Awesome DJ set by Las Palmas de Gran Canaria desde Arucas's own and Lindstrom label mate Ilya Santana. Check it out. He also has a new EP out which is a must own. The Burning Jupiter EP is out now on Eskimo Records.
Nice track from LA based producer Jesty Beatz. He is from Cleveland, but based out of LA, pretty cool hip-hop track. Nice work by the backing band Spooktober a band based in Athens, Ohio that features Brian on Guitar, Miguel on Bass and Jesty himself on Synths Track and Drum Programming as well. Check it out.
Another track from the hyped Jay Electronica. On this track made available thanks to RCRD LBL Mr. Electronica takes a beat from the late great J. Dilla and puts a great lyrical spin on it. I am looking forward to Jay's record Act II: Patents of Nobility as many hip hop fans are.
Dam Funk is on the road in March in support of his epic five volume collection Toeachizown I hope you don't miss him. He's not coming to Chicago which is a shame but he certainly should be in a place real close to most of you.
Thr 3/4 - Toronto @ The Drake
Fri 3/5 - Montreal @ Lambi
Sat 3/6 - Bennington VT @ Bennington College
Sun 3/7 - Boston @ Great Scott's
Wed 3/10 - NYC @ Bowery Ballroom (Full Live Band Show)
Fri 3/12 - Philly @ Robotique at Kung Fu Necktie
Sat 3/13 - DC @ 411 NY Ave.
Sun 3/14 - Baltimore @ Ottobar
Mon, 3/15 - UNC Greensboro
Tue, 3/16 - ATL @ Private Number
3/17-20 - Austin SXSW
Sat, 3/27 - Miami WMC
French musician Danger has new EP out. The title track sounds like its from a 1980s horror movie. Danger aka Franck Rivoire has brought a really fantastic audio visual experience to life for any kid that loves video games and specifically 16-bit graphics. I would love to know the story behind the record's title 09/17 2007 (previous releases were 09/14/2007 and 09/16/2007).
Fantastic set by Mr. Scruff form Cambridge Junction on November 14th. A bit old, but you really have to hear this. Nicely constructed mix.
Unfortunately, spent last Sunday at House of Blues Chicago for the Timbaland show. A truly disappointing "performance" that he and the House of Blues Chicago should be embarrassed about. The Chicago Tribune wrote a great review of this bust of a performance.

New track Fake track from Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay of the French house duo Justice. I assume the track will be on their upcoming yet to be titled 2010 record.
Australians are absolutely destroying the pop-disco sound and have been for about a year. If you haven't heard Knightlife you really need to check out the track "Crusader" its a funky dancefloor filler. I should know cause I played it on my computer here in my office and things got really bananas...ok no they didn't...but I can imagine this would be a great DJ song if I actually knew something about DJing.

The Magical Properties tour is coming to Chicago on 2/16 at Lincoln Hall. The lineup features some of my favorite artists Daedelus, Nosaj Thing, and Jogger. It so happens that Magical Properties is also the name of Daedelus' new record label which released the acclaimed full length from Jogger. If you are in Chicago then highly recommend you check it out.
Timbaland released Shock Value II in December. There are some fun tracks on the record. I love "Meet in tha middle" and "Morning After Dark" with Nelly Furtado is catchy. There are also some intolerable tracks. The Justin Timberlake track is underwhelming - not from a production side - but the lyrics and writing is terrible. Also, there is no excuse for letting Miley Cyrus anywhere close to a hip hop record or any record for that matter. She embodies everything wrong in American music...but I digress.
Admittedly I didn't give Vampire Weekend's 2008 release much of a listen. I was told I had to download Contra and I did. Album is really really great. I don't listen to a ton of stuff under the genre of "indie" but I've had this on repeat for the last couple days. Here is a remix off
"Hosting The Tonight Show has been the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for me - and I just want to say to the kids out there watching: You can do anything you want in life. Unless Jay Leno wants to do it, too." - Conan O'Brien 1/13/2010










