Drake ft. Eminem, Kanye West, Lil Wayne - Forever

Well isn't this is a MidPoints dream come true. Someone decided to put the four dudes I seem to blog the most about on one insanely hot track. It's just shy of 6 minutes long, giving plenty of time for all four of these guys to do their thing and do it right. Drakegrassi sings the hook and gives us the lead off verse about how awesome he is and how quickly he got to where he is. Not particularly original, but still fun to listen to. But after the three other guys get their shot at a verse, Eminem flat out kills it. Drizzy, Yeezy and Weezy might be good at what they do, but this track reminds us that they all pale in comparison to Em's lyrical and flowdacious prowess. I mean he threatens to literally eat your face. What more could you want?

Download this ish. Now!

Thanks again to my buddy Kia for the tip.

Jay-Z x Kanye West x Rihanna = "Run This Town"

I already wrote a whole post about this song and then my browser crashed, so in the interest of my own laziness, I will be brief. If my calculations are correct, this fresh new track that just leaked from Jay-Z's highly anticipated The Blueprint 3 (scheduled for release on September 11, 2009) is mere weeks away from being massively overplayed on radio stations across the country. Luckily, "Run This Town" is good enough to warrant it. I wouldn't expect anything less from a collaboration of three of the biggest names in the music industry. In short: talent cubed equals sick jams. Don't be late, download the track now.

RIP Bright Eyes (Not Conor Oberst, Just Bright Eyes)

We'll always have I'm Wide Awake It's Morning...and that other album that came out that day

Sad story friends...Conor Oberst is disbanding Bright Eyes. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, he said "It does feel like it needs to stop at some point. I'd like to clean it up, lock the door, say goodbye" in regards to his long time musical pseudonym. It was a long, beautiful and usually heartbroken journey, and although I am sad to see the end of Bright Eyes, I respect his desire to distance himself from a musical project he started at the age of 15. Rumor has it that he is in the midst of recording his final Bright Eyes album and that it will be released some time next year. In related news, Oberst has teamed up with My Morning Jacket's singer/guitarist Jim James and bad-ass-indie-mother-folker M. Ward for a new project aptly titled Monsters of Folk. Their debut album is due September 22 and you can download the single "Say Please" if you to the bands website. In order to do so, you will first have to say 'please'. It sounds like a bad joke, but its really what you have to do to get the track.

TV On The Radio's Kyp Malone aka Rain Machine "Give Blood"

My internet has been out for the past few weeks. It turns out, blogging is extremely difficult without internet. But now that I've got smooth and delicious high speed on tap, it's time to get back to work. I give you "Give Blood", the first song to be released from Rain Machine, otherwise known as Kyp Malone of TV On The Radio fame. The self titled Rain Machine debut is due out September 22. For better or for worse, this song falls victim of the classic solo project conundrum. "Give Blood" sounds pretty much like a stripped down version TVOTR, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Malone's signature falsetto is instantly recognizable, and with all its similarities to his band's sound I can only wonder what this would have been like if it was a TVOTR track. But whatever doubts I have are easily overcome by the raw power of this mans beard.

Download the mp3 here.

thx 2 p4k

Detox Leak?? Dr. Dre, T.I. and Nas - "Topless"

I just read an article in GQ the other day that featured the music industry's next Chinese Democracies.  They featured D'Angelo's third album, Lauryn Hill's second studio album, My Bloody Valentine's follow up to the nearly perfect Loveless and my long time personal favorite Dr. Dre's Detox.  For those of you who may have forgotten, it's been over nine long years since 2001 dropped in late 1999.  I just found a potential leak from Detox, featuring T.I. and Nas.  It's called "Topless", and unfortunately it's a radio rip, but at least it's something.

Download the mp3 here, thanks to PMA.  

Sufjan Stevens Gets Hip-Hopped

The NYC hip-hop duo Metermaids has transformed Sufjan Steven's brilliant Illinoise album into a hip-hop album titled Nightlife In Illinoise. From what I've listened to it's pretty interesting. They are clearly striving for Grey Album status, but it's not that good (but what is?). If you appreciated the sweeping beauty of the Sufjan Stevens and have an appreciation for hip-hop, it might be worth your while. You can download individual tracks or the entire album here.

Another N.A.S.A. Jam featuring Kanye & Santogold

Ok, so now I'm pretty jazzed up about this N.A.S.A. business. N.A.S.A. (North America/South America) is comprised of DJ Squeak E Clean and DJ Zegon and their forthcoming album The Spirit of Apollo is supposed to feature everyone. Literally everyone is on this album. It's nuts. I found a track listing thanks to this dude's blog.

N.A.S.A. LAUNCHES ‘THE SPIRIT OF APOLLO’ ON FEBRUARY 17, 2009

1. “Intro”
2. “The People Tree” (feat. David Byrne, Chali 2na, Gift of Gab,& Z-Trip)
3. “Money” (feat. David Byrne, Chuck D, Ras Congo, Seu Jorge, & Z-Trip)
4. “NASA Music” (feat. Method Man, E-40, & DJ Swamp)
5. “Way Down” (feat. RZA, Barbie Hatch, & John Frusciante)
6. “Hip Hop” (feat. KRS-One, Fatlip, & Slim Kid Tre)
7. “Four Rooms, Earth View”
8. “Strange Enough” (feat. Karen O, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, & Fatlip)
9. “Spacious Thoughts” (feat. Tom Waits & Kool Keith)
10. “Gifted” (feat. Kanye West and others TBD)
11. “A Volta” (feat. Sizzla, Amanda Blank, & Lovefoxxx)
12. “There’s a Party” (feat. George Clinton & Chali 2na)
13. “Whachadoin?” (feat. Spank Rock, M.I.A., Santogold & Nick Zinner)
14. “O Pato” (feat. Kool Kojak & DJ Bãboa)
15. “Samba Soul” (feat. Del Tha Funkee Homosapien & DJ Qbert)
16. “The Mayor” (feat. The Cool Kids, Ghostface Killah, DJ AM & Scarface)
17. “N.A.S.A. Anthem”

Uh. Yes please.

Check out this sick new jam. It's called "Gifted" and it features Kanye West, Santogold and Lykke Li. It's a pretty dancey thing. Kanye raps. The quality isn't great. Kanye's vocals are a little quiet, but it is a leak after all. I look forward to hearing the real thing.

Download the "Gifted" mp3.

Watch the "Money" music video.

"Number One" - Eminem produced by Dr. Dre

New Eminem leak.

Dre produced it.

A dude at Interscope records said the following about Eminem's next album:

"We only tried to put him out this year to replace Dr. Dre, but we got into a quagmire. Eminem was always coming next year. But what happened was, I lost Dr. Dre to Eminem. Dre had to stop making his album to finish Eminem's album. Eminem hit a streak, and when a guy like Eminem gets on fire, you stop everything."

I can't wait for Relapse.

Download "Number One"

Who The F!@# Is Kevin Rudolf?

He is the latest artist to sign to Cash Money Records and he continues to team up with some of the biggest names in rap. First it was Lil Wayne and now it's Nas. I can't quite wrap my brain around his stuff. Love it? Yes. Understand it? No. It's like alt rock. Except it's dancier. So like Fall Out Boy/Panic At The Disco. But not. It's club anthem dancey, like Rihanna/Lady GaGa. But it has guitar solos. And rap. I have no idea what's going on, but I like it. Check out the mp3: NYC featuring Nas.

New Wale

I've been busy, sorry I haven't posted lately.  I'll blame the music industry's lack of notable new stuff instead of blaming my overcrowded schedule.  Check it:  DC rapper Wale (pronounced Wah-lay) has just signed on to make a record with producer extrodonaire Mark Ronson (whose solo cover album was one of my favorite albums of last year).  If my math is correct, the combination of Ronson's slick producin' and Wale wit and lyricism should make his forthcoming album Back to the Feature pretty awesome.  This single, Warwick Avenue, features Duffy and is a pretty neat little jam.  Download the mp3 here and check it out for yourself.  

If you've never heard of Wale you should definitely check out two of his mixtapes.  The first, 100 Miles and Running features one of my favorite songs of the year: W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E.  The song features the DC rapper spittin' over one of my favorite songs from last year D.A.N.C.E.  I never thought that Justice could be used as a rap beat, but I guess that's just a tribute to Wale's genius. The second mixtape worth checking out is The Mixtape About Nothing.   It's a Seinfeld themed mixtape.  'Nuff said.  Do yourself a favor and download The Mixtape About Nothing and 100 Miles and Running.  If nothing else you MUST hear W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E.

Kanye and Coldplay ft. Jay-Z

Two new tracks for your ears:

1.  Kanye had an outragous party, that as far as I can tell from his blog, consisted of nothing but concrete, lights and naked women.  He premired his new album 808s & Heartbreak for the nude crew and released another Auto-Tune filled mp3 of a song called Heartless.  

2. Jay-Z has yet again teamed up with Chris Martin and the Coldplays.  Although billed as a remix with Jay-Z, this version of Lost! is pretty much the same except for the verse Hova adds in the last part of the song.  It's cool, but kinda dissapointing.  Maybe it's just because the quality isn't great, but I'm less than impressed.  Download it for yourself, maybe I'm wrong. 

New Eminem!!!

This morning a song from Eminem's long awaited sixth LP, Relapse, hit the blogosphere. We've been hearing for some time now that the album would be entitled King Mathers, and based on this title alone I assumed that this would be a return to greatness.  Although I wouldn't describe any of his albums as weak, the latest few have failed to capture the extreme controversy and genius present in his first slew of albums.  The new song, titled I'm Having A Relapse, isn't bad.  I haven't had a chance to listen to it enough to disect the lyrics, but after a first listen, I'm definitely a fan.  It's only two minutes, but hey, its two minutes from a dude we've been waiting a long time to hear.  The leak has been surrounded by some unsubstantiated rumors that new albums from 50 Cent, Eminem, and Dr. Dre will all be released in relatively close succession starting late 2008 and continuing into early 2009.  Apparently, Dre has produced most of Relapse (awesome) which has allowed Mr. Mathers to spend most of his time working on lyrics (awesome).  But let's be real, Dretox/Detox is the one that we are all waiting for.  50 Cent's album is set to be released December 9, but neither Relapse, nor Detox have any confirmed release dates.  Enough chit-chat, snag the I'm Having A Relapse mp3 here.

A Milli: Live with The Roots!

Lil Wayne and The Roots.

?uestlove plays drums AND does all of the "A Milli"s.  

Enough said.

Download the mp3.

The Killers New Single

The Las Vegas based synth-rockers, The Killers unleashed their sprawling new single simply titled Human today.  Last week the band announced Day & Age, the follow up to their grossly underrated Sam's Town, will be released on November 25th.  Human sounds like The Killers version of Viva La Vida, if only for the steady bass drum that plays through the whole song.  But if you ask me, and you haven't, the similarities don't end there. Layered synths, strings and elements of U2 worshipping are all present.  Check it out for yourself and download the mp3 directly by right-clicking here.

James Bond + Alicia Keys + Jack White = Another Way To Die

This unlikely duet from The White Stripes/Raconteurs front man Jack White and singin' sensation Alicia Keys is the theme song for the upcoming James Bond film, Quantum of Solace. Reminiscent of some of the classic Bond theme songs from the 60s and 70s, Another Way To Die is with out a doubt one of the more original songs to be written for 007.  I don't think that either of these individual artists would have been a particularly strange choice for a Bond theme but the pairing of the two certainly is.  It gets wierder.  A clip of the tune was recently featured in a Coke Zero commercial and shortly after it aired, Jack White issued a statement that claimed this commercial was done without his blessing. Although conceptually bizzarre, the cascading horns, heavy piano chords and fuzz-box guitars combined with Key's smokey vocals and Jack White's signature wail make Another Way To Die one hell of a jam.  Click here to listen to a stream of the track or here to download the mp3.

Of Montreal? Of Course!

Of Montreal is a pretty nutty band, so I shouldn't have been so surprised when I found out that they are releasing their forthcoming album Skeletal Lamping (check the nutty album art here) in a variety of formats such as CD, vinyl, t-shirt, wall decal, sticker set and paper lamp. For those objects less inclined to store music, a digital download will also be included. Like I said, nutty. Also, nutty, if not bat-shit crazy, is Nonpareil of Favor, the first single from the album. Download the track here, courtesy of P-Fork.


Furthermore, I've decided to, in honor of this insanity, list my top five albume release gimmick/packaging


THE TOP FIVE CRAZIEST ALBUM RELEASES SCHEMES (in order)

5. Bright Eyes - Digital Ash In The Digital Urn/I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning

Why release a double-album when you can release two single albums on the same day? Indie-neo-Dylan-singersonger-savior-wonderchild Connor Oberst is also not above cashing in on some sweet marketing ploys. I'll admit that material is substantially different and artistically speaking, it was probably the right call...but still.

4. Nine Inch Nails -Year Zero, YEAR&()(&ZE()*_)*R_)E(*M#$%@IX@@errwhatever, Ghosts I-5, The Slip

Trent Reznor is nuts. He makes two albums in like a decade and then goes crazy and starts releasing albums on a daily basis. The crazy starts when the Rezonator leaks Year Zero on a USB drive by dropping it in a bathroom in Europe. I mean with technology being what it is, what difference does it make if you start your marketing campeign in a European bathroom. Then come a ton of viral websites that all are in weird codes and shit. Then the remix album, months later, then come the Ghosts. Part one of the 5 part, two-disc epic was released for free with the other four parts availble as a download, a two-disc set and even some crazy super expensive thing. Then comes the Slip. For free, released as a thank you to all of fans for buying the last bunch of albums. Then that was rereleased as a two disc dvd thingamabob. Nutty.


3. Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping

Scroll up.

2. Beck - The Information

Blank album cover and a bunch of stickers that let you design your own album cover.
Weird? Yes. Awesome? Obviously. Jams? Sick.

1. Radiohead - In Rainbows

Announced mere days before the release, Radiohead's incredible 7th LP In Rainbows was released for the price of free-ninety-nine, or how ever much you wanted to pay for it. This concept lead for other artists such as the aformention NIN, Girl Talk and plenty of other artists who have started releasing albums for free, with the option to pay. As an added bonus AmpLive made a remix album and released it for free to anyone who actually paid for In Rainbows. Like most things Radiohead does, this was as innovative as it was awesome. Oh yeah, and the album itself is just shy of perfect.

Rockdown! Pt. 2!

Unsatisfied by the initial release of Love Lockdown, everybody's favorite egoist Kanye West returned to the studio record new drums and vocals for the lead off single to his upcoming album. The changes made in the studio cleaned up elements of the song that previously sounded a little messy. Check it out. Stream it from Kanye West's blog or download the mp3