New Lupe Fiasco. He gets bold on this one, definitely a step away from The Show Goes On. He spits unapologetically on politics, religion & drugs but Alex Da Kid & Skylar Grey help keep a pretty melodically pleasant facade to the serious subject matter. In my opinion, Lasers is shaping up to be a phenomenal album.
Words I Never Said – Lupe Fiasco

The original “Closing Time” came out in I wanna say 1997 or 98. It was a number one rock record for that year and still to this day is played on many alternative rock stations. When it came out I still remember watching the video of the lead singer walking aimlessly around a city. It was played multiple times a day and is a top track of the 90′s. Flash forward to 2011 and The Five One made a great song even better. Changing up the beat, adding 2 rap verses, but still keeping the roots of the track made for a very compelling song. I will let The Five One explain their exact feelings on the track,

Closing Time is a song originally written by a the band Semisonic. In the song there was a memorable line repeated throughout the songs stanzas, “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end” which made us think about the process of making music and relationships in general. So we jammed around figured out the chords, made 2 rap verses, and decided to make the back bone of this remake a Break Beat to represent two of our favorite things about the 90s. Alternative Rock such as Semisonic and Hip Hop ala Souls of Mischief and A Tribe Called Quest. Respect.

Closing Time – The Five One

Nothing like a little Swedish pop pick-me-up on a sunny day. “Overflow” is the first single from Little Majorette’s upcoming debut album Rifle Heart, out in April. Light and sweet, but most importantly Swedish and pop. Check it out below.

The band’s nucleus core, consisting of ZOE DURRANT, PETTER WINNBERG and NILS TORNQVIST, met in a friend’s studio during a recording session and decided to have a go at writing songs for other artists together. Before long, they realized the music they made was a fingerprint match to their own personal style. It just sounded better when they performed it. Songs returned to sender, they formed a band and took the name Little Majorette – becoming one had been a childhood dream of Zoe’s

Overflow – Little Majorette

So in after my last post talking about D-Sisive, there were a lot of comments mentioning Shad, so I thought he merited his own post. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the name, Shadrach Kabango (Shad or Shad K for short) is a rapper from London, Ontario, who first attracted significant attention from hip-hop and Canadian music fans in 2007 with the release of his second full-length studio album, The Old Prince. Based on the strength of singles “The Old Prince Still Lives At Home” (and its Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air-spoofing music video) and “Compromise”, many finally began to recognize Shad’s lyrical prowess. He’s managed to strike a fine balance between being a conscious rapper without being preachy, not to mention having the ability to drop witty pop culture references and jokes into his rhymes at the drop of a hat. Last year, Shad put out his third album entitled TSOL, which was well-receieved by critics and fans alike. The album was even nominated for the prestigious Canadian music award Polaris Prize, but he lost out to Montreal indie rock band Karkwa. He’s also well-respected in the Canadian indie rock community, having recorded with various members of Broken Social Scene, and most recently, recorded two songs with Dallas Green (Alexisonfire/City & Colour) for charity. Here’s the (slightly old) video for TSOL standout “Rose Garden”.
Rose Garden – Shad

Damn…days like today make me miss summer. That’s when I was first introduced to Foster the People. Back in April of last year I was tantalized with this fabulous and for me the defining song of Summer 2010. Without it, I’m not sure Summer 2010 would have even happened outside of calendars and history books. Foster the People‘s “Pumped Up Kicks” melts away the snow piled up outside my penthouse and reminds me of driving around on my bike with my girl on my back, wind twirling through our hair while playing this song from my helmet – yes my helmet has speakers and an input for my iphone. It’s a good feeling. Here’s the music video.
Pumped Up Kicks – Foster The People

Gilbere Forte’ has been killing it with consistently lately, and it’s all been leading up to this, his mixtape with Don Cannon, called EYES of VERITAS, which is available for free download. Check it out below or head over to the Bandcamp page. What do you think? Is Gilbere going to be one of the next newcomers to blow up?

For awhile I was ignoring some of the naysayers but EOV was my moment to get a few things off my chest. What started out as an 7-8 song EP, turned into a full 16-track mixtape with the big Don Cannon. I was blessed with the graces of The Smoking Section and Hall Of Fame to rock with me on this project. This go round I reached out to a few folks I really wanted to work with. My partner Raak and I handled most of the production, but I got a couple heatrocks from the homies Bink, Lex Luger, Boi-1da, Bengie, Ben Pramuk, Joshua Long, and “The Cannon” himself. BIG SHOUT to everybody who came thru with guest verses, WE GOT ONE! Let’s win.

EYES of VERITAS is the next chapter of my story. Journey with me.

Not an impressive beginning to February. I’ve got a couple emails, following a few blogs and heard a lot of music that I’m not too fond of. However, the young Tate Tucker out of Georgetown impressed me with a rapid fire flow and lyrical tenacity that caught my ear. Not to mention beat selection for new rappers is critical to their success, and the young Tate chooses wisely with this track. Here’s hoping that Tate Tucker continues to grow and make good music. The force is strong with this one. Peace.
Alors – Tate Tucker

It was only about 2 weeks ago that Gorilla Warfare Tactics, a young NYC hip-hop trio, released their very first song. It was called “Tempations“, and as soon as I posted it I couldn’t stop listening to it. I’m giving these guys a real deal hands up and head bop. Now they’ve gone and doubled their output with this second track, giving us more of a look into what they’re capable of. What do you think of this Primo sounding track?
The Tale of Mr. Street – Gorilla Warfare Tactics

So many people were rushing to get the highly anticipated Strokes single that the website crashed. It’s back up now, so head over to The Strokes’ website and exchange an email addy for a free download of “Under Cover Of Darkness”, the first single from their upcoming album Angles, due March 22nd.

What do you think? Does this live up to your expectations?

I heard Phony Ppl for the first time last July with “If This Is How Love Feels“. They’re a group of 16-18 year olds (maybe 17-19 now, not sure about their dates of birth), from NYC and since the last time we listened, they’ve been gaining momentum and selling out venues in the city. They’ve got a live, soulful sound to them, and while they might not be the most polished, they’ve got that boom bap and a human pulse that is far too often missing in new music these days.
The World (Mail Me Your Love – Phony Ppl