Madlib “Dillalide Ride (Contact High)”

One of my favorite beats from Madlib’s Beat Konducta: Vol. 5-6. Love the vibe on this. A dedication to the late J Dilla.

If you haven’t purchased this disc, do it! Good stuff for the early morning or late night rides in the car.

Head nodders galore. Madlib is a genius.

-STAN

Hipsters Don’t Know: Volta Masters

Volta Masters featuring Clever “Just In Love”

Volta Masters "Change"

The Japan-based Volta Masters is so smooth! The Picked up their album Change a while ago. They use very well-known samples and flip them into dope loungy, jazzy, hip-hop grooves. I could listen to this album for days. Highlights on the album are the above-mentioned “Just In Love” (using a sample that Common used on “Resurrection”),  “Chronicle” (using a sample from Slick Rick’s “Da Art of Storytellin’”), “Dream” (using a sample from Debarge’s “Stay With Me”), “Mr. Lawrence” and “I Like It (P.O.H. Remix)”. Pretty much the album is an awesome listen. Highly recommended. I plan to pick up their other stuff.

Volta Masters “Inochi No Namae (Radio Mix)”

Just lettin’ y’all hipsters know.

-STAN

Hipsters Don’t Know: Little Dragon

Little Dragon “Constant Surprises”

This is my track. Love the break on this.

I’m in love with Yukumi Nagano. Swedish-Japanese. Beautiful. Lead singer of the band Little Dragon. Such a soulful voice.

Guard my heart.

Love their debut self-titled album, which came out in 2007. Get it if you haven’t yet. It’s been awhile since I got to listen to this but I received a tweet from a friend about them and it re-opened my love for this trip-hop, downtempo band. Like a past love you thought was gone and out of your life but you see them again on the street somewhere and it just brings back memories of that relationship. That’s how it is for me right now, though I never lost the love. I just forgot amongst all the music I’ve come to hear the past year and a half.

I need a new album. Now.

Little Dragon “Test”

Little Dragon “Twice”

Just lettin’ you hipsters know.

-STAN

Nicolay’s Lecture @ Red Bull Music Academy (Barcelona, Spain)

Nicolay @ Red Bull Music Academy

Learned a lot from watchin’ this. Big ups Nicolay!

-STAN

The Foreign Exchange “Nic’s Groove” (Live)

FE’s “Nic’s Groove” (Live  @ Sugar Hill, Atlanta, Georgia)

The Foreign Exchange needs to come to Hawaii!

Please Phonte & Nicolay. D-Brock, Yahzarah, Median, Musinah, etc. All y’all. We need good shows out here.

Let’s make it happen, Hawaii.

-STAN

The Foreign Exchange – Daykeeper [Video]

Dangggggg.

That’s all I gotta say.

Legit.

-STAN

Lyfe Jennings “Will I Ever” [Video]

This guy is super underrated as a singer. And this song is a pretty dope song.

If you don’t know the back story of Lyfe Jennings, here it is.

It was during his ten-year sentence in prison that Lyfe Jennings developed his honest sound, thanks to isolation and Erykah Badu. It was an arson charge that put the Toledo, OH, native in prison. His musical aspirations started in the church choir and grew in the Dotsons, a teenaged group that Lyfe formed with his brother and a couple cousins. Prison made his music deeper, according to Lyfe, and when a copy of Erykah Badu’s Baduizm ended up in his cell in 1997, he was inspired and had the feeling that this introspective edge to his music was worth developing. Two days after his December 2002 release from prison, he was recording a four-song demo CD. The day after that, he was performing live in a club. He only had a month of freedom before he was on-stage at the famous Apollo. He was booed when he walked on-stage with an acoustic guitar, but when the Apollo audience heard his gritty falsetto and lyrical songwriting, they were swayed — swayed to the tune of five amateur-night victories in a row. Lyfe figures he sold a thousand copies of his four-song demo CD during his Apollo “residency.” That, along with a ton of calls from promoters and record label execs on his answering machine back in Ohio, influenced Lyfe to move to New York City and pursue a major-label deal. Columbia had the right offer in 2004 and he’s been releasing albums ever since. Lyfe Change, his latest, is nothing fancy, nothing outrageous — just humbled, wise, thoughtful modern soul.

Peep him when you get a chance. You won’t be disappointed if you like Soul/R&B music.

-STAN

Phonte performing Daykeeper live!

The September edition of “In The Artist’s Studio” featured Phonte. Playing with DC’s own “The Els”, he performed material from Little Brother and “Zo & Tigallo Love the 80’s”, and live debuted The Foreign Exchange’s new single, “Daykeeper“.

Mannnn. I’m so excited for the album coming out on the 14th. Can you tell?!

-STAN