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June 27, 2013 Andy Cush

Each week in Sample Wars, we’ll pit two songs which sample the same source material head-to-head against each other, to determine which one rocked the sample better. This week’s Sample Wars concerns what might be called a cult classic of sampling: “Countdown at 6,” by OG electronic music duo Perrey and Kingsley. The track, a synthy, […]

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June 25, 2013 Andy Cush

“Listen In” is a weekly feature in which we ask musicians to curate a mixtape-length YouTube playlist of songs they’re currently digging. This week’s “Listen In” comes from Keyboard Kid, the producer best known for making the next-level beats for much of Lil B’s vast catalog. And though his tracks tend toward the left-field and […]

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June 20, 2013 Andy Cush

Each week in Sample Wars, we’ll pit two songs which sample the same source material head-to-head against each other, to determine which one rocked the sample better. Between a new single, a new album coming (we hope), and an awesome rebuff to those who dismissed her last record, M.I.A. seems poised for a full-on comeback. In […]

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Andy Cush

Put on a bucket hat, do the cooking dance, add some net art aesthetics and #90sKid pop cultural references, and you’ve got yourself a pretty banging rap video circa 2013. Technically, Yung Lean is from Sweden, but really, he’s a child of the internet, and as such, all of the above make appearances in “Hurt,” his […]

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June 19, 2013 Andy Cush

Yeezus is easily Kanye’s darkest record, and with that comes an almost total abandonment of the warm, sample-based sound upon which he built his name. The samples themselves aren’t gone, however, they’re just different–instead of Curtis Mayfield we get Capleton, instead of Smokey Robinson, TNGHT. Babylon Cartel have assembled a mixtape of the tracks Kanye and […]

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June 18, 2013 Andy Cush

“Listen In” is a weekly feature in which we ask musicians to curate a mixtape-length YouTube playlist of songs they’re currently digging. Gaslamp Killer’s association with the L.A.-based Brainfeeder collective often gets him painted as an instrumental hip-hop or bass music producer, and while those characterizations hold some truth, his roots are just as deep […]

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June 10, 2013 Andy Cush

“No Bueno,” Angel Haze’s NSFW doozy of a new video, features a whole cast of characters lip synching or actually rapping and signing along to Angel’s verses–fat people, thin people, black people, white people, young tattooed punks, and old-timey country-and-western types. It’s great. Angel Haze is a very good rapper. And yes, as you noticed when […]

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June 6, 2013 Andy Cush

Each week in Sample Wars, we’ll pit two songs which sample the same source material head-to-head against each other, to determine which one rocked the sample better. This week’s Sample Wars concerns a track that’s become a modern classic of sampling, entirely thanks to one producer: Clams Casino, one of the chief architects of the dreamy, blown-out […]

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June 4, 2013 Andy Cush

“Listen In” is a weekly feature in which we ask musicians to curate a mixtape-length YouTube playlist of songs they’re currently digging. Listening to Cities Aviv’s latest release, 2012’s excellent Black Pleasure, it’s hard not to be wowed and/or disoriented by the sonic landscape. Out is the left-of-center boom-bap that characterized his debut, replaced with music that’s […]

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May 16, 2013 Andy Cush

Each week in Sample Wars, we’ll pit two songs which sample the same source material head-to-head against each other, to determine which one rocked the sample better. This week’s Sample Wars pits two generations of NYC-bred rappers against each other: Jay-Z and Azealia Banks. Jay’s “Lucifer,” produced by Kanye West, heavily samples Max Romeo’s roots reggae […]

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