Khingz: The Phở 99 mixtape

Once 1/2 of Abysinnian Creole, one of Seattle’s most beloved and down duos alongside Gabriel Teodros, The lyrically extraterrestrial Khingz has been traversing up and down the left coast of North America making music and being rad. Lately, the one and only Black Han Solo has been working on a live band+emcee project called Hi-Life Soundsystem , with some representatives from Seattle based Godspeed -  album on the way.

As a prelude to the full course of the upcoming mixtape Khake and Khool Aid, Khingz blesses us with this summer mixtape Pho99, fresh and hot – add  lime,  plum sauce and Sriracha and your good to go, uyệt vời (great)!

 

DJ 100 Proof’s Backyard BBQ Vol. 4

If you don’t already know about the musical series that DJ 100proof created awhile back called Backyard BBQ, then you need to get brought up to speed.

It’s essentially a once physical, but now digital mixtape full of songs that are perfect for a summertime cookout. You’ll know most of the songs, you’ll love most of the songs, and now you’ll have them in one spot. On this latest version, released a couple of days ago, everything from Sly Stone to The Physics to Large Professor to Roy Ayers is here. Hundy did a good job of picking songs that most people wouldn’t play at a backyard BBQ, but probably should.

Go ahead and download it for free now. Oh, and you know how much we love Chicago’s Hynotic Brass Ensemble. Yup, they’re on there too.

Canh Solo – just dope

This isn’t music, but damn if it isn’t filthy. Canh Solo is a photographer/artist/documentarian whose work has moved towards blending social commentary, high art, and contemporary graphic design. His latest project, Gentrification: A South Seattle Story, pulls all three of those levers into high gear, putting stark black and white imagery into conversation with what looks like quotations from various new and old residents.

Check the full meal deal at his blog, it’s worth it.

das racist in seattle

*not from tonight's show. duh

i just got home from the 2nd night of blue scholars’ three night home stand at the showbox. sabzi and geo are probably rocking the house right now (i’d have stayed, but an illness is bringing me down early tonight). considering this site has given some love (and helped put them up and show them around while they’re here) to das racist, who were on the bill tonight , i wanted to write a short review of their set. mainly, they killed it. it was a short set–30 minutes tops–but coming out of south by southwest, where they rocked a mess of shows, it was a hella tight 30 minutes. i wish i could have heard the vocals a little more clearly (these guys are clever, after all), but the beats were crazy hot. like nuclear hot. surface of the sun hot. too bad they’re only rocking one night in the city, and also too bad that the crowd wasn’t giving them the love they deserved, though some absolutely were. i wonder what the crowd would have done if they knew it was sabzi under the gorilla mask. this show definitely makes me eager to hear their mixtape (coming soon!), and hope that they can make it back to seattle real soon.

Vitamin D: The born day EP

Vitamin D: emerald city beatsmith and patron of fine opera

Hey Vita! happy belated b-day from the not so tall homies @ LxNxM ! Vitamin D humbly presides in the upper echelon of Seattle producers and hip hop culture in general. Smoothly riding the currents of the Seattle “waves of hip hop ( see Mudede’s timeline/wave theory of Seattle Hip Hop)“, Vita has expanded outside of the 206 with notable collabos with Abstract Rude, Gift of Gab, and various Rhymesayer heads.  On the local tip – Vita ever remains the accessible tall homey,  laying down clever verses all over the place and supplying enduring beats that seem to tailor fit local emcees and singers.

Alright, so the word on the Born day EP is that Vitamin D recorded all these tracks on his b-day! source- local emcee ispire of Canary Sing. Not surprisingly the EP knocks, but it also entertains in way that will put a gleam in the eye of any true hip hop head. Vita gets it in throughout the nine tracks – exploring topics from wack birthdays, the limitations of playahood in the age of social media, and identity politics of Seattle Hip Hop.   Download the  Born Day EP here for free and whip test immediately thereafter.

Take a load off

And listen to some Foscil. If you have almost forty minutes of spare time and/or are looking for some background music to your day, why not watch/listen/absorb through osmosis this full live set by Seattle genre-busters Foscil. Even after seeing multiple Foscil performances, I still can’t get enough of these fellas. Their music makes me do the scrunchy faced Master P uhhhhh face. In a good way. Enjoy.

THEESatisfaction x Sa Ra Creative Partners

Sometimes great minds really do think alike, and sometimes they even collaborate. And today has brought together two of my favorite musical forces, Seattle space travellers THEESatisfaction and LA/NYC/Milky Way future sounds pioneers Sa-Ra Creative Partners. Wordlush hit you with the early release of the single, but now we have the whole five-song enchilada. And it sounds so NICE.

It’s not a straight up collaboration – THEESat is jacking some of Sa-Ra’s instrumentals, but the results sound intentional. THEESatisfaction has worked with an array of producers, who together have supplemented their natural galactic inclinations and pushed them beyond the musical stratosphere.

But Sa-Ra is some next level stuff. They exist on a funk-soul plane of existence. When the ladies of THEESatisfaction join up with them, it’s no longer about what part of space they’re in, but which dimension. That is to say, this five song EP feels like a natural fit, as if someone planned it all along. Here’s hoping that perhaps they will…

DOWNLOAD: THEESatisfaction Loves the Sa-Ra Creative Partners

Punk is not dead

Hell no. And if you’ve ever questioned it, you need to take a listen to Industrial Revelation. Now, these dudes aren’t your Black Flag-type of punks. In fact, they aren’t even really punks at all. Industrial Revelation (IR, natch) is, in fact, a jazz quartet.

Fronted by Ahamefule Oluo on trumpet, with Evan Flory-Barnes on bass, Josh Rawlings on keys, and DeVon Lewis on drums, IR is, to all outward appearance, your standard jazzy fresh combo. But wait until you hear them play. That’s when the wheels start to come off. As a unit, they disassemble standards, push key changes to their maximum trajectory, and play with more heart than most groups find in a lifetime.

At some level, punk is about finding the sweet spot where energy and the flouting of conventions overlap. That spot can be hard to determine – it’s like the Supreme Court’s definition of pornography: you can’t define it, but you know it when you see it. Industrial Revelation does all this, but makes it beautiful, melodic, and startlingly emotional. It’s punk that rebels against not just the status quo, but even the idea of rebellion. They follow their own beautifully independent path.

So why write about them? Because they’re releasing their first album, after five years of performances, and  two and a half years after cutting the tracks. This Saturday, if you’re in Seattle, you had better be at the Electric Tea Garden (1402 Pike St) to see the madness unfold.

Check here to listen to an earlier single, It can only get better from here.

THEESatis Shakes up Babylon

I think the year was 2007 when a reggae singjay named Richie Spice came out with a earthquakin’ track called, “Earth a Run Red,” that musically shook fault lines amongst everyone who heard it.  It’s been a little while since a track gave me the same convulsions but the new THEESatisfaction refix of one of their favorite Sa-Ra Collective songs called “Fantastic Vampere” has sonic textures that hit at all the right spots.

The duo released this single yesterday called, “Moonday School (intergalactic church),” that puts the ‘pep in yo step,’ the ‘slide in yo glide,’… and you get the rest.

I can remember when Shafiq came to Seattle a few months back and talked to THEESatis in person, but had no idea that a legitimate song would emerge from that.  They didn’t collaborate on it together, but rather Cat and Stasia have decided to make this the first single in their music appreciation series in which they flip songs from artists who they love.  It’s anybodies guess who else will get the THEESatisfaction approved rework treatment but I’m looking forward to hearing more songs like this.

For those in need of a little church, head here to hear a bonafied deliverance.

Grey Area podcast Vol.1

Good evening fair LxNxM denizens.   In addition to being a prolific local beatmaker, WD40 also holds down a nightly  called Grey Area a the local bar/artspace Grey Gallery. If experimentaldubglitchbreakhopstep is what you seek – or if it sounds compelling Grey area is the spot.

Here is the first ever Grey Area Podcast to give you taste of what you might hear. Kicking it off with resident blapster Dead Noise and a bunch of his original tracks, mixed with some of his favorite tunes of the day. Rounding things out, Ill Cosby (Car/Crash/Set) brings a fine selection of glitchy, wonky sounds from the future!

If you can make it out to Grey Area this Friday, Feb.12 – you can catch LxNxM’s very own Toast and Tang on the decks as special guests. Peace.