With the fall season officially under way, let's kick off the month of October with some seasonally appropriate sounds. Chrome Canyon's Soundtracks will get you in the mood for Halloween with its, at times, menacing feel. Prince Paul's Negroes On Ice project drops this month, and Spin Doctor's Brakes Is High mix spends quite a bit of time paying tribute to Paul's work with De La Soul. Closing the week out is DJ Scrap Dirty's Soulful House mixtape, and I find that genre to be particularly good for any time of year - except winter.
Chrome Canyon's bio page on Stones Throw's website describes him as the creator of synth "epics." I can neither confirm nor deny that description since I haven't heard any of his music, but judging from his contribution to the Stones Throw Podcast canon, it's probably not too far off. Some of the best synthesizer-based music ever created came from films of the 70's and 80's, when the technology was still in its infancy and the rules were being written. Canyon takes some of his personal favorite synth tracks from Wendy Carlos, Tangerine Dream, John Carpenter, Giorgio Moroder, Tomita featured in films like Cat People, Risky Business, Midnight Express, and Escape From New York for this retro-futuristic mix
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TRACKLIST:
1. Battle Against Clown - Geinoh Yamashirogumi - Akira
2. Theme from A Clockwork Orange (Beethoviana) - Wendy Carlos - A Clockwork Orange
When I was a kid, I often used to take my favorite toys apart just to see how they worked and were made. As I got older, I began applying a similar approach to music - reading books about the studio habits of The Beatles, and spending hours in midwestern flea markets and thrift stores hunting down records sampled by my favorite acts. So it comes as no surprise that mixes like Solid Steel Radio's recent deconstruction of the Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique or Spin Doctor's Brakes Is High, a tribute to the first four albums by De La Soul, are among my favorites to listen to.
In addition to tracks from 3 Feet High & Rising, De La Soul Is Dead, Buhloone Mindstate, and Stakes Is High, Spin Doctor cleverly weaves the Hall & Oates, Ahmad Jamal, P-Funk, Bob Marley, Frankie Valli and Johnny Cash records that were used to create some of the best hip-hop songs ever. Brakes Is High is as much a tribute to De La Soul (andPrince Paul) as it is to the ability of hip-hop to draw from so many different wells of inspiration.
DJ Scrap Dirty "Dirty Soul #27: Soulful House" Mixtape
DJ Scrap Dirty - Dirty Soul #27: Soulful House:
Though I began my journey as a DJ spinning nothing but house music, I've lost touch with the genre over the last 5 or so years, so it hurts that DJ Scrap Dirty didn't leave a track list with the 27th entry into his Dirty Soul mixtape series. The appropriately titled Soulful House mix is just that - full of house music with soul. With lots of Fender Rhodes chords, jazzy guitar licks, and driving percussion, it's clear that the subgenre hasn't changed much since I last spent an entire night (and half a morning) at Club Shelter. I may not know who's behind most of these songs but it all still sounds good and easily accomplishes the goal of making you wanna dance, if only just a lazy two-step.
