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.

Ilya Santana dj-set by eskimorecordings

Mp3: Dolly Parton - "Jolene" (Ilya Santana Remix)

Buy: Get the Burning Jupiter EP here.

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.

Mp3: Jesty Beatz feat. Spooktober - "Last Man In Space"

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.

Mp3: Jay Electronica - "Suckas"

Learn more about Jay Electronica here.

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).

Check out his myspace for some great audio visual stuff. Cool to see an artist get into all aspects of his craft. Here is a remix by German Oliver $.

Mp3: Danger - "4h30" (Oliver $ Remix)

Buy: Get the record here.

Fantastic set by Mr. Scruff form Cambridge Junction on November 14th. A bit old, but you really have to hear this. Nicely constructed mix.

Mp3 link: Mr. Scruff Live DJ mix from Cambridge Junction

photo by dibec

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.

While a start time of 11:00 PM on a Sunday isn't great for work the next day, wanted to see a Timbaland show backed by a live band. Sounded great. Waited until 12:30 a full hour and a half past "start time" and nothing. He didn't have an opener and there are plenty of fantastic Chicago acts that could have filled the spot.

Turns out he didn't go on stage until 2:00 AM. Which is unprofessional, inexcusable and incredibly inconsiderate. Even worse, according to the Tribune when he did emerge the show was terrible and the only "special guest" was his damn brother. Timbaland should stay away from the stage - cause obviously he is not an entertainer - and stick to the studio producing beats.

On a positive note - encourage everyone to atttend the Doom and Mos Def show on February 13th.

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.

Mp3: Justice - "Beginning of the end"

photo from Fader Magazine

Not a new track and actually isn't even a real track. It was sent to me by somebody from Ed Banger but the track is a fake. Guess the joke is on me. Nice ploy however to get a bunch of eager bloggers on board. Should have known better I guess. According to this it was sent by a hacker.

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.

Knightlife has some awesome remixes of Bag Raiders, Midnight Juggernauts and Cut Copy you need to check out as well. The new record is out on Cutter Records now. On a side note I could watch that guy in the yellow sweater and gold pants in the video dance all day.

Just got around to getting the XX's LP which lives up to all the hype. Check out a remix of "Islands" by 23-year-old L.A. producer and AG favorite Jason Chung aka Nosaj Thing.

Mp3: Knightlife - "All Systems" (Nile Delta Mix)

Buy: Get Knightlife II here.

Listen: Listen to a bunch of other great Cutter Records releases here.

First single off the new Gorillaz album Plastic Beach. Have always been a big fan of the Gorillaz (the art, the concept, the music) and this track is a great start. Looking forward to the record.

Mp3 link: Gorillaz feat. Bobby Womack & Mos Def - "Stylo"

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.

Just got around to getting the XX's LP which lives up to all the hype. Check out a remix of "Islands" by 23-year-old L.A. producer and AG favorite Jason Chung aka Nosaj Thing.

Mp3: The XX - "Islands" (Nosaj Thing Remix)

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.

Timbaland will be playing this Sunday with a live band at the House of Blues. I am interested in what his live show will be like and how he can recreate the songs live. There are few producers that have had such an enormous impact on music in the past decade, so for that alone I am excited.

Not new new, but I really love this track and video.

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

Mp3: Vampire Weekend - Cousinz (Toy Selectah Mex-More Remix)

Buy: Make sure you get this record here.

photo by arbetsnarkoman

Nobody could have said it better than Conan himself.

"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