Friday, April 13, 2012

ReBOTed

Obviously this is the week of the indispensable EP! Hot on the heels of the latest from Tribe One we also get an equally amazing and equally free remix collection from Seattle's Supercommuter.

Remixes, Vol. 1 is six tracks strong and boasts some of Wheelie and Co's best from their first two albums reshuffled by Klopfenpop, Hanssen and their own resident Game Boy-slinger Stenobot. You may've heard some of these joints before—particularly Klopf's on my own podcast—but they combine (a la Devastator) to create an even more powerful symbiote.

Snag a copy now for your weekend enjoyment.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Damn it Feels Good

Kick-ass cover art by @Rusty_Shackles
So it's midday on a Wednesday, and I'm sitting at my desk high on spicy tangerine beef and low on energy when I get the most exciting news I've heard all week. Ever since I met him, ever since I heard him rhyme all live and in person at last summer's Nerdapalooza, I have been a huge fan of Tribe One.

Admittedly I already knew he was dope from his turn on Adam WarRock's debut album, but that was a concept piece and Tribe was mostly playing a part. What I wanted to hear, even if I didn't fully realize it back then, was Tribe One just being Tribe One. This particular revelation didn't come until that fateful July evening.

That night Tribe said—and I honestly didn't know if he was joking or not—that he was working on an EP of raps over Anamanaguchi instrumentals. It was a weird concept, but I was all for it. I just wanted more music. I wanted more Tribe One.  Which brings us to today's release.

Along the way we've all been treated to a couple of wonderful singles and a specialized collection of mostly live material that Tribe used to round out the merch booth on mc chris's Race Wars Tour. Hell, I even had the good fortune to see Tribe perform again alongside Adam, int eighty, The ThoughtCriminals and Illbotz, a crew that I proudly and frequently refer to as my fam. And it was all good.

Fuck that; it was all great.

Tribe One has become one of my favorite MCs, with his casual front-porch flow and his commanding but extremely personable presence, but more importantly he's become one of my favorite storytellers. anamanaGANGSTA // Devil Rhymeosaur is a collection of borrowed beats, sure, but the stories are all his.

From the project intro ("anamanaGANGSTA"), a lo-fi funkadelic mission statement, to the titular closer ("Devil Rhymeosaur"), the best damn intro track to ever grace the end of a disc, it's an amazing ride that, thankfully, I was able to experience in its infancy. "Expand Your Brain," another track I was treated to early in its development, is a chippy club banger and "I Will Make You Believe," which I've just heard for the first time myself, has a sort of maddening urgency that can't help but impress even if it runs a bit short.

The true highlights, however, are introspective WarRock collab "Midlife Crisis" and the monolithic braggadocio of "I'm Kind of a Big Deal," a joint that's been my new favorite song ever since a demo landed in my inbox a couple weeks back. I really can't praise that track ( or Tribe One) enough.

The six song EP is currently freely available via Bandcamp, and you need to download a copy right now.

Seriously.

Monday, April 09, 2012

Sax and Violence

John Anealio has a brand new track out--one that you can cop, I am inclined to add, for free over at the Bandcamps. It's a commission piece for Mur Lafferty and Angry Robot Books based on Adam Christopher's alt history noir thriller Empire State.

Y'all know I'm a big fan of John's, but this selection is particularly interesting as it channels some cool prog rock and groove metal elements alongside a swingin' saxophone solo. Give it a listen below, and don't forget to give Mr. Anealio some well-deserved love.