Track: Devonwho & P.U.D.G.E. – Somethingelseagain

“Spin” the entire track here.

Insect Records put a smile on my face today when I stumbled upon their label page and had a turn at their virtual turntable. They’ve got a good thing going and I’m looking forward to exploring the contents of their site, which is laden with great designs, cool cassette releases and funky merch from people like the Exploded Drawing crew. They’ve also dropped this little digital single which merges dope productions with ill rhymes.

Anything new from Portland beat ambassador Devonwho is going to get props no matter what, but add on some high-end word juggling from the ever-elusive P.U.D.G.E. and you’ve got yourself a banger. Admittedly, this isn’t exactly new material and was featured earlier this year on Insect Records‘ Starship 27 Vol. 2 compilation (courtesy of the late J-1, respect) in it’s original, vocal-free incarnation. Devonwho’s synth tones are, as usual, something to behold and his knack for jerky melodies always amounts to an addictive groove.

Album: FoF’s Pop Massacre

The concept is simple: Friends of Friends’ grabs some hat-ass producers and tells them to mangle any song they want. I loved the first edition in the series, and this one gets even better. It’s hard to go wrong when you can get quality refixes out of the likes of Devonwho, Shlohmo, Dza and Jon Wayne all on one comp. eLan alsoserves up another thumping ode to a turn-of-the-millennium songstress.

Feature: 15 Free Albums You Should Know About

There’s a lot of sharing going on nowadays. Beat tapes and instrumental LPs are becoming exceedingly easy to find and often turn you on to people, labels and other things you never knew existed. These are 15 (16, actually) of my favorite digital releases that are either free or “name your price”. Shout outs to the people who work hard on their art and give it away. Please support them by buying a record, spreading the word or attending their show. Click the album art for download links.