Hydrant Sippin’

DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE JUNE 2009 MIX HERE

Like DMX said, “it’s June and hell it’s hot.”  OK, I might be paraphrasing.  Anyways, June is always a good month to be someplace air conditioned (or for my friends in the northeast, someplace not raining) and listen to good music.  Here’s what was good:

• Lee Fields & the Expressions – My World: We’re half-way through 2009, and I think we’ve found my vote for album of the year.  The first album that’s had 3 songs on a monthly mix.
• VA – Darker Than Blue: Soul From Jamdown 1973-1980: The good folks at Steady Bloggin’ posted this incredible compilation.  Reggae covers of (mostly) classic soul.  Not one weak song on this one.  The second album that’s had 3 songs on a monthly mix.  Basically, I spent most of June listening to this and Lee Fields, pretty much exclusively.
• Mos Def – The Ecstatic: It still seems kind of thrown together, especially since we’ve heard some of these beats before.  But it works in a Madvillainy-type way.
• El Michels Affair – A Tribute to Isaac Hayes: I wish El Michels Affair were more famous for their original songs than their covers, but I can’t complain as long as they keep picking such choice source material.

I hope you like soul and reggae:

1) Mos Def – Supermagic
Mostly for the Oh No heat.

2) J Dilla (ft. Lil’ Fame) – Blood Sport
Mostly for the J Dilla heat.

3) Truck North – Never Ending Flip
Mostly for the whoever-the-hell-produced-this heat.

4) J Dilla – King
Sadly, I was expecting more from Jay Stay Paid.

5) Mos Def – Pistola
Mos should’ve just let Oh No do his whole album.

6) Steve Parks – Still Thinking of You
Tremendous slow jam, courtesy of O-Dub.

7) Lee Fields & The Expressions – Do You Love Me (Like You Say You Do)
When Mr. Fields is singing “what can a man do?” and that snare drum is firing away, and then some dude lays down on an organ…yeah, that gives me goose bumps.

8) El Michels Affair – Hung Up On My Baby
For whenever Halloween falls on a weekend.

9) Lee Fields & The Expressions – The Only One Loving You
The best soul songs are the ones where the guy is begging to get his lady back. Has there ever been a hip-hop song built off this theme?

10) John Holt – For the Love of You
Reggae take on the Isley’s classic.

11) Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse (ft. Jason Lytle) – Everytime I’m With You
Jason Lytle describes every relationship I had from ages 21-24.

12) Wilco – Bull Black Nova
I realize I’m in the minority, but my favorite Wilco album is A Ghost Is Born. This is the only song from Wilco (The Album) that sounds like it could have come from A Ghost Is Born. You won’t be hearing this one in any Volkswagen commercials. (the rest of Wilco (The Album) sounds like Sky Blue Sky, for what it’s worth).

13) Born wit IT – That Loud
Everyone loves a good weed-song now and then. If anyone’s got a no-DJ version of this song, please hit me up!

14) The Cool Kids (ft. Tennille) – Jump Rope
The drums are cold and icy, but this is still undoubtedly a summer jam.

15) Freddie Gibbs (ft. Black Flint) – Goodies
One star from Gary, IN dies, another is born?

16) Nipsey Hu$$le – Burner on My Lap
Best rapper name in forever. Dre needs to get back on his G-Funk shit and put Nipsey on.

17) UGK (ft. Devin the Dude) – Ain’t That a Bitch
Noz unearths the (apparently rare) dirty version of the Dirty Money standout.

18) Carl Bradney – Slipping Into Darkness
Somebody sampled this, but I can’t figure out who. It’s driving me nuts.

19) The Now Generation – People Make the World Go Round
My favorite of the four versions of this song that I have (which I actually heard first on “Swan Lake“)

20) The Tamlins – Baltimore
I know this is blasphemy, but this right here would have made a better theme song for the Wire than “Way Down in the Hole.”

21) JC Davis – A New Day (Is Here at Last)
Can anyone tell me what previous Monthly Mix song sampled this instrumental funk beauty? I’ll give you a hint, it was a looooonnngg time ago (ie, before the blog-era).

22) Lee Fields & The Expressions – Ladies
Mr. Fields hits on one of the best things about summer (and gets kind of worked up about it). (courtesy of Steady Bloggin…who I just realized supplied about half the songs on this month’s mix)

23) Young Billie Cole – Sitting in the Park
Seriously, if anyone can point me to more good reggae cover songs, please do! (another one from Mr. Wang)

1) Big Daddy Kane – Big Daddy Thing

2) Lil’ Wayne & Birdman – Stuntin’ Like My Daddy (Konrad Remix)

3) Yesterday’s New Quintet – Papa

4) Ultramagnetic MC’s – Poppa Large

5) Richard “Groove” Homes – Song for my Father

Happy Mother’s Day

Audio Two – Get Your Mother Off the Crack

Bonus joint: Wuf Ticket – Ya Mama

DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE APRIL 2009 MIX HERE

Whoa.  The hydrant was on full blast this month.  I don’t even want to tell you how much new music hit my iPod this month.  Nearly 2/3 ended up in the trash bin, but it took a while to get through it all and make sure nothing slipped through the cracks.  But that’s what happens when you’ve got a ton of good stuff dropping in one month.

• MF Doom – Born Like This: Yeah, I’m still pissed I paid to see one of the Doomposters lip-sync in San Francisco a couple summers ago.  But dammit if the Super Villain doesn’t make some good music.  
• Handsome Furs – Face Control: Made me realize that the things that bothered me from the last Wolf Parade album were largely Spencer Krug-related.
• Obits – I Blame You: A great album for driving or for drinking domestic beer in a can (but not at the same time).
• Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix: Poppier than the stuff I normally listen to, but definite crowd pleaser.
• The Soft Pack – The Muslims EP: Two months in a row that they’ve featured on a monthly mix.  I think I like these guys.
• The Thermals – Now We Can See: A semi-poppy, semi-punk, semi-concept album.  I swear, it’s way better than it sounds on paper.
• White Rabbits – It’s Frightening: It’s no Fort Nightly, but still damn good.
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!: I need to listen to this one more, but I think I’m liking it.
• Bobby Creekwater – The B.C. Era: Looking at the name and the crappy album cover, I figured Bobby Creekwater was a budget version of Bubba Sparxxx.  I was wrong.  

As always, let me know if there was something I missed.

1) Blame One (ft. Sean Price) – Disturbed
Blame One is servicable-enough, but you know I put this up for Sean Price: “Listen, flow’s phenomenal, off the chain / but really (b!tch n!&&a) take off your chain / I ain’t jokin’ around, totin’ the pound”

2) MF Doom – Gazzillion Ear 
“In any event it’s fake like wrestlin’ / Get em like Jake The Snake on mescalines / Ahem, elixir for the dry throat / Tried to hit the high note, Villain since a itsy bitsy zygote”

3) Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Heads Will Roll
Part of me says that this song is way over-the-top and cheesy.  But another part of me says it’s pretty awesome.

4) Phoenix – 1901
Part of me says that this song is way over-the-top and cheesy.  But another part of me says it’s pretty awesome.

5) Slim Thug (ft. Paul Wall) – Top Drop
A perfect song for those first hot days in April when you realize that winter is gone for good, and summer is just around the corner.

6) Young Dro – Dro Rock Diamonds
The Biggie sample…the Al Green organs.  Yeah, this works for me.

7) Big Tuck (ft. Gucci Mane) – Not a Stain On Me
My April theme song.  Big Tuck almost ruins this monster of a beat by sounding like a broken record.  Luckily Gucci comes in to save the day.

8) Bobby Creekwater – Clouds
Yet another talented rapper stuck in the Aftermath no-release purgatory (see also: Bishop Lamont)

9) Slim Thug (ft. UGK) – Leaning
My favorite UGK song wasn’t even on the (mildly disappointing) UGK album.  

10) Young Dro – Clean With It
If Dro keeps up this high standards for the beats he rhymes over, his next one could be a classic.  Say what you want about some of these Southern rappers, Dro can rap his ass off when he chooses.

11) Drake (ft. Bun B & Lil’ Wayne) – Uptown
I mostly hated So Far Gone.  But this one works for me.

12) James Brown – Goodbye My Love
I’m working on beefing up my JB.  Overlooked fact: his ballads kill harder than his faster funkier stuff.

13) UGK – 7th Street (Interlude)
Thankfully, UGK avoided the obvious “dead homie” tracks on UGK 4 Life.  Listening to Sweet Jones talk his sh!t over this mournful track was as close as they got.

14) White Rabbits – Percussion Gun
These guys are two-for-two when it comes to having kick-ass opening songs on their albums.

15) Obits – Light Sweet Crude
I guess I’m becoming a sucker for songs about oil (see also, “Black Gold” from February 2009)

16) The Soft Pack – Call It a Day (Acoustic)
I dig the acoustic over the electric version on their album.  There’s something nice about a guy challenging “all you liars” and “all you killers” to call it a day when that guy is backed by some sunny-sounding acoustic guitars.

17) The Morning Benders – Nothin’ In This World Can Stop Me Worryin’ Bout That Girl
I’ll admit it.  About 90% of why I love this Kinks song is because Rushmore is one of my all-time favorite movies.

18) The Forms – Red Gun
This song’s pretty understated, but for some reason really stuck with me this month.

19) The Decemberists – The Rake’s Song
This song is played incessantly on XMU.  I don’t know if I like this song because it’s good, or because it was beaten into my head.

20) Handsome Furs – Radio Kaliningrad
I feel like Kaliningrad is probably too cold for them to be wearing what they’re wearing here.

21) The Thermals – How We Fade
Best-ever song about being a ghost?

DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE MARCH 2009 MIX HERE

Sorry for the delay.  Work has been nutty, and in my free time, I’d rather go outside or spend time with friends instead of sitting at the computer with my headphones on.  Hopefully the delay has just built up anticipation among my rabid cult following (ha!).

Good albums this month:

• Spider Bags – A Celebration of Hunger
• The Points – The Points: Both of these albums had songs featured on the February Mix.  I enjoyed those songs so much, I went out (er, logged onto Amazon.com) and bought their albums.  I hope that some of the other songs I’ve posted have inspired some of you to buy something, or better yet, go to a show.  If so, let me know!
• Pill – 4180 The Prescription: Killer Mike does not have weed carriers.  Pill put out the best mixtape so far this year.  Thanks to Noz for putting me on to this.

To those worried about the lack of good albums in 09, hold tight.  I’ve got a ton of shit that I can’t wait to listen to for next month: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, White Rabbits, UGK, The Thermals, MF Doom, Crystal Antlers, Brother Ali, and lord knows what other shit I put on my hard drive.  

As always, let me know if there’s anything I missed:

1) Rich Boy – Drop
It’s 09’s “A Mili”.  

2) Pill (ft. Killer Mike) – The Work’s Hard
These two should really do a whole album together.  P-I-double is buttery smooth, while Killer Mike is probably the hardest dude out there.  

3) Juvenile (ft. Jimi Jump) – Ta Pieces
New Juvie!  This is probably my favorite song on Uptown Nolia Boy, but there are definitely some other jams on there.

4) Pill – Dimes of Hard
Does Pill have someone in the Grind Time camp making beats for him as good as this, or is this jacked from someone else?  

5) Diplo and Blaqstarr – Get Off
Diplo (in 09, at least) > Timbaland.  No doubt.  But is Blaqstarr > Timberlake (in 09)?  Either way, it’s a reminder that Timbaland needs to quit messing with Chris Cornell and get back in the studio with JT.  Meanwhile, there’s this.

6) Michael Jacson – Pretty Young Thing (Demo) (U-Tern Edit)
U-Tern remixes never disappoint!  See also: July 07, April 08, and Feb 09.

7) The Phenomenal Handclap Band – Baby
I’m skeptical of any bands outside of the Daptone label who make “retro” black music.  But these guys are doing it right.  And this is the prefect song to bring us to the portion of the mix dedicated to my baby, who I will miss terribly while she’s out of the country these next three months. (thanks, Mixtape Riot)

8) Dave Sitek – With a Girl Like You
Off the somewhat disappointing Dark Was the Night compilation (too many slow songs).  But this one from the TV On the Radio mastermind(?) works for me.

9) Yeasayer – Tightrope
All Hour Cymbals is a very good album.  If this song is an indication of what they’ve  been doing since then, it sounds like Yeasayer is getting even better.

10) Reuben Bell & The Casanovas – It’s Not That Easy
While searching around the internets for some old 8Ball & MJG albums, of all things, I came across this excellent soul compilation…

11) Just Brothers – Broke His Heart
…it wasn’t the strongest soul comp, start to finish…

12) Jean Wells – Have a Little Mercy
…but it had these three great songs.

13) Diego Bernal – Diego’s Donut (RIP Dilla) 
Something about the drums don’t sound all that “Dilla-esque” to me, but this beat is still dope.

14) Def Jef – Black to the Future (Extended Remix)
I guess Def Jef wasn’t the best rapper around, but this song stands up with all the other classics of the late 80’s.  Props to Matthew Africa at I Wish You Would.

15) Three 6 Mafia – Lick My Nutts
Any number of songs ask a girl to “lick my nutts.”  Three 6 put it over the top with the “suck my butt” part though.  You’d think I’d grow out of finding this shit funny one of these days…(props to Mad Decent)

16) Mood Swingaz – The Blessin’
If you were a hip-hop nerd like me back in the late 90’s, you probably remember checking the new releases at Sandbox or Hiphop Site (both apparently still in business!  who knew!) and getting geeked over shitty Real Audio snippets.  For some reason, this song eluded me for about a decade.  Anyone know anything about this group?

17) Blu – Since 
Off the HerFavoriteColo(u)r. mixtape, from the dude who looked bored as shit to be rappin’ in Raleigh last Friday.

18) Dam Funk – Hood Pass Intact
One of those songs that would make for great theme music whenever you walk into a room.

19) Po Po – Kill Tonight
Garage punk from the latest Mad Decent signings.  Better than anything on the latest Black Lips album.

20) The Points – Never Trust My Heart
There’s a great “lose your shit” moment around the 2:03 mark, followed by another at 2:44.  God, I’d love to see these guys live.

21) The Soft Pack – Walking With Jesus
You might remember them from when they were called the Muslims.  I’m glad they changed their name.

22) Jail – Always Wrong
Saw these guys open for Spider Bags and enjoyed them quite a bit.  

23) Spider Bags – Blood For You
Saw these guys close for Jail and enjoyed them quite a bit….even though the stuff they played sounded much different from the stuff on A Celebration of Hunger.  It still sounded great though and I’m looking forward to them dropping something new.

The March 2009 Mix is coming soon…probably this weekend. Work has been busy and not fun. It’ll probably be here this weekend.

UPDATE: Full mix available here: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=T19HL386.  I’ll have the full write-up later.

DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE FEBRUARY 2009 MIX HERE

February 2009 will always be remembered for being the month where I finally got to see Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings (they killed), and I got to see the US beat Mexico 2-0 (once again).  Unfortunately, it won’t be remembered by me as a great month for albums.  I got nothing on the “good albums” list this month.  I guess I spent too much time this month listening to Dilla to really get into any new stuff.

That said, I think we’ve got another pretty good mix down below.

1) The Spider Bags – The Bottle
After twice hearing the boys from Titus Andronicus describe Chapel Hill’s Spider Bags as “the greatest band in the world” (immediately before proceeding into their cover of the Bag’s “Waking Up Drunk”), I finally got around to getting some of their songs.   If you like whiskey, you’ll like the Spider Bags.  I think I’ll have to drag myself over to Durham Thursday night to check them out live.

2) Harlem – Psychedelic Tits
They aren’t doing anything the Black Lips haven’t been doing already.  And the song title is cringe-worthy.  But dammit if this song didn’t bore its way into that part of your brain that makes you randomly sing aloud the words “psychedelic tits” while walking to work in the morning.

3) The Points – Feeling Sorry
DC’s answer to Jay Reatard.  

4) Lil’ Wayne (ft. Pharrell) – Yes
Holy shit, this is my song of the month.  Sometimes P annoys me, but who else comes up with insane beats like this one?  And Lil’ Wayne is at his weirdo-best on this one.

5) Wale – Dig-Dug
Maybe Dig-Dug and the “GIMME THAT PIE!!!” sample are references to some go-go classic.  But since I don’t know a thing about go-go, it just sounds absolutely bizarre and awesome.  

6) Ilyas – The Night’s Mine
These drums sound go-go-ish to me, as well.  Are we onto a new trend here?  If so, bring it on…this is definitely fresh.

7) Busta Rhymes – Don’t Touch Me (U-Tern’s Disco Mix)
I wholeheartedly endorse anything that U-Tern touches.  I can’t imagine that “Don’t Touch Me” was terribly easy to remix, given the multiple tempo changes in Busta’s flow on this song.  But U-Tern’s beat sticks with Busta every step of the way, and ends up outshining the original.

8) Spank Rock – Put That Pussy On Me (Diplo Tonite Remix)
Aren’t we about due for a new Spank Rock album?

9) Santogold (ft. Project Pat) – Shuvit
I never expected a Three-Six remix of a Santogold song, but props to whatever mad genius decided that it would be a good idea.

10) Jay Electronica (ft. Che Grand) - Hagler 
I still don’t know quite what to think of hip-hop’s proudest new dad.  He can hit some deep topics, and his beat selection is impeccable, but sometimes his flow is a bit awkward and his voice is nothing especially interesting.  But did I mention that his beat selection is impeccable?  

11) AB & Daru (ft. Black Milk) – On Deck
I don’t know a thing about AB & Daru, but a “ft. Black Milk” (or even better, “prod. by Black Milk”) will guarantee to get me to listen to your song.  

12) PPP (ft. Coultrain) – Angel (Wajeed Remix)
I don’t normally mess with R&B, but this knocks harder than about 99.5% of all hip-hop songs.  

13) Theophilus London – Cold Pillow
Reminds me of when Mos Def would start singing with Vinia.

14) Ced Hughes (ft. Donwill) – The Mighty
Not that it’s an either-or proposition, but Ced Hughes should be getting at least as much shine as Wale.  And of course, Don Dub comes with it, too.

15) Marvin Gaye - Got To Give It Up (Monk’s Lovers Rubdown)
I featured U-Tern’s fantastic remix of this song back in my July 2007 mix.  Here’s a nice little dubbed-out reggae remix, courtesy of Names You Can Trust.

16) Pure Essence – Wake Up
Don’t get seduced by that bubbling baseline…everybody still needs to wake the eff up.  What these guys were singing about in 1976 still (unfortunately) holds true today.  Courtesy of Soul Sides.

17) The Impressions – Can’t You See
At the end of January, I had a revelation: I had never heard an Impressions song that wasn’t completely awesome.  So I went ahead and downloaded as much of their stuff that’s available on Amazon.  It was one of the better decisions I’ve made in a while.

18) Cliff Nobles – Love Is All Right
Who else used that (incredible) horn line?  It’s killing me.

19) Tyrone Davis – A Woman Needs to Be Loved
Another Soul Sides sureshot.  RJD2 fans rejoice.

20) The Impressions – We Must Be In Love
As I noted up above, I listened to a lot of Dilla this month.  See where I’m going with this?

21) Jay Dee – Track 2 (Dilla Beats 3)
So, I broke the rules.  This little Dilla instrumental has been on my iPod for years.  

22) John Robinson - Black Gold
DOOM is quite underrated as a producer.

23) Cappadonna – What’s Really Up
Angry NY street-rap at its best.  Why do so many rappers not realize that they sound better when they step into the booth pissed off?  Not surprisingly, I got it at Unkut.

24) Raekwon (ft. Method Man & Ghostface Killah) – Wu Ooh
Will we ever hear Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2?  Will it be filled with classic Wu-bangers like this?  Stay tuned.

DOWNLOAD THE JANUARY 2009 MIX HERE

January’s that wonderful time of the year when I waste untold hours listening to crap that made other people’s “best of the year” lists.  I hardly ever find anything that really wows me.  Among the critically acclaimed albums I listened to in January, I found them fairly good, but over-hyped (Bon Iver), boring (Fleet Foxes) and borderline unlistenable (No Age).  That said, there were still a couple of gems that hit my iPod this month.

• The Morning Benders – Talking Through Tin Cans:  You like the Shins?  Then you’ll like these guys.  They aren’t going to be your favorite band, but they made a nice little indie-pop album that’s hard to dislike.  
• G-Side – Starshipz & Rocketz: The first thing you’ll notice is is Block Beataz’ production.  There isn’t a weak beat on the whole album.  But repeated listens will reveal G-Side as Alabama’s answer to UGK.  ST is the more technical, introspective rapper (Bun B), while Clova’s gets by on more style and personality (Pimp C).  End result: a shockingly consistent album – the likes of which you don’t see too often in hip-hop these days.

As always, let me know if there’s anything good I missed this month.

Hopefully 2009 will see us blessed with more hot shit from the 93033 (a proper follow-up to 2004’s The Disrupt maybe?) and a Cannibal Ox album.  Happy new year to all Chinese people.

Cannibal Ox – Raspberry Fields

Cannibal Ox – Dragon Coster 2 (Maliks Remix)

Mr. Lif (ft. Cannibal Ox) – Brothaz Remix

Oh No – Ox Broil

Oh No – Oxcity Sickness

J Dilla – Oxtopus

Madlib (ft. MED & Poke) – The Ox (805)