J-Live – un-LEAKED!!! (Correction un-Appended)

[removed by request]

Heliocentrics “Bonus”

The Heliocentrics just released the second single from their incredible album “Out There.” “Distant Star” is the lucky song. Of course, there’s B-sides on that. They feature Percee P and MF Doom.

You can download the “Distant Star (Strange Version) feat. Percee P & Doom” right here.

Or stream it first…

Enjoy,
3ardrumm3r

Narcy & Pesh

As promised, here’s some more stuff by The Narcicyst. This is an EP he did together with Loe Pesci back in 2001. They called themselves “Patrick BateMEN,” after the protagonist of Bret Easton Ellis’s bestselling novel American Psycho, Patrick Bateman.

[no cover available]

Patrick BateMEN (Loe Pesci and The Narcicyst) – the ONe Way conversation (EP) (2001) (128 kbps)

download \\ mirror

1. Winter Barbeques (Paul Allen Remix aka Ice Grills)
2. Broken Watches
3. Dream Sequence

The sound quality of “Dream Sequence” ain’t exactly the best, though.

Shalom,
3ardrumm3r

Iqaa the Olivetone

Here’s a special treat for all you instrumental freaks out there. I came across this about a month ago through Narcy’s blog.

The man calls himself El-Iqaa (his real name is Joe Namy; pictured on the right). Apart from being a musician, he is also a graphic and video artist under the moniker Olivetones. And he is part of the OTHER: Arab Artists collective. The guy hails from Detroit and is of Lebanese origin. As the note on the first page of his website says,

El-Iqaa (which means “rhythm” or “drummer” in Arabic) is in no way related to El-Qaeda (which does not mean “rhythm” or “drummer” in Arabic). So please don’t be scared or uncomfortable.

Not too long ago, he released an online-only instrumental album called “Detro!t Be!rut” which you can download from his website. There are two ways to do this. Either you donate a bit of cash to Iqaa and get a high-quality 320 kbps version of the album, or you take the free ride and download the tunes at 128 kbps. But even the 128-k version is of good quality—no static or anything like that, as you so often get with low-quality MP3s.

Iqaa’s words:

This music was made with live drums, with samples from old 45’s and new mp3’s, with a mixer and a mic, Michael’s Moog, technics and technique, some claps and snaps, a g4, pro tools, sticks on cymbals from Istanbul, fingers on a Kevork riq, masking tape, kahwa araby, sweat, pride and love (infused with a little camoon).

Go cop that:

El-Iqaa – Detro!t Be!rut (2007)

Here’s a nice version of the album cover to go along with that…

Take my word for it, this is dope material.

Peace,
3ardrumm3r

Salah Follow-Up

On Salah Edin’s official English website, you can also legally download an 18-minute mixtape-like sampler for free.

Get that shit right here. It’s encoded at 128 kbps.

Holland’s Worst Nightmare

Yesterday, I got my dirty little hands on Salah Edin’s seminal album Nederlands Grootste Nachtmerrie (Netherlands’ Worst Nightmare), which features fifteen pounding tracks plus two skits and a bonus DVD.

Outside the Hip-Hop community (and maybe inside as well), this record is probably best known for its controversial cover. If you’re wondering how it can be controversial when all it does is sport Salah’s mug, then compare it to the police mug shot of Theo Van Gogh’s murderer Mohammed Bouyeri…

Bouyeri

Salah on the cover of NGN (that’s all there is)

Of course, Salah’s cover is supposed to remind people of Bouyeri and all those events. This also ties in nicely with the album’s title of him being the country’s “worst nightmare.” Dutch politician Geert Wilders released a “somewhat” (!) propagandistic film, called “Fitna,” a few weeks ago about how the Qur’an, Islamism, and terrorism have an undeniable and inseperable relation to one another. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Wilders shot himself in the foot extra-hard by showing Salah’s mug from the album cover in the film, while claiming it was Bouyeri’s. Needless to say, his ass is getting sued right now.

Be that as it may, Salah’s album is more than just listenable. It’s packed with hard beats that’ll make you bounce and cool rhymes that’ll make you listen more closely; although I don’t understand 99% of what he’s saying in Dutch. But that shit’s gonna give your subwoofers a special treatment nonetheless. Crank that motherfucker up!

And I wouldn’t be 3ardrumm3r if I didn’t also give you something for your eyes. Charitable as I am (yeah, right), you can also download the bonus DVD that comes with the album right here. On there, you can find music videos, interviews, behind-the-scenes footage from the videoclip shoots, and a bunch of other shit. The DL on offer is a 1:1 copy without any kind of DVD region code. You can find the download links for that at the end of this post. Just so you know, this baby is 4 gigs in size (42 times 100 MB).

But first things first…

Salah Edin – Nederlands Grootste Nachtmerrie incl. Bonus DVD (2007) (320 kbps)
part 1 (mirror for part 1)
part 2 (mirror for part 2)

1. NGN feat. Focus…
2. T.H.E.O. (Teleurstelling, Haat, Ergernis & Onbegrip)
3. Het Land Van…
4. Geliefd Om Gehaat Te Worden
5. Opgeblazen feat. Opgezwolle
6. 0172
7. Zwarte Gat Op Het Witte Doek feat. Focus…
8. Geld feat. Caprice
9. Hosselaar
10. Skit
11. Vrouwtje Is Een Bitch
12. Samen Huilen, Samen Lachen
13. Koning Ter Rijk
14. Oog Om Oog feat. Probz
15. De Voorbereiding (Skit)
16. Paradijs Is Nu
17. Op De Straat feat. Sticks, Kempi, Winne & Appa (bonus track)

Daag & vrede,
3ardrumm3r

P.S. DVD DL links below (should be 42 total; mirror files will not be provided for this one)…

South Park’d

Yo, yo, don’t fuck with this mo’fugga.

You can create your own character(s) from South Park over at the South Park Studios, where you can also watch every single episode of the show for free. If they only allowed to equip them kids with more accessories. Oh well…

New Narcy Joints

Iraqi-Canadian hip hop guru The Narcicyst (here, here, and here) is hopefully just about to release his new album “The Illuminarcy Trilogy.” He’s been postponing it a few times now and better not do that anymore.

Possibly in light of this upcoming release, there’s a couple new songs of his to be had from the internet. For one, there’s “Mon Pays” available as a free 128 kbps download from shakomakoNET. It’s kind of an appendix to an interview they did with him recently. The download link is just below his photo on the left. While you’re over there, read the interview as well. It’s good stuff. In there, Narcy himself says that “The Illuminarcy Trilogy should be out in May.” Let’s hope he’s not talking about May of 2009. I wonder what he means by “Trilogy,” though.

The second new bit of Narcy’s machine-gun rhymes is available as a stream on his MySpace page. It’s the one called “Yeah.” Well, I think it’s new cuz I’ve never heard it before.

Watch out for this 25-year-old genius from Montreal. More on him soon.

Cheesecake,
3ardrumm3r

Smoke that Weed

So instead of giving you a bunch of concert photos right now (no worries, they’re coming up; from a few concerts, actually), I’m gonna offer you two incredible compilation albums. Two soundtracks, really. Namely the two albums for the Showtime series “Weeds.” The show in itself is already quite good but the music in it is even better (and Mary-Louise Parker has got to be the hottest mom on television these days).

Showtime put out the music for the first two seasons in 2005 and 2006. The tunes for last year’s third season have yet to be released; if they ever will be. By the way, the fourth season of the show is going to premiere on Monday, June 16. That’s only five weeks away.

Each album features music that was actually seen in an episode, obviously, plus the show’s title theme. The first season had the same song at the beginning of each episde: Malvina Reynolds’s “Little Boxes” from 1962 (a nice tongue-in-cheek critical look at suburban America). It’s amazing that this song is from the early ’60s and still so up-to-date. During the second season, the title theme was interpreted by a different contemporary musician for every episode. Meaning, there were twelve different versions of the same song. The second volume of the soundtrack has Elvis Costello’s interpretation on it. During the third season, the themes were done mostly, but not exclusively, by the fans of the show. The results were really wacky. There was Hip Hop, Metal, a capella, and all other kinds of great shit.

Both volumes are collections of the best indie and alternative acts you can find in today’s America, intermixed with a few old tunes from back in the day. For a complete list of songs that have appeared on the show have a look here.

Various Arists – Weeds (2005) (128 kbps) (mirror)

1. Malvina Reynolds – Little Boxes
2. Nellie McKay – David
3. Peggy Lee – A Doodlin’ Song
4. Sufjan Stevens – All The Trees Of The Field Will Clap Their Hands
5. Michael Franti & Spearhead – Ganja Babe
6. All Too Much – More Than A Friend
7. Sons & Daughters – Blood
8. The New Pornographers – The Laws Have Changed
9. Joey Santiago – Fake Purse
10. NRBQ – Wacky Tobacky
11. Marion Black – Who Knows
12. Martin Creed – I Can’t Move
13. The Mountain Goats – Cotton
14. Joey Santiago – Birthday Video
15. Flogging Molly – If I Ever Leave This World Alive
16. The Be Good Tanyas – The Littlest Birds
17. The Hill Of Beans – Satan Lend Me A Dollar

Those are all amazing, but watch out for “Ganja Babe,” “Wacky Tobacky,” “If I Ever Leave This World Alive,” and “Satan Lend Me A Dollar.”

Various Arists – Weeds Vol. 2 (2006) (128 kbps) (mirror)

1. Elvis Costello – Little Boxes
2. Zeroleen – All Good
3. of Montreal – Wraith Pinned To The Mist And Other Games
4. Jenny Owen Youngs – Fuck Was I
5. Fern Jones – Strange Things Are Happening
6. (The Real) Tuesday Weld – Bathtime In Clerkenwell
7. Gwendolyn Sanford & Brandon Young Jay – Shane Digs Gretchen
8. Rogue Wave – Kicking The Heart Out
9. Regina Spektor – The Ghost Of Corporate Future
10. Dengue Fever – One Thousand Tears Of A Tarantula
11. Aidan Hawken – Neighborhood
12. Squirrel Nut Zippers – It Ain’t You
13. Gwendolyn Sanford & Brandon Young Jay – From Agrestic To Las Vegas
14. The 88 – Not Enough
15. Sufjan Stevens – Holland
16. Gwendolyn Sanford & Brandon Young Jay – Huskaroo TV Spot

The ones by Gwendolyn Sanford & Brandon Young Jay were composed and recorded especially for the show. Look out for “Fuck Was I.” Jenny Owen Youngs is a goddess.

Have fun with this sticky shit.
Peas and cheese,
3ardrumm3r

Jazz in Town

© 2005 Cultuurprijzen 2007 (more Wayne Shorter Quartet photos at Flickr)

As you may have gathered from my concert list (see page navigation at the top), I have just been to two Jazz gigs. One of them was the Wayne Shorter Quartet (Shorter: sax; Danilo Pérez: piano; John Patitucci: bass; Brian Blade: drums) and the other was the McCoy Tyner & Joe Lovano Quartet (Lovano: sax; Tyner: piano; Gerald Cannon: bass; Eric Kamau Gravatt: drums).

Both of these Quartets lived up to my expectations and beyond, while Shorter’s, on Monday, was the better one. They played a set of about 80 minutes with the first applause break after about 65 minutes. It was awfully quiet throughout the first hour. The stage action was so awe-inspiring that nobody dared to clap. Brian Blade on drums was especially fantastic. One might even say that he ran the show. During the solos, he jumped up and down on his drummer’s stool and several times almost knocked over his snare from hitting it so hard. I was afraid he’d destroy his entire drum kit towards the end of the show. He was seriously having fun up there. And so were the three others. A truly remarkable show that I wouldn’t want to have missed for the world.

A national radio station recorded the entire set and will air it in June. I’m going to record that myself somehow and upload it here for the whole world to enjoy.

**********

McCoy Tyner (© Gene Martin)

Joe Lovano

left to right: McCoy Tyner, Joe Lovano, Gerald Cannon. At the Blue Note in NYC, February 2008 (© Jimmy Katz)

Yesterday’s concert (Tyner, Lovano et al.) was also very good. But although I had a seat in the fourth row, I couldn’t quite enjoy it as much because some old fart next to me kept moving his entire body along to the music, making all the seats around him jiggle. Luckily, that didn’t diminish the tunes. The whole crew was on fire. Tyner a bit less so, but he’s an “old” man who didn’t look completely healthy anymore. In terms of stage presence, it was rather the “Joe Lovano Trio feat. McCoy Tyner” than the “McCoy Tyner Quartet.” Be that as it may, all four of them delivered a great performance.

Again, it was the drummer who almost killed his instrument(s). Those solos, wow!! And Gerald Cannon knew how to pluck away at the strings of his bass and delivered a number of amazing solos as well.

This concert was also recorded and will be aired in July. As soon as that has happened, I will upload it here, too.

**********

To shorten the waiting period a bit, I’m going to offer you a classic recording that Wayne Shorter and McCoy Tyner did together back in the sixties. This way, you get to experience both artists at once. In fact, this is the 1999 re-issue with two bonus tracks.

Wayne Shorter – JuJu (RVG Edition) (1999; original release 1964) (320 kbps)
part 1 (mirror)
part 2 (mirror)

1. JuJu
2. Deluge
3. House Of Jade
4. Mahjong
5. Yes Or No
6. Twelve More Bars To Go
7. JuJu (Alternate Take) [Bonus Track]
8. House Of Jade (Alternate Take) [Bonus Track]

Recorded on August 3, 1964, at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Wayne Shorter: tenor sax; McCoy Tyner: piano; Reginald Workman: bass; Elvin Jones: drums

Enjoy this gem.

Coming up, “review” and photos of tonight’s We Are Scientists concert.

Over and out,
3ardrumm3r