… Dizzee Rascal and Dirtee Stank in San Francisco, July 25th 2008 …

Haven’t written the concert review yet, but here’s photos of the show in the meantime:

The photos appear larger on my flickr page:

Dizzee Rascal photos by Molli Fire on flickr

Have you seen Dizzee live this year? If so, how was it? If you have pix online, drop a link in the comments, I’d love to see them!

…Loefah + Switch + Matty G - Chinese New Year In SF - February 8th, 2008…

Switch didn’t show, but Matty G (SF’s own dubstep defender) and LOEFAH were dropping bass frequencies like they were trying to make diamonds out of the people on the dancefloor. Serious PRESSURE mate! My mates and I were heading straight up into the mountains afterwards for a full weekend of snowboarding, but we danced til our knees felt like jello anyway.
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…DJ C + Ripley + Kid Kameleon - Surya Dub in San Francisco - May 24, 2008…

DJ C performed an incredible set - full of treats and surprises - at Surya Dub, San Francisco’s BEST dubstep event. The monthly party, held at Club 6 in SF, is hosted by 2 of DJ C’s long-time pals (almost as far back as his Toneburst days in Boston!) - Ripley and Kid Kameleon. Most of the night, I was too busy dancing to remember my duties as a reporter. The string of Top Rankin Selectahs kept the energy high with a mix of dubstep, ragga, jungle and other bass-loaded sounds.
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I wonder if Koda’s Oakland crib is littered with bruised and battered amen breaks, too chopped and screwed to run away? Perhaps that’s why I’m sneaking them out of the Bay Area for a much-deserved break. The new EP, Keep On Destroying Amens Volume 1, features 15 killer jungle choons in a 112MB zipper - 100% FREE and as legal as jungle gets. ([More →])

Venetian Snares, recently emerged from his studio with a fresh barrage of breakcore madness, eager to bully our eardrums (again). Dentrimentalist will be unleashed via Planet Mu on July 15th only to spread like a morbidly-popular plague of zombie strippers. If nasty breakcore is what you seek, look no further and listen to 2 MENTAL selections right now! Here’s the audio for “Gentleman” and “Poo Yourself Jason” off Detrimentalist:

Venetian Snares - “Gentleman”:

“Poo Yourself Jason” from Detrimentalist:

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South Rakkas Crew - San Francisco, CA - June 7, 2008

The South Rakkas show in San Francisco last Saturday night was HOT! It’s been years since I’ve seen so many hot ladies at a show (I think there were close to 10 ladies for every 1 guy in the house), everyone was having a great time and South Rakkas were BLAZING! They truly brought the spirit of Miami with them, especially the energy of the dancehall. It was a beautiful night, and I don’t really have much of a review coz you really just had to be there! But, here are a few photos anyway and I’ll be adding a short video and more photos soon:
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New tradition here at HearingTest - Starting today, I am publishing raw press releases as I receive them. Ideally, this will deliver the breaking news to you faster, without the frills that take extra time and delay publishing.

You Can See The Difference In A Glance

The press releases look different than the articles I write (at least on the site they do), so it will be easy to tell them apart at a glance. The headline for press releases end with [Press Release] and the URL has -pr at the end. Also, the text of press releases are enclosed in blockquotes, shown here in dark brown. That way, you can tell just by looking at the page whether it is a press release or original content.

Now it won’t be so quiet around here when I’m busy doing interviews and writing feature articles!
Enjoy!

My concert review of the Mad Professor show at Mighty in San Francisco is looooong overdue. Things have been crazy at my “day job” so the reviews were the first thing to get put on the back burner. So, enjoy these photos from the concert on March 15, 2008 and this short review:
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Earlier this month, I interviewed Elephant Man, Jamaica’s wildest entertainer. We discussed his new album, Let’s Get Physical on Diddy’s Bad Boy Records label, and Ele revealed a few juicy tidbits that haven’t made headlines yet. So, of course, I’m happy to share them with you! He mentioned that the next single off Let’s Get Physical will be his collaboration with Chris Brown. Man, the ladies are just mad about this barely-legal RnB star! I get so many emails and comments about Chris! The song he did with Elephant Man is called “Feel The Steam” and you can listen to it here:

Elephant Man + Chris Brown - “Feel The Steam”

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Another peek into Grand Theft Auto IV with the introduction of Manny Escuela, local reggaeton warrior:

GTA IV hits the streets April 29th via Rockstar Games. HearingTest will be posting updates until then as part of the 10 Year Anniversary Celebration of Grand Theft Auto video games!

Stack$ and Jah Cure picked a good day to release their new video. “Flying High (National Smoke Day)” was uploaded on 4/20 and received a record-breaking number of views in the first day. Check it out:

Stack$ & Jah Cure - “Flying High (National Smoke Day)”:

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We get a new peek into Grand Theft Auto IV today with the introduction of Playboy X. He sounds like he might be from Jamaica, New York or round about. Poor Vico doesn’t seem to understand a word of it…

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Continuing with our GTA celebration, we have the first tune off the Grand Theft Auto IV Soundtrack: a DJ Green Lantern production featuring Akon, Fabolous and Fat Joe! The track is called “I’m So Fly” - check it:

Thanks to OnSMASH for this one!

Mavado recorded a dubplate special for Barack Obama on Baby G’s Mission Riddim! Meanwhile, his remix with Jay-Z is topping the charts and he recorded music for Grand Theft Auto IV. Life is treating David Brooks pretty well in ‘08! ([More →])

The 4th and final preview of the new Grand Theft Auto IV video game features Mavado’s BIG tune, “Real McKoy”! GTA 4 hits the streets April 29th.

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