Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Various - Christmas never felt so good! (2007)


01 - intro - heidi - introduction
02 - milly & silly - getting down for xmas
03 - alton ellis - christmas coming
04 - the soulful strings - santa claus is coming to town
05 - peggy lee - happy holiday
06 - otis redding - merry christmas baby
07 - sufjan stevens - that was the worst christmas ever
08 - jayram acharya - white christmas
09 - johnny clarke - i saw mommy kissing santa claus
10 - freddie mcgregor - irie christmas
11 - silvertones - christmas feelings (studio one 7inch)
12 - stevie wonder - what christmas means to me
13 - the soul saints orchestra - santa's got bag of soul
14 - ella fitzgerald - santa claus is coming to town
15 - henri rené & his orchestra feat. eartha kitt - santa baby
16 - cocoa tea - christmas is coming
17 - nigger kojak - christmas style
18 - king kooba - o christmas tree
19 - sufjan stevens - hey guys its christmas time
20 - john lennon - happy xmas (war is over)
21 - james brown - please come home for christmas
22 - jacob miller - wish you a merry christmas
23 - myster k and the fabulous - django bells
24 - miles davis - blue xmas (to whom it may concern)
25 - the soulful strings - dance of the sugarplum fairy
26 - vince guaraldi trio - christmas time is here (vocal)

Here is a Christmas compilation I made in 2007. A little more "Christmas" sounding or "traditional" than my 2011 compilation This ain't no white Christmas - but still very funky & groovy. Download link in comments. Enjoy!

DubMe

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Various - This ain't no white Christmas (2011)


01 - william bell - everyday will be like a holiday
02 - the diplomats of solid sound - let it snow
03 - clarence carter - back door santa
04 - lefties soul connection - back door santa
05 - lefties soul connection - back door santa (instrumental)
06 - detroit junior - christmas day
07 - swing republic - boogie woogie santa (ft patti page)
08 - mr president - its christmas time
09 - little john - give a little for christmas
10 - the iron phoenix - natty dread christmas (the thing 7inch)
11 - gary walker - santa's got a brand new bag
12 - james brown - merry christmas baby
13 - amos milburn ft. charles brown - christmas comes but once a year
14 - mighty sparrow - post card to sparrow
15 - bunny & skully - white christmas
16 - sugar minott - christmas time
17 - king kong - nice christmas (firehouse)
18 - scooby doo - christmas time (edit)
19 - binky griptite & sharon jones - aint no chimneys extended
20 - charles bradley - every day is a christmas (when i'm)
21 - owen gray - collins greetings
22 - silvertones - bling bling christmas
23 - james brown - merry christmas, i love you
24 - mighty botai - njoeng jari (surinam)
25 - kwadwo donkoh - soul of xmas
26 - outro - pizzicato five - merry christmas

This is my third Christmas compilation after 2007 and 2008. I actually thought that I would be running out of good Christmas Grooves - the ones we like so much: sweet & funky! But surprisingly I dug out another bunch of Christmas Scorchers. I am quite satisfied with this years compilation - lots of good songs, very uptempo, a little bit of everything. This year Santa (Satan?!) is definitely wearing his dancing boots! Actually two of my all-time favourite Reggae Christmas songs are on this compilation: „The Iron Phoenix - Natty Dread Christmas“ and „Scooby Doo - Christmas Time“. What a surprise when I heard these two songs for the first time – both of them „rare as a hen's tooth“ - and you don't find them on the usual Trojan Christmas Compilations. But what killer tunes! Luckily „The Iron Phoenix - Natty Dread Christmas“ recently got repressed as a nice quality 7inch on the UK Observer label. Couldn't find much info on the Scooby Doo song on the Internet – but would love to buy the original 12inch or 45 (I have it as an extended 6 minute something long mix. I am gonna share some of my older „Beatz & Carrots“ compilations here on the blog soon – you can find the extended version on one of the compilations). Another nice song – again a Reggae tune - is „Christmas Time“ - a dubby good Christmas greeting from the recently departed but NEVER forgotten Lincoln Barrington ‘Sugar’ Minott with an off-key children choir. Ride on Sugar and rest in peace in the knowledge that your sounds, lyrics & message will continue to spread around the world. A song I would have loved to include on this years compilation is Macka B's Christmas Cancelled. Love the lyrics – but find it musically rather boring. I don't know much about the music from Surinam – but the Christmas song „Njoeng Jari“ from Mighty Botai is just beautiful! Lovely Caribbean sunshine & easiness... Many thanks to my friend Ratje Toe for sharing this song with me! And last but not least: Jewel Lombardo - Christmas Melody. I want this Christmas song as a quality rip for Christmas. Of course the original 7inch would also do it. „Seems“ to be some killer and ultra rare Popcorn. Really like it... Could listen to that lo-fi youtube rip for hours. „Every Day is a Christmas“ - Daptone's latest holiday 45 is one of those songs that grows on me every time I listen to it. Pure Soul! Charles Bradley, backed by the ever-soulful Menahan Street Band invites you to have a good time: “We having a party. It’s Christmas Eve and everyone’s invited. Come on in and have a good time.” I couldn't have said it better! So I will leave you here - wishing a merry Christmas to all my readers, have a good time with family & friends – and don't forget to hit the download button...

DubMe

(This compilation fits perfectly on one CD - just click "NO PAUSE BETWEEN TRACKS" when you are going to burn it - and the CD will be exactly 79:56 long... I will try to upload my Christmas compilations from 2007 and 2008 during the next few days – so stay tuned!)

Giving proper credits... The cover/picture I shared with this compilation is from Mr. Dolemite Rudy Ray Moore. It's from his 1971 Christmas album "This ain't no white Christmas!" (which also helped me to find a not too merry sounding title for this years Christmas compilation). One great, very typical Rudy Ray Moore line from this album is: "You know, if the pilgrims, when they landed on Plymouth Rock, would have shot a wildcat instead of a turkey, baby, we would be eatin' pussy on Thanksgiving." Has nothing to do with Christmas - but that's Rudy Ray Moore! Any excuse to make a sexual remark is good enough...

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

~ a month in tunes 23.0 (2011 shai'li) ~


Its December 2011 – and here is another ~ a month in tunes 23.0 (2011 shai'li) ~ selection by fellow blogger and music lover shai'li. At the beginning of every new month he shares some of his latest musical discoveries with us - exiting music from all four corners of the earth. Some of these sweet grooves you can also find on his blog Duendiness. Beside having an ear for good music – he also seems to have a good eye and open mind to take some beautiful pictures – have a look at the photography he shares on his blog. I just „stole“ one of his pictures for this post. 
 
There are 41 songs in this months selection. This time I included a tracklist – so you can have a rough idea about the manifold selection of music - as well as a little anticipation for some of the songs included in this download. A few songs I really like: Bill Withers - Lovely Day (Copycat's Slight Re-Edit) – beautiful song! Sweet & Soulful. Here given a little edit treatment – basically making it more dj friendly – by the man DJ Copycat. He shares some amazing edits & remixes on his soundcloud page. But you gotta be quick to grab one of them. Usually the 100 free downloads are gonne within a day! 'Kids' is another song which was a nice surprise. A laid-back bluegrass/string band version of MGMT's 'Kids' by Dr Fox's Old Timey String Band from Ireland. This is what shai'li himself says about the song „don't laugh...i love this (bless me I'm just getting old,give me a break!)“ - well – maybe I am also getting old - but maybe so far we have been able to stay open-minded, freeing ourselves from musical genres and definitions. HIT ME WITH MUSIC! Poncho Warwick's „Tainted Jazz“ is another song I dig. I haven't done any googling on this song yet – but everything with „Tainted“ in the song title must be good – or? „Screamin' Jay Hawkins – I Put A Spell on You (Jeremy Sole's Zombie Stomp Remix)“ is a song I have been listening to for a while. But I think this remix deserves to be mentioned more then just one time. Jeremy Sole, along Quantic or Mister Scruff is one of my favourite DJ's out there – and also some of his remixes are amazing and beautiful. Muddy Waters - Worried Mind (Jeremy Sole Remix) is one of my favourite remixes by him – but unfortunately this song isn't available anywhere. Another great song is his remix of Tom Waits - Step Right Up. I like what Jeremy Sole said about remixing songs in a discussion on his soundcloud page:Just like an original song is, a remix is a work of art. Art is always best understood in context, BUT can be just as fun (and fulfilling) when taken out of context too. (...) I personally love the challenge of not only re-working songs that I can easily improve on, but taking songs that I already think are perfect, and carefully enhancing certain elements for maximum effect on modern day sound systems. When the sub speakers are independent from the tweeters. Adding low tones and cleaner highs can literally re-introduce a song to a whole new generation. THAT is something too important to me to remain a purist about the original sound quality.“ - Nicely said! More on shai'li's latest selection - its nice to see shai'li sharing some strong Reggae sounds with the classic song „Bredda Gravalicious“ by the Wailing Souls. I actually have been trying to compile some of my Wailing Souls favourites for a while – hopefully I will share it here soon. This blog needs more good Reggae. Talking about Reggae – Daydrum „Window Seat“ was a real surprise to me! Nice little blend ina Reggae Style – Erykah Badu riding the mighty Real Rock riddim – and its the original riddim as it got laid down in Jamaica's Studio One by the Sound Dimension - one of the most popular, most versioned, and most familiar reggae riddims ever! Staying in a Reggae Style - „Panta Move (instrumental)“ is another nice track. Its from the remix album „Dub Kweli“, produced by Max Tannone, featuring the lyrics of Talib Kweli and the music of dub reggae. You can download the whole album for free here. „Panta Move“ uses the riddim from Lee "Scratch" Perry's "Black Panta" (which can be found on „Upsetters 14 Dub Blackboard Jungle“). Another Reggae and Lee "Scratch" Perry track included in this months selection is „Lee Scratch Perry & Amp Ari Up Meet Subatomic Sound - Hello, Hell is Very Low (7mix)“ - let me quote what Supatomic Sound say about this song on their soundcloud page: „The “Hello, Hell Is Very Low” vinyl 45 features a dub and vocal take of a rootical dubstep reflip of the rare and classic “Underground Roots” riddim, known to have been used by Studio One’s Sir Coxsone Dodd’s sound system to lay waste in Jamaican sound clashes (typically played back to back with the only known vocal version, a closely guarded special rumored to have been done for Coxsone by Junior Byles). On this 45, Subatomic Sound System dubs the riddim up proper with maximum respect to the tradition of the masters, Lee Perry & King Tubby, while also turning out the low end, delivering drums and bass big and bad enough knock out even a modern day dubstep club crowd.“ This song was also the first collaboration between Lee “Scratch” Perry and Ari Up, front woman of English punk band the Slits. Sadly Up died „after serious illness“ October this year. May she R.I.P. - I liked some of her Slits songs which were produced and mixed by Dennis Bovell. One favourite of mine is their take on I heard it through the Grapevine – which has some thundering bass and percussive spaciousness. Three more nice songs worth mentioning: „Gimmy Flamante - Time (Duendiness Friendly Refix Edit) - - - a nice laid back dubby hippy hop sounding tune that has a bit of a far-eastern feeling. „JJ – Still“ – I know that riddim from somewhere – who can give me a hint? And last, but not least the nice scorching soul burner „Nick Waterhouse - I can only give you Everything“. Download link is in the comments selection – check the tracklist below - and enjoy the music:

azealia banks - 212
bill withers - lovely day (copycat's slight re-edit)
daft punk - something about us (cherokee remix)
daydrum - window seat (real rock)
dj yogstar - 2000 got to be black (ft. fela kuti & roy ayres)
dj yogstar - california soul (ft. marlena shaw)
dorothy back - miracle man
dub kweli - panta move (instrumental)
frootful - slowtime (loa remix)
generationals - when they fight, they fight
ghostfunk - make it n.y.
inell young - what do you see in her
jimmy flamante - time (edit)
jj - still
kids by mgmt bluegrass cover by dr fox's old timey string band
kuhn - quiet nights (original mix)
kuhn - slime beach
lee scratch perry & amp ari up meet subatomic sound - hello, hell is very low (7mix)
locksmith - devil's lasso (prod. by ski beatz)
logic - all i do (instrumental)
logic - all i do
nick waterhouse - i can only give you everything
peter, bjorn and john - dig a little deeper
poncho warwick - tainted jazz (original mix)
preacherz - bad characterz (home session, oct. 2011)
rebecca fergusson - nothing's real but love (acoustic version)
rye rye ft m.i.a. - sunshine
sbtrkt - wildfire (remix ft. drake & little dragon)
sibylle baier - tonight
solomon burke - im going back to my roots
solomon burke - i'm going back to my roots
screamin' jay hawkins - i put a spell on you (jeremy sole's zombie stomp remix)
suff daddy - kicks
suff daddy - on & on & on
suff daddy - splim
suff daddy - the big hit
the belle brigade - losers
the physics - the recipe (ft. craig g)
theophilus london - girls girls
twin sister - all around and away we go
wailing souls - bredda gravalicious

Peace; DubMe

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Beatz & Carrots #2 (November 2011)

 
01 - intro - musicians auditioning outside jack ruby's studio
02 - rodney p - live up ft. the people's army & mighty moe
03 - timothy wisdom - check the living dub
04 - guts - brand new revolution
05 - captain planet - fumando
06 - fort knox five - it's your voodoo working (dc's finest remint)
07 - mop mop - ash (curv re-edit)
08 - the emotions - as long as i've got you (demo)
09 - gramatik - break loose
10 - randa and the soul kingdom - the things (album version)
11 - shocking blue - beggin
12 - maxey & fred spider - batuque
13 - kormac - rainstorm
14 - guts - come closer
15 - tape five - tequila (gardener of delight extended mix)
16 - rick ross - hustlin (prince of ballard remix)
17 - mop mop - mr. know it all (solo moderna mr mention mix)
18 - the royal jazz trio - grand battement walks

It's the beginning of a new month – that means it is time for another „beatz & carrots“ selection of my monthly favourites & songs on heavy rotation. I hope you all enjoyed last months selection – because I did :) This month was a good month. A lot of great tunes kept coming my way – I could easily compile another „beatz & carrots“ selection – all killers – no fillers! Maybe you can convince me to share a „beatz & carrots“ Christmas Special?! Anyway - here is the new selection – full of good grooves, funky breaks, dubby dancehall, global uptempo sounds. Some tracks worth mentioning... A pleasant surprise was finding the Shocking Blue version of „Beggin'“. Never heard that one before – but what a monster track that is! Rick Ross - „Hustlin' (Prince of Ballard Remix)“ is another nice track with a bouncing Latin feeling. Check out Prince of Ballard and his nice blog Armed Snobbery. Prince of Ballard did a brilliant mix for Le Mellotron a while ago – well worth checking! Another great song which I finally found a decent rip of is The Emotions 1972 song „As long as I've got You (Demo)“ which strangely never saw a release by Stax Records – and only got released in 2004 on the album „Songs of Innocence & Experience“ in the UK. Many of you might recognize that opening piano melody - which also was also used for Wu-Tang Clan's big 1993 hit "C.R.E.A.M.". Actually the original of both these two songs is the Charmels „As long as I've got you“ - which was released in 1967. I personally prefer the Emotions version of this song over the original by the Charmels: „The Emotions seems to perfectly grasp what made The Charmels' recording so special, and its members amp up those qualities: the heft of the rhythm section, the delicacy of the vocals. They turn what was originally a vaguely melancholy torch song into a more powerful, driving affirmation of love and passion“ (Oliver Wang). I am ending this months „beatz & carrots“ selection with „Grand Battement Walks“ by The Royal Jazz Trio – a kickin' Jazz song I can't find any info on. I found it on Masterpiece Created by Gilles Peterson. Well - this song indeed is a true masterpiece! Ok - checkout the tracklist, hit the download button, play it loud, enjoy, dance, make some crazy moves...

Peace; DubMe