J Rawls - Bump The Floor - VINYL LP

Grand Duchy - Let the People Speak [VINYL LP] Ltd Ed date 04/17/2012

In 2006, Japan's Envy irreparably blurred the lines dividing all the various sub-genres of underground rock, smearing post-hardcore, screamo, shoegaze, and ambient minimalism into their cinematic opus, Insomniac Doze. It was not a destination without a path - the band's previous two albums, All the Footprints You've Left Behind and the Fear Expecting Ahead (2001) and A Dead Sinking Story (2003), were clear indicators that change was ahead. As always, Envy were driven by creative curiosity and emotional exploration. Perhaps no album in their nearly four-decade history exemplifies this pursuit more than Insomniac Doze. Twenty years later, it stands as a progenitor, and one of the premiere examples of the preconceptions of punk getting reduced to vapor.Insomniac Doze - Anniversary Edition celebrates the 20 years since the of Envy's landmark album. Remastered in 2026 by Josh Bonati, the album's deluxe new gatefold package includes complete lyrics in both English and Japanese languages. It is the definitive version of an album that has come to help define a genre.

Dig, Sample, Chop, Sequence is the latest instrumental album from veteran producer J Rawls. Known for his signature blend of Hip Hop and jazzy beats, and fresh off recent Javotti releases including The Confidence of Knowing with Talib Kweli, Midnight Angel with Solene Velvet, and The Optimist's Son with Niko IS, Rawls returns to his roots. While his signature style has put him in a category alongside peers like Fat Jon, Nujabes, and others from the early 2000s underground scene; Rawls is often credited as a forefather of LoFi Hip Hop. This project stands as his ode to the craft of making Hip Hop music. Though many would call these InchLoFi beats,Inch Rawls simply says, InchWe just call it Hip Hop.Inch As a professor of Hip Hop Studies at The Ohio State University, Rawls is deeply engaged in understanding why producers dig in the crates what sounds they seek, why certain records spark emotion, (or as he describes it, that feeling), and what drives the instinct to sample certain sounds. For him, the art lies in chopping those sounds and sequencing them into something new. The album is also framed by the final recorded interview of Rawls' lifelong friend, DJ Buka, who recently passed away. While the conversation tells Buka's story and love for Hip Hop, it also mirrors Rawls' own journey. Through interludes built from the interview, the parallels between their lives emerge, two friends who discovered Hip Hop together and shared it's joy from childhood to adulthood.