Beacons Festival may have got washed away by the rain but this kind of makes up for it. Jamie xx takes the helm for the Essential Mix and drops a two hour set of deep tune-age.

Filed under: DJ/Turntablism, Electronic, Hip-hop by J.G.
No Comments »

Rising UK hip-hop star, Bonafide issue 05 feature and Mercury Prize nominee Ghostpoet provides those who haven’t heard his sound yet a flavour of what Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam tastes like. Nice.

Filed under: UK hip-hop by J.G.
No Comments »

Following on from last year’s departure from the label he helped create, Anticon co-founder Sole hasn’t completely left behind the record label’s distinct characteristics in his latest release, and third album alongside the Skyrider Band.

Hello Cruel World is often emotive and ambitious with it’s ideas – recalling the psychedelic rap zeitgeist of cLOUDDEAD’s self titled debut and the acerbic, cerebral rhymes of Sage Francis (a guest on the album) and one time enemy EL-P – and the spacial new wave beats are deftly handled by the Skyrider Band.  …Read More.

Filed under: Bass, DJ/Turntablism, dubstep, Electronic, Hip-hop, Mixes by D.K.
3 Comments »

DJ Shadow Ft. Afrikan Boy – I’m Excited from Ian Pons Jewell on Vimeo.

DJ Shadow drops a crazy video for his track I’m Excited and has us second guessing his new sound for his forthcoming LP The Less You Know The Better. As ever it seems a different album has led to the man otherwise known as Josh Davis to change his musical palette. There can’t be many braver musicians out there and it will be interesting to see how this sits in the context of what, for me anyway, will be one of the musical events of the year. Fingers crossed it’s a future classic.

Filed under: DJ/Turntablism, Video by J.G.
No Comments »

Thundercat
The Golden Age of Apocalypse
Braindfeeder

Stephen Bruner, aka Thundercat, has had a prolific few years, appearing as bassist on a number of significant projects –  Flying Lotus’ Cosmogramma and Erykah Badu’s New Amerykah  Part Two (Return of the Ankh) being two of the most notable. …Read More.

Filed under: Bass, Electronic, Hip-hop, Jazz, Reviews by D.K.
1 Comment »

Successful club nights often result in aspirations for bigger and better things. Many try, few succeed. One notable success story is Glasgow-based label LuckyMe, whose evolution from club night to label to artist collective has been glowingly acknowledged as representing ‘the true spirit of independent thinking’, and has been selected for the prestigious Beck’s Green Box Project. …Read More.

Filed under: Art Galleries, Artists, Graphic Design by Lev
No Comments »

Leeds has a lingering, partly undiscovered hip-hop history to it. Back when break-dance popularity came to Yorkshire in waves in the 80s and 90s someone was there soaking it all in like counter-cultural sponge. Tony Green is by his own accord “a fan of hip-hop rather than a player”. As the waves rolled back across the ocean to what we begrudgingly accept now to be hip-hop the sponge hardened. With it Tony came to the realisation that after years of just being there and being involved he was ready to contribute.

…Read More.

Filed under: Live by J.G.
No Comments »

Charles ‘Packy’ Axton.
Late Late Party: 1965-67
Light in the Attic Records

A new one from Light in the Attic is a collection of recordings from 1965-’67 either written by and including or just plain including hard and heavy sax player Charles ‘Packy’ Axton.

This guy had all the hallmarks of musical royalty – played with Steve Cropper and Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn (of Booker T and the MGs ) and his mum and uncle co-founded Stax Records. So why has only a the privileged few heard of him?

…Read More.

Filed under: Reviews by J.G.
No Comments »

As announced by Evidence himself at the beginning, this is a mini-mix sneak preview of his up and coming album Cats & Dogs. A nine-minute combo of tracks from the album, it is mixed by the legendary DJ Babu, Evidence’s band member from notorious rap group Dilated Peoples. …Read More.

Filed under: Artists, Hip-hop by Lev
No Comments »

This week’s Monday MP3 Grab is brought to you by Bonafide magazine issue 01 interviewee DJ Woody. DJ Woody has been a mainstay of the UK hip-hop scene for years and his Technicolour Tape Vol 1 is a piece of rare craftsmanship and well worth getting on the D/L.

Filed under: Free Downloads, UK hip-hop by J.G.
No Comments »