2) Macklemore & Ryan Lewis The Heist (Macklemore LLC)

3) 2 Chainz Based On A T.R.U. Story (Def Jam)

3) Moe Pope & Rain Let The Right Ones In (Brick Records)

5) Mixed Blood Majority S/T (Mixed Blood Majority)

Special shout-out to E-Lit from Amoeba Berkeley who, despite being under the weather with a nasty cold, took time to do the above video of the detailed run-down of what's new in hip-hop at Amoeba and supplying the latest top five chart. Topping the chart (no surprise) is the hotly anticipated new A$AP Rocky official debut release following the hella hyped Harlem rapper's mixtape. Note that A$AP's major label outing, care of RCA, comes in regular CD version of  Long.Live. A$AP plus DeLuxe CD version, as well as the vinyl LP version. Other new chart entries include the brand new self-titled release from power trio Mixed Blood Majority that is made up of Crescent Moon of Kill The Vultures, Joe Horton of No Bird Sing, and Doomtree producer Lazerbeak.
Other new releases (non chart entries) mentioned by E-Lit include MF Grimm's Good Morning Vietnam
and The Dag Savage EP - both vinyl releases. Be sure to check out E-Lit's two KALX shows this weekend when he will be playing some of the aforementioned new releases. On Friday, Jan 25th, he will be doing a best of 2012 show on the UC Berkeley station from 9am to noon and then on Sunday night (Jan 27th) at midnight for the one-hour Yo! KALX Raps show he will be playing the best of 2013 so far. Tune into KALX on the radio dial if you are in the Bay Area on 90.7FM or online at kalx.berkeley.edu

Album Picks:

Yo La Tengo – Fade

CD $12.98

LP $16.98 [out 1/29]

Deluxe LP $20.98

Digital $9.98

Even within their warm, now familiar sound, we’ve seen many guises from Yo La Tengo over the years, from grounded noise rockers to Burt Bacharach enthusiasts. This latest incarnation of the band on Fade, their 13^th album, pulls from several of these but is most in line with their mellowed out 2000 album And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out. This is great news for fans, as that was one of the band’s classics. Fade begins typically with a long, contemplative piece entitled “Ohm” that sets things up for a subdued affair. The next couple of tracks are consummate minimalist pop pieces, but the band turns up the guitars for “Paddle Forward,” a gorgeous slice of indie guitar pop that reminds us why young bands like Yuck and the Slumberland clan pull liberally from Yo La Tengo. By the time we’re halfway through the album, the droning, breathtaking “Stupid Things,” it’s clear we’re listening to one of the better Yo La Tengo albums, an improvement over 2009’s Popular Songs. Its release couldn’t be better timed, either. You just want to curl up with Fade like an electric blanket and relish in its radiance. Catch Yo La Tengo at Amoeba Hollywood Jan. 17 at 6 p.m.

The subtleties of what goes into creating a Flying Lotus song could be seen when he took the stage at Amoeba Hollywood Oct. 1, the day before his new album, Until the Quiet Comes, was officially released. Fly Lo worked busily over a minimal setup of a couple of laptops and samplers/sequencers. He played bits from the new album, like the bass-heavy “Sultan’s Request,” but kept things moving quickly — much like his albums do — never lingering long on a particular sound or song before flowing it into the next. A large and very appreciative crowd head-bobbed furiously to the music (the beatheads’ equivalent to head banging) as Fly Lo worked the heavier side of his sound spectrum, unlike the mostly chilled-out quality of his latest album. He paused a minute from the beat assault and spinning bits of songs like Schoolboy Q/A$ap Rocky’s “Hands on the Wheel,” Jay-Z/Kanye West’s “Ni**as in Paris,” Frank Ocean’s “Thinkin Bout You,” Portishead’s “Machine Gun” and Beastie Boys’ “Intergalactic” to welcome the audience and later ask for Transformers 3 on Blu-ray — which he got, and held up with glee, before passing it off quickly to continue hyperactively turning knobs and setting off sequences. Watching Flying Lotus at somewhere like the Hollywood Bowl, it can be easy to dismiss the work he puts into everything. In closer quarters Flying Lotus appears as a virtuoso, animatedly hunching and bouncing over his machines and stroking them like a piano with ease. They don’t call him a beat maestro for nothing. Flying Lotus was joined by fellow artists from his Brainfeeder label Teebs and Jeremiah Jae, the latter of who released one of my favorite hip-hop albums this year, Raw Money Raps. See more photos from the performance and Flying Lotus’ signing session here!