The OH-IO Mix

There is a man -- let's call him Deejay Graybosch -- who likes to send me links to news items of obese people cemented to lawn chairs or accidental deaths via sex toy with the express purpose of following up with "...and it happened in Ohio!"

California's my birth state and where I've lived for the past 6 years, but I spent my childhood and college years in the Buckeye State. Most people here, upon hearing that fact, assume that I'm adopted or wonder why I'm not wearing overalls. You ever have someone from Bakersfield try to clown on the city you're from? Unbelievable.

But aside from me, there are tons of extraordinary people from Ohio. Oscar winner Halle Berry, "Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride" NBA star LeBron James, indie auteur Jim Jarmusch, Sarah Jessica Parker from that one show, Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison and a slew of other notables. And when it comes to music, we're not too shabby either.

Below is the best and brightest Ohio has to offer in terms of musicianship. For obvious reasons, I omitted 98 Degrees, Lil' BowWow, and with a heavy heart, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. BTW, it is an Ohio rite of passage to say you saw a member of Bone at your local Kroger grocery store. Ask any Ohioan. Well, any Ohioan of color.

1) The Pixies "Here Comes Your Man" -- Kim Deal, bassist, from Dayton, OH



Bonus: My boyfriend Joseph Gordon-Levitt singing "Here Comes Your Man" from 500 Days of Summer.



2) The Black Keys "She's Long Gone" -- from Akron, OH




3) The National "Blood Buzz Ohio" -- from Cincinnati, OH




4) The Pretenders "Creep" (Radiohead cover) -- Chrissie Hynde, lead singer, from Akron, OH




5) Macy Gray "Wake Up" (Arcade Fire cover) -- from Canton, OH




6) Kid Cudi "All Along" -- from Cleveland, OH




7) RJD2 "Smoke and Mirrors" -- from Columbus, OH




8) Soul Position "Keep it Hot for Daddy" -- RJD2 and Blueprint, from Columbus, OH




9) Adam WarRock "Angry Asian Man" -- Ohio State University alum




10) Hi-Tek "Breakin' Bread" -- from Cincinnati, OH




11) John Legend "Slow Dance" -- from Springfield, OH




12) Bobby Womack "Across 110th Street" -- from Cleveland, OH




13) Ohio Players "Summertime" -- from Dayton, OH




14) Nancy Wilson "Satin Doll" -- from Chillicothe, OH




15) The Isley Brothers (feat. Jimi Hendrix) "Looking for a Love" -- from Cincinnati, OH




16) The O'Jays "How Does It Feel" -- from Canton, OH




17) Kool and the Gang "Summer Madness" -- Robert and Ronald Bell, from Youngstown, OH




18) Bootsy Collins "Funk McLovin'" -- from Cincinnati, OH




19) Deee-Lite "Groove is in the Heart" -- Lady Miss Kier, lead singer, from Youngstown, OH




20) Zapp and Roger "I Wanna Be Your Man" -- from Dayton, OH

Free Mixtape roundup: Hip Hop

Free, Ghostface, Funk, that's a nice little three word combo. I haven't given this my undivided attention yet, but it sounds like something that I would be into. Go to Max Tannone's site for the download link. A little about the project from the man himself, below.

"Released in July 2011, Ghostfunk pairs one of my favorite hip-hop artists, Wu-Tang member Ghostface Killah, with vintage African funk, high-life, and psychedelic rock music. Artwork by Joe Dichiara."

Ghostfunk by Max Tannone

Wu-Tang Fugazi mashup. About the project: "Wugazi is a labor of love by Cecil Otter & Swiss Andy. Cecil Otter is an emcee & producer, and one of the founding members of Doomtree. He has contributed to over a dozen records. His most recent full-length, Rebel Yellow, was re-released by Sage Francis for Strange Famous Records. Swiss Andy is a musician & producer residing in Minneapolis. He has been a contributor to several bands including The Millionth Word, Field Guide and The Swiss Army. He is currently working on a remix of Rebel Yellow." Go to their site to grab the songs.
Sleep Rules Everything Around Me by WUGAZI

Adam Warrock who previously blessed any nerds who wanted to hear rapping about X-Factor with his free mixtape posted about here. Is back with more free-ness. This time he is rapping about the New Warriors. I will probably pass on this, I barely remember these dudes, but maybe one of you is a huge...checks wiki..Hindsight Lad fan...really? That is one of the worst names I have ever heard. *pours tea for Strong Guy
action figure* Grab the mix here.

The theme today seems to be Asians and Wu-Tang, sort of correlated, I heard we drafted them in the racial draft. Model Minority recently dropped their gigantor 22 track mixtape entitled, "Tiger Sons." I am sure pretty much everyone knows what the title references but if you are out of the loop you can check out the article here. I am not sure if I have ever heard a Model Minority track, so really I have no formed opinion on them. I assume they are overtly political, I doubt they are clubby, and I am guessing that out of 22 tracks they should have at least one good one, but I could be totally wrong. So with that sparkling recommendation you can grab the mixtape at their site here.

Update: Here is a video for one of the songs off of the mix. It won't really get the party started but I support all asians with beards.

Not free but this project from Prometheus Brown (Geologic from Blue Scholars) and Bambu from Native Guns just came out.  About the project via Angry Asian Man, The two Filipino American emcees recently joined forces during a week-long visit to Hawaii to create an album -- "laced with beats by local Hawaiian producers and rounded out by some of LA and Seattle's most talented beatsmiths" -- that pays homage to the islands."  Go to the Blue Scholars site to buy, sample it below.


I am grabbing a bunch of free indie mixtapes for an upcoming post as well, so be on the lookout for that if hip hop isn't your thing.

Leftovers

I know I just posted a shitload of videos the other day and Tres Quais just posted two mixes.  The last thing we would want to do is overload you with content.  That's kind of the antithesis of what we do here at stereofat, we like to leave you wanting more.  Leave you thinking that we have abandoned the blog.  Then we lie in wait and pounce with multiple updates and musical goodness and you are all dazed and confused, thinking, "Whosa whatsie huh?" and then we steal your wallet.  That's just how we do things here.  Despite risking overloading you with the sudden deluge of posts this video had to be shared. "Man About Town" features the music of Ricky Nelson, if you don't know who that is ask my Mom and she may show you her scrapbook from when she was a teenager. In addition to the great score, it features some awesome Rodney Mullen type tricks performed by Killian Martin.  If you don't know who Rodney Mullen is I feel sorry for your mother.  Check it out below

This video doesn't necessitate a hurried posting, I wasn't even that impressed with it but think of it as a freebie attached to the previous video. It features Hok from Quest Crew making weird faces and doing intricate hand dance thingies.

Speaking of Freebies here is some free nerd music from Adam Warrock. He is Asian American, likes comic books, and raps. Interesting, I am Asian American, like comic books, and play the maracas, maybe we should collabo, as we say in the industry.  He has recently been touring comic book shops and performing his nerd music live to emancipated basement dwellers up and down the coast.  Check out his site "here" and download his free mixtape about X-Factor.