Aloha my friends, welcome to The Run-Off Groove, #161 in the series of columns. I am John Book, let's get into the music.
A few weeks ago I reviewed what I assumed was Moka Only's new album. It is, but I didn't realize he had come out with another one at the same time. Vermilion (URBNET/Fontana North) is the second new album by the man who now wants to be known as Torch. On The Station Agent he created a collage of sounds that sounded like the lighter side of Madlib weed smoke, with many short burts of genius and within a headiness that comes from someone who concentrates on their lyrics, music, and flows. For this one, he moves out of the green glaze just a little, as the majority of the songs are more fully developed, or what one would call "real songs" in terms of having a few verses and chorus, not just a verse, chorus, and run.

caption: The Dude w/ his real life counterpart, Jeff Dowd

Everybody knows "the Dude" from the 1998 cult classic The Big Lebowski. But what you may not know is that Jeff Bridges' now-classic character is based off a real life person, Jeff "the dude" Dowd.

As a young man, Dowd was a major player in the 1960’s antiwar movement, was an outspoken draft resistor and spent time in jail as a political prisoner.

Like his film character, Jeff currently lives in L.A. He is a talented filmmaker and one of the founders of the Sundance Institute. His autobiography, "The Dude Abides: Classic Tales and Rebel Rants from The Dude" is slated to be released this year. Check out his website: www.jeffdowd.com.

I recently sat down with the Dude to discuss his experiences with youth organizing in the 60’s and how it compares to today.

Give it a Listen.


Download the mp3.

Musicemissions.com is a website that serves up the unknown indie music world, based on what you love. Choose a favorite band, and theyll recommend some you've never heard of.
They're giving away a whole bunch of free CD's and guestlist privelages this month to the people with an opinion on music.
$20 insound gift certificate ~ Possible Equal Vision and other label Guest List for select shows ~ Select CDs from: Circa Survive - Elliott Smith - Damiera - Sage Francis - LCD Soundsystem - Coheed and Cambria - Tom Waits - The Progress - From Autumn To Ashes - The Fall Of Troy - Amber Pacific - Alexisonfire - Converge - Boysetsfire - Chiodos - The Vines - Weerd Science (Josh from Coheed) - Moneen - Kaiser Chiefs – Sevendust-Polyrhythm Addicts - What's He Building In There? - Sa-Ra

Aloha my friends, welcome to the 162nd edition of The Run-Off Groove. I am John Book, pleased to meet you.

It takes a lot for a group to call themselves hip-hop, but these days it takes a lot for someone to go back to remember where it all came from. Brother Reade know all too well where the music came from, and where it has been headed. For MC Jimmy Jamz and DJ Bobby Evans, it is still very much about the music and lyrics, which of course has to have life as part of the equation. Brother Reade represent the life that the music may have lost years ago, and it's nice to hear that where there's life, there's vibrancy. Originally from North Carolina, now based in Los Angeles for biz purposes, they bring forth the kind of music that hip-hop has left behind for the sake of fortune and fame in the form of an album with a title that is a reminder of what this is: Rap Music (Record Collection.)

Aloha, and welcome to the 163rd of this thing. Thing? Yeah, it's called The Run-Off Groove here at Music For America. Me? John Book as always.
What part of the game is this when Britney Spears is trying to flow? is one of many impressive lyrics Cali Sunshine drops on Food For Thought. It's an album (25 tracks total) that shows the Bay Area is shining bright, and his moniker tells people that he also wants to represent that Cali Sunshine through lyrics of dignity and strength, with a little partying on the side.

Aloha, and welcome to the 164th edition of The Run-Off Groove, a column which can be found only here at Music For America. I am John Book, welcome. This week's column features a CD giveaway where you can win the new CD by DJ 2Tall, Dudley Perkins, and Georgia Anne Muldrow. But before I get into that, we begin as always with a nice selection of new music that may be worthy of your attention.

Aloha, and welcome to the 165th installment of The Run-Off Groove. I am John Book, and before I start, I want to say that the CD giveaway for a chance to win the new album by DJ 2Tall did with Dudley Perkins and Georgia Anne Muldrow, called Beautiful Mindz is still up and running. With the help of Amalgam Digital and Eclectic Breaks, you are able to win a free copy of Beautiful Mindz by clicking here. The giveaway will be around for a limited time, so if you haven't entered yet, you can do so now. For everyone else, let's begin.

Aloha, and welcome to the 166th installment of The Run-Off Groove. I am John Book, and once again, the CD giveaway for a chance to win the new album by DJ 2Tall did with Dudley Perkins and Georgia Anne Muldrow, called Beautiful Mindz is still up and running. With the help of Amalgam Digital and Eclectic Breaks, you are able to win a free copy of Beautiful Mindz by clicking here. If you haven't entered yet, time is running out. For everyone else, let's begin A few hip-hop albums came in at the last minute, but I will have reviews for them in a future column or two.

I'm psyched as it's finally here...Let the music roll in!!!
I think I explained this to someone the other day, even if only 100 bands come by, surely 5 or 10 of em will be worth their space in your collection. Seriously think about that for a second. Of course depending on how deep and circumstancially you are in the music industry, the average fan picks up what? Maybe 5-10 newly found artists a year, and they're mostly label fed and bred talent. These artists we're about to reveal are the raw everything music should be focused on. The unheard, the unseen (no pun intended lol), the neglected. Yeah, we're gonna hear some crap as well. Either way, let the discovery begin.

The Run-Off Groove is a column found exclusively here at Music For America. John Book here with a wide range of music to choose from, and very soon I will have reviews of new music by Sole & The Skyrider Band, edIT, and The Brainchild Project, plus some jazz, blues, Indian classical music, and a lot more. The CD giveaway is still on, but not for much longer. More later, but later is later, now is now. We begin.
The folks at Luv N' Haight/Ubiquity Records are releasing a 12" single featuring two unreleased tracks from Ramp. "The Old One, Two" (MP3 sample) and "Paint Me Any Color" (MP3 sample) are quite good, and it's amazing that they hadn't released these beforehand. It's a bit of disco jazz on both sides, with "The Old One, Two" being a bit more funky than the B-side, but that's fine.