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Thursday 21 February 2008

This is how it could be done.



On this {I believe second} anniversary of the passing of the DillaGentleman, James Yancey, I was happy to hear the second tribute record from Carlos Niño and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson,
Find A Way”.

This version is an instant classic because it doesn’t stick too close to the original. It’s just enough and it takes risks {more than just presenting Classical orchestration to Hip Hop heads, which has been done before from groups like Mission and daKAH Hip Hop Orchestra (What is it about Cali?!)}

Equally good is their version of “Nag Champa” which can also be heard on the mySpace.

And just as a bonus, here’s an old interview of Madlib at the Red Bull Music Academy where he explains how he makes music. The best part is watching him dance around and explain that the first Quasimoto album took $50 to make, and that was mainly spent on ‘shrooms!

{Also worth checking is the above pictured album which is available on iTunes}

Thursday 14 February 2008

…Like a fat kid loves cake.



My love affair as of late has been with the mighty J-Rocc. Beat Junkie president and maestro DJ. He can do no wrong and he is one of the best reasons to subscribe to the Stones Throw podcast. But it really began with a free CD promo mix for the Jaylib album that collected the past classics of both Jay Dee and Madlib as well as introduced the new collaborative material. And the mix was seamlessly beautiful! That one CD got so much run in my car that it became just a pile of scratches. I would gladly pay money for it now and am happy to find that Jaylib vs. J-Rocc mix on his mySpace.

But if that wasn’t enough, I woke up this morning to find an okayplayer link to the new Blue Note “Droppin’ Science” compilation {which I will buy just for the ?uestlove liner notes. I’ll be happy when this dude just writes a book} and lo and behold there is this excellent J-Rocc mix of the songs and samples. Priceless.