The lovely Ida No (vocalist) and Johnny Jewel (guitar/synth/producer) make up the Portland band, Glass Candy. They’ve released a few albums since they first formed in 1996. I remember being at a family get together a couple years ago, maybe Thanksgiving, and my cousin and I were talking about the music we’ve been listening to lately. She brought up Glass Candy, since she too lives in Portland, and suggested that I should check ‘em out. The first song I ever listened to was “Love love love” (from the same titled album, released in ’03). After that, I checked out a few tracks from their 2007 “B/E/A/T/B/O/X” album (Kraftwerk cover “Computer Love” and “Digital Versicolor” are good).

What made me bring them up, is their video for the song “Feeling without touching” from their 2008 album, “Deep Gems“. It starts off with Ida’s slender silhouette dancing and shots of her behind some shower glass, while the electro-synth beat drops. With the steam in the shower, and her soft voice, it’s kind of sexy. Check it out after the jump…
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Check out this free mixtape from Suff Daddy called, “Refills“. Refills has 13 remixes and 2 original tracks. He remixed tracks by artists such as Slum Village, Tha Alkaholiks, Dabrye, Erykah Badu, Phat Kat, Guilty Simpson, Biggie, and more. The two new tracks come from Fleur and Dilemma.

Suff Daddy (“Suff” meaning “drinking heavy” or “boozing” in German) is a beatmaker from Germany. I found out about this cat through a friend of mine (ayo, Bless 1) early last year, I believe. This “Refills” mixtape is to get you ready for his upcoming album, “The Gin Diaries” (with Melting Pot Music), which drops April 16th. It features artists Miles Bonny, Fleur Earth, Jim Dunloop, Mar, and Mariama – all artists on the same label as Suff. The album is a follow-up to his “EFIL3FFUS” EP (with Kissey Asplund, Oddissee, and Miles Bonny).

Download link for “Refills” + tracklisting after the jump…
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Earlier today I was pointed towards the direction of  a group based outside of LA called Late Bloomers. They haven’t been together very long (they were formed last year), but in the short time they’ve been together, they’ve managed to open for quite a few people including OH NO, Roc-C and Chino XL. They’ve also managed to put out a few EPs here and there; and their latest project, Growth Series 2, has “a Slum V/Sa-Ra sound”. Personally I’m not one for comparing artists to each other, but I will agree that their music is very much that jazzy/bluesy hip-hop sound that’s easy on the ears.

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The Nigerian-German hip hop soul singer, Nneka (pronounced NEH-kah), was born and grew up in Nigeria. She used to sing in choir, at both her school and her church. In her late teens, she relocated to Germany. Her first album, “Victim of Truth“, was released in 2005. It was only released in Germany, and other places like England, Nigeria, Japan, Netherlands, and France. Her second album, “No Longer at Ease“, was released in 2008. Touching on political topics and the situations in her homeland.

And finally we, in the United States, are starting to hear about her. Kind of a bummer, considering she’s been releasing music for a few years… but that’s how it happens. This year she released her first US album titled, “Concrete Jungle“, which is like a compilation between her first two albums. I first heard of her a little while back (the end of ’09, I believe), due to her collaboration album with producer J.Period. They presented, “The Madness (Onye-Ala)“. I just listened to her album today, and it’s beautiful as a whole.
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Flying Lotus‘ new album, “Cosmogramma“, will be dropping around the 3rd-4th in May of this year. FlyLo’s sound continues to grow and evolve, so I’m looking forward to this. Guest spots include people like… Thom Yorke, Thundercat and some more Laura Darlington.

Below the jump is a video where Flying Lotus talks with Dazed music editor Tim Noakes about the making of “Cosmogramma“.
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Kendall Tucker, better known as 14KT, is a beatmaker that was born and raised in Ypsilanti, Michigan. For him, it all began in a church choir. From there, he joined forces with 6 other guys (Buff1, Grand Champ, Sunny Star, Texture, Vital, and DJ Haircut) to form the MI hip hop group, Athletic Mic League, in the early 90s. All while still attending high school. He started out as an emcee in the group, and eventually took it upon himself to flip jazz & soul records to make beats. Due to the artists of the group branching out with solo work (Buff1‘s “There’s Only One“, DJ Haircut aka Mayer Hawthorne‘s “A Strange Arrangement“, and of course 14KT’s doing his thing), many hip hop heads thought that they broke up (which is false).

In 2008, 14KT won the Detroit Red Bull Big Tune Beat Battle. Also that year, he released “The Golden Hour” soundtrack (with A-Side Worldwide), which is said to be the soundtrack to his life. And in 2009, he dropped “Nowalataz” for free download – which is a collection of Dilla-donuts inspired beats that he made in 2006. And if you were at SXSW last week, you might’ve seen KT drop beats between sets. I know he’s a busy guy, so I really appreciated him taking the time to do the interview with me. I think that 14KT is a real solid/consistant producer, and he shouldn’t be slept on. So check out the interview I had with him…
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Bambu‘s new EP is out now – “…Paper Cuts…” on Beatrock Music (as I’ve posted before). The 8-track album features artists Chace Infinite (of Self Scientific), Prometheus Brown (of Blue Scholars), Thurzday (of U.N.I.), Malcolm & Martin, and Diz Gibran. You can purchase it on Beatrock, or bandcamp (and also listen to every song).

Below is the music video for his song, “Slow Down”, with Prometheus Brown. Check it out…
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It’s been a while since we’ve posted up a SOUNDCHECK and I thought that this group would be a perfect remedy for that. I stumbled across them on myspace and with their smooth  jazz inflected hip hop, it ‘s no wonder why just after 10 seconds of landing on their page I immediately became a fan of their musical style and it seems that Ovall has made their mark on both artists and listeners alike based on their track list (both literally and figuratively). Comprised of three solo artists successful in their own right; they have recently released their first album together as a group titled Don’t Care Who Knows That. Having collaborated with international artists as solo acts and as “Ovall”, their music reflects this global vibe and doesn’t feel contrived or forced, but rather chill. Soulful and fresh, the sampler they have up on their myspace is more than enough to convince me to put their album on my ‘Get This’ list. With that being said, I wanna get on with it; and after checking out this post, I hope you guys feel the same way.

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