Req "Sketchbook"

I decided to write about a great downtempo record this week inspired by the work some local artists (El Nou Mon, Chili, Hobo D, DJ Tats) as well as the rise in popularity of "LA Beat" music (Flying Lotus, Baths, Shlohmo and the hip-again Anticon label).

Req is a graffiti artist-turned downtempo producer, a kindred spirit of DJ Cam and DJ Krush. Allmusic.com rightly describes Req's music as "stripping hip-hop of its extraneous elements and focusing on the bass, the beats, and the atmosphere around them." Pitchfork echoes this sentiment, writing that "even the most minimal hip-hop production feels thick and cluttered next to Req's naked approach."

Sketchbook is the producers third LP, released on the inimitable Warp label in 2002. Sharing three tracks here, "Something," "Ampeg 18 KHz," and "Dolby C," the last being by far my favorite on the record. The simplicity of these beats is really their beauty. See, it's not that Req chose not to add more to each compositions, it's that there really is nothing more to add. Req: the Mark Rothko of beat music... maybe? See for yourself.



1. Req - Loop Bass
2. Req - Something
3. Req - I Seek
4. Req - Sketchies Death Track
5. Req - Colours
6. Req - Ampeg 18 Khz
7. Req - Upstairs
8. Req - Dolby C
9. Req - Symbolic 3
10. Req - Java Bytes
11. Req - Love Ache
12. Req - 3 of 4
13. Req - Wasp Zither
14. Req - Gap Clothing

Buy the record here.

Karate "Some Boots"

At the height of late '90s, early '00s indie rock, the era and scene that birthed monumental bands (well, monumental to me at least) like the Promise Ring, the Get Up Kids, Mineral, Sunny Day Earl Estate, Joan of Arc, and Braid, there was this strange band from Boston called Karate that was kinda jazzy, with guitar solos (LONG guitar solos) and extended improvisations, and a vocalist prone to spoken word passages. I remember being at house party in college with a bunch of hip kids who wore really tight clothes and read really cool books and knew all about art and listened to really great records and we smoked really great pot and listened this strange band called Karate.

That memory is probably more romantic than reality, but listening to Karate for the first time in years the other day I realized (or remembered) that Karate is still amazing and oddly still ahead of their time.


Some Boots is Karate's 5th album, release in 2002 on Southern Records. Sharing two tracks here, "Original Spies" and "South." The latter is all accentual percussion and Jeff Buckley-esque poetry from frontman Geoff Farina. "Original Spies" certainly resembles music from Karate contemporaries like Braid and Cap'n Jazz but is decidedly different (instead of the usual 3 or 4 minutes, "Spies" clocks in at almost 7 minutes... and is that a drum solo at the 4 minute mark????)

You pull out a record like this and inevitably think, "What happened to these guys?!" The last Karate record came out in 2007 on Southern, a live album recorded in 2005 and titled 595. Haven't heard that one. These days, Farina fronts a band called Glorytellers, and is other-wise an amazing person to read about, involving himself in music and art at just about every level.

1. Original Spies
2. First Release
3. Ice or Ground?
4. South
5. In Hundreds
6. Airport
7. Baby Teeth
8. Corduroy
9. Remain Relaxed

Hardproof Afrobeat "Hard Proof"

Most weeks, Yo... Have You Heard is going to feature something rare, something weird, obscure or just out there. This week we focus on an Austin local that's ripping it up around town, Hard Proof.



The members of Hard Proof (or Hardproof Afrobeat, depending on who you ask) carry plenty of pedigree. The hardproof horn section of Jason Frey, Derek Phelps, and Joe Woullard perform alongside the ever-popular Black Joe Lewis. Drum genius Stephen Bidwell shows his versatility performing in various jazz combos around town and in the post-rock outfit The Calm Blue Sea.

Hard Proof is the bands debut full length, a righteous mix of Nigerian funk, Ghanaian psych rock, and a nod or two to stateside contemporaries like Anitbalas and fellow Austinites Brownout.

Sharing two tracks today: "Bailiwick" and "No Consideration." Download and enjoy. Austin residents: celebrate the release of Hard Proof with the band next Friday at The Ghost Room. Kalu James and Businessmen DJs also perform.

Bill Laswell / Toshinori Kondo "Charged [Live]"

toshinori kondo - trumpet

This record is just as wow-worthy for it's all-star cast as it is for the trance-inducing improvised grooves unleashed once you hit play.

Bill Laswell on bass. Dude recorded with Pharoah Sanders, Herbie Hancock, David Byrne, Brian Eno. Responsible for some mind-melting fusions of jazz, improv, funk and dub. Major player in 1990s New York City underground scene. Laswell's credits page on allmusic.com alone is jaw-dropping.

Toshinori Kondo on trumpter. Done some really out there shit with Peter Brotzmann but my favorite Kondo performance is alongside DJ Krush on Ki-Oku (1998).

Hamid Drake on drums. Top 5 favorite drummers of all time. Played with Ken Vandermark, William Parker, Charles Gayle, so many others. Severely under-appreciated. More music of his to be posted here soon I promise.

Aiyb Dieng on percussion. This is the only record I've honestly heard with Dieng in the ensemble but this guy has recorded with a who's who of both popular and improv-based musicians: everyone from Mick Jagger and Yoko Ono to Berniel Worrell and Sly & Dunbar.

DJ Disk. Hip. Hop. Legend. Original member of Rocksteady Crew and Invisibl Skratch Piklz. Wanna see dude just go off? (Not coincidentally in another ensemble featuring Bill Laswell) Watch this.

All are led by Italian composer/guitarist Eraldo Bernocchi, who hand-picked the players on this record.

Charged is completely improvised and recorded live. Funny that I dug this out of a stack after picking up Miles Davis' Live at Fillmore at the Austin Record Convention this weekend. Charged is formulaic post-Bitches Brew fusion for sure, but so what? Grooves are tight, improvisation is great... Enjoy!

1. Shintotech Iridescence
2. Fathoms
3. Death Tools
4. Dueling Sufis
5. Subterrania
6. Overloaded Lila/...

But the record here.

Frank Kimbrough "The Quickening"

I randomly picked this CD out of a large stack the other day, thought to myself, "I guarantee that I've never even heard this before," and popped it in. Can't say I recall ever listening to this but maybe that's a good thing cause man was I blown away.



Frank Kimbrough is often described as an "inside/outside" improviser. Most of these tunes are solidly hard-bop, but Kimbrough isn't afraid to take his piano improvisations a little out there. This record reminds of a lot of the more "out there" Blue Note stuff... Cecil Taylor, Andrew Hill, Eric Dolphy. Artists who played in the distinctly hard bop mode but stretched things a little bit.

Quickening is a live release, recorded in 1998 at New York City's New School University, and released 4 years later on the Omnitone label. I've shared two tracks here, "Svengali" and the title track. "Svengali" is all about the groove established between bassist Ben Allison and drummer Jeff Ballard. Slow and mournful, with Kimbrough dancing around the rhythm. "Quickening" is a little more disjointed, certainly more angular and busy.

Really great piano trio record. Download these tracks and if you dig em, snag the album here.

The Quickening (Omnitone, 2003)
Frank Kimbrough - p
Ben Allison - b
Jeff Ballard d

1. Quickening
2. Cascade Rising
3. Chant
4. Clara's Room
5. Svengali
6. For Duke
7. TMI
8. Ancestor

WOW

So yeah, it's been a long long time since I posted anything on here. After listing off excuses to my better half, I've been told to get back to work. So much music to share. Yo, Have You Heard... is back... so stay tuned for updates.

Riders Against the Storm "Speak the Truth

This week's Yo! goes local, sort of. Riders Against the Storm (or RAS) make their debut as Austinites this week as a part of Body Rock Wednesdays with DJ Chorizo Funk at Plush (peep the flier below). Home to Table Manners Crew, Weight, and Everyday Junglist, Plush launches its newest residency this Wednesday, February 10, 2010: Body Rock... a call the arms for uprockers and boogie downers, b-boys and b-girls.

RAS originally hail from Providence, RI and recently relocated to the Lone Star state. Tiger Lily and JBro sip from the same organic juice as Golden Era acolytes Digable Plants and Dead Prez - militant emcees on a conscious tip. The duo share their latest, "Speak the Truth," over on the RAS Band Camp page.



RAS on Myspace.
Chorizo Funk's blog.

Sam Prekop "Sam Prekop"

Sea and Cake frontman Sam Prekop's solo debut certainly isn't rare in any sense (it dropped just out a decade ago) but it's a damn good record that came on shuffle the other day. Listened straight-through for the first time in a long time, possibly ever. Yo! Have you heard... Sam Prekop?

Released on Thrill Jockey in 1999, Prekop's solo debut features all the major players in the chicago underground: Chad Taylor (percussion) and Rob Mazurek (cornet) of Chicago Underground Duo, John McEntire of Tortoise and Jim O'Rouke. Jazzy guitar licks, minimalist accompaniment, relaxed grooves and shifting time.

"A Cloud to the Back" is, in every sense of the word, "dreamy," so soft it was featured in a toilet paper commercial (I tried to find this on youtube...fail). "Don't Bother" is bursting with tension but barely builds beyond a whisper, mostly instrumental save Prekop's one verse. Mazurek's cornet is brilliant in "Faces and People."

Prekop even admits in interviews that this first solo record doesn't differ much from the Sea and Cake's output, save the expanded lineup of musicians.

Another Prekop solo record came out 6 years later in 2005 - haven't heard that one. Enjoy the tracks below.



1. "Showrooms"
2. "The Company"
3. "Practice Twice"
4. "A Cloud To The Back"
5. "Don't Bother"
6. "Faces And People"
7. "On Such Favors"
8. "The Shadow"
9. "Smaller Rivers"
10. "So Shy"

Buy Prekop's records direct from Thrill Jockey... and while you're there pick up a couple more from the label's endlessly impressive roster.

2 Mex "B Boys In Occupied Mexico"

Last night's Aesop Rock show at Mohawk has me thinking back to those days in college when indie hip hop was the only thing you'd hear coming out of my stereo. Quannum Spectrum, Anti-Pop Cosortium, Freestyle Fellowship, Cunninlyguists, Raptivism Records - if it was hip hop and preferably political or downright militant I was probably rocking it.

Yo Have You Heard... 2 Mex's B Boys in Occupied Mexico? 2 Mex is an LA-based emcee who's released records with the rap collective The Visionaries (LMNO, KeyKool, Writer's Block and DJ Rhettmatic), SonGodSun and Of Mexican Descent. Most of the crew's record's have been independently released on their own Up Above Records. Really really great underground LA hip hop collective, not unlike the Good Life Cafe scene and Quannum / Solesides a little further north in the Bay Area. Pretty much anything these cats drop is quality.

Sharing a couple tracks this week: "Making Money Off God" teams 2 Mex with Busdriver, another avant-garde rapper from the West Coast, "Doctors, Drums and Danger" features fellow Chicano emcee Xoloanxinxo. 2 Mex's partner in the duo Of Mexican Descent, Xolo actually shows up on half the tracks on B-Boys.

A little something extra: this real great video from another 2 Mex collabo, Look Daggers, featuring Mars Volta keyboardist Ikey Owens. Sick!





1 Ghost Writer
2 L.A. (Like…)
3 Percussion Precaution
4 Humble Is the Style of the Day (Featuring Xololanxinxo & LMNO)
5 Control Mexica (Featuring Xololanxinxo & Fermin)
6 M Is for Memo
7 Across & Down
8 Making Money Off God (Featuring Bus Driver)
9 Doctors, Drums and Danger (Featuring Xololanxinxo & Sick Jacken)
10 Offering
11 Won
12 Lord 25 (Featuring Xololanxinxo & Zen)
13 I Didn't Mean to Touch Your Hand
14 Love You the Same
15 It Will (The Won't Go Away Remix)
16 The Believe In Yourself Song (Featuring Angie Gonzalez)
17 The Truth (Featuring Jerry Quickly)

The Visionaries on wiki
2 Mex on itunes

Billy Cobham "Spectrum"

Sorry for the late posting - expect to see this every Sunday. Don't expect me to be in Vegas every weekend wasting all my money on roulette. Either way here's this week's Yo...


Billy Cobham is a beast. He was one of the first jazz/fusion drummers to start playing open handed lead (meaning he starts beats or fills with either hand, allowing him to dance all over the drumset with ease). Cobham played on one of my favorite Miles Davis records Live-Evil, started Mahavishnu Orchestra with fellow Davis-alum John McLaughlin, then moved on and did some solo stuff. If it was 70s and fusion and had killer beats, Cobham was probably laying down those rhythms.

Spectrum was Cobham's first solo record, with Jan Hammer (also of Mahavishnu fame) on keys and Tommy Bolin (Deep Purple) on guitar. To say this record is "jazz" would be somewhat correct but it feels more like improvised rock n roll.

The track I shared here, "Searching for the Right Door / Spectrum," starts off with a pretty amazing drum solo. Then Cobham drops what may be one of the sickest backbeats I've ever heard. I get chills when I hear this fucking beat. Hope you do too.




1. Quadrant 4
2. a. Searching for the Right Door b. Spectrum
3. a. Anxiety b. Taurian Matador
4. Stratus
5. a. To the Women in My Life b. Le Lis
6. a. Snoopy's Search b. Red Baron

Billy Cobham on wiki
Billy Cobham on itunes

VA "Savage Sounds of South Africa"

Took me a while to find any information on the web about this release, in fact I can't even remember where I got it from originally. Nabbed the tracklisting off Paradise of Garage Comps (outstanding blog, check them out)... Van Morrison's Them, John E. Sharpe and the Squires and The Zeroes figure most prominently. The Upsetters take on Otis Redding's "Pain in my Heart," The Zeroes tackle The Who's "I Can't Explain."

Side note: Why is Them on this comp? Pretty sure they were from Belfast (Wiki agrees). I'm not fully convinced the tracks are really Them and not covers. Speaking of covers... cover songs from obscure South African garage bands of R&B classics like "Pain in my Heart" begs the question: why wouldn't I just listened to the inimitable Otis?

Most of this music was locked down and little heard outside of Apartheid South Africa until recently. For collectors and enthusiast of classic garage rock, "Savage Sounds of South Africa" is a great listen. I decided to go ahead and share the whole record, rather than a few select tracks. Link below.

Side 1
1 Them - One Time Too Many
2 The Zeroes - Work All Day (Sleep All Night)
3 Beau Brummel - Someone To Love
4 John E. Sharpe and The Squires - Yours For The Picking
5 Group '66 - I Know About Love
6 Them - I Want To Be Rich Again
7 The Gonks - Woman Yeah
8 The Shangaans - Yeh Girl
9 The Upsetters - Pain In My Heart

Side 2
1 The Hobos - If I Ever Saw You
2 Them - It's A Day
3 Birds Of A Feather - Come On Up
4 The In-Crowd - Come Back
5 The Difference - I Wonder Why
6 John E. Sharpe and The Squires - Monkey Shine
7 The Shangaans - Liwa Wechi (Lee-wa Weck-ee)
8 The Zeroes - I Can't Explain
9 John E. Sharpe and The Squires - I'll Explain

Download

Charles Gayle "Ancient of Days"

Charles Gayle is a pretty fascinating story. the dude was homeless for 20 years, playing on the new york subway platform for change before having some records come out overseas in the 1980s. this particular record, Ancient of Days, came out on the Knitting Factory label in 1999 and is one of his more straightforward record. the ubiquitous honks and squeals of free jazz are there but Michael Wimberly's drums are pretty straight forward, bombastic in the Elvin Jones vein, and Hank Johnson's piano gives the songs movement and pulse. if i were going to give anyone an introduction to this sort of 90s era free jazz, Charles Gayle's Ancient of Days would be just as good a starting point as any. the two tracks shared here, "Betrayal" and "Glorified Love," introduce and close the record and show the range of Gayle's sound.

interesting side note, Gayle's was known to book gigs, oftentimes billed as solo piano performances, and instead show up dressed as a clown (as shown on the Days cover art) and proceed to preach about the horrors of abortion. strange.

1. Betrayl
2. Risen Eternal
3. Holy Servant
4. Draw Me Nearer
5. New Earth
6. Glorified Love

Charles Gayle on wiki
Charles Gayle on itunes

brand new...

so i had this idea of starting a blog where i just throw up tracks from random albums that i have. not pretending to have the biggest collection of music but i know i don't have the smallest. and there's some gems of randomness buried in those stacks. every sunday, check out Yo! Have You Heard... for some weird random music i've been listening to.