128 Oz. of Haterade: 'George Kush Da Button,' by Smoke DZA

'The connect's confidential and the weed's continental..."

If you're about to throw on the new Smoke DZA joint expecting political allegory about the Bush Years and the War on Drugs... well, you're in for some disappointment. George Kush Da Button is pretty much about weed.

No matter, though. What you do get from the Harlem rapper is a laidback mixtape with a bit of an executive-lounge soundscape... no surprise considering the primary producer is Ski Beatz, the architect behind much of Jay-Z's Big Willie sound on Reasonable Doubt.

Hints of this excellent sound were on display with DZA's April 2010 EP, Substance Abuse 1.5: The Headstash, and to a lesser extent on the original Substance Abuse, which came out in February 2010. Matter of fact, this Smoke DZA cat has been pretty prolific in the past 365 days!

George Kush, though, is his most polished effort to date, despite its mixtape status. Ski, along with Kenny Beats, G14, Big K.R.I.T. and Steve-O (not that Steve-O... at least I don't think so), provide a solid bedrock of lower-midtempo head-nodders, providing ample space for DZA to wax philosophic about smoking, and the things he does before and after smoking.

Big K.R.I.T.'s beats on tracks like "I'm Saying" and "The Secret" up the BPMs a little, and lean more toward the radio-friendly side of things, but it's Ski's loping loops on songs like "We On," "Continental Kush Breakfast" and "Etc Etc" that comprise George Kush's best moments. Additionally, Steve-O slows down the loop for Masta Ace Inc.'s "Turn It Up" to nice effect on the introspective "My Life."

Is it a perfect record? No. The weed theme starts to wear a little thin after a while, but it's more of a constant presence than a unified theme. After all, this is an MC who named his first two releases Substance Abuse, and who notes confidently in "We On": "I don't care about your problems, n****/I just wanna smoke my weed/And we on this year/Give a f*** what other n****s want this year/I just wanna smoke a zone this year/Roll it up/Take a flight and we almost there."

• Smoke DZA at Amazon.com

• Listen to tracks and download George Kush Da Button at DJBooth.net

128 Oz. of Haterade: 'Lazers Never Die,' by Major Lazer

Guns don't kill people... lazers do...

For those of you who, like me, are perhaps thinking that the new M.I.A. joint is just a little too blippy, bloopy and glitchy (and doesn't knock nearly as well in the ride as the first two, with the fantastic exception of "Lovalot"), may I present the new Major Lazer EP.

Major Lazer is a collab between M.I.A. producers Diplo and Switch, and for a brief five songs (two originals, three remixes), gives a glimpse at some of beats Ms. Arulpragasam could have used on /\/\/\Y/\.

This EP follows Major Lazer's full-length debut, Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do, and continues the duo's penchant for injecting roots-rock and dancehall riddims with a healthy dose of electronica and gorilla steroids.

So if you had a tough time nodding your head to "Born Free," revel in the bouncy militant march of "Sound of Siren," which finds M.I.A. on chorus duty while dancehall star Busy Signal does his thing. The other original, "Good Enuff," is almost straight-up roots, with a few dubbed-out touches framing Collie Budz and Lindi Ortega's tale of trying to make an impression.

Angolan ravemasters Buraka Som Sistema run wild on their remix of "Bruk Out," replacing the original spare-drums arrangement with a squelchy synth run, and K.L.A.M. takes the distorted skank of "Can't Stop Now" on a run through the drum-and-bass jungle. Even Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke gets in on the action, throwing "Jump Up" down a dark, dubby well full of ghostly echoes.

Without a doubt, these are some killer lazers.

Concert Review: Dark Star Orchestra, 8/5/10, Bottle & Cork, Dewey Beach, DE

So when it comes to concerts, there's one band I've seen more than any other, and that is the Dark Star Orchestra. A college friend originally convinced me to go check 'em out while I was going to school in Pittsburgh, and they just blew me away.

They are a Grateful Dead tribute band, but they operate very differently from other tribute bands. At each concert, they will take a random setlist from the original Dead's 30 years of touring, and "recreate" the set, using the same instruments and equipment as much as possible.

Through my travels in the journalism industry, I've also had a chance to interview drummer Rob Koritz, keyboard player Rob Baracco and soundman Cameron Blietz, who are all very cool, down-to-earth guys.

Last night, at the Bottle & Cork, in Dewey Beach, they played a June 1976 show that was originally done at the Tower Theatre in Upper Darby, Pa. The set was very, very close to my dream Dead show:

Set I:

The Music Never Stopped

Sugaree

Mama Tried

Row Jimmy

High Time (Whaaaaat? YES!)

Looks Like Rain

Brown Eyed Women

Lazy Lightning >

Supplication Blues

Friend of the Devil

The Promised Land

Set II:

Samson & Delilah

Might as Well

Let It Grow > Drums > Let It Grow

Cosmic Charlie (Sheeeeeeeeeit!)

St. Stephen >

Not Fade Away >

St. Stephen >

Dancing in the Streets >

The Wheel

Johnny B. Goode

Encores (not part of original show):

You Ain't Woman Enough

Midnight Moonlight

Gloria

I was initially a little concerned about this show, because longtime DSO lead guitarist and erstwhile "Jerry," John Kadlecik, recently left the band to form Further with Bob Weir and Phil Lesh (which I would REALLY like to hear!). Kadlecik's replacement is Jeff Mattson, who along with DSO keyboardist Rob Baracco, formed the backbone of the Zen Tricksters.

I am concerned no longer.

Despite the sound mix at the Bottle & Cork not always being the best (the lead guitarist has a tendency to get lost in the mix), Mattson is a well-worthy replacement. Several times during his solos, he got quite a reaction from the always-appreciative B&C crowd, and he even had rhythm guitarist Rob Eaton staring gape-mouthed a few times.

It doesn't seem that Mattson has found that "sweet spot" yet, where he can settle right into the groove and get that "group-mind" thing going with the other musicians, but they'll get there, no question. If I'm still here in Delaware some late September, we'll probably make the trek up to Wilmington to catch their show at The Grand.

So once again, thanks DSO, for a fantastic night.

A Long Time Ago... in a Commuter Train Far, Far Away...

Comes the greatest subway science-fiction improv adventure of our time....

Old-School Wednesday: 'Three Days of the Condor' OST

"I'm taking a survey... do you believe

the condor is an endangered species?"

On this old-school Wednesday, I'd like to take a moment to pay tribute to a siiiick old-school soundtrack. Dave Grusin's score for the 1975 Sydney Pollack film "Three Days of the Condor" is now at the top of my sampling list. Effortlessly cool from front to back, the soundtrack pulses with jazz sensibility and occasionally bounces with enough blaxploitation-era soul to go up against OSTs for "Shaft" and "Coffy."

In fact, there are actually a lot of really, really great obscure '70s movie soundtracks, from "Helles Belles" to Marvin Gaye's "Trouble Man" score and even the score from "Jerry Cotton: FBI's Top Man." And if you're looking for one that mixes a little more country music in, check out the great score for "Vanishing Point."

On top of that, the film is pretty good as well. It's essentially a look at the CIA's dirty tricks post-Vietnam, and turns on the star power of a young Robert Redford, who as a Company bookreader manages to uncover a sinister plot, evade a world-class assassin and bang a very, very hot Faye Dunaway after holding her hostage (pimpin' since been pimpin' since been PIMPIN').

Anyway, check it out here. Definitely worth your time.

128 Oz. of Haterade: 'Fresh,' by Shawn Desman

While I can't in good conscience recommend the "crooked mohawk" (above), nor can I endorse the eighth-grade-pube-'stache he's rocking on the album cover, I can recommend a good portion of Shawn Desman's Fresh, which combines the Black-Eyed Peas' future-techno vibe and Akon (without all the Auto-Tuning) into a pleasant, bouncy record.

Fresh is a head-nodder that exhibits the same flair Will.i.am seems to have for taking what could be a boring techno-based track and adding a few tweaks, bells and whistles to spice it up and keep it moving. And Desman achieves it without needing any cornball "raps" from Fergie, which is always nice.

Granted, the "Can I, can I watch? Keep on doin' what you do" chorus of "Moneyshot" is a little unnecessary, but hey? Let a Canadian-born, Italian/Portuguese player play, I suppose.

Fresh lays aside some of the rougher-edged drums of 2005's Back for More, opting for a cleaner, more-processed atmosphere. The first single, "Shiver," is about as good as modern pop R&B gets, a cascade of heavy percussion and harmony wrapped into a love song that doesn't need to venture into X-rated allegory to get its point across.

Desman leaves that to "Moneyshot," haha.

There's no need for me to go over the slow songs. You know how they sound; you know what they're about. Overall, though, Fresh is a solid step in the right direction for Desman.

More on Shawn Desman:

• Official website

• MySpace

128 Oz. of Haterade: 'InDRUpendence Day," by Dru Hill

The last time something meaningful came from the Dru Hill fam, it was a solo-minded Sisqo "releasing the dragon" and going whale-tailin' as he extolled the virtues of butt-floss (as if to drive home the irrelevance, Sisqo is battling the Jimmie Van Zant Band right now on Rock & A Hard Place, a.k.a. Washed-Up Rock-Star Jeopardy). And is Sisqo wearing motorcycle gloves on the cover? In the immortal words of Riley Freeman, "Pause."

In sheer spite of all that comes InDRUpendence Day, which veers from vaguely-cheesy '90s-ish R&B ("Back to the Future," "Love MD") to decent uptempo grooves ("She Wants Me," "Whatcha Do"). "Can't Stop" finds the gang personifying their smoking and drinking as lovely ladies named Chocolate Tye and Hennessey. An allegorical masterpiece if ever there was one... but I will say that it's couched atop a nice bed of vocoder, as opposed to Auto-Tune, which is used judiciously throughout InDRUpendence Day.

Do I need a cover "(Everybody Wants to) Rule the World"? No. With talented soul acts like Mama's Gun and Georgia Anne Muldrow out there, a reunited Dru Hill just seems kind of... old.

**Bonus points if you can name any other member of Dru Hill without Googling it first. I can't.