Hoo boy, is Capitol Hill Block Party time ever upon us once
again! Please, people, do try to black out responsibly as you enjoy
what I consider Seattle’s best music festival, whether I’m rocking
there or not. If you still have your sea legs under you by the end of
the night on Saturday, get your sorry ass to Chop Suey for Life on
Party Mountain, the “fun-official” CHBP afterparty; there you can
feast your senses on the likes of Mad Rad, Whiskey
Whiskey, Macklemore, Recess, Darwin, and much
more. If that doesn’t manage to do you in, then you are surely
guaranteed a spot in the partyer’s Valhalla! To glory!
But maybe the agoraphobe-slash-hipster-hater in you steers you clear
of the Hill and its tight-pantsed hazards this weekend. All to the
good, my friend—Candidt got you, with the Corner number 16 going down at Rendezvous on Friday, July 24. Check out PDX’s
Sandpeople/Oldominionaire Iame, Neema, Sonny
Bonoho, Fresh Ave (who just dropped their 1st &
Fresh mixtape), Bishop I, H-Bomb, and your
DJ/beer-tester Mr. Hill. Iame just dropped his new solo album,
I Am My Enemy, entirely produced by his fellow Sandperson,
Portland genius Sapient, whose music I’ve definitely gushed over here before. At this album’s best, Iame’s Backwoods-scented
Stumptown cipher rat sounds block-straddling gigantic over Sape’s
technomilitant war-stomp (and closet-indie-rocker hooks); at its worst,
it’s super solid, always exquisitely detailed, flush with meticulously
laid vocal snatches, ear-snagging arrangements, and sharp scratchwork.
That same detail is reflected in the rhymes. Iame raps about rapping,
raps about rappers, and raps about himself—a white, bleary-eyed
Average Joe from the burbs—but while he’s full-disclosure at all
times, he thankfully never really tries to waste our time figuring
himself out. This here is a proud addition to the catalogs of both
Oldominion and Sandpeople. If you really fucks with that
NW Northface underground rap, you need this in your life like…
something you need. A lot.
I got something else that fits that bill, too: the new mixtape from
the Los Angeles–based Hawthorne Headhunters—the
supernaturally stoned chillaxoration of singer/producer/MC Stoney
Rock (aka Black Spade), veterano Seattle expat producer/MC
Proh Mic (remember him and BeanOne as
Footprints?), and keyboard/studio chef Ced No. If you
love Dilla beat tapes, blunt naps, chill Cali funk, and Platinum Pied
Pipers remixes, you will love this. Actually, lemme amend that—if
you have ever had, say, fingernails, skin, or eyelids, you will fuckin’
love this. Hit their MySpace (/hawthorneheadhunter) and DL it for FREE,
like all good things. The HH are down with Stones Throw‘s
brilliant L.A. fonkanaut Dam-Funk, as well, and coincidentally,
his joint “Toeachizown” is a slice of Califas sunshine you
deserve to bang in the ride, even if you’re just parked, nodding
your head, rolling a much-needed breakfast blunt. Sounds nice, right?
It surely is. 