Sample Set #188: Southside Soul

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Samples of the Year 2022

(Non-Rap) Albums of the Year 2021

I haven't put out a list like this since 2013, but it was a great year for music releases, and I felt there were just too many great albums I wanted to share. So here's a list of my top 75 non-rap albums of 2021. It's a diverse selection, hopefully with something for everyone. (Beat makers will no doubt find some sounds of value here, too.) There's a playlist down below with one highlight track/selection per album. Enjoy... and turn it up!

Alice Coltrane - Kirtan: Turiya Sings
Amaro Freitas - Sankofa
Archie Shepp & Jason Moran - Let My People Go
Arooj Aftab - Vulture Prince
BADBADNOTGOOD - Talk Memory
Bill Callahan & Bonnie Prince Billy - Blind Date Party
Bitchin Bajas - Switched on Ra
Bob Dylan - Springtime in New York: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 16
Brigid Mae Power - Burning Your Light
Calvin Keys - Shawn-Neeq (Remastered)
Carlos Niño & Friends - More Energy Fields, Current
Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt - Made Out of Sound
Colleen - The Tunnel and the Clearing
Cool Ghouls - At George's Zoo
David Sanford Big Band - A Prayer for Lester Bowie
Dinosaur Jr. - Sweep It Into Space
Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg
Ducks Ltd. - Modern Fiction
Endless Boogie - Admonitions
Failure - Wild Type Droid
Female Species - Tale of My Lost Love
Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & the London Symphony Orchestra - Promises
Gloria Ann Taylor - Be Worthy
Goon Sax, The - Mirror II
Halsey - If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power



Hand Habits - Fun House
Heather Valley - Wildflower Radio
Helado Negro - Far In
Howlin Rain - The Dharma Wheel
Jazmine Sullivan - Heaux Tales
Joe Lovano & Dave Douglas Sound Prints - Other Worlds
John Andrews & The Yawns - Cookbook
John Dwyer - Witch Egg
Julian Lage - Squint
KAYTRANADA - Intimidated
Keith Hudson - Flesh of My Skin Blood of My Blood
KHAN JAMAL - Infinity
Kiwi jr. - Cooler Returns
Lee Morgan - The Complete Live at the Lighthouse
Leo Nocentelli - Another Side
Low - HEY WHAT
Lucy Dacus - Home Video
Madlib - Sound Ancestors
Marisa Anderson & William Tyler - Lost Futures
Matt Sweeney & Bonnie Prince Billy - Superwolves
Mdou Moctar - Afrique Victime
Meatbodies - 333
Mogwai - As the Love Continues
Mountain Goats, The - Dark in Here
Mouth Painter - Tropicale Moon



Nathan Salsburg - Psalms
Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Barn
New Bums - Last Time I Saw Grace
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - CARNAGE
Nina Simone - The Montreux Years (Live)
Pachyman - The Return of…
Papir - Jams
Rosali - No Medium
Roy Brooks - Understanding (Live)
Roy Hargrove & Mulgrew Miller - In Harmony (Live)
serpentwithfeet - DEACON
Silk Sonic - An Evening with Silk Sonic
Sons of Kemet - Black to the Future
SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE - ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH
St. Vincent - Daddy's Home
Sun Ra - Lanquidity (Definitive Edition)
Sunburned Hand of the Man - Pick a Day to Die
Telescopes, The - Songs of Love and Revolution
Tonstartssbandht - Petunia
Ty Segall - Harmonizer
Various Artists - Kimbrough
Weather Station, The - Ignorance
William Parker - Painters Winter
Wolf Alice - Blue Weekend
Writhing Squares - Chart for the Solution



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Samples of the Year 2020

Snoop Dogg - "Nipsey Blue" | Sample & Example

Happy (early) birthday, Nip

Fathers of Rap, Volume Six: Bill Withers

Samples of the Year 2014

Sample Set #12: Black on Both Sides

Today is the 15-year anniversary of the release of the mighty Mos Def's debut LP, Black on Both Sides. I've wanted to revisit this sample set for a while now; I figured this was the best opportunity to do just that! This set (#12) was originally compiled back in January of 2008, when Hip Hop Is Read was still just a months-old experiment. Little did I know the one and only Combat Jack would visit the site, download/listen to the set, and give me a shoutout in 2010 on his fledgling radio program - which has now grown into a true cultural phenomenon. Much respect to Combat Jack, who's been down since day one. I've added his shoutout as the intro for this revamped Back on Both Sides sample set - even though he hilariously butchers my last name (LOL), but it's all good! Dallas Penn makes a special (and offensive) appearance, too. But now let's get into the music...

Black on Both Sides interior artwork

The original set contained 24 songs. This one's got 38. Many of the new additions are classic hip hop tracks (Beastie Boys, Eric B. & Rakim, MC Shan, etc.) which were scratched onto songs like "Hip Hop" and "Mathematics". We've also got a couple new and essential reggae tracks (Gregory Isaac's "If I Don't Have You" and Burning Spear's "Marcus Garvey") that are great additions and help to demonstrate the Afrocentric collage of Mos Def's debut. In order to update this set, I revisited Black on Both Sides (after admittedly leaving it in the dust for a few years). It was a rewarding experience. I'm not the best at judging how well albums age as I don't really know how you measure something like that. Black on Both Sides was released, after all, during an age when the "conscious" label wasn't nearly as contemptible as it's been for the past decade or so. But for my money, this album still holds up quite well - arguably better than the Black Star effort by Mos and fellow Brooklyn emcee Talib Kweli. Do yourself a favor and revisit Black on Both Sides on its 15th birthday. Turn it up!!

J Dilla & Motown Unplugged

 

Lovely D-centric mix:

Last year while i was listening to some Motown stuff, i started hearing J Dilla rhymes in my head over the tunes that were playing. Being that Dilla was not only one of the greatest producers ever, but in my opinion one of the greatest MCs as well, i wondered what it would have sounded like to have him rhyming backed by the original Motown band and artists.
As i was putting together this tribute to the Detroit music I love, everything fell into place with the song titles and rhythms making perfect sense...

So here is my version of of J Dilla "Unplugged" backed by the OG Motown band.

Enjoy..

Yasiin Gaye - The Departure (Side One)

Amerigo Gazaway’s new *Soul Mates* series continues the theme of his previous work in creating collaborations that never were. On the series’ first installment, the producer unites Brooklyn rapper Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) and soul legend Marvin Gaye for a dream collaboration aptly titled “Yasiin Gaye”. Building the album’s foundation from deconstructed samples of Gaye’s Motown classics, Gazaway re-orchestrates the instrumentation into new productions within a similar framework. Carefully weaving Bey’s dense raps and Gaye’s soulful vocals over his new arrangements, the producer delivers a quality far closer to Gaye’s famous duets than that of a “mashup” album.

Samples of the Year 2013

The Top 40 Non-Hip Hop Albums of 2013

As per usual with my "top __ non-hip hop albums of 20__" lists, I don't rank these in order. I think it's absurd to measure albums of various genres with a singular scope. Also, I'm kinda lazy. However, I did have time to put together a compilation of loosies: selecting one standout track from each of the following albums. You can find that at the very bottom of the post. (No download link, 'cause what's the point? It's just for review purposes.) Just like last year, this list is thoroughly specific to my own particular preferences. (I'm kinda into garage/psychedelic rock more so than, say, Daft Punk.) Nonetheless I'm confident in this list's authoritativeness. I'm sure my list will shed light on plenty of cool stuff you missed out on in 2013. And if you've got any suggestions for albums I should check out, feel free to hit the comments section. Peace.

Merry Christmas, Gentiles!

Sample Set #181: SlaughtaHouse

 

This one's for the brainiac dumb-dumbs! About a year ago, I tried this thing on the site called Samplify. I thought it'd take off, but as soon as I realized that Spotify had some severe limitations, I cancelled that b***h. Source Magazine-scanner-extraordinaire Vincent said this one was "too good to leave on Spotify." He was right. So here we are. SlaughtaHouse is an incredible album. (Pssst... Delicious Vinyl re-issued SlaughtaHouse last year with a bunch of bonus tracks. Grab that here!) Masta Ace & Co. flipped the gangsta rap sub-genre so brilliantly on this record. So of course, the James Brown, Parliament, Funkadelic, Ohio Players, and Zapp joints you'd expect are on here. But this set's also got some cool stuff you probably won't hear on any other sample set. A few highlights:

1) I'm a big film noir fan, so hearing a track off of Jerry Goldsmith's score from the 1974 film Chinatown sampled on this album - and being the first (FIRST!) on the InternetS to identify it - was thrilling to me. Spotting that sample was dope, but listening to that entire OST (or watching the film, for that matter)... Believe me, it's worth it. Grab it on wax if you can! 2) Earth, Wind & Fire's "Handwriting on the Wall". I don't fully understand the story behind this track. Apparently you can find it on some vinyl pressings of EWF's first album. Notice how I said "some." My copy doesn't have it. Weird. It's a damn shame that some people haven't heard this track because it's incredible. It sounds more like a Funkadelic song, if anything. Bottom line: Incredible. It's track #23 on this sample set. 3) Miles Davis' "Jeru". Miles' Birth of the Cool album is, simply, cool. Sooo cool. And to hear it on Masta Ace Incorporated's "The Mad Wunz", which is kinda/sort-of a gully reinterpretation of Tribe's "Jazz (We've Got)" makes it all the more cooler.

I could keep going, but why bother? Click the cover above(!) to be redirected to that magical website with downloadable sample sets galore, or, as I've been doing lately, check the Audiomack streamable player below. Enjoy, and as always... Turn it up!!

DJ O-Dub's Shades of Soul 1.3: The Soul-Jazz Episode

Shades of Soul 1.3: The Soul-Jazz Episode by Oliver Wang on Mixcloud

Get On Down with Sly & the Family Stone

Get On Down Records, known for their great reissues, have taken it upon themselves to (re-)release Sly & the Family Stone's greatest album, There's a Riot Goin' On:

This 24k audiophile gold disc reissue of Sly & The Family Stone's classic There's A Riot Goin' On is packaged in a deluxe box emblazoned with a unique embroidered flag cover and includes a 48 page hard cover book filled with photos and liner notes.

Visit GetOnDown.com for pictures, details on the release, and pre-order information.

Otis Redding & Big Boi - "Shutterbugg"

A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory (Samples Mix)

A Tribe Called Quest - People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm (Samples Mix)