In the second installment in our “Music that Got Me Blogging About Music” series (first), we’re going to be covering most of the West Coast. The only part we’re not is The Bay Area, which’ll be covered in Part 4 (out of 5). In Part 2, however, we’ll be going from the Pacific Northwest all the way down to SoCal.
The SoCal picks you may know, if you know your West Coast hip-hop, but my Pacific Northwest choices are some of my most prized. Take a look at ’em and tell me what you know, I bet you’ll find something you’ve never heard before – and if you don’t, hit me up, I may have a blogging gig for ya.
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I’m a SoundCloud fanatic. Not only do they have a shitload of good DJ/producers, but the site is also designed to help you find the music you like (it’s the small things that matter). Yea, it’s still overcrowded with dubstep, remixes and mashups – I mean, look at all the choices here – but more & more types of artists are uploading their tracks everyday.
To pay tribute to my SoundCloud fanaticism and the lovely people who are to blame, I decided to throw up my favorites of 2010. Now, I’ve only been prowling around there for maybe six months, so don’t expect EVERY banger to be up on here (make sure to tell me which ones I missed). Also, if I’ve posted a SoundCloud track on here already, it won’t […]
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Basic Physics straight up dropped some swag lines from Chris Brown on Alexandra Stan’s “Mr. Saxobeat”. As much I’d love to have seen this cut up and altered a little more, they really found a perfect match made for the Salsa Club (or anything Spring Break) – and isn’t that why we love mashup artists so much
Also, make sure to check out Basic Physics mashup of Lil’ Wayne & Pretty Lights, one of my favorites of all time.
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First fell in love with Blackmill when he did a dubstep remix of Ellie Goulding‘s “Your Song”, originally by Elton John. Now he’s gone and done it again with his own “Miracle”. I never knew dubstep could be so melodic, but Blackmill sure as hell does it with both of these tunes.
[audio:Miracle.mp3|titles=Miracle]I decided to compile a list of 25 artists that I discovered (or rediscovered) in college and was the driving force to get this music blog up and running. The list is broken into five categories – Midwest/East Coast hip-hop, West Coast hip-hop, International/non hip-hop music, Bay Area hip-hop and finally my top five. I plan on posting one per week for the next five weeks (each Sunday), but you know how that goes. Make sure to stay tuned in.
For the first part I decided to go with the Midwest because that’s where I’m from. Unfortunately, my Midwest & East Coast influences are lacking on this list, probably because I went to college in Arizona, heavily influenced by the West Coast. Anyways, I think you’ll enjoy these six musicians from the heart of America – some you may know and some you’ll get to know (you better!) […]
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Abel Tesfaye’s vocals are touching on holy in House of Balloons, backed by Doc Mckinney & Illangelo’s deep ‘n dirty beats and this is an experience into the dark side of soul.
When I heard The Weeknd’s first single, “What You Need“, about a half a year back, I remember thinking that this is some of the sexiest shit. Well, I wasn’t quite sure where Abel would take it next, but House of Balloons has a grip of tracks that are equally as impressive, spewing even more […]
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In for some more glitchy/choppy breakbeats by Paper Diamond. I gotta say, “Electric Smile” is one of his best so far – seems to keep me more in tuned than a lot of his tracks off Levitate. Wish there were some dirty pop samples put in, but sometimes it’s good to keep those out (for integrity’s sake).
Make sure to check out my post of Paper Tiger’s Levitate on SFCritic.
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When I first heard KeithCharles Spacebar’s “PrettyBrownEyedGirl”, I thought it was a prank. His flow just reminded me too much of a fairly well-known East Coast/Midwest rapper, one I couldn’t put my head to. The whole vibe reminded me of AbCreole, who are actually from Seattle, but knew I was thinking someone more nationally known. It’s frustrating as hell, but I still can’t figure it.
But besides that, KeithCharles vibe is smooth as hell, especially with those neo-soul beats behind ’em. The beats actually remind me of a couple of my favorite producers, though these I can name.
Besides his minor references to video games classics, KeithCharles’ BeforeCommonEra is also similar in sound to D.C. producer K-Murdock. Both posses beats with a forward-thinking, experimental style that incorporates […]
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Yea, I’ve been posting a lot of shit hip-hop, lately. But these mashup mavericks craft fine electro-beats around rappers who may not be the most relevant to our lives, but have something that many rappers overlook, a personality.
I see too many well versed rappers concentrate too hard on the meaning and not on how the rhyme flows with the beat – remember, you’re not rapping to a beat, the beat’s rappin’ to you (… you get what I mean). As much as hip-hop is about meaning, the first thing to music is feeling – and Rick Ross with the help of Tim Gunter’s mashup of Mord Fustang’s “Electric Dream” is nothing but feel (good) music.
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Goulding has got a damn sexy voice, as we all know, but pair it up with some top notch dubstep RMX’s and ya got trip-hop’s worst nightmare unleashed. When I first started searching for Ellie Goulding dubstep remixes, I didn’t think there would be this many well done, but there were, all with their own flavor.
Enjoy ’em as much as I did putting ’em together. If you have any other Goulding’s gone dubstep, make sure to hit ’em up in the comments below.