Cherry Red

I'm not sure which is lovelier -- my Saskatchewan cherry pie or my Lee Valley watering can. (Considering that the creator of Lee Valley Tools grew up in Saskatchewan, I consider them both to be local commodities!) Thanks for the Evans cherries, Judith!

Hottest Short Hair Styles

Celebrities everywhere are going with short hair styles. This trend has been happening gradually over the last year.

These short hair cuts feature long layers, side swept bangs, fringe and choppy bangs, short layers and bobs-where the hair in the back is slightly shorter than the hair in the front.

If you think you want to cut your hair in one of these trendy short styles, you should first consider trying on the short style using hairstyle imaging software. This is a very important step, especially if you have never had short hair before.

I remember back when everyone wanted the Dorothy Hamil short wedge hair style. I went and got that exact hair cut and I totally hated it. I had always had long hair and the short hair just didn't feel or look right to me.

You can avoid this sort of disaster by trying it on first. Here are a few hairstyles demos to try out.

If you need some examples of short hair , see Hair Resources Top Picks for Hottest Short Hair Styles

Soft, Smooth and Shiny Hair in a Flash

Having soft, smooth, and shiny hair does not have to be difficult and expensive. Just follow these few simple steps and you will have beautiful and luxurious emo hair in no time.

First, brush your hair several times a day. Brushing helps remove the dirt, dust, and grime that get trapped in your hair. It also helps distribute the natural oils produced by the scalp, from the roots to the tips.

Shampoo your hair every other day and condition it everyday. Shampooing on a daily basis may strip off the natural oils that moisturize the hair. Conditioning it, on the other hand, restores lost moisture and keeps the natural oils in place.

Use cold water as much as possible when washing your hair. This seals the hair cuticles and locks the conditioner as close to the hair follicle as possible.

Give your hair a hot oil treatment once every two weeks. Mayonnaise or egg yolks can be used as an alternative to expensive salon treatments. Spread mayonnaise or egg yolks combined with olive oil all over your hair, concentrating on the ends. Cover your hair with a shower cap for 10-20 mins and then rinse well.

Eat lots of food rich in B-vitamins and proteins, like bananas, soybeans, avocados, eggs, grains, and red meat. The nutrients found in these food items are responsible for healthy and shiny hair.

Refrain from using heated styling tools and alcohol-based styling products as much as possible, as this can easily dry out your hair. If it cannot be avoided, use thermal styling tools and water-based styling products, which cause less damage to the hair.

Lastly, have your hair trimmed every six weeks to keep it in tip-top shape. This gets rid of the dry ends and keeps the rest of the hair looking good and healthy.

CBC Radio calling - A harvest dinner

During harvest, my dad's supper was packed into a lunchbox and included nothing that couldn't be eaten with one hand (because he wanted to eat while he drove the combine). Other farmers go to the other extreme, stopping to eat a hot picnic supper delivered to the field with the whole family. My ideal harvest supper would be somewhere in between -- a cold meal that I would stop to eat in the shade of the grain truck or a grove of trees. Of course, it would be a Saskatchewan meal...

Cold chicken

Asian coleslaw

Homemade canned pears

Zucchini cookies (below)

ZUCCHINI COOKIE

(from the cookbook Zucchini: You Can Never Have Enough by John Butler)
1/2 cup soft butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
pinch baking soda
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup grated zucchini
1 cup raisins
1 cup rolled oats

Note: If the zucchini is young and fresh, I leave the skin on for a nice green fleck in the cookies. However, if the skin is thick I would peel the zucchini first.

Cream together the butter, egg and vanilla. Mix the baking soda into the honey, and stir into the creamed butter. Sift the flours, baking powder and salt over the creamed mixture and blend well. Add the zucchini, raisins and oats and blend until mixed. Drop by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. (I prefer to use a silicon mat rather than grease the pan.) Bake at 350F for 10 minutes.

Local substitution - SOUR CHERRY BBQ MARINADE

The August issue of Food & Wine has a recipe for barbecue sauce made with tamarind because it "keeps the honey...from becoming too sweet..." Well, I thought, Saskatchewan cherries are tart. Why not a substitution? And so was born this sour cherry BBQ marinade. I first used it for baked pork ribs and today, I used it to marinate moose t-bone steaks. While the steaks were grilling, I boiled down the marinade to make a sauce. (Thank you Sue and Vance for the steaks. They were delicious!)

Sour Cherry BBQ Marinade
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 cup frozen tart cherries, thawed
2 cloves garlic, thinly slices

Mix together the ingredients, pressing on the cherries to release their juice.

Tylers' Haistyling Tips

As far as what i do to style it, for the old haircut (1st pic) I used to comb it all down and straighten it in front of my face, then comb it kind of over my right eye and with the other bang to he left side and re-straighten it in its new position (thick wavy hair doesn't like to cooperate) Then for spiking out the back when the mood struck me, i'd kind of run my fingers up the back of my head and pull out the water after a shower to sort of sudo-dry it in that position already, then when straightening came i'd straighten it straight up, and finally I'd add some texturizer and run my hands up through the back and pull out ward, we have a closet in my house where you can see behind you so i'd usually use that to check for missed spots, don't add too much or it'll fall down, then usually once i got it staying nice and up I'd use the left over Texturizer on my hair to smooth it out and kind of hold it in place, my hair is thick so i'd basically pancake my bang between my palms and smoothen it out. then add a bit of hairspray to the back to hold it in place.

For my new hair I'm still experimenting The back is cut so I can spike it out But I've decided to go with wax to spike it which i'm still experimenting with (hence why i have no pictures of that) If you have really long hair i'd suggest some type of wax, simply because it has structure and seems less like lethal spikes than gel, and texturizer would barely help and you'd be holding everything up with hairspray alone otherwise. However it would be a similar idea, running your waxed fingers through you're hair and pulling outwards to make all of the hair stand up, for the front and sides, i pretty much just straighten them and add a bit of texturizer to hold them in place or Depp anti-frizz depending how staticy my hair is. For the bangs I simply straighten everything out and comb it into place so it blends nicely. once it grows a bit further i'll be able to do a fore head showing part but at the moment it doesn't work out to well.

So there is what i did for my old hair and what i do for my new haircut... theres actually a story behind my old haircut and the transitions it underwent before i got it as i liked it..then lobed half of it off lol.


Thanks!
-Tyler

Newspaper Column - ANNE'S APPLE CAKE

Published in the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, 18 August 2008.

Call me a sour puss, but I love crab apples. Growing up on the farm, I ate buckets of crab apples. I wasn’t permitted to touch the apples on the “pie” tree, which were larger and sweeter with yellow skin, but I could eat all the crab apples I could stomach. Now, I get my fill of crab apples from my neighbour’s tree which hangs over my back fence in Saskatoon.

While crab apples would make a nice pie, they are awfully small to peel and chop enough for a filling. So, I’m looking for a good source of Saskatchewan-grown apples for fresh eating and pies.
Apples have a long history in Saskatchewan, and it’s not always a happy one. The pioneers planted apples and several farms, such as that of Seager Wheeler at Rosthern, had enough apples to sell to the public. With the growing popularity of automobiles “a drive to pick fruit at a local orchard was seen as a good fall outing for the family,” according to a history of apple production published on the University of Saskatchewan website.

However, these apples were not bred for our climate and many orchards were decimated by the harsh winter of 1942. Plant scientists began work to breed new varieties of apples that could withstand the prairie cold. One of the early results, called Norland, helped to revive apple orchards in the 1980s. Since then, other new varieties have been released by the U of S, such as Prairie Sun and Prairie Sensation.

In a happy twist of fate, the cold climate is now seen as a benefit—winter kills many of the bugs that plague apples, so fewer pesticides if any are needed in the orchards, making Saskatchewan one of the best places in Canada to grow organic and pesticide-free apples. However, while the Saskatchewan apple industry shows potential, it is not yet ready to hit the commercial market. It will be very hard to break into the grocery stores, which require large quantities of perfect uniform apples with a long shelf life, but hopefully, within a few years we’ll see more u-pick orchards, farmers’ markets and family farms selling bushels of their homegrown apples.

According to Mike Noel, owner of the Petrofka Bridge Orchard north of Saskatoon, many local orchards were hit this spring with cold, hail and high winds, seriously reducing their harvest. Still, he’ll have enough apples to make and sell his Petrofka Bridge Orchard apple cidre. The Saskatchewan Fruit Growers Association lists several apple u-pick orchards on its website. Perhaps a drive to an apple orchard is still a good fall outing for the family.

Last week, I picked “pie” apples from my friend Judith’s tree and have already made this cake twice. The recipe comes from Anne Daeger of Muenster, who I met at the Humboldt Oktoberfest. She’s had the recipe for so long she can’t remember where it originated. Thanks for sharing, Anne!

Anne’s Apple Cake
For the cake:
5 large apples, peeled and sliced
1 cup soft butter or margarine
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 3/4 cup flour

For the topping:
1 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2/3 cup cake dough
2/3 cup flour

For the cake: Cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs and mix well. Stir in vanilla, salt, baking powder and flour. Remove 2/3 cup of cake dough and reserve for the topping. Press the remaining dough into a greased 9x12 inch pan. (I use a 9x9 inch pan for a thicker cake.) Cover with sliced apples.

For the topping: Sprinkle the apples evenly with sugar and cinnamon. Mix the reserved cake dough with the flour until it resembles crumbs. Spread over the apples. Bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes or until the top is light brown. Anne suggests serving it with cream.

[Album] The Game - L.A.X.

Tracklist:
01. Intro feat DMX
02. Lax Files
03. State of Emergency feat Ice Cube
04. Bulletproof Diaries feat Raekwon
05. My Life feat Lil Wayne
06. Money
07. Cali Sunshine feat Bilal
08. Ya Heard feat Ludacris
09. Hard Liquor (Interlude)
10. House of Pain
11. Gentleman's Affair feat Ne-Yo
12. Let Us Live feat Chrisette Michelle
13. Touchdown feat Raheem Devaughn
14. Angel feat Common
15. Never Can Say Goodbye feat Latoya Williams
16. Dope Boys feat Travis Barker
17. Game's Pain feat Keyshia Cole
18. Letter to the King feat Nas
19. Outro feat DMX

Download New link - 24.08.08
Password: wensley-online

[Album] Ice Cube - Raw Footage

Tracklist:
01. What is a Pyroclastic Flow?
02. I Got My Locs On feat Young Jeezy
03. It Takes a Nation
04. Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It
05. Hood Mentality
06. Why Me? feat Musiq Soulchild
07. Cold Places
08. Jack N The Box
09. Do Ya Thang
10. Thank God
11. Here He Come feat Doughboy
12. Get Money, Spend Money, No Money
13. Get Use To It feat WC & The Game
14. Tomorrow
15. Stand Tall
16. Take Me Away feat Butch Cassidy

Download
Password: wensleyonline

[Album] Nope Is Dope Vol. 2 (Mixed By Kenneth G)

Tracklist:
01. Louie Vega Ft. Cerrone - Dance Ritual
02. Baggi Begovic - Break of Dawn (Original Mix)
03. Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano - Pina (Leroy Styles Remix)
04. Bingo Players & Chocolate Puma - Touch Me (Bart B More Remix)
05. Apster & Joey Suki - Bombazi
06. Franky Rizardo - Flute Test
07. Harrison Crump - Gone
08. Leroy Styles ft. MC Gee - Seabird (Dub)
09. Mastiksoul - Jacobino
10. Lucky Charmes & Kid Kaio - Plain Dots
11. Nikolai Dimitrov - That's The Beat
12. Josh the Funky 1 - It's The Music (Bingo Players 1990 Rmx)
13. Bassjackers & Apster - Kinda Kluzu
14. Axewell & Sebastian Ingrosso - It's True (Roog & Prom Remix)
15. Hardwell Ft. Sunnery James Ryan Marciano - Gate 76
16. Fokke Versloot & Koen Lebens - Circus
17. Franky Rizardo & Daniel Beasley - Voodoo

Download
Password: wensleyonline

emo boy

This emo boy has the most awesome hair. Agree?

The Mushroom Bus

Yea for provincial buses, which this week brought me 50 pounds of chanterelle mushrooms from the forest near Nipawin. Well, I didn't eat all 50 pounds myself, but resold them to my foodie friends. It would be nice to be able to buy Saskatchewan mushrooms in the grocery store (so why aren't there any?) but failing that, thank goodenss for the bus.



Tonight I made pasta with mushroom sauce. On the side, that's a couple of deep fried zucchini flowers, baby zucchini still attached. Yummy...

Pocahaunted - Beast That You Are

This is a rip of Pocahaunted's most recent Night People cassette release, which came out earlier this year. Damn these girls release a ton of music, yet it's all so sweet. Enjoy!

Download: Mediafire

Grouper - Cover The Windows And The Walls

Here is some more from Grouper. Cover The Windows And The Walls was a limited press LP that dropped shortly before Dragging A Dead Deer.

Download: Mediafire

Saskatchewan menus

I would eat on the patio every evening in summer, and I would make every meal a Saskatchewan meal. Here are two recent examples:

Grilled lamb chops with chanterelle mushroom and mint sauce, new potatoes and garden beans, carrots and peas with a mustard mayonnaise. Strawberry shortcake.

Meatloaf made with beef and elk, glazed with Droolin' Devil hot mustard sauce, panfried potatoes and a baby beet and beet green salad with feta and candided walnuts. (close up of beet salad)

Magik Markers - Boss

Matt & Kim on steroids? haha. I kid, but seriously, Magik Markers rule. Their songs start off helter skelter until they find that groove they are subconsciously searching for, and when they do, they step up 2 da streets. Guitars and noise, it's a bit louder than most of the stuff I like, but there are pop songs lingering beneath.

Download: Mediafire

Ol' Dirty Bastard - Return To The 36 Chambers

Why do they call him the Ol Dirty Bastard? Because there's no father to his style.

Busta Rhymes (who had been around forever, even before this dropped, with Leaders Of The New School... who were a relatively unknown part of the Native Tongues) commented that he never quite understood how to make an album with his wild rhyming style until he heard this. He would subsequently release a string of platinum albums. 

That was not what ODB was after. He was after some blood. Whether it was period blood, or bustin' yr fucking ass, some blood. RZA really contured beats to snugly fit Osirus' obtuse style, and Big Baby Jesus did whatever he wanted. Probably one of the most true to himself artists that American music has seen, whether you like it or not.

Download: Mediafire

Sunset Rubdown - 2 early EP's

Sunset Rubdown - EP. Download: Mediafire

Sunset Rubdown - Snake's Got A Leg. Download: Mediafire

True to form, homeboy from Wolf Parade displayed what was to come on the only good album Sunset Rubdown ever made (Shut Up I Am Dreaming), on these early EP's. These are the sketches for those songs; both make for interesting and rewarding listens.

Various Artists - Soundbombing II

Oh shit! I talked about the RA The Rugged Man song from this a couple days back, but this thing is filled with so many hits it's unbelievable, plus it was mixed by fucking Babu and J Rocc, who were legends back then. I can not stress how classic this is!

The Eminem song was fire (Last night I od'd on rush, mushrooms and dust/then got rushed/to the hospital to get my system flushed/shucks!... give me 11 excederin my head will spin/medicine will get me revin like a 747 jet engine), Common had the banger 1999, Mos Def and the High & Mighty + Mad Skillz teamed up for B-Boy Document, Pharaoe Monche did Mayor - which was about assassinating Rudolph Guiliani!, Talib Kweli, Bahamadia, Sadat X... El-P and Company Flow with what is arguably the best song that group ever did in America. Whew! 

Since underground rap music could get no better than this, it immediately fell off completely, with Rawkus trying to capitalize on it's new found fanbase (bro's), Eminem hitting mainstream status, Mos Def deciding to never actually write a decent song, and El-P leaving Company Flow to start the overrated Def Jux (they had a few nice albums, but let's be honest). Classic material.

Download: Mediafire

Note about this: whenever I put compilations into my iTunes, I make the artist Various Artists. You may not like it, but that's how it's listed. Actual artist credits are in the song titles.

Joanna Newsom - & The Ys Street Band

On August 22nd of this year, my future wife is going to be playing with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Anyone want to pay for my ticket and have me as their guest?

Download: Mediafire

Show & AG - Full Scale LP

Consumate 90's East Coast underground rap. These guys are so underrated. A part of the super-group DITC [Diggin In The Crates, a group which, at least at times, included DJ Premier, Big L, Fat Joe (who wasn't always a cash-cow), and OC, among others], this was initially released as an EP that I had doubles of on vinyl. Having thought it was completely out of print, I was floored after coming across this full length version on CD. I wore the shit out of that record. It features Big Pun (RIP), and KRS-One, who shoes up with an pretty good I Got Next era verse. If you are into Gang Starr or Group Home, cop this!

Download: Mediafire

Grouper - Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill

Contender for top five albums of the year status, Grouper managed to make a remarkable album. She has a knack for creating ghostly melodies that are a springboard for her beautifully haunting voice, that withers away in a forest towards the end of fall. A layer spring time pop lies buried beneath a ground overgrown with morning dew covered leaves here. Musty scents and clean air, you are in a mountain range somewhere in Colorado practicing yoga alone during the onset of dawn. Lovely. 

Download: Mediafire

White Rainbow - Prism Of Eternal Now

Blissed out ambient music? Adam Forkner has collaborated in teh past with dude from Valet for Dark Yoga, and has produced for groups like Yellow Swans, Devendra, and Jackie-O Motherfucker, to name a few. This is more easy-going than those, and is damn good dream music.

Download: Mediafire

Curtis Mayfield - Curtis

In light of the news about Isaac Hayes, I should have posted Black Moses or something, but this had been in rotation. 

Most good Soul music from the era this was released gets critiqued against Marvin Gaye, so I'll offer this: Curtis is like the illegitimate step-son of Let's Get It On and What's Going On. Somewhat political, somewhat gettin da ladies, Mayfield finds himself on the high note of his solo career here (imo, it's better than the Superfly stuff, though I love that too). And yes, Move On Up was the song sampled by Just Blaze for Kanye West's Touch The Sky.

Download: Mediafire

Prelude to Terra Madre: A Slow Feast

Exciting news! Jennifer Willems, chef and proprietor of the New Ground Cafe in Birch Hills, Saskatchewan, has been chosen to represent Canada at the Slow Food "Terra Madre" conference in Turin, Italy. Jenni has developed quite a following for her daily chalkboard menus that blend local ingredients, world flavours and her Metis heritage.

As a prelude to the trip in October, Jenni is staging a special five-course dinner on Sunday, August 24, 4-9 pm. It starts with appetizers on the lawn, soup in the kitchen garden, then into the cafe for the rest of the Sask-Italian meal. She'll compile a scrapbook of the event to take with her to Italy. It's $75 per ticket and selling quickly. For tickets, call Jenni at her restaurant at 306-749-2529.

MGMT - We (Don't) Care Ep

This is their earliest material I have found to date, and it sounds like they were listening to a lot of Paula Abdul at the time. Seriously.

Download: Mediafire

Clipse Present Re-Up Gang

Blah blah blah cocaine blah blah blah spirit of competition blah blah blah whatever that little intro is to Sandman's verses. This has a bunch of verses from WGIFC 3, but it's still a good listen.

Download: Mediafire

Sean McCann - Jasmine

My girlfriends yelling at me on the phone, so I'll give you last.fm's description:

the real sean mccann hails from brooklyn, nyc. ramshackle guitar dirges get broken into pieces and glued back together with paste made from analog synthetics. Sean whirrs his way up and down dunes, through valleys of glistening sand. with hints of makeshift percussion acting as leader of the caravan, mccann molds the distorted, washed-out guitar tones into something catchy and fit for a king.

Download: Mediafire

Crystal Stilts - Crystal Stilts

The only way I can describe this best is by calling it a blissed out version of Velvet Underground. Specifically songs like "I Found A Reason" From Loaded. I could be wrong, however... it happens alot. Good stuff.

Download: Mediafire

Dinosaur Jr - Where You Been

I was super reluctant once again (mang, I sleep on so much good stuff it's retarded) to listen to Dinosaur Jr. Look at the album cover, it's scary. If Charles Bukowski had a kid with an Alien that had downs, and that kid was trying to emulate On The Road, this would be his portrait. 

Eventually forced to listen to it by another kid that works at the record store, I was suprised at the depth of it. The first track is a little loud, but not over the top, and then the album slides into a groove of subtle-lushness, with J Macsis' lounging falsetto hovering above. I saw Fearless Freaks and just came to the conclusion that Wayne Coyne was ripping off Butthole Surfers. And he may be, but he is for sure ripping off Macsis. The only FLips record that tops this is The Soft Bulletin... And that's saying something.

Download: Megaupload (over 100 mbs. sorry)

Bjork Beatdown

i don't normally do this sorts of stuff, but this was hilarious.

Miles Davis - On The Corner

You HAVE to respect Miles Davis' gangster. He covered so much ground musically, it's nearly unheard of in the modern era. Really, and I said this on the last Charles Mingus post, these jazz albums are the precursor to the free-form psych/drone albums that are so hot right now. This album, specifically, is what I'd call Vietnam Jazz. So poignant, that it places the listener in the bunkers, bombs shrapnel-ing around you, the smell of dust and sweat, the bustle of making it to the next out-post, tall trees flailing in the jet-stream of military planes overhead. Acute bongos, sharp electric guitar, and riveting horn hits subtly shatter the listeners notion of what jazz is -- which is quite why On The Corner was frowned upon after it's initial release, and smiled upon in retrospect.

Download: Mediafire

Shpilberg - Gold Fish

OMG. 

So I deal with this guy on this website who runs DNT Records, and he supplies me with most of the sweet underground psych drone tapes/cds/records that I buy. You can check it out here. I place pretty big orders on a regular basis, and sometimes I end up with stuff that I didn't order because he's awesome, he responds quickly, and the prices on his merch is so far beyond fair it's ridiculous. 

Well my latest order came through yesterday, and I had no clue wtf this was, but the cover art was so awesome it was the first thing I listened to (the artwork is in a jpg on my desktop, but blogger was taking so long to up it, I said fuck it). 

Well I have been schooled in the art of drums because the guy I do music with is obsessed with good drum sounds, and hardly anyone does it right (see Axelrod, DJ Shadow, jazz drummers). Most people just want to bang on the drums and have no sense of anything. 

Well most of these sorts of albums don't really focus on drums. But holy shiznite! The drummer on this MURDERS! Plus the rest of the sounds are pretty brilliant. But damn that drummer has got it on lock. I am trying to get ahold of these guys because last.fm only has 14 scrobbles by one user for this band, so we can solve the conundrum of who these people are. Anyhow, this one gets on of my more pleasant suprise highly recommended seal of approvals.

Download: Mediafire

Abe Vigoda - Skeleton

Damn, dogg. I had been trying to find this on the internet for quite some time, and slept on the initial links, and then couldn't find it again once homeboy's name started popping up all over the place. They often do shows at the same place as, and are categorized with, HEALTH, but that's not quite fair. It's almost tribal meets punk, right around the bonfire, before the ghost stories, just as everyone is happily first drunk. 

Since I can't find it anywhere else, I'm assuming the link won't stay up long, so get it quickly!

Download: Mediafire

Raccoo-Oo-Oon- ...Is Night People

More hawt psych-drone action! Raccccooooooooooooon is good. If you like Pocahaunted, you'll like this. 

Download: Mediafire

Keith Fullerton Whitman - Antithesis

Another rekkid I picked up over the weekend, consisting of drone instrumental pieces, made up of Rhodes, guitars, violas, mallets, and dulcimers. If those instruments don't moisten up that vag, I'm not sure what is going to do it for you. On the real though, it's effin beautiful. 

Download: Mediafire

Lichens - The Psychic Nature Of Being

That sure as fuck isn't the album cover on the vinyl copy I just copped, but wtf ever.

Dude is from Chi-city, is a part of 90 Day Men and has recorded with TV On The Radio. This is nothing like TVOTR, however. The write-up that Reckless did on this says "...it's three improvised tracks of psychedelic folk mantra/raga drone aktion. Culling the spirits of La Monte Young, Meredith Monk and John Fahey (I have no idea who those people are). It's a tour de force (I hate that phrase) of twilight meditation and eternal reflection. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED (they probably just say that to get you to buy it)."

Well worth my 16 duckets.

Download: Mediafire

El Guincho - Folias

I posted Alegranza! a while back, and recently stumbled upon this, Guincho's tour disc of pre-Alegranza material. For those who aren't up on it, Guincho is basically the South American version of Panda Bear. Get it NOW YEAH!

Download: Mediafire

Scarface - The Fix

Scarface may be the most underappreciated rapper of all time. Without him, no southern rappers would have ever been given a chance. His story telling raps are as acute as any of Slick Rick's, his drug talk was always put into the risk-reward perspective, often dwelling more on the depression that stems from being conscious of ensuing damage than the glamour of rims and street fame, plus he has always had the knack, maybe moreso than anyone else, for picking the beats that fit his haunting voice perfectly. This is the only album that deserves the 5 mic status The Source gave it since Benzino took over. Kanye West (Blueprint 1 era) and the Neptunes do production here, fwiw.

Download: Mediafire

White Magic - Dat Rosa Mel Apibus

Speaking of psych, White Magic are pretty righteous. It's of that new-weird america, esoteric, Crowley-inspired talk with vagrant acoustics. 

Download: Mediafire

Grateful Dead - Live Dead

The Grateful Dead are quite possibly the main reason I hated high school. The kids there were all gung ho about this band and they were all dicks to me, so I never gave them a shot. After hearing in different interviews how much Animal Collective loved the Dead, and watching the episode of Freaks and Geeks where the girl gets into American Beauty, I figured to give it a shot. It was okay, but not heavy rotation. Tried Workingman's Blues, to the same effect.

But yesterday I was reading another article on P4K (I know some people hate that site, but while the reviews are pretentious, there is a lot of good to be had over there), they started talking about the acid rock they did. Hell, I just thought they were acoustic folk-sters. This shit is amazing. That half-hour long Dark Star kicks my ass. Listened to it several times yesterday, and half-way through caught myself each time thinking, 'this is the shit... who am I listening to.' If you like long, exploratory improv pieces of the psych-nature, this is for you.

Download: Mediafire Part 1 | Part 2

Nas - The N***** Tape

This is the mixtape pre-quel to the Untitled album that actually hit shelves. Pitchfork actually gave this a good write-up in their review of Untitled, saying that this was the inspired, hungry Nas that everyone expected to see on the toned down Def Jam release. Personally I liked Untitled, but yeah, this does trump that.

Download: Mediafire

RA The Rugged Man - Die, Rugged Man, Die

How in depth should I go here? I remember back to my days when I would DJ house parties on the local college campus during the height of Rawkus' run as the kings of underground hip-hop (Mos Def, BlackStar, Company Flow, et all), and being geeked when I heard the Rugged Man's song "Stanley Kubrick" from Soundbombing II (CLASSIC!). Riggu-Ruh, yo, feel that bassline, cat. Haha.

Dude is an ex-street boxer from somewhere out east (Philly, iirc), who is brutally built like a tank. He was a grimy asshole, who signed to Jive records on the strength of an appearance on a B.I.G. unreleased song, and a shit ton of freestyle sessions on the infamous Stretch and Bobbito show on New York radio, just before Jive forgot about it's hardcore-rap past (see Spice 1, Too Short, E-40 and much of the 90's Bay area acts), instead favoring pop acts like Britney Spears and NSync. Jive continuously put RA's much anticipated album on hold for what seemed like an eternity, before getting dropped from the label due to a sexual harrassment suit brought against RA by a Jive records secretary (he may have pulled his dick out... not sure though).

With that out of the way, this is pretty much all post-Jive vault material, finding RA spitting over grimy east coast underground beats with his snarling vox, talking about basic grimy situations, which include his rise to near-fame, difficulties with Jive, and his consequential burroughing back to the underground to make what was, for all intents and purposes, a successful underground rap record. 

Sounds like a success story Disney would shoot a movie over, right? Haha. Maybe if he wasn't talking about nothing but nasty shit non-stop. 

Download: Mediafire 

Killah Priest - Heavy Mental

So you have Liquid Swords, right? The last song from that album, B.I.B.L.E., was not GZA, but this guy. But the song was deemed so compelling by RZA and company that they had to place it as the bookend to the Genius' classic album. Then, Killah Priest got to do his solo album between Wu releases, and this is it. Really, it should have been KP over Cappadonna for the last roster spot in the Clan after ODB got locked up, but for whatever reason they picked Cappa, who probably would have been like the fourth best member of Killarmy. KP's gravely voice dominates over classical-era Wu production; so if you love Liquid Swords, Heavy Mental should find good rotation in yr iTunes.

Download: Mediafire