Doom Is Back

That’s right yall, the man, the myth, the legendary MF Doom is back and has a new album in the works.  “Born Like This” is slated for a March 24th release date, but Doom has already released two of the tracks to his myspace.  While Doom is self-producing most of the album, he’ll be rapping over a few foreign beats, courtesy of J Dilla (RIP), Dangermouse, and Jake One and featuring Wu-Tang Clan members Raekwon and Ghostface Killah.  This album would mark the return of Doom after a two-year hiatus, during which previous collaborator Madlib (of Madvillain) released Madvillainy 2 without any further collaboration with the man behind the mask.  Doom has long since been one of my favorite emcees for his versatility and lyricism.  Needless to say, I’m expecting a lot from this album, and judging by the two tracks on Doom’s MySpace, “Ballskin” and “That’s That,” Doom will deliver, like he always has.

–F. Fresh

John Frusciante’s “The Emyprean”–Review

Music has the ability to capture and convey many emotions, whether they are anger, angst, frustration, happiness, despair, or any number of others. All good music does this by painting pictures and weaving words, taking the listener on his or her own personal journey:  to the top of a mountain or into the pits of Hell;  receding into a quiet corner, on the town, or perhaps through a field of flowers. It is however, a special thing when a musician creates an album which does all of this and more. John Frusciante’s 10^th solo album, titled “The Empyrean,” is that album. If you’re looking for that journey, look no further.

Read the rest of the Review

Inverse: So True EP

As I was browsing the ever expanding hip-hop blog universe, I stumbled upon one blog that struck me as “incredibly fresh” On the front page of the blog, there was a new post, more or less demanding me to download their newly released EP entitled So True. I was feeling spry, so I decided, why not? While it was downloading, I looked at some of the older posts, and realized that Deacon (part of Cunninlynguists) is featured on one of their tracks. Upon reading this, I became very excited.

When it finished downloading, I threw it in itunes, and clicked play. Now I am not a huge fan of rave reviews nor am I good at writing them, so instead, I’ll let Frosty review the album. However I am going to tell you that  I am now a huge fan of Inverse, and that these tracks have been listed in my itunes as favorites. I am also going to recommend that if you want to listen to quality hip-hop, then you should go download So True EP. This album, in my opinion should be on the shelves at the record stores, not being downloaded for free, but I’m not complaining. 

Regards,

-Jigga

 

Oh yeah, here’s Inverse.

Another Sunday Morning…

Theres….Something quiet, something personal and introspective about weekend mornings.  Saturdays are either dazed attempts at piecing together friday night or a flirtatious procrastination with whomever decided to stay after the party ended.  But sunday mornings are by nature almost peaceful.  Put on the tv watch re-runs over a cup of coffee, or perhaps curl up with a book you’ve already read a couple times.  It safe to say that nothing real gets done, but thats when it all comes together.  What have I learned this week?  Who have I met that will change my life?

Not to be cheesy, but I should borrow a line from the movie, “Stranger Than Fiction.” which I saw last night, and enjoyed immensely.  How can we tell which moments in our lives are the significant ones?  It’s difficult, no doubt, to determine which courses of action to pursue at the end of the week, but perhaps that’s what sunday mornings are all about.  It’s the perfect time when life affords you a much needed breath of air, and a chance to remember the smile of a girl you just met, or have known very long, or just give you a moment to listen to the silence that a hard week can bring.  You know, the little things.

So as this Sunday morning draws to a close, and becomes afternoon, I hope you’ve spent it well.  Maybe you finished another chapter in your memoirs, or visited the neighborhood bakery with your family, or sent a cute text message to a love interest, or curled your toes and enjoyed a cup of tea with someone, or made some calls to relatives, or went for a drive down to the lake even though it was cold simply because you could.

Anyway, here’s to another week gone, hopefully some life’s lessons’s learned, and so on.

Posting some fun music soon,

F.F.

Del tha Funkee Homosapien

Something awful happened a couple weeks ago.  Due to some overheating issues, I damaged my hard drive disk and lost all of my music in the transfer to a new hard drive.  All of my hard work over the years, all of my discoveries, each album prized from the void like a miner’s gem, gone.  It’s not an uncommon tragedy for music lovers, but nonetheless the blow was dealt, and it took me a week to recover from my grief.  I had to rebuild what I had lost.  And so I set out with a  brand new 400 GB external to harvest and cultivate a new library of music, bigger and better than before.

I will no doubt look for much of my old music, classics, but in my search I will add new underground, overlooked B-sides from my favorite bands, and explore new genres altogether.  Since this blog is heavily about music and culture, I will post the best of my discoveries to share.

Today I’m bumpin’ some of Del the Funkee Homosapien.  If the name doesn’t tell you, he’s an alternative hip-hop artist with a flair for unorthodox beats and topics, but its all good hip-hop.  He’s the rapper from the Gorillaz record, “Clint Eastwood” if that helps you to remember (try to act like you didn’t have that rap memorized.)  I’ve been listening to some of his older stuff from when he was on Elektra records, but these days, with his last release “Eleventh Hour” to be specific, he’s working with Definitive Jux records, and so gets my vote of confidence: those gentlemen know hip-hop.

Check out Del’s MySpace to listen to some good music.

Keep it real, yo.

–Frosty Fresh

Realfresh Endorses: Kind of Blue

Possibly one of the most iconic and well known jazz albums ever recorded, Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, released in 1959, still deserves every bit of credit it receives today.  Too infrequently does the world enjoy the pleasure of hearing so many talented musicians–truly masters of their craft–on one album, but Kind of Blue affords us such a rarity.  Miles, Cannonball, Coltrane, Wynton Kelly, Bill Evans, Jimmy Cobb, and Paul Chambers–The Greats.  Not a jazz enthusiast?  Not a problem.  Miles’ solos are melodic enough to appeal to even the most untrained ear, and Evans’ bluesy rhythms are at once simple yet subtly complex.  An introductory album to the genre, and an old favorite for the rest of us, Kind of Blue is jazz for the soul.

Miles Davis-Kind of Blue (Imeem)

–Frosty Fresh

Ffffound! Invite Request

This is my plea.  I would really, really, like a Ffffound! invite.  If you still have yours, I would love it.  Thanks

bcourtright@mail.bradley.edu

–Frosty Fresh

Realfresh Endorses: Converse

Converse low-tops.  They look good with just about anything.  Clean cut and simplicity at it’s best

–Frosty

Real Fresh Song of the Day>>Little Brother-Slow it Down

I’ve been in a real good mood all week, and I decided to start doing a “song of the day” since my days often have their own soundtrack depending on what I’m listening to.  Today, and probably tomorrow, is backed by Little Brother, one of my all time favorite, and probably one of the most slept on, hip hop groups.  Rapper Big Pooh and Phonte have been making solid album after album since the 90s, and “Slow it Down,” off the Minstrel Show, is just what I want to hear.  A classic 9th Wonder beat, meaningful lyrics, and soulful chorus after chorus, this track has it all.  The production is tight and flawless and even though the skits on the album are wisecracks at Black culture in the media, “Slow it Down” is sincere and wonderful. So if you missed it, or just wanna hear it again, check it out.

Little Brother-Slow it Down ft. Darien Brockington

–Mister Frosty Fresh

Threadless Holiday Sale

Threadless, one of my personal favorite T-shirt outlets, is having it’s Annual Holiday Sale going on right now.  Threadless is a 24/7 365 T-shirt design contest where artists can submit their designs to be printed and sold through the Threadless site and in Threadless stores.  The result can be some pretty unique artwork–not your average graphic tees.  I already own 7 or 8 Threadless shirts, but with sales of hundreds of designs at $15, $10, and $5 bucks a pop, the number is sure to rise.  Check out all the designs Threadless has to offer.

–Frosty