Honest Hip Hop, Indie Rap with Soul: Awesome music for tomorrow's leaders? You decide. New music and art by DMLH, plus reviews of great work by post-millennium creatives.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

VIDEO - Carnage The Executioner "Hunger" [Honest Hip Hop]



Saw this video floating around on Twitter the other day. Carnage the Executioner was more like a fable character from the midwest I had heard snippets of until I saw dude destroy a small club in Portland with only his voice and a loop pedal. Mashing up classic beats and hooks via his exceptional beatbox technique, with rapid freestyles, he basically pushed everyone off the edge of creative hip hop into the abyss of an awesome dance party. No surprise to those who know, Carnage has been killing it out of Minneapolis since the nineties, thus the title of his llast album from Fill In The Breaks, "Worth The Wait".

Check It Out on Bandcamp


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Monday, January 23, 2012

LABEL COMP - "We Are World Around Vol. 2" from World Around Records [Honest Hip Hop]



Anyone staying up on this blog knows I am a big supporter of what the fine folks at World Around Records are doing. For the past few years they have consistently put out great work, following their commitment to music that is honest, creative and positive. If you are not familiar I highly recommend perusing their catalog of awesome albums and singles, many of which are available for free or a moderate fee. When they drop their annual sampler its well worth it to get a copy because it gives a glimpse of what's to come in the year ahead. This one is a heavyweight with new joints from some of my favorite artists on the label, Including Man Mantis, Hump Jones, the reclusive Adam Kadmon, and this dude Castle I've never heard before but am seriously enjoying lyrically.

GET IT ON BANDCAMP


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Friday, January 20, 2012

DMLH on IMDb as Rapper #1

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4137865/

For reel, I found this buried on page 2 while, yes, googling my name. Its a credit for a film shot in Portland titled "Summer of 69". Directed, shot and edited by a team of locals known for keeping things rowdy at the historic Clinton St Theater, Seth Sonstein and Michael Atkins, the film is basically a vehicle for a few comic writers, and the star of the film, comedian Ian Karmel, who was recently featured on Portlandia.

I am credited as "Rapper #1" and my homie Shermstixx is Rapper #2. This is because our group Start Fires is featured in the party scene, performing our song "Party At My House". The scene features the interiors of 134, our SE Portland fortress of awesome. The film was finished and released in 2009, and has played at a number of festivals. I had forgotten all about it until this google result came to remind me.

I have been in one other piece of media as an actor, more like a model, for an anti-smoking PSA animated by ManBaby Studio. Its called "Smoke Buddies" and is pretty funny. CHECK IT OUT.

"smoke buddies" anti-smoking PSA from Manbaby on Vimeo.



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ALBUM - Owlright "Cool Shoos Dood" [Blipstep]


The homie Man Mantis tipped me off to this group from Boise, Idaho. Owlright is Richard Palisades and Benny Diskobal, and they have been collaborating on this project since 2008. According to their Bandcamp bio, "their production techniques include sound design, midi data dumping, and synthesizer programming of all kinds. They take great pride in providing their fans with rich, handcrafted sounds and catchy melodies." With the dance groove of house, the bass of heavy EDM and a playful chip-tune sensibility they are all over the place, but to sum it all up they call it "Blip-Step". Its fitting, whereas many new EDM artists are rocking the heavy grimyness these guys are bringing the fun back to the club. Also notable is their use of actual synthesizers and midi devices, which adds a live element and some classic tones to the overall sound. They have a new EP due soon, so hit them up via Facebook and don't sleep. LISTEN



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VIDEO - NSFW - Abadawn & DMLH (That's Right) [Honest Hip Hop]




We made this song one afternoon for Abadawn's 2011 release "Deadication". He had already recorded his verses but had left room on the track for another emcee. I was there and after hearing his jokes on pop culture I thought I could match wits with the kid. I mimicked his flow almost syllable for syllable and played off his chosen subjects with my own rhetoric on the degradation of consumer culture. It's quite a bit funnier than that sounds.

Aba threw this video together with still images from los internetz and we got a nice response from our networks on it. Yesterday It was uploaded by the TairyHesticles YouTube Channel and has amassed over a 1000 views in the last 24 hours. I know thats not oddfuture numbers but for us it feels pretty good. Maybe we should heed the advice that Woody Allen ignored for so long, and stick to the funny stuff.

And if you dont already have it, download your copy of Deadication VIA BANDCAMP

Also, If you havent already, check out his extremely humorous and popular video "Hot Dog Taco"




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Wednesday, January 18, 2012

VIDEO - Jake Kost "Keepin' It Cool" [Honest Hip Hop]

Jake Kost is a Portland rapper who works non-stop to elevate his style and tell stories that reflect all facets of reality. His punchlines play with street ideology, ambition, relationships and geopolitics with an intelligent swagger that shows depth beyond his years. "Keepin' It Cool" is a nice introduction to the young emcee over a classic Pete Rock beat ("The Boss" from PeteStrumentals), which goes to show the type of artists that influence his style. With his first offerings at this level of quality I'm looking forward to see what he does over fresh instrumentals on his official projects to come.

Find him on Facebook, Soundcloud and YouTube and say whats up.




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