For more visit: myspace.com/rjd2

RJD2 rose steadily in the hip-hop underground thanks to a turntablist sound pointed toward the mantle of DJ Shadow and collaborations with people like Blueprint, Diplo, and Aceyalone, which made his proclamation in 2006 that he was going “rap free” pretty surprising. RJD2’s 2007 album, The Third Hand, marked an abrupt swerve into the realm of organic, instrumental-based prog-pop. The change continued in 2009, as RJD2 started his own label to release his albums, including the new The Colossus. Like most recent RJD2, it takes frequent, frustrating meanders into toothless singer-songwriter territory. But when he lets his samplers shine, RJD2 proves he’s still one of the most adept arrangers in the business.

For more visit: myspace.com/glovespecialsauce

As if more proof was needed that lyrical depth is prized only by music snobs, G. Love And Special Sauce have maintained a solid, arena-sized fan base for nearly 15 years, mostly attributable to frattish dudes looking for laid-back tunes to soundtrack their barbecues. The Philadelphia band has never strayed far from its ramshackle blues/hip-hop formula, although 2006’s Lemonade and 2008’s Superhero Brother (both released on Jack Johnson’s Brushfire label) mix in stuff ranging from psychedelic grooves to New Orleans jazz.

For more visit: http://www.rhymesayers.com/blueprint

Two of Columbus, Ohio’s main underground hip-hop ambassadors, MCs Illogic and Blueprint share a penchant for flurries of imagery and baldly knocking all things wack while maintaining an intellectual sheen. Blueprint’s curiosity extends beyond verse and into production, including some rather beautiful downtempo on the mostly instrumental albumsChamber Music and Sign Language. (He also produced his 2005 solo album 1988.) Blueprint and Illogic recently released the free six-song EP Electric Purgatory—Part One under the name Greenhouse. Both MCs’ raps seem as nimble and complex as ever, and Blueprint’s beats on the EP are a fine example of how to blend the funky and the atmospheric.

For more visit: www.rhymesayers.com/eyedeaandabilities

Eyedea and Ablilties returned with By the Throat, July 21st, 2009 on Rhymesayers. After a five year break exploring new sounds, experiencing life, learning and growing in a separate capacity, Micheal Larsen and Gregory Keltgen (Eyedea and Abilities) are back and better than ever. 

By the Throat advances beyond the duo’s history as battle machines (winners of Scribble Jam, Rocksteady, the Blaze Battle and the D.M.C.s) and cuts right to the vein. Eyedea and Abilities bring biting guitars, fuzzy keyboards, melodic choruses, and their most intricate turntable work to date. It is laced in subject matter ranging from coping with loss and the hardships of addiction, to Micheal’s signature fascination with neuroscience, and quantum mechanics. 

Eyedea and Abilities started making noise in the mid to late nineties as members of an emerging scene in underground music along side fellows and friends Atmosphere, Aesop Rock, El-P, Living Legends, Sage Francis, Blueprint and many others. The duo plays an important role in the development of this scene and have continued to influence artists and enthusiasts alike from their inception to the present.

For more visit: myspace.com/lookbookmusic

Although they may have faced their fair share of tragedy, The Bloodsugars are not in the business of writing sad songs. With the unique brand of exhilarating, polished synth-pop that they’ve become known for, The Bloodsugars’ newest full-length, I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On, is a collection of songs about finding the transformative potential in hardship—about taking frustration and sadness and turning it into something that is both beautiful and exciting.

If it’s a sound even remotely associated with the jam circuit—from easygoing piano-rockers to funky wah-wah scribbles—San Francisco’s Tea Leaf Green can play it with an admirably natural feel. The band, with help from producer David Lowery of Cracker, keeps its loyalties with the Allman Brothers and Grateful Dead side of the kingdom on the 2008 studio album Raise Up The Tent, focusing on earthy guitar sounds and strolling keyboards. Like a lesser version of Widespread Panic, Tea Leaf Green often seems to care as much about writing songs and honoring its influences as it does about jamming—and even though the songs still aren’t distinctive at all, it gives the band a healthy sense of grounding.

STINK TANK was formed in the summer of 2006 by producer Man Mantis and MC Laduma Nguyuza.  Inspired by the creativity and originality of acts like De La Soul, The Roots, Wu Tang Clan, MF DOOM and Madlib, the two sought to create a conceptual statement on the current state of hip hop, using multiple characters (all portrayed by Nguyuza) to create a microcosm of players, haters, gangstas and wankstas.  After two years of dedicated studio work, STINK TANK’s debut LP, Books on Tape, was officially released January 2nd and is now available at http://www.worldaroundrecords.com

Chicago’s Cameron McGill has always had a way of distinguishing himself from the very crowded twangy end of the singer-songwriter spectrum, and that’s become more and more of a plus as his songwriting has matured. He might often look the part of a bajillion other alt-country and indie-folk types, what with his ensemble of button-up shirts and neckerchief-sweatband thingies, but McGill and his band And What Army have a broader ear for pop, pairing rugged instrumentation with silky vocal melodies and some admirably subtle chord progressions. On his 2009 album Warm Songs For Cold Shoulders, he continues to mix influences that people have and will come back to again and again, yet still finds a way to make it all thoughtful and distinctive.

The Barrymore | Thu Dec 31 9pm | 21+ | $20

This New Year’s, all the jam, funk, and reggae worth having seems to be crowded into one joint, and the Barrymore’s celebration boasts some local highlights of those genres. Madison roots-reggae outfit Natty Nation is probably as tight and gnarly as ever after finishing its second tour of U.S. military bases in Asia and the Pacific, but its best asset is still leader Jah Boogie’s forceful, melodic vocals. Madison funk band Steez certainly don’t shy away from the spilling-beer-all-over-yourself goofiness and stretched-out instrumentals you’d expect from a college-town jam-band on 2009’s album Creepfunk Crusade, an album that also deserves credit for working in a variety of sounds—squishy electronic keyboards, playful call-and-response horn sections, old-school soul, and even a bit of flamenco—without turning it all into resin-stew. For a chance to win a pair of tickets to this show, email rsvpmadison@avclub.com with “Natty Nation” in the subject line.