keep it louder

Martina Topley-Bird is a vocalist from Shepherds Bush West London, United Kingdom, who first gained fame as the female vocalist on trip-hop pioneer Tricky’s (Adrian Thaws) debut album, Maxinquaye, (a printing error credited her as “Martine”). She continued her collaboration with Tricky on his follow-up album Pre-Millennium Tension as well as his Nearly God side-project. Topley-Bird had a child, Maisie, with Thaws.

In 1998, following a falling-out of her professional and personal relationship with Tricky, Topley-Bird began pursuing a solo career; however, it was not until 2003 that she released her debut solo album, Quixotic, on Independiente Records. (Tricky appears on one track, Ragga, as producer and guest vocalist.) Upon its release, Quixotic received rave reviews from critics, and was a finalist for the 2003 Mercury Music Prize. Need One, Anything, I Still Feel and Soul Food were released as singles in the UK. In Brazil, the song Lullaby was used in the campaign for the juice powder Clight. The song Sandpaper Kisses is featured on the soundtrack of the video game Fahrenheit (known as Indigo Prophecy in the United States).

The album finally saw a release, of sorts, in the United States in July 2004 when the Palme Pictures label released a “re-designed and re-sequenced” version with a new title (Anything), a trimmed-down tracklisting and all-new cover art.

More abou her and her music you can find here.

TOKiMONSTA - Little Pleasures (feat. Gavin Turek)

Born and raised in the South Bay area of Los Angeles, TOKiMONSTA (Jennifer Lee) was an unfocused pupil of classical piano. However, she has come to use this background to understand and create vast soundscapes and textures through the usage of live instruments, percussion, digital manipulation, and dusty vinyl. Through the creation of beats, she is able to fuse the sounds of the past with her musical prowess into something avant garde.
She is not a Japanese American. She is a Korean American.

“Toki” means “a rabbit” in korean.

BLAKROC ft Raekwon - Stay Of The fuckin Flowers

Blakroc is a rap rock collaboration album by Ohio-based blues rock band The Black Keys and several hip hop and R&B artists. The project has been overseen by Damon Dash, co-founder and formerly owner of a share in Roc-A-Fella Records. The album was recorded at Studio G by co-producer Joel Hamilton. Album guests include Raekwon, RZA and the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard of the Wu-Tang Clan, Jim Jones and NOE of ByrdGang, Mos Def, singer Nicole Wray, Pharoahe Monch, Ludacris, Billy Danze of M.O.P., and Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest.

The thrive to share experiences- in a studio and on stage- was always in the core of music creation. When you combine the individual experience with the common goal, you get more than the sum of all parts, you have ORELHA NEGRA. Unique bunch of “characters” that bring their talent and knowledge of music to another level compose this Project. For whom it might concern we have Cruz (DJ/ Scratches), Ferrano (Drums), Gomes Prodigy (Keyboards, Synths), Mira Professional, (Voice Sampler/MPC, Synths) and Rebelo Jazz Bass (Bass guitar, Rhythm Guitar). Orelha Negra uses the sleeve cover technique (sleeveface.com) as a way to bring up the image of a collective enhancing the core and prominence of this project, which is their music. A MPC, a pair of Technics turntables, Drums, Keybords, Bass and Rhythm guitar. United becomes living tissue that emanates groove beats, samples, loops and a sound of their own. Orelha Negra is the result of putting together pieces of a puzzle. In each piece you find music history, the roots of black music such as Jazz, Soul, Funk, Groove and Hip-Hop, and a lot of Portuguese culture represented by renowned musicians that are translated to the collective’s language. The ability to transform their influences in to a unique and new sound is their challenge…. You find in their sound borders that are defined by the past, present and a near future.

More about them here.