Diamond District - In the Ruff

Mello Music Group

Edan - Echo Party

Stones Throw

Mulatu Astatke - From New York City to Addis Ababa: The Best of Mulatu Astatke

Strut

Camp Lo - Another Heist

Soul Fever

Dynas - The Apartment

BBE

Brother Ali - Us

Rhymesayers

BK-One with Benzilla - Rádio do Canibal

Rhymesayers

Del Tha Funkee Homosapien & Tame One - Parallel Uni-Verses

Gold Dust

Large Professor - The LP

Paul Sea Productions

Natural Elements - 1999: 10 Year Anniversary

Kings Link Recordz

Fashawn - Boy Meets World/The Antidote

One Records

Skyzoo - The Salvation

Duck Down

Cormega - Born and Raised

Legal Hustle

Anti-Pop Consortium - Fluorescent Black

Big Dada

Shafiq Husayn - Shafiq En' A-Free-Ka

Plug Research

Ras G - Beats & The Abstract Truth

Mochilla

J. Rawls & John Robinson - The 1960's Jazz Revolution Again

Polar Entertainment

Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Pt. II

ICE H20/EMI

Masta Ace & Edo G - Arts & Entertainment

M3

OC & AG - Oasis

Nature Sounds

Blockhead - The Music Scene

Ninja Tune

Alchemist - Chemical Warfare

E1

Oh No - Dr. No's Ethiopium / Oh No vs. Now-Again

Disruption Productions/Now-Again

Trek Life & Oddisee - New Money (Price I've Paid Oddisee Remixes)

Mello Music Group

Strong Arm Steady - In Search of Stoney Jackson

Stones Throw

Tame One - Acid Tab Vocab

Amalgam Digital

Downloadable.

Marco Polo & Torae - Double Barrel

Duck Down

Felt - Felt 3: A Tribute to Rosie Perez

Rhymsayers

tip:

Seek out and support the artists you seek good music from...it's rather easy with the help of the internet.  Even though there are twenty-some-odd albums listed, I probably missed a few...it has been a good period in Hip-Hop music, and I humbly commend everybody's dedication and Dilla-gence.  Keep yer eyes open and yer wallet in yer front pocket. www.myspace.com/folklorelegend

Mos Def - The Ecstatic

Downtown

Mos Def tucked the rock singing under his helmet, snorted some rap juice through a Krazy straw, traded in his cardigan for a Mario Lemeiux throwback, and hit the ice running. That is to say, he pounded a gallon of cranberry juice and pi$$ed all over the rap game, his eyes aglitter with the searchlights of a thousand distant lyricists. In other words, he finally got Slick Rick on a track!

Wale - 100 Miles & Running (mixtape)

Amalgam Entertainment

Wale is obviously the hungriest MC to ever have planted roots in the Capital City. Those roots have now grown into perfect stalks of celery, slathered in peanut butter, quartered and placed symmetrically on a plate and presented in front of your five-year-old face after you fell off a jungle gym and boo-booed both your elbows in front of Nate Portis, who already clowned your K-mart shoes fifty times that morning and would grow up to play third-string quarterback for the James Madison Monarchs before flunking out of school and becoming addicted to whippets and mescaline, living in the back of a windowless pick-up truck with his best friend Jed (a two-liter bottle full of everclear and Hi-C Hawaiian punch). Did I spell Hawaiian right? In any case, Wale just ate your recovery snack.

Sean Price - Monkey Barz

Duck Down Music

Re-issued as part of a three-for-one Duck Down box set, alongside an alright Bucshot album and a better than average Tek & Steele LP, now is your chance to contribute 30 cents to the brokest rapper you know, as well as experience, to some degree, what it feels like when words dress up like the Planters peanut man, and tap-dance all over the soft parts of your brain, jabbing at the back of your eyeballs with a little cane, while beats disguised as angry elk viciously chew through your ankles, giving you no choice but to tippy toe around on nubs of leg bone, nodding your head like there's something right in the universe, despite the fact that it constantly boasts ignorance of your insignificant plight.

The A-Bones - The A-Bones, Not Now!

Norton

Gut bucket slop from the NYC gang at Norton Records. Not only with Ira Kaplan in tow, but also Dave "Baby" Cortez guesting on "Cat Nip." Music for the all-nite beer bust. I like this kind of racket.

Al "Cake" Wichard Sextette - Cake Walkin':The Modern Recordings 1947-1948

Ace

Session drummer and band leader Al "Cake" Wichard backed some of the top blues vocalists, guitarists, and pianists of the West Coast for Modern Records. This disc collects 24 recordings spanning 1947 to 1948. Features Jimmy Witherspoon, Pee Wee Crayton, and Jay McShann. More of what made the L.A. blues sound of the '40s unique.

Brenda Holloway - The Early Years - Rare Recordings 1962-1963

Ace

These recordings done for a number of Los Angeles' labels were recorded by Brenda Holloway at the tender ages of 15 and 16! A remarkable audio transition takes place in both style and vocal prowess. From teenage R&B to the verge of womanly soul, Brenda Holloway grows up in front of the microphone developing one of the great voices in soul music. Included is Brenda's demo of her smash hit Motown label debut "Every Little Bit Hurts." What a great way to turn 17.

Roy Loney & the Phantom Movers - A Hundred Miles an Hour 1978-1989

Raven

Primal, yet well crafted, greasy fun. In his post Flaming Groovies career, Roy stayed true to his looney vision and muse. The sounds of Sun & Chess records reverberate in Roy's pure rock 'n' roll heart. All original members of the Groovies show up across these 28 tracks, it's practically a reunion. And until Roy and Cyril Jordan and the rest of the Groovies give us a thrill here in SF, this is the closest it's gonna get. So, how about it, guys?

Jack-O & The Tennessee Tearjerkers - The Disco Outlaw

Goner Records

Nothing disco about this rock 'n' roll affair. The new Memphis mafia Don - Jack Oblivion of The Oblivions fame - has a solid unit that sounds like they've been exiled on positively fourth street. Get me? Jack's reedy rasp hovers over the tight gritty sound of the Tennessee Tearjerkers who sound like a hurricane trapped in a crowded room full of sodden tipplers. Gentlemen drunks at the rock 'n' roll club. Saturday night, anytime you want it.

The Revellions - The Revellions

Dirty Water Records

Dublin Ireland's Revellions are a fine blend of staccato surf and acid-dosed Farfisa wheeze pre-psyche garage gunk. Screaming reverb guitar attacks and incomprehensible howled vocals are as authentic and heartfelt as any second time around sounds I bought back when I was young. These lads should go far. The gunkiest.

Reactionaries - Ingenuity

Deranged Records

From Antwerp, Belgium, this quintet has the sound I go stupid for. Much Detroit worship here ('60s to the present) it's high energy with just a touch of soul. It's punk. It's got hooks. It's got freak outs. It's rock 'n' roll. So buy it, now! Thanks to Robert Haines pointing this one out to me.

Dex Romweber Duo - Ruins of Berlin

Bloodshot

Oh, there's a little of what made Dex famous, that boom thwack boom thwack stuff, but we get a bit more then we bargained for here, folks. He has his sister, Sara, on drums for starters. And some fine duetting with Exene Cervenka, Neko Case, and Chan Marshall, for seconds. Then, to send it all home, you've got the songs. Southern gothic style. Songs that could have been recorded by the likes of Johnny Cash, Porter Wagoner, or Henson Cargill. Dex Romweber has the pipes to pull it off. This record should put Dex up there in the pantheon of those dark, doomed songwriters with a sense of place and humor. Looking forward to the next bunch of records, Dex.

The Singing Loins - Unravelling England

Damaged Goods

Any recording paying tribute to a pub called Dirty Dora's, singing the praises of "lovely, bubbly, bitter beer," has my attention straight away. And it doesn't have to be the lead-off track either, but in this case it was. Synchronicity. The Singing Loins have been at this music making thing, off and on, for almost 20 years. Theirs is a stripped down acoustic folk sound that may remind the listener of certain darlings of college radio from days gone by, The Singing Loins walk a path that is most distinctly British. Inhabiting the songs are the screaming nut jobs, mad hippies, bad girls, evil women, and lushy romantic losers that make listening to music all the more worth while. The only thing missing is a dog lapping up a spilt pint.

Love - Love Lost

Sundazed

Demos for the never-released Columbia LP by Arthur Lee and Love. Just when you thought there wasn't enough in this world. It's all you need.

tip: www.hermeticorderofarcana.com

The Clean - Mister Pop

Merge

Are my faculties tainted by nostalgia? NO! (Well....) Damn good LP from my second favorite NZ band of all time, and one that rewards repeated plays (unlike some of their recent stuff, step forward Getaway). Great sounding throughout, dig it!

A Place To Bury Strangers - Exploding Head

Mute

This gets busy a la Loop/The Jesus & Mary Chain/Suicide/Snapper, but is absolutely the best hi-vol kick of the year. A cobweb knocker-outer.

Girls - Album

Matador

I didn't like it and now I do. Go figure. "Laura" = a hell of a single.

Not Quite Hollywood

1,000 mile an hour, in yer face expose of Oz exploitation pix of the '70s/'80s/'90s. Gore and T & A abound, as well as evil marsupials. Everyone should see The Adventures of Barry MacKenzie (featured in the doco) to get a true insight into the Aussie psyche. And EVERYONE interviewed in this movie hates Picnic at Hanging Rock!

Patsy Cline - Stop, Look and Listen

Bear family

This whole Bear Family series showcases the more rockin' sides of a lot of '50s-era country stars, and the Patsy Cline CD makes a good case for calling her the best of all the early rockabilly queens (sorry Wanda.) No filler and no strings!

Peaking Lights - Imaginary Falcons

Night People

Stoney lilters from the banks of the Wisconsin river. Husband and wife duo (Aaron and Indra from Rah Dunes/Numbers), who built all their instruments from boats or something.

Gucci Mane - The State Vs. Radric Davis

Asylum Records

Heavy hitter, stupid wild. He's in jail now!

Real Estate - Real Estate

Woodsist/Revolver

Endless summer for the suburban set. "Green River" is an anthem. Play this at your next life celebration.

Frankie Rose and the Outs - Thee Only One

Slumberland

My favorite from the slew of surfy garage New York jammers.

James Ferraro - Discovery

Holy Mountain

Just reissued, Ferraro of The Skaters plays his version of your favorite beach songs. Two tracks, each around 20 min, just long enough to forget about everything.