Cannonball Jane

Whenever I hear the name Jane I can't help thinking about a high school friend of mine (spelled "Jayne"). She was one of maybe three people from my school I hung out with my senior year. When I attended a reunion recently my wife asked me, not facetiously, "Are you even going to know anyone here?" The only person I could think of was Jayne, but I knew she wouldn't be there. Like me, Jayne was slightly anti-social. As I expected, no Jayne. But you know how high school reunions put you in that nostalgic mood/mode? Thus affected, I did some internet sleuthing and actually tracked Jayne down, an entire continent away, hoping to say hello and catch up. I left two awkward voice messages (it's impossible to sound casual, as if I hadn't talked to her for a week when in fact it had been years). Did Jayne call back? Nope. Made me feel even more awkward, like I was some creepy internet stalker!

I think if Jayne's personality were more like Cannonball Jane's music we would've had a nice conversation, shared a few good laughs, and traded our latest listens and reads. See, Cannonball Jane is playful, colourful (Jayne was from England—she made me use British spellings), and obviously up for some fun. By day Cannonball Jane teaches elementary school. By night Jane, aka Sharon Hagopian, fires up the beatbox, guitars, synths and gadgets and records a groovin' pastiche of hip hop, new wave, and sixties pop. A mix of Soul Coughing and Luscious Jackson, Mary Tyler Moore and Solex. This is the kind of woman I'd trust to educate my children and school me in the ways of beats and breaks and dance party extravaganzas. Hey, sounds a lot like Alisa, the woman I married. Who, by the way, tracked down one of her old high school friends during a reunion year. And he called her back! Who wouldn't? She's fun like that.

The Secret Handshake [MP3, 3.3MB, 128kbps]

Stream the Knees Up! EP

www.myspace.com/gaddycatrecords
www.cannonballjane.com

Steinski

Someday, when every respectable university offers sampling/remix/mashup culture curricula and tweed jackets are replaced by hoodies, expect to find lectures devoted to a particular five minutes and 23 seconds of musical history: Double Dee and Steinski's "The Payoff Mix." The track, an entry by a couple of first-time bedroom producers to a remix contest put on by Tommy Boy Records in 1983, has shaped both underground and popular music for decades (two and a half to be exact) and still stands on its own two legs... The technique of audio juxtaposition and recontextualization (otherwise known as "rewind moments") and even the specific samples the duo used on that pioneering track have become as common to hip-hop, remixes, and mash-ups as backspins and "yes y'alls" — if you can't help but read, "And, say children, what does it all mean?" in the voice of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia (even if you had no idea who you were imitating) you've been affected by Double Dee and Steinski.

Steinski's musical "career" started much later than most; he was 32 years old when he created "The Payoff Mix" and didn't make any money from the record because it was comprised entirely of illegal samples. This makes the thorough and long-overdue Steinski retrospective, What Does It All Mean? 1983-2006, all the more impressive as you take in the full range of his work — everything from "The Lessons" (the first three tracks he made with Double Dee) to his audio documentaries of the JFK assasination and 9/11 to an hour-long mashup bonanza he produced for Coldcut's Solid Steel show on the BBC. Class is in session...

The Payoff Mix
Lesson 2 (James Brown Mix)
Lesson 3 (History of Hip Hop)

illegalart.net
www.steinski.com

Rench

Nope, I didn't mess up on those genres up there. Rench is a Brooklyn-based producer who mixes old bluegrass and country samples with a standup band that includes slide guitar and fiddle, and he pulls it all together with hip hop beats and splits vocals between country guys and gals and underground emcees from around the way. If your head's about to explode, join the club. The mere thought of it in abstract made me think of those fun but mostly throwaway "crossovers" like Hayseed Dixie and The Gourds' "Gin & Juice." But hey, if Snoop Dogg's gonna show up at the CMT Awards and Clinton and Obama are gonna keep fighting over who really has his or her finger on the pulse of America, we may as well get down to mashups of extreme urban and rural. And you will get down. It doesn't all work, but when Rench hits it, which is done particularly deftly on "Street Soldier" and "Oh Sleeper," you can truly imagine Gangstagrass blasting from Escalades on Flatbush and F-150's in the Appalachians. As for "Come Back to Brooklyn," it won me over by capturing the spirit of my former borough and the downhome hospitality of my new southern environs. It's a toe-tapper and a window-rattler.

Street Soldier (Deep Thoughts) [MP3, 3.1MB, 128kbps]
Oh Sleeper [MP3, 5.2MB, 192kbps]
Theme from Mean Season [MP3, 4.9MB, 192kbps]
Get On It (Deep Thoughts and Kaz Mir) [MP3, 2.9MB, 128kbps]
Come Back to Brooklyn [MP3, 4.6MB, 192kbps]
Download Full Gangstagrass Mix [ZIP, 72MB]

www.renchaudio.com
myspace.com/renchaudio

Honey Claws

As most of the music world heads to Austin, Texas this week for the annual South By South West music festival I'm stuck here in my front bedroom doing the virtual bar crawl hunting for something new to listen to and re-living past SXSWs. Honey Claws is just the sort of thing I'd hope to run into at 1 A.M. my feet weary from the walking, my head hurting from all the rocking, but these grooves would buoy me up for another couple hours. These two tracks sound a bit like Nine Inch Nails tempered and mellowed through Beck's beatbox and microphone. The rest of the album will take you on a wild bounce deep into the heart of Austin's freak-hop-tronic scene. Sure, that may just be the Honey Claws' garage but bigger things have blossomed from humbler origins.

SXSW showcase: Wednesday night @ 115 Club.

Villains [MP3, 4.8MB, 256kbps]
July [MP3, 4.8MB, 256kbps]

www.honeyclaws.com
www.myspace.com/honeyclaws

Meanest Man Contest

Like the 3hive crew, Meanest Man Contest connected in college while involved with the student newspaper. Unlike Meanest Man Contest, we haven't collectively produced any original work (save for a few exceptions). We've spent most of our collective efforts talking up (via the airwaves, a print magazine and CD store—ah, those were the days) our favorite new artists such as Oakland duo Meanest Man Contest. These mild-mannered beat makers and rhyme sayers are steadily building their arsenal releasing tracks with Plug Research, RCRDLBL, Sneak Move, and Gold Robot, as well as showcasing their remixing skills working with the likes of Thee More Shallows, a track that MMC is kindly debuting today at 3hive. Their sound knows no bounds, from the smooth and easy flowing "I Was Only Kidding" to the dark and apocalyptic "Throwing Away Broken Electronics," to the outright bouncy "We Wouldn't Want It Any Other Way." Don't believe their moniker for a minute, Meanest Man Contest are nice boys making nice music.

Thee More Shallows - "Night at the Knight School" (Meanest Man Contest remix) [MP3, 4.7MB, 192kbps]
I Was Only Kidding [MP3, 4.4MB, 192kbps]
We Wouldn't Want It Any Other Way [MP3, 4.2MB, 192kbps]
Some People (Just Get Off on Breaking
Hearts) [MP3, 6.4MB, 192kbps] *Not Safe For Work
Throwing Away Broken Electronics [MP3, 3.0MB, 160kbps] *NSFW

www.meanest.net

Take

Take's rich, melodic take on downtempo made his gorgeous 2007 debut LP Earthtones and Concrete more than a clever title, but the flag-planting of a new genre. Now Mr. Thomas Wilson has brought some remixes and collabos together for The Plus Ultra EP, where things get a bit electrospacey but no less warm and nuanced. Do yourself a favor and go straight to eMusic for the full album and EP.

from Earthtones and Concrete (2007):
Slouched Over (12" Edit) [MP3, 8.8MB, 320kbps]
from The Plus Ultra EP (2008):
Like a Drum (Take & Domu Collaboration) [MP3, 8.1MB, 320kbps]

www.myspace.com/takeisme
www.innercurrent.com

Sneaky

Sneaky is the double-bassist from the UK pluckin' and scratchin' outfit Fingathing. His debut EP Feel Like a King is due sometime this spring and promises more pluckin' than scratchin'...natch. The lead track, "Beduija," has a nice curried flavor to it.

Beduija [MP3, 4.7MB, 192kbps]

www.thisissneaky.co.uk