Mixtape, sir?: Crispy as my man Bill Blass.

After this one, I'm going to take a break from the mixtapes for a week or so, as I don't want to bombard you with them. There are more to come though so stay tuned (no flipping?).

I've just realised that, apart from the samples in the Major Force West and Burial tracks, there isn't a single female voice on this mixtape. Apologies for the unintended neglect of the fairer sex.



YER MAM!'S BIG SUMMER MIXTAPE BLOWOUT! VOLUME FIVE

1. King Midas Sound - Surround Me (From the recent Soul Jazz dubstep comp, A Box Of Dub, the emphasis on this tune is most definitely on the dub, not the (2-) step. This is some seriously chest-rattling stuff, but with an irresistibly soulful vocal. This scene is so good right now...)
2. Burial - Shutta (...So let's investigate some more. From the Ghost Hardware EP - a former Single Of The Week, nonetheless - this is more of the clattering, menacing, thoroughly urban sound that Burial is immersed in. Thrilling, inventive and addictive.)
3. Shackleton - Naked (The Skull Disco imprint seems to be ploughing its own furrow in the dubstep subgenre and this is highly indicative of their trademark approach. There are spaghetti western touches in the melodica flourishes, an urgent, paranoid house-y piano and, best of all, some big ol' bass drops, the kind of which could make buildings collapse.)
4. Saul Williams - Black Stacey (Deadbeat Remix) (Bizarrely showing up as a bonus track on Deadbeat aka Scott Monteith's latest album, Journeyman's Annual, this breathes new life into the best track off Williams' last long-player. Dubby, hazy and spooky.)
5. Major Force West - Cup Of Tea (Anyone know what happened to the guys from Major Force West? They were hipper than hip around the late-90s when James Lavelle and the Mo' Wax crowd held them up on a pedestal as forward-thinking producers, then nothing. If you know where they are, their mothers are very concerned.)
6. Dr. Octagon - Blue Flowers ("Paramedic foetus of the east, with priests, I'm from the church of the operating room". Welcome to the diseased, brilliant brain of 'Kool' Keith Thornton.)
7. Wu-Tang Clan - I Can't Go To Sleep (feat. Isaac Hayes) (Word has it there's a new Wu album due later in the year. I'll believe it when I hear it and, if it's true, it had better be great because they're overdue a great album. The W is about the closest they've come since the debut and this is still my favourite tune from it, if only for Ghostface doing his rhyming/crying thang.)
8. Redman - Wuditlooklike (From Red's finest hour, Dare Iz A Darkside, this Funkadelic-inspired cut is a great reminder of the guy's wit and skills.)
9. Blahzay Blahzay - Danger Part 2 (Blahzay are one of the forgotten 90s NY hip-hop crews, mostly because they only recorded one album, a 12" and then disappeared. Don't forget just how tight rappers they were and their ear for a great beat show through on this track from their only full-length, Blah Blah Blah.)
10. Naughty By Nature - Uptown Anthem ("WRECKIN' CREW!!!" This tune will always remind me of the film, Juice, one of my teenage favourites.)
11. Main Source - Live At The Barbeque ("It's like that y'all.... And that's all!" We're really breaking out the old school hip-hop jams today. Nas' first recorded verse, am I right? Probably not.)
12. Rawcotiks - Hardcore Hip Hop (DJ Premier Mix) (Definitely one of my all-time top Premier productions, this has all his patented touches in one smoking hot, KRS-sampling package.)
13. Pharoahe Monch - When The Gun Draws (feat. Mr. Porter) (Something new now from Pharoahe's Desire album. He tells a history of violence from the viewpoint of a bullet here, which isn't very original but the rhymes are inventive all the same.)
14. Clipse - Wamp Wamp (What It Do) (feat. Slim Thug) (I don't think I've put this on a mixtape before and it's one of those tunes that just keeps getting better with each listen. Also, the "It cools to a tight wad, the pyrex is Jewish" line still makes me smile.)
15. Dizzee Rascal - Bubbles (Some may baulk at the inclusion of Dizzee amongst such exalted company but the hell with them. This rocks!)
16. Edan - Funky Voltron (feat. Insight) (As does this. Don't hate.)
17. Method Man - Bring The Pain (The Wu, Redman and Meth all on the same mixtape? I'm spoiling you guys! Classic banger.)
18. Jaylib - Raw Shit (feat. Talib Kweli) (The Jaylib album, Champion Sound has recently been reissued so it's a timely chance to reassess it. Well, it still doesn't hang together all that well but this track is still fine and better than anything off Kweli's latest record.)
19. Sa-Ra Creative Partners - Do Me Gurl (feat. Ty of Ty & Kory) (Something soulful to top things off. The new Sa-Ra album, The Hollywood Recordings has really crept up on me to the point where it may well be one of my most-played from this year. A little too long and nothing entirely new from them but they're really mastering that sound of theirs now.)

Yer Mam!'s Big Summer Mixtape Blowout! Volume Five, Ripped, Zipped and Mediafired

Kool Keith image from here.

JMx