Rabih Abou-Khalil.

I had never heard of Lebanese oud player Rabih Abou-Khalil before I watched the latest episode of Radio Vinyle. As an amateur of Arabic music, and far from being a specialist, I was intrigued by the man, his art and influences. The video offered me an opening on Mr. Abou-Khalil's music.

Spinning jazz, rock, classical with equal enthusiasm, it's refreshing to watch and listen to such a smiling musician. French-speaking only.

To extend the pleasure, and to know more about Rabih Abou-Khalil, here's a nice video of a concert he gave in 1990, his discography and his biography. 

Captain Murphy.

The visual in itself is awesome. This is Captain Murphy's album, "Duality". Digital only (for now ?). 

But... who is Captain Murphy ? No other than beat wizard Flying Lotus, rapping under an alias and surrounded by pyschedelic colours and shiny skulls. The album, as FlyLo implied in recent interviews (he said he would release stuff for free on the web after he released "Until The Quiet Comes"), is free (for now ?). It features vocalists, rappers, and dope producers such as, in no order, Madlib, Earl Sweatshirt, Jeremiah Jae, Teebs and others. 

If downloading bothers you, you can stream the whole album as a film on Vimeo. Oh, and I forgot, you can get the instrumentals also... damn, generosity has no bound today. 

By the way, speaking of Flying Lotus, the man has a new video out, for his track "Tiny Torture". The video features music lover, record collector and label owner Elijah Wood. Yeah, that Elijah Wood. 

Spooky as hell. But brilliant.

JD.

The real one now. Jay Dee. James Yancey, J Dilla. Dilla Dawg.

Stones Throw just announced the release of his seminal "Donuts" album as a... 45 box set. Now, I'm wondering : is it strictly business or is it still reasonable ? I mean, why ? Why re-release this gem over and over and over again, on various formats ? Nonsense...

Much more interesting is ?uestlove's DJ set at the Boiler Room, under the patronage of the one and only Red Bull Music Academy. Dilla mood all the way, it's so mellow, so good... it sounds like the perfect music for long winter days spent at home.

The performance is also available for download. Thank the afroman. And Rappamelo.

JD.

Remember when Pharrell said his favourite producer was "Jay Dee. But not Jermaine Dupri" ? Well, this post is about Jermaine Dupri. Frankly, I tried to watch this latest episode of Crate Diggers with a good spirit. But, what can I do, I find the guy to be much less interesting than the previous collectors featured in the series, babbling about himself and his own stuff. Go for it anyway...

psychedelic culture.

While browsing the internet, I found this incredible gold mine about psychedelic culture. The website, obviously serving first as a shop for the owner's book, hosts many reviews of obscure records and books, as well as interviews of actors of the psych movement. 

As few resources allow to expand one's knowledge about what stands as a not-so-well-known cultural movement, this website is very interesting to dive deep into it, and more notably into the musical part of it. Head to the "Attic" section.  

Gilles Peterson's classic stuff.

Gilles Peterson is entirely dedicated to music and diggin, body and soul : DJ, radio host, restless digger across the world... 

He also seems to be a nice guy. His last treat to date : a few episodes of his radio show on BBC made available for streaming. That includes exclusive mixes, interviews, live performances. All this on Tumblr. 

diggin story.

One of those crazy stories that keep diggin alive. You wish.

DJ Toomp.

The latest addition to the "Crate Diggers" video series by Fuse : vinyl enthusiast and synth-full production specialist DJ Toomp.

DJ Jazzy Jeff.

You could say Jeff never disappoint. True. And he proved it again, by providing the funk and the disco to the people, for free, on a divine "Block Party Vol. 1" mix. So far, it's the best way to share Jeff's musical childhood memories. All infos, including the tracklist, are on DJ Jazzy Jeff's official website. 

And while you're in the mood, drop an ear on Jeff's and Shorkut's Live @ The Do-Over performance. Always a great time. 

diggin in China... if that's possible.

Looks like diggin ain't dead in China after all. 

An article of the China Daily talks about an exhibition that were held in Shanghai, presenting records to the people. Not sure that die-hard diggers would have found interesting stuff, but it's good to read about stories of Chinese people who never stopped diggin despite the Cultural Revolution and the (almost) total absence of vinyl records left in mainland China. 

Another article, by CNN, lists two shops in Shanghai. 

Here, you get other addresses, though Uptown Records seems to be quite a reference out there. I'm not calling this post a "diggin guide" because it's not consistent enough, but I guess that's the best deal you'll get about diggin information in Shanghai. 

And for tips about online diggin in China, head to here... damn, that's so far away from the good old Discogs...

30 year old.

You might hate the format, its size, the ridiculous plastic cases, the metal color of it, the fact that you can't watch it turn while playing... but you surely have memories with it. The CD, as in Compact Disc, is 30 year-old. 

Pitchfork collected memories about this anniversary : first CD bought, outdated mix CDs, artwork nonsense, etc. 

30 year old ? The way down the hill ?

The Man With The Iron Fists.

RZA has been heavy on the promo lately, for his movie "The Man With The Iron Fists" and for the related soundtrack. Bundles of this soundtrack (including movie-inspired music, score and other goodies) are available through Get On Down and Soul Temple. Though die-hard Wu-Tang fans might be disappointed that the production is actually not 100% RZA (considering that the score he did for "Ghost Dog" was magnificent), the overall quality of the music is way better than a lot of recent Wu-Tang labelled-products.

On the rap side of it, it is a good blend of both the 1990's and the 2000's. Soul has not been forgotten, as the record includes a few Stax songs. As for the score, it's a well balanced mix of hip hop, soul and classical music. After all, a remixed version of "Shame On A Nigga" opens the movie. Bold.

But what impressed me the most about this all project (music and film) is the artwork. Simple, modern, diverse, inspired... I want those as posters !

By the way, GQ has a 4-page article about RZA and the movie. Entertainment Weekly lists RZA's influences for this movie.

where did the drums go ?

Fair question asked by the ol' man of Unkut (no, that's not only Booba's textile brand) : where did the drums go ? 

Hearing contemporary rap music and that new beat scene that's been rising for quite a few years now, is like going on a quest for those good old drums. It's not about the 808 and 909 trend reintroduced by the Dirty South sound, but about major critically acclaimed producers such as Madlib and Alchemist. Looping sometimes works by itself, and sometimes, it needs additional work, such as pumping up drums in it. 

Well, raving ain't gonna solve this issue, but by reading Robbie's rant, it may pop out of your head "yeah, that's right, where did those drums go ?".  

At the same time, I can't help thinking of new unsigned hype Black Dave, who just dropped the drums-heavy single "On Da Map", which reminisce of Masta Ace's best years... well, Black Dave also did "Black Donald Trump", which feature a kick-only-and-no-snare driven beat... so the question stands !

the best chop...

It's been a while since I last talked about Jay Dee. Well, here I go again with a new video by Bling47, showing House Shoes going over what "might be the greatest chop that Dilla ever came up with" : "Johnny Don't Do It" by 10cc, for "Waves".

Beautiful.

And while you're at it, the guy dropped a lot of these lately.

Radio Vinyle.

I've been sleeping and I missed the two latest episodes of Radio Vinyle, this incredible series that makes you have a glimpse in the Radio France vinyl collection. Figure : 450 000 pieces. 

So, these two episodes featured Brian Molko and Wax Tailor. The one with Wax Tailor really speaks to me, as we kinda share the same broad influences. Sorry for non-French people, it's only in French, but music is universal.

The one with Brian Molko, from Placebo, is also in French, as the guy is perfectly fluent.  

Indispensable.

OF.

Odd Future could be experiencing a little downfall following last year heavy buzz, but it seems they are only recovering from the harsh way from dust to success. 

While Earl Sweatshirt is preparing his album, and is making a track available to stream, MellowHype is considering the mixed reviews over their latest effort "Numbers". 

The main point of this post is to remind you that they started by throwing free stuff at people's face. These internet releases are still available on the collective's website, alongside their dollarable stuff ; anyway, some people (maybe including myself) would say that their most interesting work is their free albums and mixtapes. So, get your fix of Mike G, Domo Genesis, Tyler, Earl, MellowHype and other freaks right there. 

an advice to aspiring label owners.

Wanna set up as a music label mogul ? Well, lower your expectations and keep your day job, as explained in this article from the East Bay Express : "Record labels : cool as a hobby, not a business".