Detroit's best kept secret: Karriem Riggins!

My eyes where opened last week when I first heard of Mr. Karriem Riggins. Drummer, producer and jazz musician raised in Detroit. I can't belive I've been sleeping on this guy... Apparently he was close friends with Dilla and the whole Slum Village crew and responsible for productions like Erykah Badu's Soldier, Slum Village's Tainted and Detroit Experiment's Higher.

Just like Kenny Dope and Questlove, Karriem was inspired by and worked close with jazz musicians. In Karriems case it was legends like Marcus Belgrave, Betty Carter and Robert Herst.

I first heard his incredible mixtape on Soulful Beats on 1extra which led me to a hunt with a serious craving for more. First off I was stunned by his Kaleidoscope mixtape and his live set at the Miami Winter Music Conference for Stone's Throw records. I'm not easy to please but his selection of tunes is some of the most surprising and eyeopening music I've heard for years. No joke.

As a recording artist Karriem has also teamed up with Madlib under the name Supreme Team. As far as I know, Supreme Team only officially released two tracks so far: Volta por Cima and See. The latter an amazing potpuri of crazy beats madlib style. An album is apparently on the way so keep your eyes open!

Mixtape for Benji-B

Winter Music Conference live set

The Kaleidoscope mixtape

Supreme team’s “See”

Supreme team’s “Volta por Cima”

Seiji says: I can't let it go!

Wow! Seiji (Paul Dolby) is back!

The man has been a favourite of mine for a while but has been quite quiet the last couple of years. For those unfamiliar with his work have most certainly heard of the production collective Bugz in the attic and the west London broken scene which he's a vital part of. Anyways, in April he launched his new blogg where he drops new tracks and dubplates for DJ:s and music lovers to enjoy in full quality.

September 4th I was running in the country side and stopped dead in my tracks when I heard the new track from Seiji. It was broken yet laidback, it was soulful yet brick hard, it had that 90ies dubsound yet very up-to-date. Simply a stunning piece of soulful underground music!

Download it in 320 mp3 format here:

Seiji - I can't let it go

As a bonus catch some classic Seiji material here:

Seiji - Loose lips

The true story behind Nu yorican soul's The nervous track

Talking about bored drummers I have to mention Nu Yorican Soul's The nervous track. In my mind one of the most amazing percussion tracks of all time.

I found a cassette (!) the other day with an old interview with Kenny Dope and appearantly the story behind the track was this:

Tuesday night and Kenny's bored in the Masters at Work Manhattan based studio. Listening to a some strings recorded earlier by his partner Louie Vega he flips through some old jazz records in search of inspiration. An old Shelly Manne record on Philips gets his attention. Samples the break, loops it and continues through the record piles until he find three more beats including Louie Benson, Willy Bobo and Paul Humphries.

Kenny feels he's onto something and adds layer after layer on Vega's strings using several drumloops at the same time to build the amazing beats in different channels.

Louie Vega calls Mike Weiss (founder of Nervous records) at 3:30 am on that same Tuesday night and says: "Yo get your ass over to the Studio, Kenny and I have to play you something!"
Mike wonders if maybe they can wait until breakfast and Louie answers that if he wants the track he has to go there now! Mike goes over and finds the track that will be forever linked with the label, hence 'The Nervous Track'.

If Questlove and Kenny Dope can drop bombs like these when there bored, I wonder how many future classics are made this lazy hot Sunday afternoon?

Listen to the track here: Nu Yorican Soul - The nervous track (1993)

A vibe called applesap!

This tribe called quest blend has been around for a while but it keeps coming back. It's simply put the best ATCQ mixtape I've ever heard. It's put together by a DJ SP in Holland and you can listen to it here: http://www.imeem.com/people/Z8dGISP/music/oB1g_IE7/mixed-by-dj-sp-a-vibe-called-applesap/

Questlove is bored and drops a bomb

The slow summertime is here and I just can't get enough of those video clips where talented producers program beats, re-edit tracks or just jam bomb track in front of my eyes.

Pick of the week: Questlove

Ahmir Questlove Thompson , the legendary drummer from the Roots, is bored. Picks up a copy of Philip Michael Thomas (of Miami Vice fame) She's a liar. Why I wonder? Records a few samples, rearranges, records a slammin beat on his drum set and there you go. A new dope instrumental to nod your head to on your way to work!

The beat: http://www.zshare.net/download/624666912dc71d21/

The video clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBOCY2PEW2Y&e

Martyn's mixtape for Gilles Peterson's Worldwide show

Martyn is on a roll at the moment. Originally from Holland now residing in Washington DC he has recently released his debut album Great Lenghts on his on label 3024.

I've heard so much praise about his live sets so I just have to highlight his mixtape from the Worldwide show. Looking forward to catching him live soon!

http://www.lowerdepths.com/mixes/martyn-gilles-peterson-guest-mix-070509.mp3

Tracklist:

Cooly G – ‘Love Dub Refix’ (Hyperdub)
Roy Davis Jr. – ‘About Love’ (Classic)
Actress – ‘Hazyville’ (Prime Numbers)
Roska – ‘Gone To A Better Place’ (Roska Kicks & Snares)
Erobique – ‘Arf Patzo’ (Mirau Music)
Martyn – ‘For Lost Relatives’ (Aus Music)
Martyn – ‘Phone Lines’ (3024)
Flying Lotus – ‘Disco Balls’ (Hyperdub)
Slum Village – ‘Disco’ (Capitol Records)
Waajeed – ‘Tron’ (Bling47)
Martyn – ‘Natural Selection’ (Flying Lotus’ Cleanse Mix) (3024)

Nodeci - the comeback of Devante?

The Nodeci tracks This is it and Sex you down have been buzzing the last couple of weeks. One rumor says it's a new and upcoming group produced by producer/songwriter team "the Clutch".

Hower the word on twitter says it's the comeback of Devante and Mr.Dalvin from Jodeci. Judging by the re-edit of the Jodeci logo, the harmonies and the remake of the lyrics from Feenin' in This is it I'm hoping for the later. Either way the tracks are dope.


Check them out here: http://www.myspace.com/nodeci