[VIDEO] Lamon Manuel and Analog(ue) Tape Dispenser - Skies (Featuring SKECH185)

Its been a while since I have posted anything here. Well, today I am inspired to change that.

I met Lamon Manuel at a BBQ in Brooklyn where we had both travelled a great distance to do some raps (shoutout reservoir sound for that). I had never heard of him, probably because I have been in a Northwest rap bubble for so long. While milling about during soundcheck I said hi and we spoke briefly, he seemed fairly reserved. I was not prepared for the depth of power he brought to his performance that day.

His style impressed me in its unforgiving and direct tone - his words cut through the layer of bullshit and garbage that sits on top of our socialized nicety. Rare is the rap performance that makes me reconsider/remember what rap can do, but the intensity in his face, and earnest contact he made with everyone in the space brought all of the transformative power of the artform into play.

I have literally been thinking about this performance for the past 2 years, while working at my own craft and witnessing countless others deliver their work.

For about a year after that I would ask him on twitter when the album is coming, and the whole time he says its coming, we are just working to do it right.

If this video is any indication its well worth the wait.

Follow Lamon Manuel @fastingcannibal on twitter and give him a dollar for this song at http://lamonmanuel.bandcamp.com/

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Weather Exposed - Ring Of Bone

This is the last release from the elusive Weather Exposed. 4 compositions on one track that is 25 minutes of spacious ambient guitar music. This image is perfect accompaniment. That fog. Listen.

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Everybody Knows - Bridge Expansion Pack EP

The latest in ridiculous free form narrative rapping from Hawaii's greatest living salmon fisherman, this one is all knobs to the right. EK is the dude who shows up in town with a grab bag of party supplies, trades them for other more powerful party supplies and you invariably end up hanging out and yelling into microphones while he records a new album or 3 in the course of a few days. You wish your cup floweth over like this.


Tracks featuring chaboy right here:

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Cheeks - Afterburner feat. DJ Cataclysmic

Cheeks hails from Ann Arbor but calls Tacoma, WA, home these days, so he's adding his voice to the sound of the NorthWest scene. His upcoming album is titled Saturn's Return which makes me think hes lived through the better part of his 20s. Your can hear the maturity in his voice - cool and collected, self-certain, honest. His flow is new school but the values are classic, and Afterburner is a high pace knocker that brings it all together.

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[Video] Natasha Kmeto - "Dirty Mind Melt"

Anyone who knows me knows I have been a fan of Natasha Kmeto for a while. Her music is everything I love about classic RnB (I'm talking 30 years of classic, not just back to en vouge), produced with an ear for the dialed frequencies and complex rhythms of EDM. While a lot of the new electronic music is mired in overuse of wobbles, big drops, and non-stop rattling (thanks "dubtrap"), Natasha creates subtle, spacious arrangements that make room for her powerful voice. Dirty Mind Melt, the lead single of her new EP of the same name, is subtle, featuring a repeated sample that offers all the context you need to let the music narrate the scene.
Watch the video, it feels like french new wave.
Listen to the whole EP at Dropping Gems, it feels like 4am.

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[Honest Hip Hop] Hump Jones "The Lamentations" leak off #SQUIDTAPE

New joint from Hump Jones, apparently a leak from the upcoming SQUIDTAPE which I can only imagine is his collabo with DJ Squid. Deep soul break with that smooth flow he's been perfecting for years out in the frozen lands of Vermont. I'm looking forward to hearing more Hump Jones this year, hopefully this means its all finally coming out.

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[video] Abadawn - "Very Much"

If you've paid a modicum of attention to things I do out here then you know that Abadawn is the homie and a frequent collaborator. He's a strange dude for sure, but in my world that's a commendation. One of the realest and most honest emcees in the town and probably in the whole damn game for that matter. Anyway he's always putting together new things and this joint he recorded in the old Big Bang studio and then brought downstairs to make a video in the absurd layout of Grant Michael's Industrial Antiques. Its....well its Abadawn, ya know?

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DMLH with Kitty Pryde, Saucy Yoda and Sistafist at Backspace, PDX Weds 3/20

GYEAH. Stoked to hop on as local support for Kitty's plz let it be warm tour, with the NW homies Saucy Yoda and Sistafist. COME THRU YALL. FACEBOOK INFO AT: http://on.fb.me/WVnqrT

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[VIDEO] Sapient - Shotgun In My Spaceship

Northwest producer/emcee Sapient has announced his new album and today released the first video/single, "Shotgun In My Spaceship". First up over at Pigeons and Planes, and spreading around the internetz, this video is perhaps the sweetest, nerdiest love story ever created by an artist known for banger hip hop.

But this is Sapient's new direction - melodic, multi-textured indie-pop that echoes Brian Wilson and will find its place among other genre-mashers like Ratatat or Beck. The single is available for free with a Pre-Order via Bandcamp, or you can purchase it on iTunes as well.

Slump comes out February 19th 2013 from Camobear Records

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VIDEO - Jake Kost "It's All Good" [Honest Hip Hop]

Jake Kost is back with another excellent video, just to remind us "It's All Good", over a classic funky beat that recalls the best of the golden age. Jake Kost has a flow that smoothes out multi-syllabic rhymes and bounces in the pocket. The video, by Martin VanLonden, seems like it just might be a comment on American race issues, but I'll let you decide on that one. CHECK IT OUT, and leave a comment for the kid on his youtube channel.

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VIDEO: The Lytics "Stay Calm" [Honest Hip Hop]

Winnipeg Canada's The Lytics are about to release a new album on Camobear Records that, judging by the recent singles, promises to be a sweet pastiche of everything I used to like about radio music. In the 80s. They bridge elements of soul, new wave, and golden era hip hop...it almost sounds like what The Specials might have made if they grew up on rap instead of reggae. This video is an irreverent montage of what I imagine to be a great day in Winnipeg, by Canadian music video auteur Stuey Kubrick.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE SINGLE

Learn More about The Lytics at Camobear Records.

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DMLH "Light A Torch" [HONEST HIP HOP]

LISTEN.

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BIG BANG - Tis The Season ft. Rocket One Official Video [Honest Hip Hop]

"Tis The Season featuring Rocket One" by Big Bang, available now from Big Bang Broadcast Company.

Recorded at Valiant Records. Shot at Valiant Records and the rest of Salmon St. Studios. Produced and directed by Martin Van Londen for Rainy Day Solutions.

We have 3 compilations up on Bandcamp and more coming every month. Don't Sleep. Follow @WEBANGBIG. Find us on Facebook. CRACK YOUR SKULL OPEN.

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BIG BANG VOLUME 3: LATE IN THE DAY

So we have been spending most of our nights at Valiant Records abusing the studio privileges for the past few months. BIG BANG. Not sure what to say about it yet so why don't you listen and make up your own mind. (FREE DL VIA BANDCAMP) myfirstbigbang.com

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VIDEO - Jake Kost "The Raw Deal" [Honest Hip Hop]

The homie Jake Kost is back with another video produced by PortArea productions. This dude goes in harder and more complex than most of the kids out these days...apparently people are starting to notice cuz this vid got near 3000 views in a week. CHECK IT OUT

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Big day for Portland - New Releases from IAME and Serge Severe [Honest Hip Hop]

WHATUP YALL, I have been so busy workin on this Big Bang project that I have clearly neglected this blog. Thankfully my inbox is full today with great news: two of the more dope rappers in this town full of dope rappers are kicking the spring off right some well anticipated new releases.

Serge Severe, who has been crushing solo for a while, as well as with the group Animal Farm, dropped an EP today entirely produced by Terminill, who's production credits include Luck-One and Mistah Fab. Titled Service Without A Smile as a "metaphor for the ruthless music industry", the project features appearances from Luck-One, Jon Belz and DJ Wels. Dope beats and the emcee who has already let us know he is Back on My Rhymes - yeah go get yours here: Via Mediafire

IAME, the perpetual line crosser from both Oldominon and Sandpeople, has also dropped a project today that you can grab as a pay--what-you-want download from the Heaven Noise Bandcamp. Lame$tream, produced entirely by Smoke M2D6, is a follow up to last years Lame and is filled with the same depth of storytelling that requires a rewind. This time around its less self-deprecating humor and more dark undertones. The press release is calling it "post-swag music for a new day and a new wrong." Maybe just to keep his humor intact IAME also dropped The Deaf Kid Mixtape featuring the swagged out Young Coconut...this past Sunday (jus sayin). Get it all at the Heaven Noise Bandcamp.

DAMN. Okay you got your double (triple really) dose of Portland Hip Hop, so spread the word and enjoy this video while your DL completes. #SWAGGUPY EVERYTHING



YOUNG COCONUT!

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BIG BANG rocking with Kool Keith, Serge Severe, Dain, March 23rd at Hawthorne Theater, Portland, OR - [Honest Hip Hop]

WE ARE STOKED TO BE A PART OF THIS SHOW.

If you havent heard the madcap insanity that is Big Bang, check out the music on Bandcamp. If you havent heard the madcap insanity that is Kool Keith, well....

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Natasha Kmeto "The Ache" from Dropping Gems [Future Soul]

I first heard of Natasha Kmeto a while ago from a friend at Autonomous Records. Watched her 2011 video for "Party Girl" and downloaded some tracks. Initially, based on that video, I thought she was taking heavy bass EDM down the pop route. "The Ache" has changed my mind in a supremely satisfying way.

"The Ache" is filled with soulful storytelling, carried by Kmeto's voice which is equally powerful and subtle. Her nuanced tones emote honestly, and her lyrics are direct and personal. While many electronic artists create sounds and work frequencies that have deep impact, her songwriting and vocal presence gives the music a narrative sense, a human point of connection.

I've been listening to this on repeat all day. She fuses rap, song, heavy beats grooves and ambient moments so well, its one of the more soulful and complete projects I have encountered in a while. Do yourself a favor and cop it at the Dropping Gems Bandcamp today.

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REMIX - NASA on DEATH GRIPS

NASA aka Adam Warlock aka the dude in charge at the ever impressive Uncommon Records just dropped two remixes of Death Grips "Takyon" and "Guillotine". I have been looking forward to hearing some solid remixes since Death Grips dropped the Black Google concept, releasing all of the stems from their 2011 masterpiece of unbridled intensity "ExMilitary", and NASA delivers. Plus he kills the death grips cadence with a bonus verse on "guillotine". CHECK IT OUT

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VIDEO - Carnage The Executioner "Hunger" [Honest Hip Hop]

Saw this video floating around on Twitter the other day. Carnage the Executioner was more like a fable character from the midwest I had heard snippets of until I saw dude destroy a small club in Portland with only his voice and a loop pedal. Mashing up classic beats and hooks via his exceptional beatbox technique, with rapid freestyles, he basically pushed everyone off the edge of creative hip hop into the abyss of an awesome dance party. No surprise to those who know, Carnage has been killing it out of Minneapolis since the nineties, thus the title of his llast album from Fill In The Breaks, "Worth The Wait".

Check It Out on Bandcamp

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