I’m DJ Travis Holcombe and you can catch me on the air on Tuesday nights at midnight~3AM (which is technically Wednesday morning). Here are my two cents:
1) A couple of new Amy Winehouse tracks emerged last week. New York’s Hot 97 premiered the track, “Like Smoke” featuring an guest spot by Nas on a beat produced by frequent Winehouse collaborator, Salaam Remi. Nas once again sounds like he’s back at his fighting weight. Check it out HERE (the mirror has the full length version).
Sky News has another unheard Winehouse track, entitled “Our Day Will Come“. The track was recorded by Winehouse in 2002 and is a reggae infused cover version of a Ruby & The Romantics 1963 doo-wop hit.
Both tracks will appear on Winehouse‘s first posthumous release, Lioness: Hidden Treasures, set for release on December 5.
2) Aside from simply being a music genre that’s established that it’s here for good, dubstep has spawned a plethora of cool videos on the internet. We’ve covered dubstep dancing a couple times here on the KCRW Music Blog, now there’s dubstep beatboxing.
Meet Beardyman. He’s kind of like an acapella Jon Brion. Or the UK’s answer to Rahzel, depending on your frame of reference. He put out an album earlier this year earnestly titled, I Done A Album. I’m a little late on this, as the video is a couple years old (which means it’s about 9 years old in internet years), but I just discovered it so I thought I’d share:
If you’re into it, you can catch Beardyman‘s entire show on YouTube, including his rendition of Aphex Twin‘s “Windowlicker“ (whilst being attacked by bees).
3) If you’ve been holding your breath for a full length album from hip hop forefathers, the Sugarhill Gang, well, you’re probably long dead by now. They put out a children’s album in 1999, but a lot of blog readers probably weren’t even born when they put out their last proper full length LP, Livin’ In The Fast Lane, in 1984. But guess what? They’re back!
First with a new documentary entitled “I Want My Name Back” which chronicles the group’s struggle to reclaim their names and legacy following a protracted legal battle with their former label. The film debuted Doc NYC film festival over the weekend, with another screening Tuesday afternoon. Check out the trailer:
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/30209642[/vimeo]
SHG frontman, Wonder Mike, also revealed to BET that the group is working on a full length album. The album probably won’t go gold, and there’s a pretty good chance it won’t even make a splash when it’s released, but it’s cool to see the old timers still have the fire and are doing their thing.
4) Four words: Jacuzzi Boys “Glazin’” video. Uh, wow. (I’m not even going to post a link to this one; it’s very, very NSFW. You’ll have to find it on your own if you’re interested. It’s very funny and creative but totally not appropriate for a family music blog such as this. Just know it’s out there).
5) Here’s a cool video from Japan. The band is called World Order and is led by a former kickboxer and MMA fighter named Genki Sudo. The video has a very OK Go/Michel Gondry quality. It’s definitely worth a watch but it starts off a little slow, so if you have a short attention span, I recommend heading straight to around 3:08
If you’re hungry for more World Order, check out the video for their song, “Machine Civilization“, which was made in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami tragedies that hit Japan earlier this year.
— Travis Holcombe