featured releases
WE WILL BE OPENING AT 10am!
April 17 is officially Record Store Day! Last year was a great success with a bunch of exclusive & cool releases on RSD & this year promises to be even crazier.
For details on RSD & cool artist quotes/interviews, wander over the RSD site …
Along with sweet exclusives & a crazy amount of new releases in general, there are a few nifty things we’ll be adding on to make Saturday radder than the raddest radness, such as…
- LIMITED PRIZE PACKS (including some of our sweet huge posters!)
CHECK OUT THE PRIZE PACKS The way the prize packs will work is on an “ask first” basis – basically, if there’s a prize pack that you want, ask us at the counter & if we’ve still got it, it’s yours! Obviously the idea here is to get down early!
- AWESOME INJECTION OF USED VINYL
Not just a normal used lot, we’ll be putting out some sweet rare records, filling up some key artist sections & adding an extra 2 bins of “NEW ARRIVALS”, giving you 3 bins of used LP glory to rummage around in.
Listen here...
16 April 2010 by Jeremy Robinson
| All Around The World, Avant-Garde, Electronic, Hip-Hop, Jazz / Soul / Funk, Local, Metal, Pop / Rock, Reggae, Reissued / Remastered, Soundtracks
(Universal) CD
Badu’s 4th World War was an amazing funk/hop/soul fusion record that expertly tapped the production talents of Sa-Ra Creative Partners, Madlib & The Roots. Madlib is on board here, but Badu herself steers the way for the most part, leading a killer cast of live players for a record that acts as a lush, organic counterpart to 4th World War‘s digi-soul beatscapes. One of the few remaining relevant holdovers from the neo-soul boom of the late 90’s, Badu is in fine form on Ankh – socio-politics, matters of the heart & mind, spitritual journeies; Badu is a bold female artist unafraid to tackle some meaty topics, with a grace & vision that is typically lacking in most post-soul. Marvin Gaye, Isaac Hayes, Sharon Jones, Funkadelic, Stevie Wonder – Badu is like all of these proprietors of soul rolled up into one beautifully charged female, but with that extra-terrestrial yearning that keeps her quirky & unique; Ankh bears Badu’s amazing voice & some of her best tunes to date.
Badu’s MySpace
30 March 2010 by Jeremy Robinson
| Hip-Hop, Jazz / Soul / Funk
CD (Stones Throw)
29 year old Michigan native Mayer Hawthorne aka Drew Cohen has been honing his chops throughout California, settling in L.A. as DJ Haircut over the last few years. His sample-heavy style of funky soul production caught the ear of Peanut Butter Wolf, who commissioned an album from the fresh face. A Strange Arrangement draws heavily from those that Cohen admires; Smokey Robinson, Curtis Mayfield & most notably, Stevie Wonder. The uplifting, half-light-hearted vibes of these artists are felt throughout, with deft attention to the vintage funk/soul sound that has been popularized recently by artists like Sharon Jones & the like, although Mayer Hawthorne is a more pop & soft-soul than hard-hitting funk. Fresh.
Mayer Hawthorne on MySpace
8 January 2010 by Jeremy Robinson
| Jazz / Soul / Funk, Pop / Rock
(Heads Up) CD & 2LP
This behemoth of a jazz trio decides to again make a drastic break-screeching turnaround – on For All I Care they add vocalist Wendy Lewis. Continuing on their path of unmatched virtuosity, the playing here is insanely on point. The covers are still here — “Lithium” by Nirvana & Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” are, well, demolished in horrifically awesome ways — and so are the proggy intricacies (“Semi-Simple Variation”). As always, no overdubs or edits here, these dudes still cling to that seemingly vanishing vestige: they can play the shit out of their instruments.
Playing Alix Goolden Hall in March!!!
Listen here...
5 February 2009 by Chris Long
| Jazz / Soul / Funk
(Vice) CD & 2LP
The mysterious King Khan, a native Montrealer, leads this wild pack (they’re a 10-piece!) of psychedelic garage dogs. This is as authentic as it gets for modern garage revival – a healthy mess of R&B is littered all over The Shrines’ racket of jangly guitars & blaring horns. Here, VICE capitalizes on a brilliant (but historically hard to obtain) back catalog & compiles the good stuff into one wholesome meal. For fans of Black Lips, The Sonics & quality 60’s-influenced racket in general. Please listen. You will likey.
Listen here...
19 June 2008 by Chris Long
| Jazz / Soul / Funk, Pop / Rock
(Motown) CD & LP
Quirky? Sure, but over the years, Erykah Badu has managed to avoid straying from her path of integrity & focus on music. On New Amerykah, Badu enlists A-List production to backdrop her brilliant ideas; Sa Ra, ?uestlove & 9th Wonder are on point (especially on the heartfelt ode to J Dilla “Telephone”), but it’s “The Healer/Hip Hop” that makes you wish that Madlib would give up Quasimoto’s godforsaken ghost & just focus on working with bonafied artists like Badu (and Doom of course). Badu turns in some great beats herself (check Tribe Called Quest Midnight Marauders-era vibe of “The Cell”…) for a great synthesis of her individual voice & oooweeoo steez with warm, rhythmically rich hip-hop production.
Listen here...
29 April 2008 by Chris Long
| Hip-Hop, Jazz / Soul / Funk
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