Make my shit the Chronic, I wants to get funked up

Dr. Dre - The Chronic

Man, what do I even say about this? This the album that defined an era of hip hop, that defined an entire coast. Dre was, and still is, one of the most influential producers to ever touch a soundboard. This is his opus. The production Parliament Funkadelic samples (which would inspire the G-Funk name that this sound acquired), rolling bass, and high pitched synthlines. This is chilling music. This is cruising in the Caddy smoking a blunt music. Lyrically the songs deviate from just kicking back and have a good time, but even when you hear Snoop rapping about time in prison on "Lil' Ghetto Boy" you're nodding your head. That is another asset that makes this album so great, Snoop Dogg. Before he became a parody of himself, Snoop was the cat with the smoothest flow in hip hop. His silky smooth voice works in perfect harmony with the production and provides a nice counterpoints to Dre's gruffer rap style. Start to finish, excluding the damn skits that plague so many great hip hop albums, this thing is classic. If you want to know more, go read the internet, I guarantee you'll find plenty. And if you aren't satisfied with reviews and stuff then there's probably like a bunch of pretentious essays written by white music professors who will quote lines like "Who's the man with the master plan? / The nigga with the muthafuckin' gun" and not feel like jackasses even a little bit.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?gd8zzzlwmrm

Lightnin' Strikes

Alright, we're laying down some old school blues right here. I would talk about the album, but there's a text document in the folder that explains far more than I could. Basically if you dig the blues you'll dig this album. Hopkins played with a deep, earthy style that rattles your bones. It is excellent music.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?gwmimmn3yhj

And if you like fish and grits and all that pimp shit...

Outkast - ATLiens


With their debut album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik Outkast laid the groundwork for a new generation of Southern hip hop. It mixed pimps and playas with a social consciousness, but definitely leaned more heavily on the former. They definitely weren't your typical rappers, though, and something seemed to bubble under the surface. That special something made its way to the surface on ATLiens, and brought with it new ideas and sounds. Abandoning the tried and true playboy formulas they had been inspired by before, Outkast created a remarkably original record with ATLiens. Oh, the pimps and players are still there, but they don't dominate, and the social consciousness comes through with more strength here. The production , most of which was done by Organized Noize who handled the production on Outkast's debut, is dark and spacey funk. It makes you feel like you're rolling in a cadillac through the shadowlands. With this musical evolution Andre and Big Boi also grew as rappers, spitting more complex flows and dancing with free-association in their lyrics. It wouldn't be until Aquemini and Stankonia that Outkast really caught the ear of the mainstream, but ATLiens remains one of the most impressive and inventive albums of not only Southern hip hop, but hip hop in general.

Please excuse my blatant abuse of run-on sentences above.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?duzylucnlv0

A return

Alright, so this has gone neglected for quite some time. However, tonight I am officially relaunching Breen Damage. Got a shiny new layout and I'm going to stay on the blog this time. From now until Sunday I'm uploading a new album every day, then I'm going back to a more reasonable schedule. But now, album number one:




Pomegranates - Everybody Come Outside!

Pomegranates burst with an energetic, sort of fuzzy indie pop sound. The record itself is strung through with a narrative about a man who leaves his house and is abducted by a time traveler. The album starts with a song that sounds like it's about trip over itself because of the shaky, contagious excitement. It ends with a beautiful, spacey instrumental piece. I'm pretty tired at this point and clearly not doing a good job with descriptions. Basically it's a great album and you should check it out.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?wdonuq3ydum

Mix 3

Okay, so this is coming really late, I know, I'm sorry. I'll get on a good schedule one of these days. Anyway, here's mix number three! No theme, just good music. Everything from psychedelia to electronica to blues to a capella. Track commentary might come later. For now enjoy.


1. Beck - Nicotine & Gravy
2. The Amorphous Androgynous - The Peppermint Tree
3. Brian Eno & David Byrne - Help Me Somebody
4. Hardfloor - Yimtrop
5. Devin the Dude - The Dude
6. Lightnin' Hopkins - Got Me A Louisiana woman
7. Spiritualized - Electricity
8. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
9. Elvis Costello - I Don't Want To Go To Chealsea
10. Iggy & The Stooges
11. The Unicorns - Jellybones
12. DOOM ft. Ghostface Killah - Angelz
13. Mothers of Invention - Any Way the Wind Blows
14. Stan Rodgers - Rollin' Down to Old Maui
15. Simon Joyner - Joy Division

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?jfvzyymmzzd

My goodness

In retrospect, it was perhaps not the best idea to launch this blog immediately before I returned to Germany. Luckily, I have basically settled into the groove of things now, so the blog can once again get on the right track. I really am terribly sorry that things got off to such a rocky start, and I hope that you'll once again give me a few fleeting moments of your lives so that I may spread even the tiniest bit of joy to you. I have decided that mixes are going to bi-weekly (every two weeks) rather than weekly. It just makes more sense. Moving on.

So, as you may know I'm a big hip hop fan. Real big. Now you may be sitting there at your computer going, "I want to be into hip hop too, but I'm a white person who only listens to Kanye West and occaisonally 102 JAMZ ironically!" Hey, don't worry your pretty little head, because Papa Breen has got you covered. You may not like every song on this mix, but I'm willing to bet you'll like at the very least one. Everything from party jams to heartfelt narratives about the pain of life. I may add track commentary later, but I'm just not in the mood right now.

Aim feat. Diamond D - The Omen
Beastie Boys - Shadrach
Binary Star - Slang Blade
Aesop Rock - Citronella
Atmosphere - You
MF Doom - Somersault
Brother Ali - Take Me home
Endless Mic - Supa Dupa
Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg - Deeez Nuuuts
Gang Starr - Full Clip
Bone Thugs N Harmony - Clog Up Yo' Mind
Deltron 3030 - 3030
Public of Enemy - Prophets of Rage
Ghostface Killah feat. Raekwon, Cappadonna - Daytona 500
Jay Z feat. Notorious B.I.G. - Brooklyn's Finest
Nas - Halftime
Notorious B.I.G. and Pharcyde - Stakes is High (Omer Saar mix)
Scarface - On My Block
Ol' Dirty Bastard feat. RZA - Cuttin' Headz
Mos Def - Traveling Man (Omer Saar mix)

note - The Omer Saar songs come from The Green Album. The Green Album was a project by Saar, a producer, where he took some fantastic verses and put them over his own beats made up entirely of Al Green samples.


http://sharebee.com/ca628948

The Good, The Bad, and The Funky

Hey everybody, hope you're doing fantastic. So here's the full original soundtrack for The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly. I can't say enough good things about it, so I won't try. I will say that every one of you should get this and listen to it, though, cause it really is brilliant. And if you haven't seen the movie yet you owe it to yourself to go rent it.

http://sharebee.com/cbb3caeb




This is some down home, greasy, crunchy, groove-tastic, hard funk, and since it's from the Carolinas it holds a special place in my heart. These are songs long sought after by funk collectors, really rare tracks (some of the 45's go for $1,000 these days). Since there weren't any really big music centers in the Carolinas these artists didn't really consolidate in one main area. Because of that most of these songs rarely made it past state lines. So come on now and take a big bite of your local music history and get down.

(Did you know the Venus Flytrap is only native to North and South Carolina? That's why it's up there, just so you know.)

http://sharebee.com/ad70dd0d


Oh, guys, on that mix a few of the tracks are .wma format, which doesn't work on iTunes, which I know most (if not all) of you use. However, if you just drop them in your iTunes they should convert to playable files. Hopefully this hasn't caused a problem for any of you.

And folks, I would love some feedback, just to know if people are interested in what I'm posting, it'll help me decide what to post in the future. I'm thinking of maybe doing an all German mix this week since I'm returning to Deutscheland. Krautrock and electronica sound good to you?