“Ambition” (single)

I first wrote about Phoenix-based rapper Jordan Taylor back in April and I believe it’s high time to rep another one of his hip-hop street hymns. The first time around I described him as “grungy hip-hop with innovative production and hope-fueled, street-wise rhymes.” After listening to his newest single “Ambition,” I need to add “molasses smooth flow over atmospheric, thick-beat tracks” to the mix. Hear me now friends, Taylor is one to keep your eyes on. He’s an incredibly talented lyricist and his creative production choices showcase a confidence that many young rappers end up taking years to develop (if they even get there at all). Taylor seems already at that level and his career is just getting started. I also love the fact that many of his songs contain snippets of Tupac interviews, which is totally extra icing on the cake for me.

My first experience hearing the Spin Doctors was somewhere around the spring of 1992 and my friend Todd and I would spin their Pocket Full of Kryptonite album at every youth group function that summer like it was Abbey Road or Pet Sounds. If you would have had told me then that the scat-singing, fun-time frontman would eventually become an endearing acoustic-loving singer-songwriter, I’d have called you straight-up crazy. However, Spin Doctors lead singer Chris Barron has done exactly that. Currently, he’s been releasing a series of singles that will be on his forthcoming solo album If I Stop Laughing, I’ll Cry. “Angels and One-Armed Jugglers” is his newest single and, along with being one of the strongest songs he’s released so far, it gets bonus points for being the song that contains the lyric that spawned the album title.

Do Robots Have A God? [EP]

Smiling Cynic is the work of producer-songwriter Christopher Hawes and he has generously enriched NoiseTrade’s sonic catacombs with 11 lush, electro-pop releases (gotta catch ‘em all!). My current Smiling Cynic favorite is his Do Robots Have A God? EP, due in large part to the mesmerizing instrumental track “Beat Me” that I can’t seem to listen to enough. Something about the mixture of percussive elements and the stereo-panned electro-drum fills bring to mind some of my favorite Moby moments. And the pulsing washes of synth layer everything in a relaxing wave of sound that creatively compliments all of the rhythmic action going on underneath.

Life After Aesthetics (eBook)

Lancelot Schaubert’s Life After Aesthetics is a short, philosophical book that reads like a themed collection of essays mashing up big-thought questions about beauty and art with history, pop culture, and humor. According to Schaubert, the book “compares Adele to Geoffrey Chaucer, evaluates Hitler based on Amy Vanderbilt's Complete Book of Etiquette, and asks the question: “Do elephants cry?” With a cover sporting a man emulating The Thinker and wearing an Incredible Hulk boxing glove and a four-foot afro, it’s safe to say you’ve been summarily warned as to what you will be presented within its pages.