What are you eating for breakfast? How about some biscuits n gravy? I’m serving up a blend of funk and rap in this delicious podcast. This is the first podcast I recorded using The Bridge. I figured since Serato and Ableton created something so good together, I could serve up some mixes that would go together like some good southern comfort food. You’ll hear a lot of party breaks in this but it holds true to what the Stone Groove is all about, old school funk and soul. Let me know what you think about the mix. As always link to the podcast on iTunes is after the jump.
I felt like getting back to a more traditional Soulful Sunday post today. This album from Brother to Brother has got some groovy tracks on it, but I wanted to point out the title track “In the Bottle” which has a very particular jazzy groove and the lyrics still have relevance today. The sweet flanged-out vocals really add to the piece by recanting the lyrics in a pseudo club chant style. What might come as a surprise to folks listening to this is that this track is actually a cover of a Gil Scott Heron’s “In the Bottle” and even contains a similar flute solo like Heron’s.
This track has been getting a lot of reworks done as of late. The most notable is the rework done by Yosaku & DJ Day titled “The Bottle” on the BSTRD BOOTS label. (I have included the tack down at the bottom for your listening pleasure.)
“In the Bottle” is a must have in any DJs crate if they need just a solid groove early on in the evening. I don’t believe that it is a floor filler, but in many cases it’s going to get people’s heads nodding.
Yo everyone, it’s that time of year when all the radio stations and department stores are playing all the commercial tunes featuring some contemporary artist R&Bing every Christmas song memory you have. If you are like me then you are fed up with the junk and you want to replace your Christmas playlist with some holiday funk! Hit the jump to download the Stone Groove Christmas Mix 2010.
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.
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.
