mixtape - In The Spirit (finally!)

dj omni - "in the spirit (finally!)"

Continuing the challenge to make a mix a month, I just pushed play and recorded myself playing around. This “quick-one-before-I-go” mix, is called “In the Spirit (finally!)”. And the spirit in question is the Christmas Spirit.

Listening to Benji B and J Rocc goof around and enjoy the cheesiest of x-mas music on Deviation really started this joyous season for me (as well as getting out of the office for the rest of the year!).

I was also inspired by the magic of DJ Questlove at his newly annual Holiday party at S.O.B.’s. The man was sampling, pitch-shifting, and recreating classics on the fly for the people. Amazing show!

Now back to this mix. We start with a little DIY Dwele magic. An ode to a cheap microphone and the support of friends moves into the first Dwele track I ever heard, “Jimmy stay down” an obvious ode to Stevie Wonder who also closes this mix. There are some Christmas songs mixed in. That chipmunk funk is a pseudo auto-tuned Lou Rawls, who has made some of the funkiest holiday sounds ever in this “Christmas Will Really Be Christmas”. Followed close behind by a rare Christmas cover of “Little Baby” called “Purple Snowflakes” (for some reason) by the always-amazing Marvin Gaye. Other highlights include “Do 4 U” by super-group Hawthorne Headhunters featuring PPP favorite Coultrain. Admittedly, I should’ve let this song go longer. Also included is some J Dilla and James Brown business followed by a project that I am REALLY looking forward to from Mochilla: Miguel Atwood-Ferguson’s orchestral concert for the Dilla-gentleman, “Suite for Ma Dukes”. Mos Def makes a couple appearances in this mix mainly because my song of the moment is his “24-Hour Karate School”! Which I imagine he came up with while walking in SOHO flipping through the Village Voice, seeing an ad and imagining a whole story behind it. Add an erratic beat created by Ski Beatz and the Apple Juice Kid (according to okayplayer) and this song is a bit of mad genius. There’s a Roots song before this that I pray will be on the next album, and a remix of Biggie’s first single by two white boys from Brooklyn that don’t get the credit they deserve for the infectious music they make. And finally we close with a master, not too far from where we began. I hope you enjoy. Happy Holidaze.

A rainy day with Vestax Spin

dj omni - "rainyDaySpin"

I'm not one for the so-called black friday sale madness. But when my family and I made it out on Saturday to the Apple store in the mall I immediately gravitated to a box on the bottom of the shelf advertising the Vestax Spin. It was fun to watch people stop what they were doing and watch and want to play as we convinced the staff to pull the spin controller out of the back room (where some of the employees admitted to playing with it on their breaks) and hooked it up in the store. With only a walk around the mall, I was sold.

The Spin's decks are highly sensitive and easily customizable. It is chocked full of nice features and is really fun to play with. The best bit is the included Mac software called DJAY, which connects to your iTunes library (including your music videos!) and allows you to record your mixes and save playlists.

This is my first attempt at a recorded mix using spin (mistakes and all). I'm sure it won't be the last. I'll try to post one a month atleast.


o:{if enough people ask for it, i'll chop this mix up into tracks and make it available for download. If you want the tracklisting to the mix right-click and save the above image.}

more music video

Very cool interactive video for The Cold War Kids. I've Seen Enough is getting alot of pub in the web design magazines and the execution lives up to the hype. It's a decent song that you can enjoy re-mixing with a variety of instruments and customize the enjoyment of their song.

where were you?!

wow. 'bout to buy this album again. Three Feet High and Rising anniversary concert footage. IN FULL. i say again, WOW! worth it for the "Dininit" intro. And I'll be back for the Fink concert.

true love.

o:{but now I'm thinking, if artists can't sell albums, and they're making money off of live shows, and I'm watching this for free...I just hope that this great service won't cut into their income and there is some licensing deal in effect.}

step 2

I just found this on iTunes. Amazing! I had one of Rob Swift's old albums and would mix it in my sets to pretend I was as dope as he. This duet of scratching with riffing totally validates the practice of the cut.

Love This

Love Me Like This by floatingpoints

An amazing use of a a sample as inspiration to create a massive new tune!
And the original song is dope too:

Behind the Music: H.E.A.L.

Big up to The Meaning of Dope for this and many other videos and expressing a true love of the art. In this video you get to see the hard work that these teenagers were putting into their music.

five figers

nice vid. i always find it hard to believe that these animatics are the official videos, but this one is amazing. great production art and voiceover work over a cool Dilla beat. worth more than one watch.

Don't Front...

Patrick Martinez: You Don't Have To Lie To Kick It @ Fifty24LA Gallery from Patrick Martinez on Vimeo.

this has got me open. excellent art, great music selection (does anyone know the name of this 9th Wonder track?).
more motion from the master:
http://www.pomcasabella.com/

o:{thanks to Rocío from Mochilla for the link. now send me my Brasilintime DVD!}

Schooled

After watching lectures from RBMA for years, I finally got to be a part of a lecture series. This evening included sound system designer Gary Stewart, music producer 88-Keys, DJ Harvey, and VERY SPECIAL SECRET GUEST Flying Lotus!

FlyLo is a rock star!
And Red Bull puts together truly amazing experiences.

into the Frying Pan

Quantic and his Combo Barbaro
from the Official US Release Party of 'Tradition In Transition'.
July 15th, 2009
@ The Frying Pan on Pier 66

Big up to Will Quantic and Nickodemus. There needs to be more events like this in the city.

All photos and videos taken with my iPhone 3Gs.

Summer Sound

I'm feeling the sunshine today and Stones Throw enticed me to grab the lastest Madlib opus from the title alone: "Summer Suite".

Even the Stones Throw site has to admit that the master's work is not always easy to digest: "This suite is a single track comprised of four major sections and several different themes, altogether feeling similar to, more more cohesive, than one of Madlib's jazz mixtapes." But I have to admit that this Suite of music has just the right vibe.

Until, that is, I recieved my Amie Street newsletter.
Quantic and his Combo Barbaro sounds like summertime in the city. With traces of Vince Guaraldi and Roy Hargrove's Habana, this album is groovin like a good summer road trip or barbecue.

EDIT: Just came across this amazing Trailer from the forthcoming Mochilla/Sonido del Valle production. Based around the music of Quantic and his Combo Barbaro.

Tradition in Transition: A Postcard from Cali (TRAILER) from Quantic on Vimeo.

Must Mention Michael

Even though there has been a mass of media all about Michael Jackson (and not enough about Farrah Fawcett,
Ed McMahon, and even Karl Malden), I have to say that this music video mix by the brilliant Peanut Butter Wolf of
Stones Throw really touched and inspired me. (can you see the beginnings of the moonwalk in the forward sliding robot moves of Dancing Machine?!)

EDIT: Read this great, quick interview with Quincy Jones remembering Michael. So Wise! (and, uh...take a look at all those platinum records in the pic!)

I wanna hear Prince's take on the passing of his competitive contemporary!

Holiday Appropriate

Stumbled upon an old mix today...nice little bbq/beach soundtrack. Have a listen or download here.

DIY_video

This is a great idea for building interest in a new artist. This interactive art piece gives those with attention-deficit disorder something to do while they are listening to the music. The full song. Which is good but noticeably long. The little animated details that pop-up throughout, keep the viewer’s attention throughout and the option to replay your hand-drawn music video and send it to your friends, is a great way to get this artist’s name out there. Which must be working, because FWA has awarded it site of the month and I found it through the Adobe newsletter.



Never one to rest on his laurels, Mr. Mos Def keeps it moving on the streets of Osaka, Japan to build anticipation for his now newly released album, "The Ecstatic". The lyrics are so strong accapella, but I was sold when I heard the combination of Mos, Madlib, and MC Ricky D! o:{Slick Rick for the slow-pokes}

Seargent Major

I love these Rock Band cinematics, and this new one for The Beatles does not disappoint. And I'll be hyped to see this in the cinemas! It'll be so much better than the usual crap they show in "The 2wenty".

Rusty DJ 2.0

I had the opportunity to guest DJ a friend's web radio show the other day. A somewhat flubby mix made in a dark room, but I was happy to fill two hours with a wide variety of mood music. Also, good excuse to drop a track I made last Sunday.

If you have a few hours to spare, come take a messy little journey with me here.

Casa Bey to Forte

We are in a new stage of hip-hop where we can have a new single from an artist like Mos Def and at the same time have the original sample be revealed (see above)...and it takes nothing away from the magic of the music.

This has been done before (ghostface rhyming over "LALALA means I love you" comes to mind immediately) and 9th Wonder teaches a class on hip-hop with a section in his syllabus called "Santa Clause ain't real" where he shows his students the line between the original sample material and what their favorite artists actually create in their music. Some students end up disappointed when they find out that certain songs aren't made from scratch by an artist. Outkast's "So Fresh, So Clean" was given as an example, as was Alicia Key's You Don't Know My Name.

Actually, better DJs have been playing the sampled and and the source material from the earliest days of hip-hop and it only enhances both compositions. Right now, listening to Banda Black Rio's "Casa Forte" only makes me want to hear Mos Def's "Casa Bey" even more. They are both strong cuts in their own right.


side note:

This has got to be the best fan vid ever! Ghostface as Racer X! Daytona 5000. JediDan has hit all the marks with this Speed Racer mash-up video. too dope.

Something to fuck with, after all?

Wu-Tang covers reimagined Blue Note stylee by Logan Walters. Nice.

Addendum: New El Michels Affair record is good stuff too.

Magnetic

The new Mos Def track/video seems to:

a) kind of deliver on the promise of artist as Doom fan.

b) continue the trend of typography in hip hop video.




Anyway, it's fantastic and equals two hot songs in a row by me.

DJ Hero

Full Story

I thought it would be wack at first, but if the platter spins AND you have to catch and scratch the sample?! that could be dope.

I'm imagining a DJ Premier scratch chorus.
"Devil's Pie" anyone? ("I'm tryn'a eat...c..c..c..come one, come all...if you wanna...cut the pie")

EDIT: The more I think about it, the controller should be an MPC or SP1200 sampler. Then you could build songs and have more to do in a song than just wait for the scratches. There could also be an advanced level where you chop samples to create beats!

Digital DeLa

As both a collector and a runner, I found this too interesting to pass up. Dave seems a little bored with the commerce side of the project in this video. But De La Soul are continuing to find interesting ways to make albums. Ya gotta respect their hustle.

For more, check Maceo at DeLaSoul's Dugout.

ummm... and then there's this:
Master Killa for PETA?

the emporer's new clothes

(dobie remix) gangstarr - You know my steez
by dougpark17

Wait. You're allowed to remix a Premier track?!

I remember not really feeling this song at first (i grew to love it with the Premier remix), but I believe this version is waay better than the original.

{As heard on the Gilles Peterson podcast}

Baby Makin' Music

In honor of the soon to be born Baby Garris.

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

The Mos requested

This is up there with Justin Timberlakes' version that I saw the day after i saw the original.

Keep an eye out for this little star (and her posse!)

And it's always nice to see talented people also stan.

Dope! Bag it

I just bought a an InCase bag and now I'm a fan.
Apparently they have made bags for and with John Mayer (cool blog BTW).


And they collab with artists on their products.

A cool company to keep an eye on.

Someday

I want to have a band with like 46 people on stage. We'll be playing like 3 different songs at once, and nobody will be the wiser.

In the meantime, make it past 90 choreographed seconds, and this is pretty nice:

he IS legend

An amazing documentary about a music legend. I really got into hip-hop off of Big Daddy Kane's "Ain't No Half Steppin'".
I have memories of LL rockin' bells and begged my father for Dana Dane's "Nightmares" 12" but it was really the album "It's a Big Daddy Thing" (and later Tribe's ...Instinctive Travels...") that cemented hip-hop as my music of choice.

This is an amazing documentary that really
(and finally) gives the man his due.

Wiki:"Ice-T refers to Kane in his song "Midnight":
"The sound's up loud/ To attract attention/ .../
Bumping Big Daddy/ The nigga was definitely flowing".
It is uncommon in hip hop recordings of that time for
one rapper to display such admiration for another."

word.

RE: Kindle

Finally we are getting a little Star-Trekky! And it looks like Amazon is giving Apple a run for it's money on more that just the music front.

little iPod lost (iBlock it!)

As a person who has had his last two iPods stolen (from Waikiki, Hawaii. The locals can tell a Thrifty rental car even without any markings, and they target them. The rental agent confirmed this after the fact, saying it happens often), I think this is a great idea! And I will be installing this on my next iPod (once I lose the sour taste in my mouth from having to pay again!)

And don't expect any help from Apple. Even though you are prompted to register your iPod though iTunes, they don't keep track of your iPod even though the serial number is stored on your computer through iTunes. I can only assume that Apple is happy that you have to buy another.

Worth a quick click.

http://savedaptone.com/

999

Behind the Music

This is a must have! It’s like a documentary of Q-Tip/Tribe/Native Tongues. J.Period has so many little interviews mixed into this mixtape as music that I can’t wait until Volume 2! I was wondering how they were able to give this away as a free download, but maybe it’s the Scion connection.

But back to the mix. Worth the download time alone for the De La version of “Excursions” and the Kweli, Randy Watson Experience version of “Youthful (Expressions)”, but then you get back stories like Q-Tip explaining the meaning of the name, Dave of De La telling the story of the meeting of the Native Tongues, and Bob Power explaining the spontaneity of the “Bob Power, you there?” line. Classic.

Hud Mo is magic!

Hudson Mohawke is WOW right now!

Love the cover art! Subtle photoshop text of hands creating the name with little digital lightning all over explains perfectly what Mr. Mohawke is all about. And this little video, which I guess is an internet app and not the official video, perfectly matches the sound of his best track.

in the middle

D-Nice Presents True Hip-Hop Stories: Monie Love from D-Nice on Vimeo.

Monie Love explains “Monie in the Middle (apparently she’s talking about Kane and Scrap Lova!) and life after hip hop (4kids!).

Props to D-Nice. His "True Hip Hop Stories" and photography have made his site a regular stop on my web travels.

And this.

Is kinda funny.  Congrats, nonetheless.  

Forever ever.

For those, in the New York area, the third annual Donuts Are Forever event is this Saturday at Public Assembly in Williamsburg.  Raising money for a good cause and paying tribute to the king.  And my friend Brainchild is spinning.  Details here.

Take it back 2

Just zone out for 7 minutes.
Big up UniverSOUL Productions’ Weblog

Bring it Back

Taken from the music blog of the senior vice president and director of music at my day gig, Josh Rabinowitz. These are his words:

"2. “Star Spangled Banner”, Marvin Gaye, Nike
If like me, you watched Marvin Gaye sing the national anthem at the NBA All-Star Game in LA on TV in 1983, you were so floored/moved/stirred/etc. that you tried to find a copy of it but to no avail. Not until a Gaye Box Set came out in the early nineties, on audio cassette only, were you able to hear it. Thank goodness for YouTube, and thanks to Nike’s Spot “United We Rise” for tapping into that magic of Marvin, who at that LA performance was armed with only a first generation drum machine (programmed the day before by Gordon Banks), and connecting it with the spirit of the Redeem Team (aka US Olympic Basketball Team). Not the greatest of Nike ads, but certainly one the greatest rendition of the Star Spangled Banner ever done."

Love the fact that they used a drum machine track made the day before as the backing music. Mssrs. Marvin and Banks remixed the National Anthem! (and thank God for that!)

Big In Japan

Someone once said.

Interesting Joy Division doc up at Pitchfork. For "one week only," though I'm not sure when that ends. Visually nice, lots of good interviews. Particularly liked the Peter Saville stuff. Anyway, a little antithetical to this week's events, but if you need a moody moment...

1938-2008

I'm pretty late on this, but with all the holiday hustle, didn't get the news that Freddie Hubbard had passed until after the new year. Perhaps best known for his run of early 70's releases for CTI Records (speaking of, is the CTI catalog of that period not in desperate need of a photo anthology/covers collection book of some sort?), Freddie was a key sideman on a number of significant releases throughout the 60's as well, and continued to play up until recent years. Rest in peace, Mr. Hubbard.

MLK Day:Barack Songs

I can remember being in elementary school before there was a holiday to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. My teacher led us in a debate as to whether there should be a holiday or not. If presidents like Washington, who led rebellions against the unfair practices of the government of their time, should be so honored, why not Dr. King? I couldn't put that into words then. I just knew he deserved to be remembered.

This year is special because the inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama fulfills the promise of Martin Luther King, Jr.

So to commemorate these two great men, a quick mix of inspired and inspirational songs.

"The only time brothers like us be poppin' champagne
is when we gonna celebrate Barack Hussein!" ~ Q-tip

So What You Sayin', Yo?

Oh my.  Can't figure out whether to download this or not.  Like, it's not really the death of autotune if I perpetuate it by listening to the entirety of this mixtape, right?  Audio samples are pretty hilarious, though.

Kids On The Hook

I really didn't care for "Young Folks."  It picqued my interest most the other day when reading that Peter Bjorn and John had been using a pre-recorded whistle for tour performances.  Anyway.  I dig this new track.  Kind of like an updated indie cousin to Gorillaz' "Dirty Harry," no?

New Prince Site

Here.

It's pretty.