Starting his Dj’ing career at the early age of 13, Baltimore-based DJ Karizma defined himself as a master in what he does. Expanding from his previous album Mind Of Its Own, Volume 2, contains remixed and alternate material from Mind Of Its Own. It’s a bit difficult to categorize Karizma because he seems to encompass all genres, from laid back spacey soul, pulsating club grooves, raw synth funk, textured jazz infused elements, and a little broken beat with a direct appreciation to house music. Mind Of Its Own, V.2 includes collaborations with 4Hero, Taylor McFerrin, and Djinji Brown. Take a listen to the podcast of the album below and let me know what you think of Karizma.

My affinity to jazz is limited to the jazz masters and jazz infused music, however listening to Robert Glasper makes you want to bathe in jazz, eat jazz, sleep with jazz, damn it, even dream in jazz. Double Booked, his third Blue Note album, Glasper pulls us into the spectrum of his musical life. Leader of an acclaimed jazz trio, consisting of his longtime bassist Vincente Archer and drummer Chris Dave, and being the most sought after first-call sideman for artists like Mos Def, The Roots, and Q-Tip, Double Booked secures his position as a key player in modern jazz. The album is split between The Robert Glasper Trio, which is the showmanship of his jazz expertise and The Robert Glasper Experience which illustrates that the boom clap is instrumental to rap music. Refashioning Herbie Hancock’s “Butterfly” and giving it that J Dilla edge, it’s no wonder that progressive soul singers and alternative rappers alike are clamoring to work with him.

Currently touring with Maxwell on his BLACKsummer’s Night Tour, Double Booked is scheduled to release August 25th. You can Listen to the full album on his Blue Note website. Just open a separate browser window and have this flow through your computer speakers. One of my favorites, and there are many is the pure beauty in “All Matter” featuring Bilal Oliver. Check it out below.

“All Matter” featuring Bilal Oliver taken from Doubled Booked

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Now go and listen to the full album and mark your calendar with the August 25th release date! You’re going to love it.

Yukimi Nagano (vocals, percussion), Erik Bodin (drums), Fredrik Wallin (bass), and Håkan Wirenstrand (keyboards), who make up the band Little Dragon, are back with their eagerly awaited sophomore album, Machine Dreams (scheduled to release in August). Their 2007 eponymous debut album hit us with a new vibe and style, it was no surprise their success skyrocketed – good music, is simply good music. I will be completely honest, on first listen of Machine Dreams, I felt a tinge of disappointment. I expected the soulful vibe, the hip hop infused beats, electronic bass, intertwined with Yukimi’s voice.

Machine Dreams‘s formula is very similar to the self-titled Little Dragon, only this time around, they have taken a more commercial pop route with a more pedestrian pace. It’s mid-way between the dark and harrowing electronics of fellow Swedes Fever Ray to prime 80s Prince (Controversy/Dirty Mind eras). It may appear to be a big leap from their debut, as Machine Dreams is more experimental and futuristic than their debut. Yukimi’s vocals still contain her charm. Being one of the former singers of the group Koop, quite frankly, she can sing over anything and sound good. Her description of Machine Dreams is, “These days humans seem more and more like machines as technology evolves, machines feel more human and it becomes fuzzy and beautiful and science fiction-ish. We feel dependent on our machines to create and live, and their sounds reflect us.” You’re not wrong!

“Thunder Love” is absolutely beautiful. Her vocals are soulful, and at times, (especially on the upbeat pop songs) you can hear her ancestry through her voice.

This did start off as lukewarm album review, however, there are definite gems on Machine Dreams. Sophomoric pressure is hard to live up to and I’m certain Deejays will find inspiration through Little Dragon’s inventiveness on Machine Dreams as the crux of what they do best is uncompromised. Bring on the third album. We eagerly await many more! Check out Thunder Love below.

“Thunder Love” featured on Machine Dreams by Little Dragon

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We often forget that Thom Yorke, lead singer of Radiohead, is a musician first, then a singer/songwriter second, primarily because of his outstanding songwriting skills and heartfelt delivery. Each member of Radiohead have their roles carved out, so after hearing about Thom Yorke’s rare solo performance at the Latitude Festival in England on Sunday, July 19th, fans had to take note.  Playing both the guitar and piano in a 12-song set, teasing the audience with new Radiohead music and previously unreleased song, “Present Tense,” Radiohead fans were happy to have made the effort to attend the show. Thom’s performance at the Latitude Festival, was scheduled at noon. He humored the loud cheering audience with, “Shhh, people are still sleeping,” and joked after performing “Present Tense,” that the song would end up on YouTube (he wasn’t wrong!). Check out the footage, in care of Prefix Mag.

DJ Bopstar tipped me to his new mix of “Chiaroscuro” featuring Zara McFarlane. It doesn’t happen too often but when an original tune inspires beatmakers to stretch it further, we’re always in for a treat. “Chiaroscuro” was first featured on the Basement Soul comp, where Bopstar turned the broken beat formula on its head with his remix of the tune. The Vudoo Vocal Dub version is a soulful house mix where with each chorus, it builds musically in a crescendo and Zara McFarlane’s vocals glide flawlessly over the track. Got it on heavy rotation at the moment.

The EP of “Chiaroscuro” will be out September 25th, and Bopstar is giving a free download of the tune away on his site. While you’re on his site, read about how “Chiaroscuro” came about and the various people involved in getting it started.

If you’re in London, July 23rd, Bopstar will be hosting the “Out of This World” night at Centro (formerly AKA).

Wrap your ears around “Chiaroscuro” below. Download it HERE.

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When you come across an album title that truly exemplifies the content, you can exhale with a feeling of completeness. That is exactly the case with DJ Kiva‘s sophomore album, Degrees of Freedom. From the opening to close, Kiva explores throughout the album his musical freedom. The album is a mix of broken beat, smooth soul, bordering with dubstep, and hip hop rock. With a host of artists, such as Nigerian born vocalist/spoken word artist Onome, Oakland based hip-hop artist Sunru, Philadelphia’s vocalist, producer and multi-instrumentalist Jneiro Jarel, NY afrobeat empress Toli Nameless, and others all help Kiva illustrate his degrees of freedom. The best way to describe DJ Kiva’s production is to imagine an expansive road that is atmospheric, unconstrained, and uplifting. Some of the most enjoyable parts of Degrees of Freedom are Kiva’s instrumental pieces coupled with euphonious vocals, taking futurist electronic sounds to another level. A great composition.

Check out some of the songs from Degrees of Freedom, which can be purchased on Bagpak Music or iTunes.

“Degrees of Freedom” feat. Onome

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“Walk in Broken Shade” feat. Afra Behn

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Adiam Dymott got her singing start working as a receptionist at a record label and studio heads, while mapping out the vocals, would often call on Adiam to lay guide vocals. From these sessions, came her demo, which lead to getting signed to Razzia Records. Sometimes it works going in from the ground!

While Adiam was born and raised in Sweden, her Northeast African parents were from Eritrea, a country that fought for decades to gain its independence, which was not obtained until 1993. Her parents fled Eritrea and moved to Sweden, where Adiam was born.

Adiam’s debut album, was produced by fellow Scandinavian musician, Thomas Rusiak, featuring Christian Gabel (Thåström, Bob Hund), Mattias Bärjed (Soundtrack Of Our Lives) and Harri Mänti (former Kent member) is a mix between pop, rock, with a tinge of hip hop to authenticate it to our times. The production, with its rock-out guitar riffs sound very Lenny Kravitz (although he had nothing to do with the album), especially on “I Miss You” and “Pizza.” While it’s unclear what the meaning is behind the song, “John Denver,” it’s always great to commemorate folk singers of yesteryear. Totally sold on Ms. Dymott. Check out “John Denver” and video for “Pizza” below. The album can be purchased on eMusic.

“John Denver”

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Emcee Moe Pope and producer Headnodic set out to do an album completely inspired by Radiohead‘s musical catalog and a drunkard guy in a bar told them they should do the album to Bjork instead. (True story.) Their use of her music and vocals don’t strip her eclecticism or try to modify it to hip hop, but in fact highlight how versatile her music is. The Radiohead project should still be approached as it would be interesting to see how they can be rapped to.

While Bjork’s record label Nonesuch released last week the box set Voltaic, which features the best of the Icelandic Queen’s work, Moe Pope and Headnodic bring to the forefront her need to put out new music. Her last album Volta was quietly received, although the concept was truly amazing — an album which showed how powerful the larynx is, as no instruments were used, only that of the voice.

The Bjork Remixes by Moe Pope and Headnodic is available for free download on Moe Pope and Headnodic’s website. Check out some of the tunes below; you’ll like what you hear.

“AirBjork” – taken from “Unravel”

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“LadyBjork” feat. Zumbi from Zion I – taken from “Venus as a Boy”

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I have to be honest: New reggae is not my thing. I’ve got a strong love and appreciation for the classics (Bob, Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs, Alton Ellis, John Holt, etc. and the 70s Studio One and 80s Rockers), but the “bashment” — not really gravitating to it.

BUT, D.J.-producers Wesley (Diplo) Pentz and Dave (Switch) Taylor (known largely for their works with M.I.A. and Santigold), boarded a plane Jamaica-bound with noses wide-open inhaling all things Jamaica, and a new dancehall solider was born — Major Lazer, the moniker who lost his arms in an 80s ‘secret zombie” war and the US military replaced them with experimental lasers that double as prosthetic limbs. Quite an elaborate back story compared to his former commandos Lt. Stitchie, Admiral Bailey, and General Echo.

Both D.J.’s create music with unrelenting basslines and lots of small moving parts to make a distinct sound. This concept album let them push dancehall conventions by not changing it, but simply having fun with it. The horse whinnies, auto-tuning baby wails, and with hysterical lyrical content provided by bonafide dancehall vocalists such as Mr. Lex and Busy Signal make it a head-banging piece of work. Big ups to Diplo and Switch for this! Check out the tunes below, available on iTunes also.

“When You Hear the Bassline” feat. Ms. Thing

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“Hold the Line” feat. Ms. Lexx & Santigold

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Brooklyn-based DJ Terry Urban and Gold Coin Clothing teamed up for this mashup — a refashioning of Santigold’s hooks and beats with Southern rappers like Lil Wayne, Gucci Mane, Andre 3000, Bun B, Trick Daddy, fusing their works into productions as though they were originally created this way. To be honest, I was late to the water with this Southern Gold, due to my lack of interest in Lil Wayne and his image gracing the cover. After finally listening to it, I’m baffled by why there isn’t more chatter about it because it is HOT.

There was some controversy surrounding the free download; Santigold’s record label, Downtown Records sent a cease and desist order to Urban to deter the distribution of the album but he put it out on the Internet anyway. Apparently, Santigold was unaware of the mixtape or the antics of her record label. Santigold is a strong supporter of the mixtape culture and how DJ’s were instrumental in her own career, so it was a surprise that her label opposed the distribution of Southerngold. She sent a statement out to her Myspace friends stating that she would get to the bottom of her labels actions.

Southerngold is a pretty clever way for Santi to reach audiences who ordinarily wouldn’t listen to her music, as well as exposing the rappers to her alternative audience. It’s a win-win scenario really. Download your copy while listening to my favorites below.

“You’ll Find a Way Player” feat. Andre 3000 and Bun B

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“Can’t Say It” feat. T-Pain

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