Colorado’s top producer Alex B has been making noise for quite some time now. As head of Elm and Oak (which is his own label) he dropped his debut album “Moments” about five months ago, which can be bought on . Next week he’ll be starting his US tour and as a preview he’s assembled this exclusive mix for the XLR8R podcast.
It’s a layered, at times psychedelic, journey through hip-hop beats, dubstep brawn, and bedroom-studio skronk that nicely showcases Botwin’s talents; as it happens, he either produced or remixed half the songs here. Throw in some unreleased gems from like-minded beat producers, and this podcast is poised to get any beat freak salivating.
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It was two years ago that Gilles Peterson visited Cuba for the first time on a reconnaissance mission to check out the new generation of Havana-based artists. Suitably impressed, he was back within the year for a 5-day session at the legendary Egrem Studios with Roberto Fonseca and his superb band. Revelling in his role as executive producer, it was a hot, sweaty, intense session but a fruitful one nonetheless.
Brownswood Recordings released those tracks on an album entitled “Gilles Peterson presents Havana Cultura: New Cuba Sound”, and with GP living as much in the electronic/dance scene as in the jazz world, the decision to commission remixes of these session tracks was an easy one. Consolidating the numerous parts was by no means as straightforward, nor indeed was settling on our preferred remixers to coax the spirit of the Egrem session into the club. In the end, they settled on a squad of big-hitting producers that they trusted to do justice to the original jams: the likes of Louie Vega, MJ Cole, 4hero, Carl Cox, Rainer Trüby, Gotan Project’s Philippe Cohen Solal, Seiji, Michel Cleis and Mocky. All veterans of the Worldwide underground and all equipped with the skills and experience to flip Havana Cultura onto a another level. And of course, in order to maximise the Cuban flavour, DJ Wichy and Doble Filo got cut loose on their favourites from the album, with awesome results.
CD02 in the Havana Cultura Remixed package boasts a bonus DJ mix courtesy of Gilles himself that neatly weaves together the disparate threads that make up a typical Peterson DJ set. Be on the look out for the Havana Cultura Remixed album which will be out June 7th.
Now I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that the guys from HVW8 are sharing this Master Blazter mix full of unheard goodies from Dam-Funk, Computer Jay and J1. The bad news is that I was hoping to hear some actual Master Blazter material, but alas. Another bit of bad news for me personal is that I’m gonna miss them perform live in San Francisco at the Mezzanine July 1st. That evening I fly back to L.A. so I guess I’m shit outta luck.
Three musicians with their own distinctive styles have come together to form Master Blazter. Each individual is an integral part of the whole – each one necessary to keep funk music alive, taking it to unforeseen heights. Los Angeles’ very own DJ Kutmah is responsible for mixing it all up into one funked up mix and I’d like to thank HVW8 for steadily bringing out good music and for the goodies you guys sent us recently!
What began as a simple afternoon get together, bringing friends together to play good records, has grown into one of the most notorious good times in LA – The Do Over. Even though we never been at The Do Over this podcast gives us a taste of what’s in store for us this summer. Thanks to Jamie Strong, Aloe Blacc, Haycock and the HVW8 fam.
Indigo Jam Unit – Be
Moodymann – Rectify
Aloe Blacc – If I
Theo Parrish – Secondary Darkness
Floating Points – Peoples Potential
Great Weekend – Lets Do It Again (Do Over)
Theo Parrish – Ugly Edit 10
Aloe Blacc vs Frou Frou
Joy Orbison – Hyph Mngo
Steve Spacek vs Hudson Mohawke
Dam-Funk – Killdat
Starblazers – Dangerzone
BBE is dropping bombs again. After some crazy compilation albums like DJ Spinna’s “The Boogie Back” and John Morales‘“The M&M Mixes” they’re back with some hot Ghetto Disco, Funk & African Boogie. Kon & Amir drop “Off Track Vol. III: Brooklyn” on us with a bang. We thought it would be nice to give ya’ll a taste of what you can expect from this double action packed album, by sharing Kon’s Continuous Mix. The album will be out later this month and can be bought HERE.
Anthony Valadez just finished this mix and it’s exactly up our alley. Soul music that has been sitting in his record bag that he hardly gets to play out. “Stay Connected” is the name of this mix and you can download it HERE! Thanks for the mix and can’t wait to smell the L.A. beach this summer.
Last weekend Dam-Funk touched down in Rotterdam and tore the roof off! After this Strange Fruit saga, there will be a sequal or as you will a second chance for those that missed out. This time we contacted the fellas from Plat du Jour and told them we were doing a sequal to the DAMN…FUNK!?! promotional mix. MRP and me wanted to dig a lot deeper this time and behold the outcome – DAMN…MORE FUNK!?! – Thirtyfive minutes of nasty, sweaty funk covered with some nu-boogie flavour sprinkled on top. We’re proud to bring you our second Boogie/Funk mix and we hope you enjoy it as much or even more as you did the first one. Don’t forget to check out Dam-Funk Oct. 22nd at the Plat du Jour ADE special in the Bitterzoet (Amsterdam). Big up to Brutuzz who will be playing that night and Deluge delivered a fine piece of artwork once again!
When we heard that Dam-Funk was coming over, MRP and me decided to get our funky strutt on and mix up a little Boogie/Funk mix. Enjoy these twentyfive minutes of pure, unadulterated Funk and get in the mood for Dam-Funk’s European tour. Our friends at Strange Fruit loved the idea and so we suggested this mix was to be used as a promotional mix for the Strange Fruit presents: Dam-Funk event, held on October 10th in Rotterdam. Thelonius & Lucky Dubz will be sound providers for the rest of the evenening so come one, come all and get ya boogie on! Deluge…thanks a million for the the artwork and peep the flyer (by Lucky) and tracklist after the jump.
Thanks to Plug Research, we have another podcast for you straight from LA. A few weeks ago they released the Exile edition and now they present the Shafiq Husayn podcast, mixed by Garth Trinidad (of KCRW’s ‘Chocolate City’). This mix offers a great overview of Shafiq’s past, current and future works and features some exclusive/unreleased joints too. All in all tons of music from the likes of SA-RA, Erykah Badu, John Legend, Jill Scott, Pharoahe Monch and many others. Enjoy this FREE mix and be sure to mark that calender on October 6th for Shafiq’s upcoming “Shafiq En’ A-Free-Ka” album via Plug Research. Tracklist after the jump and big ups to J. Kim..
And here we go again with another mix we did a while back. Really coming out of the woodworks with these mixes now that we got a Mixcloud account. This “Moovmnt Beat Special” mix, was played on Red Bull Music Academy Radio via djbroadcast at the Rooms of Red Bull. We never shared this one, but it has a couple of nice exclusive joints on there we know you’ll enjoy! Oh it was mixed by me, myself and MRP and photo credits go to MRP as well.
. Next week he’ll be starting his US tour and as a preview he’s assembled this exclusive mix for the XLR8R podcast.
