Stellar new album, Gilmmer by Ghostly's Jacaszek. On Spotify. It's wonderful music if you need to buckle down and concentrate. The artwork is done by the talanted Mike Cina.

Talented Montreal based musician Jacques Greene drops Concealer. Listen at Spotify as well.

Here's the title track from the euphoric,  six-song release by RxGibbs. The Michigan producer now works with Cascine, a label with some quite impressive artists under their belt. "Futures" is a synth-pop, meditative and upbeat track, which I find myself happily nodding to this morning. 

Mansions on the Moon releases another song off their anticipated The Lightyears EP, an album that’s been in the works for 2+ years.  They've been periodically releasing tracks for download, and will continue this until the album drops. Pharrell  Williams is the executive producer, so expect this album to be really fucking good.  My favorite of their downloads is “Athens”,  it's smooth like butter, catchy, and mixes simple harmonies with digital sounds.  Converge old school CSNY + POSTAL SERVICE and sounds a bit like MOTM.  Get pumped! 

Out of the dungeons of Ispwich, S.Maharbra resurfaces with a gem, French Maid. With the assistance of now home label BTS Records, S.Maharbra graces us with a very limited 12inch to start things off in 2012. He introduces an extended version of his 2008 track “French Maid” and throws in a remix from The Clonious to make things even more interesting. This is merely the first installment from S.Maharbra and BTS Records. In the coming months BTS Records will re-release and re-master S.Maharba’s 2008 self-titled LP. Is 2012 the year of geeking the f%#k out? Yes!!! So don’t sleep and make sure to grab a copy of French Maid before all 300 copies are gone.

BTS is the label.
S.Maharba is the man.

Cascine, the little label with some of 2011's most charming sounds, has entered the new year, hoisting two of their most distinctive artists, Southern Shores and Selebrities, across the calendar gap into this weird, uncertain future. The two groups linked with Philadelphia's Work Drugs out of mutual admiration and friendship, crafting totally them remixes of Work Drugs' 'Ice Wharf', a song lovingly dedicated to near-blackouts in Camden. Via FADER.

New Zealand native David Dallas has been tearing up the hip-hop scene for a few years now with his honest lyrics and solid production. Dallas shares some insight on his past, present and future in this interview with yesyesyall.  

What can we expect from you in 2012? How will it compare to The Rose Tint?

More tunes. I wanna put out 2 new projects this year. Far as how they’ll compare –  just trying to make them better than what I’ve done in the past. Not trying to take no backward steps over here.

Tell us about your production team Fire & Ice.

2 talented brothers from West Auckland. They’re dudes I actually hang out with so our tastes are really similar, and they’re pretty adept at making cool beats. That suits me just fine.

Sounds like you spend time in NYC, how does it compare to NZ?

It’s dope, way different to what I’m used to in NZ. Definitely took adjusting for me to get used to not having much personal space – going from quiet streets, backyards and driving round in your own car to living in a box, and taking packed trains everywhere was pretty gnarly. It’s nice to experience a different lifestyle though, makes you feel like you’re actually living as opposed to just going through the motions.

Did you grow up listening to any New Zealand hip-hop artists?

Yeah – I still remember hearing Dam Native for the first time and thinking “damn, people in NZ can actually make hip hop music that’s good”. Really opened my eyes.

Your work is lyrically driven, explain your writing process.

People will generally just send me skeletons of beats, which I’ll sit down and vibe with/play in the car etc. Soon as I’ve got some good ideas I’ll try and formulate a proper song. Generally I’ll come up with the verse/hook then record it on the voice memo on my phone so I don’t forget it before I get into the studio.

Hey there everyone, after a short hiatus, I am back in the fold ready to (hopefully) bring some new and inspiring music to the forefront for ears to enjoy. First up is AlunaGeorge, a duo hailing from the UK, debuts with a pretty stellar single EP. “You Know You Like It” fuses a nice blend of indie experimentation and the glitchy stuttering beats of R&B. Aluna Francis provides the vocals while George Reid provides the glossy production. The result is a pop song that should brighten up a winter’s day. After all, you know you like it!

2012 continues to impress with its heady tracks and digital sounding mixtapes. Here’s a drony track from DropxLife for your listening pleasure. Heard of him? He co-produced The Weeknd’s "Initiation" off Echoes of Silence and worked with Drake on Take Care. He just released an ethereal mix called “Further”;  dreamy atmospheres and blurry backdrops that push creativity to a higher level. 

Download “StillxShots” below. 

Modern Machines releases a house remix of  CREEP’s latest single “Animals”. Give it about 20 seconds for it to get started.  This upbeat mix is good, it’s FREE, but the original is very impressive. To hear CREEP's version, check out the beautiful video directed by Greko Sklavounos on Channel Y. 

Nothing makes me happier then to hear two girls producing trip hop mixtures and stunning videos. Reigning from Brooklyn, DJ/Producers Lauren Dillard and Lauren Flax are CREEP; a vicious duo creating some sinister tracks. Dillard mentions she’s intrigued with the paranormal while Flax is supposedly in-tune with such activity. Their attraction to other worlds is exposed in their work, which helps them stand apart from the more angelic ladies out there. 

2011 was a phenomenal year for music...so much so that I had no choice but to create two mixes of thirteen tracks each. This is "The First TH1RT3EN" with the second 13 coming in another next week. Enjoy!

Tracklist:

A$AP Rocky - Palace
Jay-Z & Kanye West - Niggas in Paris
Joker - Slaughter House
Zomby - Vortex
Neon Hitch - No Hands (Waka Flocka Cover)
The Weeknd - The Birds Part 1
Kendrick Lamar - Ronald Regan Era
The Roots - The Other Side (Ft. Bilal & P.O.R.N)
TiRon & Ayomari - All My Love (Ft. Yummy Bingham)
Frank Ocean - Songs for Women
Drake - Under Ground Kings
Tyler, The Creator - Goblin
SBTRKT - Trials of the Past

My Hollow Drum is the crew.
Co. fee is the artist.
Easy Listening is the EP.
This is the interview.

Your EP is thrown into a film-morphing machine. What kind film will be pumped out and who directed it?

It would be dope if it were comedy heist film. Tarantino and Guy Ritchie are already huge influences on my music so it would make sense if one of them directed it.

I just dropped some acid and threw "Easy Listening" in the tape deck, what's going to happen to me?

You’ll think you’re at some desert party in the middle east partying with monsters shooting lasers out their mouths???

Question with a question… 
It's 30 years from now and you're on VH1. How will they story go describing the creative process of Easy Listening?

For most of that year I was on a healthy diet of Junk food, B-movies, all-nighters, Madvillain, and Ludacris' Word of Mouf.  I wanted to make music that reflected all of my influences at the time. All of those songs weren’t even meant to be on one release but it all worked out to glue together as one project. I had a good time making all those songs and I feel like I really pushed myself creatively with it.

Just out of curiosity. Who are your current top five chess players?

Sorry to say I don’t know any professional chess players :( so I’ll just say
Stanley Kubrick and GZA.

I suggest you do some homework. Let’s processed to the next question.
What can we expect next from Co. fee?

I'm planning on putting out another EP. This project will be a little different from what I usually make, dark psychedelic stuff. I’m a big fan of Italian library music and horror soundtracks so the EP will be influenced by those sounds. I also have some collabs in the works. I just finished producing an EP for a dope MC named Note. I’m cooking up some new, new tracks with Jonti and that has been fun. Then last, I’ll be working on my album, which will be a follow up to Easy Listening. Overall I’m pretty much keeping myself busy for 2012.

One of my favorite artists of the last few years, Sibian and Faun, have started a label called Half & Half Records. They will be focusing on the promotion of new and innovative music and art by those who surround and inspire us. To hype it up, they are giving away a Sibian & Faun bootleg remix of The Weeknd's High For This. Download it here!

Hectic Zeniths is the work of bedroom producer and multi-instrumentalist Adam Morgan Prince. Hectic Zeniths is an anagram for the German word ‘Zeitschichten,’ meaning layers of time. After three years, the densely layered project is finished. Songs build around original piano compositions with atmospheric collages of pitched vinyl samples, live instrumentation, synths and haunting vocals.  The song feels cold, but is piercingly pretty like icicles. So here's a creepily-calm track to help wind down 2011. It's been one exciting and hectic year. 

The album drops January 2012. 

Too much good music this year. These are some of my favorite albums from 2011, in alphabetical order:

ASAP Rocky - LiveLoveA$
HTRK - Work (Work, Work) 
Holy Other - With U 
Logic - Young Sinatra
Modeselektor - Monkeytown 
Rich Hil - Limosa Nostra: The Prelude 
Sepalcure - Fleur 
The Weeknd - House of Ballons 
Washed Out - Within and Without 
Zomby - Dedication 

I also put together a hour long mixtape of some of my favorite tracks. It's all over the place. Enjoy.

Samiyam - Escape 
ASAP Rocky - Peso 
FaltyDL - Natalia's Song 
Chiba Chemist - Wicked Alibias
Joker - Slaughter House
SBTRKT - Pharoahs
After The Smoke - UIE
Dorian Concept - Her Tears Taste Like Pears 
Grieves - Light Speed 
Young Magic - Sparkly 
Kendrick Lamar - A.D.H.D.
Blue Sky Black Death - Fire For Light 
Khat - Raised By Wolves
Logic - All I Do
MΔRRI - Affairs 
Spoek Mathambo - Put Some Red On it 
Atmosphere - Bad Bad Daddy 
Vacationer - Gone 
Casino Clams - Motivation 
HTRK - Eat Yr Heart
Connan Mockasin - Forever Dolphin Love 
Holy Other - Know Where

With bassy wardrums and a melody that swings like a sea shanty, the perpetually grim Mark Lanegan returns like a ghost with a chip on it’s shoulder.  Alain Johannes’ (Eleven, Queens Of The Stone Age) reverb-soaked guitar work on the track soar, crash and echo as they follow Lanegan’s gravelly calls.  From a fan’s perspective, had Mark Lanegan released another singer-songwriter song reminiscent of his back catalog there would be an air of disappointment, but it doesn’t fall short of expectations.

The song does have its drawbacks, though.  After a career of over 25 years, it seems that Lanegan’s once-thoughtful lyrical brilliance have lost their luster due to over usage, whereas his sonic constructions have become more and more forward-thinking – a common criticism of practically all of his material since 2001’s Field Songs.  It is, nonetheless, a truly remarkable song, a great departure from his recent work with Isobel Campbell (Belle & Sebastian), and a great follow-up to Mark Lanegan Band’s 2004 release, Bubblegum.

– Ryan Farishian

Chicago trio, Dozens is the collaborative songwriting effort of multi-instrumentalists Kyle Mann (ex-Canasta) and Vincent Naples (WWDJ). Joined by drummer/arranger John Norman in 2009, the group incorporates post-rock and synth pop elements with an ambient aesthetic and deliberate arrangement. Channeling a broad range of influences and textures, this 3-piece outfit brings a huge yet refined sound less delicately delivered by ensembles twice their size. Live, Mann effortlessly alternates between guitar and a harem of synthesizers while cascading guitar loops and nuanced drumming create a rich bed for his falsetto to soar over.

"The intro of “Forget Me” could easily find itself on a MGMT record, but the track’s funky, dream pop vibe could be more accurately described as Hall & Oates with more sweeping, upbeat synths. Yes, Forget Me's beat bounces in all the right places while the vocals get serious and soulful." – Loud Loop Press

End of Line is an original re-score of the movie Tron (1981), created by Ann Arbor native French / Disco House antihero Mogi Grumbles. The album is a 100% independent composition that lives wholly outside the original film score by Wendy Carlos and Annemarie Franklin. The result of a live collaboration between Alex Taam and video editor Christian Silbereis, a re-cut of the film featuring the Mogi Grumbles re-score has been released as a companion piece. "Off The Grid Part 1" and " Part 2" are great explosions of sounds, but part deux has a little extra punch. The album was released early this year by naming your own price, but is now available on iTunes and on digital retailers. 

Black Up is the latest release from Shabazz Palaces, and it's one fuckin' hypnotic album. Distorted beats, evocative lyrics and sludgy sounds create some tripped-out, murky atmospheres. This 'Late Night Creepin' body of work is top of the list of 2011, for sure. A fascinating and grimy track here. 

Little Dragon Cuts The Internet's 'Cocaine'  

Review from soulbounce.com

When I wrote about The Internet's video for "Cocaine," it got quite a few responses, ranging from outrage to reverence. Even if The Internet lost some fans over it, they still have four very important allies in Little Dragon. Perhaps returning the love for Syd Tha Kid's awesome remix of "Seconds" over the summer, LD has put their own spin on Syd and Matt Martians' controversial little ditty. Replacing its smoothed-out R&B thump with a kinetic New Wave-y dance groove, they dress the song up for a night out at the clubs. Some elements definitely work here (Syd's vocal over the spacy production feels just at home here as on the original) and some kind of fall flat (the rap feels out of sync and out of place), but overall it's a pretty solid effort from the Swedes we love so much.There are a little less than three weeks left until The Internet's Purple Naked Ladies is released digitally on December 20th (and a little more than six weeks for those who want the physical copy in their hands on January 17th), but this is a nice little appetizer before the album's main course.

The War on Drugs brings it back to simple.  Tracks from Slave Ambient resemble Tom Petty, and that’s why they rock. 

Now their song lyrics are a little more strenuous. “Best Night” reminds you to keep pushing on and fighting through the night. 

 These musical mountaineers are back and creating some pleasantly layered music. 

When Ifan Dafydd's single So Good was first played on Gilles Peterson's radio show in February, people assumed it was a new James Blake track. Played with no introduction other than a cursory "I know nothing about this guy", the song's use of densely layered and heavily treated vocals (taken from Amy Winehouse's You Know I'm No Good) interweaved with honey-drip beats and dying organ sounds certainly seemed more than a nod to Blake. The conclusion to – let's be honest here – one of music's least interesting mysteries is that Ifan Dafydd isn't in fact James Blake, but he may be either his cousin or ex-flatmate. So there. We also know his songs have since featured on mixes by SBTRKT and Jamie xx, and To Me is the first track to emerge from Treehouse, a new EP due in January. Opening with pretty piano chords, swirling strings and an off-kilter drum pattern, To Me is more expansive and experimental than So Good. Around the four-minute mark, various strands that seem distinct up to that point, finally intertwine to create heart-bursting loveliness. - The Guardian

This track is pulled from the forthcoming E.P. - Treehouse / To Me.

The photo has nothing to do with Mr. Dafydd - other than a common name sharing that I found on google images. It somehow feels appropriate.

Orlando Seale and the Swell is a ten member, string-heavy collective who create some epic Baroque, folk-pop. The London-based group exudes tradition, yet remains modern even with legendary string arrangements."Dance Little Man" is off their latest single, and depicts William Boyd's novel Any Human Heart.  Wikipedia states the book "explores how public events impinge on individual consciousness." The track goes down smooth like a pint, but turns rowdy by the end of the night. A talented-group of musicians right here. 

Thanks for the submission. Always down to post something a little different. 

The Roots' 13th release is a concept album with a bravura twist: It narrates the story of a bootstrapping hustler in reverse, from death to birth. The morally ambiguous gangster tale is a pop-culture staple; unfortunately, Black Thought’s skilled but stolid rapping adds nothing new to the idiom. Sonically, though, undun is a knockout, sliding between genres, with the slinky digital grooves of songs like "Sleep" rubbing against the guitar-anddrums assault of "Stomp." The record ends with a three-part instrumental, including some mighty Elvin Jones-style bashing by Questlove – a musical coda more gripping than the saga that preceded it.

The Roots are undeniably the best live group in hip hop and they are seemingly becoming or have become the best hip hop group period. No other group comes to mind that has the longevity, relevance, and consistency as these artists do. I can proudly say i saw them in 1996 open up for the Pharcyde, and knew then, what i know now. There is nothing that compares to them. This latest installment is NO let down and could arguably make my best of the year list.

InFiné releases a free mixtape called Premasters, a celebratory album to end 2011. Music includes the Barcelona-based duo Downliners Sekt, among other songs from Kid A and Clara Motto. “Lorem Ipsum” shows off well-designed, slow motion soundscapes from Sekt.  The track is beautifully minimal, yet sounds heavy like it's filling up space. Possible reason for the lorem ipsum title? This chug-a-lug track will put anyone in a meditative, clear-headed trance. Check it out.