Morsel: DJ JS-1's 'No Sellout' and Ridiculous Remix

In the art of catchin' up and comin' just after the spinning iTunes' D45 tidbit, DJ JS-1 has been rallying up the sunny days dominated by rails and trams. More bumping, less experimenting than Jake One's White Van Music, No Sellout is now available. JS-1 is the tour DJ for KRS-One. The remix is fresh, while Nuthin' dropped a short time ago.

MP3: DJ JS-1 (feat. CL Smooth, Brother Ali, and Sadat X) - Nuthin'

MP3: DJ JS-1 (feat. Masta Ace, OC, and Pharoahe Monch) - Ridiculous (Remix)

Le Retour (Back in Chicagoland)

I'm back in Chicagoland after being in Europe since January. Monday was the first time I actually set foot in the Obama America and, as with the guy next to me on the flight back, we were wondering what exactly America's like nowadays. Still kinda jetlagged to get that feeling down in words.

The last few weeks postings have been minimal for a reason. The reason? Travel to all these towns:

Exploring the world is as fundamental as exploring music to me. This time around I knocked out much of Switzerland's major cities, tempered by restaurants with friends in French Alp chalets. Nothing, nothing tops going up into the mountains for fondu, hearing the sound of cowbells in the distance, and seeing snow in the middle of July.

I'll be gearing up to shoot more shows shortly. In the meanwhile, I am open to French music labels and others to give a listen and-if it's interesting-writing about.

À la prochaine, mates.

-John

Quoi: iTunes' Digital 45s Debuts

Yesterday New Music Tuesdays (Mardi Melodies in iTunes France) debuted a new salvo of sound in the form of Digital 45s. Those flippy black disks are back, digitized, heavily featuring tracks from the 1980s and earlier when you could actually find 45s in stores with relative ease. I may be young, but I did hunt them down when I was 5 to fill up my dad's 1970s juke box, which runs to this very day.

I gave the concept a test run going with the perennial favorite Kiss by Prince & The Revolution a hard drive spin. Each Digital 45 is effectively the same as a real 45; Side-A and Side-B with a digital sleeve/booklet. Of course, audiophanatics are going to raise the whole vinyl vs. digital quality debate so I won't even touch it as it's better to press mute on that well-worn argument. Personally I love the concept more than digital singles. Not only does it revive the medium as it should, it creates a better product in terms of presentation. Prince's Digital 45 includes the vinyl sleeve art (both sides) as well as the vinyl images, giving a semi-tangible nostalgic feel to the digital purchase.

What could this mean? Digital singles could finally start having more thought taken into them. Instead of the quick fix of one-track tossings, artists should exploit this and release digital booklets akin to these to provide a better user experience. Sure, most of us only need the song...but there's a comfort in having more. Sound is one sense, visual is a second. Two senses are always better than one, even today.

Keepin' on Runnin' the Globe, New 'Leak at Will' EP from Atmosphere

My mad tan and sore feet bely the fact I'm still running around this world, specifically around Haute-Savoie, France and Geneva, Switzerland. While waiting for things to calm down, go celebrate Fifth Element's new store through a brand new, free Leak At Will EP from Atmosphere.

4th of July was spent in Genève at the Lake Festival, aka the Techno Parade. Float after float after float of pavement pounding house music cruising the quay. In between? Mobile bars-in case all that dancing on the sidewalks makes you thirsty enough to run for a drink.

À bientôt, y'all.

Time to Meander that Google Earth Again

Right about now I am boarding a TGV in Gare de l'Est towards Strasbourg. Off in the world again to experience bratwurst, pretzels, fondu, chalets, and the 4th of July Geneva, Switzerland-style! Apparently there's baseball and fireworks, ooooooh yeah...

Updates will be intermittent.

MTV2 brings the Minnesota cold & heat with Twin Cities week!

MTV2's celebrating Twin Cities Week, highlighting the sound churnin' constantly out of Minneapolis & St. Paul for the past decade plus. The scene up there is built from the ground up, without the financial aid of major labels. It perfectly shows the vibrancy of not only the musicians, but the artists in general in those cities. The vid below is the intro with the link leading to live performances and others including a tour of Fifth Element, a mecca for Midwest hip hop.

Atmosphere (Rap) - MTV Shows

Morsel: Wax Tailor's Debut Single and Video off "In the Mood for Life"

And 2 1/2 weeks later, the internet's back in my flat in time to give you all this treat. Wax Tailor, one of the top DJs in recent memory due to his fusion of jazz and hip hop, is back this September with his third album, In the Mood for Life. He just unveiled the single, Say Yes, featuring UK's ASM (who previously collabed with him on Positively Inclined).

How he has not exploded in the States is beyond me...but last I heard he's coming that way this fall to tour.

Oi. Technical Difficulties...

Gotta love the unexpected. After returning from Lille in the north of France, full of unparalleled Belgian waffles...I found my internet was cut. No TV/phone or net, hence the lack of updates.

I'm working on getting it fixed.

Cheers,
-John

Morsels: Midwest Highlights Hip-Hop with Soundset '09 Festival

Last night, Rhymesayers Entertainment threw the massive hip-hop festival Soundset '09 over in Canterbury Park, about 30 minutes outside of Minneapolis. Featuring the likes of Atmosphere (the flagship of the Twin Cities scene), P.O.S., Jake One, Sage Francis, EL-P, and MF DOOM, the crew at Rhymesayers can really pull in everyone. If you don't know or believe the Midwest has a hip-hop scene that rivals New York and L.A., check this video for a good introduction from Immortal Technique out of Brooklyn:



Except me, I was stuck in Paris. You handily lose this round, City of Lights...Check the videos for what you either (luckily) saw or (unluckily) missed!


Blueprint


P.O.S.


Atmosphere