Rapper Dom Kennedy, has been making a name for himself as the leader of “The New West Movement,” for years with countless projects on his discography: 25th Hour, From The Westside With Love 1 and From The Westside With Love 2 just to name a few.

With his new project on the brink of being released, Kennedy is bringing his music to Sacramento in a show sponsored by ENT Legends x Low Ki Entertainment on February 17th.  The show will be opened by Noah and Jurts and sponsored by Foreber Clothing and Hof.  The show will be held at Sacramento’s Artisan Building located at 1901 Del Paso Blvd.  Doors open at 7:30 and the show begins at 8:30.

If you are interested in attending the show, make sure to purchase your tickets at www.domkennedysac.eventbrite.com.

Despite not releasing a solo album since 2010, with Album of The Year, producer/emcee Black Milk has stayed busy.  Last year alone, he released two highly anticipated collaborative projects: Black & Brown, featuring fellow Detroitian Danny Brown, as well as releasing, Random Axe’s self-titled debut a collaborative effort between himself and emcees Sean Price and Guilty Simpson.

Now, this year Black Milk is set to release a new instrumental project in the spring titled, The Practice, as part of a new series called, “Fuzz, Fregs, and Colors.”  He also continues work on his upcoming soul project Searching for Sanity, with vocalist Melanie Rutherford (I’m so anxious for this project, I love Melanie) as well as the anticipated full-length follow up to Album of The Year.  To possibly build momentum for all of the endeavors that he has coming out this year, Milk is headlining his 25-date “Claps & Slaps Tour,” which will begin this February and ends the end of March.

If his Album of The Year, tour is any indication of what we can expect with this tour—you definitely, will not want to miss it.  The 25-date national tour launches in Providence, Rhode Island on February 25^th, and will continue throughout the month of March, touching New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.  Joining Milk on the road will be opening artists such as Seattle bred emcee J.Pinder, and Dallas based duo A.Dd+.  J.Pinder is one of the new school of hip-hop ambassadors for his hometown of Seattle, having gained critical notoriety with his mixtape Backpack Wax, with veteran Seattle producer/DJ Vitamin D, and his own EP Code Red.  The Dallas Observer called A.Dd+’s album When Pigs Fly, “The Best Hip-Hop Album Dallas Has Ever Released,” and it headed the list of Pitchfork’s “Most Underrated Rap Releases,” of 2011.  The duo is currently working on their follow up with production from S1 (Strange Fruit Project, one of my favorite groups hands down), Black Milk and their in-house producer Picnic Tyme.

Check the date below for more information.
Saturday, February 25 – Providence, RI – Fete
Monday, February 27 – Boston, MA - Middle East
Tuesday, Feburary 28 – Philadelphia, PA - Silk City
Wednesday, February 29 – New York, NY - Knitting Factory
Thursday, March 1 – Pittsburgh, PA - Shadow Lounge
Friday, March 2 – Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
Saturday, March 3 – Kalamazoo, MI - The Strutt
Tuesday, March 6 – Ann Arbor, MI - Blind Pig
Thursday, March 8 – Toronto – Great Hall
Friday, March 9- Chicago - Subterreanean
Saturday, March 10 – Grand Rapids, MI - The Intersection
Sunday, March 11 – St. Louis - Gramaphone
Monday, March 12 – Nashville – TBD
Friday, March 16 – San Diego – House of Blues
Saturday, March 17 – Scottsdale, AZ - Chaser’s
Sunday, March 18 – Los Angeles - The Roxy
Tuesday, March 20 – Santa Barbara, CA - Velvet Jones
Wednesday, March 21 – Fresno, CA - Fulton 55
Thursday, March 22 – San Francisco - 330 Ritch
Friday, March 23 – Portland, OR – Crown Room
Saturday, March 24 – Vancouver, BC – Fortune Sound Club
Sunday, March 25 – Seattle, WA - The Crocodile
Wednesday, March 28 – Minneapolis MN - 7th Street Entry
Thursday, March 29 – Iowa City - Mission Creek Festival
Friday, March 30th – Toledo OH - Frankie’s Underground

This tour will be sponsored by Flud Watches and Fusicology.

The horns on this track are crazy!!!!! This is a new leak off of Hypnotic Brass Ensemble’s new EP.  If you are unfamiliar with who exactly Hypnotic Brass Ensemble is, you definitely need to upgrade your life, but here, I’ll help you out.

The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (HBE) is composed of eight brothers from the south side of Chicago. They come from an extraordinary musical family. Other sisters and brothers are professional musicians; their mothers are singers, and Philip Cohran, their esteemed father. By the time the members of the HBE were growing up, Phil’s work as a musical activist and educator led to the establishment of a space called the Sun Ark in a warehouse behind the family home above a furniture shop. At nightfall when they went to bed, the children would hear their father rehearsing with his band the Circle Of Sound. They were wakened at 6 a.m. for several hours of music practice before going to school. From an early age they were a central part of their father’s Youth Ensemble. By the end of the nineties, with everyone out of school, they brought together their musicianship, their jazz roots and their hip hop sensibility, and made a living busking on the streets of Chicago. They came up with their name after an incident on the El: playing on the platform, a man in a suit watched them for hours, missing train after train, till in the end he approached them and said, “You guys just hypnotized me.”

Kelan Phil Cohran was born in Oxford, Mississippi on May 8, 1927. He is a jazz musician, musicologist, composer, instrument designer, holistic health advocate, and community activist. He is known most for his Affro-Arts Theater, Artistic Heritage Ensemble, trumpet contributions in the Sun Ra Arkestra in Chicago (1959-1961), and as one of the cofounders of the AACM. Cohran (pronounced “co-RAHN”), was born in 1927 and grew up outside of Oxford, Mississippi in an area known to this day as “Coontown.” The family moved to St. Louis when he was about ten. In 1958 Cohran joined Sun Ra’s Arkestra in Chicago and became a lifelong devotee of the charismatic, eccentric bandleader who was either from Birmingham or Saturn, depending on who you asked. Cohran played cornet on some of the Arkestra’s greatest records, including Interstellar Low Ways and Fate in a Pleasant Mood, and became so entangled in Sun Ra’s strict regimen of practice, performance, and inculcation with esoteric ideas that he lost his wife and job. Cohran decided to stay in Chicago when the band moved to New York in 1961.

In 2008, Adrian Younge, founder of The Venice Dawn, would find himself at the center of the Black Dynamite zeitgeist. Instrumental in the film’s development, Younge not only edited the film, but also composed the original score, which was hailed as a modern blaxploitation masterpiece for authentically capturing the cinematic soul of the 1970’s, from Isaac Hayes to Curtis Mayfield. Adrian Younge solidified himself as a force to be reckoned with and soon went to work writing music for the forthcoming Black Dynamite cartoon series on Adult Swim. The new LP, titled Something About April, is a heavy, dark mix of psychedelic soul and cinematic instrumentals with hip-hop aesthetics, touching on influences from Morricone to Otis Redding. Younge is currently writing and recording material for his next project, a Delfonics album with William Hart, founding singer of the legendary soul group.

William Hart, among the first purveyors of the smooth, orchestral sound that would come to typify Philadelphia soul, The Delfonics established themselves as one of the quintessential soul groups of the late 60’s and 70’s and created some of the most notable songs of that era. Formed in the early 1960’s in Philly by brothers William “Poogie” and Wilbert Hart and schoolmate Randy Cain, the Delfonics established a reputation as a solid young vocal group and William Hart as a fine young songwriter. They hit both the Pop and Soul top five in 1968 with the Bell/William Hart composition “La La Means I Love You,” a now-classic soul ballad highlighted by Hart’s plaintive falsetto lead. More hits followed over the next few years, including the memorable “Ready Or Not Here I Come,” “You Got Yours And I’ll Get Mine” and their other top ten Pop hit, “Didn’t (I Blow Your Mind This Time),” which won the 1970 Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance.

Turning heads throughout the industry, DJ Spinna’s sonics soon infiltrated numerous genres. Tapped by everyone from George Michael to Mary J. Blige to Motown Records (for his brilliant Michael Jackson homage to “We’re Almost There”). It’s here his production presence would flourish greatly, as Spinna would go on to revive and revise Soulful marvels like Donald Byrd, Eddie Kendricks, Betty Carter, Roy Ayers and Al Jarreau. Visit New York City any given month and find a number of Spinna themed throw-downs in the city’s esteemed venues – each as memorable as the last.

As one the most important tastemakers Europe has to offer, and affiliated with labels Brownswood, Blue Note, !K7 Records and Jazzy Sport, this bearded early riser is consistently a couple steps ahead of your average early adopter. As a leading dj on Belgium’s foremost national radio station Studio Brussel he’s received compliments from Rough Trade Shops and Gilles Peterson. His passion for jazz resulted in a remix album for Blue Note which was well received by the community. Lefto is forever moving forward but always has an ear in the past. Famed for his gloriously eclectic DJ sets, he switches effortlessly between hip hop, funk, breaks, neck-snapping beats, future bass, South-American influences, bruk riddims and some wild African rhythms. He’s not only a deejay and producer but also curates his own stage at the Dour Festival and his own nights in Gent in collaboration with Democrazy.

Also, if you live in the Los Angeles area make sure to attend EVFA and ArtDontSleep presents, “Homage,” Thursday February 23rd at 8PM.  Hypnotic Brass Ensemble will be performing live along with Phil Cohran and opening acts.  Venice Dawn and William Hart of The Delfonics, as well as DJs DJ Spinna, Lefto, Anthony Valdez, Expo, Seano & Rani D.  The show will be at Exchange LA located at 618S. Spring Street, Los Angeles, Ca 90014, and tickets are $25 pre-sale, and $30 at the door (purchase here).  If you are interested in getting bottle/table service, make sure to email: ella@exchangela.com

If you’re living in the San Francisco, this is definitely an event you do not want to miss– Saul Williams live.  This is an event that essentially, has been marked on my calendar since I found out about it in November of last year.  I LOVE HIM.  The show is Saturday March 10th, at 9PM at San Francisco’s Slim’s located at 333 11th Street.  Tickets are $20, and if you check online, you can purchase tickets here.

For Single’s Awareness Day, I will be here for sure, even without a date.  I’ve just got to swoon to Lenny Kravitz in the flesh, and I have also got to hear Instant Vintage live too, and “Just Don’t,” by Mr. Saadiq– you know he’s from Oakland right?  The city that New York Times just named #5 place to visit in 2012– read about it here, and a response, courtesy 38th Notes one of my favorite, well written blogs.

Nonetheless, if you are interested in attending the show, here’s the details you need to know: The show is on Valentine’s Day, and begins at 8PM at Oakland’s Fox Theater.  Ticket price: $45.00 – $52.50, and you can purchase your tickets here. 

Well, If you’re a fan of the classic Below The Heavens, as well as their latest compilation of old tracks, Give Me My Flowers While I Can Still Smell Them, this is definitely a show that you may want to go to to this show at San Francisco’s 330 Ritch located at 330 Ritch Street.  The show will be opened by Foreign Legion, and Spank Pops, with DJs Sake One & Sean G.  Tickets are available for $12, and the show is 18+.  Make sure to purchase tickets here.

OMG Tokimonsta!

Seeing Tokimonsta live would easily make my whole year.

2 rooms of music
10pm – 4am
Tickets $15 advance / $20 at the door

Buy Tickets Here.

I posted about this a few weeks ago, and if you still have not yet purchased your tickets, please do it now.

EVFA & ArtDontSleep present: Homage

Live Performances by:
Roy Ayers featuring Pete Rock (Live full band)

Opening Performance by:
Thundercat (Live)
and
J.Rocc

Lounge DJ’s:
Anthony Valadez, Clifton Weaver, Destroyer, Lee Joseph & Marlon Fuentes

Hosted By: Garth Trinidad

Thursday November 17th, 2011 :: 8pm-2am

Exchange LA :: 618 S. Spring Street :: Los Angeles, CA 90014:: (213) 627-8070

21 + wiser
Table/Bottle Service Available: ella@exchangela.com

Tickets: http://homage.eventbrite.com/
30$ General Admission w/ Ticket

Facebook invite:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=304805036203439&context=create

I definitely want to catch this show.  I haven’t seen a “Real” Badu show since the concert with her, Jill Scott, Queen Latifah and Floetry.  I’ve seen her DJ a few times, however, that’s not the same.

The Warfield
982 Market Street
San Francisco, CA
Friday, December 9, 2011

The Science of Addiction Tour 2011AD

Erykah Badu

The Cannabinoids

Early Pre-Sale Tickets Available Thursday w/ Password: Badu

Showtime: 9:00PM Doors: 8:00PM
Ticket price: $49.50-$75.00
Tickets available on-line at:http://www.thewarfieldtheatre.com/eventdetail.php?id=33819

Cough cough, excuse my lack of blogging.  I kind of want to switch this whole thing around just haven’t had the time to really do that yet… give me time, it’s coming.  With that being said, make sure you check out the bearded man, Stalley, at San Francisco along with Moe Green, Damey, and my boo– the only girl on the lineup Ms. Hopie  I wrote a whole post about the show on The Examiner, which you can check out here.