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who love good music, be it old or new school. Any music or links posted are for SAMPLE PURPOSES ONLY. We wish that you would support all artists by purchasing their bodies of work.
Recently, I did this mix to kick off my new series of mixes for the four seasons that will feature indie electronica producers and artists. I plan to do about 2 mixes per season. Since fall is presently here, I crafted this one to have the sounds reflective of the way I think autumn would sound like, as do some of the artists who do tracks with the same thought. This one, like the others will have a full tracklisting and links to the artist's pages or websites. I would hope that everyone who listens will be supportive of these artists and buy their material. Music is valuable!
A few people are surprised when I say that Roxanne Shante' is my favorite lady emcee, as well as in my top 5 of emcees of all time. I mean, why not give her the proper respect she deserves? To have the uncanny ability to freestyle a whole song at the tender age of 14, and that song to sell over 250,000 copies within her own home town alone. That song is "Roxanne's Revenge", a tune that helped spark the "Roxanne Wars". Although we are long past that era in Hip-Hop history, i'm here to mention my favorite joint by this Queensbridge native, titled "Go On Girl". Featured on the Colors (OST), this song also filled many dancefloors, and is also a perfect tune to blend with "It Takes Two" by Rob Base & DJ EZ-Rock. Both using the same sample, taken from Lynn Collins' "Think (About It)". This tune is still in my heavy rotation today. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do and Have A Nice Day!
Here's a new track I did today and meant to post it earlier. Since this date is a rare occasion, I decided to put this abstract track together. Hope you like!
Sometimes, I tend to think that Alice Russell is over-stuffed with soul the way she delivers her vocals with so much power and depth, that it seems as if it can take some skin off you. As one of the UK's biggest singers in Soul and Blues, she's gearing up for a February 2013 release of her fifth studio album titled To Dust. To lead up to this highly anticipated release, she gives a sneak peek with her first single "Heartbreaker" off the LP that's due out November 19th on Tru Thoughts. In a brief explanation about the single, Alice says; "It is a broken hearted love song about the end of a relationship. It’s about that time when you’re just emotionally exhausted, you know you just have to let it go, you are resigned to it all being over."
The single release features the original version, acoustic version and remixes by New York based producer Falty DL and Parisian house producer Yakine.
Soulpersona just never lets up, and I don't expect him to. One of his latest handcrafted remixes is of "Dance Tonight" from Lucy Pearl's self-titled debut and only album. All instruments and production was done by Soulpersona. Visit his Soundcloud page for more mind blowing releases and remixes.
With all the talks lately online and some people discussing face to face about the uproar of comments about a possible biopic on Nina Simone, most weren't too pleased with the casting for the leading role. Then, Nina's daughter Simone issued a public statement via the Nina Simone Official Website saying that no filmmakers or producers approached her or the estate about such a movie.
Rewind to two years ago, I put together a compilation of Nina Simone tunes to help tell a story from the "High Priestess of Soul" who was a storyteller herself, and you have what I have titled Nina Unmixed. This will be available for download for a limited time. I have plans to do a follow-up sometime soon. Enjoy!
As the night starts to fall and the journey continues to find more music, I came across another artist that I wasn't familiar with. J’lectroniq is a Dutch DJ/producer and heads his own label Afrodisiac Recordings in his hometown of Groningen, Netherlands. Psychasthenia is the 2nd album in the 'Tales of a Dreamer' series, an abstract creation of a musical story by way of variations through his own psyche. Hope you enjoy the sounds as much as I am. He's offering this album as a free download, but we all know that artists still need our monetary support to help keep them on track. Visit the site and purchase a few things.
As the saying goes; "You learn something new everyday." That's the case for me after reading the bio for MonkeyRobot, the Brussels-based duo consisting of Eric P and LuiGi. It turns out that I already have some of their other projects as part of my music collection, where they also go by the names of 74 Miles Away and InfinitSkills. I got the heads up from Bastard Jazz at the end of last month, but I was too busy jamming this from their Soundcloud page and it slipped my mind about posting their self-titled debut then. I may be late on the jump, however, good music always stands the test of time. Go here for options to purchase the digital download or to grab hold of 12 inch copies.
Welcome, once again to electric relaxation, through the sounds of Philadelphia based singer/songwriter Jo Goldie on her new track "Follow Me", produced by Pawcut, who's based in Germany. I'm really digging the silky soul vocals graced upon this smooth jazzy track. Hopefully this will be released soon so I can spin this at some of my sets. Check out their pages and show continued support. Enjoy!
Not sure as to what happened, but i'm positive that I posted the single "Dancin' N2 The Sun" from my friends and local artists KTC (Kadre, Thibeaux & Cisneros) right after Kadre posted it to his Soundcloud page a year ago. Either way, there's nothing wrong with posting a great tune again, right? This time around, i'm also posting the new tune by multi-instrumentalist Kadrae Armstrong called "Digital Man" that he uploaded a yesterday. Enjoy!
"La Espina del Cardenche" is a track by Venezuelan artist Algodón Egipcio that dropped back in April on the Norte Sonoro EP. This is the first series of collaborative efforts by artists from different parts of the globe who have come together to fuse cumbia, norteño and other variants to compose. I'm pretty rusty on my Spanish speaking and translating, other than that, this tune sounds good to my ears. Visit the Bandcamp page for a free download. Enjoy!
This past Saturday at Plan B in South London, UK, the legendary Reggae and Dancehall selektah David "RAM JAM" Rodigan blessed the microphone and the turntables for the Reggae Roast crew through an extended invitation. As Rodi is great with his speeches to inform crowds of the history and importance of Reggae. In this case, like many other sets he spins, he can get the crowd in a frenzy before he plays his first tune. Big respect to the massive and crew representing Reggae Roast.
It's a cloudy and cool afternoon at the moment here in Houston, but my day just got a bit brighter after listening to the preview of Rainer Trueby's (sometimes spelled Trüby) Welcome To Our World remix 12 inch. Rainer is in no way a stranger to my DJ sets, as his jazzy grooves gets heads moving and fills dancefloors. He's also very familiar with the DJ booth himself, as he trots around the world rocking thousands of party-goers. I'm waiting patiently to get my copy of this so I can spin the "Session Victim Remix", the one that really got my body moving. Mark the date, November 23rd, to get this goodie on Compost.
On yesterday, Jamaica's king of lover's rock, Beres Hammond released his 19th studio album titled One Love, One Life on VP Records. For fans of Reggae music, you know Mr. Hammond is not one who will disappoint. Having produced 19 of the 20 tunes, the majority of them are classic Beres fashion, ones to get close to with that special someone. However, he picks up the pace for you to cut a rug on the dancefloor with "Can't Waste No Time" and "Don't You Feel Like Dancing". The storyteller in him appears on "My Life", while a plea for families to "stand strong like a mountain" on the soul stirring "Family" tune, as well as him continuing to bring about social consciousness on "You Stand Alone", "Truth Will Live On", and "Prime Time". Beres closes the double disc set with "I Humble Myself", featuring guest vocals from Samantha Strachan, as they both call out to the Father in praises.
Fresh is the word, once again for Evil Needle, a producer who crept into my list of favorites. His latest downtempo scorcher "Falling Leaves" appears on the Robot Soup Compilation presented to you all as a free download, courtesy of Potholes Music. Listening to this one makes me wish I was out on the countryside of Vermont or Connecticut to see all the bright colors of fall. While you're getting this, make a contribution to charity by purchasing a limited edition poster, where all the proceeds go to music education.
Obviously, i'm pretty late with coming across the new single, "The Return" by Morgan Heritage. The other thing is, I had no idea that they disbanded as a group. Either way, it doesn't matter as they come back somethin' fierce with this new big tune. Enjoy!
What a way to come back after a break with the sounds of UK based multi-instrumentalist Positive Flow. Expect greatness from start to finish when Flow Lines drops digitally on November 19th. He kicks it off with the Minnie Riperton influenced "Children of the Sun" that features excellent vocal execution from Heidi Vogel. Other all-stars on vocals are Omar, Stacy Epps, Colonel Red, Vanessa Freeman, Sharlene Hector, Tesia Rolle and Andre Espeut. CD copies of the album will be released on December 3rd. Much respect to Tokyo Dawn for another classic.
Now it's time to hit you all with a nice Jazz groove from the good people over at Tru Thoughts Recordings who are getting ready to share with the world the latest project from Australian producer/songwriter Lance Ferguson spearheading this spiritual Jazz project under the byname of Menagerie. They Shall Inherit is set to make noise December 10th/11th via CD, digital and vinyl, featuring a guest appearance from the legendary Roy Ayers on "Leroy & The Lion".
Just want you all to be safe this evening as you take the kiddies out on the hunt for candy and goodies, as well as all the fun you plan to have at the parties on this occasion. Here are a couple of tunes to help set the tone.
Tall Black Guy ft. Renee Dion - "Thrill Seeker (Thriller)"
While browsing Soundcloud as usual, I just so happen to stumble upon Memotone, a multi-instrumentalist and producer from the UK, who I have to admit that i'm not familiar with, but came across this interesting track of his from a project called the Electronic Explorations Compilation that was released some months ago. This is something I can play when I want to reflect or do some serious thinking. It's very soothing for me. Hope you can say the same.
The weather is cool, but Melodiesinfonie warms us up with another fantastic track from his beat arsenal. His latest, "Wärme", will surely set the tone for you to sit back and relax. With rush hour about to kick in at any moment, it's your option to bump this on the trek home or wait til you slip into something comfortable and unwind. ENJOY!
From time to time I make it a point to give back to the community in various ways, especially through music. This past Friday I took the time for more children and families in a low income neighborhood to provide tunes for a fall festival that a local organization threw for them. Since many communities like this are more into mainstream and "booty music", I set up and show them there are alternatives to what they consider "the norm" by playing music they are more than likely not familiar with, but still showing them that other music outside of what they listen to regularly or exposed to can still sound good. This time around, I played about 10 to 15 Tall Black Guy cuts in a row, and for every song I played, a few people would come up and ask who it was. Seriously, there were even 60 and 70 year old men and women nodding their heads to his music. So today, The Record Realm is proud to feature another smash from the beat surgeon titled "Shake It Baby". ENJOY!
On last Friday at Old School Fridays that me and a good friend DJ together playing many classics from yesteryear. Usually we have contests for patrons to win cash and prizes, so my homie DJ Fletch decided to shake things up a bit and have four ladies get on the dance floor to sing along and dance to "Proud Mary", as done by Ike & Tina Turner. Mind you, the crowd loved it. After the good reception, the men had a turn with doing "My Girl" by The Temptations. Look forward to us mixing it up like this in the future.
OK....so for the last few days i've been watching a little bit of TV and see this commercial for a wireless speaker system from Sonos that features Janelle Monae and her band. During the course of the commercial they are all dancing to this tune i'm trying to Shazam to see who does it, to finally just Google it to see it's a side project they put together some time back called Deep Cotton, consisting of Nate Wonder and Chuck Lightning, who put together an amalgamation of sounds from Hip-Hop to Punk, Funk, Rock, the kitchen sink and so on, to just make listeners just bounce and shake. Their latest single "We're Far Enough From Heaven Now We Can Freak Out" is available as a free download on their website as a "clean virgin". Not sure as to how long they will have it available for free, so get it while the getting is good and wild out. BANG! BANG!
First up for this cool cloudy Friday afternoon we have the Tru Thoughts presentation of Mark de Clive-Lowe's new single from his upcoming remix EP due out October 30th called "Get Started", the title track that features London legend Omar on vocals and the remix credit for this tune goes to Full Crate. The original version of "Get Started", that also features Sheila E., will be on the Renegades full length album which is due out on November 21st by way of CD, digital download and vinyl. For a limited time, they are letting folks grab this remix as a free download. Get on it!
Time to take it easy on this Sunday afternoon with a sneak peek from Eclosure with an instrumental titled "Honey Drips" by fLako, a London newcomer, by way of Berlin and Chile. With a release date set for November 5th via Five Easy Pieces, fLako teams up once again with vocalist Dirg Gerner on "Lion's Mane". Eclosure will be available as limited edition 12 inch vinyl and digital. If you're a big fan of fLako, this is one to grab quick.
For this episode, we take you back to the sounds of Cutty Ranks, a lyrical don in his own right who is very influential on the Dancehall, Hip-Hop and Jungle/Drum n Bass scenes worldwide. I've had the privilege of hanging out with him several times and the extra added bonus of DJing (spinning that is) for one of his shows here in Houston during the mid-nineties. Today we revisit his classic "The Stopper" that was featured on the punanny riddim, first single from his album by the same name on London-based Fashion Records in 1990. Profile Records picked up the tune for U.S. release in 1991 and the 12 inch single contained Hip-Hop remixes by Louis Russell.
As a long time fan of Drum n' Bass, along with myself producing a few tracks in the genre, I really appreciate the art and a good, hearty track to kick your engine into high gear. Noisia, the heavyweight producer and founder of Vision Recordings uploaded this fresh new tune called "Undertaker" by one of New Zealand's finest duos, The Upbeats. Whenever I play a dnb set, you're sure to hear a few massive tracks by this team. For loyal supporters, this one is on the house courtesy of the Vision crew.
My good friend Broken Quote, who's a multi-instrumentalist here in Houston has uploaded a new track to Youtube a few days ago. I have to say that I really dig this cut. Be on the lookout for this to appear in one of my upcoming podcasts. ENJOY!
New classic flavor from the duo consisting of Jesse Boykins III (JB III) and the renaissance man MeLo-X reppin' Brooklyn on this FIRE Machinedrum remix of "The Perfect Blues" taken from the forthcoming Zulu Guru full length that's dropping November 5th on Ninja Tune. The Jungle feel on this tune takes me back to when "Timeless (Inner City Life)" came out in the 1990's. So far I have this sweetness on repeat. Grab your copy of this at the Ninja Shop. Peep the video of the original version here.
Many apologies for not updating like I want, but I had a few technical issues, as was stated sometime back. My motherboard went out, then my video card took an exit not long after I got my pc back from the tech. I have to give it up to Hewlett-Packard (HP) and them putting together a great product. I've had my pc for nearly 7 years and these were the only problems I had w/ their hardware. Looks like a new one is the works w/ Beats By Dre audio. Here's to many more years as a satisfied customer.
For all my bass heads out there, Bassnectar has just dropped a new mixtape filled with Dubstep, Drumstep and some Drun n' Bass goodies. This mix also features a couple of previews from his upcoming Freestyle EP that drops October 16th.
Tracklisting:
01. Dancer In The Dark Intro - Audiovoid Remix
02. Bassnectar - Freestyle feat. Angel Haze
03. Jantsen - When The Beats Drop (Bassnectar Remix)
04. 6 Blocc - Ammunition Sample Pack (Bassnectar Recut)
05. Bangladesh - 100 [Acapella]
06. Dead Prez - Hip Hop [Acapella]
07. Bassnectar - Rap with a T [Instrumental]
08. Hudson Mohawke - Thunder Bay (Bassnectar Edit)
09. Zed Bias ft Juiceman & Simba - Jigga Up (Bassnectar Remix)
10. Ming & FS - Madhattan Bound (Bassnectar Remix)
11. Zion I - Human (Bassnectar Remixxx)
12. Bassnectar - Infinite
13. Bassnectar & DC Breaks - Breathless feat. Mimi Page
14. Son of Kick - From Here
15. Bassnectar & Double You - I Am A Laser (2012 Remaster)
16. Dusk & Blackdown - Kuri Pataka
17. Ed Solo - Egyptian Horns (Bassnectar Remix)
18. Bassnectar - Butterfly feat. Mimi Page (Bassnectar Remix)
19. Bassnectar - Hologram
Due to the motherboard on my pc dying out on me on Friday, September 7th, an hour before my gig (YIPPIE!), posts will resume when I get my laptop back from the tech. I'll publish the posts I already started for that date and just pick up again as soon as i'm able to. Plenty of great music on the way. Stay tuned!
To kick off the month of September, you know I had to start things off for Friday Flashback with an old school classic by Earth, Wind & Fire (also known as "The Elements"), one of the greatest rhythm & blues bands that put a lot of soul into their music.
As we set sail on a new Record Realm blog adventure, for our maiden voyage we are featuring our first entry for the week of Sept. 5 - 12, by the name of dj NIMBUS to kick off this segment that will feature different DJs that I know from around the world each week.
Nimbus has been making his rounds across the country and the globe tearing up the club and lounge scenes, as well as making his mark at many of the big electronic music festivals spinning deep soulful House grooves, tribal and Afro-House, to taking you back down memory lane with classic 80's and 90's House. He also hit you hard with classic Hip-Hop joints with his partner in crime DJ Burb, for their monthly installment called "Paid In Full". Just this past weekend he dropped another bomb on his podcast page for you to jack to. Keep your eyes and ears open as he soon will make waves on the beaches of Mexico. Give him a follow or visit his site for more details. Enjoy the mix while you browse.
I got word weeks ago via email that Robert Glasper has Black Radio Recovered: The Remix EP scheduled for an October 9th release and the EP will feature remixes by Pete Rock, Georgia Anne Muldrow, 9th Wonder, ?uestlove and it will also feature the talents of Black Milk, Me'Shell Ndegéocello, Phonte' and Solange Knowles, as well as a few of the folks on the original Black Radio album.
For all my peeps here in Houston, you will have a chance to catch this hometown hero live on stage at Discovery Green on October 26th.
Tracklisting:
1. Afro Blue feat. Erykah Badu / 9th Wonder's Blue Light Basement Remix feat. Phonte
2. Black Radio feat. yasiin bey / Pete Rock Remix
3. The Consequences of Jealousy feat. Meshell Ndegeocello / Georgia Anne Muldrow's Sassy Geemix
4. Twice / ?uestlove's Twice Baked Remix feat. Solange Knowles & The Roots
5. Letter to Hermione (feat. Bilal) / Robert Glasper and Jewels Remix feat. Black Milk
6. Dillatude
Robert Glasper Experiment Fall Tour Dates:
September 15 – Indianapolis Jazz Festival – Indianapolis, IN
September 23 – iTunes Festival @ The Roundhouse – London, England
September 26 – Milwaukee Performing Arts Center – Milwaukee, WI
October 4 – Showcase Live – Foxboro, MA
October 5 – Iron Horse – Northampton, MA
October 6 – Traif – Buffalo, NY
October 7 – The Egg – Albany, NY
October 9 – Royalton – Fairfield, CT
October 11 – Birchmere – Alexandria, VA
October 12 – Ram's Head – Baltimore, MD
October 13 – World Café Live – Philadelphia, PA
October 16 – SOB's – New York, NY
October 19 – The Hoxton – Toronto, Ontario
October 20 – The Shelter – Detroit, MI
October 21 – Lincoln Theatre – Columbus, OH
October 25 – Royce Hall – Los Angeles, CA
October 26 – Discovery Green – Houston, TX
October 27 – Royce Hall – Los Angeles, CA (Trio)
October 28 – Anthology – San Diego, CA
November 1 – Palace of Fine Arts Theatre – San Francisco, CA
November 4 – Triple Door – Seattle, WA
With the help of Mello Music Group and The Black Opera, you are hereby being introduced to AirPlayd.com, a website that joins the forces of music videos and video game play by turning exclusive songs into an online interactive experience. TBO has issued their first single produced by Astronote, "Monsters & Robots" via Air Playd, giving you a chance to play the video game and unlock the free download of this single. You can do so by playing here. Game format is compatible with most web browsers. Be sure to pick up their physical copies of EnterMission that drops September 25th.
On August 31, 1987, Michael Jackson released his seventh studio album titled BAD, where eight of the ten song LP were written by Michael. Nine of the songs were issued or played as singles, with history being made as BAD was the first album to have five singles from it to peek at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart consecutively. Today marks the 25th anniversary of its release and a re-release in multiple formats called BAD 25 is scheduled to drop on September 18th. As of this year, it is reported there have been 30 to 45 million units [or more] of the album sold worldwide. Along with the original album, Bad 25 will contain unreleased demo recordings and a live CD and DVD of Jackson's performance at Wembley Stadium during his Bad World Tour. A box set and vinyl pressings of the album will be released. A remix version of BAD was done by Afrojack. Thankfully, most of the integrity of the song was left intact and Afrojack didn't go overboard with it.
We salute and honor the "King of Pop", Michael Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) on today, his date of birth. Your memory lies deep in us, those who love you and cherished your many works. Plenty of lives are thankful for you and your humanitarian efforts that touched regions around the globe.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the release of BAD, which dropped in 1987 during the month of August. The Michael Jackson tribute mix I did last year is still available for free download via my podcast page here on the blog. Be sure to check out my Dilla Jackson remix project. Here's one of the remixes I did from the mixtape titled "They Don't Care (F--k The Police)". ENJOY!
Los Angeles based DJ and producer/remixer Jeremy Sole is currently working on a Revival EP Series that i'm guessing will be reworks of classic oldies made especially for the dancefloor. Days ago he uploaded his remix of "Be My Husband" from Nina Simone's Pastel Blues album released in 1965. The original version of this tune was recorded as an a cappella with only hand claps and a hi-hat cymbal to accompany her vocals.
A great lady of music was born in Detroit, Michigan by the name of Alice Coltrane (August 27, 1937 – January 12, 2007). Alice was the wife of Jazz giant John Coltrane, who replaced McCoy Tyner on piano in Coltrane's group after they were married. She was also one of the few harpists in Jazz music that formed her own Jazz groups and kept performing after John's passing. Alice is the mother of saxophonist Ravi Coltrane and the aunt of Hip-Hop producer Flying Lotus.
Today is the birthday of Cape Verdean singer "The Barefoot Diva" known around the world by her name Cesária Évora (August 27, 1941 - December 17, 2011). A lady who had a distinctly rich voice that captured many hearts and ears around the globe, who was also referred to as the "Queen of Morna".
Recently on Soundcloud, I started following London based DJ Bella Soul who has been spinning tunes for 9 years and more recently she has picked up the microphone to start singing. In no way am I being insulting, but I must say she can use a little vocal coaching (not voice lessons people) to help improve on what she's doing. I like the direction she's taking and would love to hear more from her in the future. Give her a follow as well to see what she has in store for the future. For now, glue your ears to "Castle In The Sky (Weegee Edit)".
Nearly a month ago The Fader posted this track by a very attractive singer by the name of RubyGold who hails from South Africa. I'm thinking she's a newcomer to the music scene, only to see she has already flooded airwaves and broadbands worldwide on a few House tunes with Meat The Veggies, Monotone and Revolution. Although she has effectively loaned her vocals to the genre, she doesn't want to be pegged as a House singer. Instead, she wants to do music with conscience, tapping into various sounds and genres to help find her niche. Currently, she does what she calls "trance jazz" and has a fairly new tune called "Feeling Stealer" that features Earth, who produced the track and plays percussion on it as well. Here is another reason to take up some drive space with this free download. Press play, close your eyes and let your imagination take you on a fantastic journey.
Normally, I don't post a lot of religious material here on the blog unless it's really a great piece that's inspiring, rather than try to sway a person to follow any said group. Here's a case to be inspired with a song that has been on my mind for the last few days, which is also a favorite I often have on repeat. That song is "Optimistic" by the Grammy Award winning Sounds of Blackness from The Evolution of Gospel (1991) that features an incredible vocalist by the name of Ann Nesby, who has also graced many classic House tunes with her amazing voice. This song topped the Billboard Dance charts, as well as urban abult contemporary charts. For those who aren't familiar with this tune, please listen with an open mind and get your own inspiration. You may get goosebumps from listening. ENJOY!
