Canadian boy wonder A-Trak (Kanye West's former tour DJ) has returned with a new tune 'Ray Ban Vision' with Kanye's new protégé CyHi Da Prynce. The track is to be released on the Fool's Gold Vol. 1, the debut compilation on Fool's Gold, on October 25.
While A-Trak's focus lays mainly within the field of electro/bass/house these days, he does have more than his fair share of hip-hop credentials, having won the DMC championships at the tender age of 15. The duo will be performing at the Fool's Gold third anniversary party which will be a part of Pitchfork's Offline Festival at Brooklyn Bowl, October 23.
Our good Belgian friend Sickboy of the infamous Breakcore Gives Me Wood parties and Servants Of The Apocalyptic Goat Rave has kindly put together the weirdest mixtape we're likely to have for the series! And all this in time for his European tour with Captain Ahab and DJ Skull Vomit.
Having released music on Tigerbeat6, Peace Off, Mirex and Wood, Sickboy's productions bring heaviness and excitement to every single production. His distinctive style has been ripping pop culture for nearly 10 years now, using samples rhythmically as part of a greater whole - rather than simply referencing a point in time.
This mix would be a great starting point if you don't know Sickboy's music. Though it doesn't feature many of his own tunes, it includes everything from Bubba Sparxxx to Duran Duran Duran to Disturbed - showing off his ability to slide effortlessly between styles and BPMs.
01. Alan Sylvestri - Delta Force Main Theme 02. Ashanti ft. Paul Wall - Still On It 03. Bubba Sparxxx - They Luv That feat. Bun B 04. Ceelo - I'll be around 05. Ice Rink - Rico Dan 06. Lazerhawk - Overdrive 07. Iconz ft. Trick Daddy - We Thuggin' 08. Shingaya - Rat Monkey 09. Street War - Death Of A Champion 10. Disturbed - Get Down With The Sickness (Angie Remix) 11. Bruce Stallion - 2 Bad Pillz 12. Sickboy - Tweencore 2 13. Ladyscraper - The Lady Pops 14. Duran Duran Duran - Prime Cut 15. T.I. - What You Know 16. Drums Are For Parades - Dead Katz (Droon's Shot Mix) 17. Captain Ahab - Old Like You 18. Aleister X - Bangers And Beans (Sickboy Remix) 19. Slim Thug - 3 Kingz 20. Dethklok - Murdertrain A Comin'
Europe Tour Dates:
09.07 amsterdam @ occii 10.07 copenhagen @ loppen 13.07 lyon @ brk / la fee verte 14.07 paris @ le tunnel 15.07 dour @ dour festival 16.07 hengelo @ innocent 17.07 hamburg @ hafenklang 18.07 kutna hora @ creepy teepee fest 19.07 budapest @ a38 / boat terrace 20.07 zagreb @ mochvara 22.07 madrid @ kadiqclub 23.07 barcelos (near porto) @ milhoes de festa 26.07 barcelona @ el nui 27.07 marseille @ l'enthropy 28.07 landau @ fatal 29.07 linz @ quitch
Mixcloud's Cloudcasts are undoubtedly only as good as the DJs that produce them but their casts of the day are usually pretty consistant in quality. Today is the turn of DJ Premier, someone who has amassed a colossal amount of cool points.
Having produced pretty much all of Gang Starr's tracks as well as tracks for KRS-One, Mos Def, Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, Nas, M.O.P. and many others, DJ Premier is one of the most respected hip-hop DJs of the 90s.
This mix doesn't stray far from his trademark abrasive scratching, clashing loops and perfect beat-matching that remind of you New York like few others. I'm not sure about some of the tunes he chooses but then I've always been fussy about my hip-hop.
So head over to Mixcloud to download or stream it and keep up with Hip-Hop Nation for their spot on radio show.
Our good chums at Valeo Productions are shouting their lungs about the new Poirier release. I've only heard a couple of tracks (you can tuck into those little beauties below) but it's really promising and could well be my favourite release of the year.
He's always been a favourite of mine, riding the different styles without committing to any particular one, excelling in each. His new album promises to make Funky look embarrassing and I really can't wait, which makes a change - it's been a long time since I've been excited about music. And by the looks of things the Ninja Tune and Valeo chaps are pretty giddy about it too:
After 3 EPs showcasing the different sides of his new musical project, Poirier is releasing his concept album with an additional bonus disc on Ninja Tune for a total of 28 tracks with vocals by Burro Banton, YT, Face-T, MC Zulu, Warrior Queen and remixes by Sticky, Douster, Wildlife!, Uproot Andy and more. Running High is already available in Japan and Poirier's home country Canada, but it's about to come out in Europe and in the US (release & tour dates below). This album is a unique blend of electronic and Caribbean music that will satisfy the heads and the dancers (think soca-dancehall meets 90's techno and bass). A brand new video translates the leftfield party vibe of the Montreal-based DJ/producer.
Running High Release Dates In Stores in Japan & Canada April 24th : Europe May 2nd: USA Poiriersound.com
The most amazing rap group has recently come to my attention: Die Antwoord or "The Answer". They're an Afrikaans hip-hop group who've been producing music in Cape Town for about a year now.
According to a recent interview with Vice Magazine, they produce "rap-rave next level shit" in a mixture of Afrikaans and English. Unbelievably, they're completely serious in what they do - which only adds to the hilarity.
Die Antwoord are Ninja, Yo-Landi Vi$$er and DJ Hi-Tek. They've had so much publicity of late because of the Enter The Ninja video that their original website hosters removed their site because of bandwith-buggery. Since then they've relocated to a US-based server and have signed with Sony. Honestly.
And if you wondered what in the shit "Zef" was, Watkin "Ninja" Tudor Jones (least cool name ever, by the way) explains all:
"Zef is our flavour, our style. It means fucking cool. But even more cool than fucking cool. No one can fuck with your shit. Zef’s the ultimate style, basically."
You really should read the Vice interview. It's a total stitch-up but it's hard to sympathise when they invite it so fervently.
Good old DJ /rupture's been busy of late preaching the gospel according to Cumbia and working on new material with Matt Shadetek on a new 12" that comes out very soon and features DJ Kiva and is sure to include Cumbia deliciousness.
DJ /rupture is one of those really solid artists you can really rely on to put out forward-thinking, intelligent music; from jungle to hip-hop and ragga. And on top of all this, he runs a radio show on WFMU that you can catch up on by clicking on that link over yonder. You should definitely listen to the most reason show because it opens with a tune by Einstürzende Neubauten, which makes him sexy by my count.
He's also a really prolific blogger and always has a lot to say about Cumbia on Negrophonic and La Congona, particularly so on the latter. It really is one of the only places to read about Cumbia, and /rupture's an incredibly well-versed teacher. If it isn't the only place to read about Cumbia, it's definitely the best.
Oh, and he asked me to ask you to ask yourselves to add him on Twitter. If you know what a Twitter is his username is @djrupture. Then, once you've done all of those things you should download the following track by Grupo Estrella:
Some kind soul on the interwebs has dug out an old BBC2 documentary about jungle (seriously.) from 1994. The sound quality isn't great but it's pretty good given how old it is. It features some pretty interesting footage of Shy FX and Gunsmoke recording 'Gangster'.
It's also pretty interesting to see how jungle influenced drum & bass and then dubstep and now even UK funky. Basically, this is the golden age of jungle; although there was a revival a few years ago with people like RCola and Paulie Waulnuts. It really is a shame what happened to jungle and drum & bass after this documentary was made.
The documentary marks the period that jungle purists consider to be the point where jungle went bad; the beats got slower, the synths got dancier and eventually you got Dillinja. Before that, however, ragga jungle really kicked off in the UK with people like Tenor Fly, Shy FX and General Levy all doing incredibly well from the surge in interest.
If you're not sure how big this was, it was as big as dubstep is now and it went the same way dubstep will probably go. The documentary itself was clearly made to mark the ascension of jungle drum & bass, but unfortunately it ended up chronicling the end of the genre. Still, it's really funny to see people like Shy FX and Gunsmoke as little whipper snappers trying to explain jungle.
A-Trak has done a rather spiffy little remix of the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs single, 'Heads Will Roll'. There are a few different remixes out there a minute: one by Passion Pit and another by DJ Tiësto of all people. As you can imagine, this is by far the best one out there at the minute.
For those who have been hibernating recently, A-Trak is an amazing DJ and turntablist: he won the DMCs World DJ Championship back in 1997 at the tender age of 15 and he's been making pretty hip hop flavoured house ever since. Check out his 'Dirty South Dance' mixed LP if you don't believe me.
As an added treat, you can watch the set he won the competition with below. He's pretty arrogant but I suppose you could hardly blame him.
Oh and while you're at it, look at Roc Raida's mix for the 1996 DMC Championships. I still can't believe he's dead.
Canadian boy wonder A-Trak (Kanye West's former tour DJ) has returned with a new tune 'Ray Ban Vision' with Kanye's new protégé CyHi Da Prynce. The track is to be released on the Fool's Gold Vol. 1, the debut compilation on Fool's Gold, on October 25.
