and its awesome. More from The-Drum is nothing to complain about, I think these guys are currently flying perfectly under the radar and are crafting a sound familiar to so many but purely their own. Check out the first single from The-Drum’s debut LP Contact below; titled “Sirens”.

Make sure to find you way to snag their stellar EP Sense Net; its free and awesome.

One half of the brothers Thornton, Pusha T, links up with Nardwuar out at this year’s SXSW 2013; I was hoping from more on this, though Nardwuar does hit on some nice gems. check it out below.

“From The Inbox” is the submissions portion of Social8gency, whether you sent it via email / Soundcloud / Facebook / Twitter / Tumblr – we try to listen to everything. Keep Creatin’!

I’m way behind on the submissions, deal with it and forgive me for not bringing HAWDWERK to you sooner. He dropped his The Graveyard Shift album late February and I believe its worth your $3 to support a young man with talent and ability. The standout tracks to look out for are “Mastermind” & “Why Can’t We Smile ft. Chevy Jones”, both tracks present fully realized songs; the former about growth and expansion the latter about relationships and taking a look at who we are. Not laying this lofty of praise on the man, but I haven’t felt as strong connection with some hip hop as I did with these in particular since perhaps Blu’s Below The Heavens.

“Mastermind” & “Why Can’t We Smile” hit me that directly, so it could be more of a personal note than anything else, but that type of combination of ability, heart, and reflection are always welcome in these parts.

Take a listen to The Graveyard Shift by HAWDWERK, the man’s put enough of it in.
Get at the young talent: TWITTER / OFFICIAL

Nardwuar is back at it at this years SXSW festival, linking up with one of the freshest names in the game Joey Bada$$ and his whole Pro Era crew.

Without a doubt this is one of my favorites in a long time with Nardwuar working with hip hop act/groups. From the jump half the crew is into it and the other thinks the homie Nardwuar is a clown. Then about halfway through everyone is won over. Two other things that I love about this is the cohesion and ease this crew works together in the interview and Nardwuar just jumping in and moving around. Usually when one member gets most of the shine like Joey, the rest of the crew falls back and just defers; their dynamic doesn’t appear to be like that. They all get a moment and not with anybody catching feelings about it. Further I haven’t seen Nardwuar own it and jump in like that in a while (may be due to the short time they seemed to have together) he’s a pro.

I could say more, but just watch:

I don’t post everything that I like (that should probably change) anyway though Joey Bada$$ is nice; he will quickly become “that dude”. Leader of the Pro Era linked up with DJ Premier and Coodie & Chike for this track and video respectively.

If you don’t know Bada$$ then you should get familiar.

2 Questions:

1. Don’t Joey Bada$$ look like Pete Rock? There’s got to be something there right?
2. Has DJ Premier aged a day in his life? I guess hip hop keeps ya young.

This is my dude Malik “The FreQ” Moore. We work together on his music as a solo artist and I’m always doing what I can to put good, excuse me, great music in front of people. He knocked out a gig this past weekend. I picked it up on my phone.

Here is a little taste from the rehearsal the night before; undeniable.

FIND HIM

– Malik “The FreQ” Moore -

http://www.facebook.com/TheMalikMoore

http://www.malikthefreq.com

http://www.malikthefreq.bandcamp.com

I could regale you with stories and feelings about how great these two are together, but you should already know that.  Click the pick and get a peak into the upcoming EP “Maybe One Day” from Blu & Exile.

CLICK ME

Blu also let loose that we should be looking for another LP this December 2012 “good to b home”, so mark your calendars.

Great interpretation by Arev Manoukian of the standout “Devil’s Den” from Skrillex & Wolfgang Gartner. An erotic descent into the Devil’s Den.

From Manoukian:

This film is the hauntingly dark journey of a newly married man trapped in a deep erotic dream. The dream quickly turns into a nightmare as he spirals down into The Devil’s Den.

Fresh new [e aka Cloudeater for everyone’s ears. This time they link up with DC & MMG’s Wale to release “Faces”.

Released this morning as an exclusive via Jay Z’s Life+Times, hopefully that sorta platform gives [e a bigger profile; they are a band with a bright future.  Further more on this track they were able to get Wale back on his shit, not that MMG Wale is bad, but I feel its content and style hasn’t given him a chance to shine and express why he was so hot a few years ago in the first place.

Last week I had the opportunity to see my girl’s best friend’s son graduate from Highschool, its not your average highschool mind you, its a top end performing arts highschool in Los Angeles. Having attended a handful of their events in the past have always yielded a handful of recognizable names and faces from entertainment, who have kids or extended family attending LACHSA. And on top of that the kids are fantastic and enthusiastic, aspects that are often lost when dealing with the cynicism of the industry and artists at large.
Well all of that was ignored as their dean of students walked out to announce a very special performance. Most everyone in the audience up to that point had noticed the lone man in sunglasses inside the Frank Gehry designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, Stevie Wonder. Let me say that again . . . Stevie . . . Wonder. . .
He takes his seat at the piano addresses the audience and most importantly the students and starts. Below are the moments I captured on my camera (the stellar Olympus OMD EM5 w/ 12 – 50 lens) between cheers, claps, and exasperated breaths of “oh fuck thats Stevie Wonder.”

Following up off yet another top notch Nardwuar interview, Curren$y lets free for the streaming masses a cut off his upcoming Stoned Immaculate. This one featuring Pharrell and titled “Chasin’ Paper” features Pharrell on the hook delivering his patented falsetto.  A little different than what I was expecting from the track, but different is good; Curren$y has lined up some big hitters on this album and hopefully they all come with their ‘A’ game and bring the heat (I ran out of vague baseball metaphors, we’ll get them next time).

This must be historic, I don’t believe Nardwuar has ever interviewed someone more than twice in his career.  So for this to happen a third time and to one of my favorite guys Curren$y is pretty dope.   Must be a run up to his latest release .  One of the running issues in this series has been Nardwuar’s mic handling and Curren$y goes right in on it.