I’m living with the living again! I really fell off my blog game, but in the twenty-dime, it’s THEYOUNGANDINLOVE heavy. As a peace offering, check out this track I rapped on, using a glistening instrumental jam from the dude ‘Washed Out‘. Download the track after the jump!

Download: Feel It All Around [Lushlife Version] – Washed Out ft. Lushlife

Also, don’t forget to check out the Lushlife live show and DJ set at The Belmont for SXSW [3/18]. Peep the flyer above, or the link below for the details:

http://favoritegentlemen.com/blog/favorite-gentlemen-ticket-alternative-present/

Way back in the beginning of October, I was opening some really fun shows for ‘Anti-Pop Consortium‘. One of the venues we played together was at the Talking Head Club [the smaller room at Sonar in Baltimore, MD]. I’d been there once before to see ‘Broken Social Scene‘ which was a great show. The sound was phenomenal, and on the drive home I first discovered ‘Everywhere‘ by ‘Fleetwood Mac‘ and listened to it on repeat all the way back to Jersey City, NJ. But, I digress, so we got to the venue, and the “janky promoter”-vibe was palpable. Read more after the jump…

I mean, we showed up to the venue late for soundcheck, and with the bar staff, there were only like ten people in the building. It was a Wednesday night, but we had just played to a packed house in Philly the night before, so I’m gonna have to call bullshit on the promoters. Anyway, even though the show had very little energy, my girlfriend Amanda finally got a video clip of ‘Meridian Sound [Part Three]‘ being performed. This is probably the last time I’ll perform the original for awhile, as I’ll be doing the remix from Leisure Class/Stick-up Kids on most of the upcoming European dates. So, enjoy!

Meridian Sound [Part Three] – Lushlife – Live from Rajesh Haldar on Vimeo.

The ‘Cassette City‘ production folder [that now luckily lives on an external HD] takes upwards of 60 gigabytes of space; a testament to the number of earnest attempts, half-assed recordings, false-starts, and corny ideas there were during the somewhat arduous production process. I figured that some of these musical artifacts deserved to see the light of day, though. I mean, some of this stuff actually makes for an interesting listen. More after the jump…

Today, I’ve got a pretty complete musical thought for you. This track, titled, ‘The Age of Imagination’, was an early instrumental recording, in which I was clearly experimenting with chamber-pop ideas in a hip-hop context. So, we’ve got a shimmering string sample, some Burt-Bacharach-style horns, a piano glissando lifted from a Ferrante & Teicher record, and me doing some low-fi cuts on the decks. My man Ezra from ‘Vampire Weekend‘ put me onto the main sample for this piece way back in high school [can anyone pick out what it is?], and I think he actually used some part of it on a song by his old band ‘The Sophisticuffs‘. Maybe this is part of the reason I didn’t develop ‘The Age of Imagination’ further. I think what I took away from this ‘experiment’, though, was that if I was going to try and compose hip-hop through the lens of ’60s pop giants like Brian Wilson, David Axelrod, et. al., I should be wary of things sounding too ’90s… in a bad way. I mean, this track could fit comfortably on any one of those godawful ‘downbeat/lounge’ compilations that were en vogue during the latter part of that decade. Still, on its own, ‘The Age of Imagination‘ has some musical merit. Peep.

Download: The Age of Imagination

I was sitting in the whip listening to ‘All Things Considered’ on local NPR affiliate WHYY this afternoon. I tuned in during one of their fundraisers; you know, where the broadcasters extol the virtues of public radio programming, hoping that listeners will call in and pledge money. I think a lot of people dislike these annual fund-drives, or at least consider them a necessary evil, and a means to an end. I’ve always really liked NPR fundraisers; maybe even looked forward to them. There’s a certain virtuosity that the on-air personalities have: switching up topics at the drop of a hat, riffing off of each other, and coming up with segues on the fly, that appeals to me on the same level that freestyle rap does. Imagine that cipher. Click on the jump to read more!

To make a long story short, I ended up calling their 800 number [if you were wondering, you don't hear the phone call ring on the radio in real-time].  Anyhow,  I always thought that NPR/PBS tote bags were basically hip-hop as fuck, and I wanted to see if I couldn’t support a cause I truly believe in, and floss extraordinarily, all at the same time. Well, it turns out that they no longer offer the throwback tote bags [only grocery bags], and with my sense of style overwhelming my sense of responsibility, I ended the call.

Another brush with adulthood averted.

Not for long, though. See, I’m a recording artist, and on a daily basis I deal with companies and people who squarely fall into the ‘Industry Rule #4080″-column. But, once in a long while you get to work alongside an organization with pioneering vision,  high-minded goals, and the kind of membership that, you know, helps you remember “why you got into this rap shit in the first place”.

Enter: CASHMusic

I couldn’t begin to explain how much this non-profit means to me. On their website, CASH describes their mission as: “build[ing] open tools and services to benefit artists and music organizations.” They’re being modest… from my experience, anyway. These dudes gave me the tools to shop my latest record, Cassette City, on a unique, secure online platform, and then helped me ice-grill potential labels. The folks at CASH saw my jacket design through a billion iterations. They’re even dedicating time to awesome promotional projects, post-release. CASH has been an incredible resource to an artist going it largely on his own.

Well, now that they’ve got their non-profit status, CASHMusic needs some funding, too. So, they’ve launched a pretty awesome fundraiser themselves. Nope, no coffee mugs or bumper stickers on offer. But, go over to their site, http://cashmusic.org/, and you can bid on some really cool stuff, donated by an amazing group of artists and bands. See: Deerhoof, Mission of Burma, MGMT, Secret Machines, Sunset Rubdown, and lots more! Seriously.

If it sounds like I’m shilling for these dudes… I am. Honestly, I’m trying to be up on that Time to Pretend 7″ on white vinyl. I mean, Prairie Home Companion isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

I’m on-the-road right now [more on that later], so I’ve had limited internet access to post things. I’m pretty much lamping this morning, though. My girlfriend, Amanda, and I are relaxing all day in our hotel room in Lexington, KY until my in-store and DJ set here @ 5p. We’re here for the ‘Boomslang Festival’, which I mentioned in an earlier post. Anyway, so far today, we’ve watched two hours of Fringe, so I thought it was high-time that I got to something productive.

Earlier this week, I was performing in support of ‘Anti-Pop Consortium’ in Philly, and the good folks at Philebrity posted a little piece about Lushlife + the live show. Check the Phileb piece, and a photo from the super-fun show @ Silk City, Philadelphia [10/6], after the jump!

Here’s the piece Philebrity did on Lushlife. They also sent awesome photographer, the dude, Dan Murphy. They’ll ostensibly be posting his pics in the near future. In the meantime, peep his site.

Here’s a nice picture from the ‘Silk City’ event, that my friend Kyle took. [yup, I'm rapping there]:

Lushlife Performing at 'Silk City' - Philadelphia, PA - 10/6