Updates...

Hey,

Haven't written anything in a while. I've been kinda busy with college/work stuff but I will be back into action soon. I have been spending more time trying to make my own music recently and haven't really had time to be posting stuff on here. I am currently working on an instrumental EP under my new beat making/production alias 'Element'. I am hoping to get the EP done and available for free download by February 2010. In the meantime you can check out some of the stuff I have been working on for it...



You can hear more and keep up to date with my stuff at: http://www.myspace.com/nextelements

More Than Music...

Nefarious! is back with another great instrumental album for you all to download called "More Than Music". I checked it out the other day and have to say he is getting more and more impressive with each production he does! For anyone who isn't already up on this guy, check out my older posts for his first instrumental project Nefarious! On The Beat Vol. 1...
To sum things up this is a great follow up which features 12 short tracks(click here to download it)

Darren Paul-Soul Reviver

I found and downloaded this from btjunkie today. I'm not sure who actually put this thing together or if it's official but it's a pretty sick album with some nice production from Darren Paul. (Click to download )

Jerry Blackwell-Reality Check

Ok, so for anyone who read my last couple of posts on B.A.S.I.C.K and Darren Paul I have already given you a little sneak preview of this guy and his debut album "Reality Check", which was put out last year. I downloaded it from his MySpace back when he first put it up for free download last year and had it in rotation for a couple of weeks. Since then my PC has crapped out and I had to start everything from scratch, but when I went to download the Reality Check again I found the link had broken and couldn't find it anywhere else on the net. That's until I discovered how to rip songs from Youtube where somebody had luckily posted the whole album!...Anyway I'm glad they did, cause I got my Reality Check back and have had it in heavy rotation again recently.

I think it's only right to make up for all that time I thought I'd lost it forever lol, and I think that it's also only right that I put it back out there again for other people to discover. Jerry is super talented and he has got some great songs on this album. His writing skills and lyricism are impressive and with production from the likes of Darren Paul, Wizard, Don D, Jim Dino Tha Great, Sean Hunter, Kid Eight and 9th Wonder (Birds and Bees), it was bound to be a hit.

'Told You' produced by Wizard...So for anyone who missed out on the Reality Check first time round, click on the link below to download it now:

Jerry Blackwell-Reality Check

You can find Jerry Blackwell on MySpace at:

myspace.com/jerryblackwell

B.A.S.I.C.K

B.A.S.I.C.K are a dope up and coming Hip Hop group outta Connecticut consisting of rapper "Ron F", Producer/Rapper "Don D", and rapper/producer "New". There are rumors that they are working on a debut album at the moment and going by the stuff I have heard so far on their MySpace and work that member Don D has been doing outside of the group, I got a feeling it will be sick. Check out this track Don D did last year on J Black's Reality Check...Don also had an instrumental album out a while back, which I would share with you but unfortunetly when I tried downloading it again today the link had expired. If you wanna hear more from B.A.S.I.C.K though, you can check them out on MySpace at...

myspace.com/basickly

Darren Paul

Darren Paul is a producer from the UK who has made a number of ill joints for artists on the underground scene. With his smooth beats and funky bass lines some people call him the UK Pete Rock and he has even impressed the legendary 9th Wonder after he listened to some Darren Paul tracks he was sent. Check out this track he produced on Jerry Blackwell's Reality Check LP last year (and also be on the look out for a post on Jerry Blackwell in the near future)...
He also has some nice beats on his MySpace www.myspace.com/darrenpaulbeats and he is featured on the new beat making documentary Behind Closed Vol.1...Click on the link below if you wanna cop the Behind Closed doors DVD...

Buy Behind Closed Doors Vol.1Also be on the lookout for Behind Closed Doors Vol.2 and for more Darren Paul tracks in the near future.

Cosmic Souls Collective...

I touched on these guys a little a couple of days back on my post on Nefarious, but thought I'd explain a little more about the Cosmic Souls today. They are a new 4-man production team featuring Time Travel, Nefarious, Know Juander & Juno Complex. They now got their own MySpace...myspace.com/cosmicsoulscollective...and are apparantley already working on their first project together.

After checking Nefarious' website thesouldojo.com the other day I found a little extract on the whole thing by him...

"Cosmic Souls Collective consists of me (Nefarious!), Juno Complex, know:Juander, and Time Travel. We are a collective of producers who make good music and just want it to be heard. We recently (last night) uploaded some of our beats to the MySpace page so make sure you check that out. We have a beat tape coming out soon so be on the lookout! Add us and stay updated with what we are doing and peep the music."

I'm looking forward to hearing more from these guys and so should you! THEY ARE SICK! Aside of the Cosmic Souls thing, we can also look forward to another instrumental project from member Juno Complex, a project by Time Travel and I'm pretty sure Nefarious and Know Juander will be dropping some more of their own stuff too.

This Is How I Chill...

For anyone who didn't already know I also makes beats. I'm nothing special at the moment though as I only started making beats a few months back. Anyway I got a little something for peeps to download, It's just a little beat mix thing I made a few weeks back called "This Is How I Chill". It features an intro and a couple of short beat snippets as well as a remix of CL Smooths "Perfect Timing"...
Check the video to hear the beat mix and click on the link below it to download This Is How I Chill...

This Is How I Chill from damienconnell on Vimeo.

Click to download:DaMe-O-This Is How I Chill

You can also find me at:
myspace.com/thisisexperiment88
youtube.com/thisisexperiment88
vimeo.com/experiment88

Wizard

Heard of Wizard? He's a pretty sick producer HAILING from Hastings, England (Same Town as me) and has produced a number of impressive joints for a whole bunch of artists over the last few years. He is always busy making beats and is probably one of the most consistent producers out there at the moment. Anyway he just made a new project called Wiztrumentals. It features 44 of the sickest beats/tracks made by Wiz over the last few years, and it's free!

WIZTRUMENTALS

Check out Wizard on MySpace at:

myspace.com/wizardbeats

A Kid Love, beta...

This is a free digital download album by a 23 year old producer/emcee called Know Juander. Hailing from Little Rock, Arkansas Know Juander claims to be have been producing for the last 5 years and has been turning some heads in the underground Hip Hop scene at the moment. This is a source from Know Juanders MySpace as to what he has to say about the project...

"The spirit of the record is carried on the thought that when we were all kids, we truly experienced unadulterated love. The feelings we possessed as children were the most authentic. So the title implies that the work in full is the most authentic expression of (love) for, in this case, undoubtedly, hip hop that could be shown. The usage of “beta” as a suffix on this project has more than the mere meaning that this project is in a user-tested phase. Loosely, though, there is the desire for those who pick up this project to try it out, try to understand not only the material, but the artist also. Moreover, to try to give the same energy to their crafts, whether it musical or not.

Personal highlights of the record are “This Long Keep On” and “Determination,” as well as the powerful brag-swag track, “Drummer… A Little Bit.”

From the production angle I would definitely highlight “A Little Bit… More,” as it may have been the most difficult of the samples to chop that were used to create the soundtrack of this lyrical outing. Personally, I feel that I shine on “Painting a Still,” which is my favorite of all the songs, “Determination,” being second. Combined, this project is more than six months of production and a season or so of actual writing and crafting songs in various settings and sittings."

He also did a radio interview prior to finishing the album which you can check out over at Nefarious' website thesouldojo.com

Click on the link below to download:

Know Juander-A Kid Love, beta

You can also find Know Juander at:
myspace.com/knowjuander

Nefarious On The Beat.

Nefarious is another dope producer I found on MySpace recently. He's been making a name for himself on the underground scene at the moment with some great production on various tracks by Amor Jones, BC and more. He also runs his own website, check thesouldojo.com which features updates on Nefarious and a bunch of other cool videos and free downloads. I spoke to him a couple of times on MySpace and he let me know about his first in a series of instrumental projects he is going to be putting out called Nefarious On The Beat. Check his beat video and click on the link at the bottom of this post to download Nefarious On The Beat Vol.1...

Nefarious! Makin' A Beat from Nefarious! on Vimeo.

(Download Nefarious On The Beat Vol.1)

I thought I'd also let you in on the Amor Jones album Epic Failure, which also features 4 tracks produced by Nef.

(Click on the the link below to download Epic Failure by Amor Jones.)

Amor Jones-Epic Failure

Also be on the lookout for the Cosmic Souls Collective a new production team featuring some of the best producers on MySpace at the moment. You can find out more on that and more on Nefarious and Amor Jones on the following sites:


myspace.com/nefariousprod
myspace.com/iamamorjones
myspace.com/cosmicsoulscollective

Damu The Fudgmunk

This guy is one of the illest producers that has come out in a long time in my opinion. Below is a live radio freestyle featuring Damu on the MPC and his partner in rhyme and fellow member of his group Y-Society, Insight. There is also another guy spittin on here called Breeze Evahflowin. This features as a track off his latest EP which is abvailabe for free download (see link below.) For anyone who isn't already up on Damu The Fudgemunk you need to check him out...

Damu on the MPC - Same Beat - Y Society Live at WKCR NYC (2/2) from jnota on Vimeo.

Click on the link below to download the EP:

Damu The Fudgemunk-Same Beat EP

For more on Damu & Insight, and their group Y Society, check out these sites:

blogspot.com/wonkabeats
myspace.com/damuthefudgemunk
myspace.com/ysociety

This is a cool instrumental EP by a producer I came across on MySpace recently called Juno Complex. It has a crazy retro/psychedelic feel to it and features some pretty nice production from the Dallas based producer, with the use of mainly old video game samples and effects.

(If you want to check it out yourself, just click on the artwork above for your free download.)

You can also check Juno on MySpace at: www.myspace.com/junocomplex