SE2 week 1 – Ichiro_ live @ Star Pines cafe
January 24, 2010 by Laurent
Filed under Guest Mixes, Podcast
As mentioned a few weeks back we’re starting a series of weekly podcasts, lasting a month, featuring exclusive live audio from Ken One‘s recent ‘Skratch Evolution 2‘ event. Held at Kichijoji’s Star Pines cafe, this musical evening featured a rather interesting mix of Tokyo’s underground music scenes with scratch DJs, producers and MCs coming together for a series of live showcases alongside some live painting. This was Ken’s second such event, up a notch from the first which was a more scratch-centered affair.
These podcasts also form the first joint Rhythm Incursions and Turntable Radio series, something I’ve been wanting to do for a while but hadn’t yet been able to. Every weekend for the next month we’ll be airing two exclusive live sets from the event, one on Turntable Radio and one on Rhythm Incursions showcasing the majority of the acts that appeared on the night. The schedule goes something like this:
- Week 1
- Rhythm Incursions – Ichiro_ live
- Turntable Radio – Ken One live
- Week 2
- Rhythm Incursions – DJ Duct live
- Turntable Radio – Naoki live
- Week 3
- Rhythm Incursions – XLII + Dolbee&Sibitt (志人） live edits
- Turntable Radio – Skratch Evolution jam session
- Week 4
- Rhythm Incursions – Ken One Skratch Evolution promo mix
- Turntable Radio – DJ Duct Skratch Evolution promo mix
- PUDGE – Intro
- PUDGE – Satta MariJuana
- PUDGE – Blips Ahoy Mate
- PUDGE – Afrilude
- PUDGE – AwnMyDawn
- PUDGE – ArabIncense
- PUDGE & Dibiase – Smoke It Over
- Dibiase – wtf
- Dibiase – Thrilla Time Slime
- Dibiase – Spacely Sprocketts
- Dibiase – I Pity the Fool
- Dibiase – Axel Bop
So as you can see plenty to get stuck into, from the laid-back beats of Ichiro_ to the electronic hip hop of XLII via some of the best scratchers on the Tokyo underground.
We start on Rhythm Incursions with Ichiro_, a producer based in Tokyo’s Nerima district who I first came across via Twitter (hat tip to Scaloni) and then started to see appear in various other places, including Monday Jazz and most recently on a series of 7″s alongside producer Yoggyone (check our Jan 2010 show for that). Ichiro_ has primarily released on and works with Olive Oil’s excellent Oil Works label. While his approach to the whole beat thing may not be the freshest, he has a certain quality to his beats that I find really interesting, verging on ‘narcotic’ but in a good way. The more I listen to his stuff the more it grows on me, I guess you could say it’s rewarding in its own special way.
This live set he performed at Skratch Evolution is the perfect example of this and serves as a great introduction to his work for those that don’t know him yet, featuring primarily his Oil Works material alongside other bits.
For more on him be sure to check the myspace as well as the recent joint release with Yoggyone. His Oil Works EP is still available, and I believe Juno still has copies for non-Japan buyers. He also has stuff available on iTunes and a brand new single dropping on Oil Works. Be sure to check the myspace for full link details.
Look out for more from him this year, as we’ll definitely be keeping a close eye on his output. And if you like what you hear be sure to head over to Turntable Radio for Ken One’s live session!
Massive thanks go to Ken One and all the artists for making this possible. It’s a real pleasure to be able to showcase more of the Tokyo underground to the rest of the world like this.
We’ll be back next week with part 2, featuring the rather incredible DJ Duct and Naoki. Till then crank up the volume and 聞いてください！
Download Ichiro_ live at Star Pines cafe (right click and save as)
Dibiase & PUDGE – Smoke It Over
We’ve been waiting for this one for a while now. The excellent Dublin-based All City Records are starting a new series of vinyl releases for 2010, following from their acclaimed 7×7 series back in 08 which saw them release 7 (well actually 8 as they did an extra one in 09) 7″s featuring tracks from producers that had been bubbling under and a few of which went on to receive greater acclaim and fame in 09. These included Hudson Mohawke, Onra, Mike Slott and Fulgeance to name a few.
For 2010 the label returns with a similar concept this time the 10×10 LA Series. The concept couldn’t be simpler: 10 10″s from LA producers featuring one producer on each side and artwork from the mighty B+ of Mochilla fame. Simple concept maybe but packing an almighty punch especially when it’s that well executed.
First up are two producers who we’ve been following keenly for a while – Dibiase and PUDGE. I saw PUDGE in November when he played the Ramp party in London, and must admit his set was a pleasure. I’d known of him but not that well and the live set was a perfect introduction. As for Dibiase, he’s someone whose music, or more accurately beats, I’ve been hunting over the last year ever since I discovered him on a video with Ras G back in 08. As Take, another LA producer, put it when I saw him in the summer, Dibiase is a sort of unsung producing hero on the LA beat scene, a local Dilla with an incredible knack for the most catchy headnodders.
To celebrate the launch of the series, All City have given out one track from the first 10″ entitled ‘Smoke It Over’ and featuring both producers. See below for download link and stream.
Here’s some blurb from the press release regarding both and also tracklist for the first 10″.
Dibiase – Representing HollyWatts in South LA, Dibiase has been making a name for himself beneath the surface over the last few years. Now coming overground he’s recently dropped 45s on Detroits OTW label plus Fat City.
P.U.D.G.E – Originally from Jamaica, Queens now residing in L.A producer and MC P.U.D.G.E has released on Ramp and most recently on the Beat Dimensions 2 LP.
LA Series 1 – Dibiase & PUDGE – BUY IT HERE
Download Dibiase & PUDGE – Smoke It Over (right click and save as)
Alongside this new series All City are also starting 2010 with a 7″ from Om Unit, who regular listeners of the show will know by now. The release, Lavender b/w Lightgrids, has been on rotation in our shows for a few months now as we’ve been lucky enough to get the early heads up on it and we’re very happy to see it finally come out. For my money, Lightgrids is the joint and it’s been getting some serious support from the likes of Martyn, Benji B and Mark Pritchard as well as being featured on XLR8R’s website.
The 7″ is out now, and you can buy it here. Comes with some beautiful artwork too.
Lastly Om Unit has also done a 30 min mix of All City material past, present and future. It’s the perfect addition to both releases and a great way to catch up with the label’s output, or if you aren’t new to it, reminisce on the good stuff. You can download the mix here.
Primus Luta – Beat Construction
April 11, 2009 by Laurent
Filed under Guest Mixes, Podcast
We stay stateside with our latest guest mix, a 40 minute journey into instrumental hip hop and beats courtesy of Primus Luta. We hooked up with Primus thanks to the ‘social’ wonder that is twitter, and he offered to put together a mix for us which would be looking at some of the foundations of the current electronic music/hip hop crossover and movements that have been gaining track over the last 5-10 years.
In his own words:
‘This is a mix called “BeatConstruction.” 40+ minutes of instrumental madness from 1979-2000. My goal was to present a variety of stuff that shows the early groundwork laid for the instrumental electronic and hip-hop scene we’re seeing today. The other exciting thing about this mix is that it is a live mix created using the scrtch application which I developed for my Heads Project. scrtch is a two deck turntable emulation application developed for the monome in Bidule. Originally designed just for turntabilist effects (audio manipulation), as I started working on the live rig for the Heads Project I decided to modify it so that full fledged mixing could be achieved, this mix being the first result. I’m only using scrtch here so it isn’t the full live rig, but it is completely live (mistakes and all). Where my live set will be more about building extended grooves, this mix is a rapid fire assault of over forty tracks in just over forty minutes. Enjoy.
FEATURING: Africa Bambatta, AFX, Anti-Pop Consortium, Audio Two, The Ballistic Brothers, The B-Boys, The Beastie Boys, The Bomb Squad, Buckshot LeFongue, Chris Stein, DJ Food, DJ Krush, DJ Premier, DJ Shadow, Drexciya, El P, Fab 5 Freddy, Full Force, Invisible Skratch Piklez, Jigsaw Productions, Jay Dee, Kraftwerk, La Funk Mob, Large Professor, Larry Smith, Mantronix, Mark the 45 King, Meat Beat Manifesto, Midnight Funk Association, Miles Davis, Peter Brown, Pete Rock, Prince Paul, Reload, The Sabres of Paradise, The Ummah, Unkle, Urban Tribe, X-Ecutioners.’
So not only is this mix full of the productions which are very dear to us here at Rhythm Inc, it’s also a pretty original live mix using one of the most interesting live interface/instruments of recent years.
No tracklisting as such, but if you like what you hear than be sure to check Primus’ site, Avanturb where you can keep up to date with the Heads Project as well as his live manipulations and music. Massive thanks to him for taking the time to put this together for us, and in a slightly freaky coincidence look out for a mix from 2tall and myself in the coming months which will be looking at the whole evolution of the beat/electronic hip hop thing from 1999 to 2009, picking up where Primus’ mix leaves off.
