23 years after the first London show Erick Sermon and Parish Smith, AKA EPMD, return to the Big Smoke still making dollars and having fun, as Phillip Mylnar investigates.
With a funk-saturated sound formulated way out in Long Island, EPMD took their place up front as part of hip-hop’s fabled golden era back in 1987. Now nearly three decades deep in hip-hop history, rap innovators Erick Sermon and Parish Smith look back on the game-changing night they played London’s Brixton Academy, how the business of hip-hop taught them to break-up to make-up, and the lasting lesson the legendary Run-DMC taught them about always embracing rap’s new generation.
The Roots’ tenth studio album, and second since their installation as Jimmy Fallon’s house band on the Late Show, is intended to be a cinematic narrative following the life and death of the fictional Redford Stevens.
It starts securely in concept album territory with opener ‘Dun’: a flat-lining heart monitor reversing back into life and straight into the booming ‘Sleep’. It’s a tremendously confident move, one that matches the stark beginning of 2008′s Rising Down for its eschewing of bombast in favour of low-level menace. …Read More.
Hip-hop and food have a long, and if you excuse the pun, fruitful relationships. Highlights include the Beastie Boys Finger Lickin’ Good, Organized Confusion’s Who Stole My Last Piece of Chicken, Buck 65′s Square LP (which if memory serves includes a indulgent M+S style of delivery), Cut Chemist’s and DJ Shadow’s Brainfreeze… you get the idea, the list is pretty fruity.
Arriving at an opportune time to spice up a chilly January and giving the producers of Master Chef a chance to turn up the show’s aural heat, Inja’s Pepper Sauce is a joyous, bouncing track that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Taken from his forthcoming Bass Music/Escapism LP, Pepper Sauce is fittingly produced by DJ Edsik (Allouette Street Records) who hails from the home of crack sauciers, France.
Bullion has long since been cherished for his mash up album Pet Sounds: In The Key Of Dee and bassy floorfiller Get Familiar. His most recent release, You Drive Me To Plastic, released by Young Turks Records, is abeautifully sewn together 21 minute piece of music consisting of nine tracks drawing from leftfield disco, krautrock, exotica and afro inspired 70’s electronics that he preferred to call a ‘non-LP’. …Read More.
Kevin Munoz’s type-led Flying Lotus limited edition screenprint is a super nice piece of design. Printed using metalic ink on black paper, it is in the Cali native’s own words, “super nerdy and way blingy.” Coming in at a mere $20 it’s as kind on your wallet as it would be to your wall.
Munoz has worked for the likes of Paul Frank and Converse and counts joker Jack Black as a fan of his Juan t-shirt. Check his artwork which has that relaxed, idiosyncratic vibe that is peculiar to Californian visual culture. His blog and bio also raise a smile.
Project Thirty-Three is an archive of vintage album covers that share the fact that they convey their message with simple shapes (circle, rectangles, squares and triangles), bold typography and concise copy. A site that showcases a genuine love for music and a treasure trove of inspiration. Well worth a look.
To tie in with this years Record Store Day on 21 April 2012, Talenthouse are holding the Secret 7 Competition.
This, not-to-be-sniffed at opportunity, requires those with creative minds and fingers to submit artwork for a 7″ piece of vinyl housing music by the likes ofDJ Shadow, CSS or Bombay Bicycle Club. The created artwork needs to be based on an intrepretation of a selected track by one of these artists. If your design is chosen it will be produced in a limited run, displayed and sold – with profits going to the Teenage Cancer Trust - at Idea Generation Gallery, London. Winners will also receive a signed copy of their artwork and, of course, the kind of kudos money can’t buy.
The competition closes 15 January 2012, check the Talenthouse website for full deets.
D’Angelo has long reigned as the mysterious king of neo-soul. Much like Lauryn Hill, his 2000 opus Voodoo was followed by zilch, preferring to remain in the shadows as a peripheral figure in the music world, and finding himself in and out of jail and putting on a few pounds in the process. …Read More.
To mark the release of their latest vinyl on limited 10” through RAMP Recordings, Stay+ (Christopher Poole + Matt Farthing) have made a video for ‘Dandelion’, a track featuring vocals from Moshi Moshi’s Psychologist. In keeping with their bewitching aesthetic last seen on their Bonafide Beats #23 mix, the video depicts a debauched and haunting flat party complete with baked beans on toast.
‘Dandelion’ will also feature on an upcoming EP due in Spring 2012 also on RAMP.
