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[Night Out] Son Little @ Baby's All Right (11/09/2015)

Sprout and I had been waiting for this show for quite awhile. Every time the homey Aaron Livingston aka Son Little had come to town the last few times something always came up and we couldn't make it out. That night we were pumped because it had been close to 2 years since last Aaron had made us weak in the knees. Anyone with a brain who has been following him for awhile knows what I'm talking about. From his Icebird project with RJD2 to his recent self-titled full-length that dropped last month, he's just got this voice that can either break your heart or glue it back together within a matter of minutes.

I'm still trying to figure out where the majority of the audience thought they were during his set. Did they think they were they at a networking event? Their favorite brunch spot? The weirdest looking coffee shop on the planet? Either way, they talked.....and talked....and talked....AND TALKED basically throughout the entire set. About what? I have no idea because I was too busy doing my best to focus on experiencing songs from the new album that I hadn't heard live yet but kept getting distracted.

At one point I'll admit I lost my cool and in between songs and sort of yelled to myself hoping people around me would hear, "WOULD YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP PLEASE?" which garnered some shade thrown my way, Apparently the people up in the front were insanely rude as well by Sprout's account of the night, too. In addition to the incessant chattering they made it a point to block her from getting any shots where they were standing directly in front of Aaron taking selfies and the like.

To make matters worse, I found out a few days later that Sprout and I weren't the only ones who felt this way about the show, which makes me all the more frustrated:

Folks, just because bands are on a stage 2 feet higher than you doesn't mean that they can't see and hear every single thing that you're doing. Please be respectful of the time, energy, effort, blood, sweat, tears, and sacrifices that talented individuals have made to try to earn a living off of their craft. I want to believe your parents raised you better than that, but if not, this is your final warning from this Rock Mom.

if you haven't heard Son Little's debut full-length, please spend the next 52 minutes of your life to solve that problem.


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#skoaradio 10/03/2015 liner notes

If you don't like music you can't sit with us.

It's chill af in NYC today. Literally. Like I'm having a hard time getting out of bed because I like my feet not being popsicles. I am writing this whilst I am still in bed. That said, the chill means that all the glorious fall albums are under way and CMJ is quickly approaching. I've also been on a steady streak of shows lately, which I will get up ASAP for you to see and be jealous of me. I'm also working to backdate all the show notes I kept saying I was upping and then rage quit because as you can see below these posts are intense as hell, you guys. OH WELL IT'S WORTH IT BECAUSE I LOVE DOING THIS!

Enjoy this weeks jams and be sure to grab the Spotify playlist below if you want to keep this mix around. As always, I'd love to hear from you so feel free to drop me a tweet and let me know what you thought of this week's show.

<3

kibbe!

Topics discussed!

Vinyl Is Making More Money Than Ad-Supported Streaming

While US Apple Music Trials Are Ending, China Is Ushering In New Users

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[Night Out] OMG CMJ 2014 Day One: Son Little

Day one CMJ is always a slow start for me and this year was so exception to that rule. I had to endure the day job before my 3 day vacation of bands, booze, and badge friends forever officially kicked off. All that said, you bet your sweet ass the second that 5:30pm rolled around that I was out the door running as fast I could to meet up with Sprout who was patiently waiting for me at our safe harbor that folks like to call No Fun. When the time came for us to treat our earholes we sauntered our way down to Rockwood Music Hall stage 2. The room was reasonably full, enough for Sprout to dart around fairly easily to take some snaps.

The last time I saw Aaron Livingston sing in person it was with RJD2 for their project Icebird. As much as I enjoyed The Abandoned Lullaby, there were some moments where it felt like Livingston's vocals were an afterthought to what was going on in the production. That was fortunately not the case for his new solo project, Son Little. His voice rang out loud and strong to the red velvety backdrop that are the walls of Rockwood Stage 2. His accompanyment were a keyboardist/bassist and drummer, who elevated the emotional twangs in Livingston's voice. In addition to playing cuts I had heard before like, "The River", "Cross My Heart", and the heartwrenching "Your Love Will Blow Me Away When My Heart Aches", he played some new tracks that will appear on his upcoming debut album that is coming "soon" (his words).

We should have stayed around after the show to try and pry more info from him, but between us being starving and me thinking that I was going to a French nightclub for a showcase that I ended up being a day early for, that didn't happen. Needless to say, it was the best way to start OMG CMJ 2014.

Have a listen to "Your Love Will Blow Me Away When My Heart Aches" below.

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[Listen] Hot Sugar - "Honeycomb Hideout" Feat. Izza Kizza & Aaron Livingston

Those that know me, know that I love beats as well as awesome producers. Nick Koenig aka Hot Sugar is one of those people that i love hearing new shit from. Hot Sugar is set to release a new EP titled Midi Murder which continues the MM album theme and features 7 new tracks from his upcoming LP of the same name set to release next year and will be his first album that features full on collaborations with vocalists such as Heems and KOOL AD of Das Racist, Antwon, Chippy Nonstop, Haleek Maul, Big Baby Gandhi, Nasty Nigel, Fat Tony, Izza Kizza, Aaron Livingston and more. The teaser EP is set to be released sometime this year within the coming months for free in collaboration with Scion A/V.

You can check out the trailer to the upcoming EP above as well as peep a new a track from the EP in the player below titled "Honeycomb Hideout" which features previous HS collaborators, Timbaland protége Izza Kizza and the Hunter S. Thompson of R&B, The Roots collaborator and Icebird/The Mean/Young Viperz vocalist Aaron Livingston. And you can read more about the upcoming EP and LP over at The Creator's Project blog.

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[SKOA Premiere] Icebird - "Charmed Life" Remix Contest Brought To You By Native Instruments & SoundCloud

Icebird (rjd2 & Aaron Livingston) "Charmed Life" Remix Contest by i am rjd2

Native Instruments and Soundcloud have teamed up with the Icebird guys to bring you one sexy remix contest in celebration of their debut release The Abandoned Lullaby, which dropped this week.

Want to enter? Download the stems in the player above and get to work on a remix! You have until end of day on October 31, 2011 to submit your remix to the Icebird Remix Contest Dropbox. From there, Aaron Livingston and rjd2 will hand pick a grand prize winner who will receive a Pro Account with Soundcloud for a year and a MASCHINE MIKRO + KOMPLETE 8 from Native Instruments. Not bad!

Make sure you pick up The Abandoned Lullaby if you haven't already. If you need help convincing, have a look at Rocko's verdict on the album.

Good luck everyone!

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[Listen] Icebird (rjd2 & Aaron Livingston) - 'The Abandoned Lullaby' (Full Album Stream)

The amazing debut from rjd2 and Aaron Livingston bka Icebird, The Abandoned Lullaby has hit digital and physical shelves today. Check out the full album stream at AOL Music and check out our verdict on the duo's album here. *SPOILER ALERT* It's awesome. Pick it up.

The amazing debut from rjd2 and Aaron Livingston bka Icebird, The Abandoned Lullaby has hit digital and physical shelves today. Check out the full album stream at AOL Music and check out our verdict on the duo's album here. *SPOILER ALERT* It's awesome. Pick it up.

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[Album Review] Icebird (rjd2 & Aaron Livingston) - 'The Abandoned Lullaby'

About a year ago, Electronic/Hip Hop mastermind RJD2 (or rjd2) released his last solo effort The Colossus. While doing promo for the album, he revealed in an interview that he was working on a new project with vocalist Aaron Earl Livingston, that was along the format of producer/singer groups like Broken Bells, Gnarls Barkley, etc. The album that came from the pairing, The Abandoned Lullaby would be a return to form for RJ, giving him the ability to focus solely on production while Livingston provided his captivating vocals to RJ's musical landscape.

About a year ago, Electronic/Hip Hop mastermind RJD2 (or rjd2) released his last solo effort The Colossus. While doing promo for the album, he revealed in an interview that he was working on a new project with vocalist Aaron Earl Livingston, that was along the format of producer/singer groups like Broken Bells, Gnarls Barkley, etc. The album that came from the pairing, The Abandoned Lullaby would be a return to form for RJ, giving him the ability to focus solely on production while Livingston provided his captivating vocals to RJ's musical landscape.

For those that haven't heard of Aaron prior to Icebird, he is the vocalist of east coast (Philly, NY, Jersey) band The Mean and is better known for his guest vocals on The Roots "Guns Are Drawn" off their album The Tipping Point or even his recent guest feature on Icebird partner RJD2's "Crumbs Off The Table" from The Colossus, which we consider to be the groups first official track. I'm pretty sure most of you know RJD2, but for those that don't, RJ was considered to be the next DJ Shadow after dropping the sample layering, experimental, instrumental debut Deadringer, but broke away from the typecast after dropping albums like the critically acclaimed (and my favorite record) Since We Last Spoke, RJ's first full vocal record The Third Hand, The Colossus and We Are The Doorways which he released earlier this year under the moniker The Insane Warrior. RJ has also had his share of collaborative projects aside from Icebird, which include the collaborative hip hop group Mhz, Soul Position w/Blueprint, Aceyalone and an upcoming collaboration with SKoA favorite Kenna, as well as production and remix credits for a lot of big name artists (google it).

Speaking of production, fans of RJD2 beats will definitely enjoy The Abandoned Lullaby and cuts like the recently released single "Charmed Life" and other big beat tracks like "I'm Green" (which sounds like the lovechild of an RJD2 x N*E*R*D and The Black Keys collaboration), "Wander" and "Gun For Hire" which production relates to RJ's Since We Last Spoke up to his most recent effort The Colossus. However, the overall feel of the record is a wonderful hybrid of Rock, Soul and Hip Hop in which Aaron Livingston's soulful vocals mix perfectly with RJ style of music direction. Aside, from the tracks previously listed for fans of RJ beats, the album also featured many stand out efforts that fans of all genres would love like my personal favorite, the soulful "Just Love Me", as well as tunes like the rock heavy debut Icebird track "Going and Going. And Going.", "King Tut", "Please, Don't" and the album's closer "Find Yourself."

In an ever growing genre of Soul/Hip-Hop artist (i.e. Cee-Lo, John Legend, Mayer Hawthorne, Aloe Blacc, Janelle Monae, etc.) Icebird make their mark with their stand out debut record The Abandoned Lullaby. For fans of RJ, it is another excellent addition to his already impressive discography and for fans of good music, make sure you check out the this wonderful soulful record which is one of our favorite records of the year thus far. Therefore, were giving this record a 4.5 out of 5 Awesome Sauces, for its excellent display of audio pleasure. You can hear the album in full over at AOL for a limited time and if you dig it make sure you "Find Yourself" a copy when the album drops tomorrow, October 11th.

01 Charmed Life
02 Just Love Me
03 Going and Going. And Going.
04 King Tut
05 Wander
06 The Return of Tronson
07 Spirit Ache
08 I'm Green
09 Gun for Hire
10 In Exile
11 Please, Don't
12 Find Yourself

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[Listen] Icebird (RJD2 & Aaron Livingston) - "Charmed Life"

Check out another new track from the homies RJD2 and Aaron Earl Livingston better known as Icebird titled "Charmed Life" from their debut album The Abandoned Lullyaby. I've had the wonderful pleasure to preview the whole album from the duo (review will be up later this week) and this track is one of my favorite tracks off the album.

For cats like me, who follow RJ's production history, you may remember this beat from the digital re-release of RJ's mixtape Your Face or Your Kneecaps titled "Oh, Tragedy". Aaron Earl put his wonderful, soulful touch to the instrumental taking the track to a whole other place. Peep the new cut below and check out another track from the album, the rock heavy cut, "Going and Going. And Going." here.

The Abandoned Lullaby drops next week on October 11th and is available now for pre-order at iTunes. Add it to your must have list for the year.

Icebird (rjd2 & Aaron Livingston) - "Charmed Life" by Some Kind of Awesome

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