Jazzy/Soulful Vibes Part 2

Son of Zeus

Never Look Down

Small Circles

champ hoody music. ep. 3

cloth talk. (feat. Goya Gumbani & lojii)

Time

Ariel - Time (prod. Relyae)

Made this one with the greatest in mind, he's responsible for so much of what we do. I know Dilla tributes are kinda played out but making music is how I express myself and honor his memory. Enjoy!

One for JD [180]

In Love

9. Noisy Neighbor & Reek Osama - Outro

Yeah, the door swings open, first cousin in the hallway,
He talks too loud, telling stories from the old days.
Aunt Dee is in the kitchen, humming with the soufflé,
Uncle Ray tunes his bass just to set the mood the cool way.
Kids run circles like a kick and a snare,
Grandma laughing in the corner with the rocking chair.
Chaos in the room but the beat feels fair,
Like every voice in the mix helps the rhythm stay square.

All in the same groove, even when we move strange,
Different little melodies but nothing needs to change.
Christmas on the downbeat, family in the frame,
Funny how the harmony grows from every name.

Cousin Malik starts rhyming at the table with the cracker pop,
Grandad taps time on the table with a steady knock.
Sister J lays smooth on the keys when the chatter stops,
Her chords feel warm like the lights on the treetop.
Someone burns the pudding but the smell feels right,
Talking over one another but nobody wants to fight.
It is messy like jazz on a late Friday night,
But the funk in the room keeps the whole thing tight.

All in the same groove, even when we move strange,
Different little melodies but nothing needs to change.
Christmas on the downbeat, family in the frame,
Funny how the harmony grows from every name.

Look around the room, every story has a tempo.
Some slow like snowfall, some quick like a stencil.
We clash, we blend, we bend, we settle.
Still we land on one chord when the moment turns gentle.
Call it luck or rhythm or something we grew,
Call it the season or the sound that we move to.
Call it a family that somehow stays true,
Even when the tune is crooked and the colours are new.

All in the same groove, even when we move strange,
Different little melodies but nothing needs to change.
Christmas on the downbeat, family in the frame,
Funny how the harmony grows from every name.

Faded heat in the kitchen, low light in the hall,
Bassline humming like it knows us all.
Voices drift soft as the snow starts to fall,
One wild family but one groove overall.

All in the Same Groove (soul mix)

Rooted Nemo x Google Chrome

"Well, here goes... Magnesium Opium. Finally. There has been a considerable amount of folklore amongst longtime fans surrounding this album: “Was it ever completed?”; “why was it never released?”; “what's the story behind the title?”—that kind of talk. 

Let’s take a sec to look back: the early 2000s were an incredibly industrious time for myself and my peers in music. We had big rap dreams, busy schedules and bountiful ideas—all amidst what some would consider to be the “last big hurrah” of the music industry as we knew it. 

As for the nowfolk album, Ishkan and I had been recording music under the group, Moniker, since the mid-late nineties and had released two albums already: Style Gangstas (1999) and The Moon (2001). During the late fall of 2001, we hastily launched into a project called The Winter. We ended up shelving it, and at the start of 2002, decided to work on something we felt would be more substantial (a more updated nowfolk project, if you will). We worked on the album incrementally from January 2002 until June 2003. Around June, I had a conversation with a fan who told me of a crazy dream he had involving finding a “lost nowfolk album,” and in the dream he recalled the album being called Magnesium Opium. I told Ish about the dream, and we unanimously decided use it for the title. 

It's kind of amazing that we didn't have a real album title until the project was wrapped. That's unusual. As I mentioned previously, it was a very busy time and between my solo work and touring with my main group—I was swamped. 

At the end of June, my Adat recording system was destroyed virtually stranding the nowfolk album from being mixed and released along with many other solo projects. I know I've brought this up countless times, but it has to be rehashed to accurately tell the story. 

Anyway, all I had were very rough mixes on cassette and cd of “mag op”. I acquired new recording equipment and really didn't look back from that point plus Ish moved to Victoria in the fall of 200,3 and it ultimately slowed our nowfolk aspirations to a near standstill for years. When I finally acquired a replacement Adat lx20 unit a couple years ago, I began to unearth and mix mag op using my rough tape mixes as reference. Then, I reassembled the album chronologically in the exact order that we had recorded the songs. 

Now that URBNET has granted me the opportunity to release an album monthly for 2016, I knew that it was the perfect time to bring Magnesium Opium to the world. 

~~ Moka. February 15th, 2016. 

Nowfolk (Moka Only & Ishkan) - Put It On [from the album Magnesium Opium - 2003]

Free Download on the First Word compilation Two Syllables here http://shop.firstwordrecords.com/album/two-syllables-volume-thirteen

Crown

Manchester-based Children Of Zeus' brand of neo-soul infused hip-hop has garnered them plenty of admirers recently, among them Boiler Room, and they were recently brought out by Yussef Kamaal at their Band On The Wall show the other week.

The duo of Konny Kon and Tyler Daley's latest offering is the summer boom-bap belter Don't Say A Word, the flipside to new single I Can't Wait.

With a monthly NTS show and support slots with the likes of Slick Rick, De La Soul, Mos Def, Slum Village and The Pharcyde under their belt, Zeus are picking up some serious heat - 2017 could just be their year. Listen to Don't Say A Word below.

Never Look Down

Tyler Daley

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