Weekly Rip (12/22/09)

This week's song is by Brazilian jazz-fusion singer Flora Purim, is the title track from her album "Stories To Tell (Milestone, M-9058)" released in 1974.

The players on this album read like an all-star line-up: George Duke, Earl Klugh, Airto, King Errisson, Carlos Santana, and Ron Carter are a few of the names.

Very solid record from front to back.

The title track is funky to say the least. It starts out with a solo bass groove, then the drums kick in and really carry the track. Flora's vocals float over the track, nicely complementing the groove. Definitely a more funk oriented fusion track, but not in a corny way. Beat-heads would love the richness of sample sources throughout the track.

The players on "Stories to Tell" (the song) are as follows:

Flora Purim - Vocals
George Duke - Keyboards, ARP Synthesizer
Earl Klugh - Guitar
Airto - Drums, Percussion
King Errisson - Congas
Miroslav Vitous - Bass, Moog Synthesizer solo

Flora Purim - Stories to Tell (MP3)

Weekly Rip - 12/13/09

So I thought it would be a good idea to start sharing joints from my collection. This is the first edition.

I found this 45 at one of my local digging spots, along with a bunch of other great joints, but this is definitely one of the best. From the label Karen, which was distributed by ATCO. They formed in 1962 and disbanded by the end of the decade. From what I can (and can't) find about this 7inch on the net is that it's a hard to find joint. So yeah, here you go......And you know the jingle from the Cool Whip whipped cream commercials? It's taken from their song "Cool Jerk", obviously "whip" replaces "jerk" in the commercials.

The track has a nice groove to it, nice guitar & bass work in a 60's soul style.

The Capitols - Soul Brother, Soul Sister (Karen, 45-1543)

Upcoming Projects

My computer that I hold all my project files on won't turn on. But when I get the extra dough, I'm gonna get the files off the harddrive and transferred on to some cd's. I do got one or the album in the MPC right now though, a sweet, sophisticatitedly funky, soul joint, ripe for the right voice to sing over.

In the meantime, I think I'm gonna try and put together a short hip hop compilation joint, like a maxi 12inch type joint, but digitally. 2 minute songs tops. It's all in my head right now. Songs on side A, and the instrumentals on side B alongside a remix or two. Trust me on this.

And I got two tracks on the upcoming release from Lancaster, PA's JustNice in collab with Portland, Oregon's Choze. Its called "Respect Earned" and is dropping on Christmas Day. The two have been working together for a few years, so the chemistry is there despite the 3000+ miles in between them. JustNice sent me a few tracks off the record and I must say, the shit is ill. I'm a very picky hip hop dude, but these joints I heard were dope. I'll keep yall posted when it drops.

http://www.myspace.com/justnicemsc <---JustNice

http://www.myspace.com/chozeakajohnnymartian <---Choze

Peace.

Afrika Baby Bam - Beyond This World (Bruce Geetz Afro Funk Remix)

What's good yall? It's been a while, but I got some new music to share.

This is a remix I've been sitting on for the past 6 months or so.

I forget how I came across the 12inch for the Jungle Brothers "Beyond This World", but I was immediately drawn to the bassapella version of the title song. It only features Afrika Baby Bam's verse, but that was enough for me to fire up the MPC and see what I could do. I had been on a big Afro-funk kick around the time I was working on this track (which was originally going to be a joint on my EP) and the fast tempo of the JB's track was perfect for a West African inspired back drop to be crafted behind it. I grabbed some drums off of probably 5 or more records, layered and sequenced them, threw some extra percussion & congas behind them for that Afro feel, then it was off it find a sample. First I tried a loop I got off a Hugh Masekela album, but I felt I needed to add my own touch to the track, so I dismantled the track, re-arranged the drums, and ran through some more records.

I finally found the main guitar sample off a Fred Wesley/James Brown 45 I had picked up in Philly not too long before I started the remix. It's a pretty known guitar line, so I chopped it up and re-arranged it for a completely different feel, which added a nice bounce to the track. For the bassline I grabbed a Lonnie Liston Smith record, chopped up some open bass (which I have used on a bunch of tracks since), again re-arranged it, and gave the track a much needed bottom end to solidify the funk.

The acapella on the 12inch was only 38 seconds, or something around there, so I had to add a little intro to it, so it could at least hit the 1 minute mark. And there you have it. I played it for a few friends who all though it was dope, then it sat the past few months inside of a folder in my computer until I grabbed this cheap audio interface so I could finally record tracks outta my MPC 1000.

Hope you enjoy!

Afrika Baby Bam - Beyond This World (Bruce Geetz Afro-Funk Remix)

If that link doesn't work use this:
http://www.zshare.net/audio/67391256789c1b84/

PS: Stay Tuned for some more music from me, along with some vinyl rips of some rare joints that I own.

Ch-Check It Out

(Still Fresh) 2008 Remixes

These are two remixes I did back sometime in mid-2008. I got one more classic joint that I was working on a remix for around the same time that I did these two, but I couldn't find a sample! It's still a bare-bones drum & vocal track until I go back to it at some point.

The first is Ladybug Mecca's (of Digable Planets) verse on the classic "9th Wonder" off of the equally classic Blowout Comb album. I didn't remix the whole song because I couldn't fit the entire acapella from the 12" on my MPC 1000's (no RAM upgrades over here!). So I just sampled in her verse at 45 rpm's and just pitched it down to the original tempo. I found a nice sample from a brazilian record, chopped it up some, threw a classic break underneath, spiced it up with some 808 sounds arranged in a way inspired by Latin percussion, and added some horns and guitar at the end sampled from two other LP's.

The second is two verses from Rakim's "The Saga Begins". Pete Rock laced the original no doubt, but hey, 12's have acapella's on them for a reason. Can't really remember the back story for this one. I might've sampled an unsung Stax artist for this one but I can't remember. Threw a little vocal sample on for the hook and that was that. And oh, I actually tracked this joint out to my computer in the most low budget fashion. I hooked up the headphone out from the mpc, to the record in on my computer and first recorded in the vocals, then I recorded in the sample w/o drums, then I recorded the drums (I was using cool edit pro). It was a pain but it got the job done.

Ladybug Mecca - 9th Wonder (Bruce Geetz Remix)

Rakim - The Saga Begins (Bruce Geetz Remix)

Both of these were recorded straight off the mpc, so they are both lo-fi affairs, but they are most definitely headphone worthy. The Mecca one has a little low rumbling at the end of every 4th bar I believe (dirty records can bite you in the ass) but hey, it might just be that I nitpick with basically anything I do.

Hope you enjoy!

Don't Call It A Comback!......Forgot I had a blog!

It has been a while since I've made a post on this blog, but I figured I'd come back to it and start to work on it again.

To get yall up to speed, I'm working on a solo project right now. I have a few joints done, but its a constant work in progress. I've made some big strides as of late as far as realizing where I want to go with it. It'll be funky though, that's all I can promise.

Hopefully I'll have some new music up soon. In the meanwhile, I'll throw some remixes up in my next post, hopefully later today or tomorrow.