Tayalarz vol.2 - The Rime of Tabala (october 2013)

you join us for the second instalment of our brand-new mixtape scavenger hunt series just as the clocks have turned back and journeys home from work have descended into darkness

once again, i have scoured hype machine for the finest crop of songs available to download for free and compiled them into a cohesive musical journey made to reflect the darker days of October as 2013 now draws to a close

fill your ears with the sound of autumnal sunshine that still casts a magnificent glow across fallen leaves, the sound of evenings winding down and daylight hours shortening

october's mixtape eases us in with a more folky approach, readying us for the cosy winter days with a down tempo selection before giving way to some lazy beats featuring a number of more familiar names that take the journey full circle as electronic bleeps fall away and the folk element creeps in again like a cold draught creeping in through the crack under the door.

You may recognise an Aaliyah sample within the selection, and Rihanna goes back to back with herself alongside Theophilus London, a new guise for Flying Lotus is accompanied by MF Doom and Earl Sweatshirt and singer/songwriter Ciaran Lavery makes an early appearance in the mix as well as closing proceedings with a couple of cover versions from his recent 'Other People Wrote These'

once again, links to the wonderful blogs that have provided me with this great new music have been provided in the tracklisting below, along with links to the respective artists websites, and Ian Byford has designed the second of three accompanying pieces of cover art

1. Kill Emil - Autumn Sun (available via Serial GK)
2. Ciaran Lavery - Psycho Killer (available via Metaphorical Boat)
3. Cold Country - Missing The Muse (available via Indie Rock Cafe)
4. Abrigo  De Pelos - Julio (available via acid ted)
5. Skeng - Cold Sweat (available via Jack Plug)
6. Bamf - Hold Me Close (available via unholy rhythms)
7. Rihanna + Evil Needle - Pour It Up (Duncan Gerow mash-up) (available via The Music Ninja)
8. Rihanna - Jump (Club Cheval rap Remix feat. Theophilus London) (available via Frenchy Symphony)
9. Captain Murphy feat Viktor Vaughn, Earl Sweatshirt and Thundercat -
     Between Villains (available via Faronheit)
10. Chronic City ft Florian Horwath - The Man Who (available via The Sound Of Confusion)
11. Autumn Owls - All The Lights In New York (available via The Sound Of Confusion)
12. Ciaran Lavery - I Drove All Night (available via Metaphorical Boat)

In the tracklisting above are links to the artist's bandcamp/soundcloud/website if you click on their name, and clicking on the track name or blog link will direct you to where I originally encountered their music, good luck hunting it all down...

Paper Tiger - Laptop Suntan

Paper Tiger are the Gremlins that are hiding under your bed, stealing bags of Space Invaders from the kitchen and beating your high score on Tetris, playing the GameBoy in secret that you haven't been able to lay your hands on recently.

That is the mischievous nature that is played out by the hard-to-pin-down hip-hop/electro outfit hailing from Wolverhampton, embracing an old skool stylistic nature and pairing it with more experimental offerings, often calling to mind memories of 80's culture and 8bit video games.

Laptop Sunshine is a fine example of gloriously restless chill-out music, stuttering beats and bleeps nestle alongside blissful soundscapes that refuse to let it relax, with a vast range of influences pulled together in a magpie manner to fashion an irresistible downtempo kaleidoscope of sounds.

Amongst the erratic instrumentals there are also a number of guest vocalists, maintaining a cohesive balance with a fine selection of artists alongside them, Paper Tiger have crafted a fresh sounding and original release that bypasses indulgent trippy electronic noodling by using vocals as a hook to catch your attention, adding an additional layer to the already intriguing productions with a number of MCs that hark back in style to the UK's formerly prevailant garage scene.

Laptop Sunshine is an album that should belong to the street, but instead it belongs to the domain of the bedroom producer, it belongs to the retrospective throwback internet age, with Paper Tiger putting a modern twist on backpack hip-hop and sending it back to us via high speed fibre optic connections.

Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience Part 2, album review video

yes readers, we are now going multi-platform

here is a review of the brand new Justin Timberlake album, the follow-up to March's The 20/20 Experience part 1, for you to watch with your eyes and hear with your ears

it is our first attempt at this form of review, so please be kind



i'm planning for these video reviews to be a regular feature that sit alongside the writing, more likely to cover some of the higher profile releases that shall be coming our way over the next few months

any feedback is welcome, but like i said, please be gentle with me