Various Swag via WEDIDIT

"What Im On" is a video triptych of hip-hop at its most bizarre.

Compiled by Melonious Drunk of the illustrious WEDIDIT Collective. Go browse their wares, they make killer music.







"Swag."

Lobster Out.

9/20/11 Wavelength of the Moment: NEW WAYNIAC

The man's unstoppable. Keeps handing out free shit like it's candy. And it's all quality to boot. Make sure you get the tapes at the bottom of this post.

Peep deez wares:


Really impressive rework of a Slidecamp jam:
Slidecamp: Geometer (Jonwayne Remix) by ALPHA PUP


A chilled-out rap joint featuring blood hungry brother (and WEDIDIT cohort) Zeroh the Blqbrd:
Experiment 17 (jonwayne is a secret spy) by jawnwayne


A superfluously heavy entry for a recent beatmaking competition:
Jonwayne - F#$%STICK. by jawnwayne


Oh yeah, and how about this free rap mixtape he just decided to give away for free?

~ Jonwayne - I Don't Care ~

Or if you're really more into beats than rhymes, it's not like he also gave away an instrumental tape last month or anything...

~ Jonwayne - Thanks, Bro ~
(alt link for a .zip over at Dublab)

Aaaaaaaand then there's this new Death of Andrew LP in the works for Alpha Pup. Peep the album art below, and get amped for October 25th.



If you want more instrumental goodness, Go buy his opus Bowser from Alpha Pup.

This cat is doing big things. Don't sleep.

Lobster out.

D33J gets D33P: an Introduction

You need to get into D33J.

I'll confess, I've been sleepin on this dude. Or half-awake, rather: I've actually been listening to his music for a while now, as he's a member of L.A.'s WEDIDIT Collective (whom we follow pretty devotedly). But for whatever reason, most likely my distraction with various other sounds, I never really had that "a-ha!" moment.

Until the other day. I put on my headphones for the walk to my 9am class, played this jam, and boom:

She's Deep - D33J


The name's apt–this is a deep tune. But that swaggy little eighth-note figure is what really got me. And I'd never really noticed the vocals before: ghostly, reverb-washed melodies floating like clouds over an ocean of liquid obsidian.

Many of his tunes evoke a similar vibe: deep, calming, trippy, and chilled-out all at once. He's also a genre-bender, which is nice–his productions incorporate every imaginable influence from experimental Low End Theory beat shit to R&B to hip-hop to whatever the fuck Baths and Gold Panda are...there's even some motherfucking chillwave in there.

And yet, from these seemingly disparate genres, he manages to pull together the most gorgeous, ethereal, and serene sound.

So in case you didn't figure this out already, the general aim of this post is to get you into D33J. Here's some shit that might help:


That's his EP. It's free. You should get it.

Marvin's Room (D33J Remix) - Drake

Y'all know how much we loved that Shlohmo remix of the same tune, but D33J's take on Drake holds a special place in my heart as well.

Mooon - D33J

A gift for reaching 600 "likes" on Facebook. Awesome track, those guitars really get me.

Sleeping Out (Lotide Remix) - D33J

A remix of a remix, actually–San Diego's Lotide takes D33J's woozy, chilled-out flip of the Postal Service's "Sleeping In" and sends it into another dimension of experimental beat heaven.

Then there's this mix he did for Live For The Funk (one of my absolute favorite blogs nowadays), which may be one of the best artist mixes I've heard in quite some time. Seriously. Absolutely beautiful track selection, an incredibly deep/chill aesthetic vibe, and with killer transitions to boot! You need this mix.

D33J MIX FOR LFTF by LFTF

Read the accompanying interview with LFTF HERE to learn more about this dude.

Go "like" the man on Facebook to keep in touch.

And get everything in this post. I mean it.

Lobster out.

2/22/11 Wavelength of the Moment: NEW WAYNIAC

BWAH

WEDIDIT COLLECTIVE: New Shit.

gogogogogogogogogo

NEW GROUNDISLAVA HOLY SHEETS

2010 was freaking incredible. Once I decide to get off my lazy ass, patkins and I will probably do a 2010 recap post, reiterating what we loved about it. But since we're already here, why not explain why we are going to love 2011?! Here's a sampler. Read: LANGOSTA IS SO FREAKING PUMPED RIGHT NOW.

If you don't know WEDIDIT stalwart GroundIsLava, get your ass ready for some awesome music. A combination of tripped-out beats, gorgeous chords, and dazzling synths, his productions never fail to blow me away. This EP is no exception, so watch out, because he is gonna blow up this year. Blah blah video-gamey beat music/8-bit electronica blah blah blah. "He's really frickin good" is the point.

Get THIS FREE EP...

...then watch out for his debut LP on Friends of Friends, dropping sometime in April.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

BONUS:

Flawed Fortress - Groundislava

absolutely. fuckin. beautiful. the instrumental version of a remix he did for FoF's Pop Massacre comp, which we loved HERE (it's free).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DOUBLE BONUS MOTHERFUCKERS:
You can get his awesome EP College For Dogs HERE (also free).

Juj - Slack

Hallo there! this came out today from WEDIDIT contributor Juj. Its an interesting, eclectic collection of free beats. You should check it out, especially Mbira Spirit below. Nothing groundbreaking, but some solid shit with great samples throughout. Cop it belowwwww

WEDIDIT Collective - Slack

Mbira Spirit by Juj

Pomegranate Limeade ft. Bee by Juj

Don't Hate on Tech Decks 1.2 by Juj


LATER
///patkins///

Back In LA! (LandLord EP)

After traveling my ass off to distant though awesome places, I am back in L.A. for the summer. Appropriately, I was listening to this on the way home:

Why You'd Want To Live Here - Ben Gibbard

A tribute to my hometown. Ripped this from a live set Ben did for All Songs Considered over at NPR. An amazing live set, it's online for free, download it on iTunes from the All Songs Considered Podcast if you're a fan, even if you've renounced Death Cab (especially after they sold a song to the Twilight soundtrack...).
(also grab this)

ON TO THE REAL STORY TODAY, FOLKS:


This EP was posted about two and a half months ago at the WEDIDIT Collective (arguably one of the most "with it" places on the interwebs), and I've returned to it regularly since then. LandLord is a collab between GroundIsLava, a badass producer and WEDIDIT homie, and Jake Weary (credited here as just "Weary," I think) who I have yet to research but I promise a post at some point. As far as I can tell, GroundIsLava produces and Weary sings, but don't quote me on that.

Anyway, some of my favorite beat music jams are vocal tracks (RobertaFlack by Flying Lotus, Ooops by Hudson Mohawke [a more mainstream song than most beat music but similar vibe to LandLord] and everything 0. does), so to hear these guys on this EP combining all the glitchy, hip-hoppy production of the beat music movement with really killer, soulful vocals, really makes me happy about music nowadays. These guys have said that "future r&b" is pretty much what they're going for here, and I think they NAIL it.

COP THIS SHIT!! (also it's free)

The Upside - Landlord

My personal favorite track. Great synths, thick beat, and AWESOME vocal production (the same can be said for pretty much the whole album). PLUS it comes with a catchy chorus, guilt-free! "I'm so down for you, down, til the ceiling's the ground..."

The other tracks on here are great too. "Animal" is fierce and ominous, another killer chorus with nasty-ass vocals. "The Upset" has this awesome 8-bit feel over a stuttering beat and bassline, and these wobbly square synths that these guys seem to love so much. And there's instrumentals too, for those of you who like your boom-bap without too much vocal saturation ("Airport Security Sabbatical" and "Bluetooh Narcotics"), though I'm all for it.

again:COP THIS SHIT!!(remember, it's free!)






P.S. All Songs Considered has an awesome series called "You've Never Heard....[album name]?" where they ask young interns to review classic albums. Pretty neat to hear fresh perspectives. God I love NPR. Check it.

Zeroh Tolerance

This jam is the work of an awesome Hip-Hop/Electronic producer and MC known simply as 0. (or “Zeroh”), a member of the LA-based WEDIDIT Collective, whose latest success Shlohmo you’ve probably heard of if you follow the L.A. Beat scene.

parkbench (prod. AshTreJinkins) – 0.

Really impressive production by 18-year-old AshTreJinkins, though I wish that awesome three-bar bit at the end would last longer... Either way: deep kicks, godly handclaps, and that smooth vocal sample just make this a simply beautiful piece of glitch-hop-tronica (new genre name? I think we need one for all this stuff…). I'm definitely looking into his shit.

Then there’s 0. I just downloaded his ennui beattapes, and MAN is this dude impressive. About half his stuff is just this trippy live-electronics stuff, glitchy as fuck but with the same hip-hop influence underneath it all. Then he starts rapping, and the hypnotic awesomeness just triples. AMAZING flow and lyrics.

He did three beattapes for WEDIDIT, each one produced in a week, and the results are fantastic and diverse. I suggest you cop that shit.