Under The Radar

I’ve got to give it up to Last.fm once again. Why any music lover would not be using this website is beyond me. It’s chock-full of little surprises, such as this free EP from producer Souljim. Now, I’m not entirely sure when this dropped, but it seems that it could use a bit more press. In addition, the music is just phenomenal. Souljim balances a fine line between the soulful boom-bap of the ’90s and the wonky sounds of the latter part of last decade. Ultimately, the music is just perfect for a relaxing summer afternoon.

Stream “This Way” below, and download the entire project after the skip!

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With names like Steve Spacek and Katalyst, one would figure that the Space Invadas mixtape, Follow The Signs, would have gotten more coverage than it actually did. Well, buried deep within the Space Invadas website, Follow The Signs finally saw the light of day late in 2009 as a preview to the duo’s full-length album, unfortunately to little fanfare. Furthermore (and this likely turned many people off) the mixtape appears in a single .mp3 format. Nonetheless, good music is good music. For those who are curious as to what sort of experimental electro-soul Spacek and Katalyst could cook up, this half-hour track/mixtape will absolutely leave you more than satisfied.

Download after the skip.

Ever since we posted the Shelltoes’ fantastic EP on here earlier this year, I haven’t stopped playing it. There’s just something about those smooth, jazz-hop grooves on I Was Told There Would Be Refreshments I cannot get enough of. The combination of the sultry female vocals and killer production just makes it difficult for me not to spin the EP every week. Recently I was looking more into this one-man DJ/producer act to see if anything else existed in his catalog. And, thankfully, I did not come away empty handed as I found his six-track remix EP, The Expired Dairy Gamble. I’ll be honest, I don’t typically enjoy when producers remix older tracks for the hell of it, but I found that these complement the originals pretty damn well. The standout for me is the Shelltoes remix of Erykah Badu’s “Love of My Life”, though I can’t front on the revamped version of Grap Luva’s “Mass Hysteria”.

Hit the jump and enjoy this free remix EP from the Shelltoes. Peep the “Love of My Life” remix below.

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If you’re not up on Diego Bernal’s output at this point, well, you’re in luck. Even though I felt like a lot of you might be aware of his fantastic instrumental creations, I still can’t shake the feeling that some PIMB-regulars might not have a clue who this dude is. And, in all fairness, you’re not exactly to blame. Most of his work, unfortunately, flies under the radar (sorry, I had to) and you are probably a subscriber to other hip-hop blogs if you are acquainted with Bernal’s catalog. Personally, I think he crafts some killer jazz-centric instrumental records that need to find their way into your ear drums. Consider this your warm welcome into Bernal’s arms…or music, whatever.

Hit the skip to download Bernal’s most recent effort, Besides…, and if you’re feeling frisky, feel free to poke around the BandCamp page you land on. You can stream a track, “Blue Neon”, below, too.

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I’m sure if you’re reading this you’re at least kind of like me when it comes to listening habits. You typically move from one artist or album to the next, always looking for things you haven’t heard. But sometimes, you can’t help but get stuck on a particular artist or album for an extended period of time. And I’m not talking about those days when you announce on Twitter that you’re listening to Madlib all day. I found myself listening to a new track from Minnesota trio A.R.M and instantly moved on to one of their solo projects. Rapper M.anifest dropped one of last year’s best free projects with The Birds & The Beat, but I needed more from him. Upon digging around his group’s website, I found an EP he did over 40 Winks beats a few years back. It’s a little raw, a little unpolished, but definitely worth a listen.

You can download the 40 Winks & M.anifest EP after the jump. Enjoy!

Every so often I browse my bookmarks section dedicated to artists’ pages. And last week, I visited The ARE‘s site and found, among other treats, this free EP from trio Good BIZ. I was instantly intrigued when I saw that The ARE was the producer behind the six-track project, but adding to that feeling was the fact that one of the members, B. Fine, used to run with YZ in the early ’90s. With that information handed to me, I couldn’t help but want to spin this a few times to find just what was held within. To my delight, this EP offers some some fantastic beats paired with solid rhymes that reminded me of what I liked so much about groups like Strange Fruit Project. Huge props to The ARE and Good Biz for offering this for free and I hope you dig it as much as I did.

Hit the skip to download.

I felt kinda badly about how I bad-mouthed the new Murs and 9th Wonder record on Twitter a few days ago so I thought I’d make it up to the two people (go to hell, Dave) who read that tweet by posting this track. And no, I don’t actually think that either Murs or 9th saw what I wrote and cared, I’m just trying to be affable here, damn it. Anyway, this is a track from last summer when Murs decided to spit some hilarity over a beat used on a Rick Ross track. I personally love when Murray gets goofy like this and just kind of lets loose, though he most certainly kills it on the more serious tracks, too. OK, enough writing. Enjoy.

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Download: Murs – “Murs The Boss” [Right Click Save-As]