Savoir Adore - Dreamers (Feat. Ish, Remixed by Xaphoon Jones)

Originally this post was just going to be about iSH, a Toronto based rapper with quite the backstory - making his return from a year long hiatus yesterday, dropping the upbeat track Dreamer. After listening to the song a few times, I couldn't help but think that I recognized the beat from somewhere though... so I did a little digging and found a trail of samples to a great song that slipped my mind, from dream pop duo, Savoir Adore. I'll get to that in a minute though, iSH still deserves his respects.

When I came across iSH a little while back, I thought he was just another random college kid who wanted to start rapping, so I didn't give him too much credit. You should always listen to someone's story before judging though. iSH (Ishan Morris) was born a Canadian to a Jamaican father and an Irish mother, and thus spent most of his childhood split between Jamaica and home. Once he got his legs under him he didn't hesitate, attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and starting his music/acting career (appearing in a few TV shows and a role in Saw 3). After graduating, iSH went on with music to release his first mixtape in 2010, The Name Is iSH, effectively making his mark, but then promptly falling off the map. iSH is now officially back, releasing Dreamer and announcing his debut album, The First Impression, for 2012. Keep an eye out for this one (is Toronto blowing up?).

iSH - Dreamer

As I alluded to before, after hearing this track a few times I got stuck on how familiar the sample sounded. When I looked into it, I found that Xaphoon Jones had just released his remix of Dreamers by Savior Adore on November 11th and iSH had immediately jumped on it. After Xaphoon's success with Chiddy Bang, he's consistently released solo efforts that have been interesting and worth more than one listen, but it wasn't the remix I recognized.

Savoir Adore - Dreamers (Xaphoon Jones Space Horn Remix)

Savoir Adore is one of the artists that the label Neon Gold (think Passion Pit, Ellie Goulding, Gotye), has been promoting heavily through many mediums - including into the SG mailbox. This is where I first heard the track, but it must have slipped away in this dream of a life I live, (meaning I generally have no idea what's coming next, rather than perfection). The group's self proclaimed "Fantasy Rock" style is justified by their hard hitting pallet for warm adventure pop, with a smooth clash of distinct male and female vocals. The two best friends, Paul Hammer and Deidre Muro, record as a 2 piece, but Savoir Adore performs with up to 6 members live. Their music seems to be good no matter what light you put it under, which is always a sure sign of a good thing.

Savoir Adore - Dreamers

Deadmau5 and Nokia

Last night, Deadmau5 (think I’ve heard of him before) teamed up with Nokia to celebrate the release of the Lumia 8000, putting on a free, short and really expensive light show/concert. Deadmau5 doesn’t throw anything out of the ordinary at us but the light show is pretty damn cool. London’s Millbank tower saw 800 of its windows covered in vinyl for the 16 projectors to display a pretty impressive 3D show from 300m away. Check out the video below.

Following: Star Slinger

Star Slinger, an electro producer from the UK, has been noticing the recent success of A$AP Rocky (among other artists) and has gone ahead and given them his eclectic touch. Star Slinger takes on songs that don't particularly have weak production and always seems to come out with something interesting - regardless if it's completely different. The fast paced additions he adds to the music he chooses seems to breathe it life while not taking too much from it, which can be a problem with this kind of refixed material sometimes.

Star Slinger's relationship with artists seems to be working both ways for him though, as he was approached by Gambino to rehash Freaks and Geeks and Drake gave him a nod for his efforts on Over My Dead Body, the intro to his most recent album, Take Care. I'm always sort of perplexed with how fast these artists get their remixes to field so quickly, but I guess that's all a part of their game, you don't want to miss an opportunity.

A$AP Rocky - Peso (Star Slinger Remix)

Drake - Over My Dead Body (Star Slinger Remix)

Childish Gambino - Freaks and Geeks (Star Slinger Remix)

A$AP Rocky - LiveLoveA$AP

If you've heard A$AP Rocky and his crew yet, you may have wondered who these guys are and where they suddenly all came from (like me). A$AP Rocky aka. Rakim Mayers, (supposedly after Eric B. & Rakim) was born in the Bronx, raised in Harlem, and thus has some ingredients to be a legit street rapper... yet he has much more momentum than usual for his position. The A$AP crew has a story for all this buzz though, as Rakim has recently landed one of the biggest deals for an unsigned artist, with Sony/RCA giving him a 3 million dollar budget to sign his crew, A$AP Worldwide, to an album and to make a solo project for himself. It may be offsetting to see a seemingly unknown artist get so much given to him when he hasn't been proven yet, but that's the route the industry has taken these days - people are hungry for new material. Download A$AP Rocky's first mixtape, LiveLoveA$AP and keep an eye out for the groups full album, these guys are still a question mark. It seems if you want something great to happen you need to take a risk sometimes.

A$AP Rocky provides a little insight into his life in his interview with Fader, where they follow him around his newly claimed neighborhood in NYC. ASAP was originally named the Always Strive and Prosper crew, but it's not until they start talking about what it means to them that Rakim shows that he's a little deeper than he comes off, stating,

"[A$AP] stands for Acronym Symbolizing Any Purpose, that's why my shit say asap life, cause my shit is acronym symbolizing any purpose to life. You know what i mean, asap means life that's why the name of my album is liveloveasap. livelovelife. asap is life. everything is asap."

Hear a few tracks below from his mixtape and look out for A$AP Worldwide to be making things happen... they've got the money for it and producers are starting to flock.

A$AP Rocky - Kissin' Pink (Feat. A$AP Ferg)

A$AP Rocky - Trilla (Feat. A$AP Twelvy & A$AP Nast)

A$AP Rocky - Peso

Rapper QueST and His Electro Side Kick Mt.Eden

Over the years I have on and off again followed a variety of artists. Artist's such as J.Cole, Chiddy Bang, and Outasight apparently have received a variety of mainstream attention. But over time its an unfortunate product of having actual responsibilities that forces me to forget about certain artists.

I recently came across some new stuff from rapper QueST which features production from electro/dub step group Mt.Eden. The track The Walk is set by a glitchy sounding beat that is complemented by QueST as he spits complete awesomeness all over it. the fact that QueST sounds like Twista on steroids fits in well with an electro/dub step group producing his tracks. Although I'm not a huge dub step fan, the extent of the wobble wobble that I can handle is used in the track Still Alive (Where I Have To Go). The beat goes in the opposite direction and is just simply slowed to the point where QueST is able to absolutely tear it apart. At many times in this track I feel like I'm listening to spoken word, but I think it's this uniqueness in his flow that draws my ears to his music... enjoy

QueST - The Walk

QueST - Still Alive (Where I Have To Go)

Lupe Fiasco - Friend of the People (Mixtape)

Wild cover art. After listening to Lupe Fiasco's new mixtape a couple times my emotions are a mix between relief and joy. Let's be honest here, Lasers was not a good album, clearly there was some issue with Lupe's label pressuring him into recording a certain type of music and the end result was a bunch of lackluster radio singles. The Cool and Food & Liquor were great albums because they were essentially concept albums, meant to be listened to from start to finish if you wanted to get the full experience of the record. This mixtape isn't a concept album or anything like that, but it is entertaining. Lupe stays relevant rapping over the likes of M83, the Glitch Mob, the Bassnectar remix of Lights, Nero, and a few others. Lyrically, Fiasco is back to his politically charged style, except for some reason he comes off slightly less crazy on this project. Try out a couple of my early favourites below and download the rest here. Also, if you're interested in finding out the rest of the songs he goes in over, head to this link to see the back cover.

P.S. some of you may not like the third song I posted all that much since its kind of hectic but its got this Rage Against the Machine vibe that fires me the fuck up

Lupe Fiasco - The End of the World (M83 - Midnight City)

Lupe Fiasco - Super Cold (Glitch Mob - Bad Wings)

Lupe Fiasco ft. Dosage - Friend of the People (SebastiAn - Jack Wire)

RE:Generation Music Project

It was announced a little while ago that, in association with The Grammy’s, 5 of the most famous producers in the industry were paired with seemingly clashing genres for a documentary to “turn the tables on the history of music.”

To start, DJ Premier takes on a true classic as he’s provided a backdrop from the Berklee Symphony Orchestra (including Nas to keep him comfortable). That’s the simplest combination though, as music is further explored with Pretty Lights being matched with the sturdy country combination of Leann Rimes and Dr. Ralph Stanley, The Crystal Method paired with legendary R&B singer, Martha Reeves & the Funk Brothers and Mark Ronson creating some funk with an impressive jazz crew made up of members from Erykah Badu, Mos Def, The Dap Kings, Zigaboo Modeliste and Trombone Shorty. To top all of that off, Skrillex was set up with members of the great classic rock group, The Doors, to create some rock tech fusion - which turns out quite nicely.

Even if this move doesn’t create a new style of sound, it’s bound to widen some people’s outlook towards genres and this will inspire in its own right. As these producers blend, supporters from both sides should hopefully start to appreciate and find more music, which is always a good thing. Below you’ll find a track from each of the pairings which has already been released; I still don’t know what one I like best. A full documentary is set to drop early 2012 – support this kind of musical exploration.

DubFx - Live from the Streets

Every now and then I come across an artist with more than just music to offer. Whether this has been William Fitzsimmons' deep story growing up with blind parents or Suzanne Vega's perfect MP3 tuning pitch, with unique experience these artists set precedent and trend for the rest of the industry to follow. Recently by the way of a good friend, I was lucky to be guided to another one of these musicians.

Let me introduce you to DubFx. A vocal artist originally from Australia, who left everything behind a few years ago when he realized life was becoming too stagnant and the music was slipping away. DubFx quit his job and took to the streets of Europe, with only the support of his conscious rhymes and the rest of his voice to carry him from there. The thing with DubFx is that he creates every single dubstep/drum & bass sound in his music live on the spot, layering different vocal loops using only pedals and distortion. You think this would limit him, but it doesn't at all, as he links music together better than most artists do in the studio. This is a man that truly understands sound. Oh and by the way, DubFx isn't on the streets anymore - he's been running his own label and is now recording with artists on rooftops in Italy. Don't be afraid to chase your dream kids.

I'll let DubFx do his own introduction though with, Made, live from the streets of Bristol, UK.



Check that song and a few others below that carry the same heat. Don't be shy to watch the videos. Live music is usually best experienced when you can see it...

• DubFx - Love Someone [Video] 
• DubFx - Flow (Featuring Mr. Woodnote) [Video] 
• DubFx - Soothe Your Pain [Video]

Youth Lagoon

Youth Lagoon is good… I just recently came across twenty-two year old Trevor Powers’ dreamy yet emotion-ridden album called “A Year of Hibernation” and I can’t get enough of it. Check out highlights below and get your hands on a copy if you like what you hear.

Youth Lagoon - Cannon

Youth Lagoon - Posters

Youth Lagoon - Montana

Chiddy Bang- Ray Charles

With the anticipated release of their LP "Breakfast" slated to come out in February, Chiddy and Xaphoon lay some funkyness on us with their newest jam "Ray Charles. It's November, its dark at 5 o'clock and the coldness is just around the corner... it's only down hill from here. Thankfully tracks like this allow me to throw the headphones on and jam out. We've been following the boys of Chiddy Bang since the beginning of Straight Goods Music and they have been consistently putting out quality since. So if you've had a rough day at the office or mid-terms are getting the best of you, put some sun glasses on and get on your Ray Charles on. (you can leave out the Heroine addict part though... might not be a good life choice)... enjoy 

Ray Charles- Chiddy Bang 

Intuition - Old Enough (Video)

Its been a minute since we heard from one of my favourite names in the world of underground hip hop so its not surprising that new material from Intuition finds itself posted here on Straight Goods Music. The combination of Intuition and producer Equalibrium is akin to the genius that is Macklemore-Ryan Lewis (December 10th - Toronto, mark that calendar) in that the two complement each other's styles so well. The 'new material' that I speak of comes in the form of a video (unfortunately there is no download link available yet as far I know) for a brand new track titled Old Enough. To be completely honest I don't really understand the video, there's some sort of heist thing going on and there's a little kid in sunglasses that's married to a blonde bombshell.. Somebody explain this to me.
Regardless of my confusion over the plot line of the video, this song is the shit, can't wait for more music from this MC, who's near the top of my 'how isn't this guy more popular?' list

DubStep - Dillon Francis and Zeds Dead

Dubstep came crashing into my musical radar a couple years ago but it always left a sour taste in my mouth. I tried to give it a chance but it consistently left me looking for some sort of purpose, emotion or substance beyond smashing as many synths as possible at once. As much as I fought it, dubstep seems to be impossible to escape these days and I found it growing on me. True heavy hitting shit didn’t sit well with me until I found I.D.G.A.F.O.S. by Dillon Francis and White Satin By Zeds Dead which both acted as a stepping-stone into the genre. Dillon Francis sandwiches some fun dubstep with the most irresistible synth loop and White Satin is a prime example of what can really be done with the genre when put in the right hands.

Oh and I have to throw in this John Dahlback remix of Sneaky Sound System's "Big" (not dubstep but a Jam regardless)

Turn your headphones up!

Zeds Dead - White Satin

I.D.G.A.F.O.S. - Dillon Francis

Sneaky Sound System - Big (John Dahlback Remix)

Little Dragon - Ritual Union

 

It's fitting that our new writer, Gryph, started his blogging career on SGM with a post on SBTRKT, as the next post I had lined up is on the other feature from that drake song, Little Dragon. This group is made up of 4 high school friends, with Swedish-Japanese singer Yukimi Nagano's light vocals guiding the electronic synthpop of her Swedish friends. Recently I came across a little bit more of their downtempo music and it seems I've taken to the consistency of it all. Off their 2011 summer album Ritual Union you can find a lot more of this style, but don't be shy of delving into their two previous studio albums - as this groups been doing their part since 1996.

Little Dragon - Ritual Union

Little Dragon - Little Man

Little Dragon - Looking Glass (off the older album Machine Dreams)

SBTRKT + araabMUZIK

Straight Goods Music has always been a staple blog in my quest to find every good song this planet has to offer. From Hip-Hop through Electronic over to Indie Rock and Acoustic, the boys have been spoon-feeding us all some of the finest for our ears to feast on. With that off my chest I’d like to introduce myself as the newest member to the SG team, (skip the next paragraph if you couldn’t care less who I am).

Since the rest of the guys hail from the same University I felt it only natural to name myself after my own (slightly superior) university's mascot “Gryph”. I grew up in Toronto where in my childhood I jammed out to the same stuff everybody else did. In high school I skipped through a couple genres with Hip-Hop being the main focus. I am now in my third year of Geography at the University of Guelph and my musical tastes seem to have developed a serious case of ADD. I’m sitting here trying to put words to what I listen to but it is proving a little tough so I’ll sit back and let my posts do that talking. Oh, and I’m T-Sedany’s younger brother.

BBC Radio 1 Essential mixes (Avicii ring any bells?) seem to be gaining popularity with some big names getting the time to showcase their skills on the decks for extended sets. About a month ago a friend of mine came across the band SBTRKT scheduled for an essential mix, I recognized the name later being reminded of the drake remix. After getting my hands on their self-titled album I realized that this was a special group with a sound that puts The XX's sound on a more electronic and upbeat scale. SBTRKT is currently on tour and I caught them in Toronto this Thursday at The Hoxton. Great show in a tiny venue with an opening act by araabMUZIK that absolutely blew my mind. Check out highlights from SBTRKT's self titled album, and while you’re at it give the araabMUZIK documentary a watch where he throws down on an MPC for the last couple minutes.

SBTRKT - Hold On

SBTRKT - Something Goes Right

Omen- Afraid of Heights Mixtape

Now-a-days I feel rap has become utterly faddy. Whether it is the electro influence that has come to consume pretty much all pop and a majority of new rap, some sort of dark wolf gang ish or of course the ever popular frat rap. As rap fans we have become consumed with these catchy forms of hip-hop. But for me rap has always been about one thing... passion. Being able to feel that the topic an artist is speaking about is the God's honest truth makes connecting to the music much easier.  Whether they are spitting real life shit or conveying passion through the art of story telling, sometimes I need some substance as opposed to fancy beats.

I've know this Omen character simply as one of J.Coles extended crew. With the release of " Afraid of Heights" listeners are able to get a feel for what Omen's all about. Have I completely dissected the album... of course not, I'm a student... I ain't got time for that shit, But I have found of couple of gems and would definitely suggest giving the album a go. Are you gonna find any friday night bangers... No, but  your definitely in store for some crafty lyricism... enjoy.

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Childish Gambino - "Heartbeat"

In case you haven't heard, Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino, is set to drop his highly anticipated album, Camp, a few weeks from now on November 15th. Glover is truly an artist with nothing to hide, having made his start as a comedian and actor through 30 Rock, Community, Derrick Comedy and a few other successful projects. Dropping a smash bros line in his single released last night, it's good to see he's still a college bro at heart - I mean, the name Childish Gambino does comes from a Wu-Tang name generator. The most recent leak from the album, Heartbeat, takes a justice style beat with Gambino on point, raw as usual. Glover's been doing a good job building buzz for himself so far. Look for this album to be his tipping point.

Childish Gambino - Heartbeat

Olu- 5am (Lily Allen Sample)

I was recently perusing the radio waves the other day and I came across this unreal Lily Allen sample. The unfortunate part of it was the fact that T-Pain was singing on it. I give the man credit for making his auto-tune business pretty damn popular, but my first thought when hearing this sample was "if only an actual rapper went off on this". Since the sexy voiced Lily Allen is apparently no longer making music, I assume that a vast amount of rappers will be utilizing her chilled out samples in the near future. But until then our old friend Olu has done his part to make better use of Lily's song. As I've kinda fallen off the block of blogging regularly, I have also fallen off following artists like Olu who unfortunately do not regular many popular music sites. I sometimes question his choice in beats but I do enjoy his flow, especially over beats like these... enjoy

Olu- 5am featuring Lily Allen