We’re having a decidedly non-hip hop day over here at 206UP.COM. That’s okay, though, what better way to take a respite from rap’s hard knocks than with a crafty new single from singer/songwriter Alisha Roney, she of the numerous outstanding guest shots from The Good Sin’s “Eye 2 Eye” to The Physics’ latest “Am I Crazy”. Alisha goes for dolo on “The Golden”, and fans of R&B/soul are all the better for it.
Budo’s new album, The Finger & The Moon, finds some things familiar and some things not. First, the self-produced LP is rich with sonic textures and (at times) dense fragments of musical thought that refuse to be beautiful at first listen, but reward later with repeated visits; it’s this ability that places the multi-instrumentalist in the category of musician rather than mere producer.
Secondly, Budo adds the “vocalist” tag to his repertoire, here singing on all ten of TF&TM‘s tracks. He doesn’t have a great voice — think of a sort of poor man’s Leonard Cohen for the millennial/internet set — but the combination of his spoken thoughts (which are often intensely personal) in addition to the musical help complete the whole picture.
Stream and download The Finger & The Moon below, and check out the video for the track “Fremont” below that.
R&B/electro outfit Hightek Lowlives dropped this gem this morning. “Humanoid Void” seeks to bridge the gap between the organic and the digital. If it sings in ones and zeroes, does it make a sound? Gabriel Teodros lends the cellular weight via deft guest bars.
Former TRACKMEET competitor Mike Champoux dropped a new single, “The Outside,” from his forthcoming The Come Up Vol. 1. Promising young Seattle rapper or Macklemore wave-rider? You decide. Grab Mike’s previous album, LIFE, here.
Seattle ex-pat and now Los Angeles resident Scribes released his new EP yesterday, SeaCal Drive. Dude has teased the record with a grip of lead-up material which you can find covered elsewhere on this blog. Best to just grab the download for free, though, and check the behind-the-scenes video below.
You may not have heard Mackned rap, but you’ve probably heard his beats. He’s all over Thaddeus David’s latest, None The Less (scroll down for that), and he’s one of Moor Gang’s in-house producers. Fellow MG troublemakers TH and Steezie Nasa show up on the title track to Mack’s solo album which you can download below. If trap ruled the world…
Thaddeus David has stayed crazy active in the lead-up to his latest album, None The Less. Check past mp3 and video drops here. The new 12-track LP features a gonzo-style cover (above) and is apparently heavily influenced by pizza (see the latest video, directed by Harry Clean of Detooz Films, below). Thaddeus describes NTL as an extension of Trapital Trill “with an elevated twist.”
(Also, who remembers the ubiquitous chain of cheap-o pizza joints in Bellingham called Pizza Time? It’s likely 70% of all dinners I consumed between September of 1995 and June of 2000 [aka my college undergrad years] were prepared by the good folks at “Pizza Slime,” as my college roommates and I lovingly bequeathed them. Here’s to mystery meat and “cheese” you can blow bubbles with.)
Hip hop/blues outfit The Bad Tenants get a Grynch feature and a boom-bap facelift for “On The Rocks”, the trio’s latest single from their upcoming Eloquent Scoundrels Vol. 2 EP (due late September).
The final leak from Thaddeus David’s NoneTheLess (due September 2). Mackned on the beat.
It’s been a minute since the brothers Parker have dropped heat together (remember this one?). Real life got in the way of the team for a bit, but the duo is reunited for the track and accompanying video “Ron Burgundy”, in which the brothers recreate the penultimate fight scene from the eponymous movie. The Parker Report is coming later this year featuring production by Kuddie Fresh and Tha Bizness.
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