Mixtape Mondays: Chrome Canyon, Spin Doctor, DJ Scrap Dirty
With the fall season officially under way, let's kick off the month of October with some seasonally appropriate sounds. Chrome Canyon's Soundtracks will get you in the mood for Halloween with its, at times, menacing feel. Prince Paul's Negroes On Ice project drops this month, and Spin Doctor's Brakes Is High mix spends quite a bit of time paying tribute to Paul's work with De La Soul. Closing the week out is DJ Scrap Dirty's Soulful House mixtape, and I find that genre to be particularly good for any time of year - except winter.
Chrome Canyon - Soundtracks:
Chrome Canyon's bio page on Stones Throw's website describes him as the creator of synth "epics." I can neither confirm nor deny that description since I haven't heard any of his music, but judging from his contribution to the Stones Throw Podcast canon, it's probably not too far off. Some of the best synthesizer-based music ever created came from films of the 70's and 80's, when the technology was still in its infancy and the rules were being written. Canyon takes some of his personal favorite synth tracks from Wendy Carlos, Tangerine Dream, John Carpenter, Giorgio Moroder, Tomita featured in films like Cat People, Risky Business, Midnight Express, and Escape From New York for this retro-futuristic mix
TRACKLIST:
1. Battle Against Clown - Geinoh Yamashirogumi - Akira
2. Theme from A Clockwork Orange (Beethoviana) - Wendy Carlos - A Clockwork Orange
3. Suspiria - Goblin - Suspiria
4. Precinct 9, Division 13 - John Carpenter - Assault on Precinct 13
5. No Future (Get Off the Babysitter) - Tangerine Dream - Risky Business
6. The Chase - Giorgio Moroder - Midnight Express
7. Every Big City - Wang Chung - To Live & Die in LA
8. Assault on Precinct 13 - John Carpenter - Assault on Precinct 13
9. Beach Theme - Tangerine Dream - Thief
10. Time Steps - Wendy Carlos - A Clockwork Orange
11. We Belong Together - Robert & Johnny - Christine
12. Moochie Mix Four - John Carpenter - Christine
13. Waiting Death - Goblin - Tenebre
14. To The Bridge - Giorgio Moroder - Cat People
15. Highway Patrol - Tangerine Dream - Flashpoint
16. I Want to Marry a Lighthouse Keeper - Erika Eigen - A Clockwork Orange
17. Polocaust - Mr Oizo & Gaspard Augé - Rubber
18. Main Title - Escape from New York - John Carpenter
19. Omen of the End - Isao Tomita - Catastrophe 1999
>>>DOWNLOAD(right click, save-as)
Spin Doctor - Brakes Is High:
When I was a kid, I often used to take my favorite toys apart just to see how they worked and were made. As I got older, I began applying a similar approach to music - reading books about the studio habits of The Beatles, and spending hours in midwestern flea markets and thrift stores hunting down records sampled by my favorite acts. So it comes as no surprise that mixes like Solid Steel Radio's recent deconstruction of the Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique or Spin Doctor's Brakes Is High, a tribute to the first four albums by De La Soul, are among my favorites to listen to.
In addition to tracks from 3 Feet High & Rising, De La Soul Is Dead, Buhloone Mindstate, and Stakes Is High, Spin Doctor cleverly weaves the Hall & Oates, Ahmad Jamal, P-Funk, Bob Marley, Frankie Valli and Johnny Cash records that were used to create some of the best hip-hop songs ever. Brakes Is High is as much a tribute to De La Soul (and Prince Paul) as it is to the ability of hip-hop to draw from so many different wells of inspiration.
Tracklist:
1. Intro
2. Johnny Cash - Five Feet High & Rising
3. Bob Dorough - The Magic Number
4. De La Soul - The Magic Number
5. The Mad Lads - Make This Young Lady Mine
6. De La Soul - Eye Know
7. The Turtles - I'm Chief Kamanawanalea
8. Sly Stone - Crossword Puzzle
9. De La Soul - Say No Go
10. Hall & Oates - I Can't Go For That
11. De La Soul - Ghetto Thang
12. The Blackbyrds - Rock Creek Park
13. Bo Diddley - Hit Or Miss
14. De La Soul - Buddy
15. The Commodores - Girl I Think The World About You
16. Taana Gardner - Heartbeat
17. De La Soul - Buddy (Remix)
18. Five Stairsteps - Ooh Child
19. Eric Burdon & War - Magic Mountain
20. De La Soul - Potholes In My Lawn
21. Parliament - Little Old Country Boy
22. Funkadelic - (Knot Just) Knee Deep
23. De La Soul - Me Myself & I
24. Intro
25. Edna Wright - Here I Go Again
26. De La Soul - Pass The Plugs
27. The JB's - Pass The Peas
28. The Whatnauts - Help Is On The Way
29. De La Soul - Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)
30. Fat Larry's Band - Act Like You Know
31. Bob James - Sign Of The Times
32. De La Soul - Keepin The Faith
33. Slave - Just A Touch Of Love
34. Bob Marley - Could You Be Loved
35. Tower Of Power - Ebony Jam
36. Instant Funk - I Got My Mind Made Up
37. De La Soul - (A Rollerskating Jam Called) Saturdays
38. Frankie Valli - Grease
39. Mighty Ryders - Evil Vibrations
40. Intro
41. The Outlaw Blues Band - Deep Gully
42. Al Hirt - Harlem Hendoo
43. De La Soul - Ego Trippin'
44. De La Soul - Ego Trippin' (Live)
45. Smokey Robinson - Quiet Storm
46. De La Soul - Breakadawn
47. De La Soul - Area
48. Jeff Beck - Come Dancing
49. De La Soul - Stone Age
50. Melvin Bliss - Synthetic Substitution
51. Milt Jackson - Enchanted Lady
52. De La Soul - Dinninit
53. Chico Hamilton - A Rose For Booker
54. De La Soul - 4 More
55. Sharon Redd - Never Gonna Give You Up
56. Ahmad Jamal - Swahililand
57. James Brown - Mind Power
58. De La Soul - Stakes Is High (Remix)
59. De La Soul - Stakes Is High
60. The Commodores - High On Sunshine
61. De La Soul - Sunshine
62. De La Soul - Sunshine (Live)
DJ Scrap Dirty - Dirty Soul #27: Soulful House:
Though I began my journey as a DJ spinning nothing but house music, I've lost touch with the genre over the last 5 or so years, so it hurts that DJ Scrap Dirty didn't leave a track list with the 27th entry into his Dirty Soul mixtape series. The appropriately titled Soulful House mix is just that - full of house music with soul. With lots of Fender Rhodes chords, jazzy guitar licks, and driving percussion, it's clear that the subgenre hasn't changed much since I last spent an entire night (and half a morning) at Club Shelter. I may not know who's behind most of these songs but it all still sounds good and easily accomplishes the goal of making you wanna dance, if only just a lazy two-step.