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DOWNLOAD: Altered State EP – State Of The Artist

Click album cover for D/L link.

State Of The Artist dropped their new FREE EP today, Altered State. It’s a seven-track collection of anthemic electro-infused hip-hop. The title of the EP is appropriate as the album represents a shift in sound, away from the easy-going party rap of their debut LP, SeaCal, toward a moodier synth-heavy club aesthetic.

With all in-house production by group member Parker Joe, Altered State mostly rejects hip-hop’s traditional norms, so from that standpoint it doesn’t please the way SeaCal did. You can’t knock a group for growing, however, and there is plenty new to appreciate on AS.

SOTA will be heading out on tour with Mad Rad. Check the flyer below for your town:

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DOWNLOAD: 3 Songs With MTK – Notion

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Get familiar with Seattle MC Notion on this pleasantly bumping three-track EP featuring production by MTK. Notion’s high-pitched rasp rides with admirable precision over MTK’s soulful thump, though guest MC Chev (one of the best local rappers flying under the general public’s radar) kills him on his own sh-t on the EP’s best track, “Right Here.”

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VIDEO: “Head Up” – Rockwell Powers & Ill Pill

The official video for “Head Up,” the best track from Rockwell Powers and Ill Pill’s Kids in the Back 2 (read the 206UP.COM Review here) and download the LP at this location.

I dig the washed-out color combined with the nighttime high-def. Classy visuals for a classy track. Read what the MC himself had to say about it:

These videos were all filmed within a five block radius of my apartment in downtown Tacoma and all the shots are of places I am on a weekly or daily basis.

Head is especially telling because while writing Kids in the Back 2 I would often walk around downtown at night before I would sit with my pen. If you’ve been to Downtown Tacoma at night you know that 5 days week its quiet and tranquil. I would walk around the city and think about what I wanted to write about and what images I wanted to use.

The other shot in this video is from a live show (our recent album release party), and that is important to me because I always write lyrics with the intent of performing them. Especially with personal songs like this, I always picture the end result of the creative process which to me is sharing the music on stage.

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206UP.COM’s The TrackMeet (4.29.11)

CLICK :: LISTEN :: VOTE

Back by popular demand, 206UP.COM’s The TrackMeet returns after a month-long respite. Three fresh artists, three new tracks, seven days to cast a vote. You know what it is. Go tell a friend.

LANE 1: “It Ain’t Over” – La-Gitt feat. Ari Saavedra

LANE 2: – “Understand” – Know Choice

LANE 3: “Seattle” – El Dia

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DOWNLOAD: “Patience” – Wizdom (prod. by Epidemmik)

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A worthy slapper for your Thursday. It’s been a minute since we’ve heard from Wizdom. I think he’s too busy making cameo appearances in just about every Town-affiliated music video uploaded to YouTube. Watch for his next project, Unearthed, with production from frequent collaborator, Epidemmik.

Click Play to listen. Click here to download the track.

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VIDEO & DOWNLOAD: “What Up Pimpin” – DRAZE feat. Parker, Da Association & Yirim Seck

Shout-out to the homie La for linking me to the best Town posse cut of 2011 (so far). CD —> Capitol Hill —> South End, the MC flows move from ‘hood to ‘hood as smoothly as a Benz changes lanes on the 520. Keep your eye on DRAZE and click here to download the track.

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DOWNLOAD: “Opus” – J. Pinder feat. Eighty4 Fly, Royce The Choice & Clemm Rishad

Click photo to D/L.

The SEA really lost one when South End native J. Pinder took his cerebral brand of street rap south to the ATL. Thankfully his connection to The Six remains tight-knit in his music. “Opus” is more of that quality life rap where Pinder emotes, but not in a corny fashion. Guest shots from fellow Seattleite Eighty4 Fly, South Sound move-maker Clemm Rishad and California son Royce The Choice. Kuddie Fresh’s soulful slap holds ’em together.

Press Play to listen. Click here to download the track.

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DOWNLOAD: Live Footage Plays Jay Dee – Live Footage

(Video courtesy the band’s YouTube page.)

Last Sunday night, at the recommendation and behest of my lady and her very good friend, I went to Mercury Lounge in the Lower East Side to see Live Footage, a Brooklyn-based duo who use live recorded loops to construct not-so-on-the-fly compositions. While it’s not a totally novel idea (see: Animal Collective), this particular LF show was appealing to me because of the covers (actually more like re-interpretations) of J. Dilla instrumentals.

In fact, as an homage to the late great producer, the band recently dropped a mixtape called Live Footage Plays Jay Dee which consists of eight Dilla covers. You can grab that at the Orisue homepage, here. LF’s craft and the acute attention to detail their live presentation requires would probably be respected by Jay considering how meticulously he crafted his beats.

Here’s the original version of “Lightworks”:

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DOWNLOAD: “These Moments” – The Physics

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A fresh drop from The Physics crew for your Monday. I like the direction the trio’s music has taken over the course of the last year: Golden Era-influenced boom-bap has given way to a more soulful, multi-layered and dense sound. #Progression.

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DOWNLOAD: “Dyme Def x GOODS x Seattle” – Dyme Def (prod. by BeanOne)

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A natural sonic connection exists between hip-hop in SoCal and the Pac NW. We do share a coast, after all. Producer BeanOne finds the familial link in 808 kicks and classic vocal samples for this GOODS exclusive by Dyme Def. The joint’s free and dedicated to this equally fresh drop from the venerable SEA establishment.

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