Happy Holidays, Xmas Crates

Seasons greetings to you and yours!

Fancy soundtracking your day with some Christmas hip hop and a selection of the best tunes from the last 6 months of TBC?

Well, you are in luck!

The Bottomless Crates Xmas Special
1st Hour
http://www.mediafire.com/?5ym5zw2dion

2nd Hour
http://www.mediafire.com/?jutyn22uolz

Oh yeah, Monday's show....

Part 1

Part 2

Couldn't not post this....

If you are a hip hop fan of a certain age (and probably male), Ice-T's second album "Power" probably means a fair bit to you.... You certainly won't have forgotten the album cover, particularly Darlene Ortiz....

The images here are nabbed from the links below and are well worth a visit...

http://www.insaland.com/blog/only-god-and-you-can-judge-me/

http://www.vinylpulse.com/2007/11/insas-darlene-b.html

After a brief hiatus....

The eagle eyed and eared amongst y'all will have noticed there was no show on Monday.

Concerned? Had trouble sleeping? Are you arguing with your partner more than usual?

Fret no more, we return on Monday 14th December in our usual slot of 10PM till Midnight on NE1 FM, 102.5 FM in the Newcastle Upon Tyne area. It's going to be smashing.

Mo' Crates

Last night's Bottomless Crates. You know the drill....

Part One, Part Two.

Photo courtesy of www.aziomediablog.com

TBC 231109

No news is good news.

Missed last nights big old bag of breaks, beats and stupidity?

Try again, and again....

Back LIVE tonight!

Back on air tonight 10pm to Midnight, 102.5 NE1 FM.

No names, but expect some astounding UK hip hop and a bootload of breaks..... All coming live from NE1 FM's new studio! *

*Thanks to some alternate transport arrangements (Not pictured above).

We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties....

NE1FM are in the process of moving studios so there was no show last night... Why not pass the time till next Monday's show by d/loading an old one?

Or, if you haven't already, why not join our Facebook group (there's a mystery prize for the hundredth member!).

Yesterday's Crates

She's smiling because she loves Depth Charge vs Silver Fox....

Without further a do, make much haste and pay regard to last night's Bottomless Crates radio extravaganza, available in two unequal parts both here and here.

It's a auditory gloryhole and no mistake!

Tonight's Crates...

Tonight 10PM till Midnight on NE1 FM 102.5

Featured artists this evening include;

Bob James, The Ohio Players, Funkadelic, Brothers Johnson, Barry White, Ike & Tina Turner, Braintax, Stig, Gunshot, Jurassic 5, Johnny Pate, Freshski & Mo Rock, Depth Charge and Blade...

Do join us, it's going to be both thoroughly enjoyable and good for your teeth too.

Listen again and again and.....

Hot off the presses, here's another chance to catch last night's show, it's a game of two halves although the tracks are not in any kind of rigid order.... As always, feedback is very welcome... Enjoy!

The Bottomless Crates 021109 Part One and Part Two

Tonight on The Bottomless Crates radio show...

Afternoon to y'all, tonight's show promises to be a stormer, expect tunage from (but not limited to) the following;

Kool & The Gang, Ike Turner, Eddie Kendricks, Bill Withers, The Temptations, Zapp, Herbie Mann, The Dub Pistols, Big Daddy Kane, Public Enemy, LL Cool J, Wilson Pickett, The Average White Band, The O'Jays, Run DMC, Asaviour, Blood Sweat and Tears, Graham Central Station and KRS One.....

Look again at what you have just read. Now, just imagine all that and then some, lovingly squeezed into 2hrs of quality radio and garnished with yet more funky stuff....

We are LIVE on air from 10pm GMT on NE1 FM 102.5 in the Newcastle Upon Tyne area and if you can't pick the station up live, fret not. Come back tomorrow for the chance to listen again via the power of the interwebs.

BTW, the image of the audio set up above is (very unfortunately) not mine, check out this page for more.... the lucky sod!

Listening again

Apologies for the lack of d/load action for the last few shows, we hope to rectify this shortly. In the meantime, grab the first hour of Monday's show here.........

Enjoy!

There are many Crates, all of which are Bottomless

Yep, It's Monday again and as usual there's a job lot of funkiness and hip hop mayhem in the post for 10pm GMT...

Tonight's treats come from (amongst others);

Nice & Smooth, The Bar-Kays, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, Stetsasonic, Slick Rick, Just-Ice, Herbie Mann, Gangstarr and some heavy duty Flying Lotus...

As usual, we can be found from 10 till midnight on NE1FM 102.5 with d/loads to follow in the near future once we get our hands on them...

Miss this one at your peril!

In the post

Howdy, A quick little update or 2.....

Why not have a game of Asteroids over at http://www.thebottomlesscrates.com/ where you will also find a link to our facebook group (feel free to join, the more the merrier!) and more stuff to come soon....

Meanwhile, Monday will be our 10th show on NE1 FM and promises to be a cracker, keep it locked!

It's Monday, It's 10PM, It's time for....

Hell yeah, it's Monday again and we are back on the air from 10 till midnight with another hazy blend of hip hop, dirty funk and soundtrack....

Tonight's contributing artists include;

Black Sheep, Quincy Jones, Ann Peebles, Serge Gainsbourg, Skull Snaps, Hieroglyphics, Erykah Badu, The JBs and Parappa the Rapper...

Do join us for 2hrs of auditory ass kicking, gratis!

Tonight on The Bottomless Crates

Don't forget, we are now live on NE1 FM every Monday evening 10PM till Midnight (GMT)....

Tonight's musical contributors include, but are by no means limited to;

Aretha Franklin, Buddy Rich, The Incredible Bongo Band (not Apache!), Syl Johnson, The Mystic Moods Orchestra,
Lou Donaldson, Peggy Lee, Camille Yarborough.

This evening's Hip Hop will be brought to you by such luminaries as;

Stetsasonic, Marley Marl, Hijack, Blade, London Posse, The Fearless Four.

A quality package of funk, breaks, hip hop, soundtrack and all things nice, especially for you!

More shapes of things to come

thebottomlesscrates.com



A work in progress but open for business...

The shape of things to come

The Bottomless Crates

Back on the air from Monday 28th September, 10 - midnight

NE1 FM, 102.5

As endorsed by Lalo Schifrin!*



* Honestly!

Back once again

Hello again, sorry for the lack of action here recently...

The Bottomless Crates radio show is about to kick off again, re-born as a 2 hour weekly show and looking like Wednesday 9 till 11 at the moment. All we are waiting for is the start date so we should be on air again within a couple of weeks, hold tight!

In the meantime, here's a big, fat selection of big, fat tunes that have been played over the last weeks to give a taster of what to expect sonically once we return....

In no particular order and not selected as a "best of", just some good tunes.... Enjoy.

Danielle Patucci - La Dimo Strzione

MC Duke - Miracles

JJ Johnson - Pull Jabal Pull

Roy Budd - Get Carter Theme

Ray Baretto - Pastime Paradise

Marlena Shaw - California Soul

Quincy Jones, Bill Cosby & Mixmaster Mike - Hikky Burr

Sugar Bear - Ready To Penetrate

The D.O.C - It's Funky Enough

Blade - Mind Of An Ordinary Citizen

The Undisputed Truth - Poontang

Churchill - Here We Are

Sylvia Striplin - You Can't Turn Me Away

Henryk Debich - Melodia Z Filmu "Shaft"

And finally.... The Bottomless Crates - Show Intro (A work in progress!).

So, keep it locked, much more like the above is on it's way...

Radio 6

Last night's show is up for grabs HERE, it's a blinder, don't miss it!

Catch of the Day

Red Snapper have produced some pretty tasty and, at times, quite mental lo-fi/jazz/funk/hip hop/electronica nuggets over the years, here's a few morsels - do watch out for the bones....

Strike One and Last One (Coldcutted and Gutted by DJ Food), both taken from the 1996 Loopascoopa EP.

Mooking (Depth Charge remix), from the Mooking 12", again 1996).

U.K Treats

A few tunes you may not have heard and a couple of remixes too...

All U.K, all classic.

London Posse - Gangster Chronicles (Sparki remix) and Jump Around (Nomad Soul remix), taken from the 1991 12" on Island.

S.L Troopers - Movement and There It Is (89, Music Of Life 12")

Breaking The Illusion - Can You Understand, Drop The Mic and Drop The Mic Reprise(1989 12")

Radio 5

Here's the link to last night's show on NE1 FM....enjoy!

Bottomless Crates 20/08/09

Radio Shoes

At long last, here are the two previous Bottomless Crates shows from NE1FM. The show from last week is in 2 halves as it's 2hrs.

Thursday 6th August

Thursday 13th August Pt 1

Thursday 13th August Pt 2

With the change of studio and an assortment of techinical gremlins things could have been better presentation wise (!), but rest assured, the tunes are top notch.....

I'm large, fry me.

As promised earlier, here's a few tunes for your Sunday PM, nothing too taxing....

Chuck Chillout & Kool Chip - I'm Large (1989, from the No DJ Like Chuck 12").

K9 Posse - Ain't Nothing To It (12" remix, 1989).

Caveman - Fry You Like Fish (Jazz remix, 1990 12").

Radios Three, Four and Five.

Hello, still alive but mighty busy so apologies for the lack of tunage of late.

The 3rd radio show missing from last week should finally be in our hands on Monday alongside the 4th show from Thursday just gone... We unexpectedly did a bonus 2nd hour on the 4th show so that's 3hrs of Bottomless Crates goodness on it's way, hopefully up for d/l Monday evening....

We are next on air Thursday 20th in our drive time slot of 5-6PM, let us know if you want a shout out!

Radio 3

Just a reminder that The Bottomless Crates are live on NE1FM 1(102.5) from 5-6 PM this evening. The show will be available for download here tomorrow and also available from 7 this evening via the facebook group!


++++ Friday - As an update, we were unable to get a copy of last night's show, the studio has changed premises and the recording takes place at the old site still. All being well, the link will be up early next week. +++++

The Mighty Hard Rocker

From the 1988 "Where's The Party At?" LP, here's Cash Money & Marvelous with Ugly People Be Quiet...

DJ Cash Money was one of my heroes as a kid and a lot of it was down to the following video.

I remember staying up till 2 or 3 in the morning to record Westwood's N-Sign Radio on ITV's "Night Network" (this was before the days of 24 hour TV) and must have subsequently watched it a thousand times... Having just watched it again now for the first time in about 18 years it's still damn fresh. For the record, Cash tears up The Mighty Hard Rocker then one of the Ultimate Lessons. This is on a 20 year old Gemini mixer and Stanton 500 carts, no special kit at all and he absolutely tears shit up... It almost brings a tear to the eye....

Playhowyalike

It's Monday, could there possibly be a better time to Doowhutchalike with Digital Underground?

Snakes Pass Cities

Time to round off the weekend with a couple of tracks picked from A.P.E's 1995 "Striplight" album.

Expect hip hop drum loops, guitar and harmonica with a dollop of jazz/dub/electronic noodling and all that kind of thing... perfectly inoffensive.

Cities and Snake's Pass, both from the vinyl L.P. If you wear a beard, now would be a good time to stroke it.

Bad Meaning Good

I had been looking for both of these videos for ages.... DJ Fingers, Sipho and Bionic etc, etc, classic UK hip hop.

Tracy Lauren Marrow

Time for a couple of Ice-T tracks, remixed and reworked...

Heartbeat (featuring War), 1989 from the Lethal Weapon 12".

You Played Yourself (Aladdin and King Tee remix), 1990 12".

Drama (Simon Harris remix), 1989, from the High Rollers 12".

Say what you like about Ice-T, he managed to convince his wife to pose for the sleeve... And it beats looking at Tracy Lauren Marrow himself. The Beemer is nice though, but not in red thanks.

Also, as a bonus for the weekend, have a bit of Ice doing his thing in 1984 alongside Chris "The Glove" Taylor and Dave Storrs on "Tibetan Jam".

Flav meets Spike

Three nice tunes up now including some good old lunacy from Flavor Flav, Barry White's band and a relative of Eddie Murphy (search for yourself, it's Friday and I can't be bothered to check)...

Public Enemy - Fight The Power (Flavor Flav meets Spike Lee) (1989, Fight The Power 12")

K-9 Posse - No Sell Out (1988 from the self-titled LP)

Barry White & The Love Unlimited Orchestra - Can't Seem To Find Him (1974 from the Together Brothers LP)

Bottomless Crates show 2

The second radio show went out live last night on NE1FM and went pretty well (there was an interesting 3 min gap at the start of the show when the syndicated news feed failed) starting with some Public Enemy and going on from there.... As always though, judge for yourself and download it here.

We'll be back on air next Thursday, the 6th of August between 5 and 6 PM, providing a somewhat different drivetime radio experience!

Aaaaaaaand we're back...

Y'alright?

Back after a brief hiatus with a handful of tunes for your listening pleasure, been a touch busy of late so without further ado, here's the tunes with only a hint of waffle....

Korperayshun - Mother's Best Gumbo

DJ Cuetips and MC Dashy-D - Control

MC Krazee A - Into the Music

D 2 The K feat MC Mell-O - Slow Jam

Both Korperayshun and MC Dashy D were to turn up again some years later on the superlative Kold Sweat label (Dashy D having renamed himself The Drunken Master) but all the above tunes were featured on the 1988 Hardcore One compilation LP released on BPM records. The album showcased the rising stars of UK hip hop at the time and is WELL worth seeking out... Enjoy!

Radio 2

So, the first ever Bottomless Crates show went out live yesterday and went pretty well. We didn't burn the studio down and there was no loss of life (a success in my book).

We'll be better prepared next time (a lot of the tunes didn't load up in time and we deviated from our planned playlist a fair bit as a result) but you don't have to take our word for it, have a listen yourself....

Bottomless Crates Show One, Live on NE1FM

We return to the airwaves in 2 weeks time, again between 6 and 7 on Thursday July 30th. The blog will still be updated in the meantime of course and if you want to show your support while waiting why not pay the official facebook group a visit? Anyone can join and say hello....

Bottomless Crates LIVE

We are LIVE on NE1FM from 6 till 7 pm this evening.

102.5FM.

And some bonus breaks too....

Couple of absolute gems here for you,

Lou Donaldson - "Peepin' "from the 1967 "Mr Shing-A-Ling" album.

Minnie Riperton - "Inside My Love". Taken from the 1974 Album Perfect Angel. If you do not like this track, visit your doctor, something is very wrong with you. You will have heard covers of this before, this is the original and best by far.

Maynard Ferguson - "Mister Mellow" from the 1977 Conquistador album, features a quality bassline as previously used by Showbiz & A.G and is uber chilled throughout... nice. Quite surprising as Maynard himself looks like Jon Pertwee on PCP on the back cover... As a bonus-bonus, here's Maynard's covers of the "Rocky" theme and "Star Trek" theme, both from the same album.

Back to the Hip Hop

As with the last post, minimum of waffle, plenty of wholesome vinyl hip hop goodness, enjoy...

Zhigge with "Toss It Up" and "Drop The Beat Salaam!" from the '92 Toss It Up 12".

Sid & B-Tonn - "Deathwish I" and "Deathwish II" from the 1990 Deathwish 12".

The Brotherhood - "Alphabetical Response" (12", 1995)

Scientists Of Sound - "Raise The Flag" from the 1992 Scientists Of Sound E.P.

L.R.S - "London Rhyme Syndicate" and "Armed And Extremely Dangerous" (12" 1988)

Remixes, Portishead, Portishead remixes.

Sticking with the Bristol theme for a little while, here's a few tracks with Bristolian connections... Not a lot of waffle, just the facts...

Tricky - "Pondersosa (Ultramagnetic's Terrorists Power Club Mix)" and "Ponderosa (Dobie Rub Part 1)", both on the 1994 US Ponderosa 12".

Tricky - "Black Steel (Been Caught Steeling Mix)", 1995 on the Black Steel 12".

Portishead - "Sour Times (A Lot More)", 1994 US 12".

Nine - "Whutcha Want (Portishead Remix)", 1995 on the Whutcha Want remix EP.

Primal Scream - "Give Out But Don't Give Up (Portishead Remix)", 1994 on the Cry Myself Blind 10".

Big old Bristols

Two Bacharach and David classics given the 1988 Bristol rinse now....

Kicking off Friday with Smith & Mighty's "Walk on By" and creeping across the lounge to The Wild Bunch's "The Look Of Love". As usual, all tunes are GM free although they were produced in an environment containing nuts.

Radio

Just a quick shout to announce that The Bottomless Crates will be live on NE1 FM (102.5) next Thursday between 6 and 7 PM, providing radio listeners in the Newcastle Upon Tyne area that are blessed with bonafide taste an alternative late drivetime/early evening show.

Expect a serious dose of who knows what coupled with the usual standard of tunage.

More tunes on their way, hold tight!

Missed Dynamite

Good afternoon to y'all, back again with a few dusty treats after a sparse weekend and today, it's about the female UK rappers and a couple of belters for those who liked a dance.

All of today's tunes are brought to you by the year 1989.

Kicking us off with the laydees, we have the She Rockers with "On Stage", MC Martay & DJ DBM's "Beyond Control" plus "Female Force" and then a bit of the Cookie Crew's "Black Is The Word" (produced by Stetsasonic's Daddy-O and DBC). Then, we'll have a slice of DJ Mink's "Hey! Hey! Can U Relate" and for dessert, Shut Up And Dance with "5,6,7,8" which I'm delighted to reveal, samples George Kranz, not Steps.

Thank Funk It's Friday Pt. 3

Bringing the Friday funk to a close now with one of many, many covers of Lee Dorsey's "Get Out My Life Woman". An undisputed classic covered by well over 20 artists and sampled by hundreds more since it's original release date of 1966 on Lee's debut album "The New Lee Dorsey".

This version is from Grassella Oliphant's 1967 debut album "The Grass Is Greener" and keeps it instrumental, letting the horns wail over the totally expected sweet, sweet drums and bassline.

Enjoy your weekend, more tunes are on the horizon and it's not that far away.....

PS, talking of multiple covers of this track... this is what I mean!

Thank Funk It's Friday Pt. 2

More breaks for your general perusal and horizon-broadening now.

In 1970, Junior Mance released his 3rd album "With A Lotta Help From My Friends". The final track on here was "Don't Cha Hear Me Callin' To Ya", an absolute gem of an instrumental with a killer piano hook (as you'd kinda expect).

Secondly, another final album track, this time from Earth, Wind and Fire's self titled 1971 debut album, "Bad Tune". You may recognise this from a couple of places, either as the break from Brand Nubian's "Dance To My Ministry" or more likely, from the GTA 4 soundtrack (if I remember rightly).

Anyhoo, killer tunes and lovely breaks....

Thank Funk It's Friday

A couple of 60's/70's stormers now, both full o horns, one from a particularly unlikely source...

First off, Blood, Sweat and Tears with "Lucretia Mac Evil" from 1970 and secondly, 1968's "Looking Out My Window" from Tom Jones (!).

Both tracks jam-packed with win, enjoy the vid as a bonus!

Speak Up!

New to the Bottomless Crates from today (added from our secret laboratory, hidden beneath the Earth's crust) is the chat box which you find mid-way down the page.

Feel free to speak your mind here, you don't need to be logged in to an account and can post anonymously if you like (we retain the right to delete anything twatful and block spammers).

More tunes up later today, hold tight!

Butt in the meantime

So, as mentioned literally minutes ago, we are exploring other avenues while gazup is gazdown and reckon that mediafire may be one way forward, there is much less jumping through hoops for a start.

As it's a glorious summer's day here, how about a track that is a cover of an all time classic and a killer break to boot?

Peggy Lee first released her cover of "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay" as a track on her 1969 album "A Natural Woman" and it's featured on quite a few breaks compilations since then. If you haven't heard the track before, chances are you will know at least one other tune that samples it.... enjoy.

If, however, the sun does not have his hat on in your neck of the woods, here's a darker tune for you.... Taken from Ryuichi Sakamoto's 1998 Anger/Grief 12" on Ninja Tune, have a piece of "Anger (Rare Force 2 Meg Mix)".

Update

Gazup.com is still down, the following message is currently on the site;

Important notice

On Tuesday the 30th of June Gazup.com was hacked by a group of hackers residing in the middle-east for no apparent reason but to spread political propaganda about western governments; completely unrelated to our service. They decided it would be fitting to delete our entire site as well.

Since then we have taken our service off line whilst we carefully reconstruct our system to patch any vulnerabilities and ensure the site was working how it was. We deeply apologize for this disruption and we're doing the best we can. Unfortunately there will be roughly 4-5 days worth of uploads and member data lost. We will try to make as much of this up as possible by steaming ahead with new features ensuring we remain the best mirroring website online.

The site should be back online Thursday evening / early Friday morning GMT.

Thank you for your patience.

So, we can expect restoration of service imminently but we are also exploring other mirroring/upload sites in the meantime. In fairness to Gazup, they were attacked without any real reason and we can't really have a go at them, their service is, after all, free of charge. However, we don't want to deprive you of the ever-growing backlog of funky gems that is growing and growing so expect news sooner rather than later on how we are moving forwards.

Which brings us to the next update.....

The Bottomless Crates are about to be dropped onto both FM radio in our local area and web streamed for those of you living further afield (Google Analytics indicates that we have many repeat visitors from the USA, Japan and throughout Europe)!!

Once we have dates confirmed you will be the first to know.... There are some other substantial improvements in the pipeline also, stay tuned for more news.

Incidentally, you may have been pointed here via Facebook in the last couple of days, if so, thanks for dropping by and checking us out. Things may seem quite basic at the moment but hold tight, as mentioned above, big things are coming soon.

Thanks everyone.

We are experiencing technical difficulties, please stand by...

Having problems with the links??

Looks like gazup.com has been hijacked for the time being by some Iranian protest or other (apparently there is nothing wrong with their recent election and it's above 100% turnout)..... I would like to add that that The Bottomless Crates does not wish to get involved in politics other than taking this chance to say FUCK THE B.N.P.

I'm sure they'll have it back up soon, so apologies in the meantime.

Thank you, that is all.

With Bad Intention

1990 saw W.B.I Red Ninja release their 2nd 12", the War Bytes E.P.

Buying it at the time I was a touch disappointed, the production seemed overly dense and muddy and I didn't really feel the direction it was going in. Happily, going back to it now, 19 years later I'd say it's improved with age...

The rap on "X The Unknown" doesn't sound too great but the production is interestingly ahead of it's time and more electronic in feel than the other tracks.

"Bad Horsemen" benefits greatly from being an instrumental with some booming dub bass, nice horns and a killer piano break.

"Return To The Scene Of The Crime" chugs along nicely with oodles of dub and a few well chosen familiar loops. Again though, the vocal hasn't kept up with the production in the aging stakes, bonus point for spotting the Hijack sample.

Lastly, we have "Bad Testament". As with the other tracks here, it sports a confident amount of movie dialogue samples but Bugsy Malone?? A curious drum pattern contributes to the growing doubt but all is not lost... a generous portion of the Ohio Player's "Funky Worm" underpins the whole shebang and just about saves the day (everyone loves that funky, funky worm).

Some remixes you won't have of tracks you will have...

Hmmm, back from a weekend away and time for something a touch more obscure.

This white label E.P is credited to Chad Jackson, the 1987 DMC winner don't you know... and the man behind "Hear the Drummer Get Wicked". Even former world champion DJs have to pay the mortgage I guess, although getting snippets of Hijack vocals into the charts raises a eyebrow or two.

I'll have to guess at around 1987/88 for this, as the 5 mins I have spent thoroughly researching it have yielded no release details. It might not actually be Chad Jackson at all (Feel free to identify if it isn't).

Sounding delightfully amateurish in places, conjouring up images of Fostex four track recorders, ST's, Amigas, UK 12"s for £2.98, leather shoulder holsters and jumpers for goalposts etc.

Anyway, no problem with the selection of tracks, we are brought....

"Bring The Noise"

"My Philosophy"

"Paid in Full"

Plus some house track that means nothing to me....

As I haven't posted for a little while I'm also going to include two bonus tracks, neither from vinyl regrettably but both essential breakbeats.

Firstly, as used above by BDP, Stanley Turrentine's "Sister Sanctified" from 1972 (featuring Bob James, which is nice). Also from 72, Babe Ruth's "The Mexican", which you can hear parts of in the Paid In Full remix (particularly on the cheeky run-out).

Enjoy.

Emergency

Saving the best to last with this one. Taken from Kid Sensation's 1990 album "Rolling With Number One", "Emergency" is indeed the best and the last track on the L.P...

Bearing an uncanny similarity to Eric B & Rakim's "Lyrics Of Fury" in places (seems to be pretty much identical in terms of the way Funky Drummer has been compressed), the track seems totally different from the rest of the album in that it's pretty good.

By all means go and grab a copy of the album and then please feel free to argue with me regarding how the style was cool for the time and fitting for where Kid Sensation came from. In my opinion, "Emergency" is where it's at and the rest of the album is 33 & a 1/3 kinds of meh.

Unofficial off on a tangent reggae(ish) Monday...

Moving further away from hip-hop but retaining the theme of the previous post, we bring you a couple of tunes from the back catalogue of Dub Syndicate. Firstly, 1991's "Stoned Immaculate". Taken from the album of the same name, the choice of track name and album cover art seems unusual- when was the last time you heard of dub being associated with spliff??

Going back to 1984, taken from "Tunes From The Missing Channel" we have "Ravi Shankar" (PT.1). No prizes for guessing the instrumentation that supplies the backbone of this one.

Upon the version

With the early nineties seeing an explosion of reggae themed "ragga-hip hop" and the seemingly somewhat liberal attitude of Jamaican copyright it was unsurprising to find white labels appearing with chatting over hip hop instrumentals. As with traditional dancehall, the instrumental (version) of the day was hastily re-recorded with new vocals and released asap while the track could still guarantee a busy dancefloor.

As a prime example of this, have a listen to Major Popular let loose over an instrumental even your grandmother will have heard a billion times... "Don't Stop".

While we are at it, let's also have a bit of "Supa" by Kenny Dope Presents The Mad Racket. Slighty different this, take a well known vocal (Don Dada) and remake it as a hip-hop crowd pleaser. While listening, why not award yourself a biscuit for every hip-hop track you can identify that's been plundered? Possibly because you are watching your weight?

Finally, completing this trio with a hip-hop remix of a big dancehall tune, have a gander at the Main Attraction remix of Cutty Ranks' "The Stopper"... Continuing the theme of well known instumentals and breaks, you may well recognise more than a touch of "Ashley's Roachclip" here....

5,4,3,2,1 Calm Down

Staying in '89 for the time being, here's III Most Wanted with two tracks from their self titled album. Chances are that you will have heard "Calm Down" at some point, especially the last verse which has featured in several DMC sets over the years... "Most Wanted" is another dancefloor friendly track that's typical of the era.

As you may well expect, there was a hip-house track on the album also but I'm not going there...

Records on decks, made on vinyl, rappers, poppers, breakers on lino...

A nice little treat for Friday now, taken from the Music Of Life 1989 Hustler's Convention Live L.P (credited as being the world's first ever live rap album on the front cover).

Here's the Demon Boyz doing their thing over instrumentals from their "Recognition" album, also nice to hear Westwood doing the intro and getting Mike-J's name wrong... knacker.

Anyhoo, the track is "Roughneck Business", the rest of the album is quite interesting, shout out in the comments if you want more.

Lords of the Underground vs The Pharcyde

Two well known US crews get re-visited now with five tracks that need to be acquired if you slept on them at the time....

Firstly, Lords Of The Underground with "Psycho" and "Sleep For Dinner"... Both tracks are from the Psycho 12" released in 92. The version of Psycho itself included here is the "Rubber Room Mix" and Sleep for Dinner is the L.P version (the chorus sports an obvious Biz Markie sample from "Pickin Boogers"... as they say - NOBODY beats the Biz).

Secondly, The Pharcyde with extended versions of "Runnin'" and "Drop". Surely there's no need to explain any further regarding The Pharcyde, quite simply, phresh as phuck.

And all that.

And then some.

P.S, almost forgot to add a little bonus, the Rae and Christian remix of "Runnin'" featuring Mark 1 and Funky Fresh Few.... enjoy!

Buss a Verse

Back to the UK again and time to revisit both 1993 and MC Mell-O.

This time we bring you "Buss A Verse" from the I Teach You , You Teach Me EP. IMHO this is the best track on the 12". The title track veers into the introspective and conscious territory visited by Mell-O previously on tracks such as "Open Up Your Mind" and, while I'd never dream of dissing the chap or the folks who appreciate such tracks.... it just doesn't do it for me.

3xD

1989 again and time for an undisputed classic slice of Three Times Dope.

Taken from the Funky Dividends 12" we have the album title track "Original Stylin'" and the Going For Broke mix of "Funky Dividends" itself.

Pay attention during Dividends and you will hear EST describe himself as "the overlord of fresh"... Would make for a great job title...

Criminals and Delinquintz

More UK hip hop from 91 now. Dominant Force released their Raptivity E.P and "Criminals" was the stand out track. Using Amen and heavy bass with no small enthusiasm, it was a nice little find at the time and still sounds good today...

Sounding rather different altogether from the same year, "Juvenile Delinquintz" teamed up with Terminator X for their self titled track. It was first released on the B-side to "Homey Don't Play Dat", both tracks appearing on "Terminator X & The Valley Of The Jeep Beets album". Production is credited as being supervised by The Bomb Squad and it shows. Which is nice.

More soup, tastes different

Back to the States and the early nineties now....

Firstly, Alphabet Soup with "Take A Ride", I have included 2 versions from the 12", the original album mix and a nice alternative from A-Plus (well known from his work with Souls of Mischief and Hieroglyphics).

BTW, this is a different Alphabet Soup than the crew responsible for "A Sunny Day In Harlem" which conveniently explains the change in style and sound...


Also today, from 91, Two Kings In A Cipher with "Definition Of A King". A stompy, conscious rap effort, not atypical of it's time and not too shabby at all.

UK white labels 1991

The mystery of the unheard of artist on white label....

First track is from 1991, Construction with "It's Time To Get Raw", plenty of uptempo and familiar jazz breaks and scratching, good clean harmless fun.

Secondly, a selection of tracks from Sirus, taken from the "The One And Only Sirus" EP. This six track EP was released without a label in 91 and would appear to be rare as feck. Sirus would later be heard from as a member of Bushkiller alongside Gemini from Hardnoise (this should give you a rough idea of what to expect).

I have included 4 of the 6 tracks.... if you want the other two, have a gander at Discogs - some dude is selling a copy for £65....

"The One And Only Sirus", "Controlling The Funky Pressure", "To The Point Of Insanity", "Rhymes Of My Thoughts".

And on that note, I'm off to enjoy my weekend...

Move the Beagles

Moving along in a kind of related fashion from the start of the week, today we have two tracks with roots in Bristol.

Firstly, more Wild Bunch, this time with their remix of Eric B & Rakim's "Move The Crowd" from 1987.

Secondly, Tricky with "Smoking Beagles", a B-side from the Tricky Kid EP, released in 1996.

Enjoy!

P.S, More UK hip hop to come shortly....

On the right track

Just to pat myself on the back for getting tickets for the forthcoming Massive Attack tour here's a couple of related tracks.

Starting with 1997's pre-Mezzanine single release of "Risingson", a different mix from the album version and taken from the limited edition, numbered and clear vinyl 12" (no.53499, not too exclusive).

Coupled with The Wild Bunch's "Machine Gun (Down By Law)", released in 1998 as the B-side to Friends and Countrymen. The Wild Bunch?? Google is your friend.....

We Don't Play

A lovely slice of classic but lesser heard US hip hop now, 1990's "We Don't Play" from Freshco & Miz coupled with it's A side partner "Ain't U Freshco?". Both dudes were highly acclaimed at the time, I'll not go on, they can explain all about it for their selves....

Watch the scratch

Revisiting my first post here a few weeks ago, we have another track from Spacer - 1995's "Watch The Skies", an atmospheric mid-tempo, sci-fi infused head nodder.

Also today is something I meant to post a while ago... From 1996 we have Kitachi with "Scratch" , here for you remixed in a stomping dub hip-hop manner.

As a reminder, feel free to post a comment, all feedback is welcomed and is the best way of getting to hear more of what you want and less of what you don't.

Don't try to tell me you're a monk my friend....

Following on nicely from Monday's look at what J Saul Kane was up to in 1989, a brief skip forwards to 91 and the indisputable masterpiece that is "Depth Charge vs Silver Fox".

Vocal duties taken up by MC Alkaline from Gunshot, music from Mr Kane, I've included the full track with dub following on as cut on the original 12".

If none of the above means anything to you, you're in for a treat. As an aside, if hip hop tracks were video game characters, I reckon this would do the trick for Tekken's Yoshimitsu.

Laylow

Some of the best eighties and nineties UK hip hop came from London's Ladbroke Grove area. Here's a couple of slightly lesser known examples for your leisurely perusal...

Firstly, N.S.O Force Organisation with "Give It Up", released on 12" in 1989 and produced by J Saul Kane (better known as Depth Charge amongst other names...).

Secondly, The Mighty Ethnicz with 1990's "Murder", going some way to proving that any hip hop track that samples The Meter's "Just Kissed My Baby" is going to sound good enough or thereabouts without much more effort.

Keep a Low Profile...

Staying in America but going back just a little further to 1989 now. Low Profile were DJ Aladdin and WC, notable for being mates of Ice-T but more so for Aladdin being a 1989 DMC finalist.

The following is a selection from their album "We're In This Together", I've chosen what are probably my favourite 4 tracks, all with a large helping of Aladdin doing his thing for good measure....

How Ya Livin

Funky Song

Keep Flowin

Aladdin's on a Rampage (including an extended session of tearing the shit out of Rock The Bells, as previously used in his DMC final routine, featured below for reference and nostalgia).

Alphabet Soup vs Son of Bazerk

Over the spit and back to the USA now for two old favourites with a nice warm feel....

1991 for Alphabet Soup - "Sunny Day In Harlem".

1990 for Son Of Bazerk - "Change The Style".

I'm not even going to bother explaining further, both tunes are absolute gems (in my mind anyway, your mileage may well vary)....

If it ain't broke ..

Completing a trio of posts on classic hardcore UK Hip Hop with something that requires a closer look.

Assuming you like proper, classic UK stuff, you may well have both Hijack's "Hold No Hostage" and "Doomsday of Rap" as mp3's.

If you have good taste, you may well own the 12" single of "The Badman is Robbin" with both tracks featuring on the B-Side.

However, were you to own the original 1988 12" on Music of Life, you would already know that the original mixes of the tracks are infinitely superior to the later re-edits.... and you wouldn't need to bother downloading the tracks again...

Nothing to do with Coventry

II Tone Committee hailed from Glasgow and released the next 12" in 1991.

"Beings From A Word Struck Surface" and "Hangman" seem to be quite sought after, the only copy I have seen for sale going at £60 over at Discogs.

Debatable in my eyes as to whether it has aged as well as the Kobalt 60 tunes I posted the other day. That's just my opinion though, the tunes are still hard as hell....

I'm Fort A like a Sizewell B

As I've been searching through the crates I've listened to some tracks that I haven't heard in more than 10 years... In the case of UK Hip Hop, some tracks haven't aged too well whereas some, particularly the following selection still sound fresh today...

So, here we have Kobalt 60 with "Kaos From Order" and "Concrete Show" released almost 20 years ago..... both tracks absolute gems.

Ninjas

A couple of nice Ninja Tune things now, Funki Porcini's "Dubble (Organ swell mix)" and DJ Food with "Spiral".

The Food track was on a single sided promo along with a Herbaliser track, the B-side was actually an etched Ninja Tune logo which was lovely but seemingly impossible to photograph using my phone.

Mind you, I do have fingers like pig's tits.

Check the technique, see if you can follow it...

Rae and Christian lovingly re-roll Nightmares On Wax's "What I'm Feelin'" from 1996, served on a bed of funk and garnished with a hint of turntable.

Then, it's back to 1990 and one time fastest rapper in the world MC JC-001 does his thing all over Al Green, leaving us with the lesser heard curiosity "Alone" by PartE Unknown (which I'm assuming was just JC001 and D-Zire being bored with their names).

Splendid.

Drippin' Dope

Wow, almost forgot about this one!

Reel Deal with "Drippin' Dope", a 1989 12" on B-Boy Records... really nice to hear this again....

It's what Westwood would have described as a smoking jammie back in the day (before he became a sad parody of himself... don't get me started).

Earthling

Back to the UK hip hop for the moment and something a little less typical.

Earthling released Nefisa in 1995, a downtempo and dense production that I re-listened to this morning for the first time in years. Still sounds nice to me...

As a compare and contrast exercise, this is the Portishead remix from the B side of the 12".

B-Side wins again?

Chemicals

I don't recall seeing this on any other Chemical Bros. albums or compilations, so this may be of interest to some... "Buzz Tracks" was the B-side to the Setting Sun 12" in 1996.

All good clean fun, especially the comically nauseating tape loop effect at 3 mins-ish...

And I can't help but love you so...

1991 and here come High Authority with "I'm The Man", a nice bit of heavyweight production created by slowing down The Spencer Davies Group.

Never heard anything more from High Authority, unsurprisingly, low key UK hip hop releases in 1991 probably didn't do too much to pay the bills, which is a shame.

Enjoy.

PM Dawn? I'd rather have PMT...

Now, when I were a young whippersnapper, you only ever heard the occasional hip hop track on radio (bear in mind that this was years ago, outside London) and it was only ever the weakest, commercial nonsense masquerading as the real deal..

Nowadays of course, you hear hip hop everywhere, unfortunately, it's mainly still boll*cks commercial nonsense... even the stuff that is regarded as true hip hop (ahem, just my opinion, feel free to criticise, ultimately, I AM right).

Going back to 1992, we have J Blast and 100% Proof and their PM Dawn diss "2 Break the Dawn". No punches pulled and a heartfelt attack on idiots besmirching the good name of hip hop.

I hadn't realised just how rare this was until I had a gander at discogs and saw a copy for sale at £39.99.

I'm open to offers haha!

Karate!

Between the release of their two albums, 1989's Recognition and 1992's Original Guidance, the Demon Boyz released "International Karate" in 1990.

This is ripped from a promo 12" and is vastly different from "Outernational Karate" the re-working that appears on their second album.

Enjoy...

Bring back summer...

So, the weather has been surprisingly pleasant of late, until today when it actually feels like April... The sun has got his hat on, but also appears to have buggered off to the pub...

A couple of happy bits and bobs now to keep the mood up...

The first of todays tracks is kind of sunshine related, being the B side of Alex Reece's "Feel the Sunshine" from 1996.
Austrian knob-twiddlers, Kruder and Dorfmeister, work their magic over "Jazz Master" and justify adding an umbrella to your pint.

The second is one of my favourite breaks of all time and just an outstanding song in it's own right, from 1972 it's Al Green with "I'm Glad You're Mine".

Uncommon Covers

As requested offline, two covers of well known tracks from less well known artists..

Billie Jean/Mama Used To Say by Shinehead, 1986

and

Under The Boardwalk by Howie B, 2001.

Enjoy, comments welcome as always.

And breaks too...

Oh, and I'll post some breaks also from time to time.

Here's two for starters, one obvious (probably sampled more than The Funky Drummer or Apache?) and one obscure(ish).... but both from 1969 and therefore 40 years old...


The Winstons - Amen Brother

and

Les Baxter's "Hot Wind"

A minute to midnight

11:59 - Killing Time, From the 1990 "Killing Time" E.P

"If cocaine's a lady then freebasing's a bitch"

Well, according to the front cover of Ceasefire's Trickshot it is ... released on 12" in 1995, nice tight drums with a smattering of Tony Montana and lashings of geeetar.

Nice.

Black Radical and Bongo Beats

Sign of the Beast, album track from Black Radical MkII's "The undiluted truth" and, continuing the uneasy listening, "Searching For Records With Bongo Beats", the B side of Depth Charge's "Queen Of The Scorpion" 10" from 1995.

Enjoy...

Oh yeah, Hip Hop

That first link wasn't entirely indicative of the bulk of posts to come, so here are two gems from way back. As already stated elsewhere, I'm concentrating on posting individual tracks that don't appear to be commonplace on the web as far as I can tell.

Firstly, Hardnoise with "Serve Tea Then Murder", an undisputed heavyweight classic piece of UK hardcore hip hop from 1991. Ripped from the promo 12" on Music Of Life. Sampling both Lalo Schifrin's Dirty Harry score and the noise a ZX Spectrum made whilst loading... class.

Secondly, Black Sheep's "Strobelite Honey" from 1992. It's the No We Didn't mix from the 12" release. Love those horns.....

Enjoy.

Hello. Good Afternoon. Welcome

It's Easter Monday and what better way to celebrate than by hearing something good for the first time?

I'm starting off with a track from Howie B's "Another Late Night" compilation. It's ripped from vinyl, so apologies to our younger viewers who may notice additional snap, crackle and pop.

The crates contain some other Spacer stuff which is pretty nice (and may well appear here in time), but this track is probably more of a curiosity for Goldfrapp fans. Alison Goldfrapp lends her voice to proceedings here with not unpleasant results. The tune was originally released on Howie B's
Pussyfoot Records in 2000.

More stuff to come soon, enjoy, and comments very welcome...

Download HERE