Free Music: Shlohmo

Get on this quick.

Shlohmo is a 19 year-old beat smith from L.A. proper that knows how to set the mood. His latest EP, "Shlo-fi", dims the musical lights and takes the listener on a meditative and spacious journey through the abstract tunnel of "beat music". The EP is in effect instrumental music, with some spoken word samples that serve more as texture than a listening focus. The beats themselves are freeform and organic, with haunting repetitive phrases that swing back and forth like the timepiece of a hypnotist.

If a comparison had to be made, you might want to lump this guy in with the crew over at Brainfeeder, but his music also has the aesthetic of an individual, existing just as comfortably in simple folk guitar patterns as it does the "stink-face head knod". In short, its some damn good Couch Music, perfect for late-night listening after the after-party or perhaps pumping through some big big headphones on a redeye from Cali to NYC.

Download Shlohmo's EP "Shlo-fi", from the label Error Broadcast, right HERE (Mp3's) or HERE (lossless FLAC)

check out the myspace HERE

The Dorf Matrix: Explaining NPR's Terrible taste in Black Music

When I saw this title, I laughed at loud, remembering all the times i've heard Victor Wooten slap a cheese-filled bass line across NPR's airwaves. I must say I really like NPR and its music programming (probably because I'm a bearded, college-grad white dude, as the article references) but the article does have a good point about NPR's programming in general.

article via Slate's culture blog "browbeat" by writer Jody Rosen:

"In August, National Public Radio's flagship music program All Songs Considered published "The Best Music of 2009 (So Far)," a rundown of the top 30 songs and albums of the year-to-date as voted by the show's listeners.

The results of the survey suggest that the All Songs Considered audience has a fuzzy understanding of the word "all." "The Best Music of 2009 (So Far)" consists almost entirely of indie-rockers: acts like The Decemberists, Wilco, Grizzly Bear, Neko Case, Andrew Bird, Regina Spektor, and Animal Collective, the Brooklyn art-rock group that took the top spot in both the best songs and best albums tallies. On the Best Songs list, there are no songs that cracked the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, and none by African-American performers. Two black artists, Danger Mouse and Mos Def, made the Best Albums list, at numbers 20 and 23, respectively.

None of this is a surprise, of course. NPR's audience skews white and college-educated; so does Animal Collective's fan-base. In matters of musical taste, everyone has a God-given right to provincialism and conservatism, even those NPR listeners who consider themselves cosmopolitan and liberal. The numbers, of course, tell a different story. The NPR list leans not just white, but male—dudes with beards and guitars. So far in 2009, the No. 1 song on the Billboard charts has been by a black or female artist—or by groups featuring both blacks and whites or men and women—a total of 41 out of 42 weeks. (The exception is the current No. 1 hit, "Down," a collaboration between an Anglo-Asian R & B singer, Jay Sean, and an African-American rapper, Lil Wayne.) Who are the progressives again—the public radio crowd or the Top 40 great unwashed?"

read the rest of the article HERE

Free Music: The Unusuals

My buddy Eileen over @ Modiba hipped me to these up-and-coming New Yorkers yesterday. Having only listened through their latest EP a couple times, I can't claim to be an expert. What I will say is that the music is fresh, relevant, and uses AutoTune in such a tasteful way, it gives a big EF U to Jay-Z's new single, D.O.A.

The songs seem to do a bit of genre-bending, having folky structures and harmonies with boomy drum samples and ripping synths. Perhaps its what would happen if a few freak-folkers made love with Kraftwerk on the sidewalk of Bedford Avenue (quite an unsanitary place to give birth for sure, but you get the idea).

The band has been kind enough to make both of their EPs available for free download. So what are you waiting for? It's free, it's autotuned, it puts a goofy smile on your face.

Download the debut EP, "As Usual", right over HERE

To check out the new one, entitled "Space and Time", click HERE

check them out on myspace HERE

Slappin Bass with your Feet

leave it to the japanese.....