THE TOFU HUT

I'm your Ice Cream Man like Raekwon

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365 Flavors of Unstoppable

Maybe you didn't notice, but you're in the new Tofu Hut. Yeah, I know it looks like the same old Hut but that's cause you can't see the proof in the pudding from where you're sitting. This old blogwriter done lost his patience with waiting for the big knock on the door. We ain't gonna sell out to the man. We ain't taking any ads (excepting our generous hosting providers/floor wax/desert topping RACKNINE, over there on the East toolbar). What we ARE doing is taking a glutton's approach to a pauper's problem. What we ARE doing is stepping up the game. What we ARE doing is showing up on your doorstep with the frequency of the Grey Lady.

That's right kids. It's on. We're going daily.

I can hear the naysayers now. Sure, Lord knows that I've been a little on the erratic side, but I've decided I'm gonna start making this a crusade. We'll talk about just WHY in the weeks to come. For now, just enjoy the ride.

Here's the schedule, starting today:

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday you can check in at the Hut for daily doses of glisten, fresh music to set your jaded ears to flappin'.

Tuesday and Thursday will be devoted to spiffy, th' Hut's clearinghouse of the best and the brightest memes, weirdness and wildness that the intarnewt has to offer. We'll also be starting back up the "Meet the Neighbors" feature, wherein we interview fellow musicblog geeks. Fans of the DL'able should also stop by; there may likely be some meat on these "T"-Bone days to gnaw on from th' Hut's contributing writers: the stunning Chantelle Fiddy (our UK connection to the Grime phenomenon), righteous curmudgeon Anthony Miccio (our pop-rockin' radio friendly naysayer, ready to defend the best bubblegum you ever chawed) and The Infamous Red Headed Stranger (country and western, new and old).

Saturdays will consist of precisely what you're seeing in front of you right now: a weekly capitulation of goings on at Hut Headquarters (expect big changes over the next few months!); a compilation of New Revolutions, the weekly roll-call of musicblogs, labels, bands and general freebies that be poppin' today; and The Quarterbox, where you'll have a chance to flip through unexamined tracks, videos, press releases and other ephemera that people send to the Hut.

Sundays? Sundays, I watch Deadwood. Get cable and find out why, ya bum.

That's enough yapping. Let's get to it.

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The Quarterbox

When you're a brand name like "Smuckers", it's gotta be good. So imagine what you get when you're "Tofu Hut"? Lots and lots of promos, press releases, bands on tour, labels with albums to sell, unsolicited demos, new ideas and new sounds galore.

What to do with this embarrassment of riches? Obviously, pass it on to YOU, the consumer.

The Quarterbox is the Hut's clearinghouse for all manner of promo swag; every connecting link should lead you to free music.

HOWEVER, as not everything here has been closely explored or listened to, we can NOT be held accountable for quality. We're just the middleman.

Which is another way of saying "Caveat Emptor... but look at these prices!"


Marvin Gaye/Bob Marley mashup: "Healing in Vain"
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From Chausette Verte's press release:
"This many years old 'next step progressive free cool tutti frutti contemporary jazz' band is active in Europe. It's an Italian-French free improvisation quartet, normally playing without a written theme. We play the tunes starting the improvisation from microfragments (one note, an atmosphere, a light). We are searching for an interplay, more co-operative than based on a competitive dialog. On july 2001 we recorded our first CD not believing we where going to sell a single copy: pure spontaneous improvisation is not so popular, and we are an about 40 years old too fat not a prettyface boy band. We have a fan club on vitaminic web site (OK, in there are just 20 fans, but they are 20 more than in our dreams)!!! Sorry for the Tarzan's style English, the adventure goes on..."
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From Danko Jones' Razor + Tie press release:
"Danko Jones is a hard-rock trio fronted by a guy named Danko Jones, from Toronto. Danko Jones has been on the road for nearly four years – first as a support act (for the Hives, among others), then as headliners and lately as a major festival draw. Jones recalls a seminal moment: 'When I was six, I joined the KISS Army...'"
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TVT Records, your crunk connection, provides us with the uncensored video for Jacki-O's single, "Fine".
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Yep Rock Records has a new album with Jon Spencer and Matt Verta-Ray of Speedball Baby on the way. They're calling it "sort of stripped down rockabilly/r'n'r"; you can listen to the first single here.
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Brooklyn blog circuit darlings Dirty on Purpose are on tour; check the site to find out where they'll be and to sample some of their music to see if you'll want to meet them there.
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From the Scum Music press release:
"Our mission statement is to provide the genre of Dance/Funk/techno to the masses, but you could also add trance, breakbeat, ethnic vibes, and down tempo grooves to that. Influences are THE PRODIGY, THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS, THE DOORS, FLUKE, FATBOY SLIM, JUNKIE XL, JIMI HENDRIX... and everyday life."
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KCRW Radio is putting out the third compilation of live music, featuring tracks from Radiohead, Iron and Wine, the Flaming Lips and Sarah McLachlan. Give a listen to "Sounds Eclectic 3" here.

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New Revolutions

Those who've kept a half an eye cocked on the Hut will no doubt remember that I lost a precious pile of new musicblog links recently when Mozilla when berzerk on me and started coughing up data all over the bedspread. The poor baby still has a bit of browser bronchitis, so perhaps it's pertinent to purge rather than feed that fever.

Here's fifteen new places to find music on the web:

1: Between Thought and Expression
Similar in presentation and appeal to the legendary LARGEHEARTED BOY. Loads to explore and do; you'll find mad linkage, videos, essays and reviews out the wazoo. Taste is eclectic and the songs are provided by others (always a sign that quantity is more important to a blogger than quality) but the posting is consistent and heavy.

Recent Offerings: Basement Jaxx remixes, Jadakiss, Keren Ann, Kasabian, B.B. King
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2: SXSW Media
This is a "grab-it-while-you-can" collection of tracks from bands playing SXSW. See what you're missing.

Recent Offerings: Bruce Robison, the Silos, Mavis Staples, Bloc Party
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3: hushreality
Nicely designed Rockblog, updating once every few days.

Recent Offerings: Ambulance Ltd, Adam Ant, Human League, Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark
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4: DJ Earworm
A recent plug from WAXY has left Earworm inundated with response, but with catchyass mashup freeforalls like George Michaels vs. the Beatles vs. Aretha vs. The Scissor Sisters, who could eat just one?

Recent Offerings: Mashes with Depeche Mode, Eurythmics, Beck, the White Stripes, Dizzee Rascal
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5: Lemon/Red
Between the YouSendIt links, the hip hop/electronic tracks and the kinda prose what the Village Voice likes to call "thug-lite" (Yo COCAINE BLUNTS! Sounds like beef to me, kid), there's little doubt that Lemon/Red is the newest in a much appreciated flood of streetblogs. And it feels so goooood...

Recent Offerings: Junior Senior, Pitbull, ODB, Killer Mike
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6: Gathering Dust
"No particular purpose, except passing the dutchie around. And giving credit to underrated acts & missing links. In the old days, record stores used to hire passionate clerks who would guide us towards the light. Now we're on our own."

Recent Offerings: 808 State, Fab 5 Freddie, Arthur Baker
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7: Gloomybear
I fell in love with DJ Gloomybear after the eightieth listen to his remix of Kiss' "Crazy Nights", but I imagine you'll catch on faster than I did.

Recent Offerings: Mashups of Air, Missy Elliott, Mylo and New Order
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8: xanax taxi
Offering " Jazz, improvisation, fusion, funk (and the rest)" and not disappointing.

Recent Offerings: Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, Al Green, Barry White, Chet Baker
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9: Rap Nerd
Does what it says on the label, dunnit? Solid writing and a clever ear make this rookie stand out.

Recent Offerings: Quincy Jones, Roots, Eminem, Isaac Hayes, Quasimoto
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10: Digitally in the Crates
More hip hop and hip hop/r+b roots for you. He's been on hiatus for a minute, but I got high hopes for DiC.

Recent Offerings: Lil' Flip, Pete Rock, Kool and the Gang, David Rudder
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11: ILMiXor
The big boys club over at ILM finally decided to join the MP3 revolution and are making collaborative mix tapes online. This is probably the hottest and most exciting new musicblog to hit in awhile; the writing is uniformly fascinating and excellent and you never know what might pop up. This is what happens when da revolution done come.
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12: The Hypertonics
Here's why The Hypertonics put up their complete discography online for free: "They don't charge money for Bibles and you don't charge your friends to hang out with you. When something is that meaningful, you don't want to be alone with it you want to share it. The circle of close friends here always get CD-Rs with the new demos, the live takes, the covers, the full catalog. Why not extend that circle of friends from 20 people to 1000 people? Hey friend, here's the new stuff, dig it. Take it, we made for you in the first place. We didn't make it just to claim possession of it, it's everybody's."
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13: diddywah
A slickly designed, excellently selected and well written vinylrip blog with an ear for themes.

Recent Offerings: Tose Feliciano, Tina Turner, Little Richard, Merry Clayton
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14: The Low End Theory
No more theories, here's the truth. More than just another hip hop blog for the fire.

Recent Offerings: Heavy D, The Perceptionists, Fat Joe, B.T. Express
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15: Baby Snakes
BBS as MP3 blog at Sounds Are Active Records.

Recent Offerings: Frank Zappa, Miles Davis, Jaco Pastorius, Soul Junk, I Heart Lung

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in other news

The long-dormant Uncritical raises its brontosaurus-like head from the muck for a look-see. He's promising much more content and a free biscuit with every box of mueslix.
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A belated RIP to Martin Denny, exotica king.
Listen to some background and trackground over at NPR.
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Ampari is a foreign language aggregator (Swedish? Danish?) that presents the days best tracks listed by artist and title, with a link to the blog that's hosting. It's simple, elegant and as useful as a swiss army knife.
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Whatever they're calling it, I'm still blown away by the new Ying Yang Twins single. Here's a WMA copy of "Wait".
Minimal, filthy and CREEPY.
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If you'll excuse me, I'm going to beat my computer (which has crashed at least seven times during the writing of this entry) to a silicon pulp and drink it with a handful of quaaludes.

Tally ho, ya'll!
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Labels: clicky, meet the neighbors, music, personal silliness