#the last one was a music festival so not a whole lotta people were truly vibing

[theworstcreature]

TMM TOUR SPOILERS BELOW BUT I NEED TO SCREAM ABOUT THIS

OH MY GOD YOU GUYS DURING SGTL AND WSV THEY SAT IN MY SECTION I GOT A VIDEO BUT ITS KINDA SHIT 😭😭😭😭 BUT LIKE AT ONE POINT I WAS LEGIT TEN FEET AWAY FROM JACK OMG IM GONNA REMEMBER IT FOREVER HE WAS RIGHT FUCKING THERE

ALSO DTOML OMG SO GOOD IM STILL GOING INSANE LIKE WHAT

I traded SO MANY BRACELETS with people the AJR fans are SO NICE I LOVED IT

Before the concert even started we were chillin in the stands messing around waving flashlights and bright colors on our phones to people on the OTHER SIDE KF THE STADUIM omg it was so fun

They never played the dumb song or hole in the bottom of my brain tho💔💔💔💔💔

And 2085 STILL absolutely slaughtered me bc honestly how could it NOT

Also I kinda got a PHOTO OF THE BOW ⁉️⁉️

(Technically a screen cap from a video but STILL)

Unrelated but I GOT THE INERTIA SHIRT AND THE PURPLE TOUR SHIRT OH MY GOD THEYRE SO PRETTY IM OBSESSED MY FRIEND GOT THE PURPLE AND THE GREEN SHIRT AND RHE GREEN ONE JS SO SO SO DAMN COOL

Also I’m PROUD to say I got the song breakdown right AGES before my friend did (AND I got dtoml by the first NOTE)

BANG MADE ME LOOSE MY FUCKING SHIT IR WAS SO GOOD AND FUN AND RARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH

INERTIA DAMN NEAR MADE ME COLLAPSE ON THE SPOT IT WAS MAGNIFICENT GRAND BEAUTIFUL AWESOME EVERY POSITIVE DESCRIPTION POSSIBLE

Also the turning out trilogy WAS PLAYED OMFG

Anyways I am not the same person I was on Friday and I need to see that concert like five more times

[machinehead]

CYPRESS HILL

Anybody remember these lyrics…? "Say some punk try to get you for your auto, Would you call the one-time, play the role model? Nooooo, I think you play like a thug Next hear the shot of a magnum slug Hummin', comin' at cha yeah ya know I'm gonna gat ya” Or this one? "Time for some action, just a fraction of friction I got the clearance to run the interference into your sattelite, shinin a battle light, swing out the gat, and I know that will gat ya right? Here's an example, just a little sample. How I could just kill a man!” Or this one "Do my shit undercover Now it's time for for the blubber Blabber To watch dat belly get fatter Fat boy on a diet Don't try it I'll check your ass like a looter in a riot” And that ends with: "Happy face n***a never seen me smile”. Always loved that line! Been on a serious Cypress Hill kick lately. I forgot how good their debut S/T record is!  Maybe that it’s just that it takes me back to that time (1991)? Regardless, I can’t get enough of it right now. I saw that Billy from Biohazard is jamming’ with Cypress Hill’s Sen-Dog in a new band called Powerflo, and that sent me back down the rabbit hole. I first heard about Cypress Hill from a local Bay Area magazine called BAM. It had a hip-hop column that was pretty small, but was often on the pulse of all the new stuff.  I checked ‘em out solely on the advice of the columnist (whose name eludes me) but got hooked instantly. The music was so fresh for the sound at the time, which relied heavily on 60’s psychedelica (sampling Hendrix and a plethora of cool guitar licks for their hooks) and 60’s pop yet with an almost bluesy major key undertone throughout. It sounds crazy to say now, but back then there weren’t a whole lotta’ people singing about weed like these dudes were. That was the surface; party stuff, but there was a real dark feel to the lyrics. The album opener ”Pigs” (about crooked cops) sets the dark tone and then track #2 was, (which ended up being the hit single) “How I Could Just Kill A Man” (which sampled a guitar lick from Jimi Hendrix's “Are You Experienced”) and “Hand On The Pump” (of a shotgun…) taking it even darker, melding the post-Rodney-King-era of Los Angeles, with their South Central, blunted out state of mind. Something about the bluesy feel of the music mixed the B-Real’s nasally almost nursery-rhyme delivery made it all so goddamned catchy you could not get the songs out of your head. One thing I always loved that the main music-crafter DJ Muggs did was he almost always brought in a bridge/key change at the halfway point of each song.  It doesn’t sound like much, but hip hop at the time (and even now) kept the same beat/melody almost entirely the same. They brought terms like “gat,” “blunted,” to the public consciousness. Soon enough every rapper and pop group from Ice Cube to TLC was taking a crack at the Cypress Hill sound with bluesy riffs, and major keys at a time when hip-hop was primarily atonal and noisy (think - Public Enemy). By the time I got into them, I had pretty much stopped smoking weed, but I just loved the vibe that they brought. Genevra and I went and caught them live on this album, they were headlining a small club in San Francisco with a fairly eclectic bill for the time. There was Money B of Digital Underground opening, and pro-African, uber-black-power, also-rans X-Clan (who were never really that good, but dressed so crazy and militant that they stuck out) as main support.  Cypress Hill came on and played a short but inspired set that got the crowd going nuts.  I actually met B-Real before the show, who was just chilling’ in the crowd.  I said “what up B-Real?” He took one look at Genevra (who looked ridiculously hot), gave me a completely dead-fish handshake and started chatting her up.  I was “all right, we're outta here!" It was a great fuckin’ show, the energy, and buzz in the audience was palpable.  Not sure if I would do that now (go to a hip hop club), but I was 20-something and fearless back then. And while the hits from the debut album still resonate with me, it deep album cuts like “Pyschobetabuckdown" and "Latin Lingo" that truly set "the kids from the Hill" apart.  The latter blending english and spanish to form the bi-ligual “Spanglish” that flowed so good when you heard rapper Sen-Dog’s baritone with lines like "Troop like a vacuo, who said I was baracho, had an attitude, tried to play me macho, Just relax, calmado mijo, Sen Dog with the funky bilingual.” I still don’t know what most of it means, but it somehow made sense. I followed them through the next couple records with 2nd album “Black Sunday containing the massive smash hit “Insane In The Membrane,” and the very metal-sounding “We Ain’t Going Out Like That” (which sampled Black Sabbath’s harmonica intro for “The Wizard”).  Overall the album wasn’t as strong.  It seemed rushed with a lot of the exact same lyrical content, though with that said, it still contained one of the most random / awesome lyrical gems with “like a chicken wing, pa-cock, so you can just suck my cock!” in the track “Lil’ Putos.” So fucking random, but every once in a while, I still hum it! Temples Of Boom was the last record I really delved into and it had a few gems like “Throw Your Set In The Air” (as in: your gang set), and the brutally dark Ice Cube diss track “No Rest For The Wicked,” but other than that it was a little all over the place. I didn’t even hear the next album “IV”, but then they came back stronger than ever with 2000’s “Skull & Bones” and the rap/rock cross-over double hit “So You Wanna Be A Rock/Rap Superstar” which they did 2 versions of (a Rap and Rock version) that worked equally strong.  Great storytelling mixed with the realities of being in the music business. They have gone on to become a southern California staple with an semi-annual festival (I think) called The Cypress Hill “Smokeout” (Machine Head played it back in 2000, but we were way out of place).  Last I saw them Cypress killed it, putting on a really good show that showed them evolve into a full live backing band playing along with them. Since I listen to all of my music solely on Spotify, I’ve been playing the latter day tracks and checking out what they’ve been up to (Spotify is GREAT for music discovery, I cannot tell you how many bands / songs I’ve found since going purely Spotify!) and they definitely continued to evolve a bring in some cool new tunes. But if you want to go back in time to 1991 and check out a record that changed shit, a record that hit so hard when it dropped, that was pissed off, a record that even inspired a few of my own lyrics on Burn My Eyes (“Blood For Blood" in particular) check out Cypress Hill’s self titled. Spotify:  Cypress Hill – Cypress Hill YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ7DOkfbgpQ

Subscribe to The General Journals: http://thegeneraljournals.hosted.phplist.com/lists/?p=subscribe

[rbeatz]

Free Press Summer Festival Preview

rBeatz is covering two festivals in one weekend. It’s festival season, and we’re just getting started.

We have photographer, videographer and (occasional) designer, Brian Benton, in the photo pit taking rad pictures and talking to some of the acts at Free Press Summer Festival in Houston, Texas.

The festival started in 2009 to emphasize local musical performers, visual arts and artists. This festival is run by the local independent newspaper, Free Press Houston, and concert promotion company Pegstar.net. The festival focuses on creating a greener experience for the event, implementing a recycling program, carbon offset credits and a partnership with the Texas Campaign for the Environment.

Below, I’ll go into the schedule I’d go on if I were down in Houston. Brian is a different human with different tastes, so he might be interested in catching different acts than myself but that’s okay! People are different and have different opinions on what they like. You might be asking yourself, “WELL WHO THE EF IS THIS GUY?!?!” I’m someone deeply passionate about the arts, music in general, and my tastes lean more towards electronic (sometimes heavier stuff if I’m at a festival), soul/funk, and hip-hop.

I have outlined the acts I’d see in GREEN.  I’ll mention these acts with a short description and a song of theirs I like.

Day 1 – Saturday, June 3rd

Mod Sun

The rapper from Minnesota says his music is about empowerment. “It’s about saying it’s okay to sit by yourself on a Friday night and make music. You’ll never be lonely if you love the person you’re alone with.” His name stands for “Movement On Dreams Stand Under None.”

Khruangbin

The Texas trio takes influence from 1960’s Thai funk. Khruangbin means “Engine Fly” in Thai. Their sound can be described as bass heavy and psychedelic with a tinge of Tarantino soundtracks and surf-rock cool. The band members are Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and Donald “DJ” Johnson on drums.

Vanic

The Vancouver producer has been killing the remix game and is now releasing original productions. Too Soon featuring Maty Noyes is his second original. Pretty good if you ask me.

Anna Lunoe

Australian DJ, vocalist, songwriter and producer kills any stage she’s on. From big festivals to more intimate bar settings.

“I’m your high-heel killer, I’m your midnight thriller, I’m your bass drum dealer – and I always deliver.” Her career really took off after her house collaboration with Touch Sensitive, Real Talk, ended up at #1 on the Beatport Indie Dance Chart for four months straight in 2012.

Fast forward 5 years, and she now broadcasts to over 100 countries on Beats 1 every week. Below is her new single, Godzilla.

Cashmere Cat

The introverted beat-maker is pop’s not-so-secret weapon. He’s produced for Kanye, Ariana Grande and Tinashe. He likes to be more behind the scenes, so I won’t say much else. Below is the only full-length available song on Soundcloud off the Norwegian producers debut studio album, 9. It’s FIRE!

Lil Uzi Vert

All his friends are dead apparently. That’s sad, but 1.5- XO TOUR Llif3 is EVERYWHERE right now. It’s everywhere I turn.

DVBBS

The Canadian electronic duo DVBBS (pronounced “Dubs”) is known for their head-banging live performances. The group is made up of brothers Alexandre and Christopher van den Hoef. They are one of EDMs biggest acts.  Below is their new music video for You Found Me feat. Belly.

Post Malone

Rapper from Syracuse, New York is a phenom. He first started gaining major recognition in 2015 with the release of White Iverson. He released his debut album, Stoney, in December of 2016 and it’s FIRE. Below is his new song, Candy Paint, featured in The Fate of the Furious.

CARNAGE

“Making music is about having an impact,” exclaims Carnage. With a versatile demeanor and deft approach, he mixes electro, hip-hop, pop, and trap into an intoxicating brew of dirt, defiance, and diversity. Carnage is known to destroy festival stages all over the world. Below is his new music video with G-Eazy, Down For Me.

G-Eazy

The Bay area rapper really blew up on my scene after releasing, Me, Myself & I with Bebe Rhexa. He recently released a 4-track EP Maximum.  Listen below.

Day 2 – Sunday, June 4th

Coast Modern

Seattle-native Luke Atlas and LA-local Coleman Trapp create modern alternative music with some rock ethos. Below is their new song, Dive.

Bad Suns

The four-piece band released their Sophomore album, Disappear Here, about 8 months ago. The alternative-rock band formed from a friendship between Christo Bowman (vocals) and Gavin Bennett (bass) in a 7th grade. The pair picked up Miles Morris (drums) and Ray Libby (guitar) along the way. Below is a remix by Aqua of the band’s most popular single, Heartbreaker.

Stick Figure

The California reggae band is the only reggae band during FPSF. I think this will be a nice break from the other genres. I’m always trying to hear more Reggae at these things anyway!

Charli XCX

We recently featured Charli XCX in our last post, so we figured we’d go ahead and add our second favorite song off of her 3rd studio album.

Party Favor

Dylan Ragland aka Party Favor will be a nice uptick to the electronic music feel to this festival. He had major collaborations in 2016 with Dillon Francis, Gucci Mane, Sean Kingston, Rich The Kid, Gent & Jawns and Georgia Ku. EDM Trap is his game, so you should stretch before his set. Below is a remix by RAWTEK of his song, Whole Lotta Money.

RÜFÜS DU SOL

Australian chart toppers best hit below. They never disappoint and their uplifting vibe will be a good break from the potentially scary trap from Party Favor.

Jai Wolf

Jai Wolf has been showing his versatility, moving from the harder trap/future bass to a more ambient style. We’re really enjoying watching the producer from New York City’s progression as a producer. The producer was born in Bangladesh, Sajeeb Saha.

Cheat Codes

The Los Angelas trio will certainly lift your spirits with their uplifting melodies, bass play, dynamic percussion elements, and indie-house vibes. Truly a modern pop electronic style group that I can’t help but smile along with. Their new single, is super wubby. When I first heard the drop, I got goosebumps.

JAUZ

Just watch his entire Miami Ultra set from this year, and you can get a sense of what to expect from JAUZ. Hyphy doesn’t even begin to describe this set. If you’re looking to go apeshmit and dance like maniacs for an hr with friends. Try putting this on. WARNING: THIS SET ONLY PERTAINS TO THE HEAVY HEADED. Maybe should have mentioned this is a dubstep set…

Flume

With massive success from Flume’s Sophomore album, he released all the songs remixed from notable artists in the game. Absolutely amazing.

We also have a special surprise, bringing in DJ/Producer BRB to run a special mix of artists attending Free Press Summer Festival in 2017. Listen below, and maybe even play it for your pregame sessions?

from rBeatz.com http://ift.tt/2rraUSD