feliz Ladies Choir) (Baths from XLR8R site)

Since i'm feeling so generous today, i've got to also throw love towards We Did It Collective yet again for these two new gems from jonwayne, both from his upcoming Doodles CD. Sounds like that's only going to be available at shows, so pick up these tracks and say you got there first.

mp3: Big Like Curby (jonwayne from Doodles)

mp3: Infinite (jonwayne from Doodles)

The Pro~Ef camp just sent us over a sample of their upcoming adventure score series, Compression Chamber, due out September 21st 2010. Stuttering beats over hazy grooves. Me likey. If you've read this far, i'm guessing you will, too.

mp3: Paper Trail Exerpt (Pro~Ef from Compression Chamber - Episode One: Paper Trail)

The Greatest Nothing Mix You Ever Will Hear

Every now and again, i got nothing. The LET inbox doesn't have anything that particularly interests me right this second and/or i've got stuff to listen to that i haven't yet and/or i'm too medicated/not medicated enough to come up with anything with which to blow wind up your proverbial and collective skirts. That's right, Jimmy, you're getting a cheese wit' nuttin' today.

So here's the Greatest Nothing Mix You Ever Will Hear. It's bellisimo, magnifique and bonne all in one.

mp3: Talkin' Loud & Sayin' Nothing (James Brown from The Millennium Collection)

mp3: Nothing is Always Something (Alex B from Moments)

mp3: Nothing (Alex Ludovico from Winning/Losing)

mp3: Nothing to Lose (Dimitri from Paris from Sacrebleu)

mp3: Don't Believe Nothing (Ike & Tina Turner from More Dirty Laundry: The Soul Of Black Country)

mp3: Nothing Even Matters (Lauryn Hill from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill)

mp3: All for Nothing (ft. Grand Puba Of Brand Nubian) (Sharkey from Sharkey's Machine)

mp3: Ain't Nothing Like You (ft. Mos Def) (Blakroc from Blakroc)

mp3: I Am Nothing (Nellie McKay from Pretty Little Head)

mp3: Love is Nothing (Liz Phair from Whitechocolatespaceegg)

mp3: Nothing Matters When We're Dancing (Magnetic Fields from 69 Love Songs, Vol. 1)

mp3: Ain't Nuthin' But a Jam, Y'all (George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars from Live...and Kickin')

mp3: Ballad of Big Nothing (The Thermals from To: Elliott From: Portland)

mp3: Can't Do Nuttin' For Ya, Man (Public Enemy from Fear of a Black Planet)

Nuttin, indeed.

FunJunkie's Summer Burn 2010, Part the Second

The Missus was more than kind enough to help me put together the covers for these mixtape masterpieces last night, so they're en route to recipients in far off lands even now. Part of the experience of FunJunkie's annual Summer Burn, you see, is the case itself.

Last year, i went shitty and just used iTunes auto-jewel-case-cover-program, which is pretty plebeian on its own. Of course, that was the year i exchanged with some graphic designer who sent me this lush, handmade piece with silk screening and the whole nine yards. So this year, i returned to my fourth grade collaging skills for the cover (pictured here) and even bought some nifty program at Best Buy that was supposed to be the shit's tits, but the paper fucked up my printer. Long story short if it's not too late already, The Missus came through like a champ, so they actually looked like they were made by more than a drunken goat herder.

If you enjoyed yesterday's foray into the mind of Uncle Terrible's summer mix mentality, here's some more of the same. Only infinitely different.

mp3: All Talk (ft. LCD Soundsystem and Christian Bale) (Kid Cudi from his website)

mp3: Lately Troisieme (Memoryhouse also from their site)

mp3: The Curse (Josh Ritter from So Runs the World Away)

mp3: Laughing with a Mouthful of Blood (St. Vincent from Actor)

mp3: Exile (Enya from Watermark)

mp3: Getting to Know You (ft. Lilla D'mone) (Alex B from Moments)

mp3: Shutterbug (Big Boi from Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty)

mp3: Ain't No Sunshine (Bill Withers from Just As I Am)

mp3: Eat Boiled Peanutz (ft. Buttafly) (Digital Underground from "...Cuz a DU Party Don't Stop!")

mp3: Today's Your Day (ft. Chalin 2na) (Fatlip from The Loneliest Punk)

mp3: Smokin' Cheeba Cheeba (George Benson and the Harlem Underground Band from Erotic Moods)

mp3: I Heart California (Admiral Radley from I Heart California)

mp3: Heavy Deeds (Sun Araw from Heavy Deeds)