Future Rappers and Plans for this blog

I don't have any specific plans. However, I think that I won't be posting much on it for awhile. This is for a variety of reasons. One reason is facebook. I've just been posting links on facebook. It's easier, and I get instant reactions. Another reason is that blogger doesn't work as well on my mac. I tried posting the other night and it was just frustrating. I have become sucked into this mode of instant gratification. So, if you want to keep up with my doings, you should add me as a friend on facebook. Start a profile on facebook if you don't have one. Everyone is on it now.

Speaking of instant gratification, Volume 2 of the Ero Gray produced Land of a Thousand Rappers has been released. "DADDY WARBUCK$" (Notice the dollar sign.) And best of all, it's totally free. (And totally strange...much more bizarre than the first one.) I haven't formed an opinion about this project yet, but I think this sort of bizarro freeform strangeness is good for hip hop. Also, the production is really interesting, it's definitely worth a listen. Here's the link. Or here's the direct link to

the download

. (instant gratification.) Psychedelic beats, and vocals like a psychedelic guitar solo.

Speaking of which, you NEED to buy Castanets City of Refuge, and it's companion volume Dub Refuge. I HIGHLY recommend them both. Castanets could be possibly categorized as "Freak Folk" or "Weird Folk." It's not really that weird though; it's just very space-shot and emanating with the desolation of the plains. City of Refuge is available on CD, but Dub Refuge is only available on vinyl and itunes. I just downloaded them a few days ago and I was mighty impressed. Now I'm going to copy and paste all of this onto a facebook post.

Ero Vs. Castanets

Here's a good review of A&S lurker Ero Gray's dub re-interpretation of Castanet's City of Refuge. From the review:

If Raymond Raposa's album is what despair in the desert sounds like, then Gray's version, Dub Refuge, is what that same despair sounds like when it echoes and thumps inside your lonely, parched skull.

You would be insane not to want a piece of this.

Here's the link to it on Asthmatic Kitty.
Congrats to heroic Ero, dub-man, poet of the dessert of the real.

Castanets and Ero Gray

Ero is famous in my book. He's on metacritic!

City Of Refuge by Castanets
The fourth album for the indie rock band features guest appearances by Jana Hunter, Sufjan Stevens, Dawn Smithson, Scot Tuma, and Ero Gray.

Here's the AMG listing.

Ero's Second Asthmatic Kitty

My buddy Ero has produced an album of Future Rap. Click on the link and you will see his bald, smiling head. This is his second production job for Sufjan Steven's label, Asthmatic Kitty. Exciting stuff. I will buy it when I get to a decent record shop, cause I still got money left over from my last gig! Yagahoo!