Music for Perfect People

Some dude named Henry Adaso wrote an article for About.com called 10 Greatest Hip-Hop Battles (and their winners).  Here’s a list of the matchups and videos of the tracks powerful enough to end beef.  Feel free to debate both the rankings of these beefs, and the winners of these beefs in the comments section.

10. Kool Moe Dee vs. Busy Bee

9. Eminem vs. The Source

Winner: Eminem – The Sauce

8. Eazy-E vs. Dr. Dre

Winner: Dr. Dre – Dre’s Day

7. Canibus vs. LL Cool J

Winner: Canibus – 2nd Round KO

6. Common vs. Westside Connection

Winner: Common – The Bitch in Yoo

5. Ice Cube vs. NWA

Winner: Ice Cube – No Vaseline

4. Kool Moe Dee vs. LL Cool J

Winner: LL Cool J – Jack the Ripper

3. Boogie Down Productions vs. Juice Crew

Winner: Boogie Down Productions

2. 2Pac vs. Biggie

Winner: 2Pac – Hit ‘Em Up (Hard to choose a song)

1. Jay-Z vs. Nas

Winner: Nas – Ether

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• Finally took a few moments to watch some of the Kanye Storytellers, and what happened? When did Kanye lose his mind? The new music was some of the worst dribble I’ve heard. How could someone with such a great ear make such bad auto-tune fuckery. You made me hate my ears Yeezey.
• The Farrelly Brothers are moving forward with their Three Stooges movie with Jim Carrey, Benicio Del Toro, and Sean Penn as the slapstick team. Academy award winners Penn and Del Toro being directed by the guys who made Dumb and Dumber is mind boggling.
• Pac Div have a new EP out which is available on iTunes.  If you haven’t heard anything from the Cali emcees go check them out. Inspired by collectives such as the Native Tongues and Heiro, Pac Div are a great change of pace from the blahzay blahzay sounds eminating from mainstream hip-hop today.
• Grammy winner and international merengue superstar Elvis Crespo was arrested this week for performing a sex act while on an airplane. According to passenger Patricia Perea who had the pleasure of sitting next to Crespo, once the plane was in the air the singer pulled a blanket over himself and began to masturbate. Just when you think things couldn’t get any sexier Crespo removed the blanket giving Perea and other ticket holders a full view of his every stroke.

Off to purchase my first Elvis Crespo record.

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Slow news day today.   Don’t worry, I’ve been keeping second rate stories in my starred Google Reader folder just for this.

Dr. Dog will be playing Jimmy Fallon next Thursday (April 2nd).  Hidden Track says you can get the skinny on putting your name in the running for free tickets to the show by clicking on this link.  Good luck.

All you Beat fans should like this one.  Paste is reporting (weeks ago) that a movie entitled Kill Your Darlings will tell the story of Lucien Carr, and the murder trial he went through following his 1944 murder of David Kammerer.  Carr was quite chummy with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs.  Apparently Jesse Eisenberg will play Ginsberg, and the Human Torch, Chris Evans, will play Kerouac.

There is a pretty good interview with Yeezy in Complex Magazine this month.  You can read the full interview here.  It’s one of the more readable interviews with Kanye I’ve seen in a while. Per usual, Mr. West sounds, let’s call it very confident, throughout.

Wilco’s website has confirmed rumors that Feist will be featured in a duet entitled “You and I” on Wilco’s soon to be released album.   The album, which is unnamed to this point, is due out in June.

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Black Star is getting back together for two shows at the Nokia Theater on May 30th.  You can get more information and buy tickets here.

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Here are the additions to the already existing roster:

Public Enemy
Ani DiFranco
Amadou & Mariam
Shadows Fall
Heartless Bastards
Tony Rice Unit
High On Fire
Passion Pit
Dillinger Escape Plan
Wailing Souls
The Itals
MURS
White Rabbits
Janelle Monáe
Hockey
Pretty Lights

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Here is the trailer I spoke of in today’s Mangled Bag of Tricks ..

Enjoy.

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NYC’s 2009 Popfest will take place from May 14th – May 17th with the following bands:

LINE-UP FOR 2009:

Knight School (NYC)
Soft City (NYC)
Dream Bitches (NYC)
The Metric Mile (NYC)
My Teenage Stride (NYC)
THE BALLET (NYC)

Don Lennon (NYC)
The Tartans (CA)
Liechtenstein (SWEDEN)
CATS ON FIRE (FINLAND)

Hidden Ghost Balloon Ship (MI)
The Hat Company (OH)
Strega (NYC)

Computer Perfection (MI)
Eux Autres (CA)
The Secret History (NYC)
Pants Yell! (MA)

THE RADIO DEPT. (SWEDEN)

Boy Genius (NYC)
Afternoon Naps (OH)
Very Truly Yours (IL)
The Smittens (VT)
Rose Melberg (CANADA)
The Icicles (MI)
Casper and the Cookies (GA)
BURNING HEARTS (FINLAND)

To be quite honest, I have not knowingly listened to a single band on this list .. but live music is awesome regardless! Captain Hooks described the scene as indie pop that is full of “upbeat, friendly, jangly guitars ..” .. Dont quote him on that cause I just did.

Any info on this festival in NYC? Toss it in the comments .. more info is more knowledge and without that .. mangtooth = powerless.

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Here is the new video for The Juan Maclean’s “One Day” ..

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After years of speculation, it looks like The Stone Roses will finally reunite.  I am relatively new to The Roses, but both of their albums have been getting constant play at Casa de Trane since I discovered them.  The Mirror is reporting that the boys finally convinced frontman Ian Brown that a reunion was in order twenty years after they released their iconic self titled first album.

I just realized how long it’s been since I last extolled on the awesomeness of NPR’s website and all the free music you can find there.  Right now can stream Leonard Cohen’s new album Live in London (thanks to Muzzle of Bees for the heads up).

In other free music news, you can download the first single off The Felice Brothers’ upcoming album Yonder Is The Clock (out April 7th) here.   The song is entitled Run Chicken Run.  Kid Diabetes was kind enough to bring us news of the upcoming Felice Brothers tour a month or so back.

In an amazingly brave shift from disgusting reality television, VH1 has announced they will be airing ten new episodes of Behind the Music this summer.  Artists on the bill include Weezy and Scott Weiland.  I know some of you are disappointed because this will mean less reruns of I Love Money, but watching tv about drug addled music stars is a actually a lot of fun.

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Good Morning!

Here is what I have for ya today:

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I have recently been listening to the Johannesburg, South Africa-based band BLK JKS ..  it is hard to classify their “type” of music but to me they have this crazy avant garde dub-rock sound that is hard to stop listening to .. the group as a whole has a beautiful flow despite the offbeat rhythms that each instrument produces .. Check out their 4 track release titled the Mystery EP and while you’re at it, head over to their website and download the Mystery Megamix .. both works are enjoyable listens.

Acoustic version of “Summertime” .. the album version has some fancy drumming on the track ..

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MF Doom has officially changed his name to DOOM and you best respect that … you can check out the metal masked rapper under his new moniker here and listen to some samples from his new album Born Like This which dropped yesterday.

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Oh Snap! Click here for the new Method Man and Redman track featuring UGK. The name of the track is “City Lights” and should be on the duo’s next album, Black Out 2, which is slotted to be released on April 28th through Def Jam records.

HipHopDX is reporting that the next project for duo is  How High 2. The sequel to the stoner cult classic, How High, is  supposed to start production and filming this summer! Light up good children ..

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SXSW has come and gone it seems and now the world can get back to turning as usual and music news can once again revolve away from Austin, TX .. but that doesnt mean recordings of these wonderful events cant be found! (I apologize for my bitter tone but I sat in an office for a week while all I read about was how sweet the concerts in Texas were .. Grrr .. ) .. ANYWAYS .. click here for some torrents from SXSW for your audio pleasure.

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For a limited time (today might actually be the last day,) Gomez is streaming their newest album New Tide on the group’s myspace page . The album is set for release on March 31st .. I gave the album a quick listen through yesterday and it sounds quite delightful .. im looking forward to having my signed, pre-ordered copy coming in the mail very soon ..

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To follow up a previous post regarding Where the Wild Things Are .. the film is supposed to be released October 16 (just in case the picture above didn’t give that away) and a trailer for the film can be seen in during the previews for Monsters vs. Aliens (in theaters this Friday!) .. I love being a child at heart.

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Well I shall be attending the Hip Hop Monologues: Inside the Life and Mind of Jim Jones this week so you should certainly check back for an update after that show .. tickets are still available here.

I will also be attending the Gomez show on April 3rd in Brooklyn .. updates to follow.

Until then .. enjoy the music!

MT

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You may think I have gone crazy with this one ..

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Perusing the web this evening I noticed that GloriousNoise had reported that the Gorillaz are a releasing a new documentary called BANANAZ. The film will delve into the lives of the people behind the band and give a better sense to the logic behind their madness. This looks pretty damn cool ..these fellas seem like interesting characters.

Check out the trailer below:

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Some people can get past a stalker that leaves shutters and rabbits on their lawn .. others cant .. Erykah Badu, Kanye West , and Common all showed up for a FREESTYLE!

Thanks for the clip BABS

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This story has been out long enough that pretty much every music website out there has reported on it…I’m going to credit Stereogum as I saw their story first.  (I’m obviously still catching up on the news I missed over the last two weeks.)  Apparently drummer Jimmy Chamberlin has quit Smashing Pumpkins.  Take a look at the Stereogum link, it seems like Billy and Jimmy have had a tenuous relationship over the years to say the least.

Crosby, Stills, & Nash have announced a U.S. and European tour in June and July.   The limited U.S. tour kicks off in St. Louis on June 3rd and takes them through Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, New York (state), Connecticut and Massachusettes.  You can click here for a full list of dates.

Like coffee?  Like gentle guitars?  Like men in glasses with thick black frames?  You’re in luck.  Elvis Costello will be releasing his new album “Secret, Profane, & Sugarcane”, on June 2nd.  The album is acoustic and will be released by Hear Music which is apparently owned by Starbucks.  Click here if you’ve never heard of Starbucks.

Just when I thought music fans had lost all semblance of taste (this actually isn’t true, but play along for the joke), Boombox brings me a story that renews my faith in the taste of music lovers everywhere.  Apparently Erykah Badu’s performance at SXSW earlier this week was postponed for an hour as a female stalker was apprehended outside Badu’s home just two hours before showtime.  If you’re going to stalk somebody, have some taste and stalk someone like Erykah Badu.

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