hip hop – Listen To This

22 Favorite Releases of 2021

In the spirit of the season, I wanted to share my favorite releases of the year. Not exhaustive, just some personal highlights. Happy new year!

Previously: 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015

	A Tribe Called Quest – The Low End Theory, 1991 buy
	Beat Happening – Dreamy, 1991 buy / download
	Carlos Maria Trindade & Nuno Canavarro – Mr. Wollogallu, 1991 buy / download
	Dip In The Pool – Aurorae, 1991 buy / download
	Enya – Shepherd Moons, 1991 buy
	Flipper’s Guitar – Doctor Head’s World Tower, 1991 buy / download
	Harold Budd – By The Dawn’s Early Light, 1991 buy / download
	The Hilliard Ensemble – Carlos Gesualdo: Tenebrae, 1991 buy / download
	Jean C. Roché – Rossignols: A Nocturne of Nightingales, 1991 buy / download
	Keisuke Sakurai – Is It Japan ?, 1991 buy / download
	Laurie Spiegel – Unseen Worlds, 1991 buy
	LFO – Frequencies, 1991 buy / download
	Main Source – Breaking Atoms, 1991 buy / download
	Mariah Carey – Emotions, 1991 buy
	Massive Attack – Blue Lines, 1991 buy
	My Bloody Valentine – Loveless, 1991 buy
	Mychael Danna – Sirens, 1991 buy / download
	Nirvana – Nevermind, 1991 buy
	The Orb – The Orb’s Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld, 1991 buy
	Primal Scream – Screamadelica, 1991 buy
	Roberto Mazza – Scoprire Le Orme, 1991 buy / download
	Talk Talk – Laughing Stock, 1991 buy

[Mix for NTS Radio] Getting Warmer Episode 49: Classic Kpop Special

My newest episode of Getting Warmer for NTS Radio is a classic K-pop special I made with very special co-host Bread Face. It’s mostly from the 90s, with a few early aughts tracks. Until recently I had been under the (false!) impression that K-pop was mostly limited to dance-oriented bubblegum synth pop, but I’ve been loving delving into all of its sub-genres: included here are moments of hip hop, trip hop, r&b, and even some ska influences. We had so much fun putting this together (my first time bringing a guest onto NTS!), so I hope you enjoy it. If you do, you can download an mp3 version here. Thanks as always for listening 💚

Tracklist:
1. Fin.K.L – 당신은 모르실꺼야 (You’ll Never Know)
2. 베이비복스 (Baby VOX) – Get Up
3. 엄정화 (Uhm Jung Hwa) – 초대 (Invitation)
4. 宋光植 (S.E.S.) – Feeling
5. 제이 (J) – 가사 첨부 (Time Out)
6. 영턱스클럽 (Young Turks Club) – 타인 (Ta In)
7. 지누션 (Jinusean) – How Deep Is Your Love
8. 룰라 (Roo’ra) – 날개 잃은 천사 (Angel Without Wings)
9. 宋光植 (S.E.S.) – Dreams Come True
10. 박지윤 (Park Jiyoon) – 아무것도 몰라요 (I Don’t Know)
11. 영턱스클럽 (Young Turks Club) – 정 (Jung)
12. 드렁큰 타이거 (Drunken Tiger) – 난 널 원해 (I Want You)
13. 宋光植 (S.E.S.) – Be Natural
14. 박지윤 (Park Jiyoon) – 박지윤 – (Coming Of Age Ceremony)
15. 타샤니 (Tashannie) – 경고 (Caution)
16. 이정현 (Lee Jung Hyun) – 와 (Wa)

20 Favorite Releases of 2016

In the spirit of the season, I wanted to share some of my favorite releases of the year. Obviously not exhaustive; just some personal highlights. Let me know if links are broken. Happy holidays!

Previously: 2015

	Arthur Russell – World Of Echo, 1986 buy
	Bill Nelson – Getting The Holy Ghost Across, 1986 buy / download
	Cocteau Twins – Victorialand, 1986 buy
	Cocteau Twins & Harold Budd – The Moon And The Melodies, 1986 buy
	Coil – Horse Rotorvator, 1986 download
	David Hykes – Harmonic Meetings, 1986 buy / download
	Double Fantasy – Universal Ave, 1986 buy / download
	The Feelies – The Good Earth, 1986 buy / download
	Felt – Forever Breathes The Lonely Word, 1986 buy / download
	Geinoh Yamashirogumi – Ecophony Rinne, 1986 buy / download
	Hiroshi Yoshimura – Soundscape 1: Surround, 1986 download
	Isabelle Antena – En Cavale, 1986 buy / download
	Janet Jackson – Control, 1986 buy
	Just-Ice – Back To The Old School, 1986 buy / download
	Linda di Franco – Rise Of The Heart, 1986 download
	Nu Shooz – Poolside, 1986 buy
	Riccardo Sinigaglia – Riflessi, 1986 download
	Toshifumi Hinata – Reality In Love, 1986 download
	Virginia Astley – Hope In A Darkened Heart, 1986 download
	Zavijava Orchestra – Rivers Of Light, 1986 buy / download

Ata Kak – Obaa Sima, 1994 (reissued 2015)

Ghanaian musician A Yaw Atta-Owusu, aka Ata Kak, recorded and self-produced Obaa Sima in 1994 in his home studio while living in Toronto. In spite of only 50 cassette copies being produced, the tape has enjoyed cult status over the past decade. Still, scouring the internet turns up virtually no information about him, which will change today. Awesome Tapes From Africa‘s Brian Shimkowitz has finally tracked him down after years of searching, and is restoring and rereleasing Obaa Sima on all formats, 21 years after its original release.

Obaa Sima lies somewhere in between highlife, house, hip hop, new jack swing, and electro, produced rough and dry. Without wanting to suggest that this is a kitschy bedroom-tape artifact (it’s not), what makes this so exciting is its rawness and deliberate playfulness. Ata Kak seems to have exploited his minimalist production methods on purpose and clearly had a lot of fun doing it. The music feels pixelated and hyper-saturated at the same time, like playing Pacman through 3D glasses.

Ata Kak is a wicked rapper, and his hopped-up flow takes center stge, sometimes backed by pitched-up backing choruses of what sound like his own voice. The result is joyous and strange, a window into something that children of the internet will never be able to experience firsthand–this having been made in 1994, right before dial-up became ubiquitous in America and the world began to shrink. Obaa Sima is the end of an era, the end of (global, if not local) anonymity and microcosms, the last of glee and spontaneity. It’s a vibrant moment that presumably happened without documentation, leftfield and DIY to its core. Obaa Sima has a lot more going on than just nostalgia, though–it’s warped and frenetic and a little scary in its relentlessness. We’re looking forward to reading more about Ata Kak Yaw Atta-Owusu. For whom did he make this music? Was he homesick? How much did it circulate in Ghana? We like to imagine that he was dancing as if no one was watching, because no one was watching, and that was totally fine by him.

Preview the anthemic, blazing “Daa Nyinaa” below. It belongs on every summer mixtape. Side note that this amazing video footage is unrelated to the song and there’s a bit of mastering on the audio. If you want to hear the original recordings, they’re all over YouTube.

buy: tape / itunes / vinyl

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