You want a tip as to how to get through the dog days of summer? Get the debut album from Helado Negro, called Awe Owe. Everything about it sounds like the Tropicalia wet dream that Devendra Banhart wishes he had. The album that we're voting “most likely to be listened to in a beach house” blew us away enough to probe the man behind the music's mind. We swear it will be every Wednesday, but we felt like flipping the script this week. Bam! This Friday, Roberto is The Selector
August has been a slow burn. This past Saturday Big Daddy Kane blessed the stage at Prospect Park and brought crazy memories back growing up and listening to his classics. In a way this keeps in theme with last week's Five things that ended with BDK over BIC. At the show, BDK shouted out reps in classic manner for different boroughs and neighborhoods. When they yelled out Flatbush it made think about that East Flatbush Project song “Tried by 12” that everyone and their mother remixed in the flurry of years when Miami was a hotspot for labels and music.
The song sitting on top of it for the first bit is this Caetano Veloso song “Tudo, Tudo, Tudo.” It's just this chanting and clapping jam. It's always struck me how fresh that song remains. It gets pulled into a bass, drum and voice song by duo Lay All Over It (Jason Ajemian and Nori Tanaka). This song has always inspired me forever. It's got this distinct flavor of a time period where I was listening to only a few things for a long period of time. One of those was “Rousseeau” by CYNE. Its the shit you can't explain, and makes me feel good. On the top and the tail of that song is a Burning Star Core with a song called “Mezzo Forte”. C Spencer Yeh is his name and dude impressed me with his live performance. These five jams and a little recording at the end are specific to a real certain pollinating time in my life, a time when I grew. I hope these tunes can inspire others too.
