King Tony & Happy As a Lark Present: WORD is BOND - A Musical Excursion Into Jamaica's Love Affair with Agent 007 (The Blends Vol. 33)

Anthony "Nantee" Abbinanti AKA King Tony is the CEO & Co-Founder of Chicago-based Reggae label Happy As a Lark (HAAL) and moonlights as drummer and producer for the label's flagship band, The Drastics. Abbinanti and a few like-minded friends initially formed HAAL around 2009 to quietly issue two MC Zulu-assisted Drastics 7-inches and recently re-formed early in 2017 as a more fully-formed label; Happy As a Lark has since released a brand new Drastics album, Noir—accompanied by a feverish remix album, Noir Dub—each digital album packaged with an exclusive 7-inch from the imprint's artists and affiliates. The Drastics quite fittingly describe themselves as channeling "Roots Reggae from 1982's future of 2187" and in addition to a slew of original material, have released not one, but two EP's-worth of Reggae-fied Michael Jackson covers, dubbed MJ a Rocker and MJ a Rocker No.2. Now, Anthony Abbinanti has teamed back up with The Blends to compile his first mixtape since 2009's Vol. 3 - ANTHONY, WORD is BOND The First James Bond Mixtape! Vol. 33: A Musical Excursion Into Jamaica's Love Affair with Secret Agent 007. Abbinanti has uncovered, compiled, and meticulously arranged 39 unique James Bond-themed Reggae/Ska tracks into one cohesive 48-minute Mixcloud mixtape. Although, it really isn't as strange of a concept as it initially seems... lest we forget, Sean Connery's 1962 silver screen debut as James Bond, Dr. No was of course, filmed in Kingston, Jamaica—known on-screen, as the fictional island of "Crab Key." Nearly 11 years later, Roger Moore's cinematic debut as M16 Agent 007, Live & Let Die, was also filmed in Jamaica, which doubled for the fictional Caribbean island of "San Monique." King Tony & Happy As a Lark's WORD is BOND mixtape is now available to stream and download from The Blends, along with meticulously cataloged past volumes No.1-32.

"A musical excursion into Jamaica's love affair with Secret Agent 007. Another more "high-concept" mixtape—this one came to me after filing away yet another JB-themed Jamaican 45 and asking myself, "why are there so many James Bond-themed Ska & Rocksteady tunes?" To those that watch the movies the connection makes sense—the island setting is used in Dr. No and Live & Let Die, as well as being home to Ian Fleming's Goldeneye estate; now, owned by Island Records Founder Chris Blackwell. "James Bond Fever" was certainly escalated by the coincidence that Jamaica gained her independence the same year Dr. No was released (1962.) The combination of [independence] and a major motion picture being filmed in close proximity, surely bolstered local musicians to title songs of their new and up-beat indigenous music (Ska) after the exciting franchise."

- King Tony AKA Anthony Abbinanti

"Let Me Shine for You:" Lindsay Lohan for Playboy (Winter 2011-12 Leak)

Lindsay Lohan essentially embodies exactly "What NOT to Do In Hollywood :" Fame, fortune, success... sex, drugs & Rock "N" Roll . Within a fairly short period of time, Lohan somehow managed to obtain a plentiful helping of POWER @ a very young age. This gradual rise-downfall was captured on film; Between 1998-2010, she portrayed a wide array of roles across the silver screen in movies including: Mean Girls, Bobby , Herbie Fully Loaded , Georgia Rule, Machete , and Freaky Friday . Between rapid-paced film shoots, Lindsay Lohan also found time to record 2 Pop Rock albums for Casablanca , Speak (2004) and A Litter More Personal-Raw (2005). Needless to say, Lindsay Lohan has gotten roped up in a lot of troubles and woes with the law over the last 3-5 years... a vicious cycle of drugs, arrest, court, rehab, "daddy issues," jail time [Repeat]. That's the pure basics of it - But Google that shit for additional info, if necessary. Towards the end of...

[W]reckless, Topless American Youth: Lana del Rey - "Born 2 Die" (Britney Spears Birthday 30)

Lana del Rey [Lizzy Grant] effectively became 2011's "It Girl" with the release of her phenomenal debut single, "Video Games" (Stranger) . Like many struggling singer-songwriters, Grant has been signed, dropped, and significantly changed her public image since bursting onto the scene (2009). With that said, it can be assumed that Lana del Rey has collected just as many "haters" as she has avid supporters. To be perfectly honest, the only other artist I can think of that made this much commotion... garnered so much wide-spread buzz/hate and critical acclaim -- right out of the gates -- with just one track is Britney Spears . And maybe in this post- Mike musical era, that's the true synthesis of Pop Culture: Britney Lynn Spears . After months of repeated teasing and speculation, Lana del Rey 's major label debut, Born 2 Die will [finally] be released this coming Jan. 30-31, 2012. Pitchfork reports that it will feature "Off to The Ra...

Liberty Bell Cracked In 1/2: Ween - "Freedom of '76" (Gene Ween's Final Send-Off)

Chocolate & Cheese (1994) was one of the first albums I bought with my own money. I was in some sort of BMG Music Club , where you'd buy 5 CD's and then get 10 for "FREE." It was all sent through mail order and you picked the titles from some special booklet. I'm almost positive that Chocolate & Cheese's side boob-baring album cover was what initially drew me in... mind you, I was 12-15 and the zany Ween logo/middle finger CD graphic really didn't hurt either. Honestly, I forget how I really felt about it @ the time, but a few years later, my older cousin Josh told me that Ween were this BIG college "jam band." CKY did some sort pf 93.3 radio takeover to promote their new album and played "Freedom of '76" late that night on air. Needless to say, I re-visited Chocolate & Cheese @ about 20-something this go 'round and I fucking loved it! Ween were really weird, yet talented... almost too talented. I can vaguel...

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