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MIX NOTES

UK74R1406070 – Finnish techno producer Aleksi Perälä has developed his own custom musical scale called The Colundi Sequence, an alternative to the standard musical scales most music is composed from. Rather than the usual octaves with semitones, he chose a specific set of 128 resonant frequencies. These frequencies were selected through a variety of nebulous methods, including experimentation, human bio-resonance and mysticism. Whatever the hell that means. He’s released at least 17 different albums using this scale. Much of it just sounds like experimental techno, but I do dig this ambient tune. It sounds great in headphones, but even better with a real subwoofer in play, for the full low end theory. Check more HERE.

Boards & Skins – South London DJ/multi-instrumentalist Kamaal Williams aka Henry Wu is one half of Brownswood Recordings’ instrumental jazz outfit Yussef Kamaal. He grew up amidst the Grime and Hip Hop and UK Garage that permeated the clubs in the early 2000s. He’s only been putting out music for a couple of years, but I always check out what he’s doing, cuz it’s generally right up my alley. Pretty sure he took his name from the B.D. Wong character in Jurassic Park – the chief genetic engineer at InGen. You can hear some of his Yussef Kamaal stuff on THIS MIX.

No White Horse Anymore (Jazz mix) – Some 2017 deep dubstep (or “worldstep”, as he calls it) from Cam Lasky, DJ, producer and founder of the Kyoto label, KWAIOTO Records, born in 2017. This has a nice mix of moody and jazzy with trappy high hats.

Rejoice – This group Agape has been labeled “psychedelic gospel” by music historians. This has a cool, druggy, acid-rock type sound. Others label them the very first “Christian Rock” band, releasing two albums in 1969 and 1971. Not really my usual thing, for sure, but monotone reading from Revelations, rather than, say, the Epistle to the Ephesians, puts this in a much darker, more heavy metal area – which I can get down and rock out to.

Three Hours – Now that were in a decidedly moody tone on this mix, Nick Drake fits right in. This is from his 1969 debut LP, “Five Leaves Left”. He tragically committed suicide at 26, but his posthumous influence on manicly-depressed singer songwriters and troubadours has endured for decades. Robert Smith. Beck. Elliot Smith. Jose Gonzalez. James Blake – just to name a few.

Skeleton key – These guys Escaper are a Brooklyn-based funk fusion quintet who’ve been gigging within a quick Uber’s-throw from my apartment for awhile now. This is the title track from their 2017 debut album and it sounds a band warming up for a long night of smoking grooves.

Red Clay – Tribe Called Quest fans know this bassline, from Freddie Hubbard’s Hard Bop masterpiece of the same name. The lineup on this was a who’s who of CTI Label-era fusion cats, including Ron Carter on bass, Joe Henderson on sax, and Herbie Hancock killing it on the rhodes. This was recorded in Englewood New Jersey in January of 1970. The Quest sample from “Sucka Nigga” is actually from the 1973 Jack Wilkin’s cover.

Sort of Dubolution – a great murky piece of dub from Fin Greenall, who sometimes calls himself Sideshow. He’s the lead singer of the UK trio Fink, who have created a cool blend of acoustic and electronic sounds going back to 2000 or so. I always loved his track “Pretty Little Thing” from 2006, which you can hear on THIS MIX.

Jade – Some snappy syncopated London bass music from Geode that’s been sitting around in a folder on my laptop since 2014. There’s a ton of these instrumentals out there. In one way, it’s pretty forgettable, but at the same time, it’s definitely great chill out music.

Take This – Trumpet wizard and Julliard alum Charles Porter’s fresh 4/4 take on the 5/4 “Take Five”. Nothing groundbreaking, but I like how its kind of a Dave-Brubeck-meets-St-Germain’s-“Rose-Rouge”, but not. Or something like that.

Caravan (Dub) – Fans of my mixes know I’m a sucker for just about any version of “Caravan” – probably because it showed up in so many Warner Bros. cartoons as a kid. Who exactly Reggae Clinic 65 is a mystery. They released one 3-song EP on a Belgian label in 1979, leading me to believe they may just be a library sounds group, put together in some studio as a one-off recording.

Irrbloss – Veering off into easy techno territory with Sweden’s Dorisburg aka Alexander Berg. Alexander credits NY’s Metro Area as a big influence, and I can certainly hear it here. If you don’t know Metro Area’s first album, it’s an early 2000s classic, and was really instrumental in starting a whole movement of throwback house music that leaned into slower tempos and that minimal Nu-Groove sound of NY in the 80s.

Lamb Ji (feat Mbene Diatta Seck) – I really fell in love with this the moment I heard it. It’s trippy and spacey and dubby and funky and would have been right at home at Lee Scratch Perry’s Black Ark Studios or Larry Levan’s Paradise Garage. Berlin techno legend and Rhythm & Sound alum Mark Ernestus put together the awesome Ndagga Rhythm Force awhile back, blending techno and house with a form of Senegalese music out of Dakar called “Mbalax.” If you appreciate dub like I do, this song might just get inside your brain and won’t let go. Preview the whole album HERE

Every Moment I Am – One last wind-down piece of dub techno from another Swede, Sebastian Mullaert, best known for his work as one half of Minilogue. I go down rabbit holes from time to time, buying a lot of these minimalist instrumentals that really only work at the beginning or end of your set, so most of it just gets lost on some hard drive – but I’m glad this one saw the light of day, if only on this mix. Thanks for listening.