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making marks // a thousand half-truths lp


 
Marking Marks are exposing their tender vulnerable side with the song Bruises. It is a soft-shelled shooting star filled with sweetness in the form of honey tempered vocals, barely there pelting rain-like drums and meandering twangy guitar, and it is all stitched together with cotton candy synths. The conjoined vocals of Nina Bø and Ola Innset are playful, nuanced and a perfect match here and throughout the album.

The band’s debut album A Thousand Half-Truths resonates with a fistful of heartfelt renditions. These are songs and sounds culled from the ever changing contents of the pantry of life, love and living. The songs range from melodies draped lovingly with a silver-lined tensile strewn avoir le cafard, to the bold and clever. All ten songs on the LP just make the ears happy to be ears.

A bit of back story, in a former life the band previously went by the moniker mylittlepony for several years. In 2011 mylittlepony released their album Making Marks and thus the rest his history.

Get the FREE DOWNLOAD of the splish-splashy song Bruises. It is the perfect confessional theme song. I like. I like it a lot.

The debut album A Thousand Half Truths will be released on vinyl, CD and digital on February 2nd 2014 courtesy of Fika Recordings, with a special Japanese CD version available on January 22nd. Check out a 5-song sampling after the jump. Peace. Continue reading “making marks // a thousand half-truths lp”

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time warp: freddie gibbs & madlib // shame


 
It’s 2014 and this time out I am stepping into the Time Warp. It’s a new feature in which I take you back and wrap your dome around something fly, but perhaps forgotten. Here, I’m shaking off the track Shame by Freddie Gibbs and Madlib. It’s classic, so listen close and take it all in.

FYI. Madlib has been a pivotal figure in hip hop/rap game for well over 20-years and he’s still going strong. With a resume touching all corners of the groove spectrum he has left (and continues) an indelible touch, working with such hip hop/rap luminaries as Erykah Badu, DOOM, Ghostface Killah, J. Dilla, Lootpack and Mos Def. With a atom splitting style and genre defying approach his life work is as chill as it is self-aware and groovenotic.

Also, let it be known I don’t do this without reason. Check the calendar, February will see the release of Pinata, a newcollabo with Freddie Gibbs and yours truly Madlib out courtesy of Madlib’s Invazion imprint. This will be followed up by new material in the sound, shape and form of a Mos Def record. Lastly, there may be a DOOM + Madlib sequel to 2004’s Madvillainy, if the star are in perfect alignment and the herb is most righteous. Peace. Continue reading “time warp: freddie gibbs & madlib // shame”

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ghostpoet // remix competition winners


 
A while back, multi-faceted UK artist Ghostpoet was approached for a remix competition in which fans would rework one (or more) of three singles from his recently released Some Say I So I Say Light LP courtesy of [PIAS] Recordings

The tracks:

1. Meltdown

2. Cold Win

3. Dial Tones

After much deliberation the winners were, Bastard Sugar’s  otherworldly version of Dial Tones, UK artist Thinnen’s dark and bass-loaded take on Cold Win, and the heavily percussive house remix of Meltdown by Londoner Joe Ashworth. All three of the tracks will be cut to their own dubplates by The Carvery, and can be streamed in full below. Peace. Continue reading “ghostpoet // remix competition winners”

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majical cloudz // impersonator lp


 
Majical Cloudz did the best of things in 2013. They released the Impersonator LP. The man behind the music, songwriter Devon Welsh, reversed engineered songs from a pure emotional state, for our emotions forever remain the end result of our experiences. Bearing such a philosophy in mind the music production by Matthew Otto became more of a challenge. How to craft a sonic backdrop without falling into the muck of irrelevancy? Showcasing vocal sound over instrumentative preeminence. With Impersonator the music becomes the soft beating pulse of the heart and the lyrics are a body of work in salient motion. A balance of symbiotic magnitude, with the organically humanness of voice leading a human derivative by the hand.

After the jump check out Childhood’s End and Bugs Don’t Buzz. Peace. Continue reading “majical cloudz // impersonator lp”

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sita | you’re nobody ’till somebody loves you | video


 
Sita delivers a spellbinding rendition of James Arthur’s classic You’re Nobody ‘Til Somebody Loves You. Her approach and execution are sparse, yet nonetheless effectively breath taking. Listen as she twists and turns this song into coiled honey. Pulling it inside out sweetly and deftly with an angel’s voice. This one leaves your ears a bloody mess by songs end. I got vertigo on the first listen, so you’ve been warned.

Expect much more from the phenomenal Sita Yebga in 2014, and like always The Earology Dept. will keep you in the loop. Peace. Continue reading “sita | you’re nobody ’till somebody loves you | video”

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esbern snare | when you wake | kickstarter campaign


 
Esbern Snare are a band. They’re a good band. Listen to their track When You Wake and you’ll know I speak true.

Currently, the band remains in constant negotiations with fate and you can help. The Virginia Beach-based band have spent the better part of the last year working on their debut album A Violent Peace. Let’s help them down the final stretch with a Kickstarter pledge. Peace. Continue reading “esbern snare | when you wake | kickstarter campaign”

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star slinger // iv + teams vs. star slinger


 
Star Slinger not only reps Manchester, UK but he does his damndest to rep a groove regardless of its country of origin. And he doesn’t just fiddle faddle around. His is a labor of love, respect and appreciation for the material. Listen, as he breathes new life into both old and new school music across a plethora of genres whilst creating present day classics right before our very ears. No, its not magic. Just mad talent.

IV is his latest, as the Roman numerals indicate, it is four tracks representing Star Slinger in his element.

Here is where you click for the IV FREE DOWNLOAD

Also, check out the Star Slinger vs. Teams vinyl release. This one is an all day sonic sucker seemingly without limitations (or loss of flava’). But what makes this one especial is how it was made. This is an online collaboration between producers Star Slinger (reppin’ the UK)  and Teams (standing loud and proud for the US). This platter is not only a display of the-without-borders mentality, but in addition it showcases the synergy that is tapped into when phenomenal personalities team up and move the possibilities forever forward. Although the music is mined from samples spanning R&B and modern soul classics, it is reworked and revived into a matrix of hip-hop rhythms and the results are sunshiny eargasms galore. The end product is stultifying and mind-numbing. This is the ultimate homage to the oldies but goodies, and in no way diminishes what was, but instead it is a salute and the proverbial hats off. Peace. Continue reading “star slinger // iv + teams vs. star slinger”

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kilo kish // k+


 
It is so true. Perhaps even truer than true. Kilo Kish has had a very spectacular year. By almost anyone’s estimation or finger in the wind, 2013 was a pivotable 365 days for this young mc/muse/model. Indeed Ms. Lakisha Robinson turned a lot of heads in her direction. Her brand of music manages to be a whole bunch of things at once. It is easy to hear the playful creativity in her music too. The songs sound more akin to intimate journal entries rather than tracks laid in a studio. As if the secret world of a private diary somehow managed to gather beats as clothes and walk the soundscape of our collective ears. If you haven’t already check out her Mixtape K+. But don’t let her coy coquettish delivery fool you, there is a bit of meat and potatoes on them musical bones. If anything her’s is a balanced mix of light-hearted levity and serious girl talk, and what is clears from tracks 1 through 10, is she is one of us. All the attention and the  Elle, Vogue, etc. photo shoots haven’t gone to her head. Oh and her treatment of Jordan Knight’s (Give It 2 U) deserves a place on your slow jams mix. Peace. Continue reading “kilo kish // k+”

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broken bells | after the disco | video | our sunday best


 
Broken Bells is Brian Burton (aka Danger Mouse) and James Mercer (The Shins.) Their forthcoming sophomore LP is After the Disco. Chances are you have never quite heard anything like it. It has an old school appeal ala 1970’s. And although it may reference the era of bell-bottoms and chain smoking it doesn’t sound staid or dated.

This is revamped art deco references and soft fizzy Pink Champagne afterglow. As on their debut self-titled release Broken Bells this one too breaks ground. The first single Holding On For Life is something that just works. It has all the mysterioso of clandestine and soulful  heartache. There is a desperation which snakes like the voodoo beats of ancient drums, but it isn’t at all dour. This is spirited music and tantalizingly so.

The After The Disco LP drops February 4th, 2014 through Columbia Records. Peace. Continue reading “broken bells | after the disco | video | our sunday best”