Royal Music

2005-02-23T17:41:00.000-05:00

Hello readers. Royal Music is over. But it's not a bad thing. We're more or less changing names. 15 Minutes To Listen is the new name. Royal Music was made to be the mp3 blog that coincided with Royal Magazine. Now that Royal Magazine is over, I felt that it would be best to get rid of the Royal name everywhere (including here). Fifteen Minutes To Live is the new main blog, so 15 Minutes To Listen will be the new mp3 blog to go along with it. I hope everyone follows me over there. And to the other mp3 blogs out there, if I linked you here, I'll link you there. I still got love for what you all do. Hope to see you all over there hitting up the comments and the email.

2005-02-11T22:22:00.000-05:00

Buck 65 - Cries A Girl
Buy This Right Here Is Buck 65

This Right Here Is Buck 65 is Buck's first major label American release on V2 Records. It serves as sort of a sampler of Buck's prior material. However, most of it is culled from his most recent album Talkin Honky Blues and the various other songs that came out via the Buck A Month club. So, if you're already a Buck 65 fan you might just want to save your money and wait. If you're new to Buck, you'll probably enjoy this album, but you won't be getting the full spectrum of Buck's career. "Cries A Girl" is a song that was originally on Square. So it was untitled, but was commonly referred to as Stella. I liked the original version better.

2005-02-11T03:01:00.000-05:00

Matt Sweeney & Bonnie Prince Billy - My Home Is The Sea
Buy Superwolf

Bonnie Prince Billy (aka Will Oldham aka Palace) has teamed up with Matt Sweeney of Chavez and Zwan. In all honesty, I have no clue who Matt Sweeney is, but as a big Will Oldham fan I was excited about this release. It's much different than his recent Bonnie Prince Billy releases. It's not slow (slocore?) like Master and Everyone or a slick Nashville sounding production like Sings Palace Greatest Music. This new album sounds much closer to the dirty, bluesy sound of earlier Palace releases like Viva Last Blues. Oldham is as weird as ever with lines like, "Well I have often said that I would like to be dead/ In a shark's mouth." And I absolutely love it.

2005-02-08T14:50:00.000-05:00

Sage Francis - Gunz Yo
Buy A Healthy Distrust

A Healthy Distrust, the first Epitaph release for Sage Francis, is in stores today. If you like Sage, then of course this album is for you. However, if you haven't liked Sage in the past, you might still like this album. This album sounds much different then his prior two official releases, Personal Journals and Hope. This time around Sage tackles a variety of topics and works with a handful of diverse producers including Dangermouse, Alias, Daddy Kev, Reanimator, and more. The album has a little bit more of a rock feel, which should help him get some radio play on modern rock stations and maybe even a video on MTV2.

2005-02-01T03:01:00.000-05:00

Bright Eyes - Lua (Extra Link)
Buy I'm Wide Awake It's Morning

Apparently Bright Eyes is pretty popular now. I've never understood all of the hype that has surrounded this band, but I'd rather hear their stuff on the radio then some of the other bands out there. The lead singer, Conor Oberst, at least can write some good songs. "Lua" is one of those good songs. It's simple musically, but with great lyrics. It's the type of song that I'll listen to over and over again because certain lines in the song seem to be nearly perfect.
(Note: the song is hosted on Amazon, so you'll need to be signed in to download it).

2005-01-31T16:47:00.000-05:00

AK-Momo - Women To Control
Buy Return To NY

Return To NY is the debut album by AK Momo. The group consists of Ak Von Malmburg on vocals and optigan and Mattias Olsson on optigan, orchestron, and mellotron. The lush melodies combined with the beautiful, dreamy vocals make music that is perfect chilling. You'll probably be down with this if you like Joanna Newsom, Bjork, or Portishead.

2005-01-26T20:13:00.000-05:00

Sole - Sin Carne
Buy New Single

Sin Carne is the latest from Anticon's Sole. It's the lead single from Sole's upcoming album Live From Rome, which should be out later this year. The track is an Odd Nosdam production. From the Anticon website:

"Sin Carne," is an odd nosdam produced classic with a chorus that nods to Bob Dylan. sole wastesno time by immediately citing his targets in the song's intro-- "talking shit about the government," "people," "ignorance," "alienation," and "marginalization." Always sure not to take himself too serious-ly, sole never loses his signature, self-deprecating sarcasm."

2005-01-26T01:40:00.000-05:00

Schrödinger's Cat - When Doves Cry
Buy Big Beat A Cappella

I see Michael is back, which is excellent; his shoes are no simple feat to fill. I wanted to leave you with this one final track before my tenure here is over. Pop a cappella music includes some of the worst music in the universe. It's just frelling horrible 90% of the time - cheesy, monotonous, and stupidly slick. Austin-based Schrödinger's Cat, meanwhile, managed to release a few tracks that were blazingly badass, including this Prince cover that remains in my deejay set to this day. Their "big beat a cappella" style utilizes stomping, clapping & body slapping for percussion, and seven voices were involved in making this recording. The human voice is where it all started when you're thinking about music, and precious few tracks these days really capture how dynamic the voice can be. Dig it, and enjoy.

If you liked what you heard while I was hosting, please drop by Comfort Music for "mp3 love, 5 days a week". We now return you to your regularly scheduled Royal Music, already in progress!

2005-01-25T18:28:00.000-05:00

The Pedestrian - Jane 2: Electric Boogaloo
Buy Volume One: Unindian Songs

Hello everyone, I've just returned to cold, cold New York after a couple of weeks in Florida. I'd like to thank Scott, Miph, and Sean for keeping the site going while I was gone. They did a very good job. I should be back daily from now on.

Today's song comes from the Pedestrian. Jane 2 has been available since last May on the Anticon Label Sampler and on the Anticon website. However, the Pedestrian's full length album is finally available. After many months of supposed release dates, Unindian Songs has been released. I've never found the Pedestrian's earlier random tracks to be that interesting, but after hearing Unindian Songs, the Pedestrian easily rises to the cream of Anticon's crop in my opinion.

2005-01-20T15:56:00.000-05:00

Sola - Set Free
Buy Blunted 2

Digging back into the vaults yet again, here's a quietly uplifting downtempo track from a 1997 Shadow Records comp by a group called Sola. Like Voodoo Warriors of Love, Sola seems to be one of those acts that existed solely to make fleeting appearances on compilations before vanishing into the night. Ah well... I guess we can't all be U2, now can we.

In other news, I was asked in comments if the Funkstörung album was really worth picking up. I still have three other tracks from that album online over at Comfort Music, which you can check out here - I was going to pull those tracks down tomorrow, but I'll leave them up over the weekend for you to go dig a little further.

2005-01-15T19:40:00.000-05:00

Funkstörung - Chopping Heads (feat. Tes)
Buy Disconnected

I used to completely write off Funkstörung, thinking of them as simply "those people who did the screamingly irritating remixes for Björk". Now, thanks to my pal Laura, I know better. The new Funkstörung album is a delight, featuring performances from Enik, Rob Sonic, Lou Rhodes of Lamb, and Tes on this nicely cut-up track. It just goes to show you that first impressions aren't always reliable. Also, that I am a dolt.

2005-01-12T18:18:00.000-05:00

Voodoo Warriors of Love - Believe
Buy em:t 2296

Back in the mid-'90s, an almost supernaturally good ambient label, em:t, served up around twenty CDs worth of compilations and albums, before going out of bidness. Recently a full set of these twenty CDs was sold, one at a time, for over $1200 on ebay, to give you a sense of how frickin' tasty they were. Among the zillions of highlights is this fantastic slice of dark ambient funk by Voodoo Warriors of Love, a band who released a grand total of four tracks on em:t and then apparently disappeared into the aethyr - if you, or someone you know, has evidence of the whereabouts of Voodoo Warriors of Love, please notify me immediately! (em:t is apparently putting music out again at last - have they recaptured the magic? I just don't know.)

2005-01-12T07:42:00.000-05:00

Daft Punk - Aerodynamic (Slum Village remix)
Buy Daft Club

This is the Slum Village remix of Daft Punk's Aerodynamic from their album Discovery. It blew my mind when i heard it the first time and it still is a great track. Just happened to stumble on it again a few days ago. Hiphop-remixes of house tracks never really get this good but Daft Punk and Slum Village is just a perfect match of good music. The artwok is made by graffiti-hero Mode2. Hope you'll like it.
Sorry for the broken link.

2005-01-07T18:22:00.000-05:00

Pigeonhed - Glory Bound (Dave Ruffy mix)
Buy Glory Bound vinyl single
Buy Sweet Mother: Free Activation, Vol. 1

Digging back into the vaults, here's a beautiful Pigeonhed remix that appeared on a vinyl Sub Pop single back in 1997 along with two other Glory Bound remixes. The mix strips back the funk of the original, bringing out the gospel soul of the track; I prefer it just slightly over the original because the lead vocals sound so much more exposed and emotionally raw. You can also find this mix on a great little collection of underground downtempo called Free Activation, Vol. 1, released by the Seattle label Sweet Mother Recordings.

2005-01-06T23:59:00.000-05:00

Quasimoto - Chippin'

Buy The Unseen

Just to follow up Mike's post about Stones Throw, here's another track from 101, a truly great release (though I'm a huge S.T. nerd). This is one of the few things I've seen from Madlib's oddest alter ego since The Unseen dropped in 2000. I'm amped for the upcoming album.

This is a curious interlude-type song with an unbelievable piano sample that I can't place because I'm not a good enough crate digger. That's all that life is, friends. Peace in your crease.

2005-01-06T19:38:00.000-05:00

Mad E.P. - Live till I rot
Buy Eating Movies

Hi, my name is Jesper and I will also post here when Michael is away. I had some problems with my computer so this will be my first post. I'm a student from Sweden and I'm also a rapper/spoken word-poet in a group called Hotel Sociali.
So this is Mad E.P. - Live till I rot from the album Eating Movies. I dont really know how to explain this track, it sounds like a mix up between Antipop Consortium and El-P, but still thats not really it, this is just too sick to describe. You'll just have to listen to it. The mad genius Jason Forrest/Donna Summer is playing something on it, but I'm not sure just what, and it's one of last years best tracks. Don't sleep.
Peace!

2005-01-06T18:10:00.000-05:00

Madvillain - Figaro (Stones Throw 101 remix)
Buy Stones Throw 101

Hello everyone, it's Mike. I'm home until tomorrow morning and then I'll be leaving to do some work in Florida for the next two weeks. I hope everyone had nice holidays and new years and I'd like to send a big thanks out to Sean and Scott for putting up some tracks for me during my absence. I've liked what they've done for the site and I'm sure that the next two weeks will feature some great music, so stay tuned.
Anyhow, Stones Throw was kind enough to post a remix of Figaro off of their Stones Throw 101 cd/dvd. I think it might be even better than the original. The vocal sample that Madlib laced for this track is just sweet.

2005-01-04T17:49:00.000-05:00

Daedelus - The Crippled Hand
Pre-order Exquisite Corpse

Weirdo beatmeister Daedelus has a new album due out on Ninja Tune at some point soon in this here new year. The album features collabs with Prefuse 73 and MF Doom, among others - I would have put up the MF Doom track, but it's only 2:17 long, and it doesn't really give you a taste of just how experimental the album really is. Instead, revel in the sublime majesty of this bizarre wonder of a composition. Or something. (And of course, not less than five minutes after posting this, I got a chance to wander over to Sean Boy's blog Podadopalis, where I found another track from the same album - double your pleasure, double your fun! I would feel stupid about this, except that I always feel stupid, so.)

2005-01-04T01:37:00.000-05:00

Stars - Your Ex-Lover Is Dead

Buy Set Yourself On Fire (Import)

Hi kids, Sean Boy from your local Hardly Art, Hardly Garbage corral and Popadopalis palladium. Michael let me grace you with my presence over here for a couple of weeks, so I'm bombarding, bombing and bitchin' with left-of-center indie rock and hip-hop if I can.

Call me crazy, but I've got a feeling Canada is going to be the new Scotland/Seattle/Omaha in the oh-five. One of the best groups at the big Maple Leaf's band practice is Stars, chums of the already-broken out Broken Social Scene and the waiting to burst Metric. This is the first song from their third album, Set Yourself on Fire. Those rascally canucks got the album in August '04. We've gotta wait till February 22.

2005-01-01T01:00:00.000-05:00

DJ Krush - Kill Switch (feat. Aesop Rock)
Buy Jaku

DJ Krush's latest effort pushes him a bit further away from his older style of downtempo hip hop, into some very melodic, very original trip hop. But he hasn't forgotten his roots, as this collaboration with Aesop Rock demonstrates.

2004-12-28T19:18:00.000-05:00

Foetus - Cirrhosis Of The Heart (Amon Tobin mix)
Buy Blow

The very concept of the title of this song just completely tickles me; I would say it resonated in my soul, if I actually had one. Foetus released two albums in 2001 - a regular studio album called Flow, and a companion remix album called Blow, featuring mixes by Kid 606, DJ Food, Ursula 1000, and of course, this ass-kicking wonder by his high reverence, Amon Tobin. I certainly respected the aggressively avant-garde craziness of Flow, and the original version of this song is good jazzy fun, but given the excellent, ominous groove of this version, I can't help but heap praise on the decision to also put out these remixes. (And hey, anytime I get to encourage people to buy Blow, I'm happy.)

2004-12-27T18:03:00.000-05:00

Boom Boom Satellites - Missing Note
Buy Out Loud

Greetings! While your regular host, Michael, is gallivanting around the country on some kind of "holiday vacation", I'll be helping fill in with a few guest posts a week. My "day job" is curating Comfort Music, which you should certainly check out if the stuff I drop here seems up yer alley. I'm using my guest shift as a tour down memory lane - today we're going back to 1999, for a classic track by my favorite mostly obscure weirdass Japanese techno-rock band, Boom Boom Satellites (only BBS could inspire that many adjectives in a row without a comma). I'm guessing I will probably post here on a MWF schedule until Michael either returns from vacation, or checks in remotely and realizes what a vast swath of destruction I am leaving in his absence. Either way, hope you dig the tracks!

2004-12-16T10:51:00.000-05:00

White Stripes - Jolene (Live)
Buy Under Blackpool Lights

I'm not a huge White Stripes fan. I think they're pretty good, but I'm not rushing out to get any of their releases. But after hearing Jack White's passionate cover of Dolly Parton's "Jolene" I'm aching to watch this dvd. If the rest of their concert is as good as this song, then I'm in for a treat.

2004-12-15T11:35:00.000-05:00

Rob Sonic - Shoplift
Buy Telicatessen

If you can get past Rob Sonic's peculiar flow, then you will have the opportunity to hear one of 2004's finest hip hop releases. Rob Sonic, who was formerly with Sonic Sum, released his solo debut Telicatessen on Definitive Jux Recordings. I wasn't too familiar with Rob Sonic, but I checked out Shoplift on Better Propaganda and liked what I heard. This could probably be thrown into that category of nerd rap/space rap or whatever you want to call it. And if that's what you want to call it, then it's much better than anything that Anticon or Def Jux themselves have released all year.

2004-12-12T04:48:00.000-05:00

Nobs - Work
Buy Workin

Nobs is a young MC from the New York area who I first heard about on message boards a couple of years back. This summer he released his full length album, Workin on Fingerprint Records. I heard his single "Radio" after downloading it from his record label's site and I was instantly hooked. So I checked out the album and it's solid. This is easily one of the better albums I've heard from a smaller artist that I've found on the web. If there's any justice Nobs should get some exposure and sell some albums.

Also, this is probably my last post featuring music that I uploaded. Later today I'll be traveling to my parents house for the holidays and unfortunately they don't have high speed internet. So for the next two weeks I'll be featuring music that is available on record label's websites and other stuff that I've found on the internet. If any record companies/artists out there have anything that they want me to hear, send me an email and a cd and I'll check it out. I'll have plenty of free time. Also, I'm still looking for a few more guest posters to post for me in January. If you're interested send me an email at royalmagazine AT gmail.com.

2004-12-10T11:15:00.000-05:00

Sixtoo - Snake Bite
Buy Chewing On Glass

Sixtoo is not your average hip hop instrumentalist. Unlike some of his contemporaries, Sixtoo employs much more than a drum machine and a sampler. Instead of digging through the crates for sample material Sixtoo records musicians and samples and processes that. And that results are nice. 2004 saw the release of Sixtoo's first majorly released album, Chewing On Glass by Ninja Tune. The album is as much psyche rock and jazz as it is hip hop. It is a perfect companion piece for watching tv muted, late night studying, or walking around a city with your headphones on. For more on Sixtoo, check out his website and this electronic press kit. (plays in quicktime).

2004-12-09T13:51:00.000-05:00

Prince Po - Hello
Buy The Slickness

Lex Records secured another solid 2004 release with Prince Po's The Slickness. If Prince Po wanted to get some attention with a comeback album, then he certainly chose the right people to do it with. He rounded up some of the biggest and best producers in the indie scene such as Danger Mouse, Madlib, J-Zone, MF Doom, and Jel to craft the beats for one of 2004's finest releases.

Bonus: Prince Po - Social Distortion (featuring MF Doom) courtesy of Lex Records

2004-12-09T02:21:00.000-05:00

The Fog - Cockeyed Cookie Pusher
Buy Hummer

Ninja Tune Records released this ep by the Fog in early February without getting much media attention. I think this album has shown how far Andrew Broder aka The Fog has progressed as a musician and a songwriter since he released his self titled debut a few years ago. "Cockeyed Cookie Pusher" is a sweet acoustic guitar number that breaks down in a noisy fashion towards the end. Hummer is a turning point for the Fog, as it is his last release for Ninja Tune. In early 2005, you'll be able to hear the new record, 10th Avenue Freakout on Lex Records. Here's an early preview of the track "We're Winning" courtesy of Lex Records.

2004-12-08T10:03:00.000-05:00

DJ Signify - Cup of Regret (featuring Sage Francis)
Buy Sleep No More

Hello, everyone. Sorry about the lack of posts for the last couple of days, but I've been trying to finish everything up for the semester. However, I'm done now and ready to get some music out there. For the next few days I'm going to be posting what I felt was some of the best music of this past year.

I'm starting with DJ Signify. In April, he released his debut album Sleep No More on Lex Records. The album is supposed to play out like the soundtrack to a non-existant horror movie, which it does perfectly. The music is brooding and dark. The combination of Signify's moody backrops with vocalists like Buck 65 and Sage Francis just adds to the feel. Sleep No More was one of the best releases of this past year and a real treat for fans (like me) of Sage and Buck, in a year when neither of them released a proper album.

2004-12-05T23:41:00.000-05:00

Magneta Lane - The Constant Lover
Buy The Constant Lover

Magneta Lane is a Canadian all-girl group consisting of Lexi Valentine on vocals and guitars, Nadia King on drums, and French on bass. The group hasn't been at it that long. They formed in the fall of 2003, played some shows, and got signed to Paper Bag Records. Their influences include Sonic Youth, The Velvet Underground, The Kinks, and Nancy Sinatra. I think they sound like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, which is probably why I really enjoyed The Constant Lover. In a genre that is overfilled with pretentious, boring music, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs stuff stood out to me when I first heard it. Magneta Lane's music stands out to me in that same way. The songs are just the right length with interesting lyrics and catchy guitar riffs. I highly recommend picking up Magneta Lane's debut ep, The Constant Lover on Paper Bag Records.

2004-12-03T06:55:00.000-05:00

De La Soul - Rock Co.Kane Flow (featuring MF Doom)
Buy The Grind Date

De La Soul along with MF Doom will be appearing on national television tonight. They will appear on Last Call with Carson Daly at 1:35am, right after Conan. It might be late, but it's still national television. It should give MF Doom a little more exposure. I'm sure some drunks or insomniacs will be watching the show and thinking who is this madman with the metal mask?

2004-12-02T07:35:00.000-05:00

Typical Cats - Easy Cause It Is
Buy Civil Service

Typical Cats are a Chicago hip hop group that consists of Qwel, Qwazaar, and Denizen Kane on the microphone with production by DJ Natural. They released their self titled debut album on Galapagos 4 records four years ago. Since then they have gained fans by releasing a handful of solo albums and touring the world. Their latest release Civil Service is exactly what you would expect from them: simply amazing. Typical Cats have done it again and Civil Service is one of the finest releases of 2004.

Bonus: Typical Cats - Justice Coming (mp3 courtesy of Amazon. you must be signed in to dl it)

2004-11-30T09:01:00.000-05:00

Jackson C. Frank - Milk and Honey
Buy Blues Run The Game

Jackson C. Frank is a bit of a cult figure in folk music. He's another one of those guys who received alot of respect from artists, but not never received any popular success. I hadn't heard of him until I heard this song on Vincent Gallo's The Brown Bunny soundtrack. Like Gallo, Frank grew up in Buffalo, New York. He later moved on to New York where he was friends with John Kay of Steppenwolf. He would then move on to London where he lived with Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel (before they blew up). Frank's only album was produced by Paul Simon. His songs have been performed by Sandy Denny and Nick Drake.

2004-11-29T23:50:00.000-05:00

Thomas Fehlmann - Hana
Buy Lowflow

Plug Research has done it again. I'm loving this label. They continually put out albums by artists that I'm not familiar with that just blow me away. First it was Calamalka, now it's Thomas Fehlmann. Fehlmann was a part of the group Palais Schaumburg and also did some work with The Orb. The current offerings from Fehlmann on Lowflow are equal parts hip hop and electronic. It's the perfect music for chilling at home on a winter's evening or partying in the club; your pick.

2004-11-29T04:44:00.000-05:00

Blockhead - Jet Son (featuring Aesop Rock & Camu Tao)
Buy Music By Cavelight

Blockhead is known as the man providing Aesop Rock with ill beats (at least before he hooked up with El-P). Being that I am a huge fan of Aesop's Float album (the only one featuring all Blockhead production), I was highly anticipating Blockhead's solo debut on Ninja Tune. As good as Music By Cavelight was, it still had it's flaws. One of the main ones was that it didn't feature vocals. Putting vocals on albums from hip hop producers is totally acceptable. RJD2 did it on Deadringer and Shadow did it on The Private Press. As long as it fits the mood of the album, it gives it an added spice that you just don't get from an hour or so of instrumentals. Anyhow to get back to the main point Blockhead's album dropped and it was good, but it would've been nice to hear some vocals. A few months later and the "Sunday Seance" single is released. And there on the b-side is just the type of song I'm looking for from Blockhead: a Jet Son remix featuring Aesop Rock and Camu Tao.

2004-11-27T15:21:00.000-05:00

R.A. The Rugged Man - Lessons
Buy Die Rugged Man, Die

R.A. The Rugged Man has been in the game for a long time and never released a proper album until now. He was an up and coming rapper that the majors were interested in the early nineties. He signed with Jive Records and was dropped before releasing anything. Since then you might've heard him on Rawkus's Soundbombing albums or on Eastern Conference's mixtapes. Now that his proper full length is out on Nature Sounds don't expect him to blow up any time soon. On Lessons he says:

"I don’t want to sell records/ I don’t want to be big/ I don’t want MTV running up in my crib/ I don’t want to be liked in the music biz/ I don’t want fans that don’t know who G Rap is."

2004-11-27T14:59:00.000-05:00

Rondo Brothers - Pineapple Wine
Rondo Brothers - Hey Stewardess
Buy No Time Left On Earth

The Rondo Brothers are quirky, weird group that could be best described as Hawaiian hip-hop/pop. They are made up of Jim Greer and Brandon Arnovick and are from San Francisco. They have worked with Dan "The Automator" Nakamura on records and live bands for Dr. Octagon, Deltron 3030, Lovage, and the Handsome Boy Modeling School.

2004-11-26T01:57:00.000-05:00

MF Doom - Hoe Cakes (Ant remix)
Buy MM..Food

I haven't been able to hear MM..Food yet, due to a certain online retailer mucking up my order, but I have heard the Hoe Cakes single and it's Doom in all his glory. This particular remix is produced by Ant of Atmosphere and has a very old school feel.

2004-11-22T03:39:00.000-05:00

Leonard Cohen - Because Of
Buy Dear Heather

It's amazing that Leonard Cohen is still going at it. He's now reached 70 years old and he's still making excellent music that barely anyone listens to. Dear Heather is an album that snuck up on me. I had no idea that it was released. Apparently it came out in late October, but I hadn't heard about it until just recently. As with many of the recent Cohen outings it relies heavily on backing vocals. But don't worry the voice is still there. It just needs a little help to get through a whole song.

2004-11-17T23:07:00.000-05:00

El-P featuring Cage - Oxycontin part 2
Buy Definitive Jux presents 3

This is an interesting track. The beat is pretty laid back and simple for an El-P track. It's good storytelling from both El-P and Cage. And for once Cage isn't trying to show you how "insane" he is.

On another note, if anyone's interested in guest posting on here in January let me know via email. I'll be away without computer access during the second and third weeks of January. So, if you're interested let me know.

2004-11-15T13:09:00.000-05:00

Ol' Dirty Bastard - Brooklyn Zoo
Buy Return To The 36 Chambers

As you've probably heard Russell Jones (ODB) passed away this weekend. ODB's first album, Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version was a favorite of mine when I was trying to be cool in 7th grade by listening to rap music. Whether you know him because of his music or his insane antics, ODB is a man who will be missed.

2004-11-14T23:38:00.000-05:00

Snoop Dogg - Drop It Like It's Hot
Buy R&G

I'm not exactly sure why I'm posting this, but I really, really like this song for some reason. The beat is very simple, sounding like an 80's track consisting of nothing more than drums and that clicking noise that you can make with your tongue. Snoop comes with his usual underachieving lyricism, but it works well with this song.

2004-11-13T15:34:00.000-05:00

Galt MacDermot - Coffee Cold
Galt MacDermot - Space

I was browsing the net earlier and I came across Galt MacDermot's website. I was surprised to find that they were offering a large number of mp3s for free. If you've never heard of Galt MacDermot, you've probably at least heard some of his music. He has been sampled many times by many folks in hip hop. Coffee Cold was straight up jacked by the Handsome Boy Modeling School for the song The Truth. While Space has been sampled lots of times, most notably by Busta Rhymes on Woo Hah. Visit Galt Macdermot's website to hear more and to pick up some albums.

2004-11-12T14:48:00.000-05:00

Busdriver - Avantcore

Here's a new one from Busdriver. The song features a sample from "Turtles Have Short Legs" by Can. This is going to be the lead single from Busdriver's upcoming album, Fear of a Black Tangent, which should be in stores February 14, 2005. Also look for the Avantcore ep on January 10, 2005 on Mush Records.

2004-11-11T21:32:00.000-05:00

Big Daddy Kane - Warm It Up, Kane
Buy It's A Big Daddy Thing

"Come get some, ya little bum." It's been a while since I've listened to this track or even thought about it, but in the last couple of weeks I've been bombarded with it. Firstly I heard this song during that new Grand Theft Auto game. I'm not much into video games, but whoever chose the music for that did a good job. My second encounter with the song was actually with a different version of it. I was recently sent an mp3 of Jay-Z doing his version of the song and that's when I knew that this stuff needed to be on Royal Music. So I hope you enjoy it.

Jay-Z - Warm It Up, Jay

2004-11-09T13:54:00.000-05:00

Handsome Boy Modeling School - Class System
Buy White People

I've been waiting for this album to be released for just over five years now. So How's Your Girl, HBMS's first album, was my favorite album when I was in high school and since then I've been waiting for a sequel. And now that I have it, I must say that I am satisfied. Prince Paul and Dan The Automator have brought it once again with nice production and interesting guest appearances. Class System, the track that I am presenting to you, is a strange combination of Pharrell Williams and Julee Cruise on vocals. Pharrell is of course from the Neptunes, while Julee is best known for singing the vocals on the song "Falling" from Twin Peaks.

2004-11-05T22:54:00.000-05:00

Devo - Gut Feeling/Slap Your Mammy
Buy Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!

Here's a Devo track that I wasn't familiar with until I heard it in the Life Aquatic trailer. As always, Wes Anderson selects superb tunes for his film.

2004-11-03T14:57:00.000-05:00

Edan - Sing It Shitface
Buy Primitive Plus

Edan's style is about as old school as anyone else out there. He's always about something fun and I think that's what we need today.

Also, I accidentally switched the template for my blog and I lost all my links. So don't sweat it if your link got taken down. I'm getting them back up.
I'd also like to mention that it would be nice if people would click on those Google ads at the bottom of this page. I make barely anything off each click, but if enough people clicked them I might be able to afford some actual hosting for these songs. Whatever you do, make sure you enjoy the music.

2004-11-02T15:02:00.000-05:00

2Pac - Letter To The President

2004-11-01T13:52:00.000-05:00

The Coup - Get Up (featuring Dead Prez)

STOP Movement - Dear Mr. President

2004-10-31T14:21:00.000-05:00

?
The Maroons - If

2004-10-30T01:40:00.000-04:00

Immortal Technique and Mos Def - Bin Laden

2004-10-29T20:05:00.000-04:00

Eminem - Mosh

2004-10-28T11:58:00.000-04:00

Danger Mouse and Jemini - Bush Boys

Akira The Don - One Bullet

2004-10-27T21:13:00.000-04:00

Outkast - B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)
Outkast - Gasoline Dreams

2004-10-26T01:14:00.000-04:00

Arrest The President All Stars - Arrest The President

Mr. Lif - Get Wise 91 (featuring Edan)

2004-10-25T02:50:00.000-04:00

With a week left until we go to the polls we have decided to bring you Fuck Bush 2004. For the next week Royal Music will be departing from regular posting to bring you Fuck Bush songs. All song recommendations are welcome. Enjoy the music and fuck Bush.

Intelligent Hoodlum - Arrest the President

2004-10-21T16:57:00.000-04:00

Five Man Electrical Band - Signs
Buy The Best of the Five Man Electrical Band

Fatboy Slim - Don't Let The Man Get You Down
Buy Palookaville

I'm not a big Fatboy Slim fan, but I do enjoy listening to original samples. Fatboy Slim's "Don't Let The Man Get You Down" samples the line "And the sign said long haired freaky people need not apply," from the song "Signs" by the Five Man Electrical Band. When I heard the Fatboy Slim song, I knew I had heard the line before. I did some research into it and sure enough the song sampled was a minor hit, so I'd probably remembered it from an oldies station. Signs reached number 3 on the Billboard charts in the US in 1971.

2004-10-21T01:19:00.000-04:00

Fatboy Slim - Wonderful Night (featuring Lateef)
Buy Palookaville

Here's a track from Fatboy Slim's latest album Palookaville. I haven't cared about Fatboy Slim in a long while, but this album has two tracks featuring Lateef. Lateef or Lateef the Truthspeaker is part of the Quannum crew and is a member of Latyrx with Lyrics Born and The Maroons with Chief Xcel. He was also featured on a track on DJ Shadow's The Private Press.

2004-10-20T04:24:00.000-04:00

Jon Brion - Knock Yourself Out
Buy I Heart Huckabee's soundtrack

Have you ever heard a song and just fell in love with it instantly? That was what happened to me the first time I heard this amazing song from Jon Brion during the trailer for I Heart Huckabee's. I haven't seen the movie yet, so I have no idea how well it fits in, but it fits in perfectly in my headphones. Jon Brion has scored a handful of movies including Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Punch Drunk Love, and parts of Magnolia and Boogie Nights. He also has an album called Meaningless, which is filled with lovely Beatle-esque pop music.

2004-10-20T01:12:00.000-04:00

Mos Def - Sunshine
Buy The New Danger

Sunshine is a rare gem in the mess that is The New Danger. Sunshine is Mos like you've heard him before kicking nice rhymes over a sweet beat, this team courtesy Kanye West. I like the New Danger, but it seems like Mos or maybe his record label scraped together whatever tracks they could find to get something out. It doesn't quite feel like a complete album. There is some really good stuff on here with the straight up hip hop tracks like Sunshine and Close Edge and the Black Jack Johnson rock tracks like Zimzallabim. But then there is totally random garbage like The Rapeover, which is Mos over Jay-Z's Takeover beat. Overall this is good stuff, but it could've been better. Sunshine is one of the better moments on this album.

2004-10-19T16:55:00.000-04:00

Tom Waits - How's It Gonna End
Buy Real Gone

Even if you don't like Tom Waits' music (but that's probably not the case), you have to give him credit for staying relevant for so long. Well he's back once again with his creepy, aural storytelling that he's been doing for so many years now. Here's how Tom Waits describes the album: "Real Gone is an electric pill box, a homogeneous concoction of mood elevators, mind liberators and downers, an alchemical universe of rattling chains, oscillating rhythms and nine-pound hammers."

2004-10-19T04:07:00.000-04:00

The Mooney Suzuki - Alive & Amplified
Buy Alive & Amplified

I don't post too much "modern rock" here, but I've got a bunch of it that's been piling up on my desktop, so I figured it was about time to share it with everyone. Anyhow, this is the title track from the Mooney Suzuki's major label debut album on Columbia. Columbia records cleaned up the Mooney Suzuki's dirty, garage band sound by teaming them up with pop hitmaking production team The Matrix. The production value has definitely gone through the roof and the rock n roll is still there, so the Mooney Suzuki and a major label seems like a good combo. (mp3 courtesy of Insound).

2004-10-12T14:40:00.000-04:00

Geto Boys - Fuck A War
Buy We Can't Be Stopped

I'm trying something different so I can offer all of you more songs. Instead of finding this on the web, I am putting it up on yousendit. I've never used this before, so this is a test run to see how well it works. All I know is that it'll only be up for a limited time and for a limited number of downloads. I don't know the specifics of either, so we will have to wait and see. If it goes down really quickly please email me and let me know, so I can fix it or come up with something better. I hope this works well.
As for the actual track, it's an interesting one. It's kinda funny that this Geto Boys track that was released in 1991 is still incredibly relevant today. Bushwick Bill spits lines that work for either 1991 or 2004 calling out a President Bush with lines like, "Yo Bush! I ain't your damn hoe," and "I ain't gettin' my leg shot off While Bush old ass on t.v. playin' golf."

2004-10-07T04:26:00.000-04:00

Calamalka - Hear The Most
Buy Shredders Dub

I have to admit that when I was sent this cd I really had no idea what to expect. I was not familiar with Calamalka and I had only the slightest experiences with dub music. The Canadian based Calamalka seemed like a good place to start. The bass heavy sounds of Hear the Most seem to be rooted in dub, but are definitely influenced by hip hop as well. On this track and the rest of the album Calamalka has created great, atmospheric music that is perfect for chilling.

2004-10-07T04:03:00.000-04:00

Sage Francis - Slow Down Gandhi

Sage has been kind enough to release this political song early because of the election. This track is off of his upcoming album A Healthy Distrust to be released on Epitaph Records in February 2005.

2004-10-06T17:12:00.000-04:00

The Fog - We're Winning
Buy other albums from the Fog

The Fog (Andy Broder) and Lex Records have been kind enough to give us a sneak peek at a track from the Fog's upcoming album, 10th Avenue Freakout. The album is the Fog's first solo album on Lex Records after releasing a few albums on Ninja Tune. We're Winning sounds a lot like what you might expect from the Fog, but with more drums than usual. Andy Broder's lyrics are as weird as can be with lines like, " Jesus Christ is my American Idol! He's the Brand New Funky President!" But that's why we like him.

2004-10-05T20:07:00.000-04:00

Denizen Kane - Tree City Anthem (need to be signed in to Amazon to download)
Denizen Kane - Patriot Act
Buy Tree City Legends

Denizen Kane is a member of the hip hop group Typical Cats on the Galapagos 4 label, as well as the spoken word group I Was Born With Two Tongues. On the track Tree City Anthem Denizen Kane tells us about his life experiences in Chicago, New York, and Oakland with his unique floaty, sing songy rhyming style. The second track, Patriot Act, is not from his debut album, but is one of many mp3s that have surfaced from political minded artists in an election year. The song is about just what you might imagine, that bill that is denying people the freedoms that they were guaranteed in the bill of the rights.

2004-09-30T10:34:00.000-04:00

David Bowie - Starman
Buy The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders From Mars

Starman was the first single released from Bowie's Ziggy Stardust album and is about a spaceman who comes to earth. It's one of Bowie's best, and in my opinion is the best of the greatest hits/singles type stuff. I recently heard the song again when I was watching the trailer for Wes Anderson's new film, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. It wasn't surprising. Anderson has great taste in music. All of his films have been filled with excellent songs and I can't wait to hear what else he uses in this film.

2004-09-29T17:46:00.000-04:00

The Pedestrian - The Toss & Turn
Buy Anticon Label Sampler

This is the lead single from the Pedestrian's long time forthcoming debut album on Anticon. This also marks the first time I've heard the Pedestrian straight up rip it on the mic. Before this song I had heard only a few Pedestrian songs and they were all too weird for me (and I'm a fan of most of Anticon's work). I listened to a copy of the Anticon Label Sampler that was released earlier this year, which had two new cuts from the Pedestrian and I was amazed. The two songs (the other being Jane 2) were both more traditional hip hop than just about anything that I had heard from Anticon prior. This song features stellar production from Jel and a chorus that actually might make you want to dance. This song is currently available on the Anticon Label Sampler and the 12" single should be available in early November.

2004-09-28T00:40:00.000-04:00

Prince Po - Social Distortion
Buy The Slickness

Prince Po came with one of the finest albums of this year with The Slickness on Lex Records and Social Distortion is just one of the many fine tracks. This one features production from Danger Mouse and a guest verse from MF Doom. Not to discredit Po, but Doom outshine Po on this one with his great lyrics. One of my favorite lines from the song is, "Still king of the hill/ it's the Doom hour/ when he came, spit more gibberish than Boomhauer." Also thanks to Better Propaganda for the track.

2004-09-27T16:23:00.000-04:00

Oh No - The Ride
Buy The Disrupt

It sucks when you're known mainly as somebody's brother. And that's exactly what Oh No has had to face. Oh No is the little brother of Madlib, the superproducer who has recently been spending a lot of time in the limelight. But now is the time for Madlib to share some of that light with Oh No. Oh No has been around for awhile producing tracks for some of the MCs on the Stones Throw roster, including Wildchild and Medaphoar. He's also provided a guest verse here and there for songs by the Lootpack and others. But this is his big chance with his upcoming full length album The Disrupt. The Ride is the first single from the Disrupt. It is produced by Oh No and features guest vocals from Medaphoar. It also has a nice video game sample playing throughout the track.

2004-09-23T12:45:00.000-04:00

Nobs - Radio
Buy Workin'

Nobs is a young, hungry MC from the New York area who has, unfortunately, fallen below most people's radar. But he shouldn't. Nobs makes music that's relateable to everyone from the average joe to the walking hip hop encyclopedias by providing a sly mixture of pop culture and obscure hip hop references. Oh yeah, and he's nice on the mic too. Nobs is mainly a punchline rapper on this song, but there's nothing wrong with that when you have good punchlines. However, if you further explore Nobs' album Workin' you will experience an MC with a much broader range of musical styles.

2004-09-23T00:31:00.000-04:00

Saul Williams - List of Demands (Reparations)
Buy Saul Williams

Saul Williams is back and he's rocking a little more than he used to. Saul breaks free from the spoken word material that he's put out in the past and put out a real banger. I had my doubts about Saul outdoing his previous effort, Amethyst Rock Star, but from what I've heard so far he has truly grown as a songmaker.

2004-08-13T05:00:00.000-04:00

Madvillain - Accordion
Buy Madvillainy

A good number of the readers here will be familiar with Madvillain, so I'll keep it brief. Madvillain is a hip hop supergroup of sorts comprised of two men: MF Doom and Madlib. Doom and Madlib are by all accounts weird guys. Both use a multitude of aliases to record music under and experiment with various styles of music that go much further than your typical boom bap. Out of everything that I recommend this is the album that I urge you to pick up before any others. So, even if hip hop is not your thing, give it a listen, and I'm sure you'll enjoy.
PS: This track is at Salon.com, so I'm not sure how long it'll be up for. Check them out too. They've got a pretty nice site.

2004-08-04T05:56:00.000-04:00

Ween - Bananas and Blow
Buy White Pepper

Allison and I review a bunch of food related songs over at the other site, Royal Magazine. This is not the most relevant food song or even the best song out of the bunch, but it was all I could find online with a quick search. If you know Ween, then you know that it's going to be humorous. This time it's a Jimmy Buffet sounding song dealing with, you guessed it, bananas and blow.

2004-07-28T18:08:00.000-04:00

Bonnie Prince Billy - Hard Life
Buy Master and Everyone

I think that this song would fit perfectly in Love Liza.

2004-07-28T02:40:00.000-04:00

Ennio Morricone - Once Upon A Time In The West
Buy Once Upon A Time In The West

The title track from this Sergio Leone film was composed beautifully by Ennio Morricone. Morricone used female vocals on this track perfectly. The vocals, which aren't really words, but more or less humming that goes along with the melody let the listener paint their own picture in their mind. I'll admit that I've never seen Once Upon A Time In The West, so I can't match this song to any particular scene or image. But when I hear it I just don't imagine a western; it seems much too beautiful for that.

2004-07-22T19:24:00.000-04:00

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Into My Arms
Buy The Boatman's Call

Nick Cave's music has always been real dark. He even has an album exclusively featuring songs about murder. Therefore I'd never really liked him. I thought that he made "goth" music. Then one day I listened to my sister's copy of the Boatman's Call and my opinion of Cave suddenly changed. This album presented to me a man who was full of hope, love, and maybe even spirituality. Since then I've gone back and checked out all of his other "darker" works and am able to appreciate those as well. "Into My Arms" is one of the better songs off of The Boatman's Call and it is one of the most beautiful love songs that I've ever heard.

2004-07-21T17:26:00.000-04:00

Wesley Willis - Rock N Roll McDonalds
Buy Wesley Willis - Greatest Hits

I caught Supersize Me last night and this Wesley Willis song was featured in it. And it fits perfectly. Almost all of his songs sound the same, which is Wesley talking about something strange over a cheesy sounding Casio keyboard loop. And somehow it all works into something that is entertaining.

2004-07-20T16:50:00.000-04:00

A Silver Mount Zion - Move (Never Made)
Buy He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corners of Our Rooms

A Silver Mount Zion is a side project type band that features some of the members of Godspeed You Black Emperor. This song is one of the few by ASMZ that features vocals. The words combined with the sparseness of the music give this one a very haunting quality.

2004-07-19T16:14:00.000-04:00

Grateful Dead - Ripple
Buy American Beauty

I've always been a Dead hater. To me the Grateful Dead were a jam band whose songs all sounded the same. But then I hear Ripple. It was earlier this year when I was watching the entire series of Freaks and Geeks on DVD. The song is played at the end of the final episode and I thought that it was beautiful. I still may not be a Dead fan, but I am starting to appreciate them and will continue to check out their work and see if any of it is on par with this excellent song.

2004-07-16T18:34:00.000-04:00

DJ Shadow - Organ Donor
Buy Endtroducing

The organ used in this song is just so damn funky. Oddly enough, this song is used all the time on a local top 40/pop radio station that would never play a DJ Shadow song as bed music for the DJs to talk over.

2004-07-15T04:21:00.000-04:00

Atmosphere - Summer Song
Buy Love Songs For New York

I'm not really sure why this Atmosphere song is on this compilation. This compilation was compiled by the Village Voice and the songs were supposed to directly address the September 11, 2001 tragedy. When listening to "Summer Song" there is only one line that alludes to 9/11. The line goes, "Here she goes with that look in her eyes/ the souls of those that got took by surprise/ crooked little smile that clings to her lips/ on a night like this i sing for the bitch." The rest of the song just seems to be Slug rapping about his problems with women with lines like, "And if she only knew how long I've waited for her/ how her smile's enough to make my winter warmer/ if she knew the way she walks could take away my storms she'd probably call the cops and get a restraining order," and "this is for the ladies, not every lady/ just the ones that drive me crazy/ the ones that scream save me/ i want to thank y'all for everything you gave me/ now lean in and taste me." So, am I missing something here or does this song have nothing to do with 9/11. Take a listen and let me know what you think. And by the way, I'm not dissing this song. This happens to be one of my favorite songs by Atmosphere, but I just can't fathom why it would be on a compilation like this.

2004-07-09T01:23:00.000-04:00

Gravediggaz - 1-800-Suicide
Buy 6 Feet Deep

I've been you giving you guys a bunch of pop tracks lately, so I'll change it up a bit with a little bit of mid nineties hip hop. For those of you who don't know, the Gravediggaz was a group that consisted of Prince Paul, RZA, Poetic, and Frukwan. It was categorized as horrorcore or horror rap or something like that, but it had a certain dark sense of humor that made it likeable.

2004-07-09T01:07:00.000-04:00

Sean Lennon - Queue
Buy Into The Sun

Sean isn't nearly as good as his dad, but he's better than his brother. His music is catchy and he's supposedly down with Vincent Gallo.

2004-07-09T00:36:00.000-04:00

Bran Van 3000 - Drinking In LA
Buy Glee

The link for this song went down and apparently was replaced by a nice, long sermon. Those are the problems that come with not hosting the songs myself.

2004-07-09T00:07:00.000-04:00

Beck - Halo of Gold
Buy More Oar: A Tribute To Alexander "Skip" Spence

This is Beck's version of a song by former member of Moby Grape, Skip Spence.

2004-07-01T22:06:00.000-04:00

Why? - Darla
Simply put, this is one of my favorite songs ever. I don't know why, I guess I just really like it. It's about a chicken. Just take my advice and check out this track.
Buy Early Whitney

or you could buy any of these fine Anticon recordings.

2004-07-01T21:51:00.000-04:00

TV On The Radio - Staring At The Sun
Buy Young Liars

TV On The Radio - Dreams
Buy Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes

I don't know much about TV On The Radio, but I've read about them everywhere. They are critical darlings, and deservedly so. The tracks that I have heard from them is really good spacey indie rock type stuff. So check it out. Also check out Touch and Go Records, which is where I found these MP3s at, and check out TV On The Radio's homepage.

2004-06-29T12:44:00.000-04:00

Serge Gainsbourg - Je T'aime...Moi Non Plus

This is a really nice sounding song from mega perv Gainsbourg. My French isn't very good, so all I really know about this song is that Je t'aime means I like you.
Buy Comic Strip

2004-06-03T19:59:00.000-04:00

Handsome Boy Modeling School - The Truth

Handsome Boy Modeling School was a collaborative effort from Prince Paul and Dan "The Automator" Nakamura that was released by Tommy Boy in the fall of 1999. The Truth was one of the better songs off of the album and features vocals from Moloko's Roison Murphy and J-Live. The production and Roison Murphy's vocals give the song a downtempo, loungy type feel, while J-Live's verse keeps the song going for hip hop heads.

2004-05-14T00:23:00.000-04:00

The Beatnuts - Watch Out Now

What can I say? This is one of my favorite beats ever. The Beatnuts should sell more, they seem to have the right formula.

2004-05-11T02:25:00.000-04:00

Scapegoat Wax - Aisle 10 (Hello Allison)

Aisle 10 was the first single off of Scapegoat Wax's ill fated album Okeeblow. The album came out in the summer of 2001, just before Grand Royal went out of business. Normally, I probably would've passed over this single, mainly because Scapegoat Wax is just such a horrible name. But fortunately for Scapegoat Wax, the single that happened to fall in my hands at the radio station had remixes by Madlib and Kutmasta Kurt. That made me wonder just what this Scapegoat Wax would sound like. I no longer have that single, but if I remember correctly the Madlib remix was boring and the Kutmasta Kurt remix was decent, but the actual song was fire. I'm not sure what became of Scapegoat Wax after the Grand Royal breakup. An Amazon search shows that he released the album, Swax on Hollywood Records in 2002, but it appears to have many of the same songs as Okeeblow. Anyhow, "Aisle 10 (Hello Allison)" by Scapegoat Wax is a feel good, fun listening pop song reminiscent of Beck in his Mellow Gold days. The sometimes singing, sometimes rapping style of Marty James and the decent beat make this one a keeper.

2004-05-05T23:04:00.000-04:00

Macho Man Randy Savage - Be A Man

Hulk Hogan, if you're reading this, I've got one message for you: be a man. Randy Savage called you out. Where is Hogan's response? Hulk Hogan's agent needs to get on top of this and get Hulk in the studio to work on the album. And then we'll see who the real man is.