tuneage : everyone deserves good music

Mayer Hawthorne - “The Ills”

The most striking aspect of my “favorite albums of 2009” is, unfortunately, how little of it I posted to Tuneage! Sure, I posted numerous tracks on my personal Tumblr and another music blog I run and I swore I put at least a few tracks from these albums on Tuneage. Nope. I think I was always planning on posting this or that, but always put those posts on the backburner. Shame on me. I’m not one for New Year’s Resolutions, but I will definitely post more tracks that are close to the heart in 2010. Hell, I’m not one for “best of” lists either, but making a list of personal favorites is a much more desirable task.

Greg’s favorites of 2009:

• Mayer Hawthorne - A Strange Arrangement
• Hypnotic Brass Ensemble - HBE
• Little Dragon - Machine Dreams
• Paul White - The Strange Dreams Of Paul White
• J Dilla - Jay Stay Paid

I never would have thought that Mayer Hawthorne’s debut could end up a favorite like it did, but there’s something undeniably catchy and cool about it. The idea was always interesting: a DJ from the Detroit-area (Ann Arbor) writes, plays, and sings album of straight throwback Motown. But the execution was beyond any expectations I had and he deserves any end-of-year accolades that come his way. Chicago’s Hypnotic Brass Ensemble crafted an album totally worth of their name: brass-only and full of hypnotizing grooves. Little Dragon’s sophomore effort was an enticing affair, to nobody’s suprise. London’s Paul White straight up blew my mind with his debut. He’s emerged as one of the best of the A.D. (After Dilla) generation of beatmakers with Donuts-style bursts of samples condensed into sounds brand new. Jay Stay Paid? Almost four years after J Dilla’s passing, we’re still hearing why he’s the G.O.A.T.

J Dilla ft. Guilty Simpson & Madlib - “Baby”

“Turn it up,” says James Yancey, smooth and calm over his chopped-up strings and horns, before Guilty Simpson’s bass-rap comes in on top of the pitched-up samples.

Part of J Dilla’s genius was his ability to not only flip the emotion of whatever track he was sampling, but flip the very words the original artists used to create sounds and juxtapositions that pushed his music upwards into something completely new (see: Slum Village, “Players,” the chorus of which actually samples The Singers Unlimited’s “Claire.”)

In this case, it’s The Stylistics’ 1980 track “Maybe It’s Love This Time”. The original track is a traditional soul ballad of yearning and want (“Darling, maybe it’s love this time”) but Dilla flips the sounds and the word “maybe” so that each rapper finds himself spitting game to the fairer sex in the traditional way: calling her “baby.” It’s a boastful, up-front song with bravado and confidence, with not an ounce of weeping oh-girl-I-need-you-so to be found.

Originally featured on J Dilla’s The Shining, posthumously released in 2006, “Baby” can be found on Dillanthology 3: Dilla’s Production. This collection samples the producer’s solo albums as well has his noted noted work with Madlib under their Jaylib title. Dillanthology 3 is the final installment of the series and drops on October 13.

Madlib - “J’s Day Theme #3”

February 10th marks the 3-year anniversary of the legendary J Dilla’s passing. The loss of James Yancey continues to be felt in musical circles from jazz to R&B, Detroit to Dubai, and everywhere in between. Despite the earthly void, however, the influence of Dilla continues to shine on.

Today, Stones Throw Records releases the CD version of Madlib’s Beat Konducta Vol. 5-6: A Tribute to… a 42-track sequence in remembrence of J Dilla.