The Groove Thief

On Superpowers, West Coast electro-futurist The Polish Ambassador decreases his trademark funkiness in order to increase his musical sex appeal. This EP is dripping with sleek, polished (haha) synths delicately laid atop chilled-out bass-lines. Ordinarily TPA drops booty-shaking anthems, here the booties are shaking for entirely different reasons and in an entirely different place: the intergalactic bedroom. This is a cohesive album, the tracks run together smoothly, and the fact that nothing stands out is a testament to the efforts of a multi-talented producer. Available as a free download, this will be playing at an alien sex party near you:

Snoop Dogg is now Snoop Lion?! The apparently new-and-improved rap star has embraced the red, gold and green, under the production tutelage of Major Lazer. With Diplo & Switch on the beats, this is smooth-sailing classically-styled reggae. Snoop doesn’t deliver much of an impressive flow, instead letting his delicate vocals mingle with the pared-back rhythm section and the supporting female part. “La La La” is an intriguing effort, the question is whether Reincarnation will deliver as an LP or not. Hopefully this track is just on the lighter side, and Snoop can deliver some reggae tracks worthy of the Lion moniker.

OR:

Del The Funky Homosapien is rightfully a hip-hop legend, turning West Coast gangsta-rap on its side to create intelligent and relevant music.  He’s now 2/3 of the way through a free mixtape series, West Coast Avengers, where he features samples exclusively from a single artist.  The latest installment is all Fela Kuti, loops created out of catchy horns and percussion pieces from the afrobeat maestro.  Del’s voice commands your attention, commenting on everything from the internet to his own awesomeness.  Each track clocks in at 2 minutes, so this entire free LP will disappear in less than 20 minutes, but each track is quite enjoyable.  Volume One is all P-Funk inspired, appropriately enough, so it sounds much more as one would expect than Volume Two…

Slightly Stoopid make widely-influenced reggae music that is anything but their name.  Although they occasionally venture into the realm of punk-rock that I personally find a bit unnecessary and annoying, they are thankfully much better known for the finely-played acoustic gems.  Blending Sublime’s West-Coast reggae/rock sound with more playful songwriting and less of a drug-addled musical approach, these one-time Skunk Records’ signees have been releasing their music independently for some time now, and their mellow-yet-upbeat sound is what G. Love dreams of.  Here’s a free album, Stoopid Winter 2011, filled with classic songs, and an awesome remix of “No Cocaine” by the legendary dub maestro Scientist.  The latter is only available on 7”, which is simply unfair.

Dub Easy have a smooth smoker’s anthem in “Rollin My Big Spliff” featuring Silva Duss.  The riddim is simple and digital, with synths twinkling amidst the herb-minded lyrics.  There are other tracks on this same Big Spliff Riddim, but the original is easily the best thanks to the passion behind the vocals, which alternate between the sing-song chorus and the more urgent verses.  Nice West-Coast dub from California, off of the Reggae Vibes compilation.

Mochipet has released a full mashup album, entitled 10 Reasons to Love Hate Dubstep.  Perhaps it’s intentional irony that there are 16 tracks, but regardless there is some interesting stuff here.  Slim Thug, Outkast, Rage Against The Machine - and that’s just the first three tracks.  The likes of Kanye West, AC/DC (in an almost restrained manner) and Black Sabbath also get ‘updated’ with the bass sound, all leading up to the glitch-filled epic “Thrillerstep” feat. Michael Jackson.  Worth listening to for more than the novelty value, thankfully:

Here’s some more Mochipet goodies, courtesy of Soundcloud:

Mochipet - West Coast Bass Remix of TheFlyingSkulls (Free Download) by Mochipet

Mochipet - STS9 “When The Dust Settles” Remix (FREE DOWNLOAD) by Mochipet

and the Michael Jackson track if you are impatient:

FREE HALLOWEEN DOWNLOAD - Michael Jackson Thriller Remix! by Mochipet