Page 69 of 87

Stumbled upon some of my old D’Angelo records recently, so I had to open it up with some classic material from his Live At the Jazz Cafe recording. Then a little bit of classic soul and equally (well, maybe equally is stretching somewhat) classic Souls of Mischief. Cabfare, with its cheeky Taxi theme sampling, was an off-album track that became an underground hit for those in-the-know. They recently busted it out for this year’s Rock The Bells LA edition.

Followed it up with another RTB attendee, Nas. I basically use any excuse I can to play Nas. Every and any week that I can… Rocked a bit more hip hop and then took a left turn.

Speeding it up, I had to hit you with a few Katy B tracks. Her album On a Mission peaked at #2 on the UK album charts, but we haven’t heard much about her over here. The album definitely has a pop production sound (read: dense, compressed audio), but with a clearly UK bent, mixing up the beats with dubstep, dnb, and breakbeats. It’s very easy to listen to. At the young age of 22, she’s already got a pretty ridiculous voice. Here she is doing a cover of Maverick Sabre’s Let Me Go, another UK pop song I play a little later in the show.

A couple of more uptempo preface the Maverick Sabre track, and then I had to hit you up with that beat’s inspirational pieces from Portishead and Isaac Hayes.

Too late! File removed (mp3 – 74Mb)

Tracklist [Read more →]

Starting it out downtempo before dropping into some hip hop for this week. Managed to fit in another short Gang Starr set and a 2-track beer set. I don’t know what it is, but I seem to be on a drinking rap tip of late. Must be the warm, bbq weather.

UPDATE: Now with working stream/download link!

Too late! File removed (mp3 – 76Mb)

Tracklist [Read more →]

Mixed bag tonight as we kick off with some recent electronic goodness before winding it down at the end with some reggae. Summer doesn’t get better than this.

Too late! File removed (mp3 – 67Mb)

Tracklist [Read more →]

Mostly hip hop this week with a downtempo and reggae intro. I just saw Beats, Rhymes, and Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest so I had to hit you up with a double dose of Tribe. For fans of hip hop and of the group specifically, I highly recommend the movie. It was interesting to see the parallels between this movie and the Fishbone documentary (Also highly recommended, but also a bit depressing) I saw a few months back. Both groups seemed to suffer from similar dynamics at times.

Then a triple dose of 3rd Base just ‘cuz, and a triple dose of Common, who was just in town and lit Flame Central with a ridiculously good live show. Colour me impressed. The rapper/actor’s been in town for a few months filming the first season of a new AMC series called Hell On Wheels and has been spotted around town doing his thing. During the show he dropped what will likely be remembered (by me, atleast) as the best Calgary-based freestyle by a big out-of-town rapper ever: Dropping local knowledge, he referenced 17th Ave, the Flames and Iginla, and then went deep for referrences to the Bow and Gratitude Cafe, among others.

If you missed the concert, this show won’t even begin to hint at what you missed, but here it is anyways.

Too late! File removed (mp3 – 76Mb)

Tracklist [Read more →]

Started it out this week by paying my respects to Amy Winehouse . Tragic yes, and all too predictable. Still, Amy Winehouse managed to get quite a few parties started for me as a DJ, and if her fame helped widen the awareness for less well-known contemporaries such as Sharon Jones, then that too is something positive to draw from this.

Amy Winehouse, in better times

Winehouse first caught my ear via In My Bed, and mostly because it jacks the same beat as Nas’ Made You Look . Her first album Frank, though hinting at the sounds of retro-soul, had more of an R&B feel to it but once she hooked up with Mark Ronson (who brought along the Dap-Kings and their might horns) for her sophomore effort Back To Black, things really took off – and subsequently also started to spiral down.

We follow up the quick retrospective with some nice mellow beats and breaks before rolling through some hip hop and speeding it up for the last movement with some disco and funky breaks.

Too late! File removed (mp3 – 80Mb)

Tracklist [Read more →]

Most days, I’m pretty happy with how my show plays out. This week not so much – A few too many wrecked mixes, I feel like J-live . I give it 2.5 stars. Makes me want to not even put this up, but there’s some nice hip hop in this show, and I do like all the tracks. Plus, you folks probably nitpick the mixes less than I do. Or so I hope…

Too late! File removed (mp3 – 81Mb)

Tracklist [Read more →]

Oh, looky – another show…

Too late! File removed (mp3 – 76Mb)

Tracklist [Read more →]

Just trying to get the blog updated quickly now, so no long stories…

Too late! File removed (mp3 – 81Mb)

Tracklist [Read more →]

Another pretty varied show, from downtempo to dancehall, jungle and house. All in a day’s work here at the Fat Beat Diet.

Too late! File removed (mp3 – 83Mb)

Tracklist [Read more →]

A nice extended version of the Fat Beat Diet tonight, which enabled me to tick a few more boxes than I usually do – especially kicking it off with some jazz, which I haven’t done in ages.

Too late! File removed (mp3 – 61Mb)

The Fat Beat Diet, June 20th 2011 – Part II (mp3 – 69Mb)

Tracklist [Read more →]