Recent posts: Interviews

For anyone who’s followed California duo Moonshine Bandits’ careers, several things come to mind. Living comfortably in the country/hip-hop intersection, these dudes rep for the backwoods boys who work hard, play hard and enjoy their liquor even harder. Road warriors for years, they’ve built a large Shiner nation fanbase that continue inspiring music for the pair. Touring to support their latest effort ‘Blacked Out’ which debuted high on iTunes and Billboard charts, they joined forces with renowned producer Ira Dean and brought collaborators like Demun Jones, Colt Ford, Sarah Ross, Bubba Sparxx in tow this time around.

In a sea of groups who achieve success and flame out, hitting the milestone of 15 years together in any genre is rare. Achieving this accomplishment while releasing their fifth album ‘El Mismo’, Latin Grammy winning and Grammy nominated trio (consisting of husband and wife team Tostao and Goyo along with Slow Mike) Chocquibtown shows no signs of slowing down el “ritmo violento”. Teaming up with acclaimed producer Andrés Castro (who’s worked with Prince Royce, Carlos Vives and Thalia) for their latest effort, their multi-genre mezcla reflecting their beloved culturally blended Colombia, shines through like “oro”.

As July draws to a close, it’s time to reflect on a great music festing year thus far. Blessed to travel into the mountains, desert, city and country for the love of live music, there’s nothing like it. Putting my list of fav fests together in my head, The Art of Cool (AOC) Fest in Durham, NC automatically gets a spot. Even while experiencing opposite spectrums of weather during the weekend, I enjoyed every minute. Checking out Anthony Hamilton’s latest video with Teedra Moses released this week, I fondly remembered my group chat with Grammy Award-winning AOC headliner Anthony earlier this year who graciously chatted with us, press folk, in the pouring rain (when I say pouring rain, I mean POURING RAIN). Warm, down-to-earth and talented for days, our talk cemented my genuine fandom.

For any experimental soul music lover, these two past weeks have felt like Christmas in the summertime. Among the incredible releases dropping, Bilal’s ‘In Another Life’ puts an exclamation point on a broad, bold discography and provides the perfect holiday traveling soundtrack. I stopped by Red Bull’s monthly Sound Select show last week which drew enthusiastic soul and hip-hop fans to The Echo for $3 (can never beat that) for a dope line-up featuring Bilal, which drew the likes of Queen Latifah and Adrian Younge, the album producer joining him onstage, offering a rare live experience, bringing the new album to another level. The night mixed the right amount of chill and hype.

In a crowded field of hip-hop MCs and music producer hybrids, the one who’s equally talented in both arenas, keeps audiences guessing with collabos showing range, all while putting on a dope live show, gets my respect AND hard earned money nowadays. One such rarity consistently meeting all my criteria is Black Milk. Dropping quality project after another including 2014’s brilliant “If There’s A Hell Below” and 2013’s “No Poison No Paradise”, his trademark sound’s unmistakable. Resuming his Play Like Hell Tour this week, hitting the East Coast, Midwest and Europe, his live band Nat Turner experience bumps hard.

After a long work week, nothing’s better than dancing the stress away. Para vivir, necesitamos bailar. Bomba Estéreo’s intimate session at Red Bull Studios in Santa Monica last week proved the ideal hype venue to do so. The Latin Grammy nominated group Bomba Estéreo returned to Southern Cali with cuts including the perfect summer song “Fiesta”, off their new fourth album ‘Amanecer’. With assistance from Wallpaper artist and producer Ricky Reed, the album blends the trademark B.E. fusion cumbia, Afro-Caribbean folk sound with a harder electro edge. With plans to play multiple continents the rest of the year, they’ll be seeing sunrises all over the U.S., Europe and Latin America pronto.

As a frequent listener of new music, I’m quite familiar with the venn diagram that outlines dope music on one end and critical acclaim on the other. Not often do we see show awards overlap within that dope music component but it’s a blessing when voters/academies get it right. When I heard Brooklyn based Snarky Puppy’s collaboration with Lalah Hathaway “Something” off their CD/live DVD ‘Family Dinner-Volume One’, sonic amazing filled my headphones and it garnered the worldwide media attention it deserved winning 2014’s Grammy for “Best R&B Performance”.

More often than not, on any given night like most creative types, insomnia and I are besties. When I saw K. Flay’s video “Can’t Sleep” released this week off her 2014 album ‘Life As A Dog’, the idea of a kindred restless spirit reveals itself vividly. That frenetic energy also transfers well onstage as anyone who’s seen her live can attest. Wrapping up the Austin rollercoaster that is SXSW, I connected with K.Flay after her last show of the week to chat about a series of random and not so random items before we left the Lone Star state.