Rhythm Inc special on Radio Citta del Capo
A short advance notice to let you know that Rhythm Inc will be doing a special live broadcast on Radio Citta del Capo, based in Bologna, Italy, next wednesday, June 3rd. We’ll be airing as part of the Lains for Laions show, which is run by good friend of ours Cris Adamo (the man behind ITF Italy and T-Turn among other things).
This special show will take place during the Original Cultures pilot event, as Rhythm Incursions is an official media partner for the project. We’ll have special guests in the studio with us including 2tall / Om Unit, Tatsuki and Tayone. So tune in for 2h of fresh music and a few surprises!
To recap: Wednesday 3rd June, from 21.30 to 23.30 GMT. To stream live on the internet go to the Radio Citta del Capo website and click the ‘ASCOLTA LIVE’ button located on the top-left hand side of the screen underneath the logo. Hell we might even Twitter the proceedings so make sure you follow us too.
Finale – Issues
Finale is an MC from Detroit who recently released his first album, ‘A Pipe Dream and a Promise’, which features production from the likes of Nottz, Flying Lotus, Oddisee, Jay Dee, Black Milk as well as Switzlerland-based Dimlite, better known for his electronic music/hip hop experimentations.
You can download the Dimlite-produced track ‘Issues’ below. Here’s the official word on it:
“The latest track from Finale’s debut album A Pipe Dream & A Promise, “Issues,” traces the difficulties of growing up in a less than ideal situation and doing what you have to do to make the best of it. Supported by the electronic beat of Swiss producer Dimlite, Finale spits verses of true stories about those who have had to face adversity in their life. Finale offered this explanation of the track: “When I got the beat, Dimlite just sent me the drums and I wrote it within an hour. I thought of the craziest and most real stories. I think rappers forget to show the moral of the story. I think they are so used to telling the outlandish, most gangsteriffic crap, they forget to tell the stories that people can relate to, like teen pregnancy, like my mom was 15 when she had me.”
Personally it’s growing on me a lot, much more than the Jay Dee produced one which was leaked a few weeks back. The album, ‘A Pipe Dream and a Promise’, is out now. Buy it from iTunes here (iTunes link).
Thanks to Audible Treats for the hook up.
Win a limited edition Paul White album!
Its no secret we’re huge fans of both Paul White and his label One-Handed Music, whose releases have been consistently excellent to date. So, to celebrate the release of Paul’s excellent new album “The Strange Dreams of Paul White” we thought we’d shake down the label for one of the deluxe copies of the album that comes in a screen-printed pillowcase. All you need to do is this: email us the name of one other artist on One-Handed Music, sending your entry to paulwhitecontest@rhythm-incursions.com. That’s it. Simple eh? Deadline for entries is Friday, 5th June.
If you’ve not heard Paul’s album, head over to his excellent Bandcamp page where you can preview all tracks on the spot. I’d also recommend you check his other releases, where you can buy both digital downloads (on a very fair “name your price” basis) and CD copies if you prefer.
Oh and someone was saying to me the other day that he never enters contests because he never thinks he’ll win. Now, not to give too much away here, but trust us, the entries for this aren’t as huge in number as you’d think, so your chances of winning are excellent indeed. Go!
The beat generation interprets Sun Ra
Regardless of what you might think of the current beat/instrumental hip hop movement, one of the most interesting things about it is just how well the whole thing lends itself to the reinterpretation of other genres and classics. It’s no surprise considering that reinterpretation has been a cornerstone of hip hop production since the beginning, when loops and breaks were getting chopped up. Today though the new generation of producers are taking things further thanks in no small part to the internet and modern technology allowing people to link together regardless of distance and make use of a wealth of recorded music.
With this in mind, it was a surprise to see something pop up on twitter yesterday about a bunch of producers, including L.A’s Ras G, having released a mix of reinterpretations of Sun Ra. The surprise quickly turned to pleasure when I started listening to it. There isn’t a wealth of information about it, beyond a tracklist, some art (one of which is used in this post) and a link to a myspace page for Re:source who seem to be the mastermind behind this effort. Looking at the tracklist it features quite a few known names to us, such as the aforementioned Ras G, Powell from Paris, Elaquent from Canada and Ichiro from Tokyo. Can’t say I’m too familiar with all the others though a few names ring a bell. See below for yourself.
As for the music, as I said it’s definitely worthy of your time and a keeper as far as I’m aware. It’s easy to see the inspiration that all the producers drew from, Sun Ra’s music, and yet they’ve all managed to come through with different takes, sounds, moods and atmospheres resulting in a 1h30 of instrumental goodness. Definitely a fitting tribute to an artist who I think would no doubt approve of such a project.
Looking on the myspace it seems the good people over at Monday Jazz are going to be airing this on their show, but in the meantime you can download it from the link below. Big thanks to @scaloni for the tip!
Download the mix here (via sendspace, zip file)
Alternative link:
Download the zip here
Tracklist:
Electric Egypt the invisible spectrum
Ras_G jouful noise!!!
Space Monk hello sun ra
Afro Bluu all systems go
SoulJim sun ra beat
Ichiro mori
Movementss cosmos
Powell popcorn contact
Skipless sometimes the universe speech
Samon Kawamura antique black
Sauce travel
SK.ILL 5:49 in the a.m.
Blak Maul china gate
Space Monk majestic waves
Stevo into the sun
Sudan Life what i learned from le sony’r
Elaquent calling planet earth
The Billion Dollar Quartet sun ra project
Cozmos one for the sun
Infinite Potentials not like planet earth
SK.ILL graveyard planet
-G-R-A-D-E- summer in paris
Ravage Beats 2012 sun ra 2012 mix
Don Bo anhk
Blunted Monks lars vertoht de sun ra et
Samon Kawamura imagination
Soul Kid shine like the sun
SoulJim Moon Shoes
-G-R-A-D-E- bad character
Dank Grooves the final sun
Jomac sun rawness
The Samurai i am sun ra
Depakote one for the sun
Sun Ra space is the place (Live)
Beat Dimensions continues sonic explorations with vol2
Two years ago Beat Dimensions vol1 was released. Compiled by Jay Scarlett and Cinnaman (based in/around the UK, Germany and Holland) it was a particularly accurate and representative snapshot of a growing undercurrent in hip hop toward a return to focus on the beats and the producer. Not only that, it was more than a euro- or american-centric view of this producing renaissance taking in work from across the globe and spotlighting certain producers who in the subsequent years would go on to receive a fair bit of attention and critical acclaim.
In the two years since its release, Beat Dimensions has become a real point of reference and accordingly the follow-up has been quite anticipated. The wait is over as Beat Dimensions vol2 is upon us – split across 3 EPs and both vinyl and digital formats. EP 1 drops this week, while EP 2 will drop next week both on vinyl. The digital releases of each will follow a week later. Following this EP 3 and a 7″ release will be available after the summer, most likely around September, and there is then talk of an album release too. So as you can see the wait has been for a reason with Jay and Cinnaman putting in some serious work to try and ensure the series lives up to the high standards it set itself. All releases are distributed by Rush Hour, full tracklist and details below.
I met Cinnaman in Amsterdam earlier this year and he mentioned how keen both he and Jay were to not rush the release and to ensure that they actually upped the quality of the series rather than just cash in on its previous success and the current trendyness and popularity of the beat scene and the whole hip hop meets electronic music movement. Having heard the first 2 EPs I’d say they’ve definitely managed that; once more their selection is varied, taking in established names as well as upcoming producers from around the globe (including Pakistan, not your first port of call for upcoming producers), and there is a distinct feel of progression from the first volume. The only downside may well be that with the current excess of attention surrounding the beat scene and the resulting copycat mentality that has led to too many people sounding the same in the last few years, the impact of vol2 is unlikely to be anywhere near as ‘powerful’ as vol1 though that was always a given I guess. More importantly the guys are obviously aware of this and have aimed to put together something that can actually show the quality of music being made amid the mass of copycats and throwaway beats.
Beat Dimensions vol2 features quite a few of our own favourites producers of recent times including Nosaj Thing, Mono/Poly and Fulgeance and the return of the one and only Danny Breaks, somebody who we’ve been fans of for years and who is an often forgotten ‘pioneer’ of this whole beat thing. For that reason alone it’s great to see him included on there, alongside Adlib from the Noisy Stylus crew, who should be no stranger to regular listeners of Turntable Radio.
I’ll be airing a couple of cuts from the first 2 volumes on the May show which goes live next week. In the meantime though get your pre-order/order on via Rush Hour or any reputable physical or online shop (UK people may want to try Juno or Boomkat for example). More info about the other releases on the Beat Dimensions myspace page.
Beat Dimensions vol 2 EP 1
Dalt Wisney – R2FUX
Danny Breaks and Dj Adlib – The Sound
Kenlo Craqnuques – Zoed
Mono/Poly – Distant From
Nosaj Thing – FWD
Beat Dimensions vol 2 EP 2
Dimlite – Ravemond’s Young Problems
Dizz1 – Konotakosuke Yaro
Dorian Concept – Be Tween
Fulgeance – Haggis
Samiyam – Swamp Tarts
