I’m not a reblogger, but

Daym. Saw a new post on Wax Poetics that made my jaw drop. One, because it’s a digging report that features some insane bargains. Two, because the writeup’s excellently done and…Three, because it’s, like  a bird innit.

Zappa? Mantronix? Mandrill for three bloody dollars?!

I dream of writing dig reports this good. My last one was weak, and I look TERRIBLE in a floaty white sundress.

http://heightfiveseven.com/

End of the month roundup

Spring has sprung. I can tell not because of the sun, but because I’m on the lookout for new bike parts.

March saw the completion of my latest mix, Happy Hop:

I’m already seeing some love on Twitter and from the excellent Pipomixes, who was kind enough to reblog.

I’ve also got some interesting gigs in the pipeline, but not for you! An Anglo-African wedding and my mate’s 30th. Should be a challenge. I’ll be checking out Awesome Tapes From Africa for sure before the wedding. I guess I’m being culturally insensitive by thinking about “African” music. Makes about as much sense as European or American music.

Around the web I’ve been seeing a tonne of stuff I like but I’ve been way too busy with the necessary grind of my job to blog more about it. Expect to see more on Daryl Hall, Sen Dog, Bon Iver, Piano Breaks, The Smiths and 80s Spanish turntablis in the next few weeks.

For now roll up a fat daffodil cigarette, put that shoulder of lamb in the oven and boil an Easter egg.

Digger’s Diary – Manchester 24/03/2012

Having been blessed with a giant ball of yellow fire shining directly on Manchester’s fat, smoky, head, I decided to get myself to Gigg Lane in Bury to take in the atmosphere of a game of association football. Specifically FC United of Manchester (Google it!) versus Matlock.  The result was the right one and the game itself electrifying, but I’ll spare you the details, seeing as you don’t come here to read about that kind of thing.

I found myself in town beforehand with an hour to spare took the rare opportunity to rifle through the bargain bins outside the legendary Empire Exchange on Newton St.

This has been around for…ever? and sells records, thousands of old copies of magazines, football programmes, curios, memorabilia, VHSs, DVDs, CDs, MDs and YMCAs. And a massive load of porn in the back room.

I scurried through the little crate outside, the sun beating a tan into my pale, Saxon hide, only stopping to brush off the advances of two men trying to sell me a stolen phone. What I came out with, for my £1 spend was nothing short of a treasure trove.

#1 Tina Charles – Rendezvous b/w When You Got Love

Kind of generic poppy soul pre-disco from 1976. It’s not blowing me away. This one scores 4 sunny smiles out of 10.

#2 Lol Creme and Kevin Godley – 5 O’clock in the Morning b/w The Flood

A side is a real 10CC-esque piece about working life. If you don’t already know, Godley and Creme were the creative force behind 10CC. Lots of harmonic vocal blasts, haunting solo bits and key changes. Sometimes you get the feeling that they pull their production tricks out of the bag because they can, rather than because they should. The B is a weird instrumental featuring what sounds like a dripping tap but which I suspect is them playing with a synth and a sequencer. It goes round the houses before kicking into a rocking rhythm about 30 seconds before the run-out groove. There’s sample fodder in this for sure.

the version on the 7″ isn’t exactly like that; it’s a bit shorter.

#3 Pussycat – Mississippi b/w Do It

I was expecting (optimistically) some kind of chilled lounge, exotica, funk or something based on those names but I got pop country weirdness. Did not like.

#4 Steve Miller Band – Rock ‘n’ Me b/w The Window

I found it! I’ve been after this The Window forever but it doesn’t come up on eBay so often. The A side isn’t that great but the flip is *insane*. Ridiculously sample-able bassline intro, Zappa-esque bridgey thing (sounds just like part of Florentine Pogen) and a redonculous vocal performance by Steven himself.

All-in-all a very well-spent quid, I feel. Keep an eye-out for one, all or none of these in my upcoming “forty five 45s” mix (release scheduled January 2018).

Tanya Morgan – Rock The Bells

Just encountered the new track from these guys. I think the production (handled by god-knows-who) is kind of so-so. Sort of generic and with the heavy handprint of an someone banging away on an MPC. However, I’m going to go out on a limb and say Von Pea (on the first verse) is my favourite post-2000 rapper full stop. Donwill (second verse) ain’t far behind.

“Have you ever noticed?” #289

That there’s a funky li’l break at the start of emo fest I Miss You by Blink 182? It’s not a bad song until verse two?

“Where are yeeeeeeeeeeeuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuwwwwwwwwwwww/Am oim sew soraaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy”

Hmmmmmm.

My Happy Hop mix completed – hip hop with a smile

We did it ma!

Finally after months of on-again-off-again mixing, recording, weeping, deleting, re-recording, wiping and finally remembering to press “save”, this mix is done and dusted like rhubarb and custard.

The tracks contained within are:
1. Intro
2. Large Professor – Ijustwannachill
3. UTFO – Split Personality
4. Fat Boys – All You Can Eat
5. Double Dee & Steinski – We’ll Be Right Back
6. De La Soul – Buddy
7. Nice and Smooth – Hip Hop Junkies
8. Grand Puba – 360 (What Goes Around)
9. Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince – Girl Ain’t Nothing But Trouble
10. Ice Cream Tee – Guys Ain’t Nothing But Trouble
11. Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince – Parents Just Don’t Understand
12. Afroman vs. Too Short – Freaky Rap (Mike’s crowbar)
13. Biz Markie – The Dragon
14. Beastie Boys – Boomin’ Granny
15. Doug E. Fresh – Nuthin’
16. Doug E. Fresh – All The Way to Heaven
17. Masters of Ceremony – Sexy
18. Dana Dane – We Wanna Party
19. The Jaz ft. Jay Z – Hawaiian Sophie
20. Kwame – U Gotz 2 Get Down (Mad Bone Age remix)
21. The dance lesson, featuring:

• Chemical Brothers ft. Fatlip – The Salmon Dance
• Disco Twins & Starchild – Do the Whop
• Joeski Love – Pee-Wee’s Dance
• World Class Wreckin’ Crew – Cabbage Patch
• Gucci Crew II – The Cabbage Patch
• EPMD – The Steve Martin
• Digital Underground – The Humpty Dance
• Kid and Play – The Kid and Play Kickstep
• Freak Nasty – Da Dip
• Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince – Dumb Dancin’

22. Public Enemy – Cold Lampin’ With Flava
23. UMCs – Blue Cheese
24. CB4 – Sweat from my Balls

I hope you enjoy it. It’s meant to be an antidote to the overly earnest rapping that is too-often heard. It’s supposed to be fun!

Next on the list, a nice little summer funk and soul affair. Keep those ears peeled.

DJ Format ft. Sureshot La Rock – Remember (Beatbox Version)

Here’s a sneak preview of a new DJ Format track set to be released in April. The cover art is slick

I say cover art. It’s actually a “playable postcard”. I wonder if that’s like those flexi-discs you used to get in the Record Mirror…

The actual Format release is  Terror featuring Mr. Lif on the mic and Spaceship with Edan guesting. The piece that tickles my earbuds is a beatbox version of Sureshot. Check out the retro beatboxing on this number! Beat the hell out of the “look-at-me” beatboxers who hum their way through tracks before getting bored and going on 20-minute interpretations of a Phil-Collins-meets-Roni-Size 808 drum solo.

You’ll have to sign up to Slice of Spice’s mailing list to find out when this release drop and pre-order it.

Slow down: moving towards a new method of assessing 90s hip-hop tracks that used downpitched mid-to-late 80s commercial R&B hooks

So catchy titles aren’t my strong point.

I’m not sure if anybody else follows Ego Trip’s frankly amazing “Producer X’s favourite sample flips” series. Essentially every few weeks a new producer runs down his (for is is always a he) favourite sample flips. So far we’ve seen A-Trak, DJ Spinna, Lord Finesse, Large Professor, J.Rocc, Prince Paul and loads more.

This week sees Easy Mo Bee tell it like it is.

At his number five is Lifestyles of the Rich and Shameless by Lost Boyz which samples Jealousy by Club Nouveau. He says:

Timex Social Club made “Rumors.” One of their follow up singles [as Club Nouveau] was this record called “Jealousy.” It’s the same dudes that produced En Vogue, Thomas McElroy and Denzel Foster – way before they did En Vogue. “Jealousy” was obviously meant to sound a lot like “Rumors.” Really commercial sounding record. Drum machine type record, keyboards, everything. I slowed it down. I took this really, really commercial R&B sounding record and was like, I wanna make this dirty, gritty, funky. “Lifestyles” was like ’94-’95. “Jealousy” – somewhere around ’85, ’86. Now back then in that era it was kinda taboo to be using samples that recent. I mean, if you was supposed to be a “real hip-hop producer.” I liked those little keyboard hits [from “Jealousy”]. But my drums on top – they gotta overpower the sound of the drums that they had in there. I’m gonna smother that record so much till you’re not gonna hear nothing else going on really in that sample except for that [keyboard].

Funkmaster Flex used to love the beginning of that. I had an intro where I doubled up in the beginning [sings beat] and he used to cut up that part of the song. And I’m looking in the club, people dancing, I’m like, yo you did it, man. If any of them sat back and listened to the original record that it came from – the original speed, the original pitch of the record and everything – they woulda had a totally different [reaction]. They wouldn’t get it.

What he says about using “recent” samples piques my interest. Here are the two tracks:

So he’s taken a pretty cheesy 80s R&B tune and just downpitched it to make it a  bit more rugged and raw. Reminded me straight away of KMD’s What a Nigga Know off the Bl_ck B_st_rds album.

Which samples Jody Watley’s Looking for a New Love.

again, using a similar technique.

I guess it’s true that most of the sample sources for 90s hip hop came from the more “respectable” areas of 60s and 70s soul, funk and other dusty-finger-inducing genres. Sure, we’d had Spyder D sampling Nu Shooz I Can’t Wait (actually an interpolation if my sources are correct) and Biggy’s Juicy but it wouldn’t be until the later 90s with Bad Boy sampling Diana Ross’s gay anthem I’m Coming Out before this kind of think took off, and it was never really slowed down to the same extent.

And so, as this poorly researched post fizzles out, can any readers think of other tunes where this technique has been used?

Action Bronson London matinée gig and new mixtape

So Bam Bam Bronson is rolling into town in two weeks and I left it too late to get my ticket for the evening show. “But Mike?” you ask. “Why don’t you use your list of extensive contacts in The Industry™ to score a VIP pass?”. Here’s why. I got me a ticket to the 4pm show. Yeah that’s right. The hip hop matinée.

To prep me for this My Bronson has been kind enough to plop out a mixtape. In my day we called them EPs (shit, I already made that joke) but it’s pretty good and funded by Bolton’s own Reebok. You can download it here. Or peep my favourite track NOW!

Action Bronson – Tan Leather

Rick Rubin’s groovy image

Hi I’m Rick Rubin. You might remember me from such photos as “fourth camp, stone-faced, sci-fi/skiing/breakdancing beastie boy”

“drugged kidnap victim”

“chillin in the studio with Jam Master Jay and Russel Simmons to wind up the folks at Profile and directly inspire Andrew WK’s look”

“promotional still from mine and Jigga’s never-screened detective show, ‘Hove and the Cowpoke'”

“me, Shavo Odadjian and Serj Tankian auditioning for BGT as a glass-eating act”

“showing Tom Petty and Johnny Cash my Brian Blessed impression”

“beachfront cycle cruise in crocs with Ant”

Thanks for looking. Bye!