| Straight No Chaser / Music Blog |  | | Hiding Blind by Sarah White | 
Joining the musical lineage of Minnesota expatriates, and representing a new generation in progressive sound, is the infinitely talented Sarah White. Cultivating a base of followers and nurturing her sound from the ground up in her native Minneapolis, Sarah embarks on the next phase of her creativity with her pilgrimage to Brooklyn, NY.
The success that has followed her to her new home in New York’s most eclectic borough is a culmination of experience and preparation for a golden opportunity. The path that led to this exodus is the stuff dreams are made of. Sarah White has always been artistically inclined. As a youth she explored the worlds of theater and dance, and would become a student of music, learning to play instruments early on. Sarah’s organic progression toward vocalism would begin in middle school, experimenting with spoken word poetry and rapping by the age of 14. Her collaborative abilities would be put to the test in 2002 when she joined the regional hip-hop outfit, Traditional Methods, as an emcee. Covering political and social topics in the tradition of such groups as the Fugees and Digable Planets, the group had a successful run, until Sarah decided to expand her creativity, starting a new group called Black Blondie in 2005, with fellow vocalist Samarha Linton. Black Blondie would fuse hip-hop, electro-dub, and soul, providing glimpses into Sarah’s current identity. The girl-heavy band would earn strong regional acclaim, as well as a Minnesota Music Award nod. Throughout her group efforts, Sarah drew lofty comparisons to contemporaries and legends such as India Arie, Lauryn Hill, and Sade. While Sarah embraced all of the local acclaim, she sought to further broaden her horizons, and is currently in the early stages of a burgeoning solo career. Sarah White’s voice can be described as hypnotic at times, with breathy, soothing soliloquies, and deep, seductive stanzas. What’s impressive is her ability to effortlessly transform from singer to emcee, as in the introspective song, C Train. In this selection, she combines a spitfire flow, with dancehall style chatting and soulful melody, to create her own unique ‘scatois’. Each of Sarah’s songs is a perfectly balanced moment, reflecting the full spectrum of her vocal abilities and bringing a positive focus to the issues of growth, fulfillment, and love. Sonically, Sarah’s primary producer DJ Don Cuco has presented a menu of indigenous sounds and synthesized instrumentation that perfectly compliments the versatility of Sarah’s voice. It’s a proven formula for success as Sarah White has opened for artists such as Jill Scott, J*Davey, K-Os, Camp Lo, Amy Winehouse, Fishbone, and The Roots, and performed at such New York staples as Smooch in Fort Greene, Solomon’s Porch in Bed-Stuy, The Delancey in Manhattan, and the Apollo in Harlem. She was also featured in 2007’s Black Lily Festival in Philly, and is poised to become the next post-genre fixture, much like fellow Minnesota export Nikki Jean of Philadelphia’s Nouveau Riche. Sarah White has clearly found her calling, and we should all join in her commute to the top. | | 2008-11-07 09:26:14 | | | Hyper Reality (Exclusive 14 Track Edition) by CLYDE | 
His trademark analogue jerk-beat first pricked up ears over a decade ago via remixes for labels Mantis Recordings and Bob Sinclar’s Yellow Productions. Clyde now finally drops his debut album Hyper Reality.
Clyde teamed up with San Francisco based Capitol A (The Roots, King Britt, Jazzanova, Wahoo, Mark de Clive-Lowe etc etc..) for Serve It Up, a single that, probably, set the revival of the revival of Hip-house in motion. It’s here in all its original glory as the album opener. Cap’ lays down the lyrics twice more on the album with the swaggering Broken Slang, and on Gedaroom he tells further tales of, and for want of a better term, a night on the pull. MOBO winning emcee Phoebe One speaks up for London, not only bouncing back on Gedaroom, but delivering one of her finest ever tracks with the rugged Neva That. Nebraska is probably never going to be a state at the forefront of hip-hop culture, but it’s keyed a scratch on the door of the Escalade with Clyde’s discovery of Omaha’s Juse, in whom he’s found a suitably cynical cohort. Million Souls Sold gives a clue in the title to its content, while Lady Cadava is possibly the oddest centrepiece to an album since Kool Keith had a particularly strange day. | | 2008-11-06 02:33:46 | | | Rumble / Stamina by DeVille | 
Plays from RSD, Zilla, Starkey, Warlock, DZ
This is DeVille's first release on the label but as well as running The Fix Up in Leeds and hosting a show on SUBFM he's a fixture at all Senseless raves and has just completed a seven date tour of the USA showcasing the label's sound mixed up with his own diverse set of influences. Rumble proved to be a big hit stateside and has featured on a XLR8R podcast with regular plays from DJs like DZ and Starkey who push the street bass sound that is dubstep's close neighbour. It hot-wires a jump up soca style beat to old school rave melodies and box busting bass to create a genre defying mix-up that dubstep DJs across the world are switching up their sets with. Regular plays across the board on Rinse, SUBFM, Dubstep.FM, Reload and more.
Stamina continues the bass-rave theme with a jungle sample for heads to reminisce over while the rest of the crowd are bouncing up and down like they got glow stick juice in their eye. Raucous 4x4 beats and a driving arpeggiated synth propel a wall of junglist sub bass forward with dub echoes and techno percussion joining the dots. This one's been tearing down warehouses from Athens to Caracas. Bass rave for president 2008. | | 2008-11-06 02:25:58 | | | Based On Misunderstandings /// Sonar Kollektiv | 
Sonar Kollektiv’s JAZZANOVA are not only a successful collective of music producers, they are also known for being outstanding DJs, who have been rocking the dancefloors of the most prestigious clubs from Berlin to Tokyo for years. For JAZZANOVA’s ALEX BARCK DJing is all about listening to your feelings and spontaneously play the tunes that come to your mind, and after all these years spinning records all around the world he defintively knows how to delight an audience on the dancefloor! With his new night called Based On Misunderstandings that he hosts in Berlin’s famous club Week End, ALEX delivers his personal vision of club music and invites friends that share the same DJing philosophy. Following the success of the club night, ALEX further developed his concept and decided to create a special 12“ series on Sonar Kollektiv.
Also named Based On Misunderstandings, this new collection should be regarded as a return to roots for every house DJ. It is dedicated to hot club sound that takes you by surprise, gets you dancing without you even noticing it and that really needs to be played out loud now! For this first installment ALEX selected two great remixes of Sonar Kollektiv album tracks: SOULPHICTION’s Ghana Wadada (THE LOST MEN Remix) and EVA BE’s She Walks Alone (MARCUS WORGULL Remix). Both tracks are sizzling hot and deserve a proper 12“ release.
THE LOST MEN are Zürich’s ALEX DALLAS and his friends ALEX GUSTAFSON and BERND KUNZ. ALEX is a truely passionate person who dedicates his life to music. Besides running Zürich famous club Zukunft and being a very talented DJ und producer, ALEX runs the much acclaimed Drumpoet Community label, that releases the works of artists such as LEXX KAWABATA, SOULTOURIST and QUARION.
| | 2008-10-20 17:30:32 | | BLOG ARCHIVE
> > young david-the FuJi ep
> > Afronaut y Amigos presentan Hecho en Casa part 1 by afronaut
> > Bakura
> > RARE, COLLECTORS’ CHOICE ALBUM, NORMALLY GOING FOR QUITE SOME BUCK$ IN THE MARKET !
> > Into The Night by DJD & Chaz Jankel
> > Long awaited LP from ATJAZZ
> > Bagpak Music Solo Series [BPSS]
> > 100% ESSENTIAL !
> > 3 Albums from Closer Popnography
> > THE TREBLE HAS ARRIVED ....
> > Highly anticipated album 'Fantastic'
> > Marc Mac of 4 Hero fame presents a killer selection
> > 2008... The Freedom Principle is maintained....
> > INTERPLANETARY SOUNDS: ANCIENT TO FUTURE
|
| | |
