Grand Theft Auto IV is seriously going to blur the line between virtual and reality when it’s released on April 29th! The newest game in the Liberty City Stories features the most advanced animation, audio environment and game engine ever. But it’s the interactive storytelling and depth of character development that makes GTA 4 revolutionary. Don’t take my word for it, see for yourself:
Trailer #1 For Grand Theft Auto IV: “Things Will Be Different”
From now until April 29th, HearingTest is celebrating the 10 Year Anniversary of Grand Theft Auto and the upcoming release of GTA 4. We’ll be discussing the game’s evolution from Gameboy to multi-player PC, listening to our favorite radio stations and basically geeking out on GTA’s past present and (especially) future, so check back regularly!
Until then, better start stretching yer thumbs, son!
Jr Gong Damian Marley premiered his new video this week for “One Loaf Of Bread (Something For You)”. The tune is off the Gang War riddim compilation on Tuff Gong Records and the video is beautifully shot on 8mm film. The black and white super 8mm footage was all shot in Haiti, while the color super 8mm footage was all shot in South Africa.
Damian Marley - One Loaf Of Bread (Something For You)
Gang War riddim is becoming a favorite of mine this year. Every tune I’ve heard on this militant production is heart-felt and serious. The music brings a real conscious vibe that made even Damian sound good! ([More →])
Dizzee Rascal flew from London to Houston to meet up with Bun B and film the video for “Where’s Da G’s?” B gives D a tour of his hood and hooks him up with a sweet deal on a pair of X-Ray G Glasses.
Dizzee Rascal + Bun B “Where’s Da G’s?” Video:
Unfortunately, Pimp C does not appear in the video, but his verses are on the album edit of this song. BIG Big Choon off the US release of Maths + English from Definitive Jux.
“Where’s Da G’s” with Bun B and Pimp C is the best US/UK hip hop crossover recorded so far….
The Energy God gets to know the “Gully Creepa” in his new video. Elephant Man told the Observer, “We just release the video and it bad. We have the dance lock and throw way di key.” The song is off Elephant Man’s loooooong awaited LP Let’s Get Physical and the video was directed by Julia Braham.
BBC’s DJ Semtex got Lil Wayne to open up about Carter III during an interview over the weekend. Weezy told Semtex that Kanye is on 3 tracks and that Swizz Beatz, Jim Johnson and Deezle also appear. Wayne also stopped by Tim Westwood’s studio and let the rhymes flow. ([More →])
Lots of Lil Wayne tunes in the player this week - check it out: We’ve been bumpin “Lollipop” for awhile now, and Flo-Rida’s “American Gangsta” featuring Lil Wayne. Now we have a tune called “Millie” though I’m not sure that’s the right title (I’ll look into it today). It’s supposed to be off the upcoming Carter III. I love it, especially because it doesn’t sound like a song. It sounds like Lil Wayne just having a conversation over music. Listen here:
“Millie” and “Lollipop” are reported to be on Lil Wayne’s Carter III. Lil Wayne also collaborated on a track for Static/Major’s debut, Suppertime which you can listen to here:
Bay Area producer Mochipet is set to release his genre-jumpin new album, Microphonepet, everywhere on April 1st. Until then, you can listen to 3 tracks right here - “Get Your Whistle Wet” featuring the Hustle Heads; “Mr. Malase” ft. Dopestyle, Human Beings and Casual; and “Hope Again” ft. Mykah9 & Taiwankid:
Pace Won and Mr. Green are one DJ and one MC - styled after hip hop heroes Erik B and Rakim. The duo dropped their new video for “Hip Hop” this week, waxing poetic about what’s become of rap.
The song is off the duo’s debut album The Only Color That Matters Is Green, due to hit the streets May 23rd. ([More →])
Anyone who visits the HearingTest website this weekend will probably notice that some things look weird, some things act broken and so forth. Sorry about the construction zone vibe over here! I’m doing some major remodeling on the website this weekend, and since it won’t hurt anyone, I’ll be breaking things and trying to fix them proper. I apologize for the lag in fresh content while I’ve been a code-monkey. I hope you enjoy the new toys and features that are appearing (and disappearing) this week. The most noticeable changes are with the audio player: I’ve already made a few different playlists to help sort the audio into like piles. This feature is going to stay and get much cooler as I insert new tracks into the system. I also tidied up the code (a LOT) and fixed some things that just looked stupid (like the footer). I’ll be adding things and playing around with other things all week until I get everything just right. Then I’m going snowboarding for a week without my computer! Hopefully I will finish lots of fun stuff for you to explore while I’m gone….
If you find things that don’t work or look messed up - Please let me know! You can leave comments about it or email me. I’ll do my best to fix anything broken if I know about it!
Have a great weekend and don’t forget to Spring Ahead for daylight savings (if you practice that in your region)!
~Enjoy your web quests~
Mo FIRE!
We’ve got 2 Dizzee Rascal tunes in the player this week: “Where’s Da G’s” featuring Pimp C and Bun B of the U.G.K. AND a mega-mix from El-P featuring tunes off the US release of Maths + English (including Pretty Todd’s remix of “Pussyhole”).
I LOVE the new Benga record! I especially love Benga’s particular twist on dubstep and the acid house influences that weave throughout this album. Listening to Diary of an Afro Warrior, I feel transported to a renegade soundsystem party, under the stars, listening to Benga create synasthaethetic stories on the fly! ([More →])
I originally wrote this album review of the new Autechre record - Quaristice - for my “day job” at MOG.com. This is a slightly different version here because you are a different audience!
Longtime fans of Autechre will probably be ecstatic about Quaristice. It hearkens to early Autechre music - more experimental, more chaotic, and less dance friendly than the last 4 albums or so. I’ve been a fan for ages and bought nearly every album they ever released. But I started to pine for their earlier sounds, when they were trailblazing the experimental electronic scene that later became known as IDM. This is the Autechre album I was longing for! If this sounds like you, you need to listen to Quaristice!
Autechre will gain many new fans with this album at the same time they renew most of their existing fan base.
Overall, the album sounds less clinical than many of Autechre’s more recent releases. The sounds evolve more organically and the sequences have more random elements to them. I LOVE it! The synths on Quaristice sound like an Evolver (Dave Smith Instruments) with its quirky sounds and step sequencers. If it isn’t an Evolver, I would still hazard a guess that this music was inspired by some new piece of hardware. It’s just a guess, but this album sounds so much like a return to hardware for the band. Either that or some serious cut-ups and processing like the Matmos albums based on surgery instruments.
Autechre explore new ground with the use of human vocal elements on “IO” (something they rarely incorporate). The human vocal is nicely balanced by one of the most recognizable machine voices ever: a Speak-n-Spell (or Speak-n-Math). The main vocal in “IO” isn’t very comprehensible since it’s filtered through what sounds a bit like a megaphone and a distortion petal. It’s graininess is perfectly complemented by the digital voice of the T.I. toy.
A few songs into the album, it begins to remind me of certain songs by Coil: experimental synth stuff like Elph vs. Glitch or Music To Play In The Dark or similar… My impression keeps changing with each song, because they all sound so different. The tempo varies widely from one song to the next, from ambient washes to triplets at 120 bpm. However, the closest thing to a dance track in the collection is the schizophrenic hip hop beats of “90101″ that sound like a Timbaland production on 45 rpm.
It wasn’t until Track 17 “WNSN” that I started to hear the Autechre that we have come to know in more recent years. A few tracks later, “Notwo” (track 19) gets so minimal it’s downright zen. “Notwo” and “Outh9X” (the last two tracks of the album) are pure atmospheric bliss, very similar to the planetary music of murcof, and a beautiful way to fade out the album. This is an unexpected pleasure of Quaristice - the music varies so much. No two songs are alike and they convey a range of influences and skills.
Autechre will gain many new fans with this album at the same time they renew most of their existing fan base.
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