There are so many cool people/cool things on the internet it can be pretty overwhelming. Fortunately, I have all day to listen to things so that you can relax and not worry that hipness is passing you by. And what will this cost, you ask? Nothing, nothing and nothing but your sweet (download) time.
Bay Area DJ extraordinaire Chief Boima is gearing up for the World Cup by repping his Sierra Leone heritage the best way he knows how – taking genres you’ve never heard of and songs you’ve definitely heard of and turning them into unstoppable party monsters. His remixes borrow from Ivorian Coupe Decale, Senegalese Mbalax and some other google fodder, but they don’t feel like exotic mash ups or in any way contrived.
Nguzunguzu (say that ten times fast) are currently being kept a little bit out of view by M.I.A. (on her label/are her personal DJ’s) so consequently you can find them playing bar gigs in LA, probably using iPods and drinking heavily. I can’t substantiate any of this, but what I can do is listen to this free EP over and over and over again and wait for them to blow up and then say “I told ya so.” For the longest time I’ve wondered what it would sound like if someone took all the best parts of hardcore (breakdowns mostly) and crossed it with grimey hip hop. That’s not exactly how I’d describe this, but it has the same effect – music you want to blast and dance to, but you’re not sure if everyone else could possibly be feeling it as hard as you are.
(download link - you have to click through a few pages)
Speaking of the future, this is razor sharp edge of internet coolness. It’s not NRFW, which is like NSFW except I am just not recommending it on the basis that while technically safe of cuss-words, it is almost guaranteed to cause mean mugging and unbecoming grimacing no matter how quietly you try and play it. I don’t think this is a real name, but I’m calling it screwed & capped – slowed down and compressed until it sounds like its 110% too loud. Designed more for macbook speakers than subs, it’s like ALL CAPS ALL THE TIME except for the one sort of fey 80’s song.