In Depth by Kyle Ellison
As well as a round-up of recent noteworthy mixtapes, this edition of Champion Sound sees us speak with LA beatmaker Samiyam, whose new LP on Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder label was released in late June. The eponymous Sam Baker’s Album has been one of the label’s most hotly anticipated releases, following in the footsteps of an encouraging debut, Rap Beats Vol. 1, and subsequent EPs on Hyperdub and Poobah. Needless to say, the record did not disappoint, and we caught up with Baker to chat hip hop, mixtapes and the LA beats scene.»
In Depth by Rory Gibb
For this edition of Subliminal Transmissions, we offer some thoughts on the increasing convergence/irrelevance of genre in a web-driven world, and the rise (and rise) of R'n'B signifiers in UK bass sounds.»
In Depth by Adam Johns
So Beats week is over, next week we go back to our regularly scheduled program of writing about effete Brits and anonymous Swedish chillwave producers. It's been a wild ride; writing about Dipset, getting twitter-beefed (erm LA weekly, we're a website, not a blog, and we don't appreciate you miscategorizing our work like that).»
In Depth by Philip Bloomfield
Of all the musical game changers of the last decade, the internet has quite clearly been the biggest one. In fact, it might just be the biggest bombshell dropped on the music industry since Elvis started shaking hips and breaking rules. The existence of this very site is testament to the unique power it has: breaking down borders and barbed wire fences between fan and artist, critic and aficionado. Yet not everyone has greeted it with open arms: record company execs and artists spend sleepless nights worrying about the scourge of freely available music for guilt-free, cost-free download eating into their livelihoods. First it giveth, then it taketh away, indeed.»
In Depth by Robert Fedderson
This is our attempt as hip-hop aficionados to take a step back and point out the few times when things got too ridiculous even for us. Many of them involve Cam’ron and Kanye West. Go figure.»
In Depth by Adam Johns
For anyone who thinks commerce diminishes music, I present a counter-argument: Crunk'n'b. Since the beginning of time, rap and Rn'B have been cross-pollinating in a for-the-most-part nakedly commercial arrangement: Rn'B singers get rappers to guest on their songs, increasing their potential sales base beyond the female/loverboy marketplace and toughening things up for "the streets" (i.e. the suburbs)....»
In Depth by Wendy Roby
Lore, it is a proper mixed bag of amazingness this week. In the end, Summer Camp steal it; their blonde, beachy hair and mournful pop being a fitting soundtrack, now the weather has gone all peachy. »
In Depth by Sean Adams
If you don't know the dealio already, these weekly mixtape-like playlists, they're just a collection of songs with links to content. CLICK HERE to fire up the playlist in Spotify (available for free in most countries here) and listen whilst reading all the below if you haven't done so already... »
In Depth by Luke Slater
Yo. This week's 'content in the form of a playlist' Spotify playlist is here, so I'm gonna cut the crap and just get to it. Go here to get this week's Spotifriday playlist.»
In Depth by Adam Anonymous
Adam Anonymous guides us through his favourite hip-hop cuts of 2008»
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