Sweetie: Saturdays (Gold Robot Records)

Without a doubt, when I get a record from Gold Robot Records in the mail, my mood enhances significantly. Vinyl + mp3 + good music. What’s not to love?

The latest Gold Robot 7-inch release, the fifth with more fast on the way, comes from Sweetie, a gem of a pop-rock band from San Francisco that I knew literally nothing about until this red-colored piece of wax showed up on my doorstep.

The four-song EP was recorded at John Vanderslice’s Tiny Telephone studio by Aaron Prellwitz.

That’s right: Four songs on a 7-inch. How is it done, you ask? Well, Sweetie’s longest song of the set (Saturdays) is 3:03. These are charming two-and-a-half-minute bursts of pop that have left my smudgy fingerprints all over the record as I constantly keep flipping it over to go from one song to the next.

Order the vinyl at Gold Robot Records, which includes a coupon for digital downloads of the record. Or, if you don’t have a turntable, you can get the four tracks at eMusic as well.

ALSO: Please join me in wishing good luck to Hunter, purveyor of Gold Robot and Macktronic, as he raises money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) in the Marin Metric Century bicycle race on Aug. 2.

Hunter’s brother recently passed away while undergoing treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Here’s part of an e-mail Hunter sent out:

“I’m hoping that the money I raise for the LLS will help find a cure for these diseases that affect so many families.

“Each donation helps accelerate finding a cure for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. More than 823,000 Americans are battling these blood cancers. I am hoping that my participation in Team In Training will help bring them hope and support. On behalf of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, thank you very much for your support. I greatly appreciate your generosity.”

Donate to the cause here.

The Pharcyde: Runnin’ (Philippians remix)

One of the Pharcyde’s best songs gets the remix treatment as part of Delicious Vinyl’s RMXXOLOGY series (eMusic), which also includes mixes of Bust a Move, Wild Thing and Slaughtahouse, among others.

I honestly don’t know much about the Philippians, but I feel like they treated this coming-of-age track with the proper respect it deserves by not butchering the original flow of the verses, which, frankly, are some of the most fluid the Pharcyde have done. Fatlip’s opening verse is top notch.

Yameen: Never Knows Best (sampler mixtape)

Back in, oooh, 1995 or so, I spent a lot of my free time (and not-so-free time) on what would soon become known as “the Internet.” Specifically, I went to my college’s computer lab and logged on to hieroglyphics.com obsessively. More specifically, the Hiero Hoopla message board. I traded so many tapes it’s insane. I have some great mixes and freestyles and unreleased sh*t from those days, I really should be digitizing all that.

The site’s Webmaster was known simply as Stinke. I never thought I’d think of his name again until we exchanged emails in the past year about SupremeEx, his collaboration with Tajai of Souls of Mischief. (He also reminded me of some horribly written Hiero concert “reviews” I once posted to the message board. Yeah, thanks for that.)

Now, he’s got his own project under the name Yameen. The record is called Never Knows Best (Ropeadope), and it’s got a stellar cast of guest spots: Casual, Georgia Anne Muldrow and Shock G (SHOCK G! … if you don’t know), among others.

I haven’t listened to it in full, but it’s available everywhere, including eMusic.

In the meantime, you can download for free an album sampler mixtape by DJ Statik.

Spoon: Merchants of Soul (demo)

Spoon’s bonus download for July is a demo (aren’t they all?) of Merchants of Soul, off 2005’s Gimme Fiction.

The demo strips away pretty much all of the drums, save for some minimal time-keeping that sounds like hand claps or leg slaps or something. I like to hear demos because you can hear how the layers came together in the finished product and this demo most definitely makes me miss Jim Eno’s catchy rhythms of the album version.

  • Spoon | Merchants of Soul (demo)

IN SPORTS: How about that All-Star Game? As much as I hate that the All-Star outcome decides home-field advantage for the World Series, there is no better all-star competition in professional sports than that of baseball. (And I’m not just saying that because I happen to be employed by MLB.com.) At least read this and you may feel the same.

edIT: The Game is Not Over (feat. J Dilla, Phat Kat and Dabrye)

Head over to Rcrd Lbl to download the latest from Los Angeles-based DJ/producer edIT, who was previously featured for a Grouch remix on this site here.

On that note, edIt and his Glitch Mob crew are comin’ to town: Aug. 28 at Club Red for a set at the long-running weekly spot the Blunt Club.

The Q-Tip news does not stop

Between my Sundays with Tribe posts and this new Q-Tip song, I’m getting pretty amped for this new record The Renaissance.

If there was any question that this album would ever surface, we have some more tangible proof that it will in the form of this Los Angeles Times interview with Q-Tip.

Chills: “The verdict: ‘The Renaissance’ marks a return to form that rivals Q-Tip’s best work on Tribe’s beloved 1993 album, ‘Midnight Marauders.’

Read the story here. Then check out a Times blog post about Tip working with … Nigel Godrich?

(Thanks to Weiss for letting us know that Mark Ronson did this beat and for that photo.)

Sundays with A Tribe Called Quest: Vol. 3

Thanks to The Meaning of Dope for this one.

Youthful Expression comes off Tribe’s debut, People’s Instinctive Travels and Paths of Rhythm (1990). And judging by the garb and props – is Phife twirling a didgeridoo? – this definitely shows Tribe’s early Afrocentric leanings.

And I can’t be sure of this, but Youthful Expression has to be one of the few tracks in which one of the group’s MCs doesn’t have a verse. (Sorry, Phife.)

azcentral.com: Hieroglyphics preview

As promised, my preview story on the Hieroglyphics show for July 15 is published at azcentral.com.

My interview with Tajai, who pretty much serves as the head of the Hiero Imperium label, was very enlightening – not only did it sound like he was entertaining his daughter in the background, but he was pretty forward about the ups and downs of operating a self-sustained label. I appreciated his honesty and frankness about it all.

One of my favorite quotes from the interview:

“I hope fans bear with us. It’s got to be frustrating being a Hiero fan. I just wish people could understand the time and effort and hard work that go into any endeavor, but especially one as serious as a record label. It’s really no joke. It’s a lot of work.”

Buy your tickets ($17) for the show at Ticket Web.

  • Hieroglyphics | Classic

El-P: Weareallgoingtoburninhellmeggamixx2 (free)

If you keep up with El-P’s blog, Bastard’s Delight, at Okayplayer, then you already know this. If not, take note: El is offering the first disc of his tour-only Weareallgoingtoburninhellmeggamixx2 for free download.

As El-P notes, however:

“You won’t get the Eat My Garbage CD (disc 2), nor will you get the amazing original artwork by Travis Millard or the bragging rights of owning a cd that is going for 150 (so ive been told) bucks a pop on EBAY. But to be honest i felt kind of bad not letting fans who weren’t able to go to the shows hear this stuff. and besides it aint like its not being spread here and there on the net anyway.”

You have to go through the Definitive Jux shop to get it, but it’s worth it. Also, is there anything as depressing as the cover image for the mix?

  • El-P | Krazy Kings 3

(From Weareallgoingtoburninhellmeggamixx2.)

Incoming: Born Ruffians, October 18

When I think about some of my favorite albums of the year so far, I keep finding that Born Ruffians’ Red, Yellow & Blue (available at Insound) sneaks up on me.

It’s full of disjointed, poppy energy. The hooks don’t immediately reveal themselves – until later, when you find yourself chanting their call-and-response choruses.

We enjoyed their opening set for Cadence Weapon in March, so I’m happy to see them come back for an Oct. 18 show at Modified with Plants and Animals. Tickets ($11) are on sale here.

(Mind you, one of the most ridiculously/hilariously titled songs – say it out loud! – but also insanely catchy.)

Video for I Need a Life: