Grant Phabao & Djouls - Ninja Tune - 20 Years of Remixes & Re-interpretations (MP3 Podcast on www.ParisDJs.com) 2010-08-10 Lots of stuff are happening for the celebration of the last 20 years of musical activism from the english label Ninja Tune. A huge boxset is on its way for september, with LOTS of new music. There are parties coming up everywhere, and french magazine Trax has just released a special (Ninja Tune 20 Ans...), for which I've been asked to write 3 articles. The first one is about 20 of the rarest pieces of wax released by the label. The second is a selection of 20...

Thavius Beck - Go Away
(Download) Big Dada BDDNL156, 2009-10-26

Go/Away is the first single from Thavius Beck's first solo album for Big Dada, but he's a name you should already know. Beck hooks up a trademark beat which bounces like a bomb on a trampoline whilst coming at the listener with a whole choir of disembodied voices and enough electronic squelch for the most demanding tech-head. Over it, Beck shows his skills as a lyricist, his calm, well-modulated, warm voice belying the anger and thoughtfulness of his lyrics. Away, runs euphoric vocal pads up against orchestral stabs and more lyrical science. Remix duties for the two tunes are dealt with by Flying Lotus and Offshore. A true renaissance man of hip hop, Thavius Beck sees no musical boundaries other than the ones he has already left behind.

Thavius Beck - Dialogue
(CD/Download) Big Dada BDCD151/BDDNL151, 2009-10-12

On Dialogue, his third full-length for Mush Records [and first for Big Dada], Thavius Beck continues to push the boundaries of hip-hop beatmaking, grounding lo-fi digital drum kits in icy layers of synths and sliced up samples. Fresh off of production duties on Saul Williams' Niggy Tardust album with Trent Reznor, Beck's work on Dialogue is razor sharp. This release also finds Thavius spending more time in front of the mic, delivering the type of rhymes that originally gained him notoriety as a member of Global Phlowtations. The consummate iconoclast, Beck cleverly critiques many of America's ills with a dry, satirical wit that never falls into preachiness. With each passing release, Thavius Beck continues to prove that the only musical boundaries he sees are ones he has already left behind. (Source : mushrecords.com)

Daedelus - For Withered Friends / Touchtone
(7"/12"/Digital) Ninja Tune ZEN12225/ZEN7225, 2008-11-24

Check the Pixies-styled The Death Set pop-grunge cover of "For Withered Friends" - really surprising! Also worthy are the Kipsy remix of "Touchstone", electro-R'n'B going crazy, and the Thavius Beck heavily psyched-up remix of the same track.

K-The-I??? - Finger Painting
(Download/promo CD) Big Dada BDDNL132, 2008-11-17

US MC Kiki Ceac ("k-the-i???" to his many admirers) returns with a single release from his critically acclaimed album, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Finger Painting demonstrates everything that's best about the record – a short, sharp shock of a tune produced by Thavius Beck (perhaps best known for his work with Saul Williams), this is punchy, epic d&b-influenced concept-psychedelia, Ceac threading his complex, clever, emotive lyrics over and through a variety of subjects, the whole packed into less than three minutes. To complete the package Thavius Beck has made an exclusive remix, a kind of rave anthem for the credit crunch generation, all pummeling keyboard lines and unbridled aggression.

K-The-I??? - Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow
(album) Big Dada BD127, 2008-10-20

Remember when hip hop was exciting and cutting-edge, funny and moving and original? I know, seems like a long time ago. But don't despair – on Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow, k-the-i??? recaptures that spirit and re-tools it for the future. In order to make this record k-the-i??? relocated from his home in Cambridge, Mass, to LA. With production for the whole record supplied by Thavius Beck (Lab Waste, Saul Williams), k-the-i??? focused on a set of lyrics that run from love songs to New World Order conspiracies and everything in between: "In my life I've seen everything/ A dream, poverty/ No reason to remain the Next Thing/ And if there's anything new to bring to the table/ I've made sure it isn't illusive and it can remain stable/ Were you able to finally figure it out?/ I doubt you even know what I'm talking about." It's also an album enlivened by guest appearances from some of the most important names in underground hip hop, High Priest, Busdriver, Mestizo, Nocando, Subtitle, Vyle and Thavius Beck himself.

Nobody Presents Blank Blue - Western Water Music Vol. II
(CD/2xLP) Ubiquity Records UR229, 2008-05-06

Info :
Blank Blue is the surreal story of an Armageddon born out of a massive earthquake off the west coast of the United States and set sometime in the future. The quake triggers a separation of the west from the rest of the country, creating a whirlpool of devastation in its wake. Millions die. Thousands survive. Those that survive eventually sink and drown from the buckling lands, only to have scores of poison mushrooms waiting for them underneath the earth's masses, loosened from centuries old trees. The poisoned water gives them their first gasp, and miraculously they are able to and breathe and live underwater. The album tells the story from various points of views, from an all-knowing narrator, to a psychic fish that warns people via their dreams, to random characters who watch their loved ones drown or ask the others underwater how to find the ability to breathe. The confusion and sadness is balanced by the fascination of having to start everything all over again; learning how to breathe and swim etc.

Tracklisting :
01. A New Design
02. Eyes Closed
03. Sonic What?!
04. All The Shallow Deep
05. Blank Blue
06. Circles in Circles
07. Faces
08. The Spectral Company
09. Ignite
10. In The Swim
11. Sea Roars Lead
12. Up

Links :
myspace.com/blankblue
ubiquityrecords.com/blankblue.html
plugresearch.com/nobody.html