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At the top end of Jan, I got my analytical panties in a twist about a new, mystery (whooo whooo), cross-electronic producer Evian Christ. Whilst levels of innovation and also semi-arbitrary ‘to whom hype is bestowed’ model of bloggosphere should always be up for question, a couple Christ cuts have still rotated heavily this past month in the office (particularly ‘MYD’ and ‘Go Girl’). Meanwhile, emerging from the cyber woodwork is 22 year old UK resident Joshua Leary as the shaded soul behind the sobriquet. Having just been snapped up by contemporary Brooklyn label Tri Angle, they’ve released his YouTube greatest hits (so far) as a mastered collection available to download free.

Have a butchers below as he works his way through these nocturnal Footwork and Ambient bass exercises, plus you can his catch his face down at Tri Angle records showcase in Hackney Downs Studio, London alongside Balam Acab, oOoOO, Holy Other, Romy XX and others.

This chap is securing a very promising year for himself right now

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In preparation for her summer debut album, Atlantic signed artist Delilah relinquishes a mixtape to get listeners to understand what she is all about.

Eight fresh sounding tracks, showcasing the musical strands that make up Delilah, she offers up daring future R’n'B with underground sounds, including a dubbed remix of ‘Love You So’, provided by Joe Goddard. Her versatile voice effortlessly transcends across smooth, yet gritty melodies held in ‘The Gospel’ to the throwback sounds in ‘Love Drug’.

Definitely one to be watching form the British Isles in 2012.

Roses Gabor – young female songstress who uses London as her roots, but has shared a fair amount of stages, singing alongside the likes of Gorillaz all across the world. And of course who could forget last year’s summer tune with SBTRKT ‘Pharoahs‘.

With very little of her own solo material floating around the interwebs, it was perfect timing for Gabor to release her first official mixtape. Entitled The Wonderful World of Roses Gabor, going by the mixtape, I assume her world is full of partying, dancing and more partying. With fall to floor beats, dance samples and instrumentals provided from Hudson Mohawke, Redlight, Dizzee Rascal, Mac Band and Dead Prez, what else is there to think other than… party!

Great pre-shoobz music… stream below and download.

PinBoard is in (snowy) Amsterdam right now for reasons of sheer musical pilgrimage, and a couple hours ago the dreadful news that D’Angelo had cancelled the fourth sold out night of his comeback as hopeful fans queued caused impending uproar, but worse – broken hearts.

At present it’s speculated tonight’s cancellation is due to the artist sustaining a leg injury during his Paris show last night. Tomorrow’s gig at Paradiso is currently said to go on as planned. Fingers crossed the idol returns to shape and we all manage to get to the holy grail. Otherwise… inexplicably pissed.

For all our Dutchies and other international wayfarers in the city here tonight aswell as the UK fams back home, throw up one mo’ gin thanks to OkayPlayer who’ve just dropped this ‘fantasy concert’ tape of high quality live D’Angelo recordings compiled by expert NY producer/connoisseur Sam Champ. You need this tonight.

Hang tight, we’ll keep you posted via our twitter.

Tracklist:
1. Fantastic Intro
2. Brown Sugar
3. Devil’s Pie
4. Crisco
5. Left & Right
6. Chicken Grease
7. Lady
8. Left & Right (Reprise)
9. Feel Like Making Love
10. Can’t Hide Love
11. Things You Do (Fall in Love)
12. One Mo’ Gin
13. Me and Those Dreaming Eyes of Mine
14. S.D.M.
15. Untitled (How Does It Feel)

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Finally got around to checking to this new tape by LA rapper and extended Odd Future fam Vince Staples that’s been making it’s rounds online. The production coughs out Californian wooziness and clunking drums, that wouldn’t do too shabby sparring as a leftcoast cousin to, say, LiveLoveA$AP – though these 13 tracks are more indebted to the MellowHype or The Jet Age of Tomorrow vibe for obvious reasons. But Staples’s flow unravels some cold quotables at a real laidback but virulent pace; he’s got a real knack for both meditating over and acutely mocking the environment around him.

Overall the combo of buddah cloud beats and unexpectedly penetrative lyricism are ensuring repeat listens for this short, sharp set right now.

Atlanta, Georgia native T.I remains in the limelight with his VH1 show airing weekly in the US and building his acting credits up, but he hasn’t forgotten his bread and butter – the music. In preparation for his forthcoming  eighth studio album,  T.I released a mixtape which this cut is taken from.

With a sample from Kool and the Gang’s “Summer Madness”, this Dre produced beat is whipped with West Coast rays and brash horns,  leaving T.I and Dre to trade back and forth with ease. Great to hear Dr. Dre warming up for that Coachella headline set too.

Grab the free tape F*ck Da City Up now.

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The Bawse is back. Haven’t tucked into this just yet, but with features from Nas, Kelly Rowland, Pharrell Williams, Wale and more – it’s sure to be a corker. Bump it. Sky high.

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As promised, Raekwon presents his New Years’ offering in the form of a new mixtape titled Unexpected Victory. With production credits from the likes of 9th Wonder, Statik Selektah, DJ Semaj et el and features from Mobb Deep, Busta Rhymes, Styles P and CNN – it should be a good way to bring in the new 365.

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Hundreds ‘pon hundreds of songs, albums and PinBoard posts later, our end of season tape. A gift compiled together by all of us here, to say thanks to everyone who’s been with us year on year, readers, peers, old friends, new ones. We’re hopin’ you had a chance to share these with us in 2011. These are SOME (emphasis on some, or all we could fit) of our favourite records popped up in the last 365 days. Oh & if you’re new here… hang tight, peruse, we gotchu’.

Large respect to all the bloggers and independent platforms out there dedicating their hours to documenting the sounds of a post-mod civilization. Larger respects to the culture of  music fans who comprise it. But I guess, largest respects to the artists and creators who nourish our little spiritual obsession. We’d be fucked without all of us…

Below isn’t in award order by the way, more a flight path from 1 to 15 taking you through sexy, bumpin’, shifting musical territory, both up tempo and down. So hit play, do your thing wherever you’re at with the laptops out and the cable jacks shinin’.

Happy new-new. Be safe!

Tracklist:
1. Adele – Rolling In The Deep (Jamie XX Shuffle Remix)
2. Sbtrkt Feat. Sampha – Living Like I Do
3. Full Crate – Joy
4. Azelia Banks – 212
5. 14th – Hide Yourself
6. J. Cole Feat. Missy Elliot – Nobody’s Perfect
7. A$AP Rocky – Peso
8. Fatima and Floating Points – Mind
9. CREEP Feat. Nina Sky – You
10. Jessie Ware – Strangest Feeling
11. Gary Clarke Jnr. – Bright Lights
12. The Weeknd – Trust Issues
13. Ifan Dafydd – Treehouse
14. Switch Feat. Andrea Martin – I Still Love You
15. Hudson Mohawke – Pleasure Principle

This comes as relief for those looking less for the disco, disco, party, party and more a reflective entry into the new year. Parisian based Cascade Records have kindly given away this beat tape from those Repeat Pattern junkies. Taking you on a jazzy journey through switching time signatures whilst maintaining a solid hip-hop backbone; low-fi soundscapes coupled with nice keys and layered goodness. Music to write resolutions to….’11 into ’12 how would you define yourself…

“breath taker oyaji beatmaker slow mover soul aggregator child educator manga reader non-breeder apple piebaker truth forsaker life long freeter hard drive crasher shoe gazer dream heater people watcher light sleeper simon and garfunkel listener bandcamp panhandler poetry writer wing melter love crusher red light runner empty bottle greeter old beat keeper music stealer mushroom eater rule bender letter sender badminton player heart pounder massive noise sounder youtube sampler thriftstore shopper amateur bunny hopper knob tweaker umeboshi connoisseur waste hater possibility lover newcomer space echo holder echoplex owner loudspeaker speaker pattern repeater“

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Someone really ought to check the water supply in Toronto, something very strange has been happening over there. It would appear that T.Dot is in the midst of an artistic uprising – at least when concerned with developments in R&B.

The Weeknd / XO affiliated DropxLife (co-producer of ‘Initiation’ from Echoes of Silence) is a seemingly mysterious creative whose existence is primarily felt through the songs he chooses to upload online (a familiar XO model). Very little is known or can be found on him – a mixtape ALLXLEGENDS and album Pawncho have flown about before this new 3-tracker which dropped today.

While we acclimatise ourselves to the seemingly endless inventory of faceless producers, our ears are forced to balance the precipice – a task made much easier when such expansive experimentalism is done so vividly. DropxLife’s productions are lasciviously dark, merging the beauty of obscure R&B with 2-step idiosyncrasies and empyreal mysticism. Lo-fi thick basslines, dank drum patterns and enough rotundness to wet the most sapless of minds.

This is deep. ‘NuerxOld’ is on repeat especially.

Update: DropxLife updated the tape with 6 additional new tracks, listen below & download up top.

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Some brilliant news in the early hours – Clams Casino leaked his critically lauded Instrumentals fully mastered, 360kbps, all thirteen tracks in a nice zippy, via ye ole’ twitter.

Released online earlier this year by the producer himself, it was a crossover Ambient Hip-Hop success putting indie-sphere on it’s batty. If you dork on deets like this – some of the charm was in the heavily compressed, DIY origins of these works, but that doesn’t stop the more atmospheric, tropic thunder material sounding gutsy and grand in these final mixes.

The 24-year old North Jersey wonder has us also waiting for a Lana Del Ray remix and more collaborative craftsmanship with another of the year’s crossover successes, A$AP Rocky.

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You’ll have to excuse us, this dropped at 4.20pm today but we got into a fight with a tray of mince pies and tragically lost.

Nonetheless, for all the fatties across the land in catatonic armchair mode tonight, light those heads, hit play and let some munchies settle in for the leftovers.

Cloud-Hop from London’s trillest. And the download link above is fixed for those hollering.

Pizzy also released their ‘Jiff Gang’ visuals yesterday.

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Yesterday rumours swirled of an imminent trilogy-expiring drop from the single most exciting new act of 2011.

It’s here. House of Balloons. Thursday. And now finally, Echoes of Silence.

Merry f***ing Xmas.

Marques Toliver’s marriage of varying styles amidst his Amp Fiddler-tinged vocals create a refreshing sound which alone would be inspiring enough, but combined with his talents as a violinist – sets him apart from any other contemporary.

Studying For My Ph.D uses traditional samples merged with mod influences, balanced cleverly atop an often subtle classical backbone. It’s a well-formed reminder of Toliver’s ‘mad scientist’ approach to music – incorporating insights and commentaries from the likes of Beyonce, Eartha Kitt, Roberta Flack, Nicki Minaj, news reports and disturbing pre-civil rights movement chants. Premiered exclusively on the Guardian’s website, the tape is an abstruse window into Marques’ inspirations, motivations and most poignantly, his political concerns – frequently using interview snippets, speech excerpts and loops to express his message(s).

… This is stellar.

Not late on sh*t by the way; this young lyricist lives in our neighbourhood and he dropped his debut tape a few weeks ago so we’re gonna refresh heads for a minute, especially after it’s lead single ‘Slondon’ went on to be played via Giles Peterson’s show – monumental recognition right there.

What I’m hearing in Nate (and recently another affiliated group named Piff Gang) is a re-energized take on how a Brit-Hop underground rap entity walks, talks, self-packages and swags itself out. They appear to represent and are bore of the culturally savvy generation we’ve seen our US counterparts have their Cudi’s, Kendrick’s and Krit’s emerge from. Now slowly but surely, it’s happening on our shores.

Some wonderfully chill records on here, particularly ‘Slondon’ and ‘City Lights’ featuring lovely local Ms. Merrick and across the 17 tracks Nate veers between his smooth sh*t, scene sh*t, roadman sh*t and uni grad sh*t personas. There’s a candidness in the lyricism that’s always undeniably British but at the same time it’s unafraid to digress from the banality of cold, dark council estate-ism that’s often been the snooze-button downfall of UK underground. The tone here is often more forward-thinking and when underpinned with a succession of Jay Dee’esque currents you know it’s made to be more than just sermonic, but actual vibes.

Send that next tape up when it’s ready kid. We’re liking this one.

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Faster than you can say Creator, the Tyler – here’s the next one they’ve pulled the panties and pedestals out for.

Hype justified yet? Too old for this shit and lived through more rappers than you can shake a Papoose at, so no. Is he worth listening to however? Definitely. After enjoying ‘Peso’ a few months back, it’s brain-fried charm had me curious and I was genuinely looking forward to hearing more.

East Coast was once a behemoth yet recently it’s been but a piss-ant in the commersh rap game (bar Minaj, but her growing ambiguity is making it hard to count her). Perhaps Harlem’s ASAP Rocky is their offering to the post-Noughties arena that swells with it’s Lil’ Bs and Wiz Khalifa’s and seems to have Weezy as it’s architect for eccentricity (don’t front) – even though this tape is more trap house than it is group home. Then again, it’s 2011 and the notion of regionalism is, but archaic, dead.

Everything is purple? Check. Swag, swag, swag? Check. Intensive botanical enthusiasm? Check. Topically he doesn’t slur too far away from current status quo, but much like OFWGKTA, A$AP and his crew (yes, as standard he comes one with too), appear to be building their own little devil-may-care macrocosm. Hence I suspect it’ll appeal to middle class brats in addition to well-dressed thugs.

With dark clouds of mood-orientated din spearheaded by Clams Casino (who’s developed a noticeable following this year), and a bunch of  dope in-house cats on the same skewered wavelength, production on the tape is hitting me harder than A$AP himself  at times.  The leaky lo-fi low ends, warped overlays, tonnes of pitched down candy paint hooks. It’s so smoked out, I’m reminded of Curren$y and Khalifa’s collabo tapes from a couple years back. In which case, it’s still nothing really revolutionary, but a highly entertaining accompaniment to your late-evening cheeba sessions. Note however tracks like ‘Keep It G’ where his flow shows those glimmers of rotten Apple infectiousness. The charisma is definitely there, the melodic flow, that same magnetism on display in the ‘Peso’ video, but the overall content of LiveLoveASAP needs to display more individualistic grit. Lyrically I want A$AP to take us deeper into the warped media-circus of his imagination; here you can tell he’s yet tip-toe’ing the tightrope. Still, the kid has something and combined with it’s swag-in-time-for-Winter backdrop, I’m sure it’ll simmer slowly into the psyche over the next few weeks.

To amplify hype, Sony/RCA have just thrown some Fiddy money at the kid (3 mill contract to be precise), but ultimately proof of life will be in the follow-ups and how they sustain the buzz.

Keep it real dunny.

Perfect music for the morning after the night before. I’m calling this mixtape… Cosmic Swag… Pixelated electronic downbeat goodness for your ears and available on a ‘name-your-price-flex’ over at the bandcamp here. It features a whole heap of artists I had previously never heard of – always nice. Big shout out to the homie Tone over @ The Loft for putting me on to this one. I’m going to go back to bed, put this on blast and dream about Tetris.

The Stuyvesants is a collaborative effort between music producer Allan Cole (Algorythm), and record collector Darien Victor Birks (Flwrpt). Both reside in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, NY. The two wanted to work together on a project where they could incorporate several of their talents, related to music and design. They wanted to do this under a moniker that would pay homage to the ’70s. The collaboration allowed them to do four major things, design, beat dig, produce amazing music, and simply have fun. Their first outing was a beatstrumental album called ‘Brooklyn’s Finest’ which got plenty of rewind time on the iPod… classic hip hop instrumentals all of which has a 95/96 feel to them. Depth in production. Have a listen below to one of the tracks from The Finer Things below and head over here to download both volumes 1 + 2 from their site for free!! Trust me you wont be disappointed!

I got put onto Def Sound unknowingly, after hearing this addictive summer tune and then meeting him shortly after whilst filming our latest exclusive Rehearsal Room with J*Davey.

Fully aware of the influences Def posesses, what he listens to, reads and takes from across the globe and the genre’s he delves into, I’m not surprised by the vast sounds from his latest mixtape, sorry I mean ‘bitchtape’, from LA’s freshest, creative rapper.

The span explains why, with ease, Def navigates through dark, gritty electronic journeys to lighter hip hop waves, to glitchy mismatched beats completed with witty wordplay “Colder than a polar bear’s toenails” to boot. And THIS is apparently something he just knocked up…

Listen and download below.