2013 Year-End List

Best Albums of the Year

1. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
No other album transcended as many preconceptions as this one did this year. It turned casual listeners into music fans, taste-makers into radio listeners, radio listeners to music buyers and hardcore fans to music sharers. And it was all done by "getting back to the music" with meticulous attention to original sounds without ever losing focus on creating great dance music that happens to be infectiously catchy.

2. Majical Cloudz - Impersonator
At a time with so many artists making albums in their bedroom on a laptop one starts to either become desensitized to the sad and alone emotions on these records or you start to see past the mood lighting and can't help to feel like their plight is merely a hoax; inauthentic. Impersonator opens with woe-is-me crooning that rolls into an admission to the listener addressing just that: "See how I'm faking my side of it/I'm a liar/I say I make music". The delivery of the opening line ironically authenticates the art and also sets the tone for the rest of the album. It's a beautifully written opus about an artist's struggle with their medium set to complementary minimal and airy electronic melodies.

3. Autre Ne Veut - Anxiety
Arthur Ashin's vocal imagery is drenched in tears cried multiple times over for a love long lost. The album is a story about a love so deep that it created paranoia about the potential loss of it. The anxiety is felt in every song, but slightly differently as the story moves. The emotion goes from anxious fear to anxious loneliness. A perfect album for and about coping with love and all of the shades of anxiety associated with it.

4. Jim James - Regions of Light and Sound of God

5. Solange - True
Solange re-invents herself with the help of Blood Orange's distinct sound of future funk made from the sounds of 90's R&B.

6. Jessie Ware - Devotion
Though technically this came out in 2012, it was new to most of us in the States this year. Like Solange's album, what is most striking about the album is the cohesive sound of the album provided by producer and touring bassist, Dev Hynes.

 
7. Justin Timberlake - 20/20
Just like Daft Punk's return to the scene, Justin Timberlake filled an album with hits that never feel contrived. Every song is a perfect pop record that feels like it became a hit not by design, but because the process was pure. The only intention was to create feel-good jams that you want to dance to in your bedroom.

8. Disclosure - Settle

9. Holy Ghost! - Dynamics
Holy Ghost! proved that intelligent lyrics and infectious dance music don't need to be mutually exclusive.

10. Sampha - Dual
While there are many other new producers with a similar post-dubstep, bedroom-house sound, nobody does it better. Drake agrees as he has enlisted Sampha for a few tracks including the best track from Nothing Was the Same "Too Much".

11. Sango - North
The equivalent of The Weeknd's excellent House of Balloons but less gangster.

12. Jonwayne - Cassette 3
The third and final installment in the cassette-only releases via Stones Throw records. There were better records than this, but not a more original and honest hip-hop record.


13. Zomby - With Love
Dilla's Donuts in a electronic/dance context.

14. M.I.A. - Matangi

15. Chance The Rapper - Acid Rap

16. oOoOO - Without Your Love

17. DJ Koze - Amygdala

18. Jessy Lanza - Pull My Hair Back

19. Har Mar Superstar - Bye Bye 17

20. King Krule - 6 Feet Beneath the Moon

Clams Casion's "Final" Instrumental collection

Tracklist:
1 -  Crystals
2 -  Hell (A$AP Rocky instrumental)
3 -  Cry For Me (unreleased)
4 -  Pull Me Down (Mikky Ekko instrumental)
5 -  LVL (A$AP Rocky instrumental)
6 -  Bird Call (Mac Miller instrumental)
7 -  Freeze (A$AP Rocky instrumental)
8 -  Haunt (unreleased)
9 -  Melthru (unreleased)
10- Bookfiend (DOOM instrumental)
11- Cold Feet (Mac Miller instrumental)
12- Wizard (remix)
13- Youforia (Mac Miller instrumental)

download link

Angela Hunte, "One Shot"

Flying Lotus - ideas+drafts+loops

Download here

Q-Tip and Busta Rhymes - The Abstract and the Dragon

Hot Sugar, "Erica"

M.O., "On Ya"

esta. - Paradise

Hedspin x Four Color Zack Thre3style World Finals 2x4 showcase

Craze & Klever - Scratch Nerds II

Jae Tips - South of Houston

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Jae Tips, "Sold My Yeezys"

A Hallow's Eve mix by B-Rock

A Hallow's Eve mix by B-Rock

Saint Tropez, "On A Reign (@33rpm)"

Download here: On A Reign (@33rpm).mp3 - 9.4 MB

Jessy Lanza's inspirations for her album "Pull My Hair Back"

Jessy Lanza and her album Pull My Hair Back has become a recent obsession of mine. It has all of the essential elements that I personally love in an album: isolation, despair, longing, sensuality and chilly electronica all wrapped in Jessy Lanza's sexy vocals.  The quarterly electronic jornal, self-titled asked her about where inspiration came from for the album. Her response conjures fantastic imagery and references that provide extra context to future (or perhaps, a first) listening of a favorite record of mine.

self-titled article link

Pusha T, "Nosetalgia feat. Kendrick Lamar"

OTB Tuesdays' October line-up

Grand Theft Audio V

Recommend cuts:

3)  Action Bronson - Get Off My Remix (prod. illGates & Wick-It The Instigator)
6)  Dee Goodz - Out of Town
8)  Fredro Starr - Everyday Hell
14) Najee - Spanish Hustle
19) Skiff - Premo

DOWNLOAD LINK

Danny Brown, "Dip"

Friday: The Shakedown @ Club Jager with King Otto & B-Rock

 923 Washington Ave N, Minneapolis, MN ‎ 
10-2

Haphduzn, "TOFU feat. Slug"

Italians Do It Better Instrumentals FREE DL

After announcing the second installment of the After Dark compilation, Italians Do It Better celebrated by offering up instrumentals as a FREE DL.

The End of DJing by DJ Zimmie

The skillset that a club DJ acquires over countless gigs can’t be earned any other way than in the trenches.  Reading crowds, on-the-fly adaptation, honing technical skills, troubleshooting equipment problems without missing a beat, developing a style, taking chances, fucking up and learning from it; these are the things make you a real DJ. - DJ Zimmie

I encourage any music fan or club-goer to read the entire article here.

Blood Orange, "Chamakay"

The producer of one of my favorite releases of the year, Solange's "True", is preparing to release his album Cupid Deluxe. Here is the first video for a track from the album.

From A Record's Point of View

Record from The Lincoln Motor Company on Vimeo.

Bodega Bamz, "Mi Casa"

Haphduzn & Dimitry Killstorm, "No Big" #LAAB

Four Fists, "MMMMMHMMMMM"

Pre-order via Doomtree's official page.

G-Eazy, "Been On"

Fifth Element Parking Lot Sale

I'm excited to be a part of the Fifth Element Annual Parking Lot Sale!

Lots of Sales on T Shirts, CDs, Vinyl and More. Performances and Live DJs all day. Live Painting. Pet Clothes. Food Truck. And more info soon... Plus: Prof and the Stophouse fam will be at the Parking Lot Sale from 1-4 PM slanging Prof Fest Tickets, Signing Autographs, and hosting weird games.

1)Rhymesayers Collegiate T Shirts (All Colors) $10
2)Rhymesayers "Crest" White Tank Tops $14.99
3)Return Of The Rhymesayers 5 for $10 CD Mix & Match
4)Mr Dibbs Deadworld Reborn Picture Disc Vinyl 15% OFF
5)Select Rhymesayers CDs $5: Jake One-White Van Music, P.O.S Never Better, Brother Ali-The Truth Is Here, Facecandy-This Is Where We Were, & Freeway-Stimulus Package
6)FE EXCLUSIVE: Last Of The Records Buyers-Collaboration's The Key CD $2
7)Abstract Rude & Musab-The Awful Truth CD $5
8)7" and 10" Vinyl 15% Off 7)Used Vinyl Sale
9)Scribble Jam #9 DVD $5
10)Brother Ali "City" Track Jacket $15
11)DJ Abilities-For Persons WIth DJ Abilities Cassette $1
12)Rhymesayers Battle King Patch $1.99

-PERFORMERS:
KILLSTREAK
HIgh School Of Recording Arts Students
Psymun Christensen and K Raydio
SIfu Hotman ( Dem Atlas + Rube +Guante)
The Cabinet

-DJS:
Noam The Drummer aka Noam Feigel
DJ Defyant aka Joshua Roen Benzilla
Ander Other
Los Boogie
B-Rock
Danny Sigelman of Secret Stash Records

So So Glos, "Lost Weekend"

Prince, "Breakfast Can Wait"

"Whoa ooo (B-Rock re-visit)"

The High & Mighty feat. Mos Def & Skillz, "B-Boy Document '99" #TBT

Clear Soul Forces pre-order

Pre-order the new album by Clear Soul Forces via Fat Beats.

Record Sales Hit All-Time Low This Week

Jonwayne - Cassette 3: The Marion Morrison Mixtape

Download FREE or buy it on cassette via Stones Throw.

Mike Mictlan x Greg Grease, "WZRD Science"

From Mike Mictlan's "SNAXXX" release available from the Doomtree site.

OTB 3-Year In Pictures

Full album here...
All photos by Tommy Ellis

LORDE, "Royals"

CVIRO, "Faded"

OTB 3-Year Anniversary this Tuesday, 7/23

TRACKLIST
Intro
Macklemore, "Thrift Shop" (loop)
Pharoahe Monch, "Simon Says" (acapella)
Grandtheft x Scratch Bastid, "Miley"
Dem Franchize Boys, "Lean Wit It" (acapella)
Kanye West, "Send It Up (THUGLI remix)"
Bone Crusher x Baauer, "Never Scared (B-Rock Harlem Shake blendit)"
The Dream, "Tron"
Cosmo's Midnight, "The Dofflin (Ta-Ku remix)"
Top Billin x DJ Venum, "Money Up" (instrumental)
Neon Hitch, "Gucci Gucci"
Kendrick Lamar, "Poetic Justice (Terrace Martin saxaphone remix)"
Busta Rhymes, "Poetic Justice (freestyle)"
Birdy Nam Nam, "Jaded Future"
Tweet, "Oops (Falcons remixx)"
T.I., "Whatever You Like" (acapella)
Anacron, "Club Etiquette (Kid Cut Up blend)"
Jay Z, "Can I Get A.. (Big Gigantic remix)"
Dr. Dre x Blue Sky Black Death, "The Next Black Death (B-Rock's episode)"
Eve, "Mama In The Kitchen" (loop)
"300 Drunk MFers in the Nomad" (DJ Tool)
Kanye West, "New Slaves (DJ Snake remix)"
Ciara feat Nicki Minaj, "I'm Out"

GRRRL PRTY - Wegula

Killer Mike x El-P x ... Goose Island

Goose Island Collaboration Beer - Run the Jewels from Goose Island Beer Co. on Vimeo.

Demon Queen, "Rude Boy feat. N8NOFACE"

Demon Queen is the collaborative efforts of Tobacco of Black Moth Super Rainbow and Zackey Force Funk for an upcoming record entitled "Exorcise Tape". It's glittery dance funk that's been kidnapped, handcuffed in the trunk of stolen a 1980's Buick Regal, spit on and used as a squeegee at a strip club halfway between Vegas and L.A.. The project is set to be released August 6th on frenchkiss/Rad Cult.

Four Color Zack - MikiDz Live Mix

J. Espinosa's Winning Redbull Thre3style SF Set

Banks, "Warm Water (Snakehips Remix)"

Joey Bada$$ - Summer Knights

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M.I.A., "Bring The Noize"

B-Rock - Promo Mix

Live two-turntable set... no edits, no BS. This is some of what you can expect from a live performance.

TRACK LIST

-Bob Duca Intro
-Brandy, "Who Is She 2 U (instrumental)"
-Oasis, "Wonderwall (live 3-part blendit)"
-De La Soul, "Sunshine"
-Sneaker Pimps, "6 Underground (B-Rock edit)"
-Lindstrom & Christabelle, "Love Sick"
-Com Truise, "Glawlo"
-Mary Jane Girls, "All Night Long"
-Mark Morrison, "Return of the Mack (live 2-part blendit)"
-SWV, "Right Here (Human Nature Mix)"
-Miguel, "Adorn"
-Erykah Badu, "On & On (Adi Dick Remix)"
-Major Lazer, "Get Free (Vacationer Remix)"
-Ginuwine, "Pony (Viceroy "Jet Life" Remix)"
-Ciara, "Body Party (Kutcorners & Marvel bootleg)"

Like (?), then please "Like"... facebook.com/BRockMPLS

Inside Jay-Z's next album: Magna Carta Holy Grail

Lou Doillon

La fabrication de Moscow Diskow (Telex)

MUSGUARD - The Story

MUSGUARD - The Story from Musguard on Vimeo.

The Quintessential 90's R&B Mix

A DJ mix that Woodman made years ago(pre-Serato) with the goal to have something to play in the first hour a club is open instead of mixing to an empty club "like a chump." The result is a classic, clean mix that's "probably been played at least once in every major club across the world."

Crotch To Ya Face!

STORi, "Bloodclot"

Kaytranada - Kaytra Todo

Falcons Remixxes vol. 3 Sampler

DJ Revolution's "The Cut" features DJ Kid Cut Up

Tamara Saul, "Biggie Say My Name" (Girls Love Beyonce Bootleg)

ASTR, "Operate"

Greg Grease live on Radio K: "Cream Dreams"/"Death Ballad"

Chance The Rapper, "Smoke Again feat. Ab-Soul"

808's and wilin' in a Toyota Camry...

Janelle Monae & Erykah Badu, "Q.U.E.E.N."

Billboard Interviews Rough Trade's Stephen Godfroy

 There are some excellent thoughts and insights about music and retail from Rough Trade's Founder in today's Billboard Bulletin, most of which I've included below:

What’s your official title and what are you doing these days? 
Stephen Godfroy: Rough Trade Co-Owner & Co-President. I help safely navigate us into the future, while colleagues help protect the past, manage the present.

What did you do before all this?
I worked for some large multi-nationals that inadvertently taught me the tragic weaknesses of corporate business, before proposing a joint-venture to Rough Trade. That led to The Album Club - a 2003 music discovery service -- that leveraged Rough Trade's peerless recommendation authority to deliver a 'less is more" monthly selection of new music. Its success assisted Rough Trade in attracting inward investment and I became a co-owner and starting work on what became Rough Trade East. Since then, we've strategically fortified the foundations of the business, nurtured the brand, developed a bespoke online platform... Now, it's time to grow.

You are credited with the successful launch of the 5,000 square foot Rough Trade East store in 2007 in the middle of so many indie music retailers closing – how did Rough Trade manage to survive and flourish in that time period?
Rough Trade East returned music retail to its forgotten, original intent, by providing curious minds of all ages a place of congregation, celebration and discovery. We used daring scale and creativity to redefine the expectation of what a store can be, to be not simply a place of purchase, but a place of worship.

As this interview is pegged to Record Store Day, what has Record Store Day meant to you both in terms of your store and personally?
Commercially, RSD is the music retail equivalent of a Diet Coke and Mentos geyser, a crude combination of ingredients that ordinarily shouldn't be thrown together: hundreds of items released on a single day, added to a media-fueled open invitation to thousands of people to descend on the store at once. The resulting effusive spectacle is towering spray of momentary sales, but it's a bit of a mess, unquestionably in need of further refinement. Personally, I love the RSD 12 hour 'hit' of transcendence, taking record stores to a Shamanic level of ecstasy, where they become a conscious-altering intermediary between the artist and listener.

Rough Trade East is prominently featured in the film “Last Shop Standing” which is being screened at stores during Record Store Day, what'd you think?
"Last Shop Standing?" This may come as a surprise to some people, but I do have a life outside of music retail. Suffice to say, watching that would probably certify me insane.

Rough Trade’s Q1 2013 earnings report saw a 25% sales increase,  how exactly did you accomplish that in what may still consider to still be a volatile music retail environment?
We've a confident grasp of our sustainable competitive advantages, along with a healthy perspective that looks at music retail from the outside, in, not from the inside, out. We also balance the value of the past, present, future to successfully represent and serve each. Music retail is volatile only so much as it's in a perpetual state of flux, an eco-system so fragmented and complex, it defies generalisation. We now live in a post-digital era, where multi-format consumption morphs to reflect whichever offer is most relevant to each individual at any given time. Someone buys a smartphone, they then change their relationship with music accordingly. The same person then walks into Rough Trade, and they change their relationship with music once again. There is no 'all conquering' format, behaviour, offer - it's complementing and co-existing that matters. We recognise that our biggest competitive threat isn't another music offer, it's how people chose to spend their time. Our response is to create destination experiences that defy convention, that have no precedent, where purchase is just 1% of a much more rewarding, meaningful and memorable occasion.

You also won Music Week’s Retail Brand award last week, ahead of both digital and physical retailers, how’d that happen? 
As a retail brand, Rough Trade is like any story, in that it's not a statement of truth. It's an elaborate pattern, a mandala, a construct whose virtue lies in its harmonies and its paradoxes and its evocations. Such traits characterise many a great recording artist, which is presumably why the industry finds us, as a brand, so endearing.

What roughly is your balance of sales between digital, physical, incidentals?
We've only just begun to introduce a digital offer, so as a proportion of sales, they're minimal, with vinyl and CD (all new, we don't sell second hand) being the bulk. However, as we increase the digital offer, we expect its share of sales to rise, proportionately.  Very soon, we'll also be rolling-out our Rough Trade Card, which allows customers of our London stores to automatically enjoy download copies of the physical items they purchase in-store. Our tills marry the offline purchases with the customers online account, creating a seamless multi-format, multi-channel offer. It's a world-first, developed by us, something we expect to prove very popular when we introduce into the US later in the year.

What is the status of the Williamsburg branch of Rough Trade that we’ve been hearing about in "Waiting for Godot"terms?
It's been a few years since we decided W'burg was our next store location. I can verify that the spirit of 'Cripplebush' (old Brooklyn town) lives on, with swamp-like bureaucracy making settling a wearisome, crippling task. Having said that, I'm pleased to say the end is now in sight, and we expect to open toward the end of the summer, start of fall. We've done a lot of work already, but there's an intense final phase left to go. One thing that has kept us going has been the affection, excitement and support we've received by everyone who's so far been involved and party to the project, from our local Community Board, right up to the Majors office.

What's your take on Williamsburg's Sound Fix closing on Record Store Day?
When you glance at the flotsam and jetsam of store closures, music or otherwise, the words of the great American essayist, John Burroughs, come to mind: "a man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else." That may seem harsh, but success more often than not comes from recognising the opportunity in difficulty.

What's your advice for people looking to get into music retail?
To anyone considering a vocation in music retail, spare a moment to marvel at Pieter Bruegel's The Fall of Icarus, the subject of W.H.Auden's wonderful poem Musee des Beaux Arts. The subversive implication behind it being that if you don't like the history that's given to you, get on with creating your own.

Black Milk - Synth Or Soul stream

Four Color Zack live MikiDz Show set

Four Color Zack is one of the best doing it right now. His style and selection remind me of my favorite, DJ AM.

Dem Atlas - Charle Brwn freEP

Nick Hook, "Sirens feat. El-P"

Rush - official trailer

Dessa "Parts of Speech" pre-order

 Deluxe Pre-Order Includes:

- Access to private Ustream chat and performance with Dessa and special guests on Wednesday, June 19th.

- Instant free download of “Warsaw,” the first single from Parts of Speech

- Free download of “Icing Burns,” an unreleased B-side not available on the album. This track will be emailed to you leading up to the release date.

- Special edition deluxe versions of the physical album. The deluxe LP pre-order will come in red vinyl (different from the standard black retail version). We’ve pressed only 500 red albums; when they’re done, they’re done.

- Limited-edition Parts of Speech screen printed t-shirt. This specially designed shirt is being manufactured exclusively for the pre-order and will not be made available ever again. Please make sure to specify shirt size and album format when ordering.

- Limited-edition copy of Are You Handsome?, the second installment in Dessa’s miniature book series. This one is a cleverly formatted dialogue, told one line per page. The spine is just over 2 cm high, 50 pages in all. Tiniest books in the game.

Daft Punk "R.A.M." collaborator: Giorgio Moroder

Mayer Hawthorne, "Designer Drug"

Kendrick Lamar, "Poetic Justice" on Kimmel

Captain Murphy, "The Killing Joke"

Black Milk, "Sunday's Best b/w Monday's Worst"

Autre Ne Veut, "Counting"

Cherub - 100 Bottle freEP

Direct download

Aaron Cohen, "Potential Fans"

Birdy Nam Nam, "Defiant Order"

Hellicar & Lewis: Designing For Play

Mark Ryden does Tyler the Creator's album cover

Hoodie Allen, "Cake Boy"

The xx: Tiny Desk Concert

Karriem Riggins Dilla Tribute

Happy born day to the greatest.

Yelawolf, "Way Out"

With production from his original producer, Will Power (aka Supahotbeats), Yelawolf has a return to form. I'm excited if this is an indication on the overall sound and style of his upcoming mixtape due March 14th.

Drake, "Started From The Bottom"

Autre Ne Veut, "Play By Play"

Anxiety due February 26th on Software.

Serato Icon Series - Peanut Butter Wolf

In time for the second Serato x Stones Throw collabo pressing.

Underachievers, "The Mahdi"

The Brooklyn duo's debut mixtape INDIGOISM here.

JT x Jay-Z, "Suit & Tie (B-Rock Keep Dancing edit)"

"...more finger hearts..." "...pee on someone right NOW..."

Wale - Folarin (mixtape)

Wale takes a brief retreat from the shallow end of the hip-hop pool and revisits the depth and flow that OG fans knew he was capable of.

A-1, "Ritual"

For those not in the know, the hook sample is courtesy of Little Dragon's "Ritual Union"

Welcome To Minnesota Tour

THE WELCOME TO MINNESOTA TOUR 2013:
Tickets on sale Fri., Jan. 18th at 11am CST
03.01.13 - Bemidji, MN @ Sanford Center
03.02.13 - Duluth, MN @ Clyde Iron Works
03.03.13 - St. Cloud, MN @ Red Carpet
03.04.13 - Mankato, MN @ Verizon Wireless Center Ballroom
03.05.13 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue

Toro Y Moi - Anything In Return (album stream)

Stream Toro Y Moi's new album Anything In Return a week early via Pitchfork.

Santigold, "Girls"

Kendrick Lamar, "Collect Calls" (unofficial)

Fred The Godson, "Slow Flow"

My favorite track from Gordo Frederico gets some visuals.

DJ Shadow's infamous Miami mix

Jean Grae - Dust Ruffle