Free Music: Diplo - Chasing The Dragon

Diplo is the production maestro best known for spinning the masterful Clash-sampling beat behind M.I.A.'s "Paperplanes" and more recently as half of the zombie-reggae-dancehall-electro project Major Lazer with fellow producer Switch.  Playing notoriously raucous shows and remixing everything from Peter, Bjorn, and John to Daft Punk and Black Lips, he has established himself as an essential element in the producer/DJ crowd, even starting his own label, Mad Decent.  This new mixtape spans lots of different types of psychedelic bluesy jams but definitely has a groovy Diplo feel to it.  And did I mention it's FREE?

Download it now at Some Kind of Awesome's Soundcloud.

Or

Stream it now at Mad Decent's site.

New Feature and New Review: Rusko - O.M.G.!

You would think that after doing legal writing for 48 hours straight I wouldn't want to do any more, yet here I am.  Gotta spread the gospel friends.  If you look to the right side of the blog you will see a new feature that I am going to do every Monday.  It's a ten song playlist courtesy of our friends at grooveshark.com that I will compile based on my favorites of the past week plus some artists who will be coming into San Diego.  Throw it on at work, home, or if you are a DJ up in tha club.  I'll try to mix it up and I hope you enjoy it.

This isn't the first time I've thrown some dubstep production on here and it certainly won't be the last if the music continues its sludgy evolution into deeper and wonkier bass that makes the booty go 'woah'.  Alongside other genre mainstays like Skream and Benga, the latest dubber most consistently spitting out my speakers is Rusko.  The one-time Englishman now lives stateside up in Lost Angeles playing the electronic festival circuit all over the U.S. this past summer.  Rumor has it he is even producing some tracks on the new Britney... Spears... record...  I'll just pretend I didn't hear that actually.  Regardless of his future plans, his current beats are bumpin', kinda glitchy, and combine the best elements of modern dubstep with the best elements of 90's breakbeat and early 90's electronica.

Releasing only two EPs previously, O.M.G.! is Rusko's debut LP and it really does push dubstep into a new level that it had not previously touched.  Rusko successfully shows the range that is possible within the confines of the 'womp-womp-womp' that is the spine-crushing beat present in every dubstep track.  Some songs definitely even have an air of those block rockin' hip-hop anthems that they used to make those music videos for with all the people in the hood dancing in the street waving their shirts in the air (when you listen to "Scareware" tell me you don't think of Petey Pablo's "Raise Up"). 

Key tracks on this one are: "Hold On", "Dial My Number", "You're On My Mind Baby", and "Raver's Special"

Get it son.

Mayer Hawthorne - A Strange Arrangement

Sitting in the shade of lemonade stand on Day 3 of Coachella, outside of the Gobi Tent I tried to take a nap. I failed to sleep not because I wasn't exhausted and probably dehydrated, but because the music that began coming from the tent was great and I didn't want to miss it. Mayer Hawthorne, and the County, his touring band, play a brand of soul music that is more suited to the 1960s than the early 2010s. Coming from Detroit, Michigan, Hawthorne has soul in his bones and his label, the always pressing good records, Stones Throw, has really tapped into a great new artist in a genre that they don't generally produce.

Like the Hipstones, Jamie Lidell, Sharon Jones, Black Joe Lewis, and JC Brooks, Mayer Hawthorne doesn't make music to dance to he makes music to groove to. The neo-soul movement is refreshing at a time when popular music is generally made up of the same four chords, and a lack of any meaningful sentiments other than 'let's pop bottles!' or 'i luvs california girls!'. Not that Hawthorne doesn't have a sense of humor with regard to the popular stuff as his concerts often include live sing-a-longs to Biz Markie's "Just a Friend".

The tracks generally all have the same message of love lost, found, misplaced, or underestimated, and he has the soulful chops to make the proverbial panties get wet. Play this one on an early Sunday drive or a lazy afternoon and I promise your day will immediately improve upon hearing Hawthorne's smooth delivery. Key tracks are 'Just Ain't Gonna Work Out' (which has a GREAT music video), 'Your Easy Lovin' Ain't Pleasin' Nothin', and 'Shiny and New'.

Concert Calender July 2010 - San Diego and Los Angeles

It's been quite some time since my last post, but seeing as I'm not getting anything done in summer school right now, here's my picks for what's good in Southern California this July.  A summer of great music (and some comedy) is ahead of us!
Also, for those of you that don't already use it, please check out the good folks over at Grooveshark.com they are now the preeminent source of streaming music now that LaLa has been shut down by Apple and shit do they have EVERYTHING. Use it now while it still exists.

7/9 - Kings Of Leon and Built to Spill @ Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre (SD)
7/10 - Harlem @ Bar Pink (FREE!)
7/15 - MGMT @ SDSU Open Air Theatre (SD)
7/17 - Slightly Stoopid and Cypress Hill @ Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre (SD)
7/18 - Zane Lampry (Comedy) @ Belly Up (SD)
7/19 - The Dead Weather @ The House of Blues (SD)
7/19 - Jamie Lidell @ El Rey (LA)
7/23 - Pinback @ Del Mar Racetrack (Free with racetrack admission) (SD)
7/24 - Boris @ Casbah (SD)
7/24-25 - Aziz Ansari (Comedy) @ The House of Blues (SD)
7/25 - 311, The Offspring, and Pepper @ Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre (SD)
7/31 -Wolf Parade @ The Wiltern (LA)

May 2010 Concert Calendar - San Diego

April hasn't quite ended yet but it almost has and seeing as I will be locked in a room with law books for the next 3 weeks, here's May's schedule a little early.

5/1 - Busdriver @ Winstons Beach Club
5/4 - The Hold Steady @ Belly Up Tavern
5/5 - Mastodon, Baroness, Between the Buried and Me, and Valiant Thorr @ House Of Blues
5/6 - MONO @ The Casbah
5/12 - The Besnard Lakes @ The Casbah
5/13 - Tortoise @ The Casbah
5/20 - Caribou @ The Casbah
5/22 - Minus The Bear @ SOMA
5/23 - The National @ Spreckels Theatre
5/24 - Nada Surf @ Belly Up Tavern
5/26 - ISIS @ The Casbah
5/27 - Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings @ Belly Up Tavern

BBC Radio 1 Essential Mixes - Streaming Archive

Ever since the 1993 Essential Mix, a two-hour radio show on the BBC 1 radio station in the UK has brought the best DJs in the world into their studio or to play live.  The DJs mix their 'essential' favorite tracks into one seamless mix for you to groove to.  A while back I found this website that has the streaming recordings of every essential mix dating from the present all the way back to 1993.  It's A LOT of music, and what's more, it's free!  On there you can check out mixes by Flying Lotus, Faithless, The Twelves, Boyz Noize, Four Tet, Deadmau5, Tiesto, The Stanton Warriors, John Digweed, Bassment Jaxx, and Armin Van Buuren among hundreds of others.  I'll try to find a site where you can actually download these for free but until then...

Essential Mixes . net

AoC Plans Your Coachella Weekend

 Conflicts got you down?  Worried about your bad ankle when having to run from stage to stage?  Worried about not even finding the stage because you took too much (insert chemical of choice here)?  Well I've got you covered.  Here's my line-up of must sees for this coming weekend.  See you all out there in the hot-as-shit best weekend of the year.

FRIDAY:
1:00 pm @ Mojave - Jets Overhead
1:30 pm @ Gobi - P.O.S.
2:00 pm @ Mohave - Baroness
2:20 pm @ Outdoor - Deer Tick
3:00 pm @ Main - Wale
3:20 pm @ Outdoor - The Avett Brothers
4:20 pm @ Mojave - Yeasayer
5:15 pm @ Sahara - Aeroplane
5:45 pm @ Outdoor - She & Him
6:35 pm @ Main - The Specials
7:20 pm @ Outdoor - Passion Pit
7:50 pm @ Main - Them Crooked Vultures
8:30 pm @ Mojave - Grizzly Bear
9:05 pm @ Main - LCD Soundsystem
10:00 pm @ Outdoor - Vampire Weekend
10:50 pm @ Main - Jay-Z
12:00 am @ Sahara - Deadmau5
1:00 am @ Campgrounds - Bassface Sessions w/ Daedelus and The Gaslamp Killer

SATURDAY:
12:25 pm @ Outdoor - RX Bandits
1:05 pm @ Gobi - The Almighty Defenders
2:15 pm @ Gobi - Portugal. The Man
3:10 pm @ Mojave - Camera Obscura
4:00 pm @ Outdoor - The Temper Trap
5:10 pm @ Outdoor - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
6:25 pm @ Outdoor - The XX
7:00 pm @ Mojave - Dirty Projectors
7:40 pm @ Outdoor - Hot Chip
8:50 pm @ Outdoor - MGMT
9:40 pm @ Main - Muse
11:05 pm @ Outdoor - The Dead Weather
12:00 am @ Main - Tiesto OR @ Sahara - 2manyDJs
1:00 am @ Campgrounds - Bassface Sessions with Flying Lotus

SUNDAY:
12:00 pm @ Mojave - One EskimO
12:55 pm @ Mojave - The Soft Pack
1:30 pm @ Gobi - Hypnotic Brass Ensemble
2:10 pm @ Gobi - Local Natives
3:00 pm @ Sahara - Rusko
3:50 pm @ Main - De La Soul
5:00 pm @ Main - Yo La Tengo
5:35 pm @ Mojave - Julian Casablancas
6:30 pm @ Main - Spoon
7:10 pm @ Outdoor - Phoenix
8:05 pm @ Sahara - Orbital
9:00 pm @ Outdoor - Thom Yorke and Atoms for Peace
10:30 pm @ Main - The motherfucking GORILLAZ

Coachella Artist of the Day #3 - B.o.B.

Rap is getting some good love at this years Coachella with Jay-Z, Dirty South, P.O.S., and the occasionally hip-hop minded Gorillaz all playing.  Also playing is the mixtape maestro (no not Lil' Wayne, he's in jail) known as B.o.B.  The Atlanta rapper has his debut 'The Adventures of Bobby Ray' about to drop on April 27th and he has put out around 5 or 6 excellent mixtapes in the past couple of years.  Notably B.o.B. has excellent samples, such as his use of the Beatles' 'Eleanor Rigby' and The Foundations' 'Build Me Up Buttercup'.  You can find links to download those tracks and more below at Muzjiks.  Just right click the links, and save em to your desktop, drop em into itunes and enjoy!  See you in the desert in 9 days!

http://muzjiksradio.blogspot.com/2010/04/bombs-over-bobby-ray.html

Coachella Artist of the Day #2 - Hot Chip

I don't really know what to make of these guys.  Some of their songs really get on my nerves but others are quite good.  People who wear bow-ties are inevitably weird so maybe that's it.  Supposedly their live show is amazing and pending their performance in the Sahara Tent, this could be an act not to be missed.  Check out their new video for the single 'I Feel Better' off their newest release 'One Life Stand' (link below).  Also, a warning, this music video is weird as fuck.  Like Jesus coming back to life and dancing the macarena with Hitler weird.

Hot Chip - I Feel Better

Coachella Artist of the Day #1 - Local Natives

With only 15 days left until my favorite weekend of the year, I've decided to count down the last couple of weeks with a little feature each day on some of the lesser known acts of the festival.  First up are the Pitchfork'd Local Natives.  Although many people rail against the aforementioned site, 80% of the time they give a great artist or group their big break (i.e. Vampire Weekend, Fleet Foxes, Titus Andronicus, Surfer Blood, and of course Animal Collective).  Local Natives are at the cross-roads of Fleet Foxes falsetto woods-folk, and Band of Horses space-folk, but with more electric guitars and at times more angst.  If you are a fan of either of those bands I guarantee you will love Local Natives debut 'Gorilla Manor'.  Stoked to check them out in a few weeks.


Here's a track:

Wide Eyes - Local Natives

April 2010 Concert Calendar - San Diego

Sorry there was no update for March, but law school was busy bringing the pain so I forgot.  Here's what's good in April a little early.

4/5 - RJD2 and Busdriver @ The Casbah
4/8 - Citizen Cope @ The Wave House
4/12 - As Tall As Lions @ The Loft
4/14- Retribution Gospel Choir @The Casbah
4/15 - A Place To Bury Strangers & The Big Pink @ The Casbah
4/16, 4/17, 4/18 - Coachella
4/19 - Jeff Beck @ 4th and B
4/21 - Japandroids @ The Casbah
4/24 - Daedelus & Free The Robots @ The Loft
4/25- High on Fire @ The Casbah
4/27- Rogue Wave @ The Belly Up
4/28 - The Antlers @ The Casbah
4/28 - The Mary Onettes @ Soda Bar
4/29 - The Avett Brothers @ House of Blues
4/30 - Dark Star Orchestra @ The Belly Up

Foals - Spanish Sahara

Foals are a group out of England who sound like what Bloc Party sounded like back in 2005 (aka "the good years"). Their first album 'Antidotes' was one of my favorites of 2008, sounding like the love child of the aforementioned era of Bloc Party and Minus the Bear. Kinda math-rocky but not in a pretentious way, which us lesser beings always appreciate. Their second album 'Total Life Forever is out on May 10, 2010 and should be top notch.

Below is their video for the slow building epic "Spanish Sahara".

MpFree Tuesday! 3 New Tracks From The Black Keys, Holy Fuck, and The Glitch Mob

Continuing in my 1 month old tradition of scouring the internets to find some groovy free mp3's to download, today here are 3 tracks from artists with upcoming releases

First we have the always dependable Black Keys.  The blues duo consisting of Dan Auerbach on guitar and Pat Carney on drums have become a rock n' roll staple over the past 8 years with high energy live shows, hip-hop collaborations (Blakroc), and side projects in the form of Patrick Carney's band of all drummers, aptly named Drummer, and Dan Auerbach's most excellent solo blues swamp-romp 'Keep it Hid'.  The boys are back together to bring us some new tunes with their new album 'Brothers' out May 18.  Although this album is mainly self-produced, the lead single 'Tighten Up' is produced by everyone's favorite everyman producer, Brian Burton AKA Dangermouse who produced the band's last album 'Attack & Release'.  Download 'Tighten Up' HERE.

Second we have instrumental the  Canadians in Holy Fuck.  Don't be deterred by the ridiculous name, because on their newest release, 'Latin' out on May 11, these 2008 Polaris Prize Shortlist finalists are further refining their sound bringing us more members (now at 4 plus touring rhythm section), and more psychotic, psych-out voice-less jams.  Download the lead single 'Latin America' HERE.

Third is the electronic glitch/break collective The Glitch Mob.  Although The Glitch Mob has not yet released a proper album, they've gained quite a cult following in the past 3 or so years touring relentlessly, releasing a free, and excellent mixtape 'The Crush Mode', and remixing artists like TV on the Radio, Jamie Lidell, and STS9.  Their first full length 'Drink the Sea' is out May 25 and you can download the first single, 'Drive It Like You Stole It' over at XLR8R over HERE.

Happy listening my friends.

MGMT's new album 'Congratulations' available streaming now

Amble on over to http://www.whoismgmt.com/ to check out their new sound.  Definitely won't be dancing to this one.  Sounds like 'Low'-era David Bowie recording with a commune of hippies singing as choir... while on mushrooms.  Why not give it a try?  And yes that is the cover art.

Maserati - 'Inventions for the New Season'

It's no secret that Maserati is one of my favorite bands, so please forgive my endless endearment.   I can't help it.  For those of you that don't know, Maserati is a (currently) 5-piece instrumental post-rock band from Athens, Georgia.  The reason I say currently 5-piece is that their former drummer, an amazing musician by the name of Gerhardt "Jerry" Fuchs, fell down an elevator shaft to his death this past fall.  If it truly is better to burn out than to fade away, the great Mr. Fuchs made one hell of a performance on Maserati's last proper album in 2007, 'Inventions for the New Season' their 3rd proper album.  Although only having 3 legitimate LPs the band has a pretty prolific discography when considering the vast amount of singles, splits, and most recently an excellent rarities collection 'Passages' released last year just before Fuchs' death.

'Inventions for the New Season is literally dripping with more beautiful delay pedal-work than The Edge can hide under his skull cap.  Guitarists Matt Cherry and Josh McCauley create an electronic synth-like rythym, seamlessly intertwining their melodic riffs over Fuchs expert drumming.  The music has frequently been called "danceable", which I cannot dispute because I often find myself at least marginally bobbing when listening to fast paced tracks like 'Synchronicity IV' or 'Show Me The Season'.  The opener, 'Inventions' bubbles and builds over the course of it's 9 minute plus track length to cresting tsunami-heights, before crashing down, receding, and crashing down again. And again. And Again.  It reminds me of STS9 at their most frenetically paced, yet darker and with less electronic flourishes.  Also, if you know who the Coma Lilies are, this band is the love child that they never knew they had.

I love this album to no end, and while it does seem to lose a little of the heavy steam by the time the final notes echo to black, there is really nothing to complain about because the album is perfect in all other respects.  This band and album is, well, to put it in the words of the band themselves, "Maserati is as sleek and sexy as the legendary Italian sports it takes its name from".  Enough said.

Stream Gorillaz - 'Plastic Beach' RIGHT NOW! ! !

In anticipation of their forthcoming 3rd album, 'Plastic Beach', the entire album is currently being streaming over on NPR.  The album features the likes of Snoop Dog, Little Dragon, Mos Def, Lou Reed, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, and De La Soul and after my first listen I am utterly blown away by the quality of the production and the all-around greatness of my visit to the Plastic Beach.  The album proper drops in just 8 days on March 9th.  Their Coachella set, their first performance in over 5 years is going to be a sight to behold that's for sure, so if you're headed to the desert this April get excited.

Listen Here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124114812 (click the link at the top)

Tracklist:

1. Orchestral Intro (feat. Sinfonia ViVA)
2. Welcome To The World Of The Plastic Beach (feat. Snoop Dogg & Hypnotic Brass Ensemble)
3. White Flag (feat. Kano, Bashy & The National Orchestra For Arabic Music)
4. Rhinestone Eyes
5. Stylo (feat. Bobby Womack & Mos Def)
6. Superfast Jellyfish (feat. Gruff Rhys & De La Soul)
7. Empire Ants (feat. Little Dragon)
8. Glitter Freeze (feat. Mark E. Smith)
9. Some Kind Of Nature (feat. Lou Reed)
10. On Melancholy Hill
11. Broken
12. Sweepstakes (feat. Mos Def & Hypnotic Brass Ensemble)
13. Plastic Beach (feat. Mick Jones & Paul Simonon)
14. To Binge (feat. Little Dragon)
15. Cloud Of Unknowing (feat. Bobby Womack and Sinfonia ViVA)
16. Pirate Jet

MpFree Wednesday: New Tracks from Portugal. the Man and Broken Social Scene and Flying Lotus

Look! Free music that requires no piracy! With forthcoming albums from all three coming in the next few months, Broken Social Scene and Portugal. The Man are offering the seemingly now obligatory free Mp3 downloads of the first single off each of the their albums, and in FlyLo's case 3 non-album tracks just for shits and hyyyyyype.

The Broken Social Scene track is 'World Sick' off the May 4th release 'Forgiveness Rock Record' and it is one hell of a song.  Very epic and very Canadian as one would expect from these guys.  It's been 5 years since their last proper album and the upcoming one should be excellent featuring the likes of members of Stars, Metric, Tortoise, and the lovely Leslie Feist (the "1-2-3-4" chick you remember from the colorful square iPod mini commercial).

Get that track HERE in exchange for an e-mail address.

The Portugal. The Man track 'The Dead Dog' is off their upcoming 'American Ghetto' to be released on March 2nd, their 5th album in 5 years (not bad!).  Nothing bad can really be said about this band, they're great people as well as great musicians.

Get their track HERE in exchange for an e-mail address.

Lastly, head on over to the excellent blog Brooklyn Vegan to peep a 3 track zip file of non-album tracks in anticipation of Flying Lotus's 4/20 release (sweet date bro... hey... could you pass that?) 'Cosmogramma'.  As expected the tracks are wonky as hell.  No e-mail address required.

Enjoy everyone!

Stardeath and White Dwarfs - 'The Birth'

At a free show the Flaming Lips played last August in Del Mar, CA on the infield of the horse-racing track I showed up early to catch the opening band with the interesting name.  The first sounds that came roaring out of the speakers when they started to play was familiar to me.  It was Black Sabbath's 'Sweet Leaf' a song I never dreamed to hear played live.  They had my attention and kept it through the entire set, melting the crowds faces with 10 minute jams of 3 minute songs.

Stardeath and White Dwarfs, headed by Lips' lead-singer Wayne Coyne's nephew, Dennis Coyne, are almost constantly written off as a band hyped only because of their relation to Wayne and his shameless promotion of them as the opening band at Flaming Lips shows for the past couple of years.  What those who ignore the relevancy and quality of this band fail to realize however is that the Flaming Lips, who could fill their undercard with any number of top-shelf acts, chose not to, and instead have time and again given the spot to their one-time roadies (and still sometimes roadies) Stardeath and White Dwarfs.  This is no accident.  This band is neo-psychedelic goodness at work.

Having only previously released one quality EP, 'That's Cool' in 2005, their debut LP, 'The Birth' shows the signs of a band emerging from the womb of the Flaming Lips school of rock.  The influence of the Lips is all over this LP but not in the sense of copy-catting their work, but rather using their template to begin a new generation of bands that are following in the Lips footsteps; creating weird psychedelic rock tunes that evoke imagery of Martian desert landscapes and ganja-smoke filled back rooms.  Invariably some people will point to the similarity of Dennis Coyne's falsetto to that of his uncle Wayne but it fits the music well.  Other influences such as the aforementioned Black Sabbath and Crazy Horse-era Neil Young show through on many tracks quite clearly.

As a cohesive piece of music, the album feels a bit disjointed but the standout tracks like "New Heat", "Those Who Are From The Sun Return To The Sun", and "Smoking Pot Makes Me Not Want To Kill Myself" more than make up for the albums low points.  Casey Joseph the band's bassist really provides a solid backbone for the songs, giving them a surprisingly upbeat feel especially on "New Heat" which is the first single off the album (and my favorite track).  Some songs are ballad-like such as the aptly named "Country Ballad" but even there and at other slow-paced moments on the album, you can tell these guys are trying to create an ebb-and-flow type of sound like the tides of the beach.

Lyrically, the band explores similar a similar psychosis that the Flaming Lips reverted back to this past year with 'Embryonic'; lyrics about death, boredom, and the introspective nature of the universe abound.  It's about what one would expect from an album like this and there are seldom any lyrical marvels to be found, but it doesn't really detract from the music which is the real draw of the album.

And if you enjoy this album then I also highly suggest you check out their cover collaborations with, The Flaming Lips; a cover of Madonna's 'Borderline' that was released for last year's Record Store Day, and most recently their cover of Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon' also featuring Peaches (...) and Henry Rollins (! ...) which was played in it's entirety at their joint New Year's Eve show in Oklahoma City and will be played in it's entirety again as THE highlight at this year's semi-flacid Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tennessee.


I highly recommend you travel the cosmos Stardeath and White Dwarf's on this album.  Their young and full energy and worth every penny if they come to shine the light of their dying sun on your city sometime soon.

-Zach Jaffe

Bonnaroo 2010 Lineup

For those of you that are interested the Bonnaroo 2010 lineup is being announced as we speak, one artist at a time, every 5 minutes or so, for the rest of the morning until the line-up is complete.  Head on over to their Myspace page to watch in real time with some cool CooCoo clock animations and floating lightbulbs with hands for wings.  Trippy brah!

The lineup so far is...
The Flaming Lips and Stardeath & White Dwarfs performing 'Dark Side of the Moon'
Weezer
The Avett Brothers
Phoenix
Cross Canadian Ragweed
John Fogerty
Ingrid Michaelson
Medeski, Martin, and Wood
The XX
OK GO
Bassnectar
Norah Jones
Wale
Regina Spektor
Mayer Hawthorne and the Country
Jay-Z


...Thus far, looks like Coachella only worse and with more shitty piano folk chicks.


Coincidently, my review Stardeath & White Dwarfs' stellar debut will be posted later today.  Good year coming up for those guys.

The Chinese Democracy of Rap: Dr. Dre's 'Detox'

It took Axl Rose 15 years to shit out the steaming pile of crap that is Chinese Democracy.  15 years is a long time.  The band that began to the record the album was the band that released the album in name only; the original Guns n' Roses members have long since gone out to shittier things like bands named after fabric-embossed revolvers and providing color commentary on VH1 countdowns.  Any modern musical work of art that spends that long in gestation is destined for irrelevancy and a suck-factor of 11 on a 1 to 10 scale.

It has been over 10 years since Dr. Dre dropped '2001' on the world.  Contrary to many people's memories, and conveniently for Dr. Dre, the album was released in 1999, not 2001.  What started as maybe the most anticipated rap album ever, 'Detox' is turning into the Chinese Democracy of rap.  Recorded, re-recorded, re-re-recorded, scrapped, recorded again, and probably smoked up in an accidental blunt fire and recorded once again, the album is now being delayed until... Well who the fuck knows.  Dr. Dre himself doesn't even seem to know. Talking to SLAM magazine recently he said, “Well, I’m working on it, but also I’ve been working on other people’s projects; you’ll probably hear something in a year or so.”  A year or so.  This means 2011 and at this point quite conceivably beyond.

Let's face it, the man is now 44 years old, and while Jay-Z has certainly show that hip-hop moguls can rap with the best of them into their 40's, Jay-Z has at least been keeping 'in the game' during the past 10 years.  If Dre decides to release the album in 2011 he will be 45.  If you have seen that Dr. Pepper commercial that included mere seconds of Detox, you noticed the dude looks OLD.

Now I hear the argument constantly that Dre is focusing on his production for other artists like The Game, Eminem, Raekwon, etc. but even those artists who work closely with Dre on a day to day basis fail to provide an adequate explanation for what the hell is taking so long.  The Game told XXL Magazine in November 2009,

"I know it seem like he be taking forever with these albums but if you think about the time that passed between the Chronic and 2001, I think Detox is just about due. So it's not about him just making us wait, it's his format."

So let's get this straight, the 7 years between 'The Chronic' and '2001' are somehow just like the 10 years that have thus far elapsed since '2001' and... well and nothing, he has nothing to show for 10 years of work yet besides an advertising deal with a crappy soda you used to drink when the first '2001' came out.  Sure, "Crack A Bottle" had a classic great Dr. Dre flow on it, and there have been some stand-out 50 Cent and other Aftermath artist's tracks, but it's still not what we are all waiting for.  The danger of going back to the lab and perfecting the beat for over 10 years is that when it all finally comes together, whenever that may be, is that it won't come even close to living up to the hype. 

The great irony of 'Chinese Democracy' wasn't just the title of the album, but that people could actually expected a Chinese democracy to come about before the album would.  The great irony of the title 'Detox' is of course that it will be Dr. Dre's final album, likening his career arc as a rapper to an addiction which he will finally purge upon this release.  It will also be a great catharsis to the rap world that has sunk to levels that involve Lil' Wayne attempting a rock album.  But it could also be a bomb that implodes upon it's own supposed greatness and signal the end of an era in rap music.  But I guess you gotta give the man credit where it's due.  He must know what he's doing.  After all, he is a doctor.

-Zach Jaffe