The Midas Touch - April 28

DOWNLOAD The latest episode of the greatest show on Earth.... in my, rather not-so-humble opinion. For those of you who are going to ask me about the technical difficulty I mention in the middle of the show, it's been edited out so no problems there. Though I will say it did suck when it happened.

No links this week! Sorry guys, most of these tracks / artists have sent me the material straight to my email address, and I have no clue where there webpages are, and I played a couple commercial releases as well. Next week I'll make it up though, hopefully. And you never know... if someone sends me a quick message with their site, etc. I'll hook the playlist up with some links, so look back every now and then.

Enjoy!

Playlist
The X-ecutioners - Turntablist Anthem (Instrumental Talk)
Nox - Wake Up
Bluntstarrr - I wasn't born to be a Rapstarrr
Spotrushaz - Papow!
Laroche - Untitled (Instrumental - Talk)
Lil Hiphop - You and Me
Little Dragon - Constant Surprises
Alaric Gee - Inspirations
Laroche Harsh (Instrumental - Talk)
Aphrodite - Jungle Brothers (DJ JePh VIP mix)
Tay Zonday - Chocolate Rain (Anon DnB ReMix)
Moba - Spring Theme
Sixtoo - Part 5 (Instrumental Talk)
Laroche - Flavors
Bill Withers - Ain't no Sunshine
Marvin Gaye - What's going on
Nina Simone - Sinnerman
Laroche - New Age (Instrumental Talk)
Mos Def - Modern Marvels
Kid Koala - Drunk Trumpet (Instrumental Talk)
Blockhead - Expiration Date

What is Hip Hop?

Continuing the discussion I started earlier regarding the music and culture, here's an amazing and interesting documentary of the hip hop scene in Chicago created by Konee Rok.

A Few Directory Links

Like I said previously, I'm trying to get this whole blog shebang kicked up to 5th gear, and in that goal I've submitted it to various directories, of which the links can be seen below.

Though I feel this is an obligatory post just for advertising purposes and you guys might find it useless, I actually recommend checking some of the links I'm going to drop below, lots of useful sites and interesting material can be found by digging. This is the internet's version of crate digging. Except they're links. (The puns sounded better in my head?)

This will get updated as I submit to more directories... so keep your eyes peeled. Because I said so.

Blah, feels like I'm selling my soul doing this. This is NOT The Midas Touch spirit!

http://www.hip-hopdirectory.com
http://www.hiphop-directory.com
http://www.hiphoplinkdirectory.com
http://www.hiphopblogz.com
Hip Hop Lead Web Directory

OK and here's why I hate the internet. In order to get listed at a certain directory, I needed to include an image they made, like a banner. Fair enough. So I do it and what happens?



Bullshit. Pure, grade-A, saturated fertilizer from a male, adult Bull. See kids, this is why the culture of hip hop is so confusing and doesn't make much sense.

Little Dragon - Constant Surprises

In the ongoing effort to make this little blog into something a bit bigger, I've been perusing some of the other big ones and found this chill track randomly while clicking... randomly. Ahem.

Czech it.

Thoughts on Hip Hop Music

Is Hip Hop dead? The question has been asked and answered a thousand times, but regardless of the answer, here I am writing about it and there you are reading about it. I think a more important question in regards to the music and culture, is "What is Hip Hop?"

Is Hip Hop the flashy mainstream get money attitude we see on MTV, or is Hip Hop the kids working out of their basement and spitting freestyles in a back alley or shitty apartment building?

There's even a distinct sound difference in both of them, with the cleaner, pop-influenced hooks and minimal slow beats hitting the charts, and the grittier dirty sounds of tape-saturated drum machines dominating the underground.

The relationships of both are also complicated and intertwined, with the mainstream guys saying they're still part of hip hop but they just hit success, and the underground guys, not quite jealous, but annoyed that someone who all they talk about is rims and bling considers themselves Hip Hop.

There's no denying that it's all big business now, but hopefully with the advent in the internet we're going to see the market shift to a more balanced equation, with the lesser known cats getting a chance to compete with the big boys in the buildings downtown. As someone who spends their days reviewing and listening to all sorts of tracks, I'll put my vote in towards the indie guys having a fair chance to compete with the mainstream artists given a level playing field.

These new MC's, the young ones of 16-18 years old that are just starting to come up, bring in the old-school flavor and poetics but with a new mindset. These guys are university students, some of them studying to be doctors and lawyers, and now we're getting not only a "Streetwise" dialog on various subjects, but some really educated ones as well, which is bringing to light issues like poverty, racism, consumerism, etc. in an easier to understand but almost deeper way, I find.

I'll be doing some interviews with some local guys who are movers and shakers in the hip hop world, and see what they got to say about this, so look out for that soon.

If any of YOU guys and gals got any opinions, feel free to send me an email or drop a comment, it'll be appreciated for sure, and knowledge is power.

We're humans, lets communicate.

Review - Rapstarrr

Though I generally make it a point not to review any track that ends with a bunch of "R's", I gave this a spin and it reeeeaaallly brought me back to the golden era of hiphop.

Check out RAPSTARRR by BluntStarrr, review below:

This track takes me back to 93', you really got the sound down really well. The beat is a little too Cypress Hill for my tastes, but it does what it's supposed to do, and that's make my head bob. Lovely bass in the back, by the way.

The songs got a lot of bounce, and it snaps crackles and pops enough for me to eat it for breakfast.

My main criticism would be the vocals in the track. Though they the track quite well, at some points the flow gets a bit iffy and the lyrics (the ones I can catch) seem to wander quite a bit. If you could re-record the vocals, or somehow process them so they clear up a bit it would make them a more pleasant listening experience.

You know, regarding promoting this track, it's soooo old-school that while us established fans will love it, I can't really see this catching on. This is 2008 and your track would have wrecked the scene say 15 years ago. That's just my opinion, and hopefully it works for you, but I think a more modern sound would suit you a bit better.

To clarify though, the track is hot. Much enjoyed this little dusty gem and give it one and a half thumbs up.

I got told from a very good guitar player once when I asked his advice regarding approach and methodology, and he said "Imitate, the innovate". You got the imitate down pat, now I want to see you innovate!

The Midas Touch - April 21

I was going to start this entry with a witty joke but it was really bad so I changed my mind. Anyway the latest and greatest just went down last night, DOWNLOAD it and czech it out! On a related note I'm attempting to set this up as a podcast, but I'm not really figuring it out, nor really seeing the advantages in it. You're probably wondering why I bother then, the answer is simple, there's demand for it.

I had a smaller playlist this week, but I want to clarify the last few songs which are very well known tracks. Basically, with the smaller playlist, I had room to fill, and I decided to play tracks which have hugely influenced me in hiphop, to give people an idea where I'm coming from, music-wise. I generally don't do this but what the hell, sounded like a good idea at the time and there was a bit of room so the deed is done.

EDIT: I said and wrote the wrong track for Megadon, it should have been Lose Control. Fixed in the playlist. My bad!

Playlist:
Classified - Maritimes (Talk)
Inverse - Remember the Name
Megadon - Lose Control
K'Naan - My Old Home
Laroche - Flu Beat (Instrumental Talk)
CenSoul - Copasetic (A New Left Production)
Nicolay and Kay - The Light
JoeBG ft. Sans Pression - On Fou la Merde (Talk)
I.D - Radiowave
Wyclef Jean ft. Muzion - 24 Heure a Vivre
Tricky - Christiansands
Benu - Down Under the Moon (Instrumental Talk)
Aesop Rock - No Regrets
Tonedeff - Porcelain
Tech N9Ne - Suicide Letters
KenLo - Sunnymoon (Instrumental Talk)
Zion I - Venus
Outerspace - Third Rock
Laroche - Horns (Instrumental Talk)
Damien Marley - The Road to Zion
Talib Kweli - Get By
Nas - The World is Yours
Marco Polo ft. Masta Ace - Nostalgia

Need More Music

The Midas Touch is currently looking for track submissions, don't hesitate to send them to the email address on this blog!

Songs that are chosen will get air play, a permanent link in the blog, and if hot enough a review and constant promotion!

Don't miss this chance to reach a wider audience....

Notes on Reviews

I got a few remarks that my reviews are pretty techy and hard to understand. Let me try and explain why.

First, and most importantly, I initially wrote those reviews for the artists themselves. Being an artist, I can definitely appreciate a more tech-savvy review of one of tracks from another artist, as it allows me to learn what I can do to up my art to the next level... sort of like a plumber getting a comment from a client, saying "ok it works", or a comment from another plumber saying something like "Yeah well (insert plumber-intense dialog here)", so he could do a better job the next time, or learn to be more efficient, or whatever. Yes, it's a bad example, but it's 8:30am.

Second, this is a new blog, and the idea of adding reviews to this came a bit late to me.

SO.

With all that in mind, I'm going to try and include 2 kinds of reviews in the same review... a more listener-friendly review, and a more comprehensive one for the artists checking out this page as well.

Stay tuned for more exciting breaking news!

Review - 16000 Steps

I got a request for a review on www.soundclick.com, so I checked out the track and was pleasently surprised with some melodious UK Hiphop! Full review below:

Review of "16000" steps...

Nice hook! The singer, she's got a good voice, though I really don't like that whole RnB warble in her voice when it kicks in. To be honest it's not so bad in the track, I've heard worse, but wanted to mention it anyway.

Beat is really nice, it's almost... too background? At some point I forgot there was a beat, was busy listening to the vocals too much! The drums have a nice sound to them, almost 12bit, enjoy that sound. The swirling pads and higher whistles are chill, really add to the ambiance.

I was thinking there could maybe be some more changeups, shake the sounds up a bit to keep it

I didn't like the rapper at first, but at 2:35, when he does a proper full verse, I got more acquainted with his voice, and it sounded much better to me. Not sure why I disliked him at first, maybe I'm just too used to American accents and got a bit disoriented with a subtle British accent tickling my eardrums.

My only complaint would be that the track felt too short, but that could be because the 3 minutes went by way too quickly. Again, that hook is really nice and I could listen to it over and over and over and... yeah.

The rapper could have dropped another verse at some point, it would have brought the spotlight to him a bit more, but as it stands right now this is a solid track with great vocals, very melodious.

Listen to the track Right Here

The Midas Touch - April 15

DOWNLOAD The latest and greatest by following the link. Once at the next page, click the "download" option on the right because the preview might be a little funky. And it saves me bandwith. Check out the links for some of the original material.

It was a good show, got lots of listeners... though in retrospect after listening to it I noticed I say "man" way too much. Paranoid delusions? Maybe. Be aware this is both in English and in French, as we represent from Montreal, QC, and try and touch both sides of the fences.

This was a "Greatest Hits" type show; Since I didn't get a lot of material recently I decided to look back and grab what I thought was fresh from other shows and toss it all together in this one, a showcase of some of the gold I've come across while hunting for fresh sounds.

p.s. Haha by the way try to ignore all the blatant plugs of my own projects which I selfishly toss in my mixes, MC Glorias was here and we worked are asses off on some projects and while the purpose of the show is to showcase other peoples talent I'm pretty confident with our own work as well. So there it is.

PLAYLIST
X-ecutioners - Turntablist Anthem (Always the intro)
810 - The City is Mine
Caserock - Radio Edit
Alaric Gee - Little Black Eyes
Laroche - Concept (Instrumental + Talking)
Glorias - Untitled (Laroche mix)
Mr.S - Odds and Ends (Laroche mix)
Mixwell - Freaky (Instrumental + Talking)
Preach - Crown me King
Stah Jones - 100%
7D - Sevsignal Remix
Spontane - Anthem (Instrumental + Talking)
Last Man Standing - Crow Flyin'
V-Block - On ai back
I.D - Things that went wrong
Ceullua 24 - Sax & Sex (Instrumental + Talking)
General Gordo - Fire 'n Ice (Instrumental)
Eka the Mad Samplist - BB32
Corey Drums, Lee Boogz - What do I do
KenLo - Wheels (Instrumental + Talking)
Laroche - Downtown (Isntrumental + Talking)
A Tribe Called Quest - Find a way (Carlos Nino Orchestrated Rendition)
Laroche - Airy (Instrumental + Talking)
Laroche - Lounge (Instrumental + Talking)
Mr.S - Lounge Freestyle Session
Rob. O feat. Pete Rock - So Many Rappers
Foreign Exchange - All That You Are (DJ Lowkey Remix)
Laroche - Flue Beat (Instrumental + Talking)
Buck 65 - Dang (Clyke Street Remix)

TMT - March 31, 2008

DOWNLOAD The March 31st edition of The Midas Touch. (Yes, that's King Midas on the right. It's not me though. My hands are sexier and the tracks I turn in to gold Bling a bit more)

Note that when you click the download link, you'll need to click again on the right side of the page on "download", because the preview plays back at high speeds for whatever reason. Listen for amusement if you want to.

Also, I'll be updating the playlists with links to the relevant artists that are independent. This will be done as soon as I'm not lazy anymore. Don't worry... I'll do it soon, it's just a pain in the ass to track everything down.

Playlist:
X-ecutioners - Turntablist Antherm
Caesrock - Radio Edit
Gloaris - Soulja Song (Laroche Mix)
Che Grand - Cash Rules (DJ Lowkey)
Foreign Exchange - All That You Are (Remix)
Binary Star - Glen Close
Laroche - Concept Instrumental
The Mad Sampler - BB32
Buck 65 - Dang (Clyke Street Mix)
Eric Sermon - Welcome
Cellula 24 - Sax & Sex Instrumental
Jay Dee - Ghetto Love
Carlos Nino - Find a way (Orchestrated remix)
810 - The City is Mine
Clipse - Hello New World
Talib Kweli / Madlib - Soul Music
Rob-O - So Many Rappers (Feat. Pete Rock)
MF Doom - Modern Day Mugging
Mixwell - Get on Up
Mic Geranimo - S***'s real
Spankytails - Shandarrozza
Tricky - Aftermath
Q-Tip - Wait up

Review - Copasetic

Here's another little SoundClick gem I found and reviewed called Copasetic:

The flange is nice, and kicks the track off nice, especially when the beat kicks in. The pad is sweet, I like the overtones that sweep in through it every now and then. Bass is a bit weak, but honestly not by much, I just get the impression it's not there unless I try and hear it. Drums are fine, simple, but I like the sample choice.

OK. The vocals are off the hook... speaking of hook, I had to look the word "Copasetic" up, turns out it means (heres the quote from Wikipedia):

[i]The earliest known usage given in the Oxford English Dictionary is from the Irving Bacheller 1919 biography of Abraham Lincoln:

1919 I. BACHELLER Man for Ages iv. 69 ‘As to looks I'd call him, as ye might say, real copasetic.’ Mrs. Lukins expressed this opinion solemnly... Its last word stood for nothing more than an indefinite depth of meaning. [/i]

Now that I know what it means, sort of, I really enjoy it's usage in the song. Again, though, regarding the hook, I think when just the word gets repeated over and over, it can get tiring. The rest of the vocals are brilliant, great lyrics and the sound is clear on my KRK's.

Great track that I think could use a change-up with the hook, but otherwise a solid tune.

Review - The Trap

A pretty nice track I found while digging around on SoundClick, ended up doing a review on it:

Listening to "The Trap"...

Porn guitar in the back, love the wahs. Vox sample is sick. Deep simple bass fits the track well. Standard drums, but they work...though I think they could have gotten a bit more snap, crackle and pop in the mix.

THE MC. DAMN. Love the lyrics (haha great story), and I've always been a fan of storytelling through rap and this doesn't disappoint. Delivery was spot on, with that rolling non-stop flow of his. I don't have anything constructive to say, really, just big respect.

Chorus is nice, but I would have liked a change up in the back. As it stands the beat just rolls on. I understand that with this kind of track it's not necessary but it would have added just a touch more flavor, I think.

Excellent track, spot on. Let me know when the album drops.

Welcome to The Midas Touch

Weclome to The Midas Touch's offical blog!!!

I was pretty tired of www.hh4u.ca not updating their site so I could include some info, so I decided to start a little blog and get this stuff up on here.

FIRST.

For people who don't know me, I'm Nicholas Laroche and I'm the host for the internet radio show The Midas Touch, spinning alternate hiphop and bringing you the best from the underground. You can catch the show at www.hh4u.ca, Mondays, 8:00pm - 9:30pm EST.

SECOND.

I do a S***load of reviews of independent tracks on various web pages, and will centralize all my reviewing here, and with a link. Any of you who want to send me a track I'll gladly give it a listen and if it's hot enough drop it like it's... yeah, I'll play it on the show.

THIRD.

There is no third. Nah I lied. I'll also talk about my own music projects, I produce quite a bit of downtempo goodies, and hopefully some of you will like the tracks I make!

I'll wrap this up for now, and stay tuned tomorrow for some interesting news!

Peace,
Nick Laroche