Every now and again some new commercial will feature some overplayed 60s or 70s track. This is fine by me, except for the fact that I usually hated those songs to begin w/. How many times do we need to hear Magic Carpet Ride, really? Now days artists seem to be selling out in great numbers.

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Two years after Tricky released "Overcome" off of their album Maxinquaye, Fiona Apple releases her 1997 single "Sleep to Dream" off of her album Tidal.

So today, like magic, I hear "Overcome" followed immediately after by Fiona's "Sleep to Dream" and it occurs to me that those beats are similar. A little too similar. Granted Tricky's version is a bit faster, to my paranoid ears they sound one in the same! That's stealing Fiona! You whoreish thief!

You decide.

Here 'em

Back in the day, not too long ago, hip-hop really had some gems. These days?... not so much. W/ garbage like the King of Samples, Kanye West, it's hard to even give hip-hop a chance anymore. Here are some tracks from yesteryear that actually had redeeming qualities.

Hieroglyphics

Hiero's founder, logo designer and group stand-out, Del (tha Funkee Homosapien) - also known as: Deltron 3030, Dr. Bombay, Del Diablo Diabolique, D-E-L, Deltron and DZL - brings intelligent, — thoughtfully-crafted lyrics that seem to be lacking in today's hip-hop. Del has since gone on to be a collaborative partner w/ the Gorillaz and continue his solo career. The Hieroglyphics are still around today, and continue to tour.

Hieroglyphics - After Dark

Hieroglyphics - No Nuts

The Pharcyde

These guys came on strong in the early 90s w/ singles like Passin' Me By, Runnin, and Drop. After booting fellow group member Fatlip for excessive cocaine use around 1995 or 1996, The Pharcyde kind of fizzled out. The three remaining members continued The Pharcyde, though one of them eventually dropped out. Fatlip pursued a brief solo career from 2000 to 2005.

The Pharcyde - Otha Fish

The Pharcyde - Drop

Black Eyed Peas

This is the Black Eyed Peas pre-Fergie, folks! Bridging the Gap was a great album. It's a damn shame they took on that tranny-Looking, pants-pissing tramp. They had to sell-out some day, I guess.

Black Eyed Peas - Bridging the Gaps

Black Eyed Peas - Bringing It Back

Outkast

While Outkast still is around today, and still palatable, the group's earlier stuff from ATliens was one-of-a-kind, ground-breaking stuff.

Outkast - Elevators (Me & You)

Outkast - Mainstream

Last Saturday our friend invited us to a party at his new place — I know, it's Thursday and I'm just posting this. Anywho, on the email invitation it was explained that this was a mixtape party where individuals were to bring a mixed CD or thumb-drive w/ three to five songs to play at the party. I immediately became way-excited about this and went straight to work. I delved into my entire collection looking for the best three to five bands that I felt would be obscure and independent enough but also easy for party-going folks to get into. After choosing my tracks, which ended up totaling nine, I dropped them onto my thumb-drive.

Saturday arrived and my friends and I were running fashionably late to this "mixtape" party. We ended up getting there about an hour late and began to mingle amongst friends. I heard music throughout the apartment and I approached the host about getting my tracks into the mix. He let us know there were about a dozen mixes ahead of ours but he'd try to work us in later in the night, if we had nothing else better to do, which we didn't. So we partied on, and on, and on until the clock struck 2AM. There seemed to be no chance of our mixes ever being aired because by now, a couple of drunk Australian girls had hijacked the laptop and were torturing us w/ Eminem re-mixes that some DJ friend of theirs had crafted. Tired, drunk and frustrated, we complained to our hosts until we got our way, but by then everyone (four people) was nodding off and too hammered to care about our little mixtapes.

All-in-all I think this party concept is awesome, but was mishandled and/or spiraled out of control in our situation. So w/ that, I'd like to share the mix that was aired too late.

Come on Gang! - Wheels

The Thermals - A Passing Feeling

The Maccabees - About Your Dress

The Dodos - Fools

Harlem - Beautiful and Very Smart

Florence and The Machine - Kiss with a Fist

Dananananaykroyd - Pink Sabbath

Come on Gang! - Start the sound

Asobi Seksu - Nefi Girly