Buy Attention Deficit here.

Alot of very good albums that have dropped towards the back end of 2009 have gone ‘unreviewed’ here on TrueToSound. Obviously. it would take a while to get through and review all of them so I’ve decided to shorten the process and say a few words on a handful. In no particular order:

Fabolous – Losos Way

In my eyes, Fabolous is one of the most underrated rappers on the hip-hop scene. Despite this album going straight to #1 in the Billboard album chart upon its release, I still dont feel Fab gets the recognition he deserves. Losos Way is awash with killer production, witty, clever metaphors over hard beats and features some very good guest appearances. If it wasn’t for a very good return from Hov, I’d say this is the best hip-hop album of the year. A very good album from a very good MC.

Favourite Track: Money Goes, Honey Stay (Feat. Jay-Z)
Watch out For: The Way (Intro) – One of the hardest intro tracks I’ve ever heard.

Jay-Z – Blueprint 3

Many thought Hovs next project wont be able to fulfil the bar set by the two previous Blueprint LP’s .. They were wrong!

The anticipation for this was huge. Jay-Z did a ridiculous amount of promo for it too. He appeared on practically every TV talk show there is, in the run up to its release. Helped with the success of DOA and Run This Town, this went straight in at #1. Packed with hits. Some dope features, the best production and hard lyrics makes this just about the best hip-hop album of the year for me.

Favourite Track: Venus vs. Mars
Next Single Should Be: Off That (Feat. Drake)

KiD CuDi – Man on the Moon: End of Day

The Moon Man delivered here. At the start of the year, when Day N Nite was being played on every radio station, every music channel and every iPod worldwide, I was thinking .. Cudi cant really do much better than his epic mixtape that landed last year. He silenced me and I’m sure many others with this album. I dont know if you can call this hip-hop as its very different from your Jay-Z’s and Fabolous’ but either way, Kanye has a gem here. An amazing album from the Cudder.

Favourite Track: Heart of a Lion (Theme Music)
Watch out for: Pursuit of Happiness (Feat. MGMT & Ratatat) – Deserves to be big.

50 Cent – Before I Self Destruct

I read reviews of this and people were saying that this is as good as ‘The Massacre’ and some of 50′s earlier work. Thats rubbish.

Maybe I’m slightly bias but this wasnt a good album for me. Poor sales, little promotion and lack of originality from 50 and Interscope. I’ve had two and a half albums of him saying how he is gonna kill me and leave me in a body bag and all that shit. I dont need another one. Not a fan.

Watch Out For: Do You Think About Me? – Very good video.

Wale: Attention Deficit

Apparently his label underhsipped this massively and that led to the album floppinngggg in the sales charts. This project did something like 25,000 first week which is diabololical considering albums like BP3 are still shifting 40,000 4months after release. I feel for him in that sense but also feel an overall sense of underwelm for the album.

Favourite Track: Let it Loose (Feat. Pharrell)
Watch Out For: 90210 and ‘Beautiful Bliss (Feat. J Cole and Melanie Fiona)’ – J. Cole goes IN.

So there are five that should tide you over. I’ve still missed out several albums including the likes of Trey Songz, Mr. Hudson, Rihanna, Ryan Leslie and a whole load of UK artists I havent even ventured into. Stay tuned for more.

Okay a brief post today. Just a round up of all the things I’ve accumulated lately.

I mentioned in my last post that I will be tweeting any pieces of information that pops up like artworks/tracklists/videos that are released onto the world of blog. I have been sticking to my work and doing just that. Incase you aren’t following me and have missed some of my tweets, heres a re-cap of the things that have surfaced lately.

- Robin Thicke – Meiple (Feat. Jay-Z). I loved Robin Thicke’s last project and I personally can’t wait for his latest album Sex Therapy landing soon. This is a top song and features a good verse from Hov. Nice track.

- Robin Thicke ‘Sex Therapy’ – Album Artwork. Not the best album art you’ll ever see but hey, its the music that counts right?!

Sex Therapy is scheduled for release on the 15th of Decemeber. Pre-Order it here.

- Clipse – Till The Casket Drops Artwork x Tracklist . I really cant wait for this album. Looks insane.

- Clipse – Doorman [OFFICIAL VIDEO]. This is another reason why I look forward to the album. All the leaks so far have been quality. The production by the Neptunes is fire as usual. Dope track.

Till The Casket Drops lands on December 8. Pre-Order it Here.

Next up, Lady Gaga’s latest video. Never really got into GaGa; just don’t really like her music. She knows how to sell records though. This video is nuts.

Finally some Deadmau5 I stumbled across. I never really got into the album. Didn’t really live up to the hype for me. This tune is pretty damn good though. No idea if its old or new, its just epic.

Deadmau5 – Arguru

I will continue to post new shit on Twitter. Follow me here for all that. Rihannas latest album ‘Rated R’ has suffered the dreaded internet leak 10 days before scheduled release. I streamed it online last night and I must say I really liked it. The production from Chase & Status is really good and ‘Hard (Feat. Jeezy)’ is a top tune. Wale’s latest album ‘Attention: Deficit’R has been growing on me a lot too lately. I will do a feature on one of those two soon.

Peace.

Firstly some news! Thanks to Lil Wayne HQ for announcing that Rebirth will be released the same day as The Carter IV. Honestly, I’m much more excited for The Carter IV. I mean, I don’t think I’ve even heard a potential lead single off the album yet but there are 2 months to go till released and a lot can change in that time. Strategic move from Wayne though – Rebirth has been postponed multiple times and obviously the record label don’t have much faith in it. Wayne wants it out there so by dropping it on the same day as The Carter IV, hopefully he can distract from the disappointment of Rebirth. Of course, Rebirth could be brilliant for all I know. I’m just not feeling the tracks to date..

Another album which has had numerous delays is Lil Jon’s “Crunk Rock.” Despite an initial release date of mid-2006, more than 3 years later the album from the king of crunk is still awaited, however odds are neither Tinchy Stryder or RedOne would have been involved with the album had it been released in 2006, so delaying it may have had a positive effect. That brings me to the new song – “Taking Over” – which features Tinchy Stryder and could be a chance for him to make headway in the US. It hasn’t been officially confirmed if it is produced by RedOne, I’m just basing this on a few facts:

1. It has the “Eyyy” echo in the chorus which RedOne uses on a lot of tracks he produces (Remedy, Fire Burning, Unstoppable etc.)
2. Has the like “Synth down” sort of sound effect – Which was featured in Poker Face just before it enters the chorus
3. Has the same indivdual note or whatever it is that featured at the end of every line in of a verse in Just Dance and I could swear features in another song. Can’t place it atm though.

Anyway, I still enjoyed the song – Check it out below in the form of the worst radio rip I’ve heard. Well, not worst.. lowest bit rate if itunes it to be believed.

Lil Jon – Taking Over (Feat Tinchy Stryder) [Produced by RedOne... Probably]

Crunk Rock is expected sometime in November. I wouldn’t place a pre-order yet though.

Anyway that turned out longer than I wanted. I’ll also post an old Nneka track. The RnB/Soul singer had a hit recently in the UK with Heartbeat – with a little help from Chase & Status. I even bought the track, however it was the remix I purchased mostly because it has Chase & Status’s name on it. Moving on, I recently got an old Nneka song form 2005 in the shape of “The Uncomfortable Truth” – and I really enjoyed it. The production is really nice with the brass instruments and relaxed drum beat, and that’s not even mentioning the impressive vocal performance from Nneka herself. She already has a big fan base but with her first US release coming up in February, she looks set to gain a large amount of new fans.

Nneka – The Uncomfortable Truth

Hmm I wanted to post more but I’ll leave that for tomorrow now I guess, although I’ll quickly post 1 last song. There’s some remix (?) of the Noisettes “Don’t Upset The Rhythm” which features Wale & Estelle. I’ve heard it’s the US release of the single but I just can’t see it. It’s produced by, guess who, RedOne and features some pretty similar production to some parts of Poker Face – Wale even references it in his lyrics. It’s a couple of days old but I arguably like it more than the original. Check it out below.

Noisettes – Don’t Upset The Rhythm (Feat. Wale & Estelle)

The Croydon-born dubstep legend Skream has been dropping a few remixes lately, but the one that i just cant get out of my head is the remix to Chromeo’s Night By Night. The original itself is quite a chilled out track and to be fair the dubstep remix doesn’t really deviate from the original path, but thats not necessarily a bad thing. The bass drops are frequent, the chorus is catchy as fuck and on top of that Skream dropped it in 320, it really doesn’t get much better…

Chromeo – Night By Night (Skream Remix)

By now you might have gathered I love Nero. They’ve been dropping some of the hottest remixes of ’09 and it seems there’s no stopping them. Hypercaine, is the new single from drum & bass artist DJ Fresh and was released towards the end of September. The Nero remix is on the b-side and it generally has a very upbeat feel to it. The track actually flips from the high tempo vocals to the slow-ish yet heavy dubstep bass on the drop. It’s definitely worth a listen or two.

DJ Fresh –  Hypercaine (Nero Dubstep Remix)

To finish off with i’ve got some new Wale straight from his twitter. He’s been dropping a few tracks from his twitter recently and this one has to be my favourite. Entitled Fly Away, it’s nowhere near his best, the quality isn’t exactly brilliant but his flow is still tight and the lyrics are on form as usual. I don’t mind Wale releasing all these ‘extra’ tracks but like most people i’m just itching to get my hands on ‘Attention Deficit’ so i can really know what he’s capable of making. So far so good though…

Wale – Fly Away

Attention Deficit is out November 3rd. Pre-Order it Here.

Been a pretty slow day for music tbh. Wale. A rapper who has been on the scene for a while now. New mixtape ‘Back to the Feature’ was acclaimed by critics but didnt really impress me a great deal. Got a lot of popularity for collaborating with Lady GaGa on the tune Chillin. Ace tune to be fair. Deserves all the credibility it gets. The Knocks have made their own remix of the track and that has surfaced inthe past 24 hours. Pretty good atually. Some good synths, keeps all the vocals and actually challenges the original in terms of goodness. I like it.

Wale – Chillin (Feat. Lady GaGa) (The Knocks Remix)

In 2009, I have been listening to alot more dubstep and electro music. There are a few guys on the scene that always catch my eye. Caspa, Skream, Benga, Roska etc. All of them are pretty damn good at what they do. I always look out for Joker + Ginz too. Their work on Basement Jaxx’s ‘Raindrops’ was top notch. I found a .zip file today featuring two tracks from Joker. These were released around spring time but tbh I dont give a shit. They’re fucking sick. A must download for any dubstep fan.

Joker – Do It
Joker – Psychedelic Runway

I will finish with a dope dose of nostalgia. Back in the day, of old school grime and garage, So Solid Crew used to ‘run tings.’ They were the shit. 21 Seconds was, and still is massive. If the guys were smart, most of them would still easily have enough money to this day from their musical ventures back at the turn of the century. Oxide & Neutrino were generals of the dance/rave scene back then. Who can forget the unforgettable masterpiece ‘Casualty Theme Tune Riddim’ which again, still sounds epic to this day. Seriously, old skool > new skool. I’d stick my neck out and say stuff like this is better than the majority of the tracks we hear today. Vintage dubstep ..

Oxide & Neutrino – Bound 4 Da Reload (Casualty)

Well Geo posted about Fake Blood‘s remix of Calvin Harris’ ‘Ready For The Weekend’ whilst I was away and even though it was only a rip I thought it was pretty good. The full version has leaked (albeit not in 320) and its still a very nice remix on the whole. Been listening to the original more recently and can’t say I’m that much of a fan really, prefer both this and the High Contrast mixes.

Calvin Harris – Ready For The Weekend (Fake Blood Remix)

After the latest Crookers leak, which contained a fairly big name in Kardinal Offishall, the apparent first single from their upcoming album has also surfaced, though not in a good quality rip. It features Kelis, another artist on the more urban side of things, and Crookers seem to have added a dubstep feel to the track. The preview is REALLY low quality so there’s not much point posting it but I shall anyway.

Crookers – No Security (feat. Kelis) (LQ Rip)

Big things are expected of Frankmusik this year, with his debut album coming out as well as tonnes of other stuff he’s producing for other artists (namely Holly Valance, who is now his girlfriend!). Anyhow, this new track, a collaboration with TEef, called ‘Take ‘im Out’, has a grime element to it (though I don’t know who the rapper is seeing as I thought TEef was just a producer) which works pretty well with Frank’s glitchy electro-poppy style.

TEef vs Frankmusik – Take ‘im Out

And lastly The Kickdrums have been doing fairly big things this year, with their debut album and numerous other productions, but most recent is their remix of the sublime ‘Nothing To Worry About’ by Peter Bjorn and John. I don’t think anything will top the original, although the Troublemaker remix is a brilliant rap take on it, but this remix is quite good anyway. It changes the chorus, doesn’t make it worse, just changes it. Its got Wale, Young Chris & Rhymefest on it, though I do prefer the likes of Adam Tensta on Troublemaker’s version. Worth a listen anyway. (And if anyone can tell me what song the low-pitched voice at around 0:24 is from I’d appreciate it.. been bugging me for a while now!).

Peter Bjorn and John – Nothing To Worry About (Kickdrums Remix) (Feat. Wale, Young Chris & Rhymefest)

Wale is slowly growing in stature. His new mixtape has received critical acclaim from reviewers and is a marked improvement on all of his previous tapes, but I personally cant really see the attraction. I mean, yeah he’s got bars but barring ‘Chillin’ and ‘Nike Boots (feat. Lil Wayne)’ I think he is distinctly meh. More to the point though, his latest tune is meant to be off his first studio album ‘Attention Deificit’ which should drop sometime this year. If you like Wale, you’ll like this. Otherwise, again, it’s abit meh.

Wale – Pretty Girls

MSTRKRFT disappointed many with their latest album ‘Fist of God.’ It promised alot but never really reached the heights that it should’ve reached. There is no question that Bounce featuring N.O.R.E. and ISIS was a hit. However, that was released over a year ago. The latest single receiving a mainstream promotional push is Heartbreaker featuring vocals from John Legend. Not a bad track by any stretch of the imagination, but I stumbled accross a remix by Laidback Luke which is just as good. If not better.

MSTRKRFT – Heartbreaker (Featuring John Legend) (Laidback Luke Remix)

My very very very first post on truetosound was about who I thought my favourite UK MC was. Kano has always been a firm favourite of mine and every album has never really disappointed. He is dropping lots of new freestyles over popular beats via his Twitter page. I am telling you, Twitter is pretty sick. Follow me here, drop me a comment and I will try and get back at ya. This particular freetyle is over NoID‘s massive ‘Death of Autotune’ beat and it got something like six pull-ups when MistaJam premiered it on 1XTRA. I don’t even think its THAT good and Kano with autotune is a massive fail. But check it out nonetheless.

Kano – D.O.E. (Death of Everything)

Finally, on a more positive note, a tune that I have been whoring massively since the Black Eyed Peas dropped The E.N.D. I actually really like the album and love their new sound they seem to be churning out. This particular tune was just stuck in my head sometime last week and Will.I.Am on the hook is just straight fire.

Black Eyed Peas – Ring-A-Ling

That wraps up my post today. I was gutted I didnt get tickets to O2 Wireless in the end. It looked epic. Semtex has loadsa videos of the main acts on his blog, so check them out. CuDi killed it.

But yeah, wish me luck for my Junior Apprentice interview today and ensure you follow me on Twitter. Peace.

I was thinking about autotune the other day, and if just because Jay-Z hates it, the rest of the music industry will follow suit and stop using it. He describes the use of it as making the great recession more like the great depression. Personally, I disagree. I think most of the Black Eyed Pea’s new stuff is quite fun and not really depressing, T-Pain’s use of it isn’t really depressing. I mean being totally honest without it, T-Pain would quickly become very average. Autotune just makes a song better in my opinion, when used well (For example, not Lil’ Wayne)

Anyway this brings me swiftly on to Lupe Fiasco’s new song “Shining Down” which features Matthew Santos. A very good song in my opinion, I really hope that more of his new album will be like this. Matthew Santos is as good on the chorus as he always is and Lupe is probably one of my favourite rappers so I’m always going to love him. The autotune on it works as well. Also I really like the production with the guitar in the bg. Great song, check it out below.

Lupe Fiasco – Shining Down (Feat. Matthew Santos)

Next is DJ SexWax’s remix of Daft Punk’s “The Prime Time Of Your Life.” I really like the remix, the vocoded vocals sound good with the fast paced synth in the background which improves on the original in my opinion. I like the big drum beat as well which sounds good throughout.

Daft Punk – The Prime Time Of Your Life (SexWax Remix)

Last song is just a MP3 version of the benazi & Willy joy remix I posted the other day. It’s been a pretty slow day for music which is why I haven’t really got much to post. If you didn’t listen to this remix the other day on vimeo though I recommend you check it out today.

Wale feat. Lady GaGa – Chillin’ (Benzi & Willy Joy Remix)

First song up today is Doorly’s Dubstep Remix of Mr. Hudson’s “Supernova.” It’ s a very good remix as you’d expect from Doorly, I really enjoyed his remixes of Hooligans & Bonkers and so predictably I enjoyed this remix. The thumping baseline and instrumental areas sound really good and this may even edge out Calvin Harris’ remix. Check it out below.

Mr. Hudson – Supernova (Feat. Kanye West) (Doorly’s Dubstep Remix)

We also got sent an EP by Alan Wilkis which has been good. The EP is described as being full of 808s and synth beats, and they are there in abundance. They work well though and really create a sound reminiscent of the 80s. Of course the 80s sound is one which is becoming more popular in mainstream music these days with both Ladyhawke and La Roux having recent success by looking to the 80s for inspiration. Anyway back to Alan Wilkis, his EP “Pink and Purple” is composed of 6 songs which all offer something different vocally and all leave a distinct impression. There are some major artists who had been brought on to add to the songs, but I feel it is Alan’s simple formula which makes the EP what it is and makes it sound appealing. All the tracks are good but I’ll post up my 2 favourites, “Pink and Purple” and “Dance With You” – between which you can hopefully tell the variation in delivery. If you like fun, synth driven pop you should like this.

Alan Wilkis – Pink and Purple

Alan Wilkis – Dance With You

I was gonna post about Common’s track with The Jonas Brothers here but I won’t as it’s old news now. I’ll post up a couple of Chillin’ remixes instead. First one is the DJ Benzi & Willy Joy Remix of Chillin’ which is REALLY good. An MP3 should be available on DJ Benzi’s website some time in the future but until then you can preview the video on Vimeo. It’s a really good remix. The other remix is the Skratch Bastid Remix of the song. It’s really good as well with its heavy bassline however I think they would have been better off removing GaGa’s vocals completely. The M.I.A. sample that comes in half way through for a few seconds works really well actually – maybe Wale should have ran with that?

Wale feat. Lady GaGa – Chillin’ (Benzi & Willy Joy Remix)

Wale feat. Lady GaGa – Chillin’ (Skratch Bastid Remix)