Last February, when we posted a bunch of Zulu’s a-capellas here and challenged folks to “download - remix - upload” we had no idea we’d get back so many dope tracks, but we did and many of them are featured in this 31-track, 1-hour continuous DJ C mix of Zulu’s vocals backed by hype party tracks from producers the world over. Guest vocal appearances by Aceyalone, Jah Orah, and Onili, round out the productions by artists like Ghislain Poirier, David Last, Sabbo, and many others.
I made this for last month’s Samurai.fm mix and now I’d like to share it with y’all here. Check the tracklist below for lots-a juicy links to more info about the artists, tracks, and labels.
Also note the tracks Dear John and Exhibition Virtues (Hardcore Tonight Remix) which is featured on the DJ C & Zulu album, Gods & Robots.
The dynamic duo of DJ C and MC Zulu hook up again for another rugged bashment squeeze on ‘Darling’. The title cut tracks a similar route to their killer ‘body work’ riddim, rolling on the same mid paced bashment tempo but this time adding a rude grinding electro riff and industrial cowbell to rough it up some more in vocal and instrumental versions. Ghislain Poirier steps in on remix duties, adding a much needed slab of bottom end pressure and tweaking the rhythm with subtle phasing and flanging for a future bashment effect. Rugged rudeboy bizzle - KILLER twelve.
Next Tuesday, April 29, 2008, get ready for the Gods & Robots Mixtape; a 31-track, 1-hour continuos DJ C mix of Zulu’s vocals backed by hype party tracks from producers the world over (Argentina, Belgium, Canada, England, Israel, Portugal, and cities across the U.S. are all represented). Guest vocal appearances by Los Angeles rappers Aceyalone and Jah Orah, plus Tel Aviv singer Onili, round out the productions by artists like Montreal’s Ghislain Poirier, Brooklyn’s David Last, Tel Aviv’s Sabbo, and many others.
Then: DJ C & Zulu Gods & Robots Album
The mixtape will be followed by the DJ C & Zulu Gods & Robots album featuring a number of their vinyl singles, which have continually sold out of the shops and have been getting heavy rotation from party DJs the world over. Add to that four brand new, previously unreleased tracks plus remixes by Ghislain Poirier and Chrissy Murderbot, and you’ve got Gods & Robots. It’ll be released in the Mashit shop on May 13, ‘08 and soon after that will be available at iTunes, eMusic, Napster, Rhapsody and all the other usual suspects.
DJ Donna Summer (AKA Jason Forrest) asked me and a bunch of other crazies to remix his track Rock Rock Rock — the first single on his new Cock Rock Disco release Panther Tracks. The outcome is a 14-track, completely free download album of remixes by folks like Glowstyx, Aaron Spectre, Black Rabbit, and many more. It’s a wild variation of rave-o-licious treats. You can download the whole shebang for free at the CRD site ->
But first, a few individual tracks to wet your whistle:
MP3 Downloads DJ Donna Summer; Rock Rock Rock Remixes:
This post is inspired by a step-steeped day I had recently. While I was getting ready to head out for a night of dubSTEP with Caspa at Bass Goes Boom I was listening to the radio and learned that there’s a dance style called Chicago STEPping.
Chicago stepping is a name given to a dance that has evolved over the years from various other dances. Originally created in Chicago’s predominately African American neighborhoods, the dance has morphed from its beginnings with the Jitterbug in the 30s and 40s, to the Offtime in the 50s, to the Walk and the Chicago Bop in the 60s and 70s.
This revelation came on top of the fact that there’s a style of reggae called STEPpers which has been around at least since the ’70s.
In Steppers, the bass drum plays four solid beats to the bar, giving the beat an insistent drive. An example is “Exodus” by Bob Marley and the Wailers. Another common name for the Steppers beat is the “four on the floor”.
As far as I know there are no ties between Chicago stepping and steppers reggae, except that disco had a large influence on both.
Steppers reggae, especially ‘80/’90s U.K. steppers dub by artists like Iration Steppers, the Deciples, Alpha & Omega, etc., has a much closer connection to dubstep. This track by Alpha & Omega has a classic steppers sound:
This dubstep track by Skream has the steppers-reggae feel too:
Iration Steppers Live Video:
When I played at the Glade Festival in England last summer I noticed some of the sound-systems mixing up dubstep and more traditional steppers reggae. In fact, this mix by Skream from September, ‘06 is a good example:
One of the aspects of dubstep that holds my attention is that there are so many influences at work on the various tentacles of the genre. Sometimes you can hear the strong U.K.-garage influence, other times drum-n-bass, and quite often reggae, dub, soca, dancehall, and steppers.
This was a #5 hit, and a #1 dance hit in the U.S. in 1993. Is it just me, or is she a little flat on some of those notes? That’s a whole other topic. The point here is that there was another top 10 hit in the U.S. 4 years later, also called Show Me Love and also by someone called Robyn (different spelling but…). This one was #7 on the U.S. charts in 1997:
Can anyone fill me in on how this happened? Did the Swedish pop singer Robyn know that the Queens, NY-based house diva of virtually the same name had a hit by the exact same name only 4 years earlier?
Moving on: According to an article in Wired magazine comparing Robyn and Britney:
Imagine, if you will, a parallel universe where a pretty blonde pop star can actually carry a tune, writes her own songs, and frets over artistic integrity. In this universe, when her record company demands more hits, she tells them to shove it and starts her own label. There’s no making out with Madonna, no messy divorce, no custody battle, no 5150. Instead there’s bankable talent and a credible, long-arc career. In other words, it’s the anti-Britney Spears. Meet Robyn, the 28-year-old Swedish singer whose latest U.S. release drops in April. In the mid-’90s, both were courted by the same big label to be molded into the Next Big Thing: Robyn said no. Britney said yes. It was the first choice of many… that would lead one to hipster stardom and the other to madness.
Fast forward to 2007:
Robyn; Konichiwa Bitches
Hmm! Notice in the beginning when she’s trying to tell the monkey what beat he should play, she goes “uh uh … ih … uh uh … ih”? Kinda reminds me of this one from ‘03:
M.I.A.; Galang
That’s really just a reggaeton riddim innit? Perhaps the one Robyn was beatboxing in her video is more of a classic dancehall beat but Konichiwa Bitches reminds me of M.I.A.’s work in general.
The Galang video in turn reminds me of another classic (#3 on the U.S. charts in 1988):
Neneh Cherry; Buffalo Stance
Since M.I.A. hit the scene it seems to me that more than a few “blond pop stars” have become rappers:
Gwen Stefani; Hollaback Girl
And:
Fergie; London Bridge
And yup, even Britney herself is a rapper now. What’s more interesting about the tune in the video below though, is the “wub” bassline so popular in underground genres such as dubstep these days:
Britney Spears; Freakshow
Yeah, I would say that track is pretty hot. Not sayin’ Britney’s hot, just the track. It’s produced by Bloodshy & Avant who also produced Britney’s bollywood-inspired hit single, Toxic a few years ago:
Britney Spears: Toxic
I can’t end this piece without mentioning that the Queen of Pop herself, Madonna, has now entered the fold. She’s not exactly rapping but the producer of this track, Timbaland kind of is:
Madonna; 4 Minutes
Both the track and the video kind of blow (what is this, a move soundtrack or something?!). I realize it’s excruciating to watch, but the best part’s actually at the very end when Timbaland’s beats get stripped down to their classic rawness (Oh Timba, what happened! heyy!)
Lets end this on a positive note, going back to the old-school, or at least the golden-age, before M.I.A., before Robin S., even before Neneh Cherry, to a time when rappers rarely had blond hair unless it was bleached — 1986:
Last month I DJed the Sublow Bounce party in Milwaukee. It was a blast and the kind folks who put it together also recorded my set. I’m not sure weather I should be happy about that or not ’cause it features drunken mixing and Serato glitching when folks were jumping up and down on the wood floors of the barn-like club. The fact that folks were jumping though suggests that in their drunken state they thought the mix was good. The moral of the story is get drunk and listen to this mix.
Chapel Hill, NC-based Apple Juce Kid sent me his remix of Van Halen’s 1984 classic Jump a while back. He said I should feel free to re-remix it if I felt so inclined so I did. Well, actually I didn’t do much to it but lay the Supremes You Keep Me Hangin’ On acapella on top. Here’s what it sounds like:
The Apple Juce Kid isn’t your run-of-the-mill, Myspace-havin’, bedroom mashup DJ. He’s an accomplished drummer and producer who’s been winning beat battles from coast to coast:
Apple Juce Kid at a beat battle in NYC
He and Suede from Camp Lo also have a group called Freebass 808 who’ve been pumpin’ some heat too:
Freebass 808 live
I highly recommend his version of Clocks by Coldplay which completely kicks ass on the original. It’s available as a free download at HisSpace ->
Friday I’ll be in Boston to play at Bouncement 3 with my home-slices Ripley (out from Oakland, CA) and DJ Flack (my bredren in Beat Research). Then Saturday it’s up to Montreal to rock it with Khiasma, Masala, and Jay Watts at the second anniversary of their global-ghetto-tech party, Baile MTL.
Bouncement 3
@ Milky Way Lounge & Lanes
403 - 405 Centre St., Jamaica Plain, MA
Friday, April 11, 2008
$5 b4 11:00, $7 after, 21 +, 10pm to 2am
Baile MTL 2nd Anniversary
April, 12, 2008
@ Zoobizarre
6388 St-Hubert
Montreal, Quebec,
10pm till late, $5
DJ Flack is back with two hot new bounce-step numbers to blow your speaker-holes.
Amazing!
- Rob Da Bank,
BBC Radio 1
Rock to the Rhythm with its infectious beat, wubby bass, muted guitar riffs, and theremin-esque melodies is a rockin’ rhythm indeed. Meanwhile, on the “B side”, the sweeping bassline of Rub-A-Dub Bounce rides a B-More inspired “Think Break” infused with dubby electric piano stabs.
Both tracks feature Flack’s distinctively playful sense of rhythm and melody, and both stand at the ready to help you rock your next party.
Last February, when we posted a bunch of Zulu’s a-capellas here and challenged folks to “download - remix - upload” we had no idea we’d get back so many dope tracks, but we did and many of them are featured in this 31-track, 1-hour continuous DJ C mix of Zulu’s vocals backed by hype party tracks from producers the world over. Guest vocal appearances by Aceyalone, Jah Orah, and Onili, round out the productions by artists like Ghislain Poirier, David Last, Sabbo, and many others.
to more info about the artists, tracks, and labels.
This post is inspired by a step-steeped day I had recently. While I was getting ready to head out for a night of dubSTEP with 
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