Day Trip To Cambridge

Last Sunday, some friends & I took a day trip to Cambridge, England. One of my friends is from there so we were lucky to have an amazing tour guide. We visited a few colleges & museums, had a famous Chelsea bun from Fitzbillies, visited the pub where Watson & Crick announced they had discovered DNA & even went punting. All in all it was an amazing day with weather to match. Nice to get out of London for a change.

MMG European Tour

September 29 to October 8th Apollo Brown, The Left & myself will be touring Europe. Dates below.

Sep. 29 - Linz, Austria [Kapu]

Sep. 30 - Zurich, Switzerland [Stall 6]

Oct. 1 - ST. Etienne, France [Le Fil]

Oct. 2 - Paris, France [Glazart]

Oct. 3 Brussels, Belgium [London Calling]

Oct. 4 - Cologne, Germany [Bogen 2]

Oct. 5 - Duisberg, Germany [High5 Club]

Oct. 6 - Berlin, Germany [Bohannon]

Oct. 8 - Aarhus, Denmark [Voxhall]

Politics As Usual

Back in London hanging out with my brother Eric Lau. When ever I'm here, I play basketball on Wednesdays with Eric, his friends & allot of the London music scene. Afterwards we always go for a bite  to eat & a shisha. Eric put me on to a new Turkish spot in Finsbury Park called "Leziz". Great food, great prices, lovely staff & great shisha.



We discussed the possibility of Eric releasing a record on Mello Music over complimentary fresh mint tea & baklava. Eric just left to China for a gig there & then he's off to Thailand. (Lucky bastard)

Stereogum Gives Rock Creek Park Mix-Tape Of The Week

Mixtape Of The Week: Oddisee Rock Creek Park

Only two weeks into this column, and I’m already cheating. Oddisee’s mostly-instrumental pastoral soul-rap opus is a couple of weeks old already, and it’s only a mixtape by the most liberal definition possible. There’s barely any rapping on it, it doesn’t use any other people’s beats, there’s no DJ bellowing over it, and, most damning of all, Oddisee’s actually asking you to pay him for it; it’ll run you $8 at this Bandcamp page. And yet I’m taking this opportunity to write about it anyway, mostly because it moves me way more than any mixtape I’ve heard this week.
As a member of the Diamond District crew, Oddisee is one of the most important figures on Washington, D.C.’s underground rap scene, even though he doesn’t come from D.C. exactly, and he doesn’t live there now. Oddisee’s a recent Brooklyn transplant, and he’s originally from suburban Upper Marlboro, Maryland, just outside the District. He named Rock Creek Park after a wooded expanse on the D.C. border where he used to ride his bike as a kid. Which is to say: This is an instrumental rap album about being a kid and riding your bike through nature. If you look at it from a certain angle, it’s practically chillwave.
There aren’t any diffuse underwater synths here, though. As a producer, Oddisee has long been in a the neo-traditionalist boom-bap camp. His beats for Diamond District and other D.C. types owe a lot to Pete Rock; they’re all neck-snap snares and floating horn samples. And more than most of the modern-day producers who work that sound, Oddisee’s got a sense of cinematic grace in his style. The lived-in warmth of orchestral ’70s soul is an actual aesthetic basis for this guy; it’s not just a source of sounds for him to chop up in ProTools. His beats always sound heavy and full, not thin like those of so many other producers, which is the main reason why he’s able to put together a full-on instrumental album without letting things get boring.
Only one track on Rock Creek Park features vocals: Opener “Still Doing It,” which has a verse from fellow Diamond District member yU. After that, it’s all impressionistic drum-ripples and dizzy soul strings. There are samples in there, but Oddisee also used live-band arrangements. The production walks a tight-line, staying away from looped-up monotony on one side and session-player gloss on the other. And so the whole thing breezes by in 43 ridiculously pleasant minutes. Oddisee’s named the tracks after specific local geography (“Beach Dr.,” “Clara Barton”) or specific memory-trigger phrases (“Skipping Rocks,” “All Along The River”). And even though it’s not generally wise to read too much emotional connection into instrumental music, the album really does evoke the beauty and solitude of being a kid alone in a park, and traces of the clatter of the city around it also creep in. It’s a deeply pretty and thoughtful piece of music, and it deserves your $8, or at least your 43 minutes.
Stream and/or buy Rock Creek Park at this Bandcamp page.

TiRon & Ayomari - A Sucker For Pumps

The homies TiRon & Ayomari have recently released their latest project "A Sucker For Pumps". It's a concept album about love & relationships & it's amazing! I produced "Fin", the outro track for this album. I'm extremely proud to be apart of such a complete record. Don't take my word for it, give it a listen & if you like it buy it.

Purchase

Bandcamp | iTunes

Came Through With The Chopper & They Got My Man

Working on music today & looked out my window to see the city taking down this tree. Now you'll be able to see completely into my place, thanks.

Mattered Much Feat. Olivier Daysoul

Went ahead & put some vocals on "Mattered Much", a track from my "Rock Creek Park" album. Olivier Daysoul is featured on the chorus.



Rock Creek Park is now available on CD today, click on the links below to order it. It's also still available on iTunes