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.

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!)