BochiCrew

If you have spent any time around me in the past year you know I often champion the cause of Oakland's Trails and Ways . Their newest is a thoughtful bossa nova inspired cover of Frank Ocean's "Lost." Never afraid to incorporate something unconventional, TW made the song their own, crooning the opening and closing verse in Portugese. This release comes on the heels of Trilingual , an EP that surely will make many best of lists come December. If Trails and Ways passes your way it is certainly a concert not to be missed. I caught the group mid-July at the Bunk Bar in Portland and loved every moment of it, particularly some of their unreleased material. All of this goes to show that Trails and Ways continues to be an outfit to watch into the future.

There are just some songs that you have to listen to an unreasonable number of times after that first listen. The De Hofnar bootleg of John Legend's, "All of Me" is such a track. De Hofnar presents a melange of the signature sounds emerging from producers in the past year, think Cyril Hahn, Le Youth, and Klingande. As is the case with many of these artists, De Hofnar keeps a low profile. Only receiving scant coverage from other blogs and maintaining a website simply bearing his graphic logo and booking information, De Hofnar maintains a low web presence. About all we know is that the man behind the moniker hails from Tilburg, Netherlands and goes by the name Jeroen Maas. Something that happens all too often in these downtempo edits is an absence in progression. Maas' bootleg progresses seamlessly, while allowing the Legend's verses the space and focus they are do. Most notable is the final build as De Hofnar hones in on Legend's lyrics: "Love your cu...