He may be known to most as an actor and comedian, but Donald Glover, under his hip-hop alter ego Childish Gambino, is also an accomplished skilled rapper and not a novelty rapper who proves with the success of his latest Childish Gambino release (Because the Internet is this week's top hip-hop chart entry) that he indeed has a lot to offer the hip-hop world.  Of that number one at Amoeba Berkeley this week the Amoeba.com reviewers write, "He’ll likely always have to content with haters knocking him for starting as a comedian, but now Glover can point to Because the Internet as proof positive that his multifaceted professional title can firmly include rapper, as well."  Indeed!  Meanwhile another artist, who started as hip-hop but has drifted off into other areas of pop culture and watered down his rap street by cavorting with the likes of Martha Stewart and Katy Perryin the kitchen and studio respectively, Snoop Dogg returns supreme with his latest project: Dam-Funk & Snoopzilla7 Days of Funk on Stones Throw on which the artist known as Snoop Lion for a minute returns to his (G) funk roots with the best practitioner of said genre, power producer/multi-instrumentalist Dam-Funk who presents the Long Beach, CA artist born Calvin Broadus with the perfect smokey funky musical backdrop.  Amoeba.com reviewers accurately herald this EP release as, "a revelatory event for for fans of and freaks for The Funk, and should be particularly pleasing for those whose funk du jour is syrup-thick mid-tempo boogie-funk seasoned heavy with synthesizers a la Yarborough & Peoples or Zapp. ...... Easily transcending the side-project ghetto, 7 Days of Funk is two major voices in contemporary music, subsuming their individual identities into something new and simply huge.  A match made in funk heaven."  Indeed! 

The last band I expected to hear from this fall/winter was Poolside.  Their Pacific Standard Time album was so perfectly suited for the sunshine that it would seem perverse for them to go wintry, but that’s just what they’ve done with their Seasons Change mix, which the LA-based duo said they put together while driving through the Northeast in October.  Listen below.  On initial scan, it actually sounds pretty similar in spirit to their other album’s moody electronics, making you realize the power of suggestion.  Also it sounds great no matter when you put it on. 

The Fresh & Onlys Film “What’s In My Bag?” 

SF garage-pop greats The Fresh & Onlys filmed a “What’s in My Bag?”  feature with Amoeba, and we have it up to stream now.  Check out their album Long Slow Dance if you haven’t yet, one of my favorite rock ’n’ roll records released this year. 

More new Soft Moon! “ Insides” is gloriously creepy, with its sustained, Gremlin-style whispered vocal hovering in the background like a ghost, while the foreground finds piercing new wave sound and Luis Vasquez stepping out of the shadows just a bit with a wordless sounding but emotive vocal.  Along with the recently debuted “Die Life,” Zeros sounds like a winner; it’s out Oct. 30 on Captured Tracks (preorder here).  Boy, all this great goth from S.F. Isn’t it like beautiful and everyone is nice there? 

Horrid Red – I’m Terribly Hurt

I don’t know much about S.F.’s Horrid Red, but I’m incredibly intrigued after hearing “I’m Terribly Hurt,” a goth pop song that hits both sides of the coin thanks to that droning organ and soaring synths and breathless vocals both creepy and romantic.  Nightly Wreaths is due Oct. 9 on Terrible Records. 

Thanks to E-Lit for the video above (shot earlier this week) in which he runs down all the brand new and recent hip-hop releases at Amoeba Music in Berkeley where new releases include Obie Trice'sBottoms Up (with an Eminem cameo), Nicki Minaj's new 19 track CD Pink Friday...Roman Reloaded, Pep Love'sRigmarolevia the Hieroglyphics Imperium's Clear Label, and the latest installment in the J Rawls presents Liquid Crystal Liquid Crystal Project 3 on Green Streets.  Meanwhile the top two sellers this week are the new De La Soul side project (second week in a row) by the legendary hip-hop crews Plugs 1 and 2 titled Plug 1 & Plug 2 present First Serveand released on the mighty Duck Down Records label.  In close second place is yet another title to add to the hard working Madlib's already long discography - a collaboration with singer/musician Georgia Anne Muldrow - Seeds via Epistrophik Pea - which is described here on the Amoeba website as "a psychedelic wonder of an album with Muldrow’s sensual and swooping vocals backed by Madlib’s sick backdrop of processed samples, with underwater basslines, Stax guitars and devilish beats.  It’s a match made in psych-soul heaven, as Muldrow weaves the human thread keeping swirling songs like the title track from floating away."  No wonder it sold out and had to be reordered at the Berkeley store!