Biggest drop since Rusko dropped KAPOW (fo' free). Krewella's Play Harder EP.
Krewella combined 4 remixes of "Alive", 4 remixes of "Killin' It", and and official free release of "Come & Get It." With bangers like Alive (Pegboard Nerds remix), four on the floor beats remixed by Cash Cash & DJ Kalkutta, and smooth vibes from Stephen Swartz and Jakob Liedholm. Killin' it has just as many amazing remixes. Lets start with Dirtyphonics, the drum and bass cannonist. Killagraham with the glitch rock remix. Mutrix dropping the amazing electro house. And DJ Chuckie. Everything Dirty Dutch. And "Come & Get It" is an amazing single too. Enjoy! But really, enjoy, you got like nine days left on the planet. inb4 YOLO, inb4 Mayans, inb4 natural selection. Just rock out. Kill the other noise.
It only dropped in the last few weeks and it already has raked in 450,000 views and over a million views. Almost a 45% of viewers downloaded. So I was like "Hey, I don't really like Fab like that, but lemme check this out. I caught a reference from a track on the mixtape called "Beauty ft. Wale." This track featured a sample from Submotion Orchestra's track "Perfection." Sold. "Louis Vuitton ft. J Cole." Sold. If you wanna vibe, kick back, drink, smoke (if that's your preference), and chill put this mix in the tape player. Also, if you wanna vibe to some EDM, check out Submotion Ochestra's UKF podcast mixed by Ruckspin. And as always, Enjoy!
He doesn't disappoint. Rusko just dropped his new KAPOW EP today for free. All you need to do is either sign up for email updates or post it on your facebook/twitter page. This four track EP is exactly what you would expect from a veteran in the game. Heavy beats, tantalizing synth, jungle rhythm. Yes. Get this now and ENJOY!
I don't have anything intellectual to say about this one. Moombahton influenced, Trap focused, with a techno silver lining. D!RTY AUD!O lays out a twerk anthem with this one. "Drop That Ass!" Check it. Enjoy!
Straight out of Texas, Run DMT has created some of my favorite dubstep tunes. In my opinion, the tracks that have heavy trap and crunk influences make for Run DMT's best hits. However, after listening to Excision's Shambhala 2012 mix, I found a new banger that almost destroyed my speakers. That's a fair enough warning. Enter "Curse of the Mummy." (Insert copypasta about bass drop, balls dropping, face melting, etc.) Just listen to it. And if Trap's your fix, hit up the Existential mix in the second DL. Enjoy!
Diplo's Jeffrees label strikes again. With newcomer GTA producing some booty-shakin' madness, it was only right that Diplo would play these tracks all over the world. GTA's "Booty Bounce" consists of two tracks: Booty Bounce and Shake Dem. Each track just reeks and leaks dance. Its the perfect combination of booty, drums, hip-hop air-raid sirens, and ratchetness. Just download it. Play it. And watch everyone get wild. You don't need to know anything else.
It seems like every six months (or less) EDM has a new craze. Early 2011, Knife Party held the charts down with Electro House bangers. Sometime in the middle of 2011 Moombahton went massive. Artists like Dillon Francis and Nadastrom left us with juicy dance tracks every other day. Most recently we've been hit with Trap which has created a huge platform for artists like Flosstradamus & Baauer.
In August, the Bueller EP was released by ETC!ETC! & Brillz on Diplo's Jeffrees label. As usual, Diplo managed to find the cream of the crop who released two versions of a song titled "Bueller" and an alternatively titled "Swoop," an additional mix of Bueller. Swoop, my favorite song on the Bueller EP, incorporates the best parts of Bueller with new breakdowns and elements that sound reminiscent of Bare's
"Indica Sativa," as well as a captivating synth loop.
Check out this EP. It's by far one of my favorite releases from Jeffree's to date. SUU-WOOP! Enjoy!
p.s. I have a strong feeling that the next genre will incorporate hardstyle influences.
Yes, yes, YES. For those of you who don't know, Excision just released his Shambhala 2012 mix. With that, he also announced that he will be working with Downlink and KJ Swaka on a project that they have titled Destroid. Destroid will be a full live dubstep project. That. Yes. I have no idea how successful it will be, but with the likes of Modestep and Addicted Kru Sound producing phenomenal live performances, I wouldn't be surprised that this is the next biggest thing in electronic music.
Also here's the link to access Excision's Shambahla 2012 Mix. Enjoy!
So, I'm probably extra late to this discovery, but if not you're in luck. A phenomenal collaborative project called "Voices of the Lifestream" was brought to my attention last night. After listening to it well into the wee hours of the morning I decided to find out more about it. This project created over 2 Gigabytes of content that paid tribute to the original score of Final Fantasy VII. Every song released through the project stems from the music of the Final Fantasy VII video games. This download does require a torrent client to facilitate the download, but its totally worth it. (plus I kinda figure most of y'all have used programs like bittorrent or utorrent before). Get ready for nostalgia. Enjoy!
Hopefully this weekend you'll get some time to relax. Labor day is gone, school is back in, and stress levels are up. Find time to relax with the Weeknd. You probably heard him featured on Drake's "Crew Love." If you haven't heard of him, get in the know. From the list check out The Party (Chi Duly Remix), Crew Love (Schlomo Remix), and The Morning (Dolor Remix). Enjoy!
So, Kap Slap is still one of my favorite mash-up/bootleg artists. Up there with 3LAU, girl talk, and The Hood Internet, these artists provide amazing end of summer, back to school jams. Sadly I don't have a track list (because quite frankly I don't think Kap Slap has released it yet), but that's okay, because now you have to listen to the full hour long mix that he prepared for you. For Free. You only have to download it off of Facebook. Enjoy!
So what happens when you mash-up Ellie Goulding's "Lights" with the Portland Cello Projects rendition of "All Of The Lights" by Kanye West? You obviously get The Hood Internet.
If you haven't noticed, I have this thing about crossovers. Rap and EDM, EDM and Classical, Rap over Classical, Rock infused with Dubstep (as advertised) (inb4 Korn).
*UPDATE* another song that you have to hear is their mash-up of Sublime's "Santeria" and Nicki Minaj's "Your Love." Take my word for it, it's too legit to quit. I cringed when I heard Santeria auto-tuned, but the solo sounds so chill.
These songs have made my day. Hopefully they makes yours. Enjoy!
The best part of social media is the ability to be social. Everywhere. At all times. To everywhere in the world.
I just discovered a new artist today. His name is Lance Carlton Deandre Coleman, but you might know him better as Fuze the MC of the Noble Black Society. He's 21, attending Howard University, and has been called the "dopest nigga of the year" by Big Boi of Outcast (in case you don't know, that is a pretty big statement).
Sure, he's not big. It's called underground for a reason. But XXL and MTVu have taken notice, and I for one think that he deserves a lot more credit than he's given (refer to Big Boi's quote). I just listened to the first five results on a YouTube search for "Fuze the MC" and had to go back and listen a second time. Immediately followed that up with a Google search. This resulted in his website http://fuzethemc.com/ which has a download available straight from the homepage. Sincerely blown away and I had no knowledge of this artist until 11:00am today. Roughly its 11:30am as I type this right now.
This brings me back to my first point. Social Media. I wouldn't ever have thought to search for this artist. My current tastes include vast ranges of EDM with artists that are associated with EDM acts such as Foreign Beggars, Example, Ellie Goulding, etc. The hip-hop I'm interested in is normally more mainstream than underground with focuses on Jay-z, Kayne West, and Andre 3000 (when he's not on multi-year hiatus's). Only very recently have I delved back into the underground (or probably more appropriate "semi-underground") with artists such as Tyler the Creator and OFWGKTA, and Hopsin.
For whatever reason, Fuze the MC decided to follow me on Twitter. I was geeked. Like catholic schoolgirl excited (not really but whatever). Anyway, seeing the blue checkmark next to the name (for those of you who don't tweet, it means that it is a "Verified" account) indicating it was the real deal. So beyond the fact that I got a new follower, beyond the fact I got a new download for you today (and sorry for the absence, I've been hella extra busy lately), the reason I post this is because I discovered new music today. And for that, I am thankful. Enjoy!
OWSLA Record's Nick Thayer slapped this bootleg together 2 years ago with an upbeat Drum & Bass flavor. Jay-z ft. Alicia Keys - Empire State of Mind (Nick Thayer Bootleg). Enjoy!
Yo Dawg, I heard you liked electronic music, so DJ Chuckie put a song inside a song so you can rave while you rave. DJ Chuckie, dirty dutch, mashed-up Avicii's "Levels" and Edward Maya's "Stereo Love." Really, I thought I never wanted to hear either of these songs ever again, but this bootleg is a fresh breath of air for both of these songs. Check it out. Enjoy!
Nero is quite generous on their soundcloud. If you ever liked Drake's "Forever (Remix) ft. Eminem, Kanye West & Lil Wayne, check this one out. Nero slaps some wobble on the bassline. I'm diggin' this already. Enjoy!
Nero may possibly be the most remixed EDM artist in recent history. It seems that each single released off of Nero's first album, Welcome Reality, received a guest remix by some big name artist. Whether it was Knife Party's (Pendulum's side project) remix of "Crush On You," Nero & Skrillex's remix of "Promises" or Roksonix's remix of "Me & You," it was always phenomenal. Then came the multitude of remixes of Nero's single "Must Be The Feeling" which samples "Time to Move" by Carmen. In the UK, Nero released an EP with the original version, a live version, and 5 remixes including one remixed by Nero & Flux Pavilion, and another remixed by Kill The Noise. Other remixes include SebastiAn, Brookes Brothers, and South Central.
Then, six months ago, Delta Heavy, the innovative Drum & Bass powerhouse, released their remix of "Must Be The Feeling." I cannot express in words how amazing this song sounded the first time I heard it. Or the 100th time. To make it even better, it has been released by Nero on his soundcloud. I figure if you haven't gotten your hands on it yet, now is the time. Enjoy!
EDM and free labels will never cease to amaze me. It's astounding how much free content is released, especially with the quality of some of it. Clubhouse Vol. 2 is phenomenal. The only artists I knew prior to downloading it was Flosstradamus and Baauer, two trap artists who are bubbling (or more appropriately boiling) under the radar. While these two artists will be making big moves for sure, every other artist on this mixtape produces amazing tracks in their own respective genre.
Today's DL is Fool's Gold Records Clubhouse Vol. 2. The worst part about it is that you have to download each song separately. Shame. Enjoy!
A huge argument in the EDM community, spear-headed by Deadmau5, is that most major "DJ's" and artists just "push buttons." Here's a great link if you want to read more on the beef.
Although the two have come closer and closer together due to technological advances DJ-ing/Turntablism and Controllerism are still very different. Traditional DJ's who still scratch vinyl records and use 1 or more turntables and a mixer can be referred to as "DJ's" or Turntablists. DJ's who use Digital DJ tables, MIDI controllers, etc, in conjunction with an electronic music source, can be referred to as Controllerists.
The term DJ (aka Disc Jockey) has been thrown around a lot in the EDM community. Although my opinion does not hold as much value as other's might, I would like to keep a separation of performance styles. Think of it this way. Using a film camera allows you to get the highest quality pictures possible, but relies on the operators skills. You can adjust aperture and shutter speed, and change lenses and filters, but your options are slim in comparison to a digital camera. With a digital camera you can adjust many more options than just aperture and shutter speed. You can edit on the fly and modify the picture. You can take hundreds if not thousands of pictures versus only taking thirty or so on a film camera. However, using a digital camera limits your quality level.
I respect both performance styles though. Those artists which can manipulate the vinyl and make it do crazy things are amazing. On the same token, artists who can simultaneously mix four songs together, taking a bass from one, a synth from another, the a capella track from another, and a fourth to mix in later also warrants my respect.
I bring this up because I recently discovered DJ Shiftee, who touring right now. He has been involved in DJ culture for years; he has participated in DMC (Disco Mix Club) DJ Championship since 2004 and was crowned World Champion in 2009. He actually teaches how to DJ at both Tisch School of Arts and Music Production and DJ School, Dubspot. He has ventured across both performance styles and holds an impressive resume with both. If you don't believe me, check out his Grownstep mixtape. Enjoy!
So my new favorite site for awhile has been Earmilk.com. They have been phenomenal at discovering undiscovered talent and spreading their productions to the far corners of the web. The link I'll post has multiple free DL's but the two I think are the best would have to be Outkast vs Dean Coleman & The Partysquad feat. Mic - I'm Back With Roses (g4gorilla Mash) & Usher Vs Mary J Blige & Drake - Wrong Climax (Robin Skouteris Mix). Check them out and Enjoy!
Fantastic find today folks! Suzi Analogue and TOKiMONSTA have come together to create the beast that is Analogue Monsta. AM's sound is a mix of Hip-Hop/R&B influence infused with some electric vibes and psychedelic synths. With promotion from Scion A/V, they have released their Boom EP. I have no more words to describe it. Well, one. Free. Get at it!
Also, beautiful thing came in the night last night. And by beautiful, I mean a compilation of nasty filthy tracks from White Folks Get Crunk's July 25th Record Pool. Its very Mash-up and Moombahton oriented with tracks remixed by Nadastrom, an Ellie Goulding x Michael Woods mash-up and many other fantastic things for you to indulge in. Enjoy!
If you're anything like me, you would love to have a soundtrack set to your life, to mimic your moods, and get you feeling like the most B.A.M.F. kid on campus. So I got a small playlist to share with you, with a few DL links to the free tracks.
(I also know I have some repeats on there, but they are totally worth a repeat post)
...and in other breaking news...
In addition to the playlist, earlier this week Zeds Dead & Omar LinX have released their first official collaborative mixtape titled Victor. I must say that I haven't been this excited for a mixtape in a long time. With mega-hits like "Out For Blood" and "Rudeboy" as well as some new content such as a brand new version of "Jackie Boy," "Jackie Boy 2.0." Every track has a unique tone and flow as expected of both Zeds Dead and Omar LinX. All of this available to you for free DL.
For the longest time everyone I knew, including myself, believed "Crunk" meant "CRazy & drUNK." A more accurate definition of the word according to UrbanDictionary.com would be "smoking ChRonic and getting drUNK at the same damn time!" Regardless of how you choose to live out your Crunk lifestyle, I have two free mixes for you. The first is Crizzly's Crizzly Presents Crunkstep and the second is Bird Peterson's Drankenstein 2.
As you can probably infer, Crizzly's mix is a combination of dubstep and crunk-music. To be a little more realistic, the tracks are a little less crunk and a little more hip-hop, but he does borrow Bird Peterson's "Pimp Storm" which mixes dirty south rap with everyone's favorite trance song, Sandstorm. Be prepared for mixes like "Kreayshawn x Exponaut - Gucci E621" and "Nero vs. Big Sean - Crush On Your Ass (Knife Party Remix) (Mike Manfready Mix)" along with plenty of Crizzly's own tracks.
Often when you refer to crunk-music, you think of dirty south rap. Bird Peterson does a better job of incorporating true crunk into his mix with an extensive array trance to accompany it. I really can't speak too much on this mix because I just downloaded it today. What I can say is its ravey freakin' awesome. If you need a justification to download it, all I can say is that it was released by Mad Decent. And its free. Enjoy!
Ok, so when you have an artist mix, you are obviously gonna be geared in one direction, whether it be chill tunes, heavy wobbles, more trap, more jungle, what have you. Habstrakt's mix, which I can only describe as future funk, is one of the better mixes I've heard in awhile. Plus with the zip file you also get front and back album art, including a track list! Big ups for the list because If I had to repeatedly hold your hand and tell you how to find the song and point out exactly which song it was, I'd probably lose it.
p.s. if you haven't heard the Roksonix remix of "Me & You" by Nero, you need to get on that ASAP. Enjoy!
You always remember that moment or reason why an artist ascends into the ranks of the permanent replay list. On November 9th, 2011, at the LC Pavilion was the first time I saw Nadastrom, Two Fresh, 12th Planet, and Skrillex on the Mothership Tour. Coincidentally it was also the first time I saw Machine Gun Kelly, the first time I went to an EDM set, and it was when I discovered Moombahton (via Nadastrom's El Baile Diabluma EP). Nadastrom was super intense with the heavy beats; Two Fresh has a great concept, but it wasn't in my taste. 12th Planet came out like a god-send from planet party. Regardless of skill as a DJ, his ability to read the crowd and his minimix with MGK on stage created a once in a life time event for me. Skrillex's show was great too, but it was what I expected: The Cell, mainly Skrillex's own tracks, heavy bass and bright lights.
If you couldn't tell yet, I was geeked through the entirety of 12th Planet's set. Opening with "Niggas In Paris" and following with some of his own tracks plus others by Flux Pavilion, Doctor P, and a whole slew of artists I loved. After the concert ended (some five and a half hours later) I couldn't hear right for three days. At that point, I went back to my hobby of discovering new music. And discover I did. Through 12th Planet's partnership with Scion and his The End Is Near Tour, he released Scion A/V Presents: The End Is Near EP for free. Five tracks of American-made wobble for the masses to enjoy. This EP includes two of his bigger tracks including Burst ft. GMCFOSHO (with Skrillex & Kill The Noise) and one of my favorite tracks of all time The End Is Near pt. 1 (with Flinch). Enjoy!
Just found this group off of WFGC DJ board called Secret Sauce and they are releasing their new tune "Dancey Dancey" for free. Interesting new sound, not the typical Moombahton I've been hearing but its pretty damn catchy and its a successful attempt at adding a personal spin to a genre. Check em out!
Earlier today while I was cruising through the blogs I follow, I came across some fantastic mixes from Urban Noize. Never really heard of them before, but they made a great first impression. Direct from EARMILK, Urban Noize provides 3 remixes of Kanye West's tracks "Touch The Sky," "Heavy Hitters," & "Brand New" off of their new EP Mr. West.
Another hip-hop artist you might like to know about is Logic aka Young Sinatra. A friend once referenced me to Logic's mixtape Young Sinatra: Unbelievable and I was sold. Songs like "The Spotlight" which samples "D.A.N.C.E." by Justice and tracks like "Numbers" and "Tic Tac Toe" which couple mean beats and crisp lyrics. Its a great investment of $0 from DatPiff. Enjoy!
I've followed Spoken Reasons on YouTube for a little over a year now. His posts mostly consist of him addressing an issue (often regarding relationships) and mixing it with his own sense of humor and style. Recently he released a mixtape on DatPiff.com called "The New _ _ _ _ Of Comedy" which included some older and remastered tracks which he released on YouTube as well as some previously unreleased content.
If you don't want to take my word for it, watch this video, and see if it changes your mind.
Spoken Reasons - Electric Wheel Chair
If you laughed at this video at all, you should download his mixtape (FO' FREE)!
ATTENTION: THIS POST CONTAINS GRATUITOUS EXPLICIT MATERIAL.
Marcus Hopson aka Hopsin. I've only listened to him for about four or five months, ever since Tyler the Creator dropped "Yonkers" and Hopsin released his mixtape The Ill Mind of Hopsin: Rare & Unreleased with the last track, "Ill Mind of Hopsin 4," being a loaded diss track aimed at Tyler and his music video for "Yonkers."
Tyler the Creator - Yonkers
Hopsin - Ill Mind of Hopsin 4
More recently however, Hopsin has seemingly dissed the entirety of Generation Y with his track "Ill Mind of Hopsin 5." This single (sadly not available for free download) can be purchased off of iTunes for $1.29, which I thoroughly encourage you doing. He starts by addressing his own negative influence on our generation, takes a small shot at parents for not being strict enough, and then goes on to identify how useless young males are these days...
"Do you even have any goals,
Aside from bagging these hoes and packing the bowl,
Well lemme guess.. NO!!
You’re only in school, because you’re parents made you go,
and all you do is play beer pong and hang out with your bro’s."
And if that wasn't real enough for you he's still got 2/3 of the song left. Next he calls out the girls of Gen Y.
"You want romeo?,
you’re not worthy.
You’re cock thirsty, nasty and probably got herpes.
Sometimes the secret to find,
is to stop searching.
Try a new formula, Because your last ones not working"
Lastly he attacks men who adopt the term "real nigga."
"A real nigga don’t brag about being real as long as he knows it.
And his future doesn’t seem hopeless,
A real nigga stays out of jail, handle shit and he keeps focused.
So all you rappers who soul is out in the wrong, you inspired the issue I wrote about in this song."
Hopsin - Ill Mind Of Hopsin 5
So to move from interpretation to analysis, this video hit 1,000,000 views in under a day. And it knocked out 2 million views in less than two. Right before I posted this entry, the video had over 2,115,000 views. I'm one of the last people who will spend money on music anymore, but I went out and bought this track. If you want to get a fix of Hopsin for free, you can follow this link. All you have to do is create a profile on DatPiff.com (which I encourage if you follow this blog because many later posts will require you to do the same thing).
Rusko, aka Christopher Mercer, is a common name among dubstep enthusiasts, especially in America. Self-proclaimed catalyst of brostep, he has come a far way from his earlier sounds with Caspa. Signed to Mad Decent, a prominent label sporting artists such as Diplo, Crookers, and Zeds Dead, he just released a collaborative album Cypress X Rusko with the hip-hop group Cypress Hill (yes that Cypress Hill).
Around Christmas 2011, Rusko released Rusko Remix Collection 2006-2010 which contains "all official and released remixes, along with some original un-mastered raw mixes." Remixes range from Prodigy's "Take Me To The Hospital" and Kid Cudi's "Day N Night." Enjoy!
For those who don't know who don't know who Justin Blau is, aka 3LAU, you will soon. 3LAU is a full-time student at Washington University in St. Louis and a touring DJ/Producer. In the last year he has quickly risen to fame after finding a calling to electronic music on a trip to Sweden. Since then he has become a prominent figure in the mash-up genre, infusing Top 40 hits with massive House tracks.
3LAU just recently completed his second mash-up album, appropriately titled Dance Floor Filth 2 and is supporting it with the hashtag "#SweatSexRage. Tweet it up, because this link features both his most recent release, and the original Dance Floor Filth.
I honestly have no clue how I stumbled across this website. Absolutely no clue. Regardless, it has become one of my favorite sites in respects to topics, genres, and content. To me, it seems the majority of content is free and downloadable through soundcloud pages. whitefolksgetcrunk.com 's So What Is This? (about me) page states:
"Welcome to the dopest site on the internet! White Folks Get Crunk is a site dedicated to the remix/mashup culture that seems to have consumed a portion of our generation. From B’more club tracks to 80′s/Rap mashups this site was built to showcase the talents of DJs and Remixers from across the globe and bring their work to the forefront. WFGC has evolved during the past 2 years from an idea to a slogan to a music blog and now an online user community."
The user's typically stay up to date with the newest and freshest genres as well as provide numerous hours of club mixes, mash-ups, and original content for the world to enjoy. A great place to find all of this is through the site's "DJ Boards" page, where artists drop their tracks for the rest of the world to enjoy.
I bring two free DL's in the post. First, WFGC's July 16th Record Pool mixtape with various artists (Koan Sound, 12th Planet, Porter Robinson, Crizzly as well as new up and comers).
I also bring one of my more recent favorite songs. If you remember Darude, you remember their more famous hit Sandstorm. Producer OH SNAP!! recently release a Trap remix of Sandstorm which he posted on his soundcloud and I discovered through WFGC, hope you enjoy.
Sorry I'm not sorry. I like this song. I turn it up when it comes on the radio. Its catchy, its pop-y, and no I won't give you my man card 'cuz dammit Carly Rae Jepson is still better than Justin Bieber. Once I build up my confidence, I will even support and defend why it is OKAY to like J.Biebs (GQ thinks its okay and you should too!). But that is besides the point.
Call Me Maybe. Possibly THE "It Song" of the 2012 summer season. Quite honestly, it hasn't been remixed as much as I though it would, especially compared to Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know" and Fun.'s "We Are Young." However I have just discovered (literally in the last 10 minutes) a Trap remix of Call Me Maybe which I LOVE!. For those of you who don't know what Trap is, its one of the more recent developments in the EDM community, and a tried and true production method for rap music. At its core its snares, high hats and kick drum beats around the 140 beats per minute (bpm) mark. Then its infused with electronic staples like synth loops etc. Artists who are becoming prominent in the scene are Flosstradamus, OH SNAP!, and some other artists such as Dillon Francis have tried their hands at and have been quite successful.
Speaking of Call Me Maybe and Trap, I have another free download for you brought to you by DJ Double0. http://www.djdouble0.com/
Just so you can have a small idea of where I am coming from, I want to give you a brief introduction to my music tastes over the years.
Towards the end of grade school (circa 2004-2006) I discovered Limewire (RIP). Prior to that, my music tastes had been generally pop music, punk rock, and gangster rap. My CD collection (you do remember CD's right?) consisted of Get Rich or Die Trying by 50 Cent, Collision Course by Jay-z & Linkin Park, The Rising Tied by Fort Minor, Red Light District by Ludacris, Elephunk by the Black Eyed Peas, Tha Carter 2 by Lil Wayne (arguably the best Wayne album), Thug Motivation 101 by Young Jeezy, From Under The Cork Tree by Fall Out Boy, Sublime by Sublime, Greatest Hits by blink-182 & numerous NOW! CDs (live and learn).
Through high school I continued to dabble in rap & hip-hop and focused more on alternative rock, punk rock, and then called emo & hardcore. Band names like Taking Back Sunday, Mayday Parade, and All Time Low were the soundtrack of the bus ride to school. Slowly, I changed from pop-punk to more metal and hardcore oriented bands such as Atreyu, Avenged Sevenfold, and Velvet Revolver (Contraband is still one of my favorite albums of all time). Through this time I also started to develop my tastes in a wider variety of music. Deftones and Nine Inch Nails became a huge influence over my tastes do to their heavy distortions and effects, combined with synth effects. I also became a huge fan of Amy Winehouse (RIP) and explored similar bands to Sublime such as Goldfinger and No Doubt. This began a short lived and highly enjoyable Ska phase of my life.
Along the way I discovered little bits and pieces which formed by love for electronic music. 3OH!3's second studio album Want, Attack Attack!'s album Someday Came Suddenly, and smaller bits and pieces of bands such as Mindless Self Indulgence began to stir my interest in this new style of music that was emerging which consisted of electronic beats, synth loops, and the actual use of synthesizers and keyboards (Only later did I realize Linkin Park's incorporation of a DJ in the band would have a deep subconscious influence over my love of turntablism &controllerism). Then came a huge breakthrough. MGMT's Oracular Spectacular. If you've never heard Kids, Electric Feel, or Time To Pretend, you need to look it up ASAP.
MGMT - Time To Pretend
Call me a hipster, but I started searching for bands no one had heard of. I enjoyed discovering my own music and finding out what else was out there that fit my preferences. When friends gave me suggestions such as Russian Circles and Black Moth Super Rainbow, I was ecstatic. This began my love of discovery (fueled by the Legos that my parents bought me when I was a kid). BMSR turned into a personal favorite with the crazy synth-y auto-tuning and psychedelic melodies.
Black Moth Super Rainbow - Forever Heavy
Then in 2009 something amazing happened. (Hint: I've Got A Feeling he had something to do with Sexy Bitch ft. Akon).
As for free downloads, I will leave you with Fort Minor's Mixtape We Major produced by DJ Green Lantern. This mixtape includes many of the tracks Fort Minor is known for like Remember The Name and Petrefied as well as previously unreleased tracks and remixes.
Let me talk a little bit about Girl Talk. Gregg Gillis may not have invented mash-ups, he might not be the best mash-up artist, shoot, you might not even like him. Here's what you need to know, though. 2007 he received Wired's Rave Award and Feed The Animals was ranked #4 album of the year by Time magazine. (fact-checked via Wikipedia reference links, for convenience's sake)
More importantly is that all of that all of his albums are released on his record label, illegal-art, either for free or with the option "Pay What You Want." That is why my first official post will be a link to illegal-art.net, where you can find six albums available for free download (or, more accurately, 2 free and 4 for which you can pay for if you chose).
I never really thought about writing a blog. It really just dawned on me until today. Friends fed up with me sharing eleventy-seven pictures, videos, quotes, etc on their walls brought it to my attention that my interests don't exactly coincide with everyone else's. That being said let me tell you a little bit about myself.
Name: Drew
Age: early 20's
Studying: Business Finance & Marketing
Occupation: working on it
Location: central Ohio
Interests: bowling, music (generally Electronic Dance Music (EDM), hip-hop, alternative rock), nightlife, the culture that goes along with nightlife, partying all night long... you get the idea.
I've been sold on the American dream, that everyone is special, that your potential is directly proportional to the effort that you put in. Sadly, its not always true, and to get the Swiss bank account, sometimes you just have to be in the right spot at the right time. I didn't get the memo about the spot, nor the time, so I'm currently living paycheck to paycheck. Now, I must ask you to refer to the "Interests" identified above. Bowling, purchasing music (legally), and nightlife are all decently pricey things to be interested. Especially the nightlife if you are of age. Bowling is also relatively expensive if you bowl competitively and/or regularly.
So how about music? Well, since the last thing I need is to have some government agents banging on my door about illegally downloading music, I find ways to acquire music the new-fashioned way. Luckily for me, EDM and hip-hop (and rap) are genres of music which provide gratuitous amounts of free content, even from big names such as Skrillex, girltalk, Lil Wayne, Mike Posner, etc. (ok so Mike Posner might not be a big name, but I like him... *insert leave Britney alone*)
So here's my plan. As often as I can, I will come back to this thread and update it with as many free downloads as I can. Fair warning, the majority of my posts will probably be oriented towards EDM, dubstep, and mash-ups. I will however suggest sites that I find that consistently offer quality in other areas.
Feedback is totally welcome and I am always game for new content myself! So feel free to message me with links and I'll make sure to post/promote!
