One of our favorite groups of 2013, Author, have returned from their triumphant USA tour (we caught the LA show and it was so fresh), ready to venture off to the acclaimed Outlook Festival next. But before they do, Ruckspin and Jack Sparrow have been kind enough to treat fans to a free download of "Break Yourself" which didn't quite make the cut on their recently released second album, "Forward Forever." As you might expect, deep bass music is the name of the game here.
We've been fortunate to see unforgettable live shows from some of our all-time favorite music artists while living in Los Angeles, but never Nightmares on Wax! That will change as the group has announced plans for a 2013 North American tour in supporting of their anticipated new Warp Records album, 'Feelin' Good."
Check out new song, "Be, I Do" and the N.O.W. 2013 North American tour dates below:
November 14 - U Street Music Hall @ Washington, DC November 15 - Boot & Saddle @ Philadelphia, PA November 16 - Paradise @ Boston, MA November 18 - Bowery Ballroom @ New York, NY November 19 - Music Hall Of Williamsburg @ Brooklyn, NY November 20 - The Hoxton @ Toronto, ON November 22 - Lincoln Hall @ Chicago, IL November 23 - 7th Street Entry @ Minneapolis, MN November 27 - Neumos @ Seattle, WA November 28 - Refuge @ Portland, OR November 29 - Mezzanine @ San Francisco, CA November 30 - El Rey Theatre @ Los Angeles, CA December 02 - Belly Up Tavern @ Solana Beach, CA Special Thanks: Nightmares on Wax for still rockin it, Warp Records and true herbalists everywhere
While our friends in the UK have seen electronic outfit, Rudimental, blow up in a big way, they are now finally making their way stateside with their smash debut album, "Home." We recently picked it up and it hasn't left our stereo speakers for the last week. Covering multiple genres, "Home" is the kind of debut album that is a breath of fresh air in the current EDM boom.
Take a listen to their first couple of single from "Home" for further evidence:
First single "Spoons" was a sublime deep house cut:
"Feel the Love" was their drum & bass offering and a HUGE #1 smash in the UK:
"Waiting All Night" defied all expectations for the follow-up
Their latest is "Right Here" and is a perfect summer song that is not to be missed:
As a BONUS - check out the recent disco-house remix that Skream did:
Special Thanks: Rudimental for (hopefully) showing that the next generation of electronic music superstar groups will look more to legendary acts like Massive Attack for inspiration on sustaining career longevity
Boom! If you've missed those old hip-hop flavored Gramatik productions, he's gone and done you a solid today in advance of his next album. The producer dug into his vaults and emerged with 22 tracks of pure funked-out bliss that will get your week off to a great start.
Here's what Gramatik had to say: Remember when I used to make all those simple, raw, sample-based hiphop beatz? You know, the ones that the snobby part of my fanbase can't stop crying about? Well, I was going through my digital basement the other day and I found like 22 of them. A little something to hold you over till #TAORdrops, these are the leftovers from SB1. #BackToTheBasics#MerryChristmas
For this Music Monday, it's particularly chilly in Los Angeles, teasing the upcoming Autumn season. When the temperature drops, the warming sounds of Massive Attack's landmark debut album, "Blue Lines," never cease to find my ears. So I thought we'd take a look back at the music videos that made up this classic from the Wild Bunch. Keep in mind this album came out on April 8, 1991. That's right 1991 and it still sounds fresh mainly due to the fantastic crate-digging former founding member, Mushroom, did on the beats and of course each vocalist sounding so uniquely different from his/her counterpart.
"Safe From Harm" - The album opener and one of my all-time favorites from the band. Still a thrilling highlight in their live sets.
"Daydreaming" saw the group incorporate their love of soul, hip-hop and dub. There's about 5 different versions of the track and this album mix isn't my favorite, but it still showcases a funky side to the group that the "Mezzanine" era fans often forget about.
"Unfinished Symphony" is the unquestioned masterpiece of the "Blue Lines" album and one of dance music's all-time top tracks from one of the genre's best albums ever!
Special Thanks: Massive Attack, Autumn air, Jogasaki Burrito and new adventures
After the Upperhands crew embarked on a super underground house music adventure this weekend, we were thrilled to learn that current UK electronic music sensations, Disclosure, were tapped for this week's BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix. While the duo's penchant for dropping quality house music is in full effect here, an unexpected and pleasant surprise was their tribute to hip-hop pioneer, J Dilla, which starts off the mix!
Tracklist: Onra – Intro [All City Dublin] Slum Village – Players [Good Vibe Recordings] Gang Starr – Put Up Or Shut Up [Virgin] Jaylib – React (feat. Quasimoto) [Stones Throw] Q-Tip – Let’s Ride [Arista] Vic Mensa – Orange Soda Moodymann – U Ranaway Linkwood – Secret Value [Shevchenko] Mike Huckaby – Melodies From The Jazz Republic / I Get Deeper (Acapella) [Still Music] [unknown] – J.A.W.S. Trankilou – Bill Collector [BPM Records] T. Williams – Three Letters [PMR] Bassjackers & Apster – Klambu [Sneakerz MUZIK] Dusky – Sunsets & Dolphins Midland – Archive [Graded] Mark Henning – Trojan [Cityfox] Ten Walls – Gotham [Innervisions] Disclosure – When A Fire Starts To Burn [PMR] Rachel Row – Follow The Step (Breach Hood Remix) [Defected] New York Transit Authority – 95′ Soul Purpose – Sublim3 [Lo:Rise] Friend Within – The Scene [Method Records] Paul Woolford – Untitled Hannah Wants – Teardrop On The Fire GoldFfinch – Once You Wrap Adonis & Charles B – Lack Of Love [Desire] Native Soul – A New Day (Spencer Parker’s A Gun For Hire Remix) (feat. Trey Washington) [Defected] Eddie Niguel – Absolute [Midnight Shift] Omar – Feeling You (Henrik Schwarz Remix) [Peppermint Jam] Hauswerks – Puppet Factory [Moda Black] Disclosure – Latch (Maddslinky Remix) (feat. Sam Smith) Special Thanks: Disclosure, BBC Radio 1, Essential Mixes, Underground LA House Music Warehouse Parties and Elysium screenings.
The simplest forms of art are sometimes the most extraordinary.
Roughly 5 years ago, baked, searching the internet like a goofball for whatever music I could find,
I stumbled upon a song that I can guarantee you've never heard before.
How confident am I that you've never heard it before? Because I'm a beat digging nerd
and even I had trouble finding this track.
Crustation - Purple (Jay Dee a.k.a. The Ummah Extended Remix)
Originally released in 1996 on the album, Crustation - "Bloom",
the single track "Purple" was released in 1997 in CD single, 2x 12" Vinyl LP and 12"LP.
It features remixes from producers such as Mr. Scruff and Le Femme D'Argent,
but the real gem is the "Ummah Extended Remix" ... or is it the "A Tribe Called Quest Edit"?
Well if you said A and B, you're right.
On various liner notes for the multiple releases of this album single,
you could have a version that refers to "The Ummah" doing the remix or "A Tribe Called Quest" Edit Version or ATCQ Remix.
Still wondering who "The Ummah" is?
It's Jay Dee.
Go back and read the liner notes from albums like Tribe's "Beats, Rhymes, Life" or "Midnight Marauders" or countless amounts of classic old school Hip Hop and you'll see that name :
The Ummah.
Jay Dee Cooking up some beats.
So here it is,
Crustation - Purple (A Tribe Called Quest Edit, Produced by Jay Dee)
Please make sure to be sitting down, laying down or slowly cruising through the
hills of Los Angeles with the windows down.
Peace.
Special Thanks to : The gym for getting aggressions out, the journal for getting words out, the studio for turning thoughts into 3D.
He was also the author of two books about America's wars: The Operators, detailing the flaws of the U.S. military operation in Afghanistan, and I Lost My Love In Baghdad, about his experiences as a war correspondent in Iraq during his mid-twenties.
The peculiar circumstances of journalist Michael Hastings' death in Los Angeles last week have unleashed a wave of conspiracy theories.
Now there's another theory to contribute to the paranoia: According to a prominent security analyst, technology exists that could've allowed someone to hack his car. Former U.S. National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-terrorism Richard Clarke told The Huffington Post that what is known about the single-vehicle crash is "consistent with a car cyber attack."
Clarke said, "There is reason to believe that intelligence agencies for major powers" -- including the United States -- know how to remotely seize control of a car.
"What has been revealed as a result of some research at universities is that it's relatively easy to hack your way into the control system of a car, and to do such things as cause acceleration when the driver doesn't want acceleration, to throw on the brakes when the driver doesn't want the brakes on, to launch an air bag," Clarke told The Huffington Post. "You can do some really highly destructive things now, through hacking a car, and it's not that hard."
"So if there were a cyber attack on the car -- and I'm not saying there was," Clarke added, "I think whoever did it would probably get away with it."
Authorities have said that it may take weeks to determine a cause of death for Hastings, but that no foul play is suspected.
Hastings was driving a 2013 Mercedes C250 coupe when he crashed into a tree on Highland Ave. in Los Angeles at approximately 4:30 am on June 18. Video posted online showed the car in flames, and one neighbor told a local news crew she heard a sound like an explosion. Another eyewitness said the car's engine had been thrown 50 to 60 yards from the car. There were no other vehicles involved in the accident.
"I believe the FBI when they say they weren't investigating him," said Clarke. "That was very unusual, and I'm sure they checked very carefully before they said that."
Clarke worked for the State Department under President Ronald Reagan and headed up counterterrorism efforts under Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. He also served as a special adviser on cyberterrorism to the younger Bush and published a book on the topic, Cyber War, in 2010.
"I'm not a conspiracy guy. In fact, I've spent most of my life knocking down conspiracy theories," said Clarke, who ran afoul of the second Bush administrationwhen he criticized the decision to invade Iraq after 9/11. "But my rule has always been you don't knock down a conspiracy theory until you can prove it [wrong]. And in the case of Michael Hastings, what evidence is available publicly is consistent with a car cyber attack. And the problem with that is you can't prove it."
Clarke said the Los Angeles Police Department likely wouldn't have the expertise to trace such an attack. "I think you'd probably need the very best of the U.S. government intelligence or law enforcement officials to discover it."
Michael Hasting's memorial. Melrose Blvd and Highland Avenue
Photo Taken By : Upperhands
Special Thanks to : Michael Hasting's relentless search for the truth, Big Brother and Government cover-ups, "The Truth Is Out There".
One of my favorite aspects of Los Angeles is that there are
always street artists putting in some serious work.
Enter : Benjamin Alejandro
The self proclaimed graduate of the School of Hard Knocks, Benjamin Alejandro is motivated to broadcast his message by any means fit. From the streets to social media outlets, this self-taught artist has embraced past failures and transformed them into a gambit of funny, disturbing, and peculiar artworks that make you wonder whether he is a social scientist conducting an experiment or someone who is lifting a veil on our obsession with celebrity and success.
Alejandro is well known for appropriating a mug shot of himself into silkscreens and street based works. Arrested for graffiti, the artist created a signature look with an experience that many would try and hide. This type of thinking makes Alejandro an unusual character as his idiocentric attitude seems to surface in all of his work. His mug shot portraits continue this idea with a series featuring celebrities like Bill Gates, Kobe Bryant and Shepard Fairey. This is certainly a quirky idea and one most would not consider flattering. However, Alejandro is celebrating these folks who have overcome missteps and are great examples of triumphant victories in their respective fields.
Special Thaks to : Rich and powerful men getting a slap on the wrist, tequila, Upperhands 8.0, Wishing you did more, Doing the most possible next time around.
We're always in favor of a good mixtape, especially when its as fun as Nappy DJ Needles' new "A Tribe Called Kast," which pairs classic rhymes from Outkast over crisp beats from A Tribe Called Quest's back catalog. Much like last year's GummySoul Pharcyde Meets A Tribe Called Quest mixtape, this takes two of the game's most prominent players and successfully makes something new out of stone-cold classics.
Listen and Download "A Tribe Called Kast" right HERE
Special Thanks: Nappy DJ Needles for making this, Outkast and A Tribe Called Quest for being two of the great hip hop groups of all-time and cereal.
