The album is out now!!! Fantastic stuff.

"LA's Nocando brings some slo-mo heat with the first single from Jimmy the Lock, his latest record and first for Alpha Pup. Produced by Nobody, "Hurry Up and Wait" features a prominent vocal loop, beats as chunky and wet as cat food, and Nocando's lazy rhymes that somehow recall a more blunted Aesop Rock. With other album tracks produced by Nosaj Thing, Daedelus, and Th' Corn Gangg, one of the latest LA beat phenomenons is still running hard."

Get Jimmy the Lock.

Nocando

Nocando is a fresh one. Part of the Low End Theory crew except he's not a producer, no, this one's one of them rappers. What makes this fantastic is that his album, JIMMY THE LOCK will feature production from the likes of: Free The Robots, Daedelus, Maestroe, Thavius Beck, and Nosaj Thing! It's going to be really interesting, hearing how a rapper fares with the crazy beats these cats are known to produce.

Debut album comes out this Tuesday (01/26) so don't sleep. If you like what you hear, do something about it.

Twitter

Download mixtape.

Lorn - Supermassive Black Hole Remix

Everybody is going to know who Lorn is by the end of this year, I promise. For starters, he's on the Brainfeeder label and he's working on a split 7" with Nosaj Thing. Need I say more? Already, he's made quite a stir on the intranets with his Biggie remixes and if you know where to look, you can find over 35+ of his unmastered, raw tracks, or as others like the call them: scraps. Well for scraps, they sound pretty legit so I won't bore you with ALL the details. Just that he recently did a Muse remix and it's tight. Check it.

I've been a fan for a long time now. I even knew him back when he still had a Twitter. Aw snap!

eLan

If you can dig that spacey-futuristic sound coming from the distant midi-mecca that is California, then you need to download eLan's free EP. He's part of the We Did It Collective. You might have heard of it, if not, that's also fine. The immediate collection of artists includes, but is not limited to: eLan, Ground Is Lava, Joseph, Juj, Melonious Drunk, NonEpic, and Shlohmo.

it isn't exactly a record label, more of an unofficial "gathering point" for all these like-minded artists. In other words, it works very much like Flying Lotus' Brainfeeder except the notoriety of that name has exponentially risen and now it is its own indie record label. But what makes eLan prodigious is the fact that he's part of the same crew that hailed Shohmo. Let's just say that Shlohmo just re-released his first EP with remixes from Low Limit, devonwho, tokimonsta, and Fulgeance. In any case, listen to the preview track "Royal Blue" and then download the entire album, it's worth it, I promise you, it's definitely bbbbutter!!!

Download.

Wu Tang x The Beatles

Just a quick post. This one actually comes from O'Lush, fantastic blog about art and sometimes, music.

Countless renegade producers have used the Beatles as a reference point for mash-ups an remixes, think Dangermouse x Jay-z, except this time the palette has significantly increased. Cetner stage: Tom Caruana.

9 rappers-1 plus 4 performers = Wu Tang x The Beatles. What Tom Caruana does here is actually use anything done by any of Wu Tang's members meaning he has over 3,000+ songs to work with since Ghostface has released 50+ albums in the past 20 years and every Wu-Tang member has at least 100+ songs individually. I've only ever listened to a handful of Beatles songs and I know, that probably makes me the only one in the world but, so what? The Grey Album (Jay-z x Beatles) was fantastic and that got a couple spins on my tune machine but now, Wu Tang and the Beatles? Personally, I think it's fantastic! A few stand out tracks: "Got Your Money," "Forget Me Not" and "Save Me Dear" just because Tom does fantastic work flipping those Beatles samples, giving us something that is absolutely fresh.

Download the entire album free.

Kit Knows - First Space Kit on the Moon

This is Kit Knows; apparently

he knows something that we don't because I have never heard of him, up until now. This is less of a proper release and more of a mixtape since every single track is produced by the up and coming Flako, but I think he already knows that. Just by looking at the cover, the effaced "s" in front of "hit" proves that this is one of those polished guerilla releases. Yeah, he spent some time on it but still, he doesn't own any exclusive rights to the beats and that means that all the tracks can be downloaded for free without having to worry about the RIAA coming for your money but then again, that all ended in 2001, no one cares about them anymore anyway.

Back to the album, er... mixtape... Kit's delivery is certainly poignant, he does have something to say but truth is, after track 08, it just goes on for too long. It's cool that he chooses to rap over all the beats featured on the aforementioned producer's original release: First Space Shit on the Moon, but for this Canadian rapper, sometimes less can be best.

A few stand-out tracks are "Welcome," Footprints" and "Failure" but that's more because I enjoy the beats more than anything else... If we ran things based on a scoring system, this release would get a 7/10 which is still good, just not "that good. Then again, I just show you what you might like. All you have to do is listen and then decide, and then keep it to yourself.

Download the entire album for free.

Gorillaz - Stylo

I'll be honest here. The track definitely starts off fresh and will get your head noddin' but only because it's got a great groove. After about a solid minute of listening to the same mash, you then realize that that's all that there is to the song... Props for not forgetting about the 80s Albarn but since this is the only new thing we've heard from the Gorillaz in a while (aside from those rough demos a few months back), this is a bit lackluster.

Then again, this is me being overly critical. I love the Gorillaz and believe that Damon Albarn is a great musician and songwriter so this track does deserve a few listens. As a matter of fact, I'm already on my fourth play-thru and already, I'm liking the track a bit more. It's not a fast-paced club-banger or an ecstasy-riddled party-starter like some tracks out there; no, it's more like "that track you slowly use to groove and grind after 2 solid hours of jump-style dancing." Take it or leave it, though it may be worth checking out.

Download

Adidas x Star Wars

Soon enough, you'll be able to fashionably stunt with some Lucas-inspired sneaks.

"Sneaker collectors have long been compared to other super-geeky and obsessive types like, like Trekkies, or comic book nerds. However, nothing compares to the enthusiasm and dedication of the Star Wars faithful.

This preview of the upcoming Adidas Originals x Star Wars Collection, will surely have sneaker heads, and "Star Wars" addicts anticipating the release. Here, we get a sneak peek at the first offerings in the collection which includes Darth Vader, Skywalker, Stormtrooper, Princess Leia, and Yoda sneakers, as well as a Star Wars tee and Stormtrooper hoodie. Each sneaker uses elements from the popular "Star Wars" characters'. Look for the collection to drop at adidas retailers in January 2010. Click below to see more images of the collection.

Each sneaker uses elements from the popular Star Wars characters' outfits. Look for the collection to drop at Adidas retailers in January 2010."

StreetLevel.com

Watch out!

Click for more pictures.

Mr. Dibiase - May the Force

When listening to a track, I sometimes get this feeling like I've heard something like it before, just never done in "that" particular way. Well, Mr. Dibiase, $$$$$$ aka Diobolical offers this fantastic re-working of the classic Star Wars' The Imperial March. Yep, the drums are off-kilter and Dilla's signature WWII bomb-shelter siren can be heard near the beginning which might pit Dibiase as another Dilla clone but that's as far as the similarities go. This track is like a 3-in-1 instrumental because, well, it just really works that way, listen to the PREVIEW if you don't believe me.

8-bit fantastic with rhythmic-ADD. It's as if Dibiase gets bored with the track after a mere 30 seconds so he's constantly shifting focus and before you know it, it's all over. Yeah.

Download.

Nosaj Thing - Remixes

Nosaj Thing - Remixes

TRACKLIST

01) (03:17) Heaven Can Wait feat. Charlotte Gainsbourg & Beck

02) (02:34) Islands feat. The xx

03) (06:11) Forever feat. Drake, Kanye West, Lil. Wayne and Eminem

04) (03:00) Nice Tights feat. Jogger

05) (02:56) Camel feat. Flying Lotus

06) (02:51) It's Madness feat. Daedelus

07) (02:48) Buzz In feat. Boris

08) (02:47) Tabloid Sores feat. HEALTH

09) (01:31) Wandering Star feat. Portishead

10) (03:22) Reckoner feat. Radiohead

11) (03:13) Eyes Closed feat. Blank Blue

12) (02:43) Rock On feat. Adam Freeland (Megamix Edit)

13) (03:45) I Get Money feat. 50 Cent (Lazer Sword Neon Hot Pockets Remix)

14) (03:45) More Tongue Less Teeth feat. Plastic Little and DOOM

15) (04:17) Flatlands feat. Nalepa

Download.

Nosaj Thing Spotlight

You've probably already heard of Nosaj Thing, or at least listened to a couple of his tracks without even realizing it and at this point, it's probably because he spent most of his time in 2009 making a name for himself. What with an exclusive spot as producer on the Kid Cudi mixtape, a debut album release, a world tour, dozens of remixes for several artists and the inception of a unique visual accompaniment to enhance his sets; he's been busy.

And he still is.

"With footprints firmly rooted in hip-hop, 24-year-old Jason Chung stealthily zig-zags through murky, adventurous electronics, London dubstep, alternative-universe pop, Danny Elfman-quirkiness and classical music."

Nosaj Thing is Jason Chung (and Nosaj is Jason spelled backwards if you didn't realize.) Influences include: Dre, Dilla (of course), Boards of Canada and Radiohead. Quite a vast array of influences for just one artist, don't you think? In any case, I bet you're wondering, how one person can convincingly evoke elements of Dilla's spattered MPC-styled drumming all in one track with the equally ephemeral glow of the pads present in almost all Boards of Canada songs ?Well, there is no straight answer but Jason manages to deliver and rather consistently too!

Nosaj Thing makes hip hop heads love electronic music and just the same, all those electronica buffs are now discovering new music they would otherwise have never listened to back in 1999. This one's a BBBButter-y special, all Nosaj Thing's remixes compiled into ONE pack only at BBBButter.

Dan Black feat. Kid Cudi - Symphonies Remix

United States x United Kingdom.

This is one of those tracks that sounds all-too familiar... but in a good way. Orchestral choir, film-score-worthy strings and then, Rihanna drums? The drums we're talking about here come from the hit song, Umbrella, which coincidentally, also sound like a certain drum loop found in GarageBand... Hmm. In any case, this track is so good it doesn't really matter.

For 3:43, we're sent into this slow-dancey jam hosted by Kid Cudi and Dan Black, fantastic! Cudi's undeniable aural charm is present throughout the entire track and Dan Black's panache for melodic synchronization is off the hook! On the plus side, there is an equal trade-off of vocal duties between Black and Cudi.

Check out the preview and then download.

Alternate Mirror: download.