Archive for July, 2012
New Mixtape: DJ Nef You pres. Berg Beaugé (aka Iceberg Slim) – Miami Dreaming
New mixtape by local MC, Berg Beaugé hosted by other local MC on the rise, Blake Carrington and featuring Rich Kidd and Junia T of Smash Brovas. Solid!
Download: DJ Nef You pres. Berg Beaugé – Miami Dreaming [mediafire link]
[Audio] Lisa Banton – Mirror Mirror Vol. 2 R&B Mixtape
Latest mixtape from local (T.dot) soul singer, Lisa Banton. Some have dismissed her as a poor man’s Mary J. Blige but there’s some talent here. I’d like to to hear her start to do more original music instead of these mixtape style remakes though. Check it out and let me know what you think.
Follow Lisa Banton online: – facebook | website
Previously on The Kitchen: Lisa Banton – Mirror Mirror Vol. 1 R&B Mixtape
[Music Video] Saidah Baba Talibah – Revolution
Brand new video, beautifully shot and featuring some very cool characters, not from her last album, (S)cream. New album on the way??
Follow Saidah online: twitter | facebook | website | BUY ‘Revolution’ on iTunes.
Previously on The Kitchen:
– Saidah Baba Talibah – So Cool [Music Video]
– Saidah Baba Talibah – What’s Inside Her Head [Mixtape]
My Predictions for the 2012 Polaris Music Prize Short List
Inspired by the homie, Stu, here’s my best guess of what albums will be short-listed for the 2012 Polaris Music Prize. This is based on nothing more than intuition, wild supposition and (a lot of) wishful thinking so don’t pillory me if I am way the f-ck off from the actual list which will be announced today (July 17) on Sirius channel 152 on SiriusXM and CBC Radio 3:
01. A Tribe Called Red – A Tribe Called Red
02. Azari & III – Azari & III
03. Cadence Weapon – Hope in Dirt City
04. Cold Specks – I Predict A Graceful Expulsion
05. Drake – Take Care
06. Feist – Metals
07. Grimes – Visions
08. Handsome Furs – Sound Kapital
09. The Slakadeliqs – The Other Side of Tomorrow
10. Patrick Watson – Adventures in Your Own Backyard
Wild cards: Cœur de Pirate, Leonard Cohen, Mares of Thrace, Sandro Perri, PS I Love You and The Weeknd.
My best guess is that Feist will take the grand prize although the dark horse (no racism intended) are the two hip hop albums by Cadence Weapon and Drake and maybe Cold Specks. Wanna know how I actually voted though? Then hit the jump. In the meantime, if you don’t have time to go through all forty albums again (or, tsk tsk, for the first time), then enjoy this handy 2012 Polaris Prize Long List I created via Rdio. (As always, only snippets will play for non-subscribers so sign up to hear the full tracks and a gazillion other tracks.)
A Look at the Polaris Long List: 35. The Slakadeliqs – The Other Side of Tomorrow
Yup, definitely saving the best ’til last. If you read this blog regularly, you already know I’m a major, major supporter of this album. It was #1 on my long list ballot and #1 on my short list ballot and I shout it out every chance I can including at the Long List Salon earlier this month.
Slakah has created an album of sublime yet ambitious, epic beauty. Lead single, “Keep Breathing” feat. Justin Nozuka is just the beginning of the album and of what is going here: soul, rock, psychedelia, pop, hip-hop and reggae have all been mashed up into a delicious stew that is at once vintage & organic yet still modern and fresh-sounding at the same time. Lazy pundits have dismissed this as Lenny Kravitz redux. Yes, that influence can be felt and has been acknowledged by Slakah himself but this feels like far more than just that and I truly feel sorry for those who don’t see/hear that. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again now: no disrespect to 40, Boi-1da, T-Minus or any of the other young producers from Canada that are running the music charts right now, but Slakah is the best, most underrated producer in Canada today, bar none. If I know my business, and at one point I did, that will not stay the case for very much longer though.
The fact that The Slakadeliqs The Other Side of Tomorrow was long-listed was truly a surprise to me despite what i just said and my love & wholehearted endorsement of the album. Now I pray that some new converts to the cause were made during the short list voting period that can carry him through to the next round when the short list is announced tomorrow. Fingers crossed. And speaking of the short list….