We all had love for Vlooper when he dropped his debut LP at the end of last year. Everything, just seemed so…well…right at the time.

Anticipating another sonic collection of sub genre beats, Vlooper has taken us en route another path, instead opting to hold a candle to the late great Dilla. I know, I know, another Dilla tribute, but don’t be so quick to write this one off.

It is good. Refreshing. With Dilla influences, fresh contemporary artwork that I’m digging  and such modesty,  (“THIS IS MY HUMBLE DILLA TRIBUTE, no way near it but hey”) You feel compelled to give this guy a chance. And why not hey?

Listen, download for free or make a small contribution if you’re feeling this one.

There are not many UK artists who are geniunely convincing my ears with their soul led music nowadays, but Matti Roots has swayed me to think otherwise with this new track taken from his new album BeatRoot.

Impressively, all the instruments were played by the man himself, production credits are his as well and I have to commend him, for the way he orchestrated a sound that would not stray to far from the Wonder days. The force of those electric guitar riffs paired with the finesse of the bass definitely has traces of  the Purple Yoda himself aka Prince at times.

It is definitely a jam.

Click cover to download

Kidz in the Hall decided to consolidate the tracks they leaked from their Brain Candy series, along with some new / previously unreleased gems into a new mixtape titled Semester Abroad. It’s been a while since we had anything solid to listen to from these guys, so get stuck in to this. The tape features appearances from Curren$y, Smoke DZA, the Kid Daytona and more. Enjoy…

Stream the full mixtape below, download it up top.

‘You Choose’ is an unreleased track from the sessions for Stateless’ latest long player offering Matilda, out now via Ninja Tune. Have a listen…

Some raw ish coming your way this morning from that Cali G…enlisting a heavyweight west-coast ensemble to spit some hot fire over this dutttttty FlyLo beat… this track goes well with some scrambled eggs and toast. Breakfast bangers. From the upcoming NoYork! project…

Download: Blu – ‘Doin’ Something’ (Ft. Pac Div, U-N-I, J Davey, TiRon & Ayomari)

As you know the PinBoard Man (and girl) dem are huge Ghostpoet fans…and to see ‘survive it‘ getting the proper remix treatment I think  warranted a cheeky post. If Carlsberg did remix packages…Koreless flips 808 toms and melodic synth licks… Autonomic’s dBridge bumps his trademark epic half-time D&B steez… Deep Medi’s Quest builds a soaring slo-mo house groove reminiscent of his certified anthem ‘Smooth Skin’… and Ghostpoet invites none other than Roots Manuva to lay a verse on his own “Gang Panang” remix…peep a stream below and make sure you go cop it over on iTunes NOW. Also check out our exclusive Rehearsal Rooms session we did with Ghostpoet here. Press play and enjoy.

Click cover to download

Producer Freshnerd of 100 Akres put together some more ear candy I want to bring to you even though this one was supposed to be just for the fans, not so much the blogs. Don’t be fooled by the photo or the title Freshnerd means loosies, not your favourite redheaded comedienne. This is a collection of very different loose tracks- unreleased beats, songs and parts of projects.

Freshnerd’s presentation is always well done. This time he’s got comments and backstory to go along with every track at loosies.100akres.com so you can read along as you listen, then comment when you’re done. I thought that alone was clever, innovative and impressive.

My only critique is that though this beat tape is innovatively presented, the songs should’ve been labelled, ordered and tighter-matching with their corresponding posts on the website. Yes, that is a small thing and no, it’s not music related, so here’s what stood out for me on I Love Loosies.

‘Fools’ has a sample of one of my favourite parts of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers ‘Why Do Fools Fall In Love”. Comments/Backstory

For ‘RubyJewel BeatMix’ read the backstory while you listen so you can understand why this headnodder will be jumped on by somebody soon. Comments/Backstory

‘slumBOP’, with its retro, jazzy soup groove and drums, made me put it on repeat. Comments/Backstory

There were other dope tracks on I Love Loosies too, like ‘I’m So Hi…Hello’ where the backstory makes the song more impressive (shouts to Jillz). You’ll be glad Freshnerd made that info available for all of them…you know, if you’re a music nerd like me.

Taken off Bilal’s new Robots Remix EP (out now), this one was liked so much by director Mikael Columbo he decided to rework his original video and tailor it to this interpretation. Have a look see…

You’ll remember we posted two of the remixes featured on the new extended player a couple weeks back and like those – I love this. The EP features 6 other remixes, all are really strong – listen to it in full here.

In honour of Bob Marley on the 30th anniversary of his passing, Lauryn Hill pays tribute by performing two of his classics. L-Boogie delivers beautifully – this is the best I’ve heard her sing in a very long time.

Great stuff.

Where Miguel’s original ‘Sure Thing’ can fade into today’s typical R&B blahness J*DaVeY’s Brook D’Leau rescued it. The electronica edged production makes the whole song pop more while punctuating Miguel’s lyrics and sultry vocals nicely.

Download: ‘Sure Thing (Brook D’Leau RMX)’

So, according to Sarah Palin, Common’s lyrics incite “violence and cop killing”. What a smart lady.

Another new jam from Sir Funk, this time an instrumental demo called ‘Inside of You’, have a listen…

Click cover to download

Mayer Hawthorne and Stones Throw have just released a new free EP of covers called Impressions. The 6 track extended player sees the throwback master taking on songs originally recorded by the likes of Chromeo, The Festivals, Steve Salazar and others. You can find out more about each track and the artists/bands behind them after the jump. Download the freeness up top.

Read more…

Followers of PinBoard will know my thoughts on people covering or tampering with Prince tracks. For me, it’s all a little sacrilegious. But of course, there have been some strong attempts – and some, dare I say, I actually love. Here’s another to add the list, this time by Island Records recording artist Alex Clare…

First off, I really like Alex’s voice and while I’m not 100% sold on him as a whole yet (I’ve found his material a little hit and miss thus far), I definitely appreciate his vocals – tone, styling etc. As for him taking on ‘When Doves Cry’ (which is brave if nothing else) – I actually think he did a pretty good job. It’s not going to change my perception of the original, but as far as covers go – this is one of the better ones. Clare’s vocals are the main selling point once again, as production wise it’s not that inspired.

…Overall though – I’m down on this.

You can peep a video of Alex singing the cover here.

I admit I’ve been late on the the Curren$y & The Alchemist Covert Coup mixtape. I know my fellow PinBoard fam really loved it and after checking it out myself, I quickly discovered it to be one of the best mixtapes I’ve heard in a while.

… Here’s the video for ‘Blood, Sweat & Gears’ featuring Fiend. It’s got some nice footage of Curren$y’s current Jet Life Tour. Enjoy.