August 12th, 2010

In what had been described as one of the city’s best rap shows of the year – Detroit producer/MC, Black Milk, made his live debut in Portland at The Fix party @ Someday Lounge – as a part of the “VTech Phones & Fresh Selects present…” concert series. Not one to take such a move lightly, Milk made his introduction to the city with a BANG – backed by a live band that included Ab on keys & backing vocals, Daru Jones on drums, Bill Sharp on the tables & a whole new arsenal of hits from his then-upcoming release, Album Of The Year.

This show being about a month previous to AOTY’s street date – the buzz for the project was at its all-time high. And not only that, but since the show was a special one-off date just for Portland, before their official tour even kicked off – we were one of the very first cities in the world to hear the new songs live, even before Black’s hometown of The D. And as you can see in the video above, the Portland crowd were more than grateful for it – and they rewarded for their love tenfold, with Black Milk & the boys doing a record number of FOUR encores!

The video above – once again shot by the man/the myth, Paulius Kontijevas – captures a song towards the beginning of their set, the first single from AOTY, “Welcome (Gotta Go).” The song had only been out for maybe two weeks before this show & the crowd already never every word. From this point on, you could already tell this was a night that wouldn’t soon be forgotten for anyone in attendance.

Curated & Produced by KNNY FRSH for Fresh Selects
Filmed & Edited by Paulius Kontijevas
Audio Mixed by Doc Adam
Hosted by Ronin Roc

The Fix DJ’s:
Rev Shines
& DJ Kez
& Dundiggy

Always one to keep his loyal following’s appetites well fed, Daru is back with yet another exclusive promo download. This time its a sampler he’s calling Rusic Leaks – made up of different odds & ends including unreleased remixes, collaborations & demos. Along with his different duo counterparts (Ab, Reggie B and Rena), the collection also features new works with Muhsinah, Joy Jones, Reign Star w/ Tony Ozier, Byron The Aquarius, and more.

Rusic Leaks serves as a preview of things to come, as Daru will be dropping the 2009 edition of his Spirit & Soul Sampler series later on this year. Its almost meant to hold fans over while Daru is on tour in Europe all summer – first with Idle Warship (Talib Kweli, Res & Graph Nobel) and then later with Black Milk. So be sure to check his page to see if he’ll be playing in your area.

You can preview three highlights before downloading the full set below. Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Two new previews from soul singer/keys player, Ab & producer/drummer, Daru‘s upcoming album together, A Work In Progress. After both working on successful solo & group projects separately, as well as playing in backing bands for both Slum Village and Black Milk together, Ab & Daru will finally be releasing their album together later this year. They project has already been making waves with its first single, “On Deck” (featuring a guest verse from Black Milk) and the leaked video for “Soul Can U Feel Me.” Keeping the anticipation for the project growing, they’ve laced us with two new tracks from the project, “Soul Dirty” (featuring T3 of Slum Village) and a new remix of “Soul Can U Feel Me” courtesy of another Fresh Selects favorite, 14KT of the Lab Techs.

“Soul Dirty” finds T3 flowing like only he can over some of Daru’s patented stuttered & chopped clap-bounce, leading into Ab’s layered & varied vocals and accented keys. And on the “Soul Can U Feel Me” remix, 14KT adds a new, more laidback vibe than the original, while still maintaining the OG’s headnod factor. KT had this to say about the track, “This remix is a big deal to me because this was the 1st time I ever worked with AB. Its crazy cuz AB sent me the accapella for this joint to see what I could do with it. I listened to it about 2 times all the way thru. By the 3rd time, I had beatboxed the melody and record it. All the rest of history. I made this joint in like 45 mins, which is FAST to me..lolol..but it came out really dope. Much love to those brothas.”

You can stream “Soul Can U Feel Me (14KT Remix)” & then download “Soul Dirty” (as well as “On Deck,” for the sleepers) below.

Ab & Daru “Soul Can U Feel Me (14KT Mix)”

If you don’t already know, Fresh Kept Secret vet, Daru has really been doing his thing lately. From both drumming for live acts such as Slum Village, Black Milk, and Kweli’s Idle Warship, as well as producing & remixing acts like Kissey Asplund, Tableek of Maspyke, Reggie B & others – Daru has been working like crazy these last couple of years. Today we’ve got free downloads of three of the latest products of that labor.

Starting it off, we have the newly leaked track from Daru’s collaboration album with soul singer, AB, entitled “On Deck” and features a guest verse from Black Milk. I first heard the track when Ab posted the YouTube link on my newest addiction, Twitter, and I had been planning on debuting the download on here ever since – but I gotta give credit to both Eighty81 and Rhymehouse for beating me to the punch. The track will appear on Ab & Daru’s upcoming album which should hopefully be dropping in ’09.

Following that up is Daru’s (as yet) unreleased, official remix of Muhsinah‘s track, “Once Again.” On this one, Daru takes the semi-smoothed out vibe of the original track from her Oscillations: Sine album and adds his signature chopped-up groove to it, while also supplying it with a lil’ more bang than it originally had.

Closing the set out is another remix, this time for well-known broken beat singer, Joy Jones, from her latest 12″ single, “The Joy.” This is the only track of the three that’s already been released, so big up to Recordbreakin for allowing me to include it. I have to say… this remix is definitely one of Daru’s craziest works to date and it kind of took me by surprise at first. It has a dope broken/afro beat vibe to it that I really like, but leave a comment and let me know what you think of it.

You can preview & stream all three tracks before you download the free .zip containing all of them below.

For those who have been sleeping, 14KT is a producer/MC/DJ from the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based collectives Athletic Mic League & the Lab Techs. And, quiet as kept – he’s also one of the most consistent producers in the game right now. Recent productions include about half of his AML fam, Buff1‘s, new album, There’s Only 1, and 2 of my personal favorites from Invincible‘s ShapeShifters (“Sledgehammer!” & “No Easy Answers”) – as well as placements with One Be Lo, Phat Kat, Now On, Wildchild, and others.

Anyway… these are the first 4 of 6 leaked tracks (1 a week until the release date) from KT himself, off of his debut solo album (the soundtrack to his life, as he puts it), The Golden Hour, dropping October 14th.

And they even come with liner notes!

“This version of this song featuring Stones Throw artist Aloe Blacc, is actually NOT going to be on my soundtrack. However, without telling Aloe Blacc the real inspiration behind the track, one day he sent me this version, which happened to go with the concept and I liked it so much I HAD to share it EXCLUSIVELY with you.

My inspiration for this joint was going through a relationship that became so trying & serious that it was hard 2 just have fun & chill again with that person, U know? I freaked the sample as symbolism for how I felt. Tried 2 make the song sound “new” again in a sense. Kinda like how I wish I could do the same with the relationship. Enjoy.”

“First of all, I LOVE trying to flip records like this for fun. Hope you enjoy it.

I’m a night person so I needed some theme music! Ha!
I took every aspect of “the night” & chopped it into this joint.
I think I chopped 4 or 5 different sayings of “the” from the singer. How intricate is that? Yep, too much time on my hands.
Theme music for all my true night owls. No Sleep. Freaks come out at night. Slow Jamz. Just crusin’. Chill Time. Me Time. All wrapped in one beat.”

“This is BY FAR my favorite joint off the project and yes that is me TRYING to sing on it. HAHA!
Years ago, I asked my bestfriend Keri to name one word that described me. She replied “Illustrious.” I was like WHOA!
When I made this, I was listening to alot of late 70s/early 80s Rock music. I wanted to make a Gospel song, but I didn’t want to do it in the traditional sense sonically. So I wanted to make my version a 80′s Rock Gospel Song!
Even though Keri described me as Illustrious, I could never ever come close to letting my little light shine without the Grace, Love, and Power of GOD! So I dedicated this joint to GOD and how I feel with Him in my life!!
If you feel the same way, hopefully you will feel the song. I know I’ll get criticized for my singing, but I don’t care.
I was expressing myself!! That’s what music is about right?

Lyrics:

Verse 1:
“Illustrious/ I feel/ When you’re in my life
So Heavenly/I feel/When you’re in my life

Verse 2:
“You are the only way, please show me (the way)
I want to shine, shine, shine, Divine (divine continues to echo)

“God, I need you in my life (repeats at the end)

“Much love to my brothas Zo! on additional keys/bass, my mans Ab on the Vocals, and my mans Sam Beaubien who came through and laid trumpet for the track. I appreciate it ya’ll”

(Taken from an IM conversation)

A.L. says : can i ask what inspired this one?
14KT says: divorce.. hate crimes.. disrespect.. people getting killed.. relationships..
A.L says: it’s wrapped so eloquently though, with much respect
14KT says: yeah..I wanted the track to sound more contemplative than sad..but its really based on negative things…
A.L says: yeah it feels that way…. sad isn’t really my emotion… it’s just emotion-full in a way.. the way that there’s a tinge of sadness in “I fall in love too easily” – that’s what the trumpet reminds me of..
14KT says: “This hate that I see…is less than enough to detect any love/This music I hear…is less than enough to detect any love/These relationships I see..are less than enough to detect any love/This respect that I get…is less than enough to detect any love..”
A.L says: man… i feel u.. that’s deeper than….
14KT says: its actually simple..just me thinking on things…and seeing how they could be so much better if people had more love.. but instead they have “Less than Enough..”
A.L says: yessir. wow… thank you so much for sharing this with me……… ”

“When I started putting the soundtrack together, there was a scene in my “life movie” where I was reflecting on important memories, people, and situations that made me who I am. I envisioned a tiny purple spaceship,slowly flying inside of my brain (kind of like the movie “Innerspace” haha)… where you see snapshots of different moments….giving you a tour of everything that was going through my mind. I wanted the music to sound spacey and introspective to capture the vibe of the scene. Much love to my girl Tiffany Paige for the beautiful vocals to illustrate the scene more..hope you can see it..”

“I wanted to make theme music that gives you the feeling of where I am from. Ypsilanti..Ypsitucky..Ypsilanta.. is a small city in Michigan. There are areas of it that are somewhat hard and you can hear it in the drums, but the overall vibe of Ypsi is very simple, laid back, kinda country, and chill. This is theme music for anyone who is from Ypsilanti, ever lived in Ypsilanti, loves Ypsilanti, or just knows about Ypsilanti…its for you.. “