Mishka - Surf & Turf

Band / Artist: Various Artists
Year: 2014
Genre: Hip-Hop Beats, Trap, Dubstep, Chillstep, Trip Hop, Chillout

My Review:
Miska can be really hit or miss for me. This time around, I'm pretty happy with what they offered to the world. It's a great mix. Mishka is a New York fashion/anti-fashion label, that supports some really varied sets of music. This is their self description;

A New York City fixture since 2003, Мишка (“Mishka,” or “bear cub” in Russian) clawed their own path through the often homogenous streetwear world, beginning humbly as a small t-shirt upstart and maturing into a full blown cut & sew powerhouse.

Find them here.


Surf & Turf are hiphop/trap/dubstep/triphop blends that work really well as the music for your chill tent at a party, or as something to play in the background during that fancy soiree that you put on, so you can prove that you're hip, and know a lot of cool underground shit out of new york. That sounds like a total jerk description, but I've been driving around listening to these, and its really a good set mixes.

Mishka - Surf 

Mishka - Turf
 

Cosby Sweater - Hey, Girl, Hey

Band / Artist: Cosby Sweater
Year: 2012
Genre: Hip-Hop Beats, Dubstep, Electro, Jazz Rock

My Review:
Did you watch old 90s anime movies, and find yourself enjoying the tackiness of the synths they used for the background music? Do you ever find yourself walking at night and wishing that somewhere off in the distance, there was a guy soulfully playing a saxophone? Did you fall in love with the wobble base noise the second you first heard of this mythical thing called "Dub of the Steppe"?

Well if you didn't answer any of those questions with a yes, then fuck you. Enjoy this band anyways.

Cosby sweater popped up in a random music search about 6 months ago. I was REALLY enjoying them, but somehow they fell off my radar and into my collection of tracks I needed to review one day. I found them again recently, and remembered why they made me so happy. There is so much going on here, that I'll let someone else try to explain it.

Everything about Cosby Sweater is catchy. From their witty moniker and humorous album covers, to the abounding funk they unleash. The burgeoning trio has established a knack for composing spellbinding numbers in the field of live electronica, fusing slick production with head-turning instrumentation on each robust release. This results is something so effervescent, so hair-raising, that even their most docile efforts could turn a dance-floor upside down

So if that doesn't tell you whats up, then I'll say a pinch more. David Embry on synth and vocals, Nicholas Gerlach on Tenor Saxophone and EWI, and Richard “Sleepy” Floyd on drums.

 

 They remind me a little of Pretty Lights,  but with these parts that remind me of old synthy anime soundtracks, glitchy triphop/dubstep grooves, and then layers of saxphone and warm flourishes over all of it.

If you don't bob your head to this, then you hate freedom.


Cosby Sweater - Hey, Girl, Hey

(Special Post) The Collected Works of Ken Smith

 


 
Band / Artist: Ken Smith
Year: 2004-2007
Genre: Techno, Gabber, Drum and Bass, Electro, Power Noise, Ambient Techno, Hip-Hop Beats,

My Review:

Ken was a friend of mine. We met in 2001 on a friends message board. We would talk online intermittently, but Ken was the sort of personality that even if you never met him in person, he would shine through. When I went off to Europe and heard frenchcore, Ken was the first person I thought of sharing it with. We shared a love for music, especially techno. We also had a lot of conversations about religion and art (and the chan), but music was always on our minds, and we were always sharing and collecting new artists between one another.

Ken died at the beginning of 2007. When I found out he was gone, I was confused, startled, and saddened. Like many who knew him online, we knew his computers would come and go in terms of working. I found out he had passed away in October 2007, long after he was laid to rest. I decided to try my best to find and contact all of his old friends, and collect every song or part of a song they still had from him.

It took a few years, and it came to a dauntingly large amount of music. After that the thing to do was sort it into albums the most like he would have made. I have to thank Briana Rhodes, Matt Clark, and Patrick Durbin, because they are the only way I could have found all of his music.

Some tracks have been edited to make them fit together better, or to provide closure to a track. A few tracks I remixed to make them work (especially on our collaboration album). Not every track is perfectly how I found it, or under the same name it was done under. Some song titles were altered, or in the cases of no original title, renamed with something Ken would like. The album art was all created with references or images ken had made or been in, with exception where needed.
 

I hope you enjoy this memorial to my friend. All the tracks are under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (Details can be seen at; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/). Please feel free to remix, play, sample, or redistribute these anywhere or anyhow you wish. If you would like to ask about using any of them for commercial purposes, please email me.

So please enjoy. Spread it and share it with anyone you know, chop it up and make beats, use it for DJ shows, whatever you want. Ken would have loved other people sharing and celebrating his music.

Individual CDs

Angerstatic & Johnny Deadman

 

Brainwhacker - OMG NO TITLE

 
Brainwhacker - DJ NIFTY

 
Brainwhacker - NEEJAY DIFTY

 
Brainwhacker - Highlights Of Lowlives

 
Brainwhacker - Because Life Was Meant For Headphones

K Breaks - Chemical Illin'

Ken Smith - Demos

Kinverji – Butterflies

Lucifers Cute Little Kitten

Mantis Shuffle - Works By Ken Smith

Stratum Automata - Choir Anus

 
Stratum Automata - Short Shits

 
Stratum Automata - Short Shits 2, The Revenge

 
Stratum Automata - Fracture

Zer0 Fidelity - Deconstructure

 
Zer0 Fidelity - Eat My Liver

 
Zer0 Fidelity - Echo Kill Demos

 
Zer0 Fidelity - Echo Kill

 
Zer0 Fidelity – Mindmatter

 
Ser.aph & Zer0 Fidelity - Duets In Augmentation

The full pack of all of these works is about 1.2 gigs. I'll upload it directly if anyone is interested, just shoot me a comment

Thanks

(Special Post) - Murk Daddy Flex - Third Compilation

Band / Artist: Murk Daddy Flex
Year: 2013
Genre: Bastard Pop, Chillout, Hip-Hop Beats

My Review:

So here is a musician that I was really enjoying. When someone sends me an email with music to share it always makes me happy, and the fact that its almost all good music being sent to me makes me even happier. It shows me that the people out there making the music really do want you to like their stuff, and they want you to keep it not just because of it being free, but because you like it that much.

But anyway... meet Murk Daddy Flex. The name sounds silly, the song titles are funny in a random reference of passing moments sort of way. He's pretty humble about his work too.

I would just say experimental sample based hip hop. Honestly all I have is audacity and a guitar hero mic so I just splice things together from different sources and record melodies and bass(so there wouldn't be much to take pictures of).

 I'll review below the interview.

_____________________________________

Jumbly Music: It's nice to meet you. How are you doing?

Murk Daddy Flex: It's nice to met you too. I'm doing well. My school is on spring break right now so its been nice and relaxing

Jumbly: So, whats your back story? Who all is in the group?

M D F: I was bored one day and started making beats really enjoyed it, and just kept doing that and here I am a year later. It's just me really.

Jumbly: Where are you from?

M D F: I was born in India, grew up in Cherry Hill, NJ, and moved to Georgia. I live in Athens cause I go to UGA.

Jumbly: Do you find it influences your style and your music much?

M D F: Haha, not really.

Jumbly: I would suppose there isn't a huge India, or New Jersey sound in there, but hell, inspiration comes from anywhere. Who makes your album art?

M D F: It's just pictures I find of tumblr so far, But for the next one, I'm getting my room mate and my other friend who are both artists to make something cool,

Jumbly: Do you tour much? Ever doing a tour through the US?

M D F: I'm only playing my first show on the 27th(opening for DJ Shadow), much less tour haha. Ideally, i would love to. I've gone on tour with my other band, and its a great way to see the country.

Jumbly: What way do you think is best to enjoy your music? Would you consider it good date music, driving music, chillout music, etc?

M D F: People have told me that its great chillout music. Personally i think it'd be best to listen to while walking.

Jumbly: Do you like giving away your music for free? Do you hope to continue or would you rather move to a pay system?

M D F: I do enjoy giving music away for free. At this point it's just more about trying to gain exposure. I would like to continure releasing music on a donations based system, and hopefully make some money by leasing beats and selling physical copies.

Jumbly: Do you have any sounds/ bands/ or pieces of art that you admire or try to emulate with your music?

M D F: I find myself really influenced by nujabes. Thats what got me into intrumental hip hop in teh first place. I also find myself really influenced by music outside the genre. For example, the band title fight, has perfect song structures and transitions that i try to emulate.

Jumbly: If anyone wanted to do a collaboration with you, would you be interested?

M D F: Yes, I would love to.

Jumbly: How should they get in touch with you?

M D F: My email is terry504@uga.edu
or just on facebook im not picky

Jumbly: What kinds of projects do you really want to do in the future?

M D F: At the moment I'm working on a collab with Jubee of Jubee and the morning after so that should be out in the near future, but other than that, I really havent given it much thought

Jumbly: Are there any bands on here that you're into currently? What do you think they did right, or should change in their follow-up?

M D F: I really liked Title Fight's most recent release, Floral Green. They have some of the best song structures and all of their parts last for the perfect amount of time. Gold Panda is really cool too. The way he uses samples is great.

Jumbly: Do you follow the blog? What would you like to see more of? Or any suggestions?

M D F: I have checked it out and I think its great. It's awesome to have a place for free music that is good. It has everything that a standard bog should. Maybe more youtube videos? because those are a really easy way to check out a band or artist, but I know thats not always available.

Jumbly: I've been toying with the Youtube idea. Sometimes its easy to do, other times I figure I should spend the extra time writing up reviews for other bands or getting together more singles. I'm glad you like the blog though, I sure as hell like your work.

Do you know any other great sites that people should check out? What about any other bands?

M D F: some bands that I think are good:
Pygmy lush
Cerce
Cara Beth Satalino
Nujabes
Lemuria
Dead in the Dirt

Jumbly: Thanks a bunch for sharing your music with me.
I have one last question. What special skills do you have? Can you fix a car, or make your own whiskey?

M D F: haha I'm not very skilled in useful things. Lets see, I can skip a rock pretty well and I'm also pretty good at the game cornhole.

_____________________________

..and we end an interview with the word cornhole. My childhood immaturity rears its ugly head.

Okay so the music. He says hiphop. I almost completely disagree. It has an element that reminds me of Pogo, with the whispery soft voices of people used as an instrument by being chopped and layered.

You may think you're in for this

But really its more of this.

I have enjoyed this stuff as chillout music for a few weeks while settling into some new roles in my life. (Its why the blog has been a little more slow recently.) It has such a jazzy element, and a feel of old musicals and film scores, it just has done wonders giving me something soft to turn back to when I'm too busy to think. You really should check his stuff out.

Murk Daddy Flex - Third Compilation

Raw Music International - Kisumu Mixtape

Band / Artist: Raw Music International (Various Artists)
Year: 2011
Genre:  International, Blues, Soul-RnB, Folk, Hip-Hop, Field Recordings, African, Alternative Hip-Hop, Dance, Reggae - Dancehall, Hip-Hop Beats

My Review:
A "mixtape" of tracks from Kisumu, Kenya. It has a pretty wide range of sounds, from traditional Kenyan folk, to pop and rap, and some instrumental pieces.  I played through it a few times and found probably 2 tracks that rubbed me the wrong way and I didn't keep. 

If you want to know a little about each track, go check out the bandcamp page and click through each track.  this is the excerpt for the first song

Olima is an 83 year old blind Luo blues guitarist. We recorded this song at his home on December 31, 2010. He sings in memory of a deceased lover.

http://rawmusicinternational.bandcamp.com/

This one is a good one for a mix, and adds a nice dimension of flavor into a playlist. It would be nice in a mix for at a summery BBQ or a dinner party.

Raw Music International - Kisumu Mixtape