Treasure Fingers is smack in the middle of his Australian tour, so its only natural that he’d drop off some well-timed mix goodies for friends down under. First was this JJJ Radio set, now it’s a mix for the fine folks at Modular.
1. Danny Daze – Fall Away From Love
2. Alexander Holland – An Effort to Understand
3. Leonardus – Blue Moon (Adulture Remix)
4. Geisha Twins – Love Situation (DJ EQ 5×5 Remix)
5. Fred Falke & Burns – You Stopped Loving Me (Treasure Fingers Remix)
6. Treasure Fingers – Keep Up (Kenny Dope Rowdy Remix)
7. Sean Biddle – Movin’ On
8. Aaron Perez & Matt Soda – Crazy Over You (Hot 22 Remix)
9. Treasure Fingers – It’s Love
Donnis will be joining Travie McCoy on his March tour, alongside Bad Rabbits and XV. Somebody’s getting new tattoos!
Check all the dates after the jump, and grab tickets on presale starting today. Check them in a town near you, and be sure to grab that “Gone” single if you haven’t already!
3/17 – Toronto, ON @ Opera House
3/18 – Montreal, QC @ Le National
3/19 – Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts
3/20 – Towson, MD @ Recher Theatre
3/22 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
3/23 – New York, NY @ Gramercy Theatre
3/24 – Cleveland, OH @ Peabody’s
3/25 – Chicago, IL @ Metro
3/26 – Saint Paul, MN @ Station 4
3/27 – Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theater
3/28 – Denver, CO @ The Summit Music Hall
3/30 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre
3/31 – San Francisco, CA @ Slim’s
4/1 – Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades
4/2 – Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre
4/3 – Seattle WA @ El Corazon
Once again, some mp3 coffee-n-donuts to blast off your week.
Levins Club AL Mix
Longtime Sydney superfriend Levins releases a batch of weirdo shit, reggaes, disco rapps and other gleeful 110 lounger vibez for his new party, Club AL.
Federation Sound Vybz Kartel Podcast
The Federation crew whipped up a timely dubplate best-of for the controversial dancehall don (who was just on Hot 97 a few minutes ago, offering a rare opportunity to hear Rosenberg do patois. Badman!)
DJ Spinbad x Snoop Dogg Snoop Dizzle Mixtizzle
Despite the conspicuous absence of any non-singles from the 2000s (213! Cali Iz Active! Some of my personal Snoopy favorites…) this tribute tape is a welcome surprise from a true mixtape auteur.
Bowski Trailer Trash Mix
Playing his groovy, deep remix of Cassius at Flashing Lights last weekend reminded me to check what Bowski was up to. Turns out I had his “Leggings” single on Fake Blood’s label and his Shoes remix in Serato but never really thought to drop ‘em. I was sleeping, they are both great. Check for this kid!
Boombass Various Mixes
Speaking of Cassius, there’s a grip of old Boombass mixes on their Soundcloud.
Cosmo pays tribute to the real King Of Rock. Editor’s note: cop Dan Charnas’ recently-released The Big Payback for some incredible, indelible stories about Run DMC, Russell Rush and the rise of the moguls behind rap’s OGs.
Whattup, folk? After a whirlwind mini-tour this past weekend, I’m back in Brook-Nam and ready to drop some jewels for you – albeit a little late. So you know, when it comes to my crates, I have a gang of shit in the arsenal, don’t get it twisted. I could imagine that this week might be looked at a little bit as somewhat of a softball. But truthfully I don’t give a fuck because even though these records might not be totally obscure, they are without question VERY IMPORTANT RECORDINGS within the pantheon of American music. So sit back and listen…
Now I don’t like to celebrate death dates. I would rather celebrate the life of those that have passed, acknowledging what they gave to us while they were here with us. The only case where I give daps to an artist on the date of their demise is on Christmas Day, which will forever be James Brown Day to me. (In essence, every day is James Brown Day, it’s just that falling of his death on that day actually gives us the official day off.) But yes, I do remember birthdays, and today marks the birthday of the late great Jason Mizell AKA Jam Master Jay.
If you want to talk about DJs that changed the game, this dude was it. As the musical foundation of the legendary Run-DMC, Jay became the first real global superstar of the hip-hop DJ world. He was THE BAND, using routines that he picked up in the parks and bars of his native Hollis, Queens. Armed with 2 turntables, Jay helped guide his band members’ distinctive sound, ushering the group into worldwide fame and technically starting a new era of rap (take note – TECHNICALLY, the difference between “old school” and “new school” rappers all comes down to Run-DMC. They were truly the first “new school” rap group.) Jay’s influence transcended the music, as he was the man behind the scenes crafting their trademark fashion sense, which at this point has become iconic and is aped by people who haven’t ever heard any Run-DMC records.
But let’s talk about records, or to be specific, a record. “Here We Go (Live At The Funhouse)” is for my money the greatest singular live performance of a rap group on wax ever. EVER. Recorded in 1983 (but not pressed up and released until ’85) this 4 minute masterpiece truly captures the spirit and soul of hip-hop. This record was a live record, recorded at New York City’s legendary Funhouse club. 4,500 kids in attendance, with nothing but 2 emcees, and the one Jay rocking like a band. And man does he rock so well. I can only imagine the electricity in the air that night, as the city prepared to watch their new hometown heroes. At the very beginning you hear him cutting up the quickly syncopated kick/snare from the “Big Beat” record (more on that in a few) with Run and D engaging the crowd on the mic. And in those words you will hear phrases that you’ve heard a thousand times in too many songs to count – phrases that have ingrained themselves in our collective consciousness. “How you feel out there” – and you know it. “And it goes a little something like this” – and you KNOW IT. And “Aahh yeah” – which we all know, and to this day I can’t listen to without thinking of another one of our dear friends that has left us, the late great Adam “DJ AM” Goldstein. And then “it goes a one, two, three, and…” And here we go. Run and D attack the mic and the crowd and the routine with a ferociousness and fluidity that is unparalleled. Fresh rhymes and word play, back and forth, in complete unison with each other and the band, Jam Master Jay, rocking like a fucking machine. The “Big Beat” drums rain down on your ears and set the perfect tone for the aggressiveness that is the routine. And it’s just drums, that’s it. There’s no need for any more music than that. And there’s a complexity in the sparseness when it all comes together with the way Jay goes back and forth on the 2 records behind the fellas. And case in point, to show how in tandem they are, at the 1:10 mark the record skips a beat just slightly, but Jay is able to catch it perfectly and get back on the beat, with Run and D making the slight adjustment and they all continue on, not missing a step. Listen for it. It’s the perfection in the imperfection, and in my opinion one of the greatest “mistakes” in recorded history.
This routine is perfect. This record. It is PERFECT.
And to me one of the facets of the perfection is the source of the drums, Billy Squier’s “Big Beat.” Nowhere in the world will you find more thunderous drums, so absolutely unique. The drum pattern is simple, but calling them effective just doesn’t do it justice. They knock to fucking holy hell. Squier was nowhere at the peak of his career as arena rock demigod when the 1980 “Tale Of The Tape” came out. But it definitely set the tone cause this shit rocks hard. And I’ve often thought about whether or not these artists that are so often sampled knew how tight the parts that become recycled were at the time. Of course this dude knew. He named the damn song after the drums in it. To this day I still think of “Big Beat” as being top 5 easily when it comes to hard hitting drum breaks. Jay knew it. Jay-Z knew it 20 years later. And 20 years later, they still have the same effect. RAW POWER. It still sounds as bad, and as fresh, as it did when it was recorded 31 years ago. And that’s something else…So yeah, call this a softball if you want. I’m only talking about one of the greatest songs of all time, using one of the greatest snippets of recorded music of all time, performed by one of the greatest hip-hop figures of all time. If you don’t see that, then I have a strange micro-genre of music to sell to you. Would you be interested in some mosquito house?
Happy birthday Jam Master Jay. May you rest in power and shelltoes.
After teasing tunes from it for the past few months, Trackademicks will release his State Of The Arts this coming Tuesday (1/25). Stream the whole thing in advance on the HNRL Soundcloud.
Who Likes Chicken? Over the past few years I’ve been working on a simple but damn good recipe for Roast Chicken. The result is straightforward and hard to screw up, but a serious mouth waterer. I recently brought this chicken to the annual Fool’s Gold Holiday Potluck, and it seemed to be a hit! Food Gold head chef Elliot practically forced me to give up the recipe, and I’m happy to share. I’ve gotta give a shout here to my lovely girlfriend Mari, who introduced this approach to me, and has helped shape it into a winner. Read below to find out the juicy (and I do mean juicy) details!
Ingredients:
- One 4-5 lb organic/swaggy chicken *Please spend a little extra time and a few extra bucks and go to a butcher to get this bad boy. The Purdue jumpoffs in the meat section generally have been frozen, and are also not organic and yadayada. Your roast chicken will only be as good as your raw chicken.
- 5 springs rosemary
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 lemons
- Lots of coarse kosher salt
- Pepper to taste
- Olive Oil
Equipment:
- One roasting rack/pan: This might be something you don’t have, but you can get a cheap rack since the chicken is pretty light, and you can just use a high walled aluminum pan if need be (the kind they have at all grocery stores for 2 bucks)
Recipe:
1. Pre heat the oven to 375 degrees
2. Prep the bird: Wash the chicken inside and out under cold water and pat very dry with paper towels. Next, pour a lot of salt on the skin and within the cavity and rub around thoroughly with your fingers. Let the chicken sit for 10 minutes at room temperature, and then pat dry again, brushing off excess salt crystals. The salt helps both to flavor the skin and to help extract more water out to make everything extra crispy.
3. Make that rub, son. Zest the lemons, mince the garlic and chop one tablespoon of rosemary. Mix these together with a 1/2 tablespoon of salt and a dash of pepper to complete the rub.
4. Get under the skin: Turn the Chicken so that the legs are facing away from you and stick your fingers under the skin on top of the breasts. Slowly work your fingers between the breast and the skin to loosen the skin from the meat. This is going to be kinda gross at first, and even grosser when you have most of your hand stuffed in between raw chicken and chicken skin, but this is essential! Be careful not to tear the skin, but try and loosen as much as you can. Next, deposit all of rosemary/salt/lemon zest rub under the skin but working it in that space with your fingers. WASH YOUR HANDS!
5. Stuff the bird: Quarter the lemons you zested and stick them inside the chicken cavity, along with the remaining sprigs of rosemary. If you have some string or twine, cross the legs over the cavity opening and tie them together to seal up the goodies inside.
6. Oil it up: Place the bird breast side up on the roasting rack in the pan, pour some olive oil on top and rub thoroughly over the skin.
7. Cook: Place the chicken in the oven and cook for about 1hr. DON’T OPEN THE OVEN. It’s counter intuitive, but basting this bird will actually dry it out. If you like your skin crispy, turn the heat up to 450 for the last 10-15 min. Remove from the oven and let the chicken rest for about 10 minutes before carving.
Complex just premiered the full version of Kid Sister’s Scoop Deville-produced Gucci Mane collab “Gucci Rag Top,” taken from her Kiss Kiss Kiss mixtape. Grab it below (along with a clean version for our radio friends!)
