Longtime supporter of the rights of Afghani women, AQ-customer Steven Tobin has produced benefit shows and now this double disc benefit cd -- and what a comp it is. The musical choices are all over the genre map yet it works nicely as a sit-down listen, and it will certainly introduce you to many groups you've never heard. Includes experimental indie rock (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Deerhoof, Zmrzlina, The Intima), ethnicky female vocal theatrics (D'yara, Charming Hostess, Jou Jou, Samsara), avant electronics (Blevin Blectum, Bran, Planetsize, Zeek Sheck), quirky weirdness as only East Bay bands can do it (Spezza Rotto, Charming Hostess, Faun Fables, Mono Pause), world-class improvisers (Dave Slusser, Saadet Turkoz, Miya Masaoka), underground hip hop (DeepDickCollective), and much more. All proceeds benefit RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, an organization founded in 1977. Pick this up, feel great about it, and get a genuinely good listen to boot.
MPEG Download: GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR "George Bush Cut Up While Talking" [/audio/azadigodspeed.mp3]
MPEG Stream: GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR "George Bush Cut Up While Talking" [/audio/azadigodspeed.m3u]
MPEG Download: THE INTIMA "The New Savage" [/audio/azadiintima.mp3]
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
We know with the flood of calls and questions we got that lots of you have been really excited for this proto-hip-hop collection to finally arrive. While the recent New York Noise comps did a great job of taking us back to the heyday of the NY post-punk/noise scene, Big Apple Rappin' takes us to that same era in NYC but this time its the early exciting years of hip-hop culture that gets the oh so nice elaborate, thoughtful and tasty Soul Jazz treatment. It had been so hard to get hands on tracks by pioneers like Cold Crush Brothers, Spoonie Gee, T Ski Valley. The Jamaica Girls, etc. These are the sounds that would soon influence the next generation of hip-hop like Run-DMC, The Beastie Boys, Kool Moe Dee, Eric B & Rakim. Something so wonderful about how these sounds really do evoke such good feelings. Every time we play this in the store we notice how customers start tapping feet, then we see their necks start to move back and forth and next thing you know they are pretty much full on dancing. We've even caught some booty's shaking in the metal and experimental sections. So much of the early NYC Hip-Hop scene had such a great sense of freedom, you can hear a much more feminine touch in lots of these songs that would later be a little more scarce to find in the hip-hop scene. You can feel the influence that gay disco and the entire melting pot of NYC had on this exciting era of hip-hop as well. Wax collectors check this out on vinyl as the contents of the double cd can be had on two slabs of double vinyl split into two volumes.
We know with the flood of calls and questions we got that lots of you have been really excited for this proto-hip-hop collection to finally arrive. While the recent New York Noise comps did a great job of taking us back to the heyday of the NY post-punk/noise scene, Big Apple Rappin' takes us to that same era in NYC but this time its the early exciting years of hip-hop culture that gets the oh so nice elaborate, thoughtful and tasty Soul Jazz treatment. It had been so hard to get hands on tracks by pioneers like Cold Crush Brothers, Spoonie Gee, T Ski Valley. The Jamaica Girls, etc. These are the sounds that would soon influence the next generation of hip-hop like Run-DMC, The Beastie Boys, Kool Moe Dee, Eric B & Rakim. Something so wonderful about how these sounds really do evoke such good feelings. Every time we play this in the store we notice how customers start tapping feet, then we see their necks start to move back and forth and next thing you know they are pretty much full on dancing. We've even caught some booty's shaking in the metal and experimental sections. So much of the early NYC Hip-Hop scene had such a great sense of freedom, you can hear a much more feminine touch in lots of these songs that would later be a little more scarce to find in the hip-hop scene. You can feel the influence that gay disco and the entire melting pot of NYC had on this exciting era of hip-hop as well. Wax collectors check this out on vinyl as the contents of the double cd can be had on two slabs of double vinyl split into two volumes.
We know with the flood of calls and questions we got that lots of you have been really excited for this proto-hip-hop collection to finally arrive. While the recent New York Noise comps did a great job of taking us back to the heyday of the NY post-punk/noise scene, Big Apple Rappin' takes us to that same era in NYC but this time its the early exciting years of hip-hop culture that gets the oh so nice elaborate, thoughtful and tasty Soul Jazz treatment. It had been so hard to get hands on tracks by pioneers like Cold Crush Brothers, Spoonie Gee, T Ski Valley. The Jamaica Girls, etc. These are the sounds that would soon influence the next generation of hip-hop like Run-DMC, The Beastie Boys, Kool Moe Dee, Eric B & Rakim. Something so wonderful about how these sounds really do evoke such good feelings. Every time we play this in the store we notice how customers start tapping feet, then we see their necks start to move back and forth and next thing you know they are pretty much full on dancing. We've even caught some booty's shaking in the metal and experimental sections. So much of the early NYC Hip-Hop scene had such a great sense of freedom, you can hear a much more feminine touch in lots of these songs that would later be a little more scarce to find in the hip-hop scene. You can feel the influence that gay disco and the entire melting pot of NYC had on this exciting era of hip-hop as well. Wax collectors check this out on vinyl as the contents of the double cd can be had on two slabs of double vinyl split into two volumes.
Ten years of groundbreaking hip hop releases celebrated in one package -- $28 for *four* discs, over 60 tracks spanning the entire Bomb Hip Hop catalog, and including unreleased stuff as well. This is the label run by SF's own David Paul, who with the Return of
From the folks that brought us the stellar "Return of the DJ" records comes this compilation of RAPPERS from Japan, Germany, Canada, the U.K. and Australia. As usual, the Bomb points the way to the future of hip hop.
Hip hop, called Bongo Flava in Tanzania, has had an odd inverted development in relation to its US mentor. Unlike the US where the genre started in the streets, only to be picked up by the middle class as its popularity spread, it was the children of the wealthy and elite in Tanzania who would bring back western hip hop initially that eventually would trickle down to the poor in Dar es Salaam. But it was the poor who put the creativity and effort into making a full-fledged Bongo Flava scene -- though the production resources are still in the hands of the few, which results in an industry not disimilar to Jamaica's burgeoning music industry in the early seventies. What's more, while the faces of American rap stars grace the walls of clubs (there are some nice photos of such included with the accompanying booklet) and music stalls are pasted with their promotional posters, it's the local Bongo Flava stars that top the charts in Dar es Salaam, not the Americans. This is partially out of a sense of national pride, but also to the fact that the Tanzanian listeners can understand the Swahili lyrics of the local singers, which makes them a great deal more compelling to listen to than someone they can't understand. Part of this sense of national spirit can be attributed to former president Julius K. Nyerere, the first president after the country acheived independence, who sought to unify the country, which included making the official language of Tanzania Swahili. Now, despite the derision of elder Tanzanians who see the music as hooligan's music, the Swahili spoken Bongo Flava can be heard almost everywhere in Dar es Salaam. The production on these tracks shows just how far the digital age and software based home recording studios have made it possible for those of minimum means to approach the production standards set by the well heeled studios of the west. CD comes with a thick booklet detailing the history of Bongo Flava and short bios on the included artists.
"The Breaks", which is subtitled "Original B-Boy Street Funk and Block Party Classics," is, believe us, one of the best. The breakbeat era was filled with funky, complex beat-heavy black music that emerged as a direct response to the mindless obviousness of suburban white disco. The tracks here all hail from the '70s and most have been sampled by a few choice contemporary artists with the know-how to recognize a good break when they hear one (Dr Dre, Mantronix, Roxanne Shante, Geto Boys, Cypress Hill... even Deee-lite). There's the Jackson 5, Yellow Sunshine, King Errisson, and tons of other obscure geniuses. Also contains Windy's favorite singer Nina Simone with her funkiest song EVER (and a highly sought-after one at that).
UK import.
Pretty cool comp of lesser known beat mashers gathered on this here compilation to protest police violence. Lot of lo-fi, blurred and bombastic beats, from digital hardcore skull snap to more sort of lower impact hip hop flecked beatscapes. You'll probably recognize Nettle and maybe Zipperspy, and there's a DJ/Rupture remix, but other than that, this comp is chock full of possible new discoveries. Check it out.
MPEG Download: NETTLE "End Of Public Space" [/audio/nettleendofpublic.mp3]
North American compilation features contributions from Cannibal Ox, Them (featuring Dose One of cLOUDDEAD), Obscure Disorder (featuring Non-Phixion), Youngblood Brass Band (with Talib Kweli), MC Paul Barman (produced by Prince Paul!), bonus beats from turntable wiz A-Trak, and many more.
'Collision Course' is an awesome compendium of the confrontational hip-hop/electronica linking Public Enemy and Alec Empire in both militant posturing and penchant for noise. A good portion of the tracks are exclusive to compilation and include some of our favorite damaged beatmongers such as Sensational, Fever, Ice, Anti-Pop Consortium, DJ Scud / Nomex, Patric C, Bomb 20, and more! Compiled by Kevin Martin (Ice, God, Techno Animal, etc.) who is also responsible for the Macro Dub Infection series as well as the amazing Isolationist compilationn from a few years back.
This *excellent* hip hop comp was put together by Joseph Patel, one of the co-founders of the Solesides label, and also one of the guys responsible for the groundbreaking first volume of the Deep Concentration series released in 1997 that had Cut Chemist on it, plus Latyrx, Prince Paul etc. Patel is well aware of what's happening in our currently wank-heavy world where anyone and everyone claims to be a DJ; the press release reads: "The once spectacular potential of turntablists seems to have devolved into a theater of the mundane: turntable masturbation, scratching for scratching's sake. While DJs on the competitive circuit certainly flash their talents, song trumps sport any day." What he said!
So what we have here is eleven quality tracks, most of them certainly qualifying as high points for their makers, as well as being exclusives. El-P (Def Jux / Cannibal Ox) opens the album with a crazily catchy instrumental featuring an ebullient booty-shakin' chord progression plus lots of warm 'n scratchy vinyl crackle. This track is going to make me buy his album. Further on, Anti-Pop Consortium's typically manic case of attention deficit disorder never sounded this great. Peanut Butter Wolf likewise contributes one of the best pieces I've ever heard from the guy, and Freestyle Fellowship's track is hilarious. Other participants include This Kid Named Miles (Breakestra), Omid, Recloose, Chief Xcel of Blackalicious, Z-Trip, legendary "Lessons"-creator Steinski, and more. There's a coupla duds, in my opinion, but all in all I'd say this is one of the best hip hop comps to come out of the underground in a long while.
Skiz Fernando, the mastermind behind WordSound, the underground illbient hiphop label outta Crooklyn, NY (now relocated to Baltimore, actually), has written, produced, and directed a straight-to-dvd movie called Crooked. It stars our favorite laid-back,
The double-disc digipack contains a dvd of "Crooked" and also a cd with the film's 21-track, 73 minute soundtrack, featuring Sensational, Anti-Pop Consortium, Spectre, Scotty Hard, Prince Paul, Unipod, Leon Lamont, Ish, Mad Luck & Robo, and Mentol Nomad. Dark, druggy, damaged, dubby hiphop in the freaky WordSound style is what you'll find here, and with the exception of Sensational's cuts, we're told all are exclusive to this soundtrack.
As for the dvd itself, well, you know how your parents taught you, if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all? Well, we're gonna try to apply that rule here, but we will just say it's a sometimes amusing, mainly tedius bonus to a pretty great WordSound compilation cd! The liner notes compare it to Space Is The Place, Wild Style, Rockers, and Ghost Dog! Definitely not. Although it's funny to see Sensational acting (and he's not bad), this would have been so much better if they would have just made a real documentary about the whole WordSound scene, rather than trying to make a fictional "movie". It's also possible that Skiz and Co. were so stoned when they edited it that they left stuff in they were supposed to take out, or vice versa...
But, it has its moments -- some of the best parts feature the horrified reactions of a snotty record store clerk and a sleazy label exec to Sensational's lo-fi rap stylings. And, WordSound headz will want to check it out anyway, along with the soundtrack.
Wordsound sold us this direct, apparently it's not available through their regular distribution channels, so it may prove to be a rather "limited" release.
Going back to the beginnings of the "illbient" movement, the blissed out drus soaked dub sounds that this series has chronicled over the years, this double-cd reissue of the first two volumes traces the early years of the mostly Brooklyn folks who were influenced heavily by dub and who then started to create electronic music with much of the aesthetics and pathos of their dub mentors. Heavy on the bass, leaving some space and keeping things down and dirty was the common bond between artists like Sub Dub, Him, Spectre, and the only known name at that time Bill Laswell. Looking back at this era '91-'94 it's nice to see who still sounds fresh and interesting (the above mentioned for sure) and yeah there are a few tracks that didn't really age too well, but the good for sure outweighs the not so hot. Nice for those times when you wanna go to outer space as much as u wanna be in Jamaica. Oh and check out the diss in the liner notes to DJ Spooky for taking all the glory from a scene that actually had many others doing more innovative and interesting stuff then he was.
WordSound's Crooklyn crew is back with an other comp of dark, low-slung beats and breaks. Just like the previous volumes, this is the illest of the "illbient", perfect for pumping on the stereo as you cruise in your car, headlights off, through the urban streets at night, looking for trouble. (We're not really suggesting you to do that, we're just trying to paint a picture here.) Usual suspects on board this time include: Spectre, Twilight Circus, Prince Charming, Bill Laswell, DJ/Rupture, Scotty Hard, Roots Control, Zion Train and others.
Getting 'crunk' is apparently a favorite pastime of rappers and their fans in the southern portion of the United States. The term is probably derived from the words crazy and drunk, and now has come to be used to refer to a whole style of hip hop, one that's certainly all about unabashed hedonism. It's dance-oriented, bumpin' bouncin' club music. Wild, crowd-pleasing party anthems driven by kickin' drum machine rhythms, always with a catchy, repetitive vocal refrain, usually celebrating the joys of crunkdom. Decadent, and fun. (And like a lot of rap and pop music in general, perhaps less than socially responsible!) I can't pretend to be any sort of expert on Dirty South hip hop soundz, so I can't really tell you if this Crunk'd comp is a comprehensive survey or if they've left out some crucial cuts. But what I'm hearing is good stuff, and I have no doubts that these are bonafide crunk artists! This comp, selected by DJ Greg Street, features 14 tracks from the Yin Yang Twins, B.G., Soulja Slim, Lil' Flip, and members of the Three 6 Mafia, amongst others. Definitely a decent sampler, and a way to check out what might just be a whole new lifestyle for you...though you yourself don't have to get crunk to enjoy this music, much as you can be into stoner rock without getting stoned -- just ask straightedge Bongzilla fan Andee! So, grab this and get crunk!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Cue's, a hip hop retail shop on Mission Street in Daly City, has released this comp featuring many of the most happening names in local (and national!) turntablism and rap, including: the X-Ecutioners' Rob Swift, Rasco, Kut Masta Kurt, Beat Junkies' Roc Raida, Mr Dibbs, and 3 of the Skratch Piklz.
(Paraphrased from the back cover of this, again, EXTREMELY LIMITED release:)
Hot on the heels of the St. Ides rap compilation "DJ Drank's Greatest Malt Liquor Hits" in the "Hip Hop History Collectors' Series" comes "DJ Dank's Biggest Bong Hits" featuring the best of West Coast 1990's hip hop/rap dank (weed) anthems including Tha Alkaholiks' "Mary Jane," Luniz' "I Got 5 On It (Remix)," and Total Devastation's "Many Clouds of Smoke." With every other hip hop track including some reference to getting high there are tons of rhymes about joys of the sticky green. And one of the best times for weed anthems, especially on the West Coast, was the first half of the nineties (hip hop's "blunted" era) when Dr. Dre released "The Chronic," Cypress Hill reigned supreme, and such classics as RBL Posse's "Don't Gimme No Bammer Weed," Total Devastation's "Many Clouds Of Smoke," The Luniz' "I Got Five On It," and The Pharcyde's "Pack The Pipe" were all released. The so-bad-it's-good "Leprechaun In The Hood" boasts a classic weed moment when Ice T shares "the bomb" with the evil lil green fella ("A friend with a weed is a friend indeed!"). Note that back in 1993 when it seemed like everyone was getting blindly blunted the lone dissenting voice of Boots offered up an alternate view ("ain't no revolution gonna come from the blunted") in "The Last Blunt" on the Coup's debut, "Kill My Landlord."
VERY LIMITED. And we think the blurb on the back of the cd says it best, so we'll just quote it:
Before the appropriately named Alkaholiks DJ/producer E-Swift hooked up with King Tee and DJ Pooh to work on a series of 60-second St. Ides TV and radio commercial spots that they had been commissioned to do: complete with a budget that allowed them to bring in some of the best emcees of the day. These rap commercials were really really good (they sound better than most commercial rap crap today!) and were so immensely popular at the time (early 90's when commercial radio didn't play nearly as much rap as today, esp. West Coast artists) that they resulted in listeners jamming radio station request lines at stations like Wild 107, San Francisco just to hear Cube or the Geto Boys rap about their favorite high-octane malt liquor. Not surprisingly with lyrics like Cube's "Get your girl in the mood quicker, get your jimmy thicker, with St. Ides malt liquor," it wasn't long before controversy soon overshadowed the advertising campaign. Outraged protests followed particularly in African-American and Hispanic communities where malt-liquor billboards and posters were defaced. Additionally the St. Ides commercials were publicly criticized by the U.S. Surgeon General and the New York State Consumer Protection Commission and drew fines from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, as well as the New York State Attorney General's Office. Additionally Korean grocers boycotted St. Ides, but for a different reason, for their use of Ice Cube as their spokesperson. Their protest was based on Cube's derogatory lyrical comments about Koreans in his album "Death Certificate." (Note: McKenzie River, the San Francisco-based maker of St. Ides, consequently temporarily discontinued using Ice Cube.) But the biggest criticism of the St. Ides commercials was that it used hip hop/rap music, a genre most popular with teenagers at the time, to sell malt liquor directly to underage drinkers. This was further enforced when St. Ides blatantly marketed a nonalcoholic drink for kids, boldly using the St. Ides name/logo (check out the lyrics to Ice Cube's "Crooked I For All Ages" track #30). Overall the reaction to the St. Ides ads was so intense that G. Heileman Co., the national brewer that had created the St. Ides label, disavowed any connection with St. Ides. And eventually the commercials were banned altogether and never heard/seen again.
With Ice Cube, Yo-Yo, Geto Boys and Scarface, Snoop Dogg, Wu Tang Clan, Eric B & Rakim, EPMD, and many more. 30 tracks in all. VERY LIMITED.
Kids. Elephants. One thing they have in common: they're both cute. (And don't even get me started about baby elephants...) So, maybe it's no surprise then that Dave Soldier, best known in the AQ universe as the guy who brought us those two wonderful Thai Elephant Orchestra recordings (and also well known for his own Soldier String Quartet), would also be part of a project to help inner-city grade school kids express themselves as hip hop artists!! Or maybe it is a surprise. But either way, it's pretty cool! As "outsider" artists go, these kids are a bit more "normal" than musical elephants, but still totally charming and amazing. As soon as we found out about this we knew we had to hear it. And as soon as we heard it, we were hooked. These kids, 5-10 year olds from the Amber Charter School in East Harlem, NYC, are so obviously having fun. We're lucky to get to listen in. And they're young enough not to be trying too hard to sound like anything other than kids, no tweenage gangsta posturing here! The influence of commercial, MTV style hiphop is hardly apparent. In fact, a lot of this only sounds remotely like "hip hop" at all -- sure there's beats, and raps, and keyboards, but it's all a lot more spacey and weird and atmospheric than you might expect. ESPECIALLY on one of our favorite tracks, "Ghosty", sung by a little girl named Isabella. She's invented something new there. Genius.
Among the contributors to the 16 tracks found here, you're sure to find a few of your favorite new bands. And band names. Some of 'em are fairly ordinary kid stuff: The School Rock Band, Hiphop Skyhigh, Los Nonameos, Looneytunes, Tuff Kidz, ABC Group... but others are simply inspired. What group of arty white-belted 20-something noiseniks wouldn't be happy if they'd thought up 911 Rock N Roll Coyotes for themselves, for instance?? There's also Franchize Children, Boys & Girls Club Of The Night, and Muffletoes, to name a few other favorites. Basically, the kids got together in groups of four to write and play their own music, naming their "bands" themselves and basically being let loose to do their own thing.
So, what role did Dave Soldier and the teachers at the Amber Charter School play in hooking up these tunes? Well, unlike kid-metal project Rock Jack (another AQ fave, sadly out of print), the kids played all the music here as well as providing the vocals. Those are DEFINITELY kids on the keyboards! The beats were programmed by the kids too, though of course the recording was supervised by grown-ups. So adults gave guidance, but it's pretty clear that it's the kids' creativity being given full reign, certainly the lyrical subject matter of these songs had to come from the kids: candy, monsters, school, fried chicken, playtime, Barney... But don't think that it's all fun and games. Some of these tracks have fairly serious themes, like the Tuff Kidz' "I Don't Want You No More"!
In sum, totally recommended! If you like the vibe of things like Rock Jack, the Langley Schools Music Project, and the Kids Of Widney High, we think you'll dig dese Hip Hop Raskalz -- all of whom could easily be described as being hip hop versions of the Shaggs! Or, comparing this to some 'real' hiphop, we'd say a lot of this reminds us of a childlike version of AQ fave Sensational!!
Wow - a double cd of turntablist/breakbeat/jungle/hiphop flavors, featuring a real who's who: the X-Men, DJ Wally, Prince Paul, Cut Chemist, Peanut Butter Wolf, members of the Beat Junkies, Mumbles, Lyrics Born & Lateef, and others! Plus, for the technologically advanced, there's a bonus Mac/Windows95 CD-ROM interactive sample sequencer for looping your own beats. Cool.
Third in this series of turntablist compilations (following Deep and Deeper--why isn't this Deepest?). Starring Craze, Radar, T-Rock & Faust, People Under the Stairs, Ming & FS, DJ Revolution, Space Travelers, Plagaiwrists and more! Pretty killer, expanding notions of turntablism in more fertile directions.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
A new compilation to follow the crowd pleasing "Deep Concentration" collection of turntablism and electronica with tracks from Mixmaster Mike, Rob Swift, DJ Spooky, Apollo & Fluid Motion, Beat Junkies, and many more! This is far more "hip hop" than the first volume. Also comes with MixMan program which you can stick in your computer and remix the sounds on the cd itself.
Label sampler number two from the only hip hop label that seems to matter anymore, Def Jux. Dark and off kilter, aggressive and bizarre, funky and totally fucked. 12 tracks, 10 of which are previously unreleased. Features: El-P, Aesop Rock, Cannibal Ox, Mr.
Not sure we need to say anything about this. We all know Def Jux rules the hip hop underground. And rightfully so. El-p is one of the most creative artist / producers around, and as far as an insane stable of artists, c'mon, Aesop Rock, S.A. Smash, Murs, Cage, etc. This comp also introduces us to a handful of up and comers: Hangar 18, Rob Sonic, Despot, 4th Pyramid, the Perceptionists (Mr. Lif, Akrobatiks and Fakts One) and Carnage! All of them as wicked as you would expect! Gonna be a serious year of debut full lengths if this sampler is any indication. The cd comes with a bonus DVD featuring videos from El-P, Aesop Rock, C-Rayz Walz, and Mr. Lif.
About a year ago we wrote about a 12" split of a couple of Wackie's tracks that were both amazing in their own ways. The A-Side was Horace Andy's "Musical Episode", an extended 12" mix which is probably one of the best disco mixes we'd ever heard and the B-Side was an absolutely bizarre extended mix called the "Wack Rap" from 1979 and featuring some completely off kilter impersonations of the Sugarhill Gang. Well, Dis-Joint records, the fellas who released that 12", have put together a nice compilation of tracks featuring the aforementioned along with several singles -- new and old -- that their label has released. Now the vinyl-ly challenged can also join in on the enjoyment of these two tracks and then some. There's quite a few rare tracks here, including an instrumental mix of Ronnie Gee's "Raptivity" from 1980, Zap Pow's reggae homage to Kool & The Gang "Lottery Spin" recorded at Dynamic Sounds way back in 1976, plus some new dance floor cuts inspired from the old school by the likes of DJs Cool Chris & Romanowski, Ben Cook & Deep Fuzz, Dub Diablo and more.
The Numero Group goes digging deep once again and come up for air with some mighty fine disco and proto-hip-hop jams from the super obscure vaults of an early '80s NY label called Tap. From start to finish this lavishly packaged collection offers up helping after helping of killer grooves and funky jams, from that magical era where funk and disco were the seeds that would blossom into the hip-hop scene that would soon blow up bigtime.
While names like Jackie Stoudemire, Magnetism, Arnie Love & The Lovettes and Fabulous 3 MC's might not have become household names, after listening to their tracks on this comp you will be wishing you could get your hands on more of their goods. Every time we put this on we start to have fantasies about being in NY during this era and blasting these songs on a playground while we do some double dutch and then catch ESG playing a show in the Bronx, and afterwards heading to the Paradise Garage where we dance the night away with Larry Levan.
This is going to go right up their with The Third Unheard, Big Apple Rappin and the new Funky Nassau collection as one of our favorite party perfect comps of all time. And of course there's a massive booklet with liner notes detailing the full of the story of the Tap label and all the trouble and adventures it took to actually get these amazing sounds into the world. We are so glad they did!
Groundbreaking ten-year old underground hip hop label releases a new 2-disc compilation for the nice price of one. Bomb Hip Hop was responsible for the Return of the DJ compilations which brought the label into worldwide spotlight, and they've been going strong ever since. The tracks on this comp are not throwaways, each one is a strong showpiece. The second disc is a cool contrast
The Numero Group's Eccentric Soul series has long unearthed some of the best obscure regional soul sides no one has ever heard before, many of them up there with being our most favorite soul compilations, so we were both excited and a bit dubious to discover that someone (the mysteriously monikered Shoes) had made a re-edit mix using nothing but samples from Numero's many soul reissues and released it on a label called "Numbero". Hmmm. Check out the cheesy late '80s/ early '90s throwback cover, a tongue and cheek tribute to those Ultimate Breaks and Beats compilations that always had skeletons blinged out in hip hop gear or a DJing octopus on the covers. This one features a skull-headed crate digger with a blinged out Numero label medallion swinging around his neck with various Eccentric Soul albums lined up on the back wall. While we had been questioning the possible legalities of such a release, we managed to get the story straight from Numero Group head honcho, Ken Shipley, who in a bizarre instance of synchronicity, happened to show up in the store one night just as we put this compilation on. Apparently, the record showed up at the Numero offices housed in an old saw blade sleeve. From the opening riff taken from The Home Schooled compilation, Shipley instantly recognized the sample, and the many hundreds following it (he says he has identified all the samples except for a few drum and percussion tracks that he couldn't be certain were from the original sources or added in). Using the manufacturing ID number on the vinyl (the same manufacturer Numero uses) he managed to locate the perpetrator and instead of trying to fight it legally, decided to release it himself. Smart move, because like Dilla, Oh No, Onra and Madlib, this is one of the best re-edit mixes we've heard, taking small snippets of various soul pieces (vocal snippets, horn riffs, rhythm guitars etc.) and weaving them seamlessly in something altogether new. And there is no DJ grandstanding, scratching or self-promotion you sometimes find in DJ mixes, just a killer fluid mix of sonic soul ear-candy from beginning to end. A glorious well thought through undertaking that you can instantly recognize as a labor of love! Note on the track listing: there are 13 titled songs but the cd only reads as two tracks and since the tracks are all woven together, it's hard to tell which part is called what, so we just made long excerpts for the sound samples. Awesome!!!!!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
The local improv jazz label - Asian Improv - presents this benefit compilation of West Coast hip hop for the Asian Pacific Islander Student Alliance. Featuring Latyrx, Encome, Mista Sinsta, Mountain Brothers, DJ Rhettmatic, Medusa, KNT, Zion I, 427, Anomalies, DJ Vinroc, Visionaries, and more.
NYC underground hip hop label Fondle 'Em says goodbye with this collection of singles, featuring Kool Keith, El-P of Company Flow, M.F. Doom, The Arsonists, and more...Great!
Holy shit, this is what we've been waiting for! Soul Jazz comes correct with an essential collection of the fierce and fired up sounds of the early queens of hip-hop. This is basically everything we love about hip-hop, captured in one monstrous collection, perfectly reflecting out love of both old school hip hop and more specifically female MC's, proving one again that the ladies knew how to do it best!
Filled with sass, strength, humor and charged sexuality, these ladies weren't just trailblazers, they made songs that still sound so damn catchy and irresistible all these years later.
While a big shift happened for sure it's important to remember that hip-hop's origins were strongly connected to strong females and even queer spirit. Coming out of the disco and funk scenes of late '70s New York there was a whole generation of girls who grew up empowered to take the mic and take no prisoners as they did so. So many of those amazing women are on this collection. Roxanne Shante, Sweet Tee, Sequence, Cookie Crew, JJ Fad, Queen Latifah (yes, she once was way fierce!), MC Lyte, Dimples D, Missy Elliott, and way more. There are those of us who remember these tracks from back in the day and we're equally excited for a whole new generation to get blown away by the colorful energy in these sounds, kids who have grown up on MIA, Lil' Kim, Fannypack, and Yo Majesty will get to hear just where those sounds came from! While the early '80s was the heyday for these sounds, what makes Fly Girls such a cool collection is that it's a three decade retrospective which brings the best of the female MCs from the late '70s all the way to the early '90s. These tracks make us wanna dust off our old sneakers and head to the playground with nothing but a boombox, a piece of cardboard and some friends 'cause with these songs blasting that's all you need for an instant party!
Holy shit, this is what we've been waiting for! Soul Jazz comes correct with an essential collection of the fierce and fired up sounds of the early queens of hip-hop. This is basically everything we love about hip-hop, captured in one monstrous collection, perfectly reflecting out love of both old school hip hop and more specifically female MC's, proving one again that the ladies knew how to do it best!
Filled with sass, strength, humor and charged sexuality, these ladies weren't just trailblazers, they made songs that still sound so damn catchy and irresistible all these years later.
While a big shift happened for sure it's important to remember that hip-hop's origins were strongly connected to strong females and even queer spirit. Coming out of the disco and funk scenes of late '70s New York there was a whole generation of girls who grew up empowered to take the mic and take no prisoners as they did so. So many of those amazing women are on this collection. Roxanne Shante, Sweet Tee, Sequence, Cookie Crew, JJ Fad, Queen Latifah (yes, she once was way fierce!), MC Lyte, Dimples D, Missy Elliott, and way more. There are those of us who remember these tracks from back in the day and we're equally excited for a whole new generation to get blown away by the colorful energy in these sounds, kids who have grown up on MIA, Lil' Kim, Fannypack, and Yo Majesty will get to hear just where those sounds came from! While the early '80s was the heyday for these sounds, what makes Fly Girls such a cool collection is that it's a three decade retrospective which brings the best of the female MCs from the late '70s all the way to the early '90s. These tracks make us wanna dust off our old sneakers and head to the playground with nothing but a boombox, a piece of cardboard and some friends 'cause with these songs blasting that's all you need for an instant party!
Holy shit, this is what we've been waiting for! Soul Jazz comes correct with an essential collection of the fierce and fired up sounds of the early queens of hip-hop. This is basically everything we love about hip-hop, captured in one monstrous collection, perfectly reflecting out love of both old school hip hop and more specifically female MC's, proving one again that the ladies knew how to do it best!
Filled with sass, strength, humor and charged sexuality, these ladies weren't just trailblazers, they made songs that still sound so damn catchy and irresistible all these years later.
While a big shift happened for sure it's important to remember that hip-hop's origins were strongly connected to strong females and even queer spirit. Coming out of the disco and funk scenes of late '70s New York there was a whole generation of girls who grew up empowered to take the mic and take no prisoners as they did so. So many of those amazing women are on this collection. Roxanne Shante, Sweet Tee, Sequence, Cookie Crew, JJ Fad, Queen Latifah (yes, she once was way fierce!), MC Lyte, Dimples D, Missy Elliott, and way more. There are those of us who remember these tracks from back in the day and we're equally excited for a whole new generation to get blown away by the colorful energy in these sounds, kids who have grown up on MIA, Lil' Kim, Fannypack, and Yo Majesty will get to hear just where those sounds came from! While the early '80s was the heyday for these sounds, what makes Fly Girls such a cool collection is that it's a three decade retrospective which brings the best of the female MCs from the late '70s all the way to the early '90s. These tracks make us wanna dust off our old sneakers and head to the playground with nothing but a boombox, a piece of cardboard and some friends 'cause with these songs blasting that's all you need for an instant party!
On October 29, 2000, the United States Supreme Court ruled against the appeal of Mumia Abu-Jamal who, unjustly convicted of murdering a policeman, has been on death row for 18 years. This means the governor of Pennsylvania can sign the execution order at any time. The case against Mumia is completely fucked, if you hadn't already heard. Four witnesses said they saw someone else shoot the cop and flee the scene; two witnesses at the trial came forward and said they'd been forced by the police to lie under oath; the obviously-biased judge that has overseen his case from the beginning has sentenced twice as many people to death than any other judge in the country; the list of travesties goes on and on.
If Mumia's life has ever depended on a public, international outcry of support, it's right now more than ever. So this benefit cd is one form of that: an impressive, internationally assembled roster of musicians all contributing tracks, most of them exclusive and composed specifically for and about Mumia. It's really, really excellent music -- a scintillating survey of utterly contemporary grooves -- from wailing reggae to downtempo triphop, righteous and fiery hiphop, dub, and jungle. Contributors include Roni Size, Primal Scream (with Augustus Pablo), Asian Dub Foundation, Fun-Da-Mental, Third Eye Foundation, Zion Train, Smith & Mighty, the Rootsman, Chumbawumba, and so many more.
Double cd with fat booklet containing details of the case, quotes from the Declaration of Independence, Martin Luther King Jr, Rage Against the Machine, Amnesty International, and Mumia himself. And fascinating sections on the Black Panthers, the fucked up US prison system, other political victims like the Rosenbergs and Leonard Peltier, tons of contact and web-related info, and more.
See here for more Amnesty International's detailed and complete report [http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/reports/mumia/content.html].
Funky compilation of turntablism, hip hop, soul, and more, all to benefit music education in urban public schools. Featuring Cut Chemist, Jurassic 5, The Beat Junkies, Ozomatli, Black Eyed Peas, Divine Styler, Aceyalone, and others.
Wu Tang's The RZA put together this popular disc with songs from the soundtrack to Jim Jarmusch's film Ghost Dog. Dark urban Hip hop R&B tracks mixed with "samurai code quotes" from the flick. Sunz of Man, Black Knights, Kool G Rap, Masta Killah, Jeru, Wu Tang Clan, The RZA himself and others appear.
It's nice to see a compilation that pays tribute to and includes stuff from hip hop's past, as well as showcasing the vanguard of the future. The newest offering from HipHopSlam, the label run by local hiphop mainstay Billy Jam (he also did the Shiggerfragger
Killer three way split from three local modern hip hop / electronica outfits, one of which, the awesomely titled Lazer Sword, just so happens to include our very own Antaeus. So let's start with the Lazer Sword, who of the three are probably our favorites, and we're not just saying that cuz of Antaeus, nope, we're saying that, cuz of the three, LS are the hardest and the grittiest, with fierce beats, and crazy hidden hooks, each of the three tracks are full on�looped, stuttering, skipping dancefloor fillers, with big beats that shuffle and pound, vocals chopped up into strange hiccuping rhythms, buzzing synths and throbbing bin rattling bass, angular alien melodies, everything sharp and grinding, but warm and thick at the same time. We�definitely hear some Justice in there, and boy would Lazer Sword be right at home on one of those Ed Rec comps. But just because Lazer Sword are our favorites, doesn't mean the other two bands don't 'rock' just as hard, cuz they do, only differently.�
Ghosts on Tape is a bit groovier, a little more laid back, "Mogadishu Night Life" has a definite dancehall vibe, with Eastern melodies, and rhythms chopped and looped into some strange circusy hip hop jam, "Port Moresby" is rife with more block rocking beats, weird swooping FX, robotic and machinelike, some cyborg freaked out future funk for sure, and their last track, "Scraped Up", is muted murky slither, complete with a super recognizable sitar sample, but smeared into a blur of fuzzy synths, thumping beats and blown out buzz.
Finally, Hours Of Worship deliver three tracks of swooshy fuzzy pop ambient techno, the beats simple pulses beneath dense clouds of looped vocal samples and swirls of dense FX, strangely propulsive chill out music, minor key melodies, and a bit of cinematic epic-ness, that over the course of their three tracks, drifts from four on the floor pound (but a soft and shimmering pound), two mumbly almost heroin house, to the closer, a dreamy, eighties style slab of New Order-y new wave, complete with rainy day melody and a blurry washed out M83 sheen over the whole thing. So good.�
All we have to say to dance music dorks is fuck Europe, people better start looking to the US (and maybe to SF in particular) for the new breed of dancefloor destroyers, cuz they're right here...
Thanks in part to the movie "24 Hour Party People" there's been quite a revival in the last few years in curisoity about and reflections of the Manhester party/music scene of the late '80s/'90s. The center of all this dancing, drugging, and going on and on till the break of dawn was none other then the Nightculb Hacienda founded by New Order's Peter Hook. It was within the Hacienda's walls that much of the debauchery, indulgence, and fun/wasted times went down. This 3-disc box set put together by Hook himself compiles the sounds that were blaring out the speakers during its heyday. 808 State, Happy Mondays, Primal Scream, Jaydee, Eric B & Rakim, Candi Staton and of course New Order are just some the groups found on this here collection. For those of you who have been craving th sights and sounds and tastes more tastes of that wonderfully wicked Manchester club-scene then this is a party in a box for you. Sorry no purple pills included.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
We only have a limited quantity of these little gems, so be forewarned. Even before we started becoming inundated with "mash ups" and the compilations featuring them -- The Best Bootlegs In The World Ever, 2 Many DJ's, not to mention DJ Rupture's excellent mixes -- we were able to pick up, quite briefly, 7" releases which featured ragga dancehall a capellas remixed over the hot hip hop rhythms of the day. The labels printing these -- RMC, Special Remix & Killa -- printed short runs, and often the best mixes were long gone before we could even write about them. Those singles are long out of print and the labels that released them have all vaporized as well, but the folk(s) at Batty Bombaclaat have preserved some of the best for a brief second time around for the rest of us stuck in the digital realm. In all, nineteen tracks on this cd-r, each one amazing in its own way. For starters, the two genres -- hip hop and dancehall -- are taylor made for a good mash up. Hip hop's formation owes much to Jamaican DJ's and sound systems that supported them. In turn early Jamaican artists owe much of their inspiration to the early soul and R&B that was imported to the island at the early ages of the sound system. In recent years with the maturation of raggamuffin dancehall, and Jamaican artists cameoing on American hip hop artists' albums, the lines between hip hop and dancehall have been further blurred. Ward 21's first full length is a classic example of hip hop influenced dancehall, and Soul Jazz's excellent compilation Nice Up The Dance further illustrated the connections between the genres. The singles compiled on this anthology are more blunt than that, but the results are no less wonderful. Some, Like Lexxus' "Bounce A Gal" (which uses Missy Elliott's "Get Ur Freak On" as its rhythm) are great in their complete contrast to the original hit. When Missy's track came out it was impossible not to hear it 5 times a day; and of course, the rhythm was recycled many times by many artists from Timbaland himself to Kid 606. The great thing about the Lexxus mix is that Lexxus's voice is so anti-thetical to Missy's. He sounds like an insane person with a bad head cold who snuck into the studio. Other tracks, like Sizzla's "Never Want To Heard A Dem", best the originals. Mixed over M.O.P.'s "Ante Up", Sizzla's vocals turn an otherwise mediocre track into a fucking blood spittingly amazing one. The rhythm is so fucking great it would have been such a disappointment to let it get relegated to the dust bin of history with M.O.P.'s uninspired vocals on it. Along with the aforementioned Jamaican vocalists, included here are many of our favorites like Elephant Man, Capleton, Bounty Killer, Beenie Man, Merciless, Raegan, Danny English and more. Plus all the best hip hop rhythms of the cusp of the millennium are represented here: "Independent Women", "Ugly", Who's That Girl", "One Minute Man", "Can't Deny It", "I'm A Thug" and more. No rhythm tracks are repeated, for what it's worth, so there's no feeling of redundancy with this comp and it makes it a nice party mix to play. As an interesting twist, the disc closes with an inverted remix featuring Sensational's "Livin' It Up" over Beenie Man's "Who Am I". We're not sure where that one came from. As a final note, the original sources from which these tracks were culled, though most likely pressed in the U.S., were done in the Jamaican style: fast and dirty. In other words, there's lots of clicks and pops -- which the producers of this disc elected to preserve -- to increase that sense of authenticity while you listen. On cd-r, with covers nicely printed on vellum and card stock. Highly recommended!
