VMP Magazine

La Maison Noir / The Black House, the long awaited new release from world pop craftsman Petite Noir is out today, and you can grab a Vinyl Me, Please exclusive variant of the album in our store right now.

Below, you can read an interview with Petite Noir about representation in pop, working with Danny Brown, and his approach to his genre-bending music.

“You know when you hear M.O.P.’s Ante Up and you wanna punch somebody in the face? Well, this is the song that makes you want to put on your Gucci socks.”

What makes Prince Paul a hip-hop legend cannot be measured purely in terms of commercial success. Obviously, the Long Island native produced the De La Soul classic 3 Feet High and Rising and its follow-up De La Soul Is Dead. Each album earned RIAA sales certifications of Platinum and Gold, respectively, as well as hits and album cuts for the likes of 3rd Bass, Big Daddy Kane and Queen Latifah. But to reduce his contributions to what sold well or got radio airplay ahistorically reduces his rich and often tumultuous story to a mere highlight reel.

The way people sometimes talk about Gravediggaz — that misfit cabal of fellow Tommy Boy Records rejects that Paul assembled — it’s clear that his legacy has gotten no small amount of retrospective polish. The group’s first and most saleable album, 6 Feet Deep, debuted on the Billboard 200 at No. 36, lasting a total of 11 weeks on the chart. It also reached No. 6 on what’s now known as the R&B/Hip-Hop chart, while its single “Diary Of A Madman” peaked at No. 82 on the all-genre Hot 100.

Digital/Divide is a monthly column devoted to any and all genres and subgenres in the great big beautiful world of electronic and dance music.

Digital/Divide is a monthly column devoted to any and all genres and subgenres in the great big beautiful world of electronic and dance music.

Digital/Divide is a monthly column devoted to any and all genres and subgenres in the great big beautiful world of electronic and dance music.

Digital/Divide is a monthly column devoted to any and all genres and subgenres in the great big beautiful world of electronic and dance music.

In July, Vinyl Me, Please Classics members will receive a high-quality reissue of Willie Bobo’s boogaloo classic, Uno Dos Tres 1•2•3, remastered from the original tapes and pressed at QRP. You can learn more about our reissue over here, and can read an excerpt from the Listening Notes booklet included with our reissue below.

Digital/Divide is a monthly column devoted to any and all genres and subgenres in the great big beautiful world of electronic and dance music.

Digital/Divide is a monthly column devoted to any and all genres and subgenres in the great big beautiful world of electronic and dance music.

Digital/Divide is a monthly column devoted to any and all genres and subgenres in the great big beautiful world of electronic and dance music.

Digital/Divide is a monthly column devoted to any and all genres and subgenres in the great big beautiful world of electronic and dance music.

Digital/Divide is a monthly column devoted to any and all genres and subgenres in the great big beautiful world of electronic and dance music.

Everybody loves Astral Weeks. Note the present-tense there, if you please, because, as has periodically been the case with Van Morrison’s discography, the now-quinquagenarian classic didn’t start out as his universally acclaimed masterpiece. In 1968 terms, many listeners weren’t ready for his contemplative folk-jazz fusion after the rollicking rock of Them’s “Gloria” and his solo top 10 pop hit “Brown Eyed Girl.”

These are the 10 best jazz albums from 2018, from young upstarts to rappers (yes, rappers).

Digital/Divide is our monthly electronic column. These are the 10 best electronic records from 2018.

Digital/Divide is a monthly column devoted to any and all genres and subgenres in the great big beautiful world of electronic and dance music.

Digital/Divide is a monthly column devoted to any and all genres and subgenres in the great big beautiful world of electronic and dance music.

Every week, we tell you about an album we think you need to spend time with. This week’s album is Brandon Coleman’s Resistance.

Digital/Divide is a monthly column devoted to any and all genres and subgenres in the great big beautiful world of electronic and dance music.

Any genre that benefits from the luxury of longevity inevitably experiences a generational shift. Whether we’re talking about jazz or classical or rock ’n’ roll or hip-hop, these significant and sometimes revolutionary adjustments to established paradigms upset or upend the musical norms while inaugurating fresher talents. Some of these moments have retrospectively limited shelf lives while others fortify these sounds for the future.

Digital/Divide is a monthly column devoted to any and all genres and subgenres in the great big beautiful world of electronic and dance music.

Every week, we tell you about an album we think you need to spend time with. This week's album is the self-titled debut of Latin Jazz group, Orquesta Akokán.

Digital/Divide is a monthly column devoted to any and all genres and subgenres in the great big beautiful world of electronic and dance music.

Digital/Divide is a monthly column devoted to any and all genres and subgenres in the great big beautiful world of electronic and dance music.

Digital/Divide is a monthly column devoted to any and all genres and subgenres in the great big beautiful world of electronic and dance music.

Digital/Divide is a monthly column devoted to any and all genres and subgenres in the great big beautiful world of electronic and dance music.

A deliberate alternate music history, Rock 'N' Roll 5-0 looks back five decades at some of the most notable, and notably overlooked, albums of the time. A break from the Beatles-Stones-Dylan feedback loop, this monthly series explores the less heralded, the disregarded, the ignored and the just-plain-great records deserving of reappraisal, exploration and celebration. From groundbreaking releases that stumped the normies to genuine gems rarely discussed in contemporary criticism, Rock N Roll 5-0 goes deep in the service of inclusivity, diversity and eclecticism. Pay attention; this is 1968.

The 50th anniversary series’ second installment takes the subway uptown to explore one of Latin music’s most compelling records. Breaking with the boogaloo trend, a Puerto Rican teenager from the South Bronx kicks off salsa’s enthralling first wave.

A deliberate alternate music history, Rock 'N' Roll 5-0 looks back five decades at some of the most notable, and notably overlooked, albums of the time. A break from the Beatles-Stones-Dylan feedback loop, this monthly series explores the less heralded, the disregarded, the ignored and the just-plain-great records deserving of reappraisal, exploration and celebration. From groundbreaking releases that stumped the normies to genuine gems rarely discussed in contemporary criticism, Rock N Roll 5-0 goes deep in the service of inclusivity, diversity and eclecticism. Pay attention; this is 1968.

The 50th anniversary series’ third installment dives into one of the strangest pop records of 1968. Baroque and bizarre, the sophomore solo record from this unlikely singing sensation offers a case study of the compound effect of artistic influence and the utter madness of pop.

A deliberate alternate music history, Rock 'N' Roll 5-0 looks back five decades at some of the most notable, and notably overlooked, albums of the time. A break from the Beatles-Stones-Dylan feedback loop, this monthly series explores the less heralded, the disregarded, the ignored and the just-plain-great records deserving of reappraisal, exploration and celebration. From groundbreaking releases that stumped the normies to genuine gems rarely discussed in contemporary criticism, Rock N Roll 5-0 goes deep in the service of inclusivity, diversity and eclecticism. Pay attention; this is 1968.

The 50th anniversary series’ fourth installment addresses a noteworthy yet problematic attempt to bridge the sound of 1968’s rock revolution with one of its biggest forefathers. Maligned quite publicly by the legendary bluesman allegedly at its helm, this crossover record offers an unusual case study in the unwieldy power of artistic influence.

The 50 Best Record Stores In America is an essay series where we attempt to find the best record store in every state. These aren’t necessarily the record stores with the best prices or the deepest selection; you can use Yelp for that. Each record store featured has a story that goes beyond what’s on its shelves; these stores have history, foster a sense of community and mean something to the people who frequent them.

Digital/Divide is a monthly column devoted to any and all genres and subgenres in the great big beautiful world of electronic and dance music.

Those unfamiliar with outsider music would likely know it if they heard some. Coined out of sheer necessity by disc jockey and writer Irwin Chusid — effectively a modern day Alan Lomax for this sort of thing — what makes an album or song fit this somewhat amorphous category comes from the unconventionality of both the sounds and the person or persons making them. The term’s broad remit encompasses a deliberately vast and disparate range of artists, including American Idol hopeful William Hung, lo-fi royalty Half Japanese, synthesizer-fixated street musician the Space Lady and plain ol’ weirdos the Godz.

Digital/Divide is a monthly column devoted to any and all genres and subgenres in the great big beautiful world of electronic and dance music.

Digital/Divide is a monthly column devoted to any and all genres and subgenres in the great big beautiful world of electronic and dance music.

More so than Canada or California, Reprise Records is Neil Young’s home. For much of the last 50 years, the Frank Sinatra-founded imprint has been the generous fount from which the renowned rock ’n’ roll singer-songwriter’s music springs forth. Following his tenure in Buffalo Springfield, Young signed there in 1968 and released his eponymous solo debut in January of the following year. That fruitful working relationship subsequently yielded dozens of full-length recordings, including established classics like Harvest and Tonight’s The Night along with less-heralded fan favorites such as Freedom and Le Noise. Young continues to produce there on a yearly basis, most recently with the December 2017 offering The Visitor.

I know what you’re thinking, so let me stop you right there.

First, let’s acknowledge your bravery in even attempting to read about one of the most maligned and ridiculed subgenres of music north of juggalo-core. You’re exceptionally brave for heading down this seemingly forbidding road paved with the fetid sputum of Dave Koz’s spit valves. Brave… and handsome. My, you’re looking handsome—or beautiful, if that’s what you prefer. How about toothsome? Do people still say that? Did they ever?

Anyway, now that I’ve sufficiently buttered you up, it’s time to blow your mind. Because like so many pervasive musical myths, including the one about Yoko Ono malevolently breaking up the Beatles or the drowning victim behind Phil Collins’ angsty hit “In The Air Tonight,” the inherent awfulness ascribed to smooth jazz is too a lie, another urban legend told too many times through misguided lips.

A deliberate alternate music history, Rock 'N' Roll 5-0 looks back five decades at some of the most notable, and notably overlooked, albums of the time. A break from the Beatles-Stones-Dylan feedback loop, this monthly series explores the less heralded, the disregarded, the ignored and the just-plain-great records deserving of reappraisal, exploration and celebration. From groundbreaking releases that stumped the normies to genuine gems rarely discussed in contemporary criticism, Rock N Roll 5-0 goes deep in the service of inclusivity, diversity and eclecticism. Pay attention; this is 1968. The series’ inaugural installment looks into the legendary counterculture quartet Velvet Underground's noisy sophomore album. Free from Nico and Andy Warhol, the band forged ahead with one of the darkest rock records of all time—and then ran far away.

If you took an unscientific poll of all rock n’ roll listeners-- from retiring boomers all the way to informed millennials-- and asked for their personal ranking of the Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young membership, Stephen Stills would likely end up at the bottom of many, if not most, lists. His conventional, blues-informed voice seems slight compared to the more distinct, upper register harmonies demonstrated by the rest of the vocal powerhouse. Despite demonstrating his immense songwriting talents both with that group and its predecessor Buffalo Springfield, the industrious Stills struggled to shake the inferiority complex saddled on him by others in the ‘70s.

Digital/Divide is our monthly electronic column. These are the 10 best electronic albums of 2017.

We introduce The Reluctant Jazzbo, our new quarterly jazz column--which will round-up new release jazz--via this, the 10 best jazz albums of 2017.

Bob Dylan sings Christmas carols. It’s the sort of self-explanatory, one-note premise one might expect from the Saturday Night Live writers room in the 1970s, then again in the 1980s, and once more in resigned desperation in the 1990s. The very idea of the iconic singer-songwriter’s distinct voice belting out such jolly jams as “Jingle Bells” and “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer” really does seem the stuff of cheap sketch comedy.

Digital/Divide is a monthly column devoted to any and all genres and subgenres in the great big beautiful world of electronic and dance music.

Digital/Divide is a monthly column devoted to any and all genres and subgenres in the great big beautiful world of electronic and dance music.

Digital/Divide is a monthly column devoted to any and all genres and subgenres in the great big beautiful world of electronic and dance music.

Digital/Divide is a monthly column devoted to any and all genres and subgenres in the great big beautiful world of electronic and dance music.

Digital/Divide is a monthly column devoted to any and all genres and subgenres in the great big beautiful world of electronic and dance music.

Digital/Divide is a monthly column devoted to any and all genres and subgenres in the great big beautiful world of electronic and dance music.