Friday, July 31, 2009

Friday Jams

To start off, a great driving/biking home from work on a Friday anthem; Party Enemy No. 1 by People Under the Stairs:

The show on Wednesday went great. Hunter and I got to the Pour House a little late; but we got set up and sound-checked well before 9 (when we were supposed to go on), so I had a smoke and we both pulled all the records we would need for the sets. We ended up getting started a few minutes after 9, and the opening set went swimmingly. We love playing at the Pour House, because it always sounds great for the audience and on stage. It's really easy to put long blends when you can hear yourself so clearly.

Another of my favorite PUTS jams from Fun DMC is Enjoy. Such an ill low-key party song:

One of the best parts of the show for me (and every time we do this particular set) was when Hunter dropped Ghostwriter by RjD2. He blends in an out of it so well. By about ten, we had John Kutter from the UFO crew on stage with us rocking cuts during lulls in the set. Kid has so much flavor on his flares, and is simply clean as fuck on the cut.

Yet another great jam from Fun DMC is Critical Condition:

Hunt and I got real excited when the Hypnotic Body Rock crew came to the front and got a B-Boy cipher popped off. We love spinning when people dance, and having them there fueled us to keep the mix smooth and EQed on point. By the end of the set (right around 11), Fred from UFO came up and spun some ill soul breaks. Hunter, Kutter, and I had a question and answer cut session while Fred kept the set moving. That was real fun... but mostly because my cuts sounded pretty good... or at least much better than they had earlier in the week at practice.

Finally, for your late-night/fall asleep happy Friday cool-out jam, here's People Under the Stairs with Montego Slay:

Idigcratesforthelategreatexistenceofblackplates.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Monday Wake Up Jawn

Hunter and I have been practicing for the UFO vs. Bubbleguts Bros. show on Wednesday at the Pour House. We're not sure how long we have to play, but we go on right at nine; and we're not holding any of the neck-snap slow hip-hop back. The set is coming together superbly. We got some reggae in the set, and lots of other surprises. I'm not sure what the cover will be to get in the show, but I hope it's not much so everyone can come out and check it. Hunter and I are both crazy excited to have an opportunity to do straight hip-hop and not have to worry about making people dance. We're looking forward to just doing us and showing skills.

Anyway, here's People Under the Stairs with People Riddum. We're not playing it on Wednesday or anything (I still gotta get Fun DMC on wax), but I really like this jawn. Peep:

Ihighlyrecommendpickingupfundmc.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Friday Jams

I've been spending this week practicing on my turntables and trying to come up with good records for a slower boom bap set for the next Bubbleguts show. In case you didn't hear yet, Hunter and I are battling the Unfadeable Fader Operators (UFO) on Wednesday the 29th at the Pour House here in Charleston. The way it's looking, it'll be me and Hunter on stage with Fred and Kutter on eight turntables at the same time. We're gonna try to do some collaborative cutting/blending, and I'm pretty sure there will be a long question and answer scratch session. To get hype for a show, I usually listen to Menahan Street Band's The Contender right before we go on... so I figured I'd post it here to get you hype:

At the battle, you can expect to hear lots of boom bap instrumentals. We're tryina make you break your neck to the head nod. You'll prolly hear Kool G Rap and DJ Polo's Ill Street Blues:

And you'll almost definitely hear Black Moon's How Many MCs:

For sure, you'll hear Jeru the Damaja's Come Clean:

And I'ma try to fit in Afu Ra's Whirlwind Thru Cities:

But I'm also gonna try to get Hunter to do his infamous juggle routine of Company Flow's Patriotism:

Ifyourefeelingluckyduckthenpressyourluck.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Monday Wake Up Joint

Had a pretty good weekend. Woke up with a headache today, but I'm gonna be busy at work (plus, I got rehearsal with Hunter tonight for our show at the Pour House on the 29th) so I'm trying to force myself into a good mood. Listening to People Under the Stairs will usually do that, so here's PUTS with The Fun:

Justacompletelyperfectsong... bestiveheardinawhile.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Friday Jams (New Uptempo Mix Edition)

I've been working on a new mix this past week, and I'm pretty proud of it. I put together a 3 hour set by extending my hour-long set from Kulture Klash IV and steadily building up speed. The result is something that is sure to rock the party. The mix starts at 92 beats per minute and builds to 128 bpms over the course of three hours. From hip-hop, to ill neck-snap funk, to smooth soul, to early native tongues hip-hop, to funk re-edits (think the Somebody Give Me a Rock tape... if you have one), to funky house, to Miami bass. I've never made anything like it before, and I'm pretty proud of it. It's sort of a continuation of the idea for my What I Put On mix, where I'm trying to trick people into not even noticing it's getting faster. Anyway, here's some of the songs from the mix:

From the Motown Remixed LP, here's Let's Get it On:

A Tribe Called Quest's Youthful Expression:

Greyboy's Unwind Your Mind:

Red Astaire's The Come Down:

and it ends with Ghost Town DJs' My Boo:

Sohappyitstheweekend...

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

I Gotta See People Under the Stairs Live Before I Die

Here's the infamous PUTS crew with a little snippet from Time to Rock Our Shit... I think it's impossible to not nod your head when the beat builds back and Thes starts jumping. Peep:


And in case you liked that... here's the studio version, where Thes spits the oft-quoted by me "I shoot the gift like NRA members of Christmas morning" line. Peep:

Thesonelacethetracklikeabluntwiththeweirdsmell.

Speaks for Itself

One of my favorite scenes from a very good movie:

Goodwaytostartyourday.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Steez Update

Since its been a while since I posted anything (besides this morning), here's what I've been up to:

I went to go see my parents and sister in North Carolina for the week before 4th of July. We had a great time playing games (I won the Mele family lawn-Olympics), watching movies (including season 1 of TrueBlood), riding on the boat, and just relaxing. I had such a good time chilling with my sister and her boyfriend, that I'm heading to Philly in August to hang for a few days and go camping.

I got back to Charleston on the 4th, and I headed out to Seabrooke Island for LPs steezathon. Unfortunately, I was extra tired from driving all day to get back... so I didn't make it too long on the party tip. Good times tho for sure.

Since then, I've been hanging with my roommates, practicing on my turntables, buying records, working at the library, and generally keeping it steezy.

Imalwayskeepingitsteezy... smelt?

Monday Wake Up Joint

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, hopefully I'll get around to writing what I've been up to these past couple weeks... but for now, I'll just post some music to get you up. Something kinda new for a wake up post, here's People Under the Stairs doing an interview and some of their best songs live in Chicago. Peep out the Live Access:

updatescomingsoonhopefully.