Merry Christmas

The funky side of Christmas.

Have Yourself a Funky Little Christmas by Classyindividual on Mixcloud

Tracklist:
James Brown - Let's Make Christmas Mean Something This Year
Carla Thomas - Gee Whiz It's Christmas
Otis Redding - Merry Christmas, Baby
Booker T & The MGs - Winter Wonderland
Charles Brown - Please Come Home for Christmas
Joe Tex - I'll Make Every Day Christmas (For My Woman)
Staples Singers - Who Took the Merry Out of Christmas?
Earl Grant - Silver Bells
Binky Griptite - Stone Soul Christmas
Dilinger - Hi Fashion Christmas
The Heptones - Christmas Time is Here
Soul Saint Orchestra - Santa's Got a Bag of Soul
James Brown - Santa Claus Goes Straight to the Ghetto
Clarence Carter - Backdoor Santa
Rufus Thomas - I'll Be Your Santa, Baby
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - Ain't No Chimneys in the Projects
Otis & Carla - New Year's Resolution

Bunch of 45s, Volume 2

I've been working on digitizing my 45 collection, and it's been a wonderful opportunity for spontaneous curation. Here's a few gems from the last batch of recordings. 

Tracklist

Donnie Elbert - I Got to Get Myself Together

Ray Charles & His Band - Green Backs

Carter Bros. - Booze in a Bottle

Tony Clarke - Woman, Love a Man

Arthur Alexander - Black Knight

Hot Sauce - I'll Kill a Brick (About a Man)

Pointer Sisters - Yes We Can Can 

Funkadelic - Biological Speculation

Okieextremist Moondog - Reefer Blues

The Temptations - Cloud Nine

Paul Humphries & His Cool Chemists - Detroit

Aretha Franklin - Rocksteady

James Brown - I Got Ants in My Pants

Kool & The Gang - Funky Stuff

Brick - Push Push

Tony Camillo's Bazooka - Dynomite

Rick James - Hollywood

Lonnie Liston Smith - Space Lady

Windy City - Spank

Man Parrish - Hip Hop, Be Bop (Don't Stop)

DL. 

A Bunch of 45s: Volume One

After going without records for a month or two during the process of moving to a new apartment, once we got settled, I had a renewed interest in digitizing my 45 collection. Here's a few gems I uncovered in the process. 

Tracklist:

Shirley & Lee - Let the Good Times Roll

39-21-46 - The Showmen

Little Junior Parker - In the Dark 

Toussaint McCall - Shimmy

Kasandra - Don't Pat me the Back and Call Me Brother

Undisputed Truth - Mama, I Got a Brand New Thing

The Emotions - Boss Love Maker

Louis Curry - I'll Try Again Tomorrow

Charles Brown - Just a Blessing

Candi Staton - Never in Public

Peggy Scott & JoJo Benson - Soulshake

Ronnie Dove - Cry

Teardrops - You Won't Be There

The Peppers - Pepper Box

Giorgio Moroder - Paul's Theme (Jogging Chase)

Billy Cobham - Bolinas

Yambu - Sonny

John Williams - Close Encounters Theme (Disco Version)

John & Ernest - Superfly Meets Shaft

DL

Liam Bailey

I'm late to this, because it came out last year, but it's definitely one of my favorite songs right now. So smooth. 

A brief history of sampling

well done
Eclectic Method - A Brief History of Sampling from Eclectic Method on Vimeo.

Mostly 45s

Get weird. Get funky. Get this all-vinyl (and mostly 45s) mix from DJ Ray B. down in Savannah, GA. Shout out to everyone at Vinyl Appreciation. 

Vic Mensa

Chi-Town. Styles for days. "Orange Soda" is one of the tightest blends of hip hop and soul to drop in years and years. 

The Whatnauts

Wait for the drop at :20. So butter smooth. 

JazzMine

Smooooth. 

Brik-a-Brak's Dilla Tribute

The Denver-based DJ/record collector drops a nasty all-vinyl set at the Solution paying tribute to the records behind some of Dilla's hottest. About 8min into it, he starts dropping beats into the mix too. Just dope. 

"Tell Her"

Fred Williams kills it on some goosebump-inducing soul wailing. 

Holiday Soul

Jon Doe finds time in his busy schedule to grace you with the only holiday music you need - the stone cold soul variety. 

Laidback Sunday Evening

Chilling at home and threw down this mix. Contains awesomeness such as the Heliocentrics & Mulatu Astatke, Jane Birkin, Jesse Futerman, Karl Hector, War, a DITC remix and loads of other jams that will blow your mind.

Lee Fields "Faithful Man"

This has been out for a little minute, but I heard it on the radio the other day (shout out to OpenAir 1340) and was blown away. This is some powerful stuff. 

Soul "Boombastic"

Soul is a Bay area resident whose making some dope hip hop. His current project, a 7-track EP, manages to be both listenable and intelligent. Get a taste of the lead single:

Adrian Younge

 Adrain Younge made hip hop in the late 90s, then he decided to learn how to play real instruments. A decade later, he's dropping this jam-tastic EP on Wax Poetics. You know it's gotta be funky. "1969 Organ" is definitely rocking your world if you enjoyed the Heliocentrics or Karl Hector and have a penchant for - you guessed it - psychedelic organ riffs! You need this in your life. Merry Christmas.
  Adrian Younge Presents Venice Dawn (EP) by Wax Poetics

"A Woman Will Do Wrong"

I stumbled across this song on a dollar bin oldies compilation, and it resurfaced a couple months ago while playing records at home one night. Powerful soul courtesy of Helene Smith. This joint will give you goosebumps.

Little Ann "Sweep It Out in the Shed"

Some stone cold soul found via a recommendation from one of my favorite denizens of dance, Ms. Sugar Britches.

J.Rocc's Quantic Mix

 Here's a good bet. Let J.Rocc take 10 years worth of Will Holland's musical output and turn it into a 40 minute mix. Go ahead and get down.
Best Of Quantic Mix by J.Rocc by Tru Thoughts

[via Hypetrack]

O.V. Wright

Hands down one of my favorite voices in the pantheon of soul...salve for a bruised mind..."Everybody Knows"


If you stroll through Wright's catalog, you'll recognize quite a few familiar loops re-purposed by RZA.  You might remember part of "Drowning on Dry Land" from its appearance on the first Bobby Digital record, among others.