Awesome Tapes from Africa

 

Click here for a link to the mixtape

Yes yes yes, another wicked mixtape to treat your ears to, on a strictly African tip this time. Awesome Tapes from Africa is a man like Brian Shimkovitz from NYC, who on his own blog of the same name, uploads mp3's of cassette tapes covering a cornucopia of African music.

It seems such a shame that so much excellent African music hardly gets heard because of difficulty in locating original vinyl and tapes, and a lack of Western record company-backed distrubution. So peeps like our man Bri, who document and champion this vast wealth of music, are as rare and lovely as the gems that they find.

The mix is a hour-long selection of tracks from Shimkovitz's blog; it is hosted on the XLR8R website, an online magazine in the States, who themselves have a great catalogue of podcasts worth checking out. The mix is neatly summarised on the website, but if you haven't listened to much African music before, it is a great place to start; and if have listened to the odd African album on the tip of the iceberg, this mix will help to delve into the glorious deep below the surface.

My stand out track on the mix is some relaxed Senegalese hip hop by Bill Diakhou (track 4; 18m31s), which wouldn't sound out of place on the soundtrack of a gritty French gangster film. However, all the tracks are killer, with a funky fresh African vibe, and the best thing is that you can go back to the Awesome Tapes from Africa blog and check out the tape they came from. You'll run out of time long before you run out of good music, thanks Bri!!  

Blitz The Ambassador - World People 02

The Mixtape

I got a follower! Thank you, who ever you are (I'm guessing you are a mate of mine, but they all count). To celebrate that fact, here is another blinding mixtape for you to check out.

I'm gonna try to post a mixture of both recent mixtapes (like this one) and ones that have been around a while (like the last one), so stick with me if you like it either brand spanking new or strictly vintage! This particular mixtape was posted a few weeks ago on the Paris DJs website, which is is well worth investing time to explore in itself; I'm sure there'll be more from them on here in the future.

Our man Blitz is a 'Ghanaian-American Afro Hip Hop' artist. He was invited to do the mix for Paris DJs after Seun Keti (son of Fela) gave them the heads up, so some good creds to be going with. There is whole long list of twitter/facebook/myspace/blahdee blah  links on this page, if you fancy checkin his own stuff out, including a mixtape of his own stuff, which I'm downloading as I type!

There's nothing too ground breaking on the mix, but don't let that discourage you! It's on a hip hop/afrobeat/soul-type vibe, and, if I'm being honest some of it is a tiny bit too R&B/urban/whateverthefuckyoucallit, but there are some killer tracks and it is nice and chilled without being toooo chilled, if you know what I mean???

T'Ambassador also flips around a bit, meaning we get some afrobeat, followed hip hop then some modern soully stuff then back to afrobeat...etc, rather than moving smoothly through the genres. That's a good thing though: it keeps you listening and guessing, and is a bit different to most mixes.

Back to those boss tunes I was talking about. Unless there is summat wrong with you, your ears will prick up when you hear Raphael Saadiq's 'Good Man', which sounds as good as any classic soul you're likely to hear. Also, 'Rose Garden' by Shad is a nice lickle bit of mellow hip hop cut up with some great female vocals, (vocals which sound just a tiny bit different from the original by Lynne Anderson). Also, the ever-strong Mos Def's tune 'Auditorium' rocks it, with some haunting strings and top production from Madlib; and the clutch of afrobeat on the mix is crowned by a serious good track straight out of Ghana called 'Kyenkyen Adi M'awu' ('Come back my love') by the gloriously named K. Frimpong and His Cubano Fiestas.

All in all, Blitz builds a great mix with a nice relaxed vibe. If it is a sunny day, and you got to go to work, this mix will definitely make you feel a bit better while on your way, it'll also sort you out when you clock off!

Essential Reggae Show #6

The mixtape
(Click on 'Radio Shows' in the top menu bar)


Ok, so welcome! The very first mixtape comes in with the natty little title of 'Essential Reggae Show #6'. It's a radio show hosted on the website of Scarborough-based record label Aerosolik. It looks like they mainly release hip hop, but they've hosted a cracking reggae mixtape too.

Our DJ/MC on this one is a man like Carlton 'Killawatt' Valley, who has a John Peel-like charm when he messes up a fast forward of a record early on; however, he does know how to select a wicked tune and lines the records up to create a nice seamless vibe throughout. It's mainly rocksteady and roots reggae, but there is a lickle bit of ska and dub in there too, giving us a nice rounded selection of all things Jamaican.

There isn't a tracklisting, which is a shame. I've got to pick out the last track in particular, despite it being the most incongruent tune in the mix. It is quite a dubby track, but with a much lighter vibe than most of the dub you'll hear, bought about by some echo-y guitar and great, well-produced percussion. All of which make it a lovely ethereal sunny-day tune that leaves you with a big smile on your face, wanting to thank Carlton Valley for all his efforts.

The other shows

I'm about to break one of my rules on my first post by covering the other two radio shows hosted by Aerosolik, shows #5 and #4. I've no idea what happened to #1-3, but it is a shame they aren't available. Still, I don't reckon it is worth covering #4 and #5, but I'll give you a little taste here.

 Show #4 has more of a Lovers Rock/Digital reggae vibe, which can be a bit sickly for me, but still worth a listen. Look out for the cover of Peggy Lee's version of Fever about half way through the mix. It is a great example of a good reggae cover, and boy do those Jamaicans like covering songs!

Show #5 sounds like it could be as good as #6, but quite soon in we find that the file is corrupted and unlistenable. What a pity! It is worth downloading for the first track alone, now I say track, it could be a mix, so those of you with a keener ear will have to let me know. Anywaaay, we start off with the familiar whistling used by Morricone in The good, the bad and the ugly soundtrack, which and is underpinned by a lovely slow dubby rhythm that you can't quite place. After some less recognisable lyrics, the singer launches into a reggae version of Billie Jean, and you instantly recognise that elusive melody. This along with the good vocals, slower pace, Morricone's whistling and heavy bassy production make for an absolutely blinding track. Just a shame, once again, I have no idea what it is, but maybe that adds that adds to the mystic.

Welcome to mixtapeselecta

Welcome to mixtapeselecta!

A few months ago my external hard drive, containing all my music on, died. As with most things, I’m still under the delusion that I will get it fixed one day. Until then, I have been forced (reluctantly at first) to trawl the internet in search of free downloads so I've got enough good music to listen.

I soon learnt two things (a) It isn't that easy to find free downloads (b) there is a lot of shit out there. However, there are some real gems. The aim of this blog is to share them with you.

A few house rules before I begin:
1. I will not concentrate, or blog on a particular website. Obviously some websites will have more than one killer mix on, but this is about the individual mixes, not where they are hosted.
2. No techno, house or shit indie. Anything else goes...
3. If i start banging on about The Fall, Mogwai, Dennis Brown or The Disciples too much, stop me and punish me.
4. Feel free to give me a heads up on any good mixes you find, but don't be offended if I don't post, I ain't trying to promote, advertise or follow any trends. If you don't like it, start your own blog.

Finally thanks to Ben Richards, who made me realise you can be both terribly lazy and about 5 years behind the curve and still start a blog; and secondly to a man like Ivan A, who made me a killer mix tape when I was 17, which almost single handedly got me into Jamaican music, cheers guys.

Enjoy the mixtapes peeps

Peas and love

Mightyhansa