About // Contact

• Home
• Interviews
• Music
• Podcast
• Reviews

Couch Sessions Appoved Artist, Hip-Hop, House/Electronic, Music News, Negroclash!

Announced: The Roots Picnic in Philly

Wow. So Every weird Black person on the East Coast is gonna be at this event. Including me. More details as they come.

Tags: diplo, Gnarls Barkley, j*davey, sharon jones, the roots, tour dates

---

Hip-Hop, Negroclash!, Rock/Alternative

N.E.R.D. Complete SXSW Set, Tour Dates

 

 N.E.R.D. Complete SXSW Set (ZShare, Zip)

From what I hear, N.E.R.D. killed it at South By Southwest this year. But for all of us who weren’t able to make their Texas set, here is a decent (not great) quality rip of their entire set (via OKP).

N.E.R.D is currently on a promotional tour across the Midwest and South right now before they join Kanye for his Glow In The Dark Tour. So far, the concert reviews have been positive. Here are the remaining dates.

TourDates

March 22 - Richmond, VA, The National
March 24 - Louisville, KY, Coyotes
March 25 - Ashville, NC, The Orange Peel
March 25 - Knoxville, TN, The Vallarium
March 28 - Jacksonville, FL, Free Bird Cafe

Tags: N.E.R.D., SXSW, tour dates

---

Negroclash!, R&B, Rock/Alternative

Gnarls Barkley’s The Odd Couple Out Now

Gnarls Barkley decided that rather than releasing their album April 8th, let’s release it…..um. Today! Well, more like yesterday, when the duo rushed their albums to digital and retail markets. I’ve listened to the leak, and this is a fairly solid album. And yes, this is about to be the next trend: The band The Raconteurs, fronted by Jack Black, announced yesterday that their album would drop in less than a week. Its a two fold move–first, to combat piracy, and second to not peg an album’s success on first weeks numbers and slowly build album sales over the course of a few weeks. The old way of waiting months between an albums completion date and its release looks like its out the door.

Tags: Gnarls Barkley, Jack Black, The Odd Couple

---

Hip-Hop, Jazz/Blues/Gospel, Negroclash!, R&B

Review: Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)

Erykah Badu
New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War

When I first heard the track “The Healer” on Erykah Badu’s 4th full length album, I thought that homegirl had lost it. Even though the track was set to a dope Madlib beat, and is probably the best head nodders in a long time, it sounded like a long winded rant by a crazy homeless woman. So after my initial excitement I asked myself….”has Erykah lost it? Is she pulling a Lauryn Hill on us?”

Ms. Badu hasn’t lost it. Although New Amerykah doesn’t measure up to her first CD and won’t come close to her greatest effort (Mama’s Gun), the Dallas, Texas songstress has managed to create some downright amazing R&B in a time when the genre has lost focus–with neo-soul all but dead, and young singers like Keysha Cole taking over radio. Badu has managed to find her niche in the world, and she shines on songs like, “Soldier,” “Honey (Bonus Track),” the sultry “Telephone,” and the introspective, “Me.”

You can tell that Badu has come of age on New Amerykah and has found her niche. On “Me,” one of the more personal tracks from this reclusive singer, she puts it all out in the open. With lyrics like “this year I turned 36/damn it seems it came so quick/my ass and legs have gotten thick yea/its all me” you can tell off the bat that she’s not trying to chase the current trends in R&B.

For over 10 years, Erykah Badu has been ahead of the curve for contemporary R&B, and on this album, she raises the bar even higher.

Tags: Erykah Badu, neo-soul, New Amerykah

---

Hip-Hop, Negroclash!, Remix

Random Ish Radio 024: The Podcast Is Back!!!

Whats up people. I can’t even believe that Its been almost a year since the last Podcast dropped. My bad. There were so many circumstances that prevented me from getting it up for y’all. But it’s a new year, and in tribute to the upcoming relaunch of the site, we have a brand new Podcast. And you ITunes/Ipod people get another dope bonus…Enhanced Podcasts with tracklistings and images. Only thing is, thanks to Apple, you have to subscribe to a new RSS feed, but trust me, its worth it.

So nothing truly special this time around as far as music goes, but I do have some nice remixes of Clipse and Jay-Z, as well as Jaylib and a triple threat of Daptones Records remixes. Enjoy!

Subscribe to Random Ish Radio

ITunes Enhanced Podcast

Subscribe in ITunes

The ITunes enhanced podcast contains Tracklisting titles/and chapters as well as images and URLs. Please use this feed for ITunes and IPods only.

MP3 Podcast

Subscribe in RSS

This is the original feed for The Couch Sessions Podcast. Subscribe to this feed to listen to Random Ish Radio on any MP3 Player. (Use this one as well if you having issues with the ITunes Enhanced Podcast.

Download

Download the MP3 (36.4 MB)

TrackListing

Andre 3000, Erykah Badu, and CeeLo - Liberation
from Andre 3000 Whole Foods Mixtape (Atlanta, GA)

Clipse - Mr. Me Too (ZAK Remix)
from Unknown (Virginia Beach, VA)

Jay-Z and Pharrell - I Know (Benzi Remix)
from American Gangster (Brooklyn, NY)

Cyne - Haze
from Evolution Fight (Gainesville, FL)

Jaylib - The Mission (Stringed Out Mix)
from Champion Sound Reissue (Los Angeles/Detroit)

****Daptone Records Triple Play****

Sharon Jones - Stranded In Your Love (Cool Calm Pete Remix)
from Daptone Records Remixed (Brooklyn, NY)

Sharon Jones - How Long Do I Have to Wait (Ticklah Remix)
from Daptone Records Remixed (Brooklyn, NY)

The Budos Band feat. Wale - Chicago Falcon
from Daptone Records Remixed (Brooklyn, NY/Washington, DC)

Random Ish Radio features music for evaluation purposes only. If you are an artist, manager, or record company and you feel that our actions violates your copyright, please send an email to articleonline at gmail.com and the tracks will be removed immediately.

Tags: Andre 3000, clipse, cyne, daptones records, jay-z, Podcast, random ish radio, sharon jones

---

Couch Sessions Appoved Artist, Negroclash!, Rock/Alternative

Video: Santogold - L.E.S. Artistes

Wow. This video is definately out there, but a good look at the moment for me. Why? I don’t know. Mabye cause Santi looks so damn good in it. Looks like she’s definitely gonna blow up in ‘08.

---

Couch Sessions Appoved Artist, Negroclash!

Approved: Santogold

MySpace: www.myspace.com/santogold

Santogold - Creator (Windows Media)

Santogold is the newest Couch Sessions Approved Artist for 2008

Most people’s knowledge of Santogold (aka Santi White) is only recent. She’s been awarded the “next big thing” status from the likes of the New York Times and Rolling Stone. She’s toured with (and been constantly compared to) M.I.A. and Mark Ronson in the past couple of years, and she’s done collabos with Spank Rock among others.

However, Ms. White has been in the game for longer than people think. She got on The Couch Sessions’ radar a couple years ago when she fronted the punk band Stiffed. (We were supposed to actually sponsor a DC show for the band…then drama ensued.) However, she’s also been an A&R for Epic Records as well as a writer/prodcer of the amazing album How I Do, by R&B artist Res. (Seriously, How I Do is light years ahead of its time and one of my favorite contemporary albums to date.)

Anyway, Santogold is dropping a still untitled album sometime in 2008 and the tracks that she has dropped so far have been stellar. Could she be the new face of Black Rock in the new millennium?

Tags: res, Santogold

---

House/Electronic, Negroclash!, Spoken Word

Video: Saul Williams - Sunday Bloody Sunday

Buy The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!

Saul Williams dropped the first video off of his groundbreaking internet-only project The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! You can get the album from Saul’s Website although it’s not free anymore (hmm….). It’s definitely worth getting though.

---

Hip-Hop, House/Electronic, Negroclash!, New Music

New N.E.R.D. - Everyone’s Nose

N.E.R.D. - Everyone’s Nose

Wait a minute? I thought that N.E.R.D. broke up last year? Breakup or no breakup, the group did find some time to drop this new track from their now forthcoming album N.3.R.D., due in Spring 2008. The percussions on this track are insane even if the subject matter doesn’t really make sense (sober). Can’t wait for this album to drop. (via SS)

---

Music News, Negroclash!

Jack Davey vs. The Industry

Things aren’t going well with J*Davey and their deal with Warner Brothers records. Last week, Miss Jack Davey posted a manifesto on her personal blog:

this is intended for all of you lowly puppets who sit in your big offices in big buildings that will soon be out of business & thus, forced to hold vacant memories of an industry that once was . this is for all of the big wigs in suits & ties who sit at the head of the conference room table with creative opinions as empty as the “music” they force down the throats of the now bored & uninspired creative consumers . this is for all the idle assistants who only work hard enough to get their names on the grammy party lists, or whose only existence remains obsolete if he/she can’t get into the hot new band’s hollywood show debut . this is for the borderline retarded a&r guy who should in fact abandon his dreams of changing the failing record industry to become a highly paid talent scout at a modeling agency . this is definitely for all the marketing low lives who fail to avidly push great talent because the world’s fave reality slut randomly decided one day while botoxing her armpits that she wants to be a rockstar .

I agree with every single point of what she’s saying. The industry is shooting itself in the foot every day. Record sales for 2007 are at an all time low, and 2008 doesn’t seem much brighter. Ms. Davey doesn’t say whether the group was dropped from their label (like previous rumors) but its looking more possible by the day. From the looks of it, their act is pretty much just sitting on the shelf in a back room never to see the light of day. I called their major label deal as a bad idea from day one. They should join Spank Rock and Gnarls Barkley at Downtown Recordings cause they seem like the only label that can market left-field Black artists properly. Or better yet, screw the labels and go completely independent.

The complete entry after the jump. (props to Boogie Tonight via email)
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: j*davey

---

Connect

Podcast

Features

Reviews

Events

Quick Hits

Last.FM

Popular Tags