Jay Scarlett is basically... the dude. His tireless work curating the Beat Dimensions compilations has had a massive impact on the musical direction of many producers, and made a lot of ears prick up and understand that this new wave of beat music has legs far beyond the first Flying Lotus record. The man himself has put together a new promo mix in honour of the Creative Control Coalition night, which launches at The New Empowering Church in Hackney on Saturday 19th June, so any London bods not making the trip to Barcelona's Sonar festival should take note.
Featuring acts like Jay, Om Unit, Morgan Zarate, Subeena and Amalgamation of Soundz tickets are a ten sheet and come with a free copy of the CCC compilation which you can stream at the link below.
Gumpf:
The Creative Control Coalition (CCC) is a new, innovative not-for-profit organisation dedicated to representing, connecting and supporting independent creative organisations and individuals in order to encourage and nurture collaborative work for the benefit of all involved.
The shared mission of the coalition is to work together and grow stronger in order to keep on loving what we do so that we can keep on doing what we love. Artists and labels who make up the CCC are concerned with creating, promoting and selling their work but have made an informed decision to do this independently of the confines and compromises that relinquishing creative control of their work would inevitably bring.
1. Colonel Red - 'Inside is light' (unreleased) 2. Simon S - 'A Free Soul' (previously released on vinyl only) 3. Chima Anya feat. Soweto Kinch - 'A New Day' 4. Jay Scarlett Ft Reggie B - 'Cartoon Characters' 5. Miki Grems - 'My Name is Michael' (produced by Son of Kick) 6. Kay Suzuki feat. Duchy - 'Move On' 7. Dave de Rose - Dreams 8. Morgan Zarate - 'Satin White'
Put together by Jus Like Music and Apple Juice Break, Oscillations Vols 1&2, provided somewhat of an impeccable snapshot of the current neo hip hop(?)/dubstep intersection, packaging beats form reputable producers like Om Unit, Slugabed, Paper Tiger, Lunice, 00Genesis, ANGO and Alex B up for a duo of free downloads - grab them here: http://juslikemusicrecords.bandcamp.com/ for the price of a couple of clicks and an email address.
Now the people behind the compilation have teamed up with Man Make Music and the Bridging The Gap party promoters to celebrate both BTG's birthday and the physical production of CD copies of the compilation, at CAMP (nr Old St. Tube) in London this Saturday. It's FREE entry, and everyone who attends will get a limited edition Oscillations Mix CD, mixed by Mr Beatnick. Only 500 of these will ever be in existence and each one is hand-numbered. There will also be 150 limited-edition prints available on the night, commemorating the event.
Full line up:
OSCILLATIONS: Slugabed (Planet Mu/Ramp Recordings/Numbers) Om Unit (Terrorhythm/All City) Kidkanevil (First Word Records) Mr Beatnick (Futuristica/Altered Vibes) BTG: Count Chocula Toot Sweet The Fat C MMM: Another Amit Sketchy
Having given the careers of Hudson Mohawke and Mike Slott (whether together as Heralds of Change or working on solo material) a supportive strut, the All City label is proving to be an utterly essential imprint in the future hip hop sphere in 2010. Their immediate forthcoming release schedule lists work from Onra, Diabese & P.U.D.G.E., TAKE, Knxwledge and devonwho, and when you finally feel like you've got up on what they're doing, letting these brand new releases seep in, they hit you with a split 10" from spatial beat pioneer Ras G and Samiyam.
In an attempt to get a behind the scenes insight we cornered Olan from the label to answer just a few of our overloaded questions...
Sonic Router: You’ve got somewhat of an impeccable heritage as a hip hop record label. Where did the spark come from to start out?
Olan: All City is store/record label based in Dublin... It kind of just organically grew from there. We’re coming up on 10 years now and we’re just trying to make things interesting for ourselves as much as anything else.
Is your A&R process as un-laborious as I imagine? How do you seek out the beatmakers whose work you release? Is it a constant search or are they approaching you?
To be honest man, there are way better than us at mining beneath the surface out there... some serious molemen types. The likes of Hessle, Numbers, Hemlock, Ramp are killing it right now, the Brits are really on it at the minute; we’re just trying to keep up with them... Then there's the old school, people like Stones Throw... I mean assembling as diverse projects as the Minimal Wave compilation, the A P.E. Hewitt anthology and a Dam Funk 5 LP set alongside Mayer Hawthorne. They are the levels we like to look at. It’d be embarrassing to big ourselves up really.
We get sent a lot of demos and listen to absolutely everything and then just check the radio really. The only downside is - no offence to anyone who sends us stuff - you do listen to a lot of fairly average stuff which can distract from the marathon Sun Ra listening session you had planned for Monday afternoon.
I hate to sound like a twat but in my opinion there really is some killer music coming out now (yeah yeah everyone says that!) and I don’t feel that this was necessarily the case 3 or 4 years ago – or not as much at any rate, so its enjoyable to be part of it.
Your 7x7 series [a run of seven 7 inch singles featuring beats from HudMo, Mike Slott, Mwëslee, Fulgeance, Onra and Dimlite] is probably one of the strongest collections of future hip hop I've heard. For me it's up there with the Beatnicks 12”s and Beat Dimensions collections - 2 of the corner stones of my own discovery. Your following up the series with 10x10, a similar series of ten 10”s. Can you explain a bit about the concept and who is in store?
Very kind words... thank you. Hmmmmm, the 7s were just about the disillusionment around hip hop for me. I love Beatnicks & Beat Dimensions; its now fashionable to knock wonky/post Dilla/blip hop/whatever you want to call it now, but fuck that. It was a breath of fresh air [for me], so I was happy to be involved with it. Hip hop fell the fuck off sadly…
The 10s are more about geography, just an outsider’s perspective on one of the most interesting cities on the planet: L.A. Its not about one style but more the influence of a place on a sound really. If you let the series unfold it will be worth it... old & young there's everything from ambient to hip hop... I don’t want to spoil it. Up next is Samiyam & Ras_G…. just enjoy that for the minute!
Om Unit - All City Records Showcase Mix
This year alone you’ve released work by Om unit and singer Muhsinah and I know projects by Klipmode producers devonwho and Knxwledge are in the cart. Can you shed any more light on releases?
Om Unit is interesting cause he’s taken that road a lot of aging hip hop heads have. You know, if you come from hip hop you’re not allowed experiment with other types of music but if you come from say electronica you can dip in and out of any genre you like…? That’s kind of changing which is great and old hip hop producers are being afforded the opportunity to try their hand at other sounds. I’ve always loved 2Tall’s stuff – I’m a big Dudley Perkins/Georgia fan and if you’ve not checked the ‘Softer Diagram,’ life's to short! Go treat yourself and then buy the 'Lightgrids' record! (There’s none left though – so check Boomkat for the download!)
Knxwledge has been beavering away for a while; this record was him kind of getting to grips with his craft. I’d be very interested in seeing what he comes with next. Devon is obviously in the same crew as Knxwledge... he moved to LA from Portland and I think there is a real West Coast vibe running through his record. It’s amazing.
Muhsinah did some stuff with Mike Slott a while back, its always great to be able to build on relationships with people. We were really chuffed to put that 45 out… people are only copping on about her now.
Hold tight for some boogie-hop with Onra in May and a new 12 inch series is kicking off in Autumn also..
Do you have any words of wisdom you’d care to share with our readership?
Arrghh... I’d love to drop a hip hop acronym…: All City = always looking like crap in the yard...
When twitter blows up and word quickly spreads about something happening right on the radio right there and then, that you miss because you didn't yet have an iPhone with the Rinse.fm app, it can be somewhat of an annoyance. But luckily, thanks to his generosity, you can download/stream/file next to all the other boom mixes on your hard drive, Om Unit's guest mix for Plastician's Rinse show which was broadcast earlier this week.
Intro Om Unit - Lightgrids (Illum Sphere remix) (all city) Freddy Todd - Can't Fathom This (Om Unit Remix) (carcrashset) Om Unit - Wonderlust (dub plate) Om Unit - Cradle (terrorhythm) Foreign Beggars - Move Higher (Om Unit Remix) (dub plate) The Mahavishnu Orchestra - Power Of Love (Om Unit's 5am Dub) (A word from DR Channard) Om Unit - Fibonacci 10 (dub plate) Pixelord - Cybernator (Om Unit Remix) (forthcoming Error Broadcast) Om Unit - The Timps (dub plate) Mizz Beats - My World (Om Unit Remix) (dub plate) Om Unit - Searching (dub plate)
Catch Om on the 5th March at the Original Cultures showcase at Corbet Place in Truman Brewery.
The eagle eyed SR followers amongst you may well have noted a few posts on Om Unit before, most recently through his involvement in the epic Boom Bap Continuum mix, or his past, present and future retrospective type mix for the Irish All City record label - a label with a superbly healthy beats legacy (releases from Hudson Mohawke, Fulgeance, Mike Slott and Dimlite) that he himself has just recently released on.
Having come to our consciousness through his emphatic 'Pop Lock' remix of Joker's 'Digidesign' (available to stream below), which has now been released on 12", he's got music forthcoming on both Plastician's Terror Rhythm imprint and on fabric's Elevator Music compilation.
He's kindly offered our readers the opportunity to grab a copy of his fresh 7" on All City, containing 2 slices of his hard hitting take on bass heavy hip hop music: the intricate bubble synth & 4x4 kick drum posturing of 'Lavender' b/w the slower more menacing taught atmospherics of 'Lightgrids' for absolutely nothing. Well unless you count emailing someone with an answer to a question as costly...?
After his impeccable 'Pop Lock' remix of Joker's 'Digidesign'Om Unit has releases scheduled on Plastician's Terror Rhythm label as well as on the All City label. To mark his involvement on the All City roster, his 'Lightgrids' 7" should be out shortly, he's put together a mix so you can familiarise yourself with the labels output.
Intro Matthew David - Late Nite Lo Fi For dak Pudge - Awn My Dawn Tokimonsta - Park Walks Heralds Of Change - Work That Take - warm Ruin Dimlite - Quiz Tears Hudson Mohawke - ROot Hands Pudge - Blips Ahoy Mate Mweslee - Jamas Jame Jamon Dibiase - Spacely Sprockets Fulgeance - Mamie Thè Heralds Of Change - Ridin Chrome Musinah - Lose My Fuse Tokimonsta - Last Nights Blurry Memories Om Unit - Lightgrids Snowman - Rise Onra - Wee Out ft. Buddy Sativa Krystal Klear - Tried for your love Devonwho -Keepthefunkalive Knxwledge - Wait
Sumising a decade in beatmaking through the majesty of a mix seems like an impossible task but its one that 2tall, DJ Clockwork and Kper have taken in hand deftly. Aiming to: "highlight the lineage of hip-hop production and beat making from the turn of the millennium to the present day, and perhaps shed some light on the fairly quiet revolution that has been taking place under the surface of mainstream media in recent years," they've split a decade up into year long sections and mixed together the bumper crop of beats from those time periods.
The resulting ubermix is now live and available for download at 320kbps.
