Gift From Me To You Series

There were some definite winners on here for me. Back From Hell being the biggest.

The only complaints I have are for the tracks that sounded more like him giving a speech than actually rapping. While it was amusing, those parts didn't do much to enhance the music.

All in all, I'm quite thankful to have this. But did anyone else think he sounded exactly like Ali G?
 
I would like to keep the Weekly Music Trading Post going, this is just something that I do on my own time with no desire to gain anything other than turning some people onto some new music. I think I may take over for that until Rezz gets whatever is going on with him sorted out.
 
As a non-country fan, I can say that Elliott Brood's Mountain Meadows is a great album. I instantly liked the song "Write it All Down for You" when I first heard it on a local indie station sometime in the past year (I think it was last summer). I instantly ordered the CD as I couldn't find it anywhere online to check out. It did take a few spins to really get under my skin, since it's a bit out of my comfort zone. But I can safely say it's a great album.
 
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Artist: Blue Sky Black Death With Hell Razah
Album: Razah's Ladder
Year: 2007

This was my first experience with Blue Sky Black Death and unless you're a big fan of instrumental hip hop albums, I think this may be the only album from these guys a large majority of the people will like. This is a collaboration album with Kingston Maguire and Ian Taggart who make up Blue Sky Black Death and rapper Hell Razah. The beats and Hell Razah's flow work evenly with each other, and there is a lot of syrabolism throughout the album, the most obvious being the album title. I found myself spinning this album quite a lot this weekend and decided it would be the best one to share, that is until sidewinder sent me Crying Over Pros For No Reason by edIT.


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Artist: edIT
Album: Crying Over Pros For No Reason
Year: 2004

I started to get into edIT back at the beginning of the year when I was sent his 2008 more dance orientated album Certified Air Raid Material. When sidewinder sent me Crying Over Pros For No Reason I assumed that it would be more of the what I heard before, but my god I was wrong. This album is far more laid back and doesn't feature any guest vocals like Certified Air Raid Material did. The only vocals you'll hear on the album is the occasional sampling done. The most amazing thing about this album is that even though it's an instrumental, it still keeps your attention the same way it would if there were vocals. You find yourself actually listening to the sounRAB and trying to anticipate what's going to happen next. That's the other thing that I love, you can never really prepare yourself for what's next, there's no real formula to the song, no real repeat. All thanks go to sidewinder for this one, he's the man that sent it to me upon my request on Sunday. Oh yeah, if you've never heard edIT before and start checking your computer after the first song, don't worry it's suppose to sound like that, it's called glitch-hop for a reason.
 
sorry I don't PM you back about these things Pobody's that doesn't mean I don't listen though. The first two were misses for me but I've liked the other ones, especially The Smalls.
 
Yeah I'm going to give this thread a kick to the ass next week, I've been meaning to for the last month but have just been a lazy tosser. Going to start anew, rather than continuing this Canadian trend (I really only have Buck 65 left).
 
You already know my feelings on Lucidream, good acoustic hip hop, not quite great. I'd still recommend them to anyone else.

I listened to both of The Interpestual's songs and enjoyed them quite a bit, but I'll hold off getting the album right now because I'm swamped right now, similar to you and The Villains.
 
I did give Gruvis Malt a quick listen a little while ago and I am listening now. It's not awful at all and quite mellow but I'm finding it TOO smooth and a little bland personally. When it comes to Hip Hop I either generally like a beat heavy sound with emphasis on bass lines or a funky undertow so this doesn't really do either for me.
 
I had a bit of a thought in my post-stoned phase last night, as I was scrolling through my winamp I noticed how many Canadian artists I have, and then got the idea to do a kind of cross Canada tour with my music library. So each week we'll find ourselves in a new Canadian city with some of the music I have from that city.

Vancouver British Colurabia
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I figured we'll move from the West Coast to the East and what better place to start than my old stomping ground of Vancouver. Home to a high population of pretentious artists and pot heaRAB Vancouver is one of the best places to catch a live show, preferably at the renowned Commodore Ballroom on Grandville Street right in the heart of downtown. With a dance floor on springs and great acoustics, The Commodore stage has been graced by a wide selection of artists ranging from brutal death metal to hip hop to indie. Anyway, here's three artists from Vancouver I chose to upload and share this week. I'm not automatically giving it away, so if you're interested in it then make a post in this thread or send me a PM.


Devn Townsend Band - Accelerated Evolution

Anybody who had previous knowledge that Devin is a Vancouver native probably could already guess that he'd be on this list. I decided to upload his band's debut album because it's one of my favourites and easily his most accessible. It's heavy enough to appease the metal heaRAB, but progressive and melodic enough to not scare away people who aren't big into metal. I think it's one of his solo works that does the best of bridging the gap between Devin's solo work and his other band Strapping Young Lad in terms of sound.

[YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]


The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets - Shadow Out of Tim

One of Vancouvers oldest unknown banRAB, these guys formed all the way back in 1992. For the past 17 years the band has built up an extremely loyal fanbase around Vancouver and the Pacific Northwest in general. Songs usually contain tongue-in-cheek references to author H.P. Lovecraft and his most widely known piece of work, the Cthulhu Mythos. Also known for their elaborate costumes, ranging from tentacles, to native garb, to white jump suits with big round helmets and puzzle pieces attached to the top (it confused me too) they are a really fun band to see live. They have seen a bit of fame recently, getting a new song called "Shhh" on one of the Rock Band downloadable packs. I've passed this album onto a few people on this forum with some success, so I'm hoping it'll catch on.

[YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]

*This was the best video I could find on Youtube that wasn't live and with poor audio. It's not really the best song that gives you a taste of the band as it's all just vocals and a small drurabeat on a loop. However I assure the album is fantastic.



Sweatshop Union - Water Street

Sweatshop Union are a hip hop collective based in Vancouver, much like The Wu Tang Clan, but not as large. Their sound does vary, but it gives you an idea of what they kind of look like, a collection of MC's sharing one stage. I don't know much about the people in the group as I only got into them recently (Back in Deceraber). I do know that they have a great sound, some terrific beats, and talk about a wide array of subjects. I wish I could write more on these guys, but I just don't know enough about them and I don't really feel like cutting and pasting their last.fm on here in an attempt to sound smarter.

[YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]

Alright guys, like I said earlier, if any of these groups strike your fancy then just ask either by a pm or post on here. Next week we'll be stopping in my brother's old stomping grounRAB of Calgary Alberta.
 
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Artist: Rehab
Album: Graffiti The World
Year: 2005

About this time last year (it was actually July) I received this album in my inbox on another music forum with absolutely no previous experience with this group. When I read that they were a rap/rock band I immediately put on my skepticism pants and prepared myself for yet another group vainly trying to produce the same sound and style as Korn or Limp Bizkit. However it turns out I prepared myself for nothing because this is by far one the best album of that genre. Now I know what you're saying "it's not really hard to improve on shit" but not only do these guys prove that rap/rock can be a good genre, but they blow some other live band hip hop groups out of the water. Many of their songs deal with, you guessed it, rehabilitation from drug and alcohol abuse, in which the three founding merabers Steaknife, Danny Alexander, and Brooks Buford met at a rehab center and corabined their love of hip hop and rock music. Since then they have released two studio albums "Southern Discomfort" in 2000 and "Graffiti The World" in 2005, later re-releasing it in 2008 with two new songs and an updated version of their hit song "Sittin' At A Bar". The version I'm giving you is their original 2005 one, because I felt the songs that they replaced were incredibly good, and did not deserve to be bumped off the album, also the updated version of "Sittin' At A Bar" while good, isn't as good as the original found on their 2000 release "Southern Discomfort". So sit back and enjoy the sounRAB of Rehab one of my favorite Southern groups.

[YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]
 
Ah, so you've gone public with this! I must admit, Po I haven't downloaded them or listen to them because I wasn't sure on how to go about it. I DID however save all of your PMs and I'm trying to download Gruvis Malt right now, but it says I have to provide a password.

Ha! So one of my roommates just woke up to your Gruvis Malt clip and immediately knocked on my door to ask me who it was! :)

Edit: Did I miss week IV?
 
Winnipeg, Manitoba

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For those of you who know your geography then you'll notice how I skipped over Saskatchewan, the "middle" Province in Canada. If you know anything about Saskatchewan then you'll understand why I skipped it because besides wheat, I think their only other export is the comedy show "Corner Gas". To sum it up, I don't have any artists from that Province, but I do have one from Winnipeg, so it made sense to just skip over it and move on.

You'll also notice that I decided to a frame from a Simpsons episode rather than an actual real picture. I chose that one in particular because it pretty much sums up my feelings for Winnipeg and Manitoba altogether. It's a cold place that's only redeeming factor is that they have polar bears, that's it. So rather than drone on about why I dislike Winnipeg (It could basically be summed up into one word, "Cold") I'll move onto the only artist I could find from that region on Canada, Gruf The Druid or just Gruf.


Gruf is an... interesting man to say the very least. He's a hip hop artist, however his songs tend to deal more with nature, the human mind, and the existence of extra terrestrials. Production wise... I'm pretty sure he does everything himself and on his first album Druidry it's pretty evident. His second album, Hopeless is a far more polished version, but there's just something lacking there. As rough as Druidry may have been, I do think it's the stronger of the two just due to the content matter. You can really hear his passion for it and you can tell that he's most likely faced harsh criticism from his peers, however he continues to record and distribute despite all the naysayers. I'm not going to lie to you, his stuff is a little weird and can be hard to get into, I don't expect many people to come back to me with "oh my god this is the greatest thing ever", I know I sure as fuck didn't. Give it a try and if you don't like it, keep it and try again another time when you don't have anything else you want to listen to. He does grow on you, I can assure you of that, it just takes time.

[YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]​
 
I haven't had time to listen to any of them yet, but good job on making a thread, I'll be sure to give a report once I get around to them. Thanks for the effort...(:
 
I requested all three albums from Pete this week. Although last night I only had time to listen to 2 of them, they made quite the impact.

The Villains album was very good, rocking with a unique sense of punk rock that I can't really put my finger on. Overall a good album, 7.5/10

The Interpestuals album was also very good, probably more so than The Villains, I think I remeraber one of the songs on this album from a Gothic Country comp that Pete did a while back. Great stuff, a pleasant mixture of great song writing, dark yet interesting lyrics, and straight up folk-style delivery make this album worth several listens. 8/10

Lucidream is the only album I haven't listened to yet, will get to that tonight.

So far I have to give a Bravo Zulu to Loathesome_Pete for his best week in the gift series to date, if you don't already have these albums, get them. They are wothy of any collection. Job well done.
 
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Artist: Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip
Album: Angles
Year: 2008


I know I've sent this album off to a couple of people in the past, but never in mass before. This album, along with Sadistik's album "The Balancing Act" were quite easily my two favourite hip hop albums of 2008. This album is set up like the more traditional hip hop groups with one DJ (Dan Le Sac) and one MC (Scroobius Pip). Dan Le Sac's beats are very electro based, sometimes a little bit in the minimalistic area, but the way they flow with Scroobius Pip's lyrics are really well done. One song in particular serious sounRAB like Sonic Youth in the background, which for being a hip hop group that's quite an achievement. The one thing that really puts this album at the top of my list for 2008 was due to the extremely well written and intelligent lyrics. There are two songs in particular that are extremely depressing, but each have a deep meaning behind it and are delievered very well. It's the last song however "Waiting For The Beat To Kick In" that sold me though. It's told in a sort of... "Christmas Carol" style, in which a man (Scroobius Pip) is in place similar to New York City and he meets with three people who each give him a piece of advise to help his life for the better. All of the advice given to him was extremely relevent to me, so that's why the album has stuck so well to me. Do not let the low score on Pitchfork Media (.02) throw you off. In one song Scroobius Pip talks about how people put recording artists on ridiculouls pedistls and then goes to list 15 artists who generally make up the Top 20 BanRAB of all Time as being "just a band". That really seemed to piss off the reviewer who spent the entire review scatching him for that, rather than praising him for his songs about suicide, religion, relationship issues, social norms, and so on. I hope you guys enjoy this album more than Rehabs.

[YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]
 
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