Tonight: Medium Zach @ Last of the Record Buyers

Download: Big Quarters - "Barter System"

Those who don't know what Last of the Record Buyers is can click here for a video explanation from one of its participants. For those in the know, this is a chance to see Medium Zach of Big Quarters do his thing about a month-and-a-half before the new record drops. Still no word on a first single, or advance MP3, but you know we're on it.

Watch Medium Zach in the lab below, then click here for all other things Record Buyers related.



$3
18+
9 p.m.
Dinkytowner
Directions

Big Quarters MySpace Page

(Jon Graef)

Big Quarters Drop New Album on May 5th

Anyone who's ever gone over to the Big Quarters blog, either to watch videos of producer Medium Zach tango with Doomtree's Lazerbeak, or perhaps to gleam a bit of what the band is working on each month with its Big Quarters Direct series, knows what "From the Home of Brown Babies and White Mothers" means. After all, it's the title of the blog itself.

It's also the name of the hip-hop duo's second album, one that will drop on May 5th. The record is available for pre-order now, if you head over to the twosome's blog. Pre-orders of From the Home of Brown Babies & White Mothers will include: a Brown Babies sticker, personalized poster and free month of BQDirect. But here's the sweetest deal of all: those of you who've been subscribing to BQDirect all this time? You get White Mothers for free. That's right. You don't have to worry about buying the cash cow, as BQ's not one to diss their fans for free.

Check out the promo video at the top of the post. Pre-order album number two here.

Big Quarters MySpace Page

Video: Last of the Record Buyers Part 2: Lazerbeak Vs. Medium Zach

Watch part one here.

Lazerbeak MySpace Page
Big Quarters MySpace Page

Last of the Record Buyers: Medium Zach Vs. Lazerbeak

(via)

New Music: Big Quarters - "Dynamite" (Plus Video)

Download: Big Quarters - "Dynamite"

As a way to promote the latest in their series of "Big Quarters Direct" EPs, in which you, the listener, gets an EP of five new songs a month for the cost of five dollars, hip-hop duo Big Quarters have released a promo video showing footage producer Medium Zach working with singer Alissa Paris on her solo material. This, mind you, is also going on while he's working on the Quarters record (impressive work ethic, that). Paris has worked with BQ, notably lending her vocal skills to the song "Dynamite," which the duo has now released as a free download. Watch the video, the listen to the song, at the top of the post.

Head here to subscribe to BQ Direct.

Big Quarters MySpace Page

New Big Quarters feat. P.O.S - "Grab Hands"

Download: Big Quarters feat. P.O.S - "Grab Hands"

Hip-hop duo Big Quarters leaked this collaboration between them and Rhymesayers/Doomtree breakout star P.O.S on their blog today. The track was featured on the last edition of Big Quarters Direct, as well as P.O.S's new mixtape, which came with pre-orders of his new record, Never Better. I've yet gotten the chance to listen to it, but once I do (boo-urns work not having headphone cables), I will opine on it. But for now, what do you readers think?

h/t Sound Verite

Big Quarters Blog
POS MySpace Page

New Big Quarters - "Free Shipping"

As the band themselves explain:

A month ago, when we got our video camera, I set it up to record our practice at Brandon's apartment. I left the room to get some water while Brandon delivered us his verse from "Free Shipping" - a song off of BQDirect: October. I made the beat from drums played by Noam the Drummer and a record I Self blessed me with. Shout out to Benzilla.

Saturday: Big Quarters, Kristoff Krane @ 7th Street Entry

Video: Freez (Illuminous 3) speaks on working with Medium Zach (Big Quarters)

(via)

Video: Last of the Record Buyers Promo

Video: Sean McPherson of Heiruspecs Talks Big Quarters

Specifically, this video of Heiruspecs' Sean McPherson is talking about the upcoming show that the group is playing, along with Big Quarters, on Saturday, to celebrate the release of their self-titled fourth album. Flyer for that is below:

New Big Quarters - "Good Look" (Prod. By Medium Zach)

Download: Big Quarters - "Good Look"

Taking advantage of the new online music business paradigm, Minneapolis hip-hop duo Big Quarters have been releasing 5 song EPs online directly to their fans, in a series titled...wait for it...Big Quarters Direct. So far, they've released two EPs, one for each month that they've been releasing them (starting in September).

BQ have also managed to release a little taste of each EP by releasing one track from them on their blog. Musically, the two tracks they've released so far ("Barter System" and "All Day Long") have been pretty similar: slightly downtempo hip-hop with a laidback flow driving the action. In terms of narrative, they couldn't be any more different, with "System" being a reflective slice-of-touring-band life, and "All Day Long" being a dark piece of fiction. So how does "Good Look", the released track from the Novemeber BQDirect edition, compare to the other two?

After starting with what sounds like a sample of King Khan and the Shrines, "Good Look" is definitely the most sonically aggressive of the tracks, as the garage-rock good vibes give way to a booming synth-bass, a sturdier drum beat than usual, and sonically manipulated group vocals like Lupe Fiasco's "Dumb it Down". The flows of both Medium Zach and Brandon Allday sound more fierce as well. "Good Look" gives the listener exactly that, insofar as its a duo stretching its creative boundaries and coming up with something interesting. But I think it's safe to say that the other tracks from BQDirect are better. Still, creative experimentation should always be encouraged.

Listen to "Good Look" at the top of the post.

Big Quarters MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)
jon@minneapolisfuckingrocks.com

(Jonathan Graef)
jon@minneapolisfuckingrocks.com

Brother Ali Talks About "Explode The Vote" Concert

The concert to which Ali is referring is:



Broth​er Ali
Big Quart​ers
Usual​ Suspe​cts
Illum​inous​ 3
Green​ Sketc​h Crew

Hoste​d by I Self Devin​e
DJ'd by Justn​ine

18+
$​12/​$​15

(Jonathan Graef)
jon@minneapolisfuckingrocks.com

Photos: Big Quarters - Hand Over Fist CD Release Party

(via Big Quarters)





See more over at the Big Quarters MySpace page

Check out the free song from their upcoming Big Quarters Direct EP, if you haven't already:

Download: Big Quarters - "All Day Long"

Big Quarters MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)
jon@minneapolisfuckingrocks.com

Sunday: Hand Over Fist CD Release Party @ 7th Street Entry

New Big Quarters - "All Day Long"

Download: Big Quarters - "All Day Long"

Minneapolis rap duo Big Quarters hit upon an exciting, novel way to deliver new music to their fans with their Big Quarters Direct subscription service. The concept is simple. For 5 bucks every month, you get a new Big Quarters EP delivered to your email address. The duo also has been leaking tracks from the EPs on their website to give listeners a better idea as to what they're in for. This month's offering is called "All Day Long", and you can listen to it at the top of the post. As far as the music goes, it doesn't really depart from what BQ do best--chill mid-tempo grooves, with a jazz-like flow on top--but the narrative is quite dark. The MP3 is at the top of the post.

Check out the video for their track "Barter System" (the first Big Quarters Direct song leaked) below:



Big Quarters MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)
jon@minneapolisfuckingrocks.com

Video: Big Quarters - "Barter System"

h/t Switchblade Comb

(Jonathan Graef)

Reminder: Big Quarters and Mux Mool Fall In Love

Download: Big Quarters - "Test" (Remix by Mux Mool, Medium Zach, and Noam The Drummer)

Even though the EP that this gig at the Turf Club is promoting has been available online since August, you can still come celebrate its release. The EP consists of a remix of the song "Test", originally from their debut album, Cost of Living; 2 new songs featuring Big Quarters; 1 featured performance by Alicia Steele; And an instrumental arrangement by Discount Musical (Medium Zach & Mux Mool).

Show starts at 9 p.m. and costs $4.

September 3rd, 2008
Turf Club.
Performances by: Big Quarters, Mux Mool and DJ Anton
21+ / $4 / 9pm

Speaking of Big Quarters, don't forget to subscribe to their Big Quarters Direct digital service, in which the hip-hop duo delivers 5 new songs to your inbox every month. Subscribe here.

Big Quarters MySpace Page
Mux Mool MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)

New Big Quarters - "Barter System" (Prod. By Medium Zach

Download: Big Quarters - "Barter System" (Prod. by Medium Zach) (via)

In honor of their new subscription service (the first cover of which is at the top of the post), in which the Minneapolis hip-hop duo allow you access to new, unreleased material in exchange for 5 clams, Big Quarters have generously released a new track on their blog. The song, titled "Barter System", a low-key, trip-hop and keyboard-heavy diary of life on the road, and the status of the industry itself. "Why buy the cash cow?/if you gon get this for free?" goes the main refrain. Hmm. Sounds like a challenge to me, and one that couldn't be set to a beat more conducive to a hip, late-night lounge atmosphere.

Rebut them by subscribing to Big Quarters Direct here.

Listen to "Barter System" at the top of the post.

Brother Ali Headlines "Explode The Vote" Concert

Download: Brother Ali - "Truth Is"
Download: Big Quarters - "Everyday"

Taken directly from the Brother Ali MySpace Blog:

Explode The Vote is about getting the youth voice out to the polls in record numbers this November so we can make this year's victories ring loud and clear throughout the district: WE WANT CHANGE!

The show is featuring performances by:

Brother Ali
Big Quarters
Usual Suspects
Illuminous 3
Green Sketch Crew

We've all certainly heard about "rocking the vote", (or, as I once wrote about a St. Olaf-related political event, "smooth jazzing the vote") but this is ridiculous. Still, could you think of anyone you'd rather have "Explode The Vote"--or anyone who would be more capable of engaging in democratic explosiveness--than Minneapolis rapper Brother Ali? What's that you ask? Fellow Rhymesayers act I Self Devine? Why, he happens to be hosting the whole shebang.

The event is being presented by Congressman Keith Ellison, who, unlike some other senators, was sworn in on a Koran once owned by Thomas Jefferson. So the next time you receive an email from your Limbaugh-loving older relatives stating that Obama was sworn in on the Koran, forward them the information stated above, and then kindly, respectfully inform that they're ignorant sluts.

Actually, it would probably be a much more constructive use of time just to buy tickets.

18+
Coffman Great Hall - U of M Campus
$12/$15
State ID Required

(Jonathan Graef)