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.

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.