Hydeout 2nd Collection released in Japan!

1. Voice of Autumn / Nujabes
2. Sky is falling (featuring CL Smooth) / Nujabes
3. Waltz for life will born / Uyama Hiroto
4. Imaginary Folklore / Clammbon by Nujabes
5. Hikari (featuring Substantial) Nujabes
6. Counting Stars / Nujabes
7. Another Reflection / Nujabes
8. Fly by night (featuring Five Deez) / Nujabes
9. Old Light(voices from 93 million miles away remix) / Pase Rock
10. with rainy eyes / Emancipator
11. Luv(sic.)(modal soul remix) / Shing02
12. windspeaks / Uyama Hiroto
13. Winter Lane (nujabes remix) / DSK
14. After Hanabi -listen to my beats- / Nujabes

Nujabes, famous Japanese hip-hop super producer and owner of Hydeout Productions record label, has just released Hydeout Second Collection, the much anticipated follow-up to 2003’s First Collection. Once again, Nujabes has pieced together a brilliant selection of head-nodding grooves, capturing the unique sound of Japan’s vibrant underground hip-hop scene. This heavily jazz-influenced, largely instrumental album features new songs and remixes by Nujabes and company, as well the most recent addition to the label, producer Emancipator. Don’t sleep on this release!

buck 65 – shutterbuggin’ remix

this is my submission for the buck 65 remix contest. it’s one of the first songs i’ve recorded using all of the instruments in a bluegrass ensemble: guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, and bass. drop a comment if you can. flashy flash, homies!

download here

 

hoofprints in the sand: a sage francis remix

 

download here

miles above: a new folk song

download here

lyrics:

papa took me when i was one
on a trip to the far side of the sun
oh papa,let’s return
if we get close
we might get burned

mama took me when i was two
up high in the sky in a big balloon
oh mama, let’s go down
we are miles
above the ground

papa took me when i was three
to the bottom of the deepest sea
oh papa, it is cold
it is dark
so let’s go home

mama took me when i was four
to walk along the forest floor
oh mama, finally
a place
i’d like to be

papa took me when i was five
down to the riverside
oh papa, let’s be going
the sun has set
and the river is slowing

mama took me when i was six
to fields of trees with fruits to pick
oh mama, is that all
or can we come back tomorrow?

papa took me when i was seven
to a party with all his friends
oh papa, i know you’re tall
but in this room
i feel small

mama took me when i was eight
to climb along the mountain face
oh mama, finally
a place i’d like to be

jens lekman – pocketful of money

enjoy this wonderfully melancholic pop song by swedish songwriter jens lekman. the video is not by lekman – it’s the better of two fan-made videos i found on youtube. the song is so damn good. it’s been playing in my head all day and strumming the heartstrings with every ‘heart on fire.’

the scandinavians are winning at pop music. jose gonzalez, kings of convenience, ace of base, and now jens lekman. comment with similar recommendations!

my studio in my studio

first, peer down the narrow hallway of my studio apartment.

but wait, there is a jewel encrusted skull on the fridge.

and the studio!

and a bed that is somehow supported by a 2 x 4.

and another view of the studio.

survival skills tips part one

i generally know a lot about survival skills. they are extremely important at times. i have been watching all the episodes of discovery channel’s ‘man vs. wild’ on youtube because it is the most extreme show. the guy ‘bear grylls’ is an expert at everything and he does wild things like eat rotting zebra, jump into ice crevasses, and climb down waterfalls to survive the extreme environments around the world. so i feel that my survival skills have become keen. now that i am living in new york city i don’t really need to know how to survive the australian outback or a costa rican jungle, but who knows.

in fact, this morning there was a survival situation in my house. at ten the carbon monoxide detector started beeping every 30 seconds. i waited for a few minutes before getting up to see what was beeping very loudly. my brilliant survival technique was to open the window and then go back to sleep. that did nothing. victor, a friend who was sleeping on the couch finally got up to stop that shit. haha. i would not do so well in a desert or jungle if my survival skills are that bad in an apartment. the point of this story is that i like shows about other people’s insane survival skills.

the books in new york city

i saw the books perform last night at the bowery ballroom, a charming venue with chandeliers and creaky wooden floors, and it was undoubtedly one of the best shows i’ve ever been to. adrianne and i arrived in the middle of the first opener, rich remsberg, expecting to hear music. instead he was presenting a video slideshow of old, found photographs of early americana coupled with his commentary and appropriately grainy traditional songs that were clearly recorded around the same time the photographs were taken. at this point the audience was sitting sleepily on the floor in the dark. i guess any opener livelier than that would be too energetic for a books show.

i was also unfamiliar with the next opener, a violinist/ambient/electronic composer named todd reynolds, who has collaborated with steve reich and yo yo ma. if you ever get a chance to see him perform, do it. he played hauntingly beautiful, virtuosic violin fed through a delay pedal and manipulated using a foot-controlled loop sampler. he built up incredibly complex, looping polyrhyhtms by playing pizzicato style, and then fleshed it out with layers of his equally incredible solo skills. he inspired me to buy a mic pickup for my violin.

the books! two guys, one on guitar and the other on cello. backed up with preproduced electronic skeleton tracks and clever videos that accompanied every song in the set. the videos really sold the show for me. hilarious, clever, rhythmic, ambient, geometric, and a mixture of both abstract and mundane footage. each song was a jungle of fresh sound. there’s something about seeing this kind of music being performed live, ten feet away from you in a wonderfully acoustic setting that is infinitely more smile-inducing than hearing it on record or mp3. i left the show in a great mood, feeling inspired to make intelligent ambient music. listen to the books.

the official emancipator news blog

recently, there’s been a lot of emancipator related news on my front that, until now, i have distributed via myspace bulletins and the occasional myspace blog. myspace bulletins that are quickly buried beneath others and are only available to myspace users. myspace blogs that are reserved for semi-permanent, essential information for those passing through my page. this blog is the new and vastly superior source for everything related to my music. i will also regale you with other tales of my life to keep you coming back. this is long overdue.