Jonwayne- Passing Fancies

63,377 plays on Soundcloud and counting.  I'm glad people aren't sleeping, because this song is dope as fuck.  A great old-timey vocal sample riding throughout combined with a shout out to "the old guy at the Shell station for letting me keep his pen so I could write these verses tonight" caught my attention on the initial listen, but shit ain't a gimmick.  This dude can rap and his production is top notch.  I'm really feeling Jonwayne's catalog, even tracks that seem like they are unpolished drafts.  "Passing Fancies" is available on his tape only release Cassette 2, which you can pick up here.    

City Slick (Decay and Fluent)- The Money and His Fool

I recently interviewed Dibia$e of the Green Llama crew for my upcoming series on the Roland SP 303 and 404 samplers and the crazy burn both machines have been getting all over the Internet.  Since then, he has put me on to a whole gang of amazing music that I was completely unaware of, including the Llama group City Slick, which consists of rapper Decay and producer Fluent.  Dibia$e spoke highly of their 2011 release The Money and His Fool.  After giving the album a quick run through, the standout track for me is "The Believer".  I love everything about this song.  The beat, lyrics, and video are perfect.  The beat echoes late 90s/early 2000s independent goodnesss yet doesn't sound forced or dated.  Definitely worth your time and energy.   

God Damn That DJ Made My Day

"Can You Dig It?" alumni DJ Day is dropping a new solo album that is currently available for pre-order on CD and Vinyl (nice packaging and free 320 kbps MP3 download included for both). Titled Land of 1000 Chances, it seems that the making of this album left Day in some serious personal turmoil. According to Day, "somewhere along the way, I ended up drinking way too much, traveling and hanging out way too much and on the precipice of divorce." Beyond the personal difficulties Day experienced while making this record, he has described this album as his way of getting out a creative rut and returning to his roots, going "back to the first album I ever made in a bedroom in Palm Springs with an EPS, my cousins drum kit and some records." Thes One helped nail the sound Day was looking for, both mixing and executive producing the album.

The first single sounds great and I can't wait to buy and listen to the rest of the album.

If you want an artist approved freebie to tide you over until you get your copy of the album, check out Day's Way Out of Living 2.