Oldominion's youngest gun, Young Avatar, is fittin' to drop Russian Roulette, the new mix tape featuring freestyles and exclusives from the upstart MC. Duke is coming with a greasy street heat you may not be expecting from the Ol-D collective—but ain't nuttin' wrong with diversity, baby. Young A-V's as yet untitled album is also coming soon, sporting production from, among others, Pro-V—who's made heaters for Dip Set, the one crew the street and the hipsters can agree on. Speaking of, local beat squad Dream Team (formerly known as Trackheads) has laced a joint for the newest Diplomat, Tom Gist. From Seattle to Purple City, holla!
Quannum Projects has a couple new platters out, featuring brand-new additions to the forward-thinking collective. The debut LP from APSCI (husband and wife team Raphael LaMotta and Dana Diaz-Tutaan, plus DJ Big Wiz), Thanks for Asking, is a quirky, dissonant platter of glitch-hop that proved an engaging listen. The jittery beats, soaring vocals, and stream of consciousness type rapping could throw ya off at first, but then again you might end up finding their unusual vision palatable. The kids are nice enough to also throw in the occasional old-school break or hiphop landmark so you can orient yourself, like on "Plug Tunin"—aping "Voice Print Identification"—plus contributions from Pigeon John, Mr. Lif, the Lifesavas' Vursatyl and TV on the Radio's frontman Tunde. Check it out, and pronounce it "Ap-Sye," okay?
Next up is the Cliquety Kliqk LP from General Elektriks, AKA French expat Herve Salters, or "RV." What we have here is a scintillating mashup of retro styles and future funk. Bugged FX and alien electro mingles with RV's brilliant vintage keyboard work, coming together to sound something like a soundtrack to a French porn flick from the distant future. The Lateef-featuring "Take You Out Tonight" is as smooth and sleazy as it wanna be. Need I say it, good shit!
Even better shit—seems Sony BMG has been fined a cool $10 million by N.Y. Attorney General Eliot Spitzer for paying off radio stations to play their music, a long-illegal but rampant practice known as "payola." Payola has controlled radio for decades, so the very thought of those taking money for airplay getting busted brings a ray of sunshine right into my heart. Drop a goddamn bomb on that shit, Funk Flex...
Speaking of dropping bombs, looks like our Seattle Community Access Network (SCAN) is in danger of extinction... in a nutshell, the city's funding for public access TV is dwindling, but can be remedied if we show support for the station as Seattle negotiates its contract with Comcast. Our vital local hiphop shows HipHop 101, Music Inner City, the new ROC TV, and of course Mayor's Award winners Coolout 2GX are all endangered—not to mention our collective community voice. Show your support—go to www.scantv.org/outreach.htm and sign the petition, hit up the mayor and the city council at www.ci.seattle.wa.us/mayor/citizen_response.htm and www.seattle.gov/council/councilcontact.htm respectively. If you ain't noticed, the trend we're facing is corporations eating away our voice and culture... so whatchu gon' do?
