Choo Jackson Joins the "Convo"

Thanks Mac Miller for the referral to Choo Jackson whose music is creeping on the come up, and so is his star status, thanks to his signing with Most Dope, release of Beer Flavored Pizza and drop of this video "Convo."  The Floridian turned PA vet reps for the region, telling an honest story with some clear influences from Cleveland (Kid Cudi, Cleveland Indians hat) and the mundane midwestern grind.  The video is set over the backdrop of a traditional midwestern house party complete with a beer pong game, Solo cups, Natty Ice and people smoking out in the cold.  

Thank You Xaphoon!

Yo yo yo - Xaphoon Jones of Chiddy Bang dropped an ill ill mixtape last week. I was out of town on a personal matter and not on the internet, so I am a little bit late to the game - but at least I made it.

This mixtape has some heat - especially "The Jackson Pit" - which blends Passion Pit's "Sleepyhead" with Jackson 5's "I Want You Back" before busting into Xaphoon's remix of The Knocks' "Dancing With The DJ."

If you like party anthems and danceable jams - don't sleep on Xaphoon's latest. Download it off MediaFire here.

Greg Gillis Gets Going Again - Girl Talk Returns to The Palladium

Monday night I had the pleasure of seeing Girl Talk at the Hollywood Palladium. Just in case any of the readers out there are anything like my sister, I’m not talking about the super awesome teenage girl game from the 90’s, though the Girl Talk I am writing about does bring back a different kind of nostalgia. Do you remember in high school when there was that amazing party thrown by one of your friends when their parents were out of town, your best friend was the DJ and it was one of the most epic nights of your teen life? I do, and Monday night Gregg Gillis took me right back to to that high school house party again.

With searing mash ups of the best and most classic songs, he can take you from Deep Purple to Biggie Smalls to Ke$ha to New Order in a span of two minutes. The entire crowd at The Palladium didn’t stop moving all night, sweat and smells be damned! It was as if all of the white people in the room had been practicing their whole lives to dance that night because truth is, they have. Last night was the night when every hipster, square, and business person put their inhibitions aside and showed the moves they had been practicing in their mirrors at home for years. (Don’t lie, I know I’m not the only one who does this.)

The bopping Gillis was flanked by two dozen happily dancing concert goers on stage. Dripping in sweat and shirtless he flowed on from “Every Day” to “On and On” and then to “Let it Out." As soon as John Lennon’s “Imagine” came in through the sound system the crowd went wild and every one sang in unison while multi-colored balloons fluttered down from the ceiling. Girl Talk is an experience, and though most excellent when jamming at home prepping for a night out, it’s on a whole other level when you’re surrounded by thousands of other bouncing bodies. You may have missed out on last nights show, but lucky for you Gillis will be making his rounds and find his way back to the Hollywood Palladium on the 26th. So don’t miss out, pay the $25 to take the time tunnel back to high school. It’s well worth it.

post by Lauren Lomma

FRESH2DEATH Mixtape

Some of my homeboys from Boulder, Colorado - Ben Samples and Greg Fisk - perhaps better known as performing artists Fresh2Death are coming to Long Beach, CA to Club Bleu on Tuesday January 25th. They also recently busted out a free mixtape for Grassroots California.

Here is a link to that mixtape!

http://soundcloud.com/bensamples/fresh2death-i-am-f2d-the-grassroots-california-mixtape-01

JJ Kills Mixtape

The hard to stick into a definitive genre Swedish group jj dropped a holiday gift on the inter-world last week with the release of their KILLS mixtape.

While the name is not one that has shaken American Billboard charts, jj holds its weight on the internet. Their sonic landscape, which includes ambient tones, hip-hop influences and an awareness of what makes pop music pop, draws listeners from a variety of crowds and genres. Stoners may be familiar with the group from their debut album's cover art - a stamped cannabis leaf. Europeans may be familiar with jj because they are more popular there. Web crawlers probably heard about No. 2 sometime since its 2009 release. But, if you're not familiar with jj yet - peep the mixtape.


The mixtape music is easy to listen to in the background while you're working - but isn't club ready or for cruising LA highways (in my opinion). A bit too slow/ambient for that - with "Kill Them" perhaps being the exception.

Mashers of The Year - The Hood Internet

The Hood Internet is taking the remix and mash-up world by storm - and this is nothing new if you're from Chicago or have been up on your blogroll. After impressing the industry at SXSW just a few weeks ago - they've embarked on a brief tour alongside Black Moth Super Rainbow's Tobacco that recently took them through Los Angeles, to both Echo and Detroit Bar.

The rest of their tour takes them to the following cities before ending in at Empty Bottle their hometown of Chicago:

Saturday 3/27 - Bottom Of The Hill, San Francisco CA
Sunday 3/28 - WOW Hall, Eugene OR
Monday 3/29 - Holocene, Portland OR #
Tuesday 3/30 - Chop Suey, Seattle WA
Friday 4/2 - Triple Rock Social Club, Minneapolis MN ^
Saturday 4/3 - Empty Bottle, Chicago IL

My new favorite mash-up heroes just seem to get it right every time. From mixing Drake with Miike Snow to Dr. Dre with Class Actress, this duo knows how to take the good things from popular music and the good things from indie culture and bring it together to make something infectiously danceable, repeatable and awesome. I wish these guys would DJ every party I ever had.

You can check out a lot more about the group on their own site -http://www.thehoodinternet.com/ - as well as get free downloads to their zipped mixtapes and other songs.