Metronome Thumbprints drops nothin but smoky jazz vinyls (with a little soul & funk) in the first new installment of our podcast series in almost half a year. Expect more of these – Metronome plans to do an all-vinyl mix every season. Next up: Two Beers Presents: “Death to the Wack MCs” – old school hip hop at its finest.
Track List
1) George Benson – “El Mar”
2) Herbie Hancock – “Vein Melter”
3) Lord Buckley / Billy Cobham / Chick Corea – “Nero / Snoopy’s Search / Twang”
4) Airto – “Papo Furado (Jive Talking)”
5) Norman Connors – “Blue”
6) Paul Horn & Nexus – “Dharma”
7) Ahmad Jamal – “Bogota”
8) Andrew Hill – “Siete Ocho”
9) Lonnie Liston Smith – “Summer Nights”
10) Minnie Riperton – “Inside My Love”
11) James Brown – “Cold Sweat”
12) Billy Cobham – “Savannah The Serene”
13) Weather Report – “Adios”
If you enjoy this mix, you’ll also love the episode that came before it, 70’s synth music mixed by CRLF.
And check out Metronome Thumbprint’s debut recording, “Just Friends”.
We pulled out a few of the exclusive tracks that Gasoline Monk mixed on Brooklyn Radio for your listening pleasure… unheard beats from the secret stashes of Jdubeats, Sylle Struck, & Gas Monk. Also, previews of upcoming DMSS albums, Powerplant‘s Magnificent Wind & Sylle’s Boston Diaries. Enjoi this heavy handful – the whole mix will be released track-by-track soon with cover art by Dirtywork.
Mighty love to Two Beers for making this teaser. Sylle Struck is back in Denmark, wrapping up Boston Diaries now – the project he did out of Gasoline Monk‘s apartment in two weeks, working with Boston emcees like Stick ‘Em Up, Snotti, K. Smith & Backdraft. The entire process was documented by Two Beers, and you can expect more teasers like this leading up to not only the release of the album, but of a short film about the sessions too.
This captures the spontaneity and raw goofiness of those two weeks well. We might get around to showing just how much work and not-sleeping went into this project in the next teasers. Or you might have to wait to hear these songs as your proof (“The Stars Are Here”, featuring Snotti, is the first taste of the album. You can hear that in Gas Monk’s new mix on Brooklyn Radio). Shout out to Stick ‘Em Up for the ridiculous freestyle.
A new inspirational short film by one of the most popular artists working today, David Choe. If you’re not familiar with Choe’s work, he is known for his super raw, playful style, derived from his background as a graffiti artist. You’ve likely seen his work many times; whether on clothing or any one of his infinite commercial projects. Working with a variety of mediums and content, and a real out-there personality, this guy will always keep you interested. Enjoy this video, narrated by Ice-T.
This is a cool interview with Statik and Termanology from June of this year, soon after the release of their second collaborative album called “2012”, under the name “1982”. The Boston natives discuss their recording process, their new album, and attempt to define “underground” hip hop, in their eyes. Boston’s hip hop history is a major point. Here’s a bit of the interview:
When you were working at Boston’s Hot 97, were you able to spin what you wanted?
Statik: Yeah. Never in my life have I had to compromise what I wanted to do. Sometimes I understood that I had to do certain things, so I would throw in a record that I wouldn’t necessarily like, but I knew that if I did it, I could play 5 of what I did like. So it was like a trade-off. At the last commercial radio station where I was, it got to the point where they were basically letting me know that it was getting to a point where I’d have no freedom. And I was like ‘I don’t wanna do this anymore.’ I didn’t really quit and I didn’t really get fired – it was like a mutual agreement. I went from having 6 radio stations to have one on Shade 45, where I spin what I want.
I know you consider yourself a hip-hop purist and when producers originally started to sample, they wanted to make it so hard so people couldn’t pinpoint the original. Do you have a specific method for finding records to sample?
Statik: It’s always changing. Some of the earliest records I ever found was when I was on tour and I’m inspired to go digging. A lot of the times I get weird sources for samples. I have kids hitting me up with ‘my parents were in this band in the ‘70s’ and I can get samples from wherever.’ Q-Tip is a big part of that. I wouldn’t buy records for a month and I’d go on tour with him and he’d buy $5k on records, then I’ll be like ‘I gotta buy something.’ So I’ll end up go spend a G on some records. I’ll be out in London with Spin Doctor and he’ll be like ‘Yeah, Primo and Alchemist were here last week going crazy.” Ultimately, it comes from everywhere.
What’s it like having the producers who you look up to – DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Kid Capri – and now having them be your peers in this hip-hop game?
Statik: It still bugs me out sometimes. I’m the one that told Primo that Guru died. I called him at like 7 in the morning saying “that shit ain’t true right?” and he’s like “what do you mean?” Yo, you don’t understand – my whole career is based off Gangstarr. Even Term, our whole concept as a group…and plus I toured with Guru. He was standing right next to me when I blew the candles on my 19th birthday party. It’s so crazy.
This mix paints a picture of what Digital Monk Soundsystem is about better than anything else so far. One hour, all-DMSS fam & about 75% exclusive, mixed by Gasoline Monk. Previewing unheard tracks from upcoming DMSS albums like Powerplant‘s Magnificent Wind, Sylle Struck‘s Boston Diaries, Gas Monk’s Jungle Gyms On Jupiter and Stick ‘Em Up‘s debut EP. Some things to listen for:
“Tilt Your Glass” – the debut track from Powerplant’s upcoming album Magnificent Wind…
“The Stars Are Here” – Sylle Struck just spent two weeks in Boston recording an album for DMSS, and though his beats are scattered all over the hour, listen for his collab with Snotti, which is the first glimpse into what he did there…
Jdubeats is heavy in the mix, don’t sleep. He taught Gas Monk how to make beats…
“Jungle Gyms On Jupiter” & “Spring Fever” demonstrate the direction Gasoline Monk’s taking on his upcoming full-length…
“Magic Hour”, which Monk produced for Stick ‘Em Up, and Ibsen’s remix of “2 The Nocturnal”. Stick ‘Em Up is one of the most powerful voices in Beantown at least…
& to end the mix, two tracks off Shatter Hands’ newest release, Land Fly (which was put out by Urban Waves) – a close friend of the crew and one of the most talented futuristic artists on the planet.
Sylle Struck‘s been the man of the hour these last couple weeks… doing festival shows in Brooklyn with MØ, recording in Boston with Stick ‘Em Up, Gasoline Monk, Snotti, K. Smith & Backdraft, and even while overseas, releasing a compilation of all Danish music, Spil Dansk. This one’s got some familiar faces with dudes like Shatter Hands and Spejderrobot, but any kid in Boston or beyond oughta listen to hear just how fresh this country does things. Special tip of the hat to Roger Beattaker!
You’ll be hearing a lot more of Sylle’s time in Boston & Brooklyn as the next few weeks unravel… Two Beers is even working on a documentary about it. There’s some teasers from the album he’s working on (to be released on Digital Monk Soundsystem) in the upcoming Brooklyn Radio mix from Gasoline Monk, too.
Digital Monk Soundsystem 