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)

Concert Preview: Rock the Bells Festival, 8-29-10, Merriweather Post Pavillion

i don't normally talk about concerts before attending them, but seeing as i just dropped $300 for two tickets to the Rock the Bells Festival, i figured i'd make an exception this time.

Go figure, it's for a festival, too, in August, no less. Now, i don't really do festivals anymore. The notion of standing in a hot field with random strangers while the acts play for less than an hour each simply is not that appealing to me. i'd far rather pony up and see a given performer doing a headlining gig at a club--there's generally less chance for heat stroke, the sets last far longer and the bathrooms usually are at least a tad cleaner.

This year's Rock the Bells Festival, however, has some of my favorite hip-hop acts of all-time taking the stage to perform some of their earlier albums in their entirety. And these are some of the greatest rap CDs ever put to wax, i tell you what.

For your listening pleasure, we have the following performing the following:

--Snoop Dogg, Doggystyle

--A Tribe Called Quest, Midnight Marauders (i personally would have preferred People's Instinctive Travels And Paths Of Rhythm, but what can you do?)

--KRS-ONE, Criminal Minded (RIP, Scott La Rock)

--Rakim, Paid in Full (What, no Eric B.?)

--Wu-Tang Clan, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (No ODB? No problem, as they're bringing Boy Jones, his first born son)

--Slick Rick, The Great Adventures Of Slick Rick (Pauvre, Pauvre Doug E. Fresh)

--Plus "very special guest" Lauryn Hill, assumedly doing "The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill," though the website is a bit murky on that front. i guess her kids need to eat after all (i joke because i love, people).

Not to mention, some dozen other slated acts, plus freestyle sessions and Buddha only knows how much buddha wafting through the air. This is one i'm betting should not be missed (to the tune of $300, damn it). More to come. In the interim, let's rock, y'all.

mp3: Gin and Juice (Snoop Dogg from Doggystyle)

mp3: Award Tour (A Tribe Called Quest from Midnight Marauders)

mp3: Super Ho (Boogie Down Productions from Criminal Minded)

mp3: I Ain't No Joke (Eric B. & Rakim from Paid in Full)

mp3: Da Mystery of Chessboxin' (Wu-Tang Clan from Enter The Wu Tang (36 Chambers))

mp3: Treat Her Like a Prostitute (Slick Rick from The Great Adventures of Slick Rick)

mp3: Doo Wop (That Thing) (Lauryn Hill from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill)