"Wine" Baby Cham - #SOTD

Summer Vibing...

Kwes "Bashful" - #SOTD

Pretty damn good pop music if you ask me...

Micachu and the Shapes talk Jungle

I'm a fan of Micachu and the Shapes - Art-Rock with a lighthearted bump bump that is sucked up by the Indie heads. But I dig the balance of avant with simple... sort of what I try to do... They talk about the influence of Jungle/Drum and Bass and make a crack against Dubstep, which quite alright by me. I was pleasantly surprised and so I want to share. I mean, I've told you a gazillion times about the transnational dub vibes coming at you... might as well hear it from some Classical Music drop out white kids from England.

From Jack to Juke: 25 Years of Ghetto House

From Jack to Juke: 25 Years of Ghetto House from Sonali Aggarwal on Vimeo.
Vid on the whole thing that stirs in the water of the north Midwest... this is no different from the Blues, Jazz, and Hip Hop when it comes to Black U.S. dance.

How to Make Dubstep (vid) -- smh its the end...

As cute as it wants to be, showing the "formula" for a music defines it's established stasis. It ends up sounding boring, lame, and stale. This tune is pretty much an audio version of any given youtube clip on how to make a beat... Too bad. There was some boring and lame dubstep during its rise. So maybe I'm posting due to the mainstream thing rather than the formulaic thing. I guess what I'm bothered with is that there is still good dubstep out there, just as there is still good Hip Hop, but both are overshadowed by this formulaic juggernaut of a genre cliche. Oh well... The clip below does a funny take on my sadness.

My Favorite Music, Styles, and Things of 2011

 There was just way too much good stuff going on this year. I enjoyed a lot of Hip Hop again, I found a wonderful wonderful sense of home and place with the rise of all this glorious bass music coming from a Latinidad context, more importantly a non-western one. I'm pretty much off the Dubstep bandwagon after the Skrillex takeover, but have enjoyed some great stuff from Nasty FM (my new favorite UK Bass station) as well as a lot of Future Garage and post-Dubstep stuff. Its been a good year as I got a fulltime job and am back at making my own beats. Big things to come and Bass music is in good hands right now as there are not particular genres overshadowing, lots of experimentaiton, cross-pollination, and plenty of ass shaking to do.

So, what I've done this year is comment on the biggest trends and styles I dug this year. Within these, I rate specific artists, producers, or DjS who are murking and repping the style. Take a look and see what grabs ya.

Happy Holidays, New Year, and all that...

Biggest happening for AmericanPupusa 2011!!! - GLOBAL BASS/TROPICAL

Favorites: Nguzunguzu, DJ Javier Estrada, Munchi, Uproot Andy Honorable Mentions: Sabbo, Chanca Via Circuito, Daniel Haaksman

I had a lot of fun discovering music this year, particularly the wonderful Global Bass/Bass Music coming from Latinoamerica (which also includes the U.S.). This area has caught my attention for several reasons: it strongly connects my sense of Latinidad as hybrid music, its bass and soundsystem culture, but more importantly, it moved my thoughts on sampling, and in this case the use of "ethnic" sounds, to the transnational - a more congruent, non-exploitative, place.

This music adopts the cumbia basslines, dembow riddims, guiros, polyrythms, etc of our cultures, but doesn't lay them on top of traditional beats coming from the westernized traditions of Hip Hop, House, Dance, Trance, Acid, etc. Non-gringo beat patterns are used, traditional horn sections are replaced with bright synths, and drums are filtered and dirtied for soundsystem capacity. Its this ownership of who we are bleeding into production, arrangement, and samples, alongside a sense of free experimentation that makes Global Bass/Latino Bass so refreshing. What I also dig is that the Latino U.S. is included in this conversation, placing it closer on the transnational vibe.

It's hard to pick which producers or tracks stood out the most. Any given producer or DJ in this world will play and spin just about anything and everything. To pinpoint is to go against what I enjoy most about Latino Bass tracks. But if there was a producer(s) who epitomized that approach the most, it would be NGUZUNGUZU. Looking at their work, its straight bass music, it can flex in more traditional places, yet they are pushing boundaries and bringing elements together in an almost subversive fashion. I must add that I was completely impressed with Javier Estrada's work... even more experimental than NGUZUNGUZU, I am amazed at the amount of experimentation and fucked-upness he brought in to, what I see, is a a quite rigid genre of Norteño dance music.

Favorite - BEATS/INSTRUMENTALS

Favorites: Prison Guarde, Clams Casino, Lukid, Balam Acab

There were a few directions instrumentals went in my world. The first was to love your synth sounds and work them out on some electro funk boogie. The other was to dip your productions in some pads, ambient sounds, and atmospherics that took you to up to celestial levels. I'm quite surprised that Prison Guarde's Système Hermès has not received so much attention. I figure with soundcloud, band camp, and cheap technology - everyone is a producer and a lot can get thrown down the cracks, but this is almost offensive. It's playful, grand, funky, and fun. There are thoughts in the arrangements and you get swag along with electronic bits, which brings the best of all worlds together. Top tunes to check are "What you Need" their remix of the Weeknd's vocal tune, and "New Love/Old Girl"

Sometimes, what everyone else thinks is cool is alright by me. Clam's Casino must be the producer of the year for so many folks, and that is A O K. While more mainstream folks would consider Lex Luger holding that title, I think they both have a lot in common with those fluttering chopped hi hats and chopped and screwed legacy in there. Yet, Clams takes it on some high above the ground places, sounding like God's iPod and shit. With down and dirty folks like ASAP Rocky bringing that gutter, it makes it a great line to connect Hip Hop to its next-world/level capabilities that have been lost for many years.

As a producer, Lukid is dextrous. He flexes around the Hardcore Continnuum but provides a good dose of cerebral enjoyment through the medium of dance music. Its dope atmospherics are part of the "dark" legacy that Jungle and Drum and Bass brought, but postmodern with its range of BPM and riddim choices. He is Burial but on his own place and ideas... and its worth checking all his work. Finally, Balam Acab maybe coming and going, but I think he left an impression on me, showing that Burial can be a start towards a new direction, while being a legacy to our Jungle and DnB past.

Hip Hop 2011

Favorites: Calez, Danny Brown, ASAP Rocky

I took a better listen at Hip Hop in 2011. There was the same usual crap, there were the usual indies, and there were the usual internet/blog tunes that have just enough energy to catch my attention, but not enough juice to last the entire track. This year did bring some significant and full-hearted love for Hip Hop with Calez, Danny Brown and ASAP Rocky. Calez's "Middle Finger" has enough old school to touch on its legacy, but these elements are disregarded enough with simplistic production to make sure you understand that the rapper is young, fresh, and open. His mixtape has not 100 fantastic, but there are some gems. What I appreciate is that he has good use of his voice, word choice, and robust flow that makes him a solid solid rapper. 

On a WAY different level - Danny Brown brings back a different tradition to Hip Hop, of the classic toaster. Danny's delivery, words, subject matter, and beat selection all funnel towards that crazy, fuckec up, hardended, but cracked up ethos... all these wild elements are forced down into this basic center - feeling like a collision of elements to create energy of nuclear levels. He sounds rude and crude, and his beats match perfect... is that synthesis and unique delivery that makes the dude nice. 

And what more can I say about ASAP Rocky that everybody hasn't said.. I agree with most review and stories of this guy. ASAP carries the legacy now set with ODWGKTA, but rejects it as well - 'Fuck Swag' could just as much be a arm separating him from Tyler as much as the Swagger Like Us era of Jay-Z and Kanye. And, I hope he doesn't end like Wiz Khalifa.

UK BASS - Dubstep, Post-Dubstep, Future Garage, Grime

Faves - Machinedrum - Room(s) LP, Burial - Street Halo EP, King Midas Sound - "Goodbye Girl (Kuedo Rework)", Blawan - "Getting Me Down"

I don't think I was listening to much Dubstep this year. I have transitioned away from being a follower of the traditional "Hardcore Conntinuum" folks (Hip Hop/House to Rave to Jungle to UK Garage to Grime/Dubstep thing), moving to a Global Bass kinda guy, inclusive of the HC and U.S. dance genres. Even so, the UK are doing big things as always with Future Garage and Post-Dubstep exploits taking place. My hat is tipped to producer Jamie XX for killing it hard this year; being indie/dance with a Bass mindset, dropping some seriously unique music and mixes. He is as close as you can get to a white guy breaking out of the traditional modes of beat structures. Not too far behind is the bliss and clean beauty of Machinedrum, who ties all styles of UK Bass through filters and individuality to make some sweet sweet cuts of Footwork, Jungle, and other dirty-end dance.

For my honorable mentions, I was a bit worried about my hero Burial slacking and fading out, being that there is this post-Burial stuff from Alam Acab and others, but I can rock "Street Halo" all day, its fucking urban as shit and has that garagey/Goldie vibes that I dig.

R&B

The Weeknd - "Thursday", Frank Ocean - "We All Try"

Oh my oh my... I'm super impressed with The Weeknd and Frank Ocean! While the rest of the R&B kept on with its bright synths, BET/MTV sensibilities, and waste of time subject matter... The Weeknd's Thursday seemed to add dub-style productions to counter the clean productions from the  mainstream, used voice as instrument that bled with productions, and took the notion of 'the playa' to dirty dirty dirty depths. He tells you exactly how painful his torture is going to be, swooning you with dead flowers and poisonous chocolates... bringing out a bravado and confidence that he'll get you which pales everyone else. Absolutely amazing!

While "Novacane" caught everyone's attention, Frank Ocean impressed me with "We all Try." Ocean's songs have the same scripts as most, but you get a sense that he has a bigger thought in there, a social consciousness along with it. He was able to speak about things everyone else feels, but had no one to speak on them. My favorite line "I don't believe marriage is between a man and woman/but between love and love" also shows a bold independence that anyone else doesn't have the balls to get close to in mainstream/indie R&B.

ODDS AND ENDS

"Jess and Crabble Present Bazzerk," Traxman, Ballroom/Vogue

I could've told you that Kuduro was my number 1 genre of last year. I haven't slacked on it, but with all this stuff coming from the Latino Bass scene, it had to take a spot in the back burner. Even so, Ballzerk is an essential compilation. Going through each track, you see a how a genre transitioned from the "I'm just brand new, so we can do whatever we want" freedom to "We are mature now, but we got the tools and skills to keep pushing forward." Its a few steps away from formula and complacency, but for now, the choice of snares, arrangements, and fucked up samples make it so juicy and ass shaking!

Otherwise, I still dig the sounds from the Footwork/Juke Chicago school of thought. Since Footwork broke into all these other dance scenes (Danny Brown, Addison Groove, Machinedrum, etc etc etc) I took a look back and found some of the true school gems, in particular Taxman, that sound fresh and raw, which reinterpretations and upgrades to mainstream status cannot touch still. Juxtapose this with the Vogue/Ballroom stuff that is happening now in NYC, where Diplo has put his mitts on, and its a wait and see of where this genre will go. For now, we have some glimpses inside, and it looks quite appealing with its gay-black-urban swag, industrial sounds, and don't give a fuck approach to production and arrangements.

Video of "El Freaky" and my thoughts on nu-skool sampling.

A great glimpse of the beautiful now that is taking place in Latin American DJ/Dance/Bass culture. El Freaky's take on the past and the present and future is of an overlap and constant "now" that you can see with all the wonderful sounds from Columbia, Argentina, and the U.S. (which IS a Latin American nation). Old and new are less distant, and feed into each other in a new space.

This varies quite a lot to the old school "excavation" style of 80s and 80s Hip Hop, House, Rave culture. In that era, samples were taken and placed on newer noise, riddim, and space... creating pastiche and mosaics of sound sewn together by big pieces of yarn. But now, this new vibe from Cumbia Electronica and Tropical Bass, the old is embedded into the riddim tracks, drum patterns... the mid-range synths mimic horns, and horns are manipulated (through software) to bleed into the new synths... this morphing removes the distance of the traditional sample being "on top" of a track. This next level sampling probably began, in my opinion, with Public Enemy... DJ Shadow... maybe move it onto Girl Talk or some of the nu-skool productions like Pattern (but then I'm almost feeling like I'm reaching) but its on some other thing now. Quite refreshing. Here is El Freaky bringing Latino from Oakland Hip Hop group "Los Rakas" and blending it up... Transnational Latinidad.

Perculator Remixes out soon! Teaser Video with cute kids dancing their ass off!

Little kids being cute

Hip Hop Dancing

The Perculator

I couldn't resist!

From the details section on the Youtube:

http://www.facebook.com/cajualrecords feat. FUTURE FUNK, FOOTWORKINGZ, KID SISTER. Percolator Remix album out Aug. 30th.

Video shot & produced by Sombionx & Tiger Deluxe @ Q Studios Chicago

Remixes include Major Lazer, DJ Chuckie, Claude Vonstroke, Riva Starr, Mixin Marc, Bad Boy Bill, DJ Gantman

Special Thanks to: Future Funk, Footwork Kingz, Kid Sister, Dj Gantman,Sombionx & Tiger Deluxe @ Q Studios

Percolator is on the new "It's Time" album.

Album Tracklist: 1. Brighter Days (feat. Dajae-Underground Goodie Mix '93) 2. Percolator (Reworked '10) 3. U Got Me Up (feat. Dajae-Underground Goodie Mix '93) 4. Horny '94 5. Re Ah Do Da Da Da '94 6. Brighter Days (feat. Dajae '92) 7. Say U Will (feat. Dajae '05) 8. Feelin' Kinda High (feat. Terence FM '94) 9. Midnight (feat. Walter Phillips '04) 10. I Need U (feat. Dajae '04) 11. God Sent (feat. Jamie Principle '10)[Bonus Track] 12. Brighter Days (feat. Dajae-Underground Trance Mix '92) 13. Let Me Be '92 14. Feelin' Kinda High (feat. Terence FM-Dub '94) 15. Get Up Off Me (feat. Dajae-Dub '95) 16. Stay Around (feat. Terence FM-Dub '95) 17. Dancin' '97 18. Freaks & Stars (feat. Walter Phillips '02) 19. Stay Around (feat. Terence FM '95) 20. I Need U (feat. Dajae-Mark Grant Remix '05) 21. Just For (feat. Walter Phillips '10)[Bonus Track] 22. Sometimes I Do (feat. Walter Phillips '02)

Available for purchase at iTunes, Amazon, Beatport.com, Stompy.com,

Beyonce, Drake, and Diplo... oh my! (feat. Indie Rock, Dubstep, and TVOTR)

oh my oh my... after all eyes are on Beyoncé, her Billboard Music Awards performance last night, and that Diplo Pon de Floor sampling shit song Run The World running the video-waves right about now.  It seems that this lady run tings... One of my favorite music magazines Fader posted up "Till the End of Time" apparently produced, purposefully this time, by Diplo. The post by Fader connects this piece with Drake's "Money Dreams Can Buy", and Indie/Post-Dubstep producer Jai Paul, through a sample from Paul's song "BTSU"

What I'm digging is the connections across Dubstep, Indie Rock, Pop Soul, and Dance in this weird trajectory and mashup of individuals from so many different scenes... transnationalism all over the place. As you know, one of my favorite things to do on this blog is to draw connections across genres, nations, and identities in this new-school crossover mashup cut/n/paste 2.0 thing... It may not matter to you, but border-crossing is something of an interest to me.

So, here are the songs below to show you the connects.. One final plot twist is how much "Till the End of Time" sounds like TV On the Radio's (another Indie band) which I threw at the bottom.... happy connecting ya'll...

Level 1: The Indie Post-Dubstep original...

Level 2: Taking the sample to a Rap audience via Drake

http://defpenradio.com/beyonce-till-the-end-of-time/

Level 3: Diplo takes the same sample, speeds it up and throws up some marching drums and horns to the mix... I'd post a vid, but apparently there are some copyright things gwan... but check the Fader post above for the mp3, or the defpenradio link.

AND plot twist... putting the Indie spin on all this...

phew!!! I'm done!!

AmericanPupusa Fan Page up!

I finally got round to setting up a link from here to the AmericanPupusa Soundystem Facebook Fan Page. So, link it, like it, love it.. its there where you'll see the Songs of the Day, random posts from other sites, and the real-time feeds through the day. But keep this blog, as this is where the Playlists, Features, Commentaries, and News will remain!

easy Rudebwoy and Rudegyal, and Rudeothergenda!

Oh and I need a better picture of Turbo doing his infamous broom dance... I'm thinking it will become the official logo of my Housekeeping tag!

Post-Race Hip Hop... Mac Miller and Frat Rap!?

I was just about to start on some paid work when this chick decided to follow me on my Twitter... One thing lead to another, and I'm looking up "Frat Rap"...

I surf along some more and find the Frat Rap Tumbler that pretty much serves as my source for this post. It includes the man of the hour Mac Miller...



Or this dude, Chris Webby, who shows up alot on the page too...



And its not just white dudes...



Or Dean's List...



I'm still trying to wrap my head around it... but these are the things that stick out at the moment...

1. Flows remind me of college parties, circa 2000, where those "cool" rappers started freestyling at the back of the room to the amazement of all...
2. The Black dudes tend towards dance music beats, House and trancey synths. The white guys tend towards 2000 era backpacker stuff, rapping like its a battle all the time..
3. The videos from white rappers have the token Black dude, and the videos from Black dudes have the token white guy...
4. Weed, college, clean productions, and backwards baseball caps... again, circa 2002
5. Did I mention it all looks and acts like 2002????

What I also find interesting is this subgenre is coming through where it is, along current Rick Ross/Weezy/Gucci Mane mainstream post-Thug rap; during the current Odd Future takeover; among the fading freshmen class of J Cole, Drake, Lupe Fiasco, and other mainstream light-pop rappers. Its also coming after the bust of nu-skool rap like Kidz in the Hall, Cool Kids, Ninjasonik, et all... They certainly do not take on the dirty angst of their elders such as House of Pain, Eminem, or even 3rd Bass... but remind me more of the mimicry you'd find from Vanilla Ice.

[Aside - and since we are mapping Hip Hop at the moment, has anyone heard anything from those lame "conscious" rappers inna while??? me neither]

I think that since so much of it is cut from Hip Hop of years past, its rise is a signal, a hiccup, of a bunch of young kids who had older cousins telling them of the good ol' days of the Golden Era, and trying to rekindle that spark. What is intriguing is not what it is, but what it isn't and the time of arrival in among the current interests of mainstream Hip Hop. Compare this to DJ Khaled and tell me what you see...

I wish I had more analysis for you... Its some weird place that leaves me intrigued. I'll be paying attention to find out where this thing goes...

PS, of the songs I found on the Tumbler, this one was my favorite...

Boomboxes...

A little doc on boomboxes and boombox book coming out soon... alludes to soundsystem culture as mobile communal space... thanks Jay Z!

Tyler the Creator (OFWGKTA) on Race, Art, Subjective Success....

Tyler opens up about his family, lyrics about rape, hypocrisy in celebrating Quentin Tarantino's violence towards women in movies and haitng on similar imagery in his music.. and many other points that will leave culturlaists, Hip Hop heads, and other conscious folks taking for a minute. I applaud him and agree with his stances on the constraints of expression and identity, even from within your own community.

Hip Hop Lives in Venezuela

Reported from this dope dope dope news source "Upside Down World," this teaser talks about the sponsorship and development of Hip Hop in Venezuela... interesting...


Hip-Hop La Vega. Caracas, Venezuela from Caracazo Media on Vimeo.

Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All on Funny or Die

Odd Future Gets Signed from Odd Future

some funny lines here

Cebrating 15 years of independent Hip Hop and the trigger happy genius- Duck Down Records

Very nice vid celebrating the trigger-happy genius that is Duck Down Records... word up son!

My favorite type of Hip Hop was of the ghetto/urban/yard bred social consciousness variety you usually find from the "Golden Era" of the mid to late 90s. It was that fine line of trying to figure out whether these cats saw the light, were talking guntalk, or were just being conspiracy theorists. That confusion of multiple intelligence really grabbed me as a child of immigrants: being the first in school and feeling quite out of place and dumb, seeing social and cultural phenomena of discrimination that put me in a position of outsider power, and feeling quite misunderstood when I tried to relay these observations to friends, teachers, or parents. Listening to Buckshot, Smiff and Wesun, and Boot Camp Clk, you weren't sure where they were gonna go with their rhymes; to rise and raise up some dope all social issue that you hadn't thought of, or pull a gun and blow your head off. I think that is where Hip Hop was its most dangerous. Maybe that is where my struggle with Hip Hop is at the moment... you have these super-smart college-conscious types, or the super-ignorant idiot massive, and nothing in between. Where's the rasta with a trigger finger at nowadays?

Araab Muzik on MoneyHungry Radio

Its cool, I mean MF DOOM did this, RZA did this, and pretty much everyone else who's made a beat has done this, but I'm growing into Dipset selections as of late (yes, 5 years late but oh well, this guy has talent). What I find funny are the comments below giving way too much hype about touching buttons on the MPC... and please don't call your mom's spare room "The Lab" or "The Studio"... stop clowning yourself... LOL

OFWGKTA - Jimmy Fallon, NYC, DC...

They're hheeeeeerrrreee!!

DC Performance

The Sound of Now - Lunice (Live Set) @ Osheaga '10 - Montreal

Very cool! Lunice is sick...

SANY PITBULL & DUDA do BOREL @ PORI JAZZ FESTIVAL 2007

I haven't forgotten about you Baile Funk!!! Love this ikkle!