With the death of drummer Scott Asheton, the original line-up of the proto-punk, Ann-Arbor Michigan band The Stooges is now down to one surviving member, Iggy. As sorrow pours out from posts of rock fans and journalists across the net, I wanted to find away to pay tribute with earnest, …

Portland hip hop group TxE, AKA Tope, AKA Epp, break from the crowd and proceed to drop a genre-expanding, sonic tab of acid into the bland landscape of hip hop influenced pop. ‘Shasha Thumper’. Produced by Calvin Valentine, better known as G_Force, is aided by an atmospheric sample from hometown indie …

Like a adrenaline shot injected straight to your headphones, Portland’s Serge Severe’s ‘Strong Coffee’ stimulates the broken heart of hip hop and gets heads bopping. Aided by the production of 5th Sequence, this beat’s heavy jam takes you back to a time before the infiltration if the culture vultures, when …

Two members of the hip-hop/jazz band, Sidewalk Chalk got together with singer Angéle Anise, for a sultry cover of Kendrick Lamar’s, “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe’ featuring Charlie Coffeen on piano. The tone is set with a ambient lounge intro, followed by the gentle, jazz beats of drummer Tyler Namberg. …

Like Bowie’s enigmatic ‘Ziggy Stardust’, LA-based rapper SUM grapples with his status as Rock-star/Christ-like figure as he crashes towards an Earth he may no longer know. The Blockhead produced cut ‘Oblivion’ from the album Dragon Vol 1. is wrapped in this “would-be” hip hop savior’s metaphors: Tryin’ to finish my …

Nowadays in hip-hop, rappers tend to go on and on about nothing,  Austin TX native Matt G is not that dude. On ‘Zoned Out’, aided by Salt Lake City’s beatmaster Burnell Washburn, G paints a vivid picture of a man just trying to hold on to his sanity. Opening with …