Raphael Saadiq | Radio (Video)

Here is the first set of visuals from Stone Rollin'.

"Radio," the first single from Raphael Saadiq's fifth album SR', finds the singer-songwriter emulating the early R+B roots of rock + roll.

The song owes a lot to early, gritty, up-tempo tunes like Barrett Strong's "Money," but as with all Saadiq productions, the sound is slick and utterly modern.


*Fr1st spotted at 2DB. 

Lee "Scratch" Perry | Reggae's Mad Scientist

Lee "Scratch" Perry is the psychedelic godfather of reggae, the mad scientist of dub and the producer of Super Ape and Bob Marley's early hits to the Clash's "Complete Control." His music and antics are the stuff of legend, and in the new documentary The Upsetter, filmmakers Ethan Higbee and Adam Bhala Lough take a never-before-seen look at the artist Rolling Stone calls "Reggae's Mad Scientist" in RS 1108/09, Jul. 8-22, 2010. In addition to interviews with Perry, The Upsetter features extensive archival footage from the musician's own collection.

More after the jump…

Rolling Stone [Indonesia] | Jimi's [Hendrix] Last Ride

I concluded reading RS1101, print version, which includes 'Jimi's Last Ride'. Wanting to share (during my read of the article I tweeted some of Jimi's intriguing comments) and apropos to my Kronos post I looked for the article online and was only able to find a partial article in Indonesian.

Fulsome presents: RS's 'Jimi's Last Ride' translated by Google. Enjoy...


+JH | RS
++Jimi Hendrix, 'Valleys of Neptune' | Spinner

SITE SPECIFIC: Where Indie Hip-Hop Lives

Entire article: Rolling Stone: 3/31/08, 1:45 pm EST by Evan Serpick:

New sites cater to the discriminating consumer of online rap

Hip-hop singles are top sellers at iTunes, but the genre’s albums sell poorly online — only seven percent of hip-hop full-lengths sold are downloaded, versus ten percent of albums overall. Still, indie-rap fans are a different breed. “They’re buying complete albums — they have favorites, they can name the classics,” says Jay Andreozzi, general manager of Amalgam Digital. Below, a few new sites catering to indie-rap consumers.

Amalgam Digital

This indie label/retailer, which sells unprotected MP3s, makes deals with artists to offer albums with exclusive bonus tracks and videos. They recently signed ex-Def Jam MC Joe Budden (above) and released his digital-only album, Mood Muzik 3.5, with a cappella versions of all the songs. The site is also packed with intel for hip-hop heads, including interviews with artists such as Wale and Ill Bill.

HipHopSite

When Las Vegas record store HipHopSite closed last year, the operation moved online, building an impressive digital-download outlet. The exclusive stock includes singles and digi-LPs and -EPs from the likes of Talib Kweli and J Dilla, and digital-only mixtapes, including the “Preemptive Hype” series, featuring and KRS-One, Common and Method Man.

Definitive Jux

This iconic label’s site is home to a wealth of downloads from the biggest names in indie rap: and Aesop Rock, El-P, RJD2 and more. Though it already hosts exclusive tracks and EPs by these artists, the site will expand to include releases from other indie labels later this year.

Fake Tits of the Music Industry

Below find excepts from Rolling Stone's REVIEW NEW CDS entitled: Disco-Cyborg Takeover from the Alternate Takes subsection by Jow Levy:

...You know the sound pf Auto-Tune, at least pushed to its limits, when it produces the Vocoder-like Buy You a Drank and other summer ubiquities such as Rihanna's Umbrella or Sean Kingston's Beautiful Girls. All of them deploy the digital effect that comes when vocals are tuned too tight, a quavering disco-cyborg melisma that's become the keynote of so much of the Top Forty.
Auto-Tune is infamous for making possible careers that would never exist without it, allowing the turd polishing (as producers call it) that can turn well-packaged mediocre singers into stars. But used sparingly, it allows producers to seamlessly correct flat or sharp notes - literally to pull them in line with proper pith on a computer display - and it's likely that most of what you hear today is pitch corrected in one place or another. Not because vocalist can't sing - because they can't sing perfectly [I defer dramatically here as if your pitch vacillates and as a consequence you're pitch cacophonous - leave the singing to the Jill Scotts and Omars of said genre and/or sub-genre - you remaining oblique-pitchers face a corner as I instructed Swiss Beats months back]. "Auto-Tune is like the fake tits of the music industry," says one producer. That is, it both creates and fulfills inhuman standards of beauty.
Auto-Tune is nothing new, and neither is that disco-cyborg effect, which powered Cher's Believe nine years ago. There's no more sense in complaining that it's fake than there was in bitching about drum machines twenty years ago. But it dominates the current moment, for better or worse. It merges the singer and the track, reducing everything to technology, which is perfect for ringtones or music on YouTube. It has its uses. But it rarely sustains more than a song. Try listening to Rihanna's entire album (which has sold sluggishly, despite a massive hit single)and you'll soon know the truth of the philosophy limed by Justin Timberlake in the hook of 50 Cent's new single:"I'm tired of using technology/Why don't you sit down on top of me? "Sometimes, you want the human touch, even if it's a wobbly ... vocals no one was ever supposed to hear.

+Article available at Playahata l Rolling Stone (Source)
+Zapp & Roger: the original vocorder augmentor line-steppers: Elvis Pelvis l Official Site l Rhapsody l Yahoo! Music