I didn’t know Eyedea.  I never got into his music.  I’m sure he would say the same about me. However, since the announcement of his death last week it’s been on my mind.  I didn’t want to distastefully attach myself to his passing and act like we knew each other because we both come from the same genre of music, although in 2010 we’ve moved far beyond the point where we started from for the better.

My time with Eyedea was short and impactful, much like his time here on earth.  And unlike a lot of people throwing names around I actually kicked it with him for a night on tour 2 years ago in Chapel Hill/Carrboro, North Carolina.  I was on tour with Cage and he was on tour with Atmosphere and somehow the Hip Hop Gods decided there would be two Indie rap shows within a mile from eachother in a place that is lucky to get 1 decent Hip Hop show every 6 months.  Cage and I played the smaller venue, I forgot what it’s called but I remember it was sweltering and they were down the road at Cat’s Cradle which I had played a few years before with EL.  Before their show both Slug and Eyedea came to our show to hang and say whatup.  Was good seeing them of course and I was sitting at the bar having a drink after I just kicked a bunch of fans asses at the X-Men arcade game they had.  Eyedea came up and sat around the corner of the bar so almost across from me.  He got a drink and we started talking.  It was the first and last time we met but we both knew it was overdue as it is many times when you meet a peer that you’ve known about for quite a while.  Cut from the same cloth, we had a mutual respect although we were from different worlds.  We were talking about what we were up to.  I had just started thinking about Gas Galaxy and at the time I believe he was mixing some of his most recent music with Abilities.  We were both visibly run down from the road but we got into it about mixing and he was generally talking about taking the best stems from his already mixed sessions and adding to the songs and making them better even though they had been mixed.  It was his process. He didn’t think having things mixed made them final and he told me I should try it.  Prior to our convo I never really did that or thought about it, however, with Gas Galaxy it’s been the same process.  I can’t say that our convo is the reason for it and I doubt it is but interestingly enough it came to fruition that way.

Later on that drunken evening we went to our hotel which was in the middle of the woods.  I remember Sean jumping out of a the van while Timmy was still driving and running around with his shirt off like a crazy person on the road before we even got to the hotel.  When we did, the usual partying commenced with the door wide open for some reason.  At some point Eyedea walks in mine and Cage’s room by himself and sits at the table with me where I was sippin’ on something and asked we’d mind if he hung out.  Coincidentally he was staying there too.  Chauncey, Cage and I welcomed him in, I poured him a glass and we got pretty shitfaced together.  It was a memorable night to say the least. I love that night.  I would re-live that night*

Rest In Peace Michael “Eyedea” Larsen

(November 9, 1981 – October 16, 2010)

Respect.

Easily my favorite jam on the record.  Great visual.

“Def Jux and Fat Possum proudly present Camu Tao’s albm, King of Hearts. Two years ago Tero “Camu Tao” Smith died after a grueling battle with cancer. He was a friend, a son, a brother, a groom to be and last but not least a brilliant producer, singer, rapper and entertainer. Words can not express the heartache that has been felt in the wake of his passing by those who loved and respected him.

This summer, on August 17th, Camu Tao’s first and final solo album KING OF HEARTS will be released by Definitive Jux in collaboration with Fat Possum Records. In conjunction with this release we will also be giving away (for free) the 2005 Central Services (Camu Tao and EL-P) ep Forever Frozen In Television Time. Download the FREE Central Services EP here.“

via Definitivejux.net

mad props to the homie Damien Neva for Ford Models who really just makes everything he touches look dope. A little something about EL‘s upcoming instrumental album dropping in August.

In the years before Camu passed, him and EL worked on some songs as a side project under the name Central Services. Always was curious as to why they never came. NOT better late than never* I’d honestly much rather have saw this come out when Camu was still alive. Maybe it was too ahead of it’s time…

Here’s the first track titled What God Should Do RELEASED today

Download it: http://www.mediafire.com/?jqoenyr2mdm

this is a song off the upcoming CENTRAL SERVICES EP “FOREVER FROZEN IN TELEVISION TIME”. it was recorded in early 2005 and was never released. the EP will be given away for free in conjunction with the CAMU TAO album “KING OF HEARTS” which drops on august 3rd on DEF JUX/FAT POSSUM.

i want a crazy girl all in my life
theres a new drug that id like to try
theres a fast car that i’d like to drive
god should give me the power to change your minds

but the cops are knocking at my door
the bills scattered all on my floor
but the cops are knocking at my door
the bills scattered all on my floor

theres a new sex position that i wanna try
cause these girls got my brain fucked in my mind
dont forget this shit baby
keep it in mind
god should give me the power to just change your mind
come on god give it to me

theres the cops knocking at my door
the bills scattered all on my floor
theres the cops knocking at my door
there’s bills scattered on my floor

something change your life
something that you wanna try
fuck this shit baby,
cause lifes a crime
god should give me the power to just change your mind

i changed my mind
fuck this shit baby,
while we’re on the subject i apologize
god should give me the power to just change your mind

theres something that you might buy
fuck this shit baby
lifes a crime
god should give you the power to just change your mind

you should do yourself a favor and take your life
put a gun to your head and just close your eyes
dont do that shit you crazy?
everything thing i said was a lie
im ready for the handcuffs come on copper give me a ride

now the coppers knocking at my door
the bills scattered on my floor
and the coppers knocking at my door
the bills scattered all on my floor

pretty crazy.

http://www.definitivejux.net/mp3/baby_elp_death_mix.mp3

EL got a new download page up for some new new and other free ish.

http://el-p.bandcamp.com/

I got an advanced copy of this last week from EL and it’s been on heavy rotation since. massive. the wait is well worth it.

peep the tracklist, release date, and info via http://cancer4cure.blogspot.com

El-P- Weareallgoingtoburninhellmegamixxx3 (August 3rd, Gold Dust)

http://www.el-p-weareallgoingtoburninhell.com/

Few artists can combine uncomfortable with catchy; paranoiac with head-nodding; morbid with springy. It’s hard to scare the sh!t out of you while simultaneously keeping your foot moving. Rapper, producer and Def Jux founder El-P knows how to get to parts of the brain others can’t. As a solo artist and frontman for seminal hip-hop group Company Flow or producer of Cannibal Ox, Cage, Mr. Lif, Aesop Rock, NIN, Beck, The Mars Volta (and many, many more), an El-P production can drive you to hide underneath the bed, punch a wall and nod your head all at the same time. Which brings us to Weareallgoingtoburninhellmegamixxx3 (August 3rd, Gold Dust), the sort of, kind of but not really follow-up to his past two mixes of the same name previously released at live shows.

It’s another unique release in the artist’s catalog. In the tradition of Company Flow’s Little Johnny From The Hospitul (1998), El’s own Collecting The Kid (2005), and more recently Weareallgoingtoburninhellmeggamixxx2 (2007), Hell3 is a fully realized suite of instrumentals that continues to exemplify the producer’s versatile, otherworldly, futuristic and wholly original sonic worldview.

“I wanted to do little mini-movements that had a real beginning, middle and end and then moved on,” says El-P. “The challenge for me was taking all these seemingly unrelated little pieces of music I had laying around and fitting them together as a cohesive piece. I wanted to craft a record that had an arc.”

Given this format, Hell3 both sounds similar to and nothing like anything you’ve heard before. “Drunk With a Loaded Pistol” starts off woozy and deranged before evolving into a warning alarm/drum attack. “Time Won’t Tell” opens as a soundtrack for the apocalypse followed by the layering of guitar-driven pop over boom-bap drums. As the album title implies, El-P creates a dark, dystopian sonic universe filled with ominous basslines and thumping, punishing drums.

Comprised of original instrumentals as well as remix instrumentals to Kidz in the Hall’s “Driving Down the Block” and Young Jeezy’s “I Got This,” Hell3 represents songs that were meticulously crafted yet never found a home on a proper release. While sonically different from J Dilla’s instrumental masterpiece Donuts, that album would prove inspirational to El-P. “Like Donuts, I wanted to keep things short and to the point. I think that’s an aspect of instrumental music that so many more people can relate to. I didn’t want anyone to listen to this record and at any point get bored.”

While the producer is currently working on the follow-up to 2007′s I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead, Hell3 functions as both a stopgap and standalone album. “This was a chance for me to give something to my fans as a reward for their patience as I worked on my new record. With the past Megamixxes, I never sat down and really tried to make a record. It was more like, ‘Here’s a bunch of cool stuff you haven’t heard.’ I look at this new one as a proper album. Me calling it a Megamixxx is just an excuse to get to Volume Three of anything.”

Tracklist:
01. Take You Out At The Ball Game
02. Whores:The Movie
03. Meanstreak (In 3 Parts)
04. DMSC
05. Drunk With A Loaded Pistol
06. Time Won’t Tell
07. Secret Police Man’s Ball
08. I Got This (El-P Remix) Redux
09. Jump Fence, Run, Live
10. He Hit Her So She Left
11. Driving Down The Block (El-P Remix) Redux
12. Honda Redux
13. How To Serve Man (Stripped)
14. Contagious Snippet (Wilder Zoby Feat. El-P)
15. Eat My Garbage 2

murders it.

“and maybe you’ll get something nice in the driveway”

Julian Gilbert is my Cardboard Connect and a brilliant photographer. He does not use digital anything and he will shit on your digital camera bc the viewfinder is in his mind. I’m a huge fan of his and If you don’t see his hustle…you do now. This photo was taken during the recording session at EL-P‘s for the song Halogen Glow.

visit http://juliangilbert.blogspot.com

be sure and tell’em Yak Ballz sent’chaa

Friend and brother EL-P has just released a statement (press release) earlier of the current status and future hiatus of Definitive Jux Records, a label and a family I have very much been a part of for the majority of my career. It’s pretty clear, and by the same token, clarifies a lot of the rumors/internet chatter.

Here is the post below via Definitivejux.net entitled…

OF HOOPTYS AND HOVERCRAFTS

I haven’t much to say on this at the moment.