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Ryan Scott - Smoke & Licorice (2007)
Smoke and Licorice is the sophomore effort from Ryan Scott, an avant guitarist
turned singer-songwriter who has carefully melded his musical interests across rock, jazz and beyond. Ryan sings us both meditative lullabies and
aggressive laments. Gentle, airy, acoustic-driven songs dip into bouncy jazz-inflected changes, and sometimes continue floating into another mood
entirely.
Ryan says, "This album...is all about documenting a point in my life...Smoke and Licorice -- it calls to mind something sweet, kind of salty, blended
with some rich flavor." Yahoo says, "Ben Harper wishes he could write something this dark and mysterious, yet oddly uplifting. Like the rainbow relief
after the perfect storm" -- and that sounds like high praise.
Download Ryan Scott - Smoke & Licorice:
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Listen to Smoke & Licorice:
Harmony
Riding A Cloud
Sounds
Kill Another Day
I Think I Love You
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CrystalTop Music Presents (2007)
CrystalTop reached out to its extended network and brought together eleven beautiful gems from eleven different artists for CrystalTop Music Presents. But drawing a line through the sounds collected under this
banner is an exercise that's more likely to result in beautiful scribbles and loops than in a legible graph. "Diverse" barely begins to sketch the
range. In fact, the common element shared by these artists may be the absence of a stylistic bag that can comfortably hold them; all the songs seem to
reach for some sound that doesn't fit into easy black and white categories.
Includes an incredible array of songwriters and players from throughout the CrystalTop Fam and beyond, including Aidan Hawken, Ryan
Scott, Ocote Soul Sounds, Christina Courtin, Pyeng Threadgill, and Luz Mob.
Mastered by industry heavyweight Herb Powers (Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys, D'Angelo), whose
discography reads like a who's who of blockbusters.
Download CrystalTop Music Presents:
Amazon 
eMusic
Rhapsody
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Listen to CrystalTop Music Presents:
Elizabeth & The Catapult
Mega Bass
Ryan Scott
Christina Courtin
Oddlogik
Ocote Soul Sounds
The Dang-It Bobbys
Aidan Hawken
Pyeng Threadgill
Los Electrics
Luz Mob
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Luz Mob - Luz Interpretations (2007)
With Luz Interpretations, Luz Mob has selected nine compositions from across different musical spectrums and reimagined them infused with a
healthy smattering of bumping beats. Crossing genres from cumbia and bachata to dub and reggae to jazz and hip-hop, Interpretations is a tasty
stew, flavored correctly with Luz's thick horn arrangements and varied spices from across the CrystalTop fam on every instrument in the symphony. It
was created over a period of more than three years, as Luz sought out players across the country, from deepest Brooklyn to the mountains of Colorado,
to the S.F.City by The Bay.
Mixed by luminary New York engineer and producer Scotty Hard (Wu-Tang Clan, Medeski,
Martin & Wood, Prince Paul), Luz Interpretations takes you from J.T. The Bigga Figga to Disney's Jungle Book in less than an hour.
Download Luz Mob - Luz Interpretations:
Amazon 
eMusic
Rhapsody
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Download two free MP3s:
The Selecter MP3
(right click orange link + save)
Ella Se Fue MP3
(right click orange link + save)
Listen to Luz Interpretations:
Run
Babylon
Trust In Me
The
S.F.C.
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Ryan Scott - Five O'Clock News (2006)
David Ritz, Grammy Award-winning author and co-writer of Marvin Gaye's Sexual
Healing, hears in Ryan "a haunting voice, a heightened literary sensibility, and a passion for exploring the mysteries of his deep musical
soul..."
From the melancholy jazz lullaby of the title track, to the head-nodding-fonk-meets-shimmering-lyricism of the lead single, You, Girl  , to the easy-rollin uptempo guitar jam, You Might Change Your Mind, Ryan creates music that is warm,
funky, and lyrical.
Legendary producer and engineer Rob Fraboni (Rolling
Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton) joined the project to create a disc with a singular character all classic albums inevitably possess.
• OUT OF PRINT
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Listen to Five O'Clock News:
Five O'Clock News
You Might Change...
Later
Love Thy Neighbor
You, Girl
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Aidan Hawken - Pillows & Records (2005)
"Everything will work itself out…" Or so Aidan Hawken tells us. After
listening to the 12 beautiful songs that make up Pillows & Records, you will want to believe him. It's Aidan's disarming ability to write and sing
with an honesty and passion rarely heard in modern popular music that has drawn scores of fans to his San Francisco-based band Highwater Rising for close to 10 years and makes Pillows & Records the kind of album
you'll want to spend time with. Warm and personal, Aidan's songs move from the gentle Americana-tinged shuffle of Take In through the moody
spaciness of Neighborhood to the heart-string-ripper of a love song,
Pillows and Records.
Aidan's solo debut features playing by Jim Bogios (Counting Crows), Brett Simons (Liz Phair), Tom Ayres (Persephone's Bees), longtime San Fran
luminary Chuck Prophet, and Highwater Rising's Jason Borger and JJ Wiesler.
Download Aidan Hawken - Pillows & Records:
CDBaby
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Listen to Pillows & Records:
Take In
Neighborhood
Crush
Pillows & Records
Get Over Yourself
Understanding
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Modern Sleeping -
Positions & Practices for Better Living (2003)
Beats and pieces. Moody, but don't call it "downtempo." As Baudelaire wrote of Modern Sleeping, "...it is a modern attitude, one that has been much sought after in the modern world; a love of the
intangible, a feeling for violent contrasts and the terrifying phenomena of nature and strange human physiognomies..." Pretentious enough for you?
Modern Sleeping
features contributions from all ends of the CrystalTop collective, including vocals from L.E.S. native jazz star Pyeng Threadgill, some dirty gut guitar from Ryan Scott, and
bari and alto work from Luz Mob. Cuts range from the tropicalia-influenced Modern Sleeping IV to the new blues-with-beats, Half Asleep.
The stand-out is the melancholy smooth cut-and-paste jazz of Tax Cut. It's the kind of album your homie says, "You gotta listen all the way through."
Download Modern Sleeping:
Bandcamp
Rhapsody
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Listen to Modern Sleeping:
Modern Sleeping I
Much Progress
Losing Sleep
(f. Pyeng Threadgill)
Modern Sleeping II
Local Radio
Modern Sleeping III
Modern Sleeping IV
The Poor Man's You
(f. Pyeng Threadgill)
Half Asleep
(f. Pyeng Threadgill)
Modern Sleeping V
Tax Cut
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Luz Fleming - Luz Mob Instrumentals (2002)
Luz Fleming's ill flag in the ground. Instrumentals declares allegiance to dub-influenced uprockings, hip-hop bangers, and the sorts of beats
and bumps that fall in between. Recorded throughout 2000 in SpaceTime studios in Queens, Instrumentals is a musical diary, cataloguing the best
of LuzMob's beats from '93 to 2G from San Francisco and Oakland to Queens and Brooklyn. Also includes the last known recorded rhymes from the great
East Bay record archivist (BayTown Records), Jesse Edmund, who has since moved on to the Far East. Cuts include the Black Ark-influenced 9 kHz,
the hip-hop-meets-juju slam, Aggravated and the rhymers' choice, Sleep. The Spittas say, "LuzMob Instrumentals is dope. Cop it."
Download Luz Mob Instrumentals:
CDBaby
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Listen to Luz Mob Instrumentals:
New York to Sucka Free
9 kHz
Grand Piano
Aggravated
Sleep
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Drama (2002)
Dope instrumentals that'll make your wife want to leave. Includes sick turntablism from DJ Signify and more fonk for the tronk than King Tee
actin a fool. This is how hip-hop always should sound: thick, bumping, diverse and layered. Ayo Seligman says, "Drama was my favorite album of
2001, no doubt. And not just because everything else sucked." Features the slump-bumping banger, Dramatics.
• SOLD OUT
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Listen to Drama:
Dramatics
Explosion
Arnold Rothstein
Sixo's Tale
Be With Us
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Sam Champ - Brownie-Wise (2002)
The mega-def debut solo from the Pittsburgh Kid, Brownie-Wise rocked every DJ�s turntable in Western Pennsylvanie throughout 2002. Filled with prescient flavor that, beat-wise, pre-dates some of Dilla and Madlib�s later stylings, drum-wise, Sam houses sh*t. He chose to forego the heavy use of tubular bells so prevalent in his earlier work and, after a brush, fatal-wise, with "the big unknown" that caused some reevaluation, music-wise, of his ideals, Sam busted out. Brownie-Wise is, wax-wise, a man�s heart and soul.
• OUT OF PRINT
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Listen to Brownie-Wise:
Tea Leaf Dancers (Remix)
Spring Synth
Pike
Siel
Linus
Doc
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Ivan Joseph - The Good Get Nathan (2002)
Named by The Portland Messenger as their #2 Record of the Year, The Good Get Nathan was Joseph's first solo record after the break-up of
Mango Season and his "bossa nova masterpiece" according to Rio's Jorge Matchuen. Languid and sweet, The Good was performed and recorded
entirely by Joseph in his San Francisco apartment and prominently features the breezy vocals of Sandre Daosin. Tracks include KSFM chart-staple,
The Panhandle and the San Francisco classic, No Parking. This record is now out of print, but Joseph has been known to sell copies at
gigs.
• OUT OF PRINT
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Listen to The Good Get Nathan:
• The One Guy Who Knew
• Roots Guest
• The Panhandle
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Fleming & Rodriguez - Platform (2001)
Straight-ahead and hard bop from 2 of Kings County's best reed players, Luz Fleming and Pato Rodriguez.
Nothing to mess with, nothing to burn, HardJazz.com gave Platform a 4-starred review and called the recording, "The kind of record that stays
on your turntable for weeks at a time and you pass on to both your kids and your grandparents." Recorded, mixed, and mastered without a computer in
Long Island City, Platform continues to turn heads and capture ears.
• OUT OF PRINT
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Listen to Platform:
• Gluttony
• Di Suvero
• Swang Tok!
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Frisko Rollers - Live in Frisko (1997-2000) (2001)
Originally released on their own 415 Records, Live in Frisko is an 80-minute collection of recordings from the more than 300 gigs the Rollers
racked up in the Bay Area from 1997 - 2000. Recording quality is gorgeous and warm and showcases the hard blues of crowd faves like Fast Pass
and Super Bean and Cheese as nicely as the quiet acoustic numbers like Scott Perry and Ft. Miley. Includes 6 tracks with guest
drummer/percussionist, Mort Schwabb.
• OUT OF PRINT
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Listen to Live In Frisko:
• Super Bean and Cheese
• Ft. Miley
• Fast Pass
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The Russell Wang Project (2000)
Serious and thick work in the cut-and paste mode from producer Cousin Jacob. Russell Wang takes its name
from a literary character of Bronstein's late friend and functions as a nostalgic and melancholy meditation on friends, death, relationships and all
that crap. Features the long slow drug document, Sal Si Puede and the rhythmically dense, wurlitzer-laced afrobeat track, Humble in the
Garden.
• OUT OF PRINT
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Listen to The Russell Wang Project:
Cockpit Blues
For The Champ
Humble In The Garden...
Sal Si Puede
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The San Andreas Fault (1999)
The San Andreas Fault's gorgeous self-titled debut album, which has until now been out of print since 2000. Composed largely in Mountain Lake Studios
from three days of exuberant jams, The San Andreas Fault owes much of its fluid, seamless sound to engineer Sidney Mensh (Tito Guajirondo
y Un Poco De Pan). This is The Fault barely four months after their formation, cooking as though they'd been playing together their whole lives.
Emilio Salvador's guitar soars like a goddamned bird, especially on the classic, No Mames. Guests include multi-mallet man Jack Pao Doce and
Emilio Salvador's Tia Meme on spoons.
• OUT OF PRINT
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Listen to The San Andreas Fault:
• No Mames
• Antes De Ser Libres
• Metal Up Your Ass
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