Ski Beatz has released the sequel to their major-label album as a mixtape: 24 Hour Karate School Part II.  It includes material by Freddie Gibbs, Nicole Wray, Cassidy, GLC, Stat Quo, and one of my favorite current new jacks, STS.

I can’t say I loved the mixtape.  The STS cut is pretty commercial, but everything he does is solid, but overall, the beats far outclass the rhymes.  And although this is a producer’s record, you can’t do that.  It diminishes the project overall.  Still, it’s worth a download for the cuts by Locksmith (who I’d never heard of before, but he kills on “Metabolic”); the STS cut; “Larry Bird” featuring Stalley; and “Frontin’” with Tabi Bonney.

Get it here or here.

Here’s some more mixtapes and free stuff, and generally stuff worth leaving here for…

Adult Swim’s latest free singles collection: 11 songs, by the likes of El-P (a fantastic cut “Drones Over Brooklyn); Tallest Man on Earth; The Rapture covering the Bee Gees…It’s free, man, so what do you care.  Just go get it!

Go here for the best songs of July 2011.

My buddy CD turned me on to a tribute to De La Soul’s Three Feet High and Rising record.  It’s a free download from Find Magazine.

Here’s yet another Wale mixtape, if that’s your thing.

Italian website Ondarock has a free 2CD collection of indie artists covering “outlaw” country–Merle, Hank, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Willie, and of course Waylon.  Artists include Great Lake Swimmers, Wooden Wand, and a bunch of others you’ve never heard of.  Go here.  For a taste, here’s Turner Cody covering Townes.  It’s pretty cool….

And for the price of a “like” on facebook, Spin offers a free tribute album: All of Nevermind, covered by bands like The Meatpuppets, Jeff the Brotherhood, Amanda Palmer, more.  Here.

This here’s an awesome tune: Sol, Grieves and Budo rapping about how technology has changed the music scene.  Download here (direct link) or stream it, if my streamer player loads right. About half the time it fails.

Sol The Times ft. Grieves & Budo

Phil Ade’s new mixtape features Oddisee and Black Cobain.  Get it here.

NYC Taper has a Bill Callahan show!

I was thinking about covering a bunch of MIA covers, but I really only like her “Paper Planes” song.  And Galang.  Both are covered on Cover Me’s cover post of MIA covers.  Go here.

And this is supercool: “Craft Singles” by Aleon Craft is the indiehiphopper’s latest FREEep, which costs just your e-mail address here, and includes Matt & Kim, Deerhunter, Tame Impala, and more!

The Postelles have a free album on their website.  You have to scroll down a bit to get to it, but it’s got Smiths, Ramones, Wreckless Eric and more.  Go here.  It’ll cost you an e-mail addy.

- Love that Mystique vs. Smurfs panel….More cool stuff at Canaan’s site.

- NYC Taper has Deervana!  (Deer Tick covering Nirvana.)  Go here.  And if you’re a big Deer-Tick-As-Cover-Band fan, check these out:

Still Crazy After All These Years (Paul Simon)

Nebraska (Bruce Springsteen)

-Tim’s got a piece on a new band called Fanzine, who are terrific.  But I can’t find any of their albums….

- Leftboy is still making fun music. His latest is a remix with the Pirates of the Carribean theme. Left Boy-Jack Sparrow. Get his last free album here. Cool music, for the price of an e-mail.

- Mystic Chords of Memory has a Public Enemy bootleg.  P.E. in full effect, brutha!!!!

- Stranger Dance has an interview with Delta Spirit.

- Oneida have a new album out!  Here’s the “single,” Horizon.

- The archive has a new Drive-By Truckers show, with a great cover Mavis Staples’ Respect Yourself.  Check out the whole show here.

- Go here for the Heart Shaped Tron mashup.  I’m guessing just based on the title you’ll be checking it out.

-People are still remixing Siqo????

-CD’s write up of Fuel Box is pretty damn funny.

-Illroots has the new Chiddy Bang mixtape, titled “Peanut Butter and Swelly.“  I haven’t heard the whole thing yet, but these dudes tend to be damn good.  Start off with this one:

When You’ve Got Music (feat. The Knocks)

- I love this.  It’s genius.  Genius!  HATE MACHINE.

-AD has a Neil Young boot from 2008.

-And last but certainly not least, Paper Bag Records has (another!) free compilation available for the price of an e-mail address.  Go here.  Here’s the terrific track list:

CFCF – How Bizarre (OMC cover)
Winter Gloves – Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana cover)
Woodhands – Electric Avenue (Eddy Grant cover)
Sally Shapiro – Dying in Africa (Nicolas Makelberge cover)
You Say Party! We Say Die! – Falling Out (Rikk Agnew cover)
Josh Reichmann – Daniel (Bat For Lashes cover)
Laura Barrett – Gamma Ray (Beck cover)
Rock Plaza Central – I Want You (Bob Dylan cover)
The Acorn – Strange Animal (Gowan cover)
Little Girls – Heinz (Artery cover)
Slim Twig – Behold A Lady (Outkast cover)
Under Byen – Du er min øjesten (Peter Malberg cover)

LINK PARTY!

Let’s kick it off with a Cat Power bootleg courtesy of Captains Dead, whose also got a few Leonard Cohen boots as well.

Fabolous’ new mixtape, The Soul Tape, is pretty darn good.  Fab has always been one of those just-bubbling-under rappers who everyone forgets about and underestimates…Cop it here.

T.I., on the otherhand, is overrated.  He’s good, but not one of the greatest.  His new mixtape features B.O.B., Rick Ross, Nelly(!) and others.  Cop it here.

If you prefer indie rock to gangsta rap, you can score a really, really cool new EP for just a buck on Bandcamp.  It features Amanda Palmer, Ben Folds, and Neil Gaiman, a member of OK Go, and others, and proceeds go to charity.  Here’s a one-song taste: One Tiny Thing.

Cause=Time has a Neon Desert Festival mixtape posted, featuring Little Boots, Mstrkrft, Cansey de ser sexy, Dirty Vegas, and others.

Fugazi’s 13 Songs was one of the greatest indie hardcore albums of all time.  And back in 1988, they played most of it at D.C.’s 9:30 Club.  You can find it here.  And here’s my fave tune of theirs: Bad Mouth.

Front Porch Musings is becoming one of the best blogs around in terms of the quality and variety of music they discuss.  Go check ‘em out!

Covert Curiosity writes up J. Mascis’ side project King Tuff.  Great stuff, and quite rare.

SIART’s got some old school rap, remixed.

The Magic-Joan as Police Woman

Tim writes about Benjamin Francis Leftwhich.

Don’t Stop-The Do Dos with Neko Case

Oh, and Chris has a new site.

Front Porch Musings has an in depth article about Kasey Anderson and the Honkies.  Check it out.

Cover Lay Down has Ani DiFranco covers. She’s a vastly underrated performer.

Chris writes about the Wedidit collective, with some free EPs.

Somehow, Passion of the Weiss scored an interview with Mary J.–the first lady of hip hop.  Awesome.  She says her favorite hip hop hook is the one she did for Method Man on “All I Need.”

Wakey! Wakey! make some darn sweet covers, and you can download their entire “Wednesdays” series for free here.  You’ll get covers of songs by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Weezer, Alicia Keys, Foo Fighters, and many more.  My personal fave is Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.

Mean Creek is giving away their Hemophiliac EP here.

Ryan has a big feature on Matt Costa.

Boycott RIAA has a really cool article about how musicians managed to successfully sue RIAA labels for pirating music!  To the tune of $45 million!

And finally, some new mixtapes:

Statik Selektah & Frank the Butcher: Selektions.  With cuts by Freeway, Consequence, Peter Parker, Termanology, and more. Mediafire.

Jo Well & DJ DviousMindZ – Dollars & Sense (FreEP).

Cover Me has covers of every song on Springsteen’s Darkness at the Edge of Town record. Go here.

Jeff’s got a round-table review on Kanye’s My Dark Twisted Fantasy. I’m weighing in on the great-pop-rap side of the debate. I mean, it’s Kanye. You’re not expecting depth from the guy who Lupe Fiasco completely schooled on the issue of conflict diamonds, but then turned around and got diamond teeth, are you? It’s terrible, but it’s Hanson terrible. It’s shallow, but it’s Madonna’s first album shallow. You’ll hate yourself for loving how much you hate it. And you’ll forget it by next year. My favorite line from Jeff’s article: Danny Brown may have delivered the most succinct appraisal when he Tweeted, the Kanye album proved “I’m ADD like a muthafucka. Them some long ass songs. Do you really need that much time to say nothing. I like it, but I just won’t listen to it again.”

Peter Wolf Crier, a great new artist, recently did a downloadable set at Daytrotter.

Yelawolf–a sometimes-great mixtape rapper whose first album just dropped–gave an interview to Cocaine Blunts.

And don’t forget about the art giveaway–for the price of an e-mail addy, you could win original art from the Dexter comic! Go here.

Want to be featured here? Well it just so happens I’m looking to expand the blogroll. If you’re a music or comics blogger, hit me with a request and we can trade links. No leakers or full-album-posters need apply.

Wherein I thanklessly shout out to artists and bloggers around the world . . .

- The Gifted Children’s new EP is free here.

- You can find a crapload of wild Bob Dylan covers, and other cool stuff, here.  And you can find a crapload of Beatles covers here.  Beatles and Dylan.  Doesn’t get much better than that.

- I still think Black Mountain’s new one is terrific.  Check out The Hair Song (direct DL).

- Terrible Chris turned me on to this directory of a crapload of wild beats from Pogo, whose “Wishery” remix of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves  is currently tearing up the Hype charts and youtube.  Check out Unbirthday or Alice, for a few examples.

- Tina Fey & Christopher Cross: “Lemon’s Theme” from 30 Rock: Original Television Soundtrack

Starting with a strong release from a cross between Heartless Bastards and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, this band is now touring Canada.

Real good stuff.

Mace Spray (direct link)

Tour dates:

11.02.10 The Slice Lethbridge, AB
11.03.10 Starlight Room Edmonton, AB
11.04.10 The Exchange Regina, SA
11.05.10 Amigos Saskatoon, SA
11.06.10 Royal Albert Winnipeg, MB

BROOKE FRASER

Hailing from New Zealand, Brooke Fraser‘s third album (on Wood and Bone records) is another one you might like.  The album never gets it wrong: Solid indie pop!

Betty (streaming only)

AND SOME ONE-SHOTS . . .

New Kurt Vile, and he’s the coolest!

In My time (direct link)-Kurt Vile

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Passion of the Weiss has some supercool Yelawolf . . .

Futile Devices (Sufjan Stevens cover)-Jump Clubb (direct link)