It’s been some time since we last posted something for the real hip hop headz out there. Here is a dope joint you might have missed back in the 90s, when Hip Hop (with the capital H) was still about jazzy productions and smooth flowin on the mic. This is still the future of Hip Hop in our opinion, so let’s go back to the future like Marty Mc Fly!
Do you remember “L.I. Groove”? This was in heavy rotation back in 1994.
The group was Hard 2 Obtain from Long Island, and their album “Ism And Blues” is a crazy dope little forgotten gem, especially for the superb production: some sweet soulful jazzy beats in this one. So here it is and let’s groove with us! Let us know if you feel it!
Damn, in the last period I am incredibly busy and I have no time to do anything. Although I want to spend a couple of minutes to suggest you a terrific mix from Grievous Angels. This work is pretty close to perfection in my opinion. The first time I listened to it was more than one year ago (if I recall correctly) and believe me, I was utterly amazed. Now it’s time to pay my tribute.
First of all you have to read HERE what is the idea behind the mix, then, when you have done with that, you should be ready for this trippy journey…
Listen to the mix here! (Search for Blogariddims 21/Fusion Dub)
Our post about Skream’s vintage garage podcast was one of our most successful ever. Now that’s funny because I guess it was not only because Skream’s one of the hottest DJs out now, but also because of the use of the word “Wookie”, which apparently is one of the top searches in Google.
I was not speaking about Chewbacca of course (even if i put a nice pic of Han Solo’s mate), but rather about the legendary producer outta UK.
Well, if that word is so powerful, let’s make another post including Wookie and UK garage music!
This is a podcast from RinseFM and the DJ is Blackdown, one of the pioneers of the Dubstep movement, the guy who put together the classic compilation “The Roots Of Dubstep” on Tempa Records. This set starts with a Wookie Tune I never heard before, “Far East”, a really really good one.
I love this set, it’s a nearly flawless one both for selection and mixing.
Blackdown spins some classic UK Garage Jams (Steve Gurley’s remix of Missy Elliott’s “Hot Boyz” and Miss Dynamite “Boo” are two of my favs) along with new Dubstep and Grime tunes of absolute quality. There’s also a refix of Wiley’s latest anthem, “Wearing my rolex” with Beenie Man vocals magistrally added by Heatwave (and the good news is you can also download this track from their website). A killer tune that demonstrates the affinity between Jamaican and UK urban music. Probably that’s why so many people (me included) are really into both styles.
By the way, Beenie Man is a very community-aware artist. He founded a school where he teaches young girls how to eat ice cream properly, did you knew that?
Check also the two unreleased tracks by Joker, an emerging producer from Bristol who really impressed me with the freshness of his 80’s-synth-funk-infused kind of dubstep. Check this video too, the boy’s got skills.
Enjoy! Blackdown Live on RinseFM 2nd October 2008, and don’t forget to check out his blog too.
Benga on Thursday, Skream and Grand Master Flash on Friday, Theo Parrish on Saturday, what a perfect week end! If you are around Turin you should not miss this great party!
I was in Amsterdam at the beginning of the month and while I was in one record shop (Concerto) I dug out this vinyl looking through the soundtrack section.
Besides being annoyed by one of the employees because, apparently, I was touching the vinyl too much (wtf???), I was lucky to find this strange album. I have no idea who the Kings Road are and the internet seems to have no information at all on them, I guess they were some studio band or something, but when I read “Theme from S.W.A.T” on the cover I thought “this needs a listen” and i was very surprised with it, since most of the time cover versions are not that good
Apart from the Theme from S.W.A.T cover (which I think is quite funky, and is almost up to par with the Rhythm Heritage one), there are other good tunes and some really bad ones (there’s a HAPPY DAYS theme song cover which is pretty awful).
The BARETTA’S THEMEit’s pretty impressive and screams out “SAMPLE ME!”for its break in the beginning!
The STAR TREK THEMEand the MISSION IMPOSSIBLEare quite good as well. Hope you’ll enjoy these tunes and that they’ll keep you satisfied until my next post, which will come soon and, trust me, it will be face-melting!
24 August 1963 - Stevie Wonder became the first artist ever to score a US No.1 album and single in the same week. Wonder was at No.1 on the album chart with ‘Little Stevie Wonder / The 12 Year Old Genius’ and had the No.1 single ‘Fingertips part 2′. The single, which featured Wonder on vocals, bongos and harmonica, and a young Marvin Gaye on drums, was recorded live at a Motor Town Revue performance, and was the first live recording to go to number one.
Last month I had the privilege to see Stevie Wonder in concert.
The show he set was unbelieveble, this man is terrific and he definetely still rocks.
Lookin at him playing with two pianos at the same time, it was “Superstition”, I’ve been wrackin my brain trying to understand how he was doin that, and so nimbly.
It’s truly a testament to Stevie Wonder that, while many great artists of the 70’s collapsed when they tried to adapt to the 80’s style (look no further than Led Zeppelin), he was able to still convey his musical genius.
The most impressive thing is that Stevie Wonder not only had a hand in writing many of these songs but he also plays on many of them as well. Just in case you didn’t know, Stevie Wonder can be heard playing the harmonica, drums, bells, acoustic piano and a couple of different synthesizers on this disc.
He embraced so many music genres in his career, from soul in the sixties (for the legendary Motown Records) to pop and disco and so on…you know he’s still doing his thing.
He didn’t just write love songs; he infused deep, soul-wrenching emotion into them. I dare you to say you don’t get goose pimples listening to “You and I” or “You are the sunshine of my life.” On the flip side, songs like “Superstition” and “Maybe Your Baby” shows how he can jam hard-core. The brother is bad!
Got no photos of the concert, but both the video and the link are top notch quality…check out the Master Blaster!
Yes kids, straight after the 500.000 hits celebration, here we are with another one: it’s our Birthday! 2 Years of MusicSelections with your fav selectors, Martini & Jopparelli!
To do celebrations properly, i’ve prepared a little present for ya. A 40 min mix of Smooth Jazz, Breaks, Funk and Soundtracks straight from my crates. It’s mostly classic stuff: if you’re down with this blog you know the names very well. I tried to suggest a sort of cinematic mood in putting togehter the songs. Relax and listen, I hope you like it. Let’s go with the tracklist:
Intro - skit. I took this one from a recent record, but I won’t tell you which!
Theme From Hong Kong Beat [BBC]. This is an old TV theme from BBC. It’s simple but groovy, a good intro.
Jimmy Lindsay - Ain’t No Sunshine [White Label]. One of the hundreds of versions around, this one’s particular because it starts as a soul tune, then suddenly becomes reggae at a certain point. Do you feel it? We do, absolutely.
Joe Zawinul - In a Silent Way [Atlantic] . Listen how a Jazz master can take you into the deep space in a few seconds. Peep the equipment in this picture!
Joe Simon - Drowning In The Sea Of Love [BGP]. A Classic break, a gorgeous song and a voice that has no equal. Deep, deep soul.
CTI All stars - Inner City Blues/What’s Going On [CTI]- A medley of two super famous themes performed by no one less than all the best CTI musician together in an historic concert in 1972.
Faze-O - Riding High [Warner]. Sampled magistrally by the Beatminerz for Black Moon’s legendary album, this tune is very good even in the original version, a sort of spaced-out funk tune that demonstrates how to use synth sounds properly.
Billy Cobham - Crosswinds [Atlantic]. My fav track of the session, it’s the sample used in “93 Til Infinity” by the mighty Souls Of Mischief. An introspective trip, as Mr. Martini said when he listened this one for the very first time.
Ronnie foster - Mystic Brew [Blue Note]. From the Blue Note crates, here’s the sample used in “Electric Relaxation”, one of my fav hip hop tunes of all times.
Ronnie Laws - Tidal Wave [Blue Note]. From Black Moon, to Tribe, again to Black Moon. Hey Jopparelli, please be more original! The fact is that this song is too nice.
Courtney Pine - Children Of The Ghetto [Island]. One of the songs that introduced me to soul music a lot of years ago. Fallin in love with this style was automatic.
Azymuth - Partido Alto [Milestone]. Recently re-brought to the masses’ attention by Madlib, this group really had some to say in funk music. Pay attention to the rhytmic patterns inside this one. Extraordinaire.
Bill Conti - Reflections [Sound Score Corp.]. Mr. Bill Conti, the master who made the infamous Rocky Theme. This from the same movie, but it’s a slow jam. Brilliant, isn’t it?
Johnny Guitar Watson - Superman Lover [DJM]. This needs no introduction, some great samples inside this one: Lady Of Rage’s Afro Puffs (remember that?), Mad Skillz, Ice Cube’s The Predator and of course the one and only Supaman Lova…
David Axelrod & David McCullum - The Edge [Blue Note]. Another Blue Note production, of course Dre owns a lot of his recent career to this stuff. The funny thing about this tune is that when you play it everybody expect it’s the Dre tune and make a dumb face when they realize it’s not.
Giorgio Moroder - Theme From Midnight Express [Casablanca]. Finally, an italian talent: the king of Synth-based disco, multi-award winning composer Moroder. Watch this picture from the 70s, isn’t this man your hero right now?
Outkast - Return Of The G’s instrumental [White Label]. Based on the Moroder track…
[ This time our guest blogger is really big, as we promised. More than big, bigger. Glyn "Bigga" Bush, from UK, is a major figure in urban music. An eclectic producer who's always been one step ahead of the trends. As you'll read, he's still struggling to push the sound forward and his next source of inspiration is one we are particularly into: Afro Beat. Enjoy! ]
First up thanks to Marty for inviting me to say a few words about myself and my music on this very fine blog.
My first chance to give up the day job came with Rockers Hi Fi, an outfit from Birmingham, England that ran from 1992-2000, with myself and Richard “DJ Dick” Whittingham at the controls.We started out making house tunes, caught up as we were in first rush of the early 90s acid house scene, but soon graduated onto deeper stuff with influences from dub (Scientist and King Tubby), jungle (DJ Krome & Mr Time, Alex Reese, Flynn & Flora), and other more ephemeral styles that were in vogue back then.
Probably our biggest tune was “Push Push” which tore up dance floors all over the globe in 93/94 and was recently remixed by German electro-peeps M.A.N.D.Y.This was our quintessential dub-house track with a beautiful (and much-sampled) vocal from Johnny Osbourne, “He can surely turn the tide…he can push the tempest by…”
But Rockers were always about being very eclectic and we wore our influences proudly, unashamedly borrowing ideas from such diverse sources as Roberta Flack, Silver Apples, Bernard Hermann, Chico Arnez,Lee Scratch Perry, Mikey Dread, Bobby Konders, Plastikman, David Axelrod, old school electro, hip hop, film music, easy listening, spoken word albums, poetry, sound effects records, you name it.
Our first album, “Rockers To Rockers” was originally released on our own Different Drummer label in 1992 before being licensed for worldwide release by Island a year later.This was a great honour for us as it was not only the label introduced Bob Marley to a wider audience, it also had a history of ultra-cool (in my world anyway) releases that I had grown up with, like King Crimson, Roxy Music, Nick Drake, Jethro Tull and many more.Even if these bands were no longer hip in the early 90s, they were part of my musical upbringing.
Our relationship with Island was not destined to last however, as they unceremoniously dropped us after about 18 months.At the time it seemed they thought of Rockers as “the other trip hop act on Island” (Tricky being the pre-eminent one), even though that was only one facet of our overall style.
Undeterred we gathered together a minimal amount of live gear (decks and effects) a maximal MC (Farda P) and a massive digi vs analogue light show and set off around Europe playing to mostly appreciative crowds. In true rock legend fashion we were spotted at a Hamburg gig by the MD of WEA, signing a deal with them that helped cement Rockers’ reputation in Germany, Northern Europe and North America, even if we still struggled to sell records in our home country. You can see a clip of Rockers on tour in about 1996 (watch the Video here) rocking the house with “Uneasy Skanking” and “Copycat” from the Mish Mash album.
We also did a lot of remixes in those days for people such as Sly & Robbie, Dawn Penn, Paul Weller (he didn’t like it, possibly because we didn’t use any of his vocal),St. Etienne (Listen to St. Etienne - On The Shore Rockers Remix), Karma, Banco de Gaia, Nils Petter Molvaer, Yasushe Ide (Listen to Yasushe Ide - Fresh Rockers Version), Earl 16 and Shantel (before his current Balkan boom).
After a few more years of tours in mainland Europe and the US, plus three more albums, ”Music Is Immortal”, “Mish Mash”, “Overproof” and the infamous DJ Kicks Black Album, we eventually called it a day around the end of 1999, after a final remix/remake of Ella Fitzgerald’s “Sunshine of your Love”
Meanwhile I’d moved out of Birmingham to the South West of England, to the countryside and a quieter style of life.This didn’t affect my style of music making at all, which continues to sound pretty urban (with a small “u”) to my ears anyway.I began doing remixes for a whole range of artists including Ennio Morricone, Tosca, Suba, Swayzak, Tony Allen, Boozoo Bajou, Pressure Drop, Up Bustle & Out).
Offers came in from various German imprints for remixes and recordings, the first fruit of which was an album for Best Seven/Sonar Kollektiv “Studio Don” under the name Lightning Head.The concept was to fuse Latin music with reggae, as if Cuba and Jamaica had once been physically joined, rather than being just 90 miles apart. I’d already noticed a lot of parallels between the two styles and the album is an exploration of these ideas, with some heavy batucada-style drumming thrown in for good measure. Looking back now I can see that the common thread between all these styles was their African roots, but I wasn’t so conscious of that back then.
I was also aiming to produce music that sounded like it was all played by the same group in the same studio, like the old Studio One house bands who laid down the rhythm tracks for so many reggae classics. Conceptual stuff aside, probably the best known Lightning Head track from those days was “Me & Me Princess”, a slab of raw dancehall funk featuring Singing Bird.
Apart from Lightning Head I was also producing tracks as BiggaBush, a more dubby, electronic and eclectic sound that you can hear on BiggaBush Free (Listen to BiggaBush - IOTK), and the mix album Sound Sensation on Stereo Deluxe.
By the mid noughties I’d decided to go it alone and control the means of production for myself.Hence I set up Lion Head Recordings and released my first solo album as BiggBush, called “BiggaBush In Dub”.Unsurprisingly this was a collection of fairly chilled tunes featuring a guitar-based rework of Push Push arranged for the Big Chill festival in 2006.
To bring things up to date:since late 2004 I was working on a follow up to Studio Don and around the middle of 05 I was at a party where someone played some really funky tunes by the Daktaris (who I later found out were an early version of Antibalas) that fired my imagination and got me exploring the world of Afrobeat.
Then I hit upon the Soundway label from Brighton UK and its Ghana Soundz and Nigerian comps.It hit me that in the mid-70s black music had really come full circle, from the African roots of reggae, funk and soul that came up through the Americas and the Caribbean and eventually back in the form of James Brown on the Rumble in the Jungle tour. This had a profound effect on African musicians, especially Afrobeat originator Orlando Julius and a host of lesser-known bands. The jury is still out on whether JB influenced Fela or Fela influenced JB.
Whatever – this music was raw, it was funky, it had out of tune guitars, wonky organs and blaring brass and it made you want to get up and party. So I spent the next three years going deep into afrobeat, studying the beats and rhythms, learning the basslines and the guitar parts and assimilating it into my own style.
The results of this continuing obsession can be heard on the new album “13 Faces of Lightning Head” which features collaborations with Earl Zinger (aka Rob Gallagher, Gilles Peterson’s live MC, Red Egyptian and 2 Banks of 4), NYC rap attitude from Candice Cannabis, Latino consciousness from Blanquito Man (King Chango, Up Bustle & Out) and Nigerian MC Lariman Ojelade, plus a full brass section.
-f.jpg)
