Afro Monk

Top 5 Best Releases
1. Michal Menert – Even If It Isn’t Right
2. Caravan Palace – Panic
3. XXYYXX – XXYYXX
4. Lapalux – When You’re Gone
5. Thriftworks – Rainmaker

Top 5 Best Songs
1. LOL Boys – Changes (Shlohmo Remix)
2. Sugarpill – Space Foray
3. Tinashe – Let You Love Me (XXYYXX Remix)
4. Aligning Minds – My Heart is Love feat Robert Manos
5. Kayla Scintilla – Whomp Shanti

Top 5 Underrated Releases
1. Birds of Paradise – Ascended Blasters
2. Futexture – The Science of How Things Unfold
3. Trifonic – Ninth Wave
4. Kalya Scintilla – Dance the Spiral Never Ending (Remixed)
5. Herobust – Late Night / Morning After

Top 5 New Producers
1. G Jones
2. Trill Murray
3. XXYYXX
4. Futexture
5. Krooked Drivers

Top 5 Events
1. Symbiosis
2. Lightning in a Bottle
3. Emissions
4. Sonic Bloom
5. Lucidity

JoJo Tea Miami has introduced me to the world of tea. I’ve been addicted to iced tea and lemonade for the past few years. Unfortunately I have to admit that I was hooked to those Arizona Ice Tea tall cans for .99 cents at gas stations. I soon discovered that these cans contain high fructose corn syrup. I decided to cut down on drinking these. My new obsession has been trying out loose leaf tea hot tea.

One of my best friends, Michael Ortiz, recently started a tea company of his own, JoJo Tea. He has built the company from the ground up and offers some of the best tea I’ve had. He approached me about helping him get started with a website. It has been a few months since we launched the site and it has been going great. The focus the past few months has been getting JoJo Tea into popular restaurants across Miami. He has had great success in accomplishing this and is carried across multiple locations such as: Michael’s Genuine, Eating House, Yard Bird, Panther Coffee, and more.

I wanted to write a blog post help promoting the JoJo Tea brand because I believe that many readers on the blog might be interested in hearing about a small business focused on providing quality tea to the masses. JoJo Tea currently might only be available to the local market but I’m sure if you’re interested in trying JoJo Tea he’ll be able to supply you with some. If you’re wanted to try some and would like it to be shipped to you contact JoJo directly at jojo@jojotea.net.

You can find a full list of all the tea he carries in their Tea Menu. They offer all sorts of different types of green, black, white, and oolong tea. You can either purchase loose leaf tea or small pyramid bags.

Be on the look out for JoJo Tea’s new home brewed ice tea. There are also unique syrup blends that they are working on if you’re into sweeteners. There’s quite a variety of flavors in the works in regard to ice tea!

There is one driving force that keeps me going every day, Passion. Life has its way of playing that typical game of back and forth like it does for you as well I’m sure. When it comes to my career, hobbies, social life, blog, art, etc… all I use and look for is that inner feeling to express myself and let it all out.

This site is one of my biggest accomplishments and never thought I’d have thousands of visitors coming back. I built it as a place to share and showcase music I thought was worth posting about. If there is one thing I look for when listening to music it’s that feeling of emotion and soul put into it. That doesn’t mean that some of the music I don’t enjoy doesn’t have emotion or soul by any means. Trust me some of the agro bass out there has emotion just usually on a level I don’t want to touch or feel. The music I post has to capture me in some sort of fashion. I’ll usually even send releases to writers if I’m not feeling it and know I should probably write about the tracks but can’t do it if not my cup of tea. After all sometimes you want to support your friends but just don’t connect with those certain tracks.

Passion is everything. I don’t have to tell you how much competition there is in the music industry. Hell it’s so easy to become a DJ in today’s world and even a producer with all the advances in DAWs and VSTs. What’s the secret to making it somewhat successful? Passion dude! You have to live it and breathe what you do. This isn’t a competition of how many Followers, Likes, Plays, Downloads, etc… you have. It’s about being able to express yourself freely and not give a shit if anyone listens or hears your music. You have to want to make/share music. You’ve got to tune into what you feel and enjoy. There are thousands of people who can tell you it’s about who you know, who writes about you, what label/agency you’re with, etc… but in truth it’s all garbage. If you’re doing what you like forget about what people think. Seriously one of the biggest tips I tell people when first starting out is DO NOT FOCUS ON LOCAL MARKET. Think big and don’t worry about playing shows in your city or if people like you are not. Focus on what you’re doing and put yourself out there. You’ll be surprised how many people from around the world will find you if you’ve got something real. The rest will follow suite later if you keep it up.

I’d also like to mention please please don’t confuse passion for desperation. I can’t tell you how many people I see and know that just hustle and hustle but it looks so fake because they are dying for results. Trust me this trend of I’ll release a free tune if I get x number of new followers etc… FORGET THE NUMBERS. Release music because you want to. I get it you want to push further and further and all this energy and passion has lead you to bust your ass. Don’t get desperate. If you keep doing what you’re doing people will find you. Don’t force it. Plus you look like a total newb searching for attention. Passion in your work will be recognized on its own. I can’t think of one time I’ve been like ohh shit I want a new tune let me go hit the Like button on their page. No, usually I’m like OMG seriously you’re doing this?!

I can’t emphasize anymore about how you have to do what you do because you LOVE it. Most people by now realize I hope that I have a real career and only consider this blog/DJ thing as a hobby. Yeah ok so I’ve thrown a few parties, have an agent, fly around the States for music, etc… Truth is I’m just doing what I do for fun and the friends, fans, followers, etc are just a bonus. Do not focus on the fame, money, etc… If you’re trying to make a career out of this industry I’m sorry but please don’t rely on this industry for that. The way I look at is you should be stable enough to make money without it and once you make enough to support yourself with music make the switch. If this idea was put into place I’m sure there would be a lot less desperation and spam out there. Put yourself out there but don’t overdo it.

Follow and do what your heart tells you. Be yourself and if something seems like you’re forcing it you probably are. Here is another pro tip for all things in general… Make it natural.

- Afro

Top 5 Best Releases
1.  The Weeknd – House of Ballons
2.  Robot Koch – The Other Side
3. Tycho – Dive
4.  Thriftworks – Zen Zero
5. Tokimonsta – Creature Dreams

The way I came up with the list for this year was thinking to myself which albums did I listen to the most and can think off the top of my head as standing out. The Weeknd has been my obsession and biggest inspiration to my transformation into sexy bump n grid live sets. Tycho makes some of the greatest music to just drive/work too. Dive represents one of those timeless LPs that will never get old and pick me uppers when music seems to get dull. Robot Koch’s The Other Side is one of the most incredible albums that took me away into a dreamland and thought to myself why has no one talked about this release. I listen to it on a daily basis since I got it. Thriftworks is one of my secret weapons when playing to a crowd. Zen Zero is one of the fullest albums out there this year in my opinion. Tokimonsta stole my heart when she released Creature Dreams. I always somewhat enjoyed her music but never LOVED it but she sealed the deal on the Creature Dreams release. These are not as hype or heavy dance floor albums but encompass what I listen to on a regular basis.

Top 5 Best Songs
1. NastyNasty – Sweety Bodies

2. Kastle – Walking Away

3. The Weeknd – Wicked Games

4. Antenitas – Los Bandidos Cosmicos (Nico Luminous Remix)

5. ill-esha – Only Fair (Gladkill remix)

Top 5 Underrated Releases
1. Robot Koch – The Other Side
2. Shigeto – Full Circle Remixes
3. B. Bravo – Kiss ‘n’ Tell
4. Knowa Knowone – Sound Paintings
5. Chris B – Whats Your Fantasy

I mentioned that the Robot Koch album was rarely talked about this year and man did it go under the radar. It’s just beautiful and feel like all of you should take a listen to it. Shigeto is one of my greatest finds last year and the Full Circles release was mind blowing and just when thought it couldn’t get better it did this year with a remix version with some of the most talented in the game. B. Bravo is one of the most listened to artist in my entire library. I’ve been following his work for quite some time now and he doesn’t get enough attention in my book but I know he will over the next few years. Knowa Knowone has always been on my radar but never really put anything out that captured me till this year and take it might have been the same for many of you. His release Sound Paintings put him back on my map of an artist to keep an eye on. Chris B’s Whats Your Fantasy is one of those album I’ll never forget talking about with Simplify head hancho about before it got released and explained to him that was so glad to see Chris was finally putting out an official release. Simplify has now become one of the biggest labels in the bass scene and feel like despite the overall feel the labels puts out this was their best one.

Top 5 New Producers
1. Quitter
2. The Human Experience
3. Slidecamp
4. Guttstar
5. Lo Bounce

There isn’t a doubt in my mind that Quitter is the hottest new sound that brings back memories of that hip-hop/beats/bass mixed into a high quality product. Absolutely love the direction they’ve started with. Can’t go wrong with a NastyNasty + So What collab. The Human Experience caught my attention last year and really inspired me. His new release this year almost made it to the most underrated list but overall I feel like he’ll be making quite a stir soon as he just was in Europe doing a tour. Slidecamp is another astonishing project that Boreta and Comma have put together that blew my mind. I truly hope we’ll see more from them and not just another abandoned project from another Glitch Mob member. Guttstar is the new Joker for me. I first heard his music and thought to myself this guy is the purple king. He’s also in the SEO business and instantly connected. He’s got much ahead of him in the coming years. Lo Bounce has been working hard all year pumping out some of the biggest bangers of the year in my eyes. His Me & U remix that was exclusive to Afromonk.com always gets play time in any of my live sets since I received it.

Top 5 Events
1. Lightning in a Bottle
2. SXSW
3. Emissions
4. Sonic Bloom
5. Art Outside

Lightning in a Bottle is one of those magical events where some of the biggest names come together and express themselves in art, music, dance, and more. It’s commonly described as the closest thing to Burning Man out of all the festivals. I know that till the end of my life I’ll be going to LIB. This past year had so many incredible memories and being backstage with some of my close friends that I only get to see during these festivals makes it that much better. SXSW this year was complete madness. Austin is where the event takes place and mainly focuses on bands and live music but this year it seems like electronic showcases were the spotlight to many. The amount of talent and people around this year made it one of the best weeks of my life. I’m quite sad that I no longer live in Texas but think I’m going to skip out on WMC this year and just fly to ATX for SXSW instead. Man too think I played at 5 different showcases last year is insane. Emissions this year was one of the best line ups of all the festivals. If you heard of that one festival that it snowed and screwed up a lot of things up that’s Emissions. It’s a shame because it was setup to be one of the best showcases all season. I assure you that next years will be one for the books. Despite the snow I had a great time and was one of those extremely intimate festivals where all the talent is walking around freely and not separated from everyone else. My favorite memory of the year was when I first arrived and was by main stage checking out the booth and having Jasper hugging me and being like hey whats up! It’s just one of those events where everyone is there just hanging out like one big family. This year I was fortunate to visit Colorado for Sonic Bloom. I hadn’t ever been since I started getting involved into the scene. Sonic Bloom was a dream becoming reality. I expected to get such a warm welcome from everyone there. I got to meet so many friends in person after communicating with them via online for years. The lineup was stellar and was able to interact with everyone with my press pass and even got invited to play on one of the side stages. Overall a wonderful experience and great community in attendance since such a large portion of the scene lives in Colorado. Art Outside is a small homegrown festival in Texas. I was proudly invited to go play at it. It was a honor to play alongside such talented people as well as a great farewell to Texas. I found out a few days before Art Outside that I would be relocating back to Miami so it was that last hoopla in Texas. I’ll be sure to make it a point to return next year and recommend you all to give it a chance if looking to try out a new festival you have never out too.

Hey, what’s up! It’s EA.  I’m a lil late on posting this as I was celebrating a bit too hard last night, haha.  But, check out these 420 inspired tracks from some of my fave producers. All of em are free downloads!

StylesP Method Man Red Man Bob Marley are all Chillin at Mochipet’s House for 420 with Freda Payne

Dr. Dre-Let Me Ride (SplataLighT RemiX) Splatinum and Love and Light

Warren G featuring Nate Dogg – Regulate (The Polish Ambassador Remix)

Afroman – Because I Got High (Elfkowitz Remix)

Download: Toni Braxton – You’re Making Me High (Paper Diamond Remix)

Much love!

-EA (EA@afromonk.com)

soundcloud.com/djeamusic

ill-esha is working on possibly making a music video for her track, Only Fair. She had decided to launch a kickstart campaign to help fund the project. The bar is set to $3,000 and it needs YOUR help! The video above goes into detail what she is hoping to accomplish with this video. We all know it’s a hard time to produce top quality products and with the decrease in album sales and labels lacking the budget this is her way of giving back a piece of herself in this video.

There are many benefits to contributing to this project based on how much you donate. What many of you don’t realize is that if the project does not hit its goal you will be refunded however much you have donated. Please spread this project as much as you can as I know that if there is anyone who has put in the time and effort into the community it’s Elysha.

I spent the past couple of days with her and every moment my faith is restored in where the music is going and seeing a loving heart behind the music. There’s so much music out there and seems to lack soul and seeing her preform and being around her you can just feel it. I hope you can give a little to this project and see it manifest itself into reality. Once the song is released all the profits made from commercial sales will be donated to the emergency relief effort in Japan.

For more information: ill-esha // Only Fair Kickstart

Subsynthesis.com and Glitchdrop.com, two of our fave blog friends, released their debut compilation album today, “Bass From Above.” The album features new and unreleased tracks from some of our favorite artists in the glitch/bass scene. In order to make the album as high quality as possible they recruited the professional mastering services of Bil Bless (Bless Records) who did a fantastic job in making the album sound full, vibrant and cohesive. Bass From Above is a must have for your collection. You can stream and download all of the tracks for free from Bass From Above BandCamp. PLEASE consider donating for the download, as all proceeds will be given directly to the Japanese Red Cross to support our disaster relief efforts there and to benefit those affected by the earthquake and tsunami throughout the Pacific. This is an extraordinarily charitable and generous cause and I hope everyone that enjoys the album will consider helping with the dire situation in Japan!

Track Listing

1. Protohype – Tetra Disaster
2. Pairadimez (iONik + r.e.g.) – Chinatown
3. The Candyman – Blue Dream (Feat. Chron Paul)
4. Elfkowitz – Candy Man
5. Wyatt Lamond – While Away
6. Billy Blacklight – Drop Synthesis
7. iONik – Droid
8. Robotic Pirate Monkey– Fritty
9. Richard Sweat – Fut The Wank
10. Omega– Bedtime Stories
11. Frequent C– Give a Little Back (Feat. Matty C.)
12. Sugarpill– Heart of Gold (Voc. Trina Ft. Ludacris)
13. Cloud-D – Paper Bass
14. Slim Thugz(Frequent C + The CandyMan) – Primitive
15. Stephan Jacobs – Look Into My Eyes
16. Freddy Todd– Lazer Tag
17. Unlimited Gravity– 2000ml
18. Project Aspect– Rage Til Ya Face Gone (Feat. Kruza Kid)
19. +Verb – Skyward Flying Beetle
20. GriZ (Formerly GK) – Taz-Bandana
21. Mimi Page – Black Valentine
22. Gladkill– In Two

And here’s a promo mix of tracks from the album mixed by Cory O.  Make sure to pick up his latest release, SpaceWork EP, via addictech.com on March 28th.

Much love and respect!

-EA (EA@afromonk.com)

soundcloud.com/djeamusic

We get a ton of quality submissions to the website and unfortunately we often don’t have time to give them all a proper a write up with our full time day jobs, DJing gigs, and other various projects. I wanted to take the time to share just a few of the tracks that have come through that I’ve been enjoying as of late.  Make sure to check out their other sick tracks on soundcloud.com too!

Sick drumstep track from Hirshee! I haven’t heard a bad song from this producer yet:

New Remix from Eskmo:

New glitch-hop track from Cory O from the upcoming SpaceWork EP:

Every track that “A Girl and a Gun” is featured on is straight up fire!

New track from Profesher (Billy Blacklight):

Massive dubstep remix from Hot Mess:

If you’re into chill electronic music, def grab the new ep from Stumbleine featuring this beautiful track:

This new remix from Quartus Saul is a banger!

NastyNasty just released this face melter for free download:

This track from Shower Beer Graveyard is def a baby making remix, ha!

The Polish Ambassador has been bangin out sick glitch-hop remixes left and right!

Sick new track from Fractal Sky!

New one from Robokop!

The drop on this FEED ME  remix is redonculous!

Funky new track from the one and only Jobot:

Grab this new free track from Goldrush featuring the vocal stylings of Anneka:

Love this downtempo/glitch “Radiohead” remix from The Polish Ambassador:

Some dope futuristic luvstep right here courtesy of Nicoluminous:

Nice melodic dubstep remix from Carly-D:

This track is bonkers! The samples they used are clutch!

Some sexy spanish vocals on this one!

New track from Minnesota!

Another nice melodic dubstep remix from Akira Kiteshi:

Here’s a nice melodic glitchy track from producer, 1990:

Much love and respect!

-EA (EA@afromonk.com)

soundcloud.com/djeamusic

Livid Instruments has to be one of my favorite companies out there and I don’t even own one of their products yet. Livid is known for their controllers and software for DJing and VJing. They are the ones responsible for some of my favorite controllers out there: Ohm series, The Block, and the new Code. Their craft is unmatched in the controller department and create some of the best stuff out there hands down.

I’ve been rocking an APC40 for over a year now and have totally beaten it up. All the knob caps are slowly coming off and overall getting some serious tear with time. I’ve looked around for a better solution and it always seems to come back to Livid. After doing some research it’s obvious that they are who I’m going with next. The software and diversity that their controllers have is unmatched. Also the build quality is probably the best around especially if you are a traveling performer.

Right now I’d say if you’re looking to step your game up and do some serious sequencing or live setups the Livid controllers are probably what you have been looking for. I’m glad I started off with the APC40 and eventually added a launch pad but it’s time to evolve. There are endless amounts of options possible with these controllers.

Overall I’m a huge supporter of Livid and can’t wait to upgrade to their products. I highly recommend looking into the Ohm series if you’re comfortable with the APC40 already. Also if you’re thinking about building a monomer or use a launchpad check out the Block. The Code is also a very versatile product that almost anyone could figure out how to add to their set.

The last thing I’m going to say is that the Livid people understand what it is to be an artist and have a unique style and look so they are totally open to making a custom design for you. You can mix and match all sorts of enclosure options and led colors. Also if you’re the DIY type of person they sell their brain and addons so you can build your own custom controller with their rotaries and buttons. They make it so easy for anybody to get behind them.

Go check out their website!!!
Livid Instruments!

Hey friends! There’s so much good music flying around these days, it’s ridiculous! Here’s a few of my new faves. Make sure to follow these producers on Soundcloud cause they keep pumpin out the sick tracks left and right!

And I am absolutely in love with this one….

Wow! There’s so many more.  It’s been a little while since I’ve posted so check back tomorrow and I’ll post some more

-EA

EA@afromonk.com

soundcloud.com/djeamusic