Tag Archives: dub

2015 Was Electric

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It’s time for me to pull together another satisfying wrap up of sounds and atmospheres, rhythms, tones and trends from the last year of my music shopping and listening. I wouldn’t call it a best of list, moreso an evocation. When I first became enraptured with music, it was through 50’s and 60’s jazz, the avant 20th century composers, the dj ready dubbed out psychedelia, soundtrack styles, hip hop neck breakers, and futuro drum & bass breakbeat swirls which put the hope of sonic states to the reality of modern states. It was the energy and ambiguity that gave glimpse to the magical and mystical realms.

Touching upon club styles, but relying more on the slowly emerging. Trance through repetition, texture and space. I suppose some might call this experimental or head music. Maybe my neurons are firing a little more often these days. One of the things about music I love is a sound’s ability to transport us to fictional spaces, imaginative landscapes. Sonically to travel time and space in an instant and for sustained periods. The music herein evokes this sensation and touches down for a couple vocal points of reference that man or machine, we are living in the same dream. Different states of play, sleep, pain and desire. Points of view, assumed or real.

2015 Was Electric

Tanzawa II – Sharp Veins
Atomic #80 – Errorsmith & Mark Fell
Samsung India Software Operations II – D’eon
Adult – Egyptrixx
Sect – The Fear Ratio
Like an Amplified Heart – Lily
Gomenasai – Kelela
Twin Warriors (Murlo Remix) – JT The Goon
Ruff – Dressin Red
Be A Man featuring fLako – Seven Davis Jr
Neusa (Afro Trance) Club Edit – Normal Nada
Calypso Fugitive (Original Mix) – Mr One Hundred
Mirage – Kode9
Mint – Lifted
Dreams – Robot Koch feat. Stephen Henderson
Hold Tight (Peaking Lights Dub Mix) – Sinkane
Every Second feat. Perrion – Onra
Deep Court – Nadia Khan
Balance Spring – LV
Gugur – Senyawa
Big Slug (Instrumental) – Pinch & Mumdance
Approach & Identify (Demdike Stare Cross Border Incursion Remix) – Source Direct
Pedal – Fis
Track 3 – Mark Fell & Gábor Lázár
Da Best Thing I Can Affar – Traxman
Untitled – Pearson Sound
444Sure – Rustie

cloud city altitudes 1

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lapstudio

I’m in love with little boxes that can make and play sounds. I was never much of a doodler in my younger days except for a few squiggly lines, lots of concentric circles and jabbing acute angles. These days my doodles are sonics. Sound clears the mind, compresses and stretches time, and is seemingly infinitely permissible. Just let my nephew and niece tool around for a half hour on these little boxes! I love all the buttons, sliders, knobs and keys, too!

With that in mind, I have a few DJ vignettes to share. Just 30 minutes each. Electronic in nature, mostly without vocals, but varied in content and energy. This first one moves between dub techno, minimal uk grime rhythms, cosmic synthesizer textures, acid bleeps and industrial noisiness without settling in one space for too long.

Prokofive

Rocket No. 8 – A Rocket In Dub
Ed 11 – Filter Dread
Ndizi – Pedestrian
Free Access Zone 8 – Shinichi Atobe
Strays – Objekt
HTH020 (The Haxan Cloak’s Cloud of Witness) – Akkord
Axis Shift – ASC
Frontin’ – Demdike Stare
Track Dump – Filter Dread

old and new

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covertrunkcoverdummypop

 

It’s been over a year since I’ve done anything on here. I think possibly because I have less to write about the music than I have music I’d like to share. That said here are a couple mixes. The first is a compilation of two compilations. Titillating and stimulating electronic, groove, soundtrack and jazz oddities that put a smile on my swagger and chicken in my schwarma. Part one from a Trunk records compilation entitled “Funny Old Shit – Volume 1” which was a mere 2 pounds online. Part two of the mix are songs from “Dummy 21st Century Pop Music” on the Dummy label and surveys, as the title implies, contemporary slightly odd, sounds in music.

Funny & Dummy

 

Adrelina

 

This second mix is a awash of drums, synthesizers, world and urban electronic sounds. Bang bang energy and seductive gyrations.

4:00 AM – Taylor McFerrin
Remember (Hieroglyphic Being Version) – Roedelius
West Coast Jungle Juke – Matthewdavid
The Tortoise (Nsaha Edem Ikit) – Ibibio Sound Machine
Jangle – KRNE
Jeidem Fall – Wolf Müller Mix – Tolouse Low Trax
Carimbo (AlanRosales Remix) – Schlachthofbronx
All Under One Roof Raving – Jamie xx
Balearic Incarnation (Todd Terje’s Extra D) – D
I’m Not Dancing (Damian Taylor rejiggle) – Tirzah
Franco – S-Type
Minger – Darq E Freaker
HOW Riddim – Mr One Hundred
Axis Jab Jab (Feat. Bunji Garlin) – Mr One Hundred
Higher Than High (Mr One Hundred Bootleg) – Machel Montano
Hope ft. Rio Hemopo & Sabire Jade – DJ Vadim
Reminiscing – Tanya Stephens
Adelina – Andrea Canta & The Green Man

Easy Ain’t Living

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It was a slow day yesterday in all the best ways. Leftovers from the feast on Thursday, friends stopping through to share light and being, and great music playing in the back. Mr. Oakland was digging this mix I did a couple weeks ago, so here it is. Several of the artists are definitely worth mentioning and following up on as they are relatively newly arrived. I can’t get enough of Charles Bradley’s album “No Time For Dreaming” released on the Daptone record label. The fact that he is back by the Menahan Street Band just solidifies this release as one of the best soul records of the last year. The Stepkids are from LA and do so well at incorporating all kinds of influences into their sound. Teebs is a beatmaker, and his latest “Collection 01” has me cooking, cleaning and paying the rent all day, every day. SBTRKT’s album easily gets into my top 10 from 2011. There are plenty more nuggets for the ears to get into, so press play and enjoy your day.


Easy Ain’t Living

Since Our Last Goodbye – Charles Bradley & Menahan Street Band
B4 the Night is Thru – Jesse Boykins III
Cook, Clean, Pay The Rent (New House Version) – Teebs
La La – The Stepkids
Come Live With Me – Dorothy Ashby
Fragment Zero….And I Kept Dubbin (Album Version) – Kenneth Bager feat Gisli
Youth – Black Uhuru/Paul “Groucho” Smykle
Burial Tonight – Tenastelin
Brixton – Oddisee
Heatwave – SBTRKT
Treats – Cubic Zirconia
1940 (AmpLive Remix) – The Submarines
Go! – Madlib The Beat Konducta ft. Gulity Simpson
Grand Theft Auto – Nicolay & Kay
Life In Marvelous Times – Mos Def
FWD – Nosaj Thing
Certified Air Raid Material – edIT
This Is Dilla’s World – J Dilla
Snow Birds – Mike Slott
Jump Up In the Air and Stay There – Erykah Badu, Lil Wayne & Bilal
Sheared Box – Portishead
Three Days (Elmore Judd Mix) – Hardkandy
Lovin’ You, Baby – Charles Bradley & Menahan Street Band
The Suite Theme – Maxwell
Thug – Maniac
Alicia – Mala

Real Radio: April 2011

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I’ve been on hiatus from posting for many months now, so I’ve got a lot of music to get up here. Let’s start with some recent (and a touch of older for good measure). This first re-installment of the series is something like the transition of winter into spring. Cold nights spent inside with glimpses of the sun returning before it finally does. Great new music from the likes of Gil Scott with Jamie XX, Nicholas Jaar, Chris Turner, Daniel Lanois’ Black Dub project, Julio Bashmore’s deep house sides, Mary J. Blige’s stripped down power, and more. Soul, electronic, dub, classic. Download, stream, enjoy.

Real Radio: April 2011

Gospel Of Opal (ft. Anneka) – Falty DL
Ribble To Amazon – Julio Bashmore
Jels – Joy O
Take Care Of You – Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie XX
Wires (Theo Parrish Remix) – Owiny Sigoma Band
Wires – Owiny Sigoma Band
Like We Used To – Kahn
Intervales Theme – Javelin
Ooo La La La – Teena Marie
Candy Walls – Trust
Why Can’t We Live Together – Timmy Thomas
Someone to Love Me (Naked) – Mary J. Blige feat. Diddy & Lil Wayne
Wink – Little Dragon
Time for Us – Nicolas Jaar
stickyGREEN – Chris Turner
Silverado – Black Dub
The Tea – Choklate
Father Father (Original) – Julio Bashmore
Ride (Original Mix) – Something Good
Rockeez – Souled
Alafia (Alpha & Olmega’s Ethnic Vocal Mix) – Paul Deep Feat. Sheyi
Your Touch – Duffstep

Real Radio #2

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“I can’t live without my radio!”

Today LL Cool J’s line might seem dated. We know longer think of the radio as a large boom box we can walk around with pumping the latest cassettes and hot mix shows. Today’s technology has changed that for good. Radio ain’t dead though. It’s expanded, multiplied and become wildly diverse and more personal. It’s become homogenized and highly programmed. Sounds like differing descriptions, no ? Well, yes. The latter might closely resemble the old idea of the radio. A radio station transmitting its content to your boom box, home stereo or portable radio head set (classic!). You, the listener, decide on which call letters you wish to listen to. The listener’s only choice.

Choice is what has changed it. The internet changed it. Lala, Pandora, podcasting, Last.FM, SoundCloud and the many more streaming, on demand, internet based listening portals have given the listener an infinite amount of choice. Not total choice, mind you, because radio’s most important role has always been in introducing and breaking news and music to the listener. Now, instead of just the narrow and limited selections on the AM/FM bands, the listener has all the choice to fit their mood, whim, need and curiosity.

Real Radio #2: Sunday Moves

Soul for Days

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Lake Merritt

Fall equinox always reminds me of John Coltrane’s birthday (September 23). One of the great musicians of the last century, I’m sure most are aware of some of his work. I think what is most striking to me is the soul he put into the music and outside the music into his life. A spiritual searcher and gentle, contemplative man, his album “A Love Supreme” is an apex in jazz, art and music. It’s an album to listen to in tough times, calm times, quiet times and really any time. One always worth another listen.

I’m not fond of tributes, but this last Friday, I wanted to play a Coltrane song or two and wound up playing Dwight Trible’s wonderful vocal version of “A Love Supreme”. I hear the song as a tribute to Coltrane’s music and life with great performances from all the musicians and a tight arrangement. The rest of this set has nothing to do with Coltrane outside of being soulful and sweet.

Rocksteady Coltrane Soul

My Conversation – Slim Smith
President a Mash Up the Resident – Shorty the President
Tribute to Slim Smith – Tyrone Downie
Eternal Drums – Bongo Herman & L.E.S.
Always Together – Bob Andy & Marcia Griffiths
Danger In Your Eyes – Don Evans and the Paragons
One in the World Style – Niney The Observer/King Tubby
Gedowa – Abyssinia
A Love Supreme – Dwight Trible
La Ritournelle – Sebastien Tellier
Yardbird Suite (Saint Etienne remix) – Rebop/Herbie Mann
Aganju (Latin Project remix) – Bebel Gilberto
Skyy High (Yam Who? mix) – Raphael Saadiq
I’ve Been Waiting – Incognito
Spacefruit – SA-RA Creative Partners

Techno Depths

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Flash

My buddy harbour put together this mix of deep dub techno and electro resolutions. I love this sound. Puts the night sky and distant stars within reach. Echoing sonic pulses dissolving into a night fog. Neither forlorn nor yearning, yet slightly meditative. The world at peace in constant evolution and change.

the estatic sounds of future blossoms mix – harbour

Eternal Finale – Radio India
Espenhain – Marko Furstenberg
8 Finds a Way – Rhythm & Sound
Fine Metallic Dollar – Andy Stott
Rauta (Girl Remix) – Trentemoller vs. DJ Lab
Ok – Ben Klock
Basic – Robert Babicz
Justify (Will Saul and Mike Monday remix) – Ramadaman & Appleblim
Dem Never Know (Sleeparchive Remix) – Rhythm & Sound
Corebox – Marcel Dettmann
Hustler (Shackleton Remix) – Simian Mobile Disco
Above 90 – Peter Van Hoesen
Glitch Dub – Emvee
Whats With My Friends? – Richard Villlalobos
Puttin It Out (A Made Up Sound Remix) – Jason Fine
Black Sun – Kode 9
Another Wedged Chicken (Martyn mix) – Shed
6 – Various Artists (aka Torsten Pröfrock)
Audio1995#8 – T++
Icebarg – EOC
Co Opt (Version) – Antiguo Automata Mexicano
Flashpoint – Jus Wan
Icon – F