Welcome to Winter

It is the first seriously rainy day of the season. It had rained a couple of weeks ago but transitioned back into summer heat, and then it cooled down in the last week. Today, however, I woke up to the rain.

Lovely, lovely rain.

It is beating on my window still, and when I woke up a couple hours ago I opted to stay in bed, listening to Spiral Like the Nine by Livestock, and reading The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. The rain makes me want to write and read, listen to music and relax, cook, and discuss philosophy and living, and soak in new knowledge.

Winter is the time for learning. It is when the outdoors becomes both less desireable to walk around in and more desireable to walk around in, depending on the amount of rainfall. It is the time to listen to great music and read great literature.

3 Things That Music Does + More or Les/Fresh Kils Video!

Sounds come out of speakers or headphones and do several things:

1) They entertain.

2) They influence mood.

3) They inspire.

At least, these things happen for me. When I'm drawing I like to listen to Spiral Like the 9 by Livestock and let the raw production and soothing, big bear vocal styles guide my Ticonderoga 2HB Soft across the page. It inspires me, helping me fall into a sort of trance and really get into the piece I'm working on.

When I'm out running around town I like to listen to Baracuda's Do Tell Mixtape because the pumping, rough-housing flow of the entire album really pushes my limits, boosting my body to a new level of physical ability.

And when I can't find a copy of The Phantom Tollbooth, I put on Burglaritis by Wordburglar, because that's the only album that can entertain my need for excessive wordplay and puns.

All this is important to me, and I need to be in different situations to reach the peak of enjoyment for each album that I have. Generally, one of these three things happens (and occasionaly, 4. They Disappoint) when I listen to music. This is why I have an endless search going for new music, I'm constantly trying to find something new to hear as I embark on my next journey.

So... enough said, let's listen to something!

This is recently out!
From Hand'Solo Records description:

More Or Les and Fresh Kils recently released their collaboration EP that is appropriately titled The Les-Kils EP. They’ve just released the video for first single, “Pop N’ Chips”, a party-having posse cut that also features Timbuktu and Ghettosocks. The song is produced by Fresh Kils. The video is directed by Darrell Faria, produced by Mike MacMmillan and edited by Jonathan Eagan.

Seriously, this is fresh, and the video is hilarious!
If you don't like this, you're a darn fool.
Enjoy!

Big Huge Truck

When is this album coming out? I can't get enough of the tracks that are on the MySpace page and I have absolutely no idea when this release is set to come out!! I first heard House on Wheels (feat. Noah23) when it was listed as a track on one of Noah's mixtapes (which was released as "feat. Gregory Pepper") and I fell in love with it. And MadadaM, ever since I heard Train Rawbers, has been one of my favorite producers of all time. And then, with the fairly recent release of "With Trumpets Flaring" by Gregory Pepper... I CAN'T WAIT FOR THIS ALBUM!

If you don't know, the project is a collaboration between MadadaM and Gregory Pepper, two prolific artists, teamed up with a slew of the most wicked Canadian rappers (and probably other people as well). As you'll see on their MySpace, they've already teamed up with Noah23, Ceschi, Livestock, and Blue Blue Heron. And every song is great.

Right now I've been listening to the track Cautionary Tales nonstop, which features a genius collaboration with rapper Ceschi, and one of the best transitions I've ever heard in my life... so what am I going to do until the full album is out? I guess it's time to keep listening to the MySpace player and pray that these fantastic artists get crackin'!

Check it out:
OFFICIAL MYSPACE

Noah23 - Rock Paper Scissors

I've been listening nonstop to Noah23's epic album Rock Paper Scissors. I've had it for a while and been meaning to listen to it but I haven't been doing much other than working (way too much) recently and my ZUNE was on hiatus for a while. Actually, it was the cable that was on hiatus but that really translated directly into me not being able to use the device at all. So, I've been putting off listening to new albums until the other day when I threw on RPS and... it's indescribable.

The first thing that struck me was how much more I liked it than Upside Down Bluejay, which I thought had a pretty good vibe to it. If you don't know, RPS is a collaboration album, in that every track has a guest on it, and it's amazing all the way through. There are some guys that I can never get enough of (Wordburglar, Epic, Livestock, Demune, Gregory Pepper) and some new guys that I'm rapidly searching for music from now.

So... best track on the album?
Elephants March (feat. Fidget and Bleubird)
With more change-ups than a relief pitcher, this track switches styles constantly, mid-verse, and comes straight up with wicked rhymes from all three emcees right off the get-go. I can't stop listening to this, and in fact, I'm going to ask Noah if I can throw it on the premier FlipTape (new music article that's coming soon!) so that you can all hear it too. I'm not able to post it up because it's not a free album.
But seriously, there are components of this song (that I'll discuss in full later) that just make me excited to be a fan of real hip hop. Perfect. I'd say this is one of my favorite all-time hip hop songs now, and that's a hard list to get on.

Go show your support, and listen to Noah23's other projects too. I first heard the guy on Train Rawbers Volume 1 and I'll never stop, as long as he keeps putting out albums.

Noah23's Official MySpace
Rock Paper Scissors Album
Plague Language Official MySpace