This week’s Soulful Sunday track goes back to the late sixties. You might have recently heard this track sampled by MF Doom on the track “Old School.” (I have it below for comparison.) It was difficult to choose one track off this album because there was so many stellar arrangements on it. However, most of the other tracks like “The Serpent” and “Spinning Wheel” are more jazzy and I didn’t feel it fit in for Soulful Sunday.
You can hear the opening break of this song instantly grab your attention and I’m sure some of the b-boy readers of this have already started to nod their heads. The piano breakdown and solo is one of the most uplifting parts of this track. Once you feel that this gets a little repetitive Mansfield tastefully switches it up to the piano and brings back the horns for one final call. Truly one of Keith Mansfield’s best works.
Bobby Byrd will probably be best known for his association with James Brown. However, Byrd had many successful years as a solo artist and with other groups. “If You Don’t Work” is one of Byrd’s early tracks that I feel didn’t get the same fame as “Hot Pants.” (After all, “Hot Pants” was sampled by nearly every rap artist in the late 80’s and 90’s.)
“If You Don’t Work” is a superb funk track with a pretty straight forward message. The lyrics aren’t complicated but they hold true even for today. The simple guitar riff throughout the song really keeps your attention and carries the track. The horns give it that classic James Brown/Bobby Byrd flavor. The drums keep your feet moving. Perfect track for Funk Friday.
I’ve been on a slow-mo disco edit tip as of late and wanted to share a little gem that I uncovered digging around the interwebs. This is a great edit from the Super Value crew. The album and track don’t have names to them, but the snippet of music comes from Gabor Szabo’s 1976 mellow track “Keep Smilin’.” This smooth edit is cleverly done by using a simple haunting repeat of the bridge in Szabo’s track. If you can’t tell it sounds very similar to WIlliam DeVaughn’s chorus in “Be Thankful For What You Got.” “Keep Smilin’” is what a disco edit should be. Smooth, mellow, and necessary, especially in a time when disco edits are made to just make them. This track is a perfect slow burner and compliments any summer deck chair lounging.
I’ve been on this track for a minute now. But I have yet to play it live. It sat in my collection of 7″ and I recently started to play this track again in my bedroom sets. Prince Fatty has been doing many dance hall renditions of popular rap tracks for a few years. I don’t think I really need to introduce you to the original ODB track. We all know this track. We all love this track. This track is definitely going to be getting more play in my live sets. What do you all feel about the track.
The discovery of phenomenal or rare music in the dustiest thrift store, record shop, or warehouse is one thing that makes being a DJ rewarding. It is one of the greatest feelings to come out of a record store, covered in dust, triumphantly wielding one or two rare gems that you painstakingly found that many people passed up. However, in our ever increasing digital music world, it is getting harder and harder to find digital gems that are buried within the ever growing landfill of music that is on the World Wide Web. And it is also rare when you find a digital gem that makes you feel the same as a hard days worth of dusty crate digging.
I stumbled across Kuroioto – Iro Iro album from a seemingly useless search link from Google. The link was not even relevant to what I was searching for, but a statement in the link caught my eye. In the link it stated, “… you like Dilla… Japanese hip-hop instrumentals.” So I had to click and was brought to some forum, I clicked around in there and was eventually brought to this web page where I discovered probably one of the best instrumental hip-hop albums that I have ever heard. I didn’t know this at the time that this album was going to be amazing.
Iro Iro is an amazing piece of underground work that contains many recognizable 60’s and 70’s funk and soul samples, mixed and blended with an ethereal jazzy flow into ten superb, head noddingly smooth tracks. My favorite track on the album is a piece called, “Aka” that contains samples of one of my most favorite tracks of all time, Kool and the Gang’s “Summer Madness.” Each track is noteworthy and this album is definitely worth having in any collection.
The interesting thing about this album is it has never been pressed into an LP or has it ever been distributed by a label. In fact, Kuroioto is not even Japanese. I did a little recon work on who this artist was and here’s what I found. Kuroioto is actually a student at Michigan State University. He posted this whole album for free on BandCamp.com and “… the album is an expression of what I go through in a week as well as the colors that affect my emotions and experiences during that week.” That’s all I can find out about Kuroioto. Big ups to whomever this cat is and hopefully we’ll hear more from him in the future.
It took me a minute to post this up but here’s my latest mix. It’s got just a jazzy flow to it. Overall I feel it is a decent mix. Let me know what you think about it. The tracklisting is below. Listen to it on iTunes or on SoundCloud
Jazz Con Bazz - Da Huzle
People Under The Stairs - Suite For Beaver (Part 1)
Tony D - Piano Grand
Smoke No Bones - Lyrics and Vibes
Ta’Raach - Baaby
L-Fudge - Liquid (Instrumental)
Mr. Scruff - How Sweet It Is
Mass Influence - A Yo! Atlanta Ya On
UMOD - U Better Recognise
DJ Numark & DJ Pomo - The Way I Think
