We’ve been bombarded with Miami hip-hop lately here at EasternSurf.com, but Cuban-American MC Garcia is working hard to dispel any booty-shakin’ drug-rap stereotypes, instead producing honest, everyman hip-hop that relies on understated retro beats, jazzy samples, and smooth female backing vocals. According to press for third album Shattered Dreams, Garcia and longtime producer-friend Nick Fury “decided to record an album that was strictly ‘in the moment’ — free from thinking about radio, trends, blogs, etc.” Even better, Shattered Dreams is available as a free download via Bandcamp.com, proving that Garcia is “in it for the love,” as he convincingly raps on “Deeper.”

“High School Days” will bring a tear of joy to anyone raised on conscious ‘90s hip-hop, with snippets of A Tribe Called Quest and Digable Planets hits building to a nostalgic reverie. But it’s the way that Garcia bridges the old and the new, the hard and the soft that impresses the most on Shattered Dreams: “Blind” has a shimmery emo-rock hook, “Change My Life” draws its power from an MLK sample, and “In My Life” cops a refrain from Foreigner’s classic “I Want To Know What Love Is.”

Tender ballads (“My First Born”) and piano-led testimonials (“Shattered Dreams”) are simply stopovers on the way to “Last Chance’s” infectiously funky riff, but Garcia inexplicably decides to end Shattered Dreams with the rock ‘n’ rolling “I Hate Music” and a downbeat remix of good-but-not-great album opener “So Much Trouble.” I guess that’s an artistic decision you’re free to make when you’re not at the mercy of any label. But you can’t knock Garcia for his fierce independence: after 2004 debut LP “Anti-Social,” he turned down a deal with Universal Latino because they wanted to convert him into a reggaeton star. Which leads back to the standout of Shattered Dreams, that Foreigner-sampling “In My Life.” The urgent, rapid-fire tales Garcia drops on the track should assuage any doubts about his lifelong dedication to music: “My whole entire life consisted of letdowns/Nothing left to do/I’m lookin’ back at the mic/Not for money/But a way to document my life.” Now that’s real hip-hop. By Nick McGregor

You can download all three of Garcia’s albums, including Shattered Dreams, for free at http://crazyhoodproductions.bandcamp.com/album/shattered-dreams

When you think of Washington D.C., you probably imagine white marble monuments, waving flags, and gigantic halls filled with delegates and politicians. It’s just about the last place on earth you’d expect to find the next great reggae/punk band, but GroundScore may be just that.

Hailing from the Capital City, this talented trio, consisting of Zach Bellas on guitar and vocals, Nick Graves on bass, and Chase Lapp on drums, will instantly remind you of all your favorite Sublime and Pepper songs. Bellas has a voice that’s eerily reminiscent of Sublime’s Bradley Nowell, and Graves and Lapp string together steady, flowing beats that, when combined with upbeat reggae-style guitar riffs, are sure to get your head bobbing. Healthy Children is the self-produced, self-financed first release from this group, and each track bears testament to their ability. Just like the founding fathers of their genre, GroundScore demonstrate musical range by mixing their mellow beats with occasional punk-rock jams that shoot the tempo up straight through the roof on tracks like “Hey Kids/Real Love” and “See You All Tomorrow.”

The one drawback to GroundScore is that, if you’re looking for off-the-wall musical originality, you won’t find it. But that’s because these guys are really good at what they do. They have a crisp, clean sound on songs like ”Tattoos and Porn” and “Don’t Pay Me” that’s clearly reminiscent of any of the great legends of their genre, and they have proven themselves to be a wonderful new addition to the family. So if you’re in love with the punk/reggae sound, then some of your new favorite songs for summer might just be on this album. By Allison Arteaga

Ithaca, NY rock band Ayurveda is as simultaneously far from the mainstream thought pattern of modern capitalism and as closely connected to the sound of the arguable future as an entity can possibly be. The “arguable future” part spawns from the fact that the group has a shared belief in the Mayan Long Calendar and the impending doom of 2012. 

Two Nepalese guitarists, Diwas Gurung and Shikhar Bajracharya, back singer Tom Burchinal, bassist Dan Halperin, and drummer Mike Parker in 25 minutes of conceptual mind benders. H. luminous is accurate and precise, sharing sparse qualities of the uplifting sort composed by groups like Radiohead or Tool and the abundance of frighteningly accurate information founding the limited time frame developed by the Mayan people. The album rocks around in the delightful trance of Burchinal’s swagger before Gurung, Bajracharya, Halperin, and Parker stampede in as a swarm of rhythm-hungry loti. Conceptualizing the album took nothing away from its grade, because my first instinct was one of joy. Then I read Ayurveda’s literature explaining the album and learned of Burchinal’s deep devotion to the self-healing powers of mind and body and his simultaneous support of the 2012 theory. Yes, it’s a theory usually reserved for barroom conversation of mixed opinion, leaning more towards the truth as alcohol is imbibed. 

But when you hear someone who soberly and pragmatically supports the theory and uses it as a muse, it becomes a scary thought. With hurricane season fast approaching and a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, we have to hope we have at least two years left. In all seriousness, if the theory holds a soon-to-be confirmed validity, then I want to think about it in 25-minute increments, making Ayurveda’s H. luminous the ideal waltz. By William Port Whales

That’s All I Need, a unique genre-bending blend of modern R&B, blues, rock ‘n’ roll, and indie psychedelia put out by the intrepid father of rap Andre Williams, has got to be one of the coolest albeit eclectic albums to come out in some time.

Williams is a cool cat, who at age 74 now has over 230 compositions registered with BMI in his name. He was rapping long before people even knew what it was, was close friends of Berry Gordy, reaped a fortune during the Motown heyday writing and singing many prominent hits, lost that fortune, became a street junkie, recovered, and has released a long string of albums since the ‘90s with his quintessential funky, grimy take on R&B and blues. He also even has his own cologne.

Williams sounds a bit like Leonard Cohen if he were raised on Southern blues in a black ghetto, shining on tracks like “America,” “Tricks,” and “That’s The Way It Goes.” On other tracks, his smoky spoken-word singing sounds like an autobiographical eulogy, dampening the uptempo, fun, gritty vibe of his past work. And on some of That’s All I Need’s stranger songs, he even come across like a crackhead Randy Newman. With collaborators The Witches, The Dirtbombs, The Sights, and Electric Six lending their rock and psychedelic backbeats and guitar solos, there is an interesting indie twist to this streetwise poetic music, not too dissimilar to RL Burnside.

That’s All I Need is chock full of soul, and its bluesy groove will get you in the right frame of mind to go on a bender or, at the very least, provide a cool soundtrack for smackin’ your old lady upside the head — Andre’s words on “Cigarettes And My Old Lady,” not mine. By Peter Viele