The Groove Thief

Eclectically-sampled beats comprise GHprodu’s freshman beat tape, Beats Overdue,  alternates between lush orchestration, digital rhythms, and various interpolations of funkiness. Some elements are hyper-futuristic, while others have been well dug for. This concoction of influences means each beat is hard to pin down… opener “Clad Myriad” crashes such genres together, while “Time To Go” is much more chilled out; standout “Take Two” features a piano alongside gritty Eastern string-work, before a flute shows up almost late for the jam; “Do It” is bombastic, perhaps awaiting a proper outro; finale “Back” is the strongest in the latter half, an alien disco of of sorts. This is an interesting collection of beats, well-worth a listen if you know no beat is too underground:

With tracks spanning decades and continents, my latest DJ mix Welcome To My Funky Digital Dancehall features a diverse mix of tunes designed to rock any dancehall.  With vocals and production work coming from England, Germany, Jamaica, South Africa, France, Portugal, Italy, India, and the United States, the multinational modern face of reggae is emphasized throughout this mix, which was made in Hong Kong.  Much respect to all of the artists, particularly Krak In Dub for the *EXCLUSIVE* track, 7FT Soundsystem, MC Zulu and Cast-A-Blast for the ongoing support, and of course to the mighty Tenor Saw, may he rest in peace - a true legend gone before his time.

Crafted, assembled, and edited using Ableton Live on a MacBook Pro.

DIRECT DOWNLOAD

Tracklisting:

1. Mr. Williamz - Herbzman Town

2. El Fata - London Town

3. Yami Bolo - Babylon System

4. 7FT Soundsystem - Come Fe Warn Dem Refix (The Groove Thief Re-Edit)

5. Krak In Dub - Marimbaa *EXCLUSIVE* - Fogata Sounds

6. Jammys Jam2 James - Peenie Peenie

7. Dedy Dread & DJ Rebel feat. Delhi Sultanate - Criss & Shine - Cast-A-Blast

8. Mochipet & MC Zulu - To The East

9. Sister Nancy - Bam Bam (DJ Fashen Remix)

10. Tenor Saw - Who’s Gonna Help Me Praise

Available on either Soundcloud or Mixcloud:

Del The Funky Homosapien is rightfully a hip-hop legend, turning West Coast gangsta-rap on its side to create intelligent and relevant music.  He’s now 2/3 of the way through a free mixtape series, West Coast Avengers, where he features samples exclusively from a single artist.  The latest installment is all Fela Kuti, loops created out of catchy horns and percussion pieces from the afrobeat maestro.  Del’s voice commands your attention, commenting on everything from the internet to his own awesomeness.  Each track clocks in at 2 minutes, so this entire free LP will disappear in less than 20 minutes, but each track is quite enjoyable.  Volume One is all P-Funk inspired, appropriately enough, so it sounds much more as one would expect than Volume Two…

Vancouver’s The Funk Hunters have taken the essence of funk and applied it across the musical spectrum, creating a potent bass stew clearly steeped in the breakbeat tradition, but equally influenced by the rhythms of glitch-hop, the elasticity of mashups, and the party vibes of house music.  This is a nice vision of future bass music that puts the ‘fun’ in funky.  Find your own cheesy pun after giving these a listen:

Turntable Dubbers have mixed and mashed some bass brilliance, melding together a truly eclectic smorgasbord of styles and influences to produce a high-pace reggae-tinged dancefest.  There are mashup DJs, and then there are professional audiophiles, like DJ Z-Trip and 2 Many DJs, that can effortlessly connect songs together regardless of genre.  This is an impressive mix comparable to the work of such vinyl exploiters, one that drops an insta-party and somehow doesn’t run out of energy by the end.  Listing genres will spoil the fun, so check out the responsibly-titled Mashed-up party -Festival mix 2012:

The 8-piece reggae band One Drop arrived at 2 Kolegas in Beijing ready to unleash a funky reggae party.  The crowd was kept warm by ganja/roots reggae, but the dance-floor waited to fill until the stage did.  Blending instruments and voices, exchanging solos and calling out for drum and bass breakdowns, allowing the funky keyboards and even a melodica to come to the forefront, this was honed-in music worthy of the literal (found on banners and flags around the club) and musical presence of Bob Marley; a medley of the late legend’s songs can either be amazing or cliche, and the One Drop Band firmly fell in the former category, as they did throughout the night, playing with inspired passion.  In Beijing as a tourist, it was a pleasant surprise - like many things in the Chinese capitol - to find such high-quality live reggae.  If anyone can locate any information on or music from this band, please send me a message!

Krafty Kuts returns with the 5th installment of his relentless floor-funk mix series Fresh Kuts.  All are available as free Soundcloud downloads, and this latest session doesn’t disappoint.  Krafty continues to blend together samples from classic house, early hip-hop, and all shades of funk and then pummel them with pounding beats that never quit.  This is great party music, or in my case mid-afternoon housework music, since all this energy is motivating and infectious.

“Enter the Dragon” in Hong Kong: high-quality time-lapse video shot throughout the city I call home, and set to the theme of the epic Bruce Lee film.  This is well-shot and highlights a lot of HK: