June 13, 2019

Nox - The Formula EP Review

Nox - The Formula Review

Nox - The Formula EP Review

Long Island emcee Nox released his fine-tuned and diverse debut EP, The Formula late last year, getting his pure styled productions and raps in before the year’s end. Much like the hit AMC program Breaking Bad, The Formula is a recipe of music that's been cooked with enough ideas and winning ingredients to create a euphoric chemical bliss for fans of conscious and creative hip-hop.

June 5, 2019

Claud5 - Claudscape Review

Claud5 - Claudscape Review

Claud5 - Claudscape Review

Only a couple months after releasing his debut concept album, Dogs Carry Knives, Claud5 is back again with a tropicana, hip-hop, and nujabes-infused summer album, Claudscape! Not to put his debut, atmospheric, electronic debut in the rearview mirror, but in a way, to show another side to his persona, Claudscape is best enjoyed while kicked back on a warm, summer day, with a drink in hand, and it's an exciting genesis for an artist who clearly has been saving his songs in the bank and allowing them to grow in quantity and quality.

May 30, 2019

Tyler, The Creator - IGOR Review

Tyler, The Creator - IGOR Review

Tyler, The Creator - IGOR Review

What? Tyler, The Creator is evolving!

I'll admit, I had lost my interest in the self-described creator ever since his follow-up release to his major label debut, WOLF. I had an early interest in Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All when they first arrived on the scene, boasting a large entourage of rappers and producers and putting out multiple albums and mixtapes and cross-promoting each other with features. I mostly just kept tabs on Tyler while I predicted that his protegé Earl Sweatshirt was going to eclipse him artistically. While over the years, Earl, who has stayed largely in the same minimalist, lo-fi musical landscape, Tyler, The Creator, has grown in style and ambition and has created an entirely new image for himself in his acclaimed hip-hop, R&B, and funk soaked album, IGOR.

May 24, 2019

Flying Lotus - Flamagra Review

Flying Lotus - Flamagra Review

Flying Lotus - Flamagra Review

Flying Lotus has become an amalgam of jazz, hip-hop, and electronica ever since he burst onto the scene with his minimalist beat-driven debut LP, 1983. A dusty, stripped-down collection of beats and electronic songs which defined him and defined an era of the late 2000s glitch hop scene. Since then, he has continued forward in big and exciting ways, releasing his touchstone classic, Los Angeles, and pushing forward into more styles and genres that all seem to melt into one signature sound in his follow-up works, Cosmogramma, Until The Quiet Comes, and You're Dead! This was a period of serious experimentation and collaboration into the genres of hip-hop, jazz, fusion, and cinematic, orchestrated greatness, and Flying Lotus, aka Steven Ellison, began a wild career full of all-star collaborations on these records. Artists such as Thundercat, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Erykah Badu, Radiohead's Thom Yorke, Snoop Dogg, and Kendrick Lamar, are just a few of the many team-ups gracing Ellison's catalog, and these artists and his forward-driving sound give them all a special place in history. Like Ellison's past work, Flamagra continues this tradition with more of that definitive experimentation in his most dynamic album to date.

May 16, 2019

e dono The Gaijin - the #donotape Review

E Dono The Gaijin - The #Donotape Review

E Dono The Gaijin - The #Donotape Review

A good friend who’s mixtape I slept on has new material, features, and previews to share in an exclusive release featured for free download on his website https://edonothegaijin.com !

A past radio cohort on the "Adrift In The Airwaves" radio run, E-ryDa, aka e dono The Gaijin, is a Waterbury, Connecticut producer and rapper, originally from the Bronx. His past cuts included guest features from members of his Woof Crew and Tyrant Lyfe members on his Error of Judgement 2 album, but the #donotape's got a raw flavor and style to it that showcases work that will appear in his sequel, the 3rd EoJ.

April 23, 2019

Crystallize DEBUT LP by DJ Dark Flow OUT NOW!!!!

Update: DJ Dark Flow - Crystallize LP Release

Update: DJ Dark Flow - Crystallize LP Release

This June 1, 2019, Crystallize, my debut electronic LP, will be released into the world on all music platforms! I have had a long and exciting journey with music ever since my DJ alias was founded in 2008 for my late night radio program. Now, 11 years later, and 4 years after the release of my debut self-titled EP, comes my first full-length release!

April 7, 2019

Milestones Part III: Writing

Milestones Part III: Writing

Milestones Part III: Writing Poems of My PastEver since I was exposed to music, I really felt an appreciation for written lyric, and wanted to be a songwriter myself... As you might already have noticed, all of my milestones and creative passions funnel back to music. For that I always have to thank my dad for inspiring me and promoting it in my life. From writing written lyrics with my acoustic guitar, I began to get a feel for rhyming and poetic storytelling. It was exhilarating creating and recording my own acoustic songs on my 16-track Fostex, some of which are still around today, buried in my computer files. 

Additionally, reading fantastical stories of adventures in western wastelands (Stephen King's Dark Tower series) or bleak post apocalyptic winters (Cormac McCarthy's The Road) would leave marks forever burned into my memory. As I combined these and other intense stories with instrumental playlists I would create, I was enthralled and inspired by the power of written storytelling.

April 3, 2019

Marvin Gaye - You're The Man Review

Marvin Gaye - You're The Man Review

Marvin Gaye - You're The Man Review

Preserved in a time capsule and shelved for decades, Marvin Gaye’s “lost album” You’re The Man finally sees the light of day on March 29, 2019, nearly half a century after its originally intended release, and I can’t believe that I have the pleasure of reviewing a Marvin Gaye album as a “brand new” release! The original sequel to his landmark classic album What’s Going On, You’re The Man was shelved due to political differences between Gaye and Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, and also due to poor reception of his title track lead single, but whereas What’s Going On was intended as an anti-war album, You’re The Man is a triumphant anti-hate album.

March 29, 2019

Retrospective Review: DJ Shadow - Live in Manchester: The Mountain Has Fallen

DJ Shadow - Live in Manchester: The Mountain Has Fallen Review

DJ Shadow - Live in Manchester: The Mountain Has Fallen Review

Performing live in 2017 at a sold out show in Manchester, England, DJ Shadow produced his first live album in nearly a decade, and showed growth in areas of his original music to great effect. I personally was left in the dark regarding the existence of this masterful mix of music, but I am so glad to have discovered it. 

I normally keep track of DJ Shadow's studio productions, having played his latest full length, The Mountain Will Fall, from 2016, multiple times through and blasting his hypnotic, eccentric beats in my car system and headphones. Upon realizing that he has since produced a follow up EP titled The Mountain Has Fallen and a live concert CD/DVD combo of the same name, I had to jump on my own personal journey through it and subsequent analysis. 

March 27, 2019

Retrospective Review: Paranormal Adam (PA) - The Black Plague

Paranormal Adam (PA) - The Black Plague Review

Paranormal Adam (PA) - The Black Plague Review

I wish I knew about my new friend, Paranormal Adam's, latest album at the time when it came out! It seemed a shame to pass up writing something about this splendid work of art, therefore, I will be starting another series of articles from time to time which will focus on albums which might have released a bit before my review window, and which I feel deserve an extra push into the spotlight of public consciousness. It's a pleasure, then, to introduce the first album in my retrospective review series: Paranormal Adam's The Black Plague.

March 19, 2019

Masterpiece Crates: Introduction (Titles Subject to Change)

Masterpiece Crates: Introduction (Albums Subject to Change)

Masterpiece Crates: Introduction (Albums Subject to Change)

Every so often, an artist or a group releases an album that fans often consider one of their best pieces or work, or even a masterpiece. In my lifetime, I would argue that a great number of music albums have achieved this high class distinction. Of course, every pick is a highly subjective and personal matter, yet I would go as far as to say that many fans of the artists I listen to would mostly, if not whole-heartedly agree with me that there are music albums out there which reach this class without question. Thus begins my introduction to DJ Dark Flow's Masterpiece Crate.

March 17, 2019

Karen O & Danger Mouse - Lux Prima Review

Karen O and Danger Mouse - Lux Prima Review

Karen O and Danger Mouse - Lux Prima Review

Both of the musicians involved in the creation of this work have already had highly successful careers in their own right. Danger Mouse, involved as a partner for such musical acts as Gnarls Barkley, Broken Bells (with The Shins' frontman James Mercer), Danger Doom (with MF DOOM), as well as serving as a musical producer for Beck, The Black Keys, and Portugal. The Man among others, has proven time and time again that his talent for curating high-quality musical content for multiple big name artists is second to none. Karen O, frontwoman of the unique three-piece indie rock group The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, from New York City, has been one of the main reasons three of their four albums have been nominated for a Grammy award since their debut, Fever To Tell, in 2003. Together, it seems fitting that these two artists would come together for a stab at a collaborative album. For their debut together, Karen O and Danger Mouse join forces for an easy listening and satisfying electronic pop experience in Lux Prima.

March 11, 2019

Claud5 - Dogs Carry Knives Review

Claud5 - Dogs Carry Knives Review

Claud5 - Dogs Carry Knives Review

After years of incubating beats and simmering synths, Connecticut based lo-fi electronic beat producer and emcee Claud5 releases his debut solo effort, Dogs Carry Knives, and wastes no time in pulling listeners in to his world of mythos and flow.

A brisk, head nodding treat worthy of many spins, Dogs Carry Knives has an encompassing, cohesive skin and theme of dogs, or rather, their ancestors, and exhibits Claud5’ drum-synth abilities in highly evolved form. Despite his producer name, this album has the inescapable atmosphere and feeling of exploration and discovery that you would find aimlessly scouting through the woods in the dead of night.

February 27, 2019

B. Dvine - The Process of Illumination Review

B. Dvine - The Process of Illumination Review

B. Dvine - The Process of Illumination Review

Bom-b-b-b-b-bombastic beats and sharp cutting wordplay inspires and gives power to those who want to take a dive into Long Island beat producer and emcee B. Dvine's newest full length mixtape, The Process of Illumination.

A step up in his production game since his 2017 mixtape, Dvine Intervention, B. Dvine, aka Brian Daly, diversifies his already illustrious and decorated portfolio by picking up the pen. In actuality, Daly has been refining his vocal persona for a number of years, but now he is able to display his talent and evolution on this February 25th release, and by supporting it with Full Blast booking's "Goin' Coastal Tour" on the East and West coasts.

January 27, 2019

Milestones Part II: DJ Dark Flow

Milestones Part II: DJ Dark Flow

Milestones Part II: DJ Dark Flow - Cracking the Code

After I put my radio show on an indefinite hiatus in 2015, I was fully committed to developing myself musically, having now more free time to focus my energies on original music production instead of planning for 4 hours of radio programming every week. As I explained in my first chapter of Milestones, music was ingrained in me from a very early age, since being exposed to various rock n roll by my father, and I quickly forged my own path in musical discovery. I always had the desire to be a musician, and was influenced by groups in high school such as Pink Floyd, Radiohead, The Mars Volta (all of which reinforced my interest in musical experimentation and drawing outside the lines of "mainstream music"), and Nine Inch Nails (a group known for being a one-man act who had an enormous influence on my motivation to make music all on my own) among others. When moving to Connecticut with my family, I quickly tried to make friends and form a band. I was able to form a 3 piece rock group, which eventually became a 4 piece with the addition of a keyboardist, and we donned the name Breathe, named after the Pink Floyd track off Dark Side of The Moon.