Kendrick Lamar Sells Out Australia

Pimp Pimp, Horray!

Those were the chants that started out Kendrick Lamar's sold out show at the Rod Laver Arena a few weeks ago. Kendrick needed no opener, and didn't have to come out for an encore, as he left it all on the stage during his show which pushed on to almost 3 hours of pure KDot. This was one of the best shows that we had seen in a while, as the whole crowd was into the music and nobody was killing the vibe. The only fight we saw was in the line for beer, which is to be expected, but even this ended with a handshake and some goodwill.

Kendrick started out with the classics, going through through the music from good kid, m.A.A.d city and Section 80 - until he reached back to some of his originals from the early 2000's - asking who had been there since day 1 to a booming response. The one thing that Kendrick did leave out for the Melbourne show was his fan led freestyle of M.A.A.D City, like he did in Houston, but given the rap talent in the room, it was probably for the best. Not saying this was a bad thing, but being in Melbourne, there was probably the most beards and longboards there has ever been at a Kendrick Lamar concert.

Angus & Julia Stone on Manly Beach at The Australian Open

A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of traveling back to our old local, Manly Beach, for the Australian Open. This is an annual week long competition for skateboarding, surfing and art - drawing out the largest crowds to experience the true aussie beach lifestyle.

This year the headliner for the event was none other than the globally notorious brother and sister combo of Angus & Julia Stone - who we discovered we're locals themselves hailing from Sydney. In contrast to the DJ that followed them on stage, Angus & Julia have a very quiet and peaceful sound that calmed the beach, while the waves crashed alongside their melodic strumming. Returning from LA where they produced their latest self-titled album with the legendary Rick Rubin, this duo was a massive draw card, as they exposed us to their new and old music, finishing with Big Jet Plane (our favorite).If you ever have the opportunity to come to Australia this is the week to do it. Just stay on Manly Beach, don't plan anything, and enjoy the laid back lifestyle.

Tame Impala Live in Melbourne

Earlier this month we headed out to Sidney Myer Music Bowl, an outdoor venue in Melbourne (read lawns) to see a major stage of Tame Impala's national tour. The group toured Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth (for 2 shows in their hometown) - heading exclusively into outdoor amphitheaters to promote their latest album Currents. They put on a ripper of a show for hours, playing through their entire selection, accompanied by a visual trip, and ending with fireworks (literally), It was clear it wasn't just the nationalism that sold these shows out across the country.

While this group is extremely well known in Australia (with Currents even being named the ARIA Album of the Year), they have only recently started to make major waves across North America. With their psychedelic rock feeling similar to much loved bands like MGMT, Neon Indian or Empire of the Sun, their sound provides a perfect vibe to graze to at the beach, mountain-side or for an easy afternoon backdrop. Although the band has been around for a long time, last year was clearly a breakout year globally - with blog aggregator hypem declaring them the 4th most blogged band of the year. Here's another mention for ya mates. If you haven't stumbled across these guys just yet, take a look at their album below (start with Let It Happen) - could be a nice addition to your selection. Or if you're feeling in the mood - get your horn out and listen to one of their older tracks - Elephant.

It’s not friendly, but it’s where I lay up…

With the release of What a Time To Be Alive – Drake and Future have added another notch to their rapid fire campaign of content into the hip hop market. Drake has been more strategic than ever lately, with this mixtape controlling the top of the charts, and his unrelated single Hotline bling, holding the #1 position on iTunes singles – while everyone continues to salivate for Views of the 6 – his upcoming release that has been building buzz for years now (or so it seems...).

This mixtape was released exclusively to Apple Music for a couple weeks, managing to rack up over 25m streams, before going live to Spotify and all the other outlets. Spotify has been responding to these exclusivity agreements, with the same effectiveness as it had when dealing with TaylorSwift, which is unfortunate. Spotify did have a good head start before Apple got into the market, locking down a lot of smart people (see linkedin for an expensive group of Ivy leaguers and ex-consultants), but we still see the music landscape continuing to fragment, which could actually be a good thing?

As I listen to OVOSound Radio on Beats1, (which Drake is getting paid 19 million annually), he clearly has bought into Apple and their business model for music. At this point Drake is a business himself, with many more ventures than just music. To start, the man has more partnerships than a Nascar driver, with product and companies named in his music taking him to the next level in terms of endorsements (call your ass an uber I got somewhere to be / I get boxes of free Jordans like I play for North Carolina / I avoided the coke game, went with Sprite instead / I just got me the Mercedes Pullman, if you haven’t heard about it you should hit up Google / I pull the knife out my back and cut they throat with it momma, I'm Game of Thrones with it momma / Versace Versace Versace, etc.).

All of this is exciting, but it is nothing like what he has done for Toronto. In my time, I have never seen a city rebranded like this – moving from the street name effectively moving from T.Dot to the 6ix in less than a year. The content marketing strategy he has is unrivaled, even in the corporate world. The level of community that he can bring with things like OVOBounce, OVOfest, Nomad, section 416 at the Air Canada Centre is ridiculous, and if this isn’t a case study on how to capitalize on popularity I don’t know what is. He took this to the next level with the beef with Meek Mill – putting the city behind him (with meme’s at OVOfest) – and delaying him at the border, to prove that Toronto can stand up. On top of this, being the Global Ambassador for the Toronto Raptors has improved his position and the team’s – allowing him to solidify his credibility in the scene, and letting MLSE truly launch the We the North campaign with almost guaranteed results.

In the last couple of years Drake (and supporting cast) has put Toronto on the map, and while 'Merica is a different beast, if Kanye can be President, it’s safe to say Drake can be at least Mayor of the 6.

     

Alt-J in Melbourne

A few weeks back I had the opportunity to see Alt-J live in Melbourne and it was quite the treat. The UK lads were welcomed with open arms to a sold out show, which was replicated in Sydney, Perth and Brisbane shortly after.

These guys put on a great performance, with a nice contrast between melodic songwriting and quick indie rock. In the arena the energy would swing drastically from the calm visions built in "Arrival to Nara" to the haunting translucence of "Hunger of the Pine" to the earthy undertones in "Dissolve Me" - keeping the audience interested in every note.

Playing the part of opener was Asgeir, an Icelandic folk band that is gaining global notoriety - after an extremely successful local launch (10% of the Icelandic population now owns their first album).

The Lazys

I was recently introduced to The Lazys by a friend of mine from Sydney who is particularly close to the band, so close that she was actually included in their leading music video - in Shake It Like You Mean It (below). These guys are a perfect fit for this blog, as they are based in Australia, but actually found some really good success touring across Canada a little while back.

Described as a new age ACDC - The Lazys are bringing back rock and roll in a big way. With a heavy sound, strong guitar riffs, a style you can get behind and the look to match, these guys are prime candidates to bring Aussie Rock into the limelight. As you would expect, most of this groups' music actually isn't the type of thing that you would hear on the radio, but to appease the masses, they have recorded a few tracks that everyone can get down to. Apparently they are even better live (which isn't hard to believe), and it's definitely on my list to make it out to a show the next time they are around to experience it first hand.

The group will be in Canada for another tour in 2015 - coming into Toronto on May 7th at the Phoenix.Concert Hall. If you're in the 6 it's going to be worth it to make it out.

Hi-Top Brass Band at The Manly Jazz Festival

Living down in Manly, Australia definitely has a few perks; the humid climate, iconic beach, but most notably the festivals that take place right outside our window. The most recent of these was the Manly Jazz festival, which had hundreds of artists come in to perform on the main strip and accompanying bars over an extended weekend. We managed to get a good sampling of the music, which mainly consisted of old school jazz and funk, (bringing us back to the alleyway bar scene in Toronto) - but one group manged to break the fog completely - The Hi-Top Brass Band.

Akin to their name, this is a collection of gentlemen utilize a variety of brass to drive a strong back story to the vocals, which are not your typical growls of jazz, but rather a spoken word new age rap. We caught For The Money and Roll Up which probably drew one of the biggest crowds of the week - with the whole corso full up with the locals jamming along. Luckily these guys are willing to share a few tracks on their Bandcamp, which you can find below, to check them out at your own leisure.

Kanye West - Paris

Word has it that 'Ye is dropping his next album Paris at the end of the month, tentatively set for November 24th. Although most of the details around this album are shrouded in mystery, in typical Kanye style, there has been a leak via Hot 97's instagram page that showed a potential tracklist - with heaps of collaborations that just seem to make sense at this stage.

Kanye has been known to work with or like most of the artists listed above, and with his recent work on Theo's album Vibes, it's good to see him returning the favor passing out a few features on his album - which is bound to be high profile. From seeing him over the years, (and his recent GQ interview) he's clearly a narcissist, but at least he's getting better about bringing it all together for us.

Check out Can't Stop from Theophilus London feat. Kanye - for a taste of things to come

A$AP Rocky: SVDDXNLY

One of my favorite stories of an artist going from unknown to global superstar belongs to ASVP Rocky – who we originally covered back in late 2011 - when he broke onto the scene as an independent rapper from Harlem looking to make it in the big city of NYC with his crew.

Due to some solid A&R work Rocky was picked up from the plethora of artists that fit into the underground hip hop scene and was quickly signed for $3m to make two albums; one solo record for himself and another for his crew. This was not a route that many record labels were taking, as the industry was still in a tough period of transition and this method obviously had some serious risk associated with actually paying off. In ASVP’s case; both Rocky and the crew had that something very special and it worked out like no other – with sold out shows, critically acclaimed albums and a second record already in the works. The best part is that it's not only about him - because when you’re a group that’s getting compared to the Wu Tang Clan, you know that you can't really be in a better place. Now Vice Media (one of my favorite media outlets these days) has had its music arm, Noisey, pick up on this epic story for ASVP and has released a 5 part synopsis of this journey that the crew has been on. This includes not only how they got picked up, but the development and growth that has inevitably occurred along the way. 

Peep the first video below and the other 4 parts after the jump. This will be officially premiered at SXSW this year and definitely won't be the last time Vice gets A$AP Rocky in front of the camera.

Rufus - Live in Newtown, Australia

A few weeks back I had the pleasure of making it out to a little suburb/town outside of the city to take in my first concert on this side of the world. It was only fitting that this first concert was held by Rufus; an indie group that’s originally from Sydney, but was likely one of the only native groups that I had heard of before making the trip down here. Releasing Atlas last year, this tour was sort of a homecoming for Rufus to celebrate the new album, which the crowd certainly reflected. Aussies certainly know how to enjoy themselves and this was definitely one of those times they showed it. Inside of a packed concert hall at the Enmore Theatre in Newtown, Rufus pounded out hits like Take Me and Desert Night to make for an experience that went late into the night. If you haven’t heard of this group (they’re not THAT Australian), check out those two tracks below – which should help visualize the night a bit more than I remember.

Rufus - Desert Night

Freebase - 2 Chainz

A couple of days ago, 2 Chainz aka. Deuces, did what many artists had been afraid of doing for a long time - he remade one of the most iconic music videos of all time in Michael Jackson's Thriller. Doing this, he is obviously going to cause a stir with some loyalists, but I think that's a part of the strategy. The track he puts it through is called Freebase, so it's not like 2 Chainz is shy from controversy. In the song he raps about how he "came from nothing" with the first place he saw a crack pipe being his parents kitchen. It's stuff like this that continues to put Drake's Started From The Bottom to shame, as he bubbled up from the upper middle class working at a pharmacy. No denying that Drake's done more for his city though, Toronto aka. the 6

Someone was going to do it eventually, and I'm pretty sure Deuces is one of the only people who can pull off that classic MJ blazer, with the zombie lean and all.

So why not.

FROMTHEPAST // The Human Expression

From California in the mid-sixties The Human Expression headed primarily by Jim Quarles who collaborated with one of the other band member’s father Jim Foster. The two over a short period wrote and recorded several demos. Some singles gained favor in the local Westminster, California area; most favorably the B side “Love At Psychedelic Velocity”. 

The band continued for a little and had some tracks mixed by Wally Heider who would later work with The Grateful Dead. Quarles unfortunately made the decision to turn down ‘Born To Be Wild’, which Steppenwolf went on to make famous. Eventually the band ended around 1968. 

‘Optical Sound‘ shows the bands skill for milky neon grooves and ‘I Don't Need Nobody’ is an example of Quarles’ introspective writing style, which ultimately dominated most of the material.

Quarles goes on to writing and recording more demos and eventually becoming a sound engineer, sadly his music really never came to a recognition it deserved. The Human Expressions music still lives on in Psychedelic mix tapes, volumes, and the internet.

cheerz,
egoeggo

Shaking things up: Sydney, Australia

After a lot of deliberation and negotiation - it's now finally official - my girlfriend and I are moving around the world to set up shop in Sydney. As you may have noticed from my past commentary, I have always had a fascination with the land down under. So when my company offered me the position to help establish our presence in the region, I knew that it was time to make a big move.

I'm a firm believer that learning happens when you step outside of your comfort zone... and it was getting too cozy around here. I've lived in the Southern Ontario bubble for the past 21 years of my life, and although it is beautiful here and there's great community - we're digital now - it's not that hard to keep in touch with friends regardless of where you are. When people ask me what my family thinks of this maneuver, I simply point to the fact that I was born internationally myself, on a Canadian Air Base, during my Mom & Dad's 5 year stint in Germany. Exploring is in my blood.

So we leave in just over a month to explore a culture with subtle differences, sunny weather and unique adventures. I think we will fit in nicely with the laid-back demeanor. I'm going to do my best to get into the music scene as well, as we have been covering artists like Horrorshow, Spit Syndicate & Hilltop Hoods for years now, and it will only make sense to get it domestic. On cue, here's a video shot in Sydney from SS (and a few tracks off their latest album, Sunday Gentleman).

Skrillex x The Rap Community

 

It's been a while since I've had a chance to get back on here, it's been a crazy few months and I've been a little sidetracked... but we'll get to that later. For now the news today is that Skrillex has released his latest album Recess which is bound to get more than enough enjoyment from his glow-stick wielding fans. While Skrillex doesn't have Ellie Goulding to back him up, he comes with quite the entourage. The most notable addition this time around is Chance The Rapper, who steps into a unique song called Coast is Clear. Chance the Rapper provides his unique tonality over one of Skrillex's hypnotizing beats, but the result is quite interesting. The album leaked recently during a Reddit Ask Me Anything, but can now be purchased through iTunes like everything else.

Skrillex feat. Chance The Rapper - Coast is Clear


Now although pairing rappers with edm artists is still uncommon, this wasn't the first time that Skrillex has made that venture. A few years ago he managed to link up with one of the most up and coming artists at the time in A$AP Rocky to release Wild For The Night (remember A$AP was essentially just picked and given $3m to make 2 albums). This came best visually in my opinion.  

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And while I'm on A$AP's tip, I might as well just end with one of his tracks that has been on repeat for me for a while now. Oh and it features a video with Rhianna aka Badgalriri. Worth mentioning.

A$AP Rocky - Fashion Killa

Stussy Toronto & BEVSTMODE Present: '431 Richmond Mix' by DJ Kicks

I still remember those epic car rides from the Hammer to T.O. to go shopping in my younger days...and by pure chance was wearing one of my purchases from 431 Richmond Street when this mix dropped today (it's gotta be a sign). Encapsulating the diversity of Toronto's fashion district, clothing brand, Stussy, drops a collaborative mix of music, both past and present. Check out Nomad (former tenant of 431 Richmond) for ALL and I mean ALL of your clothing needs at their new location (819 Queen Street West) if brands like A.P.C., Comme des Garcons, and Robert Geller get you all kinds of aroused.

I usually am not a big fan of playlists or mixes, but this one stands out start to finish. Fusing trap beats, old school dance music, and vocal rap samples...this is simply hypnotizing.

Only to be enjoyed under the influence...

Happy DRAKE Years Eve

From the entire Straight Goods Media Team, we wanna wish you dat health and dat wealth in 2014. I could think of no better way to celebrate than to unleash these 3 songs on your NYE celebrations, courtesy of Drizzy. Party responsibly...and by that I mean don't let your girls/boys go home with any donkeys unless they really, really want to. Salut!

I would pinky swear, but my pinky rang to big, wassup...

 
Goddamn, I'm shittin' gold these days...

  
And they don't have no award for that...

Your Friday Banger Session: Jacuzzi - Mizu (EP)

No idea where this guy came from or how I came across him for that matter, but as Friday slowly grinds its way towards weekend glory, I think these tracks provide the necessary pick-me-up.  Hawaiian production artist Jacuzzi has hung around the scene for a while, but he just recently dropped his EP, Mizu.  I'd like to stress the "drop" in that previous sentence, as each one of these tracks is a wild journey of complex and symphonic-like bass builds.  Calling this Trap just doesn't do justice.  Pure instrumental majesty on this one, but don't be surprised if you start hear more from this up and coming beatmaker.

Rick Ross feat. Jay Z - The Devil Is A Lie

 

Let's switch it up this go 'round. Simply put, Hov and Rozay are flawless. Let me remind you: Free Mason, 3 Kings, Fuckwithmeyouknowigotit, Maybach Music...when these Rap Titans collab, they don't miss. I don't feel I need to do any of the talkin' here. Ladies and gents, William Leonard Roberts II and Shawn Corey Carter:

Bow your head cause it's time to pay tithes, opposition want me dead or alive...

Is Hov a atheist? I never fuck with True Religion...

All these niggas claiming King, but I'm still that...

See what I did to the 'Stop and Frisk,' Brooklyn in the Barney's like we own the bitch...

White Jesus in my crock pot, I mix the shit with some soda, now Black Jesus turn water to wine, and all I had to do was turn the stove up...

KYGO

Hailing from Bergen Norway, house music producer KYGO has been slowly making a name for himself throughout the blogosphere. Explaining KYGO is simply a reiteration of how I discussed producer duo The Chainsmokers a while back. These so called remix artists are beginning to be recognized as musicians instead of being viewed by music snobs as music thieves. Artists like KYGO put their own unique musical touch on each project and allow fans to fall in love with their distinct production. This isn't the first time music has started an evolution that certain segments of people have a problem with and it sure as hell isn't going to be the last. I personally enjoy the fact that these artists have started to become individual entities within the music industry. I'm not going to bore you with an extensive explanation of these tracks so I'll make it quick.

The re-work of Ed Sheeran's "I See Fire" combines slow melodic production with some unique oriental sounds. Ed's voice compliments the production elements of KYGO perfectly for a great mix. My next favorite is actually a re-work of a cover which, so basically remix inception. Henry Green takes on the song made it all real for MGMT so many years ago "Electric Feel". KYGO adds some production elements and really makes the track pop. And lastly, the track that has made my early mornings slightly more bearable as of late, Dolly Parton's "Jolene". He pulls some influence from what it seems to be old Westerns and or Quinton Tarantino films. Regardless, the song features some great production and unbelievable manipulation of the sample.

Future feat. Drake and Juicy J - SH!T (Remix)

The moment has arrived...and it's a little lackluster to be honest. But that's a good thing. Let me explain. So this all dates back to the Control verse and Kendrick calling out Drake among a myriad of the game's top young rappers in what I thought was a very harmless line about competition. The game disagrees...and ever since, there have been responses, beefs, and minced words about how people felt about it. Drake has highlighted in interviews that he thought calling people out by name was a cheap ploy that anyone could have done, that the verse was forgettable (honestly do you know how that verse begins?), and that if there's beef let there be beef ("when I saw him it was all love though so it was confusing"). Kendrick responded by saying that Drake and him are peers, and that despite getting his start on Drizzy's, Club Paradise Tour, he's okay if they're no longer cool. This was only exacerbated when K. Dot performed at the BET Cypher and dropped, "and Nothing's Been The Same since they dropped Control, and tucked a sensitive rapper back in his pajama clothes."

So then we waited...and waited...and then we waited some goddamn more. Talks about how Drake has to respond, that Kendrick isn't on Drake's level in terms of their respective resumés, and who really is the #1 MC in the game have persisted. Today, Drake released his response on Future's, SH!T, which features lines like, "I hear ya talk about your city like ya run there, then I brought my tour to ya city, you my son there" (Drake just came off a sold-out show at Staples Center in Kendrick's city of L.A.), "and if a nigga say my name, he the hot shit, and if I say that nigga name he still the hot shit, fucked up" (Drake likes Kendrick and his music...what is he supposed to say he's whack?).

I know people will disagree...but I think this was the smartest move the kid from Degrassi could have ever made. I mean, this is Drake's first official "diss" record and this is the most polite shit I've ever heard. I know that hip-hop is a bloodsport and there are definitely winners and losers (see 50 Cent vs. Fat Joe or Rick Ross vs. 50 Cent to see how fickle the game can be). However, this situation does not need a victor.

Drizzy and Kendrick are the top MC's in the game and it would be stupid for Drake to go after him. Kendrick has no shot at touching Drake's touring, sale records, or female-fan base, so a battle back and forth could only hurt Drake's credibility. Of course there are still some Old Heads who think that by not responding aggressively or not saying Kendrick's name in the verse, that Drake has lost...but the game has changed. You need to be smart now, not impulsive. Kendrick had nothing to lose when he spit at that cypher, after all...half of the hip-hop community makes fun of Drake. But you know what...100% of them respect him.

This was a smart, safe, and Jay Z like move from the OVO Camp. Sure Jay went at Nas back in the day (where baby mommas and physical appearances were all touched upon) and shit got ugly...but Jay didn't have Roc Nation Sports, Rocawear, the Brooklyn Nets and D'Usse Cognac to lose at the time. The kid from T.O. doesn't need this petty shit. Spit your game, drop them hit records, and show the world how a 27-year old from Canada rolls with his own record label (OVO Records), clothing line (OVO), sports affiliation (Toronto Raptors), shoe partnership (Air Jordan), soft drink deal (Sprite) AND wears the crown at the same time.

I just think it's funny how they danglin' the bait, but I'm the one that's killing niggas on the hooks though...