MIX MIX MIX posted by O.W.

I have three new mixes available.

I didn't mean for them all to get timed this way; I actually had the first two done months ago and was waiting for the "right moment" (translation: waiting to get off my lazy a**) but now with the Aretha mix around, it seemed ridiculous to put it off any longer. The Aretha Mix has its own post so I'm going to devote this one to talking about They Call Me Mr. Lonely and Love Me...or Love Me:

After finishing up Soul Sides Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, I began to think what a Vol. 3 might look like. The first two volumes often aimed for breadth but for a theoretical Vol. 3, I wanted to narrow in a bit and think more about mood and feel rather than style diversity.

As it turns out, Vol. 3 wasn't going to happen officially but that didn't stop me from contemplating a mix along the same veins and that's what lay behind both They Call Me Mr. Lonely and Love Me/Leave Me. Both are devoted (mostly) to heartbreak/slow jams, with Mr. Lonely featuring all male vocalists while Love Me/Leave Me is for all my XX Posse.

Here are the tracklists for both:

KEEP READING...

They Call Me Mr. Lonely
1. Labi Siffre: Saved
2. The Starlights: Going Out of My Head
3. Maurice Davis: Mr. Lonely
4. Frank Turner: All For the Kids (sampler)
5. The Impressions: The Girl I Find
6. Joe Acosta: I Need Her
7. Steve Parks: Still Thinking of You
8. Bits N Pieces: Sparkling In the Sand
9. Los Sunglows: I Want To Make It With You
10. Reuben Bell and the Casanovas: It's Not That Easy
11. Soul Majestics: I Done Told You Baby
12. Johnny and the Expressions: Now That You're Mine
13. Stevie Wonder: Hey Love
14. Mayer Hawthorne: I Wish That It Would Rain
15. Michael Jackson: We've Got a Good Thing
16. Michael Jackson: We're Almost There (DJ Spinna Remix)

Love Me, Love Me, Love Me or Leave Me, Leave Me, Leave Me
1. Asha Puthli: Let Me In Your Life
2. Laura Nyro feat. Labelle: The Bells
3. Gloria Scott: Love Me, Love Me, Love Me or Leave Me, Leave Me, Leave Me
4. Lorez Alexandria: I'm Wishin'
5. Jennifer Lara: Our Love
6. Aretha Franklin: One Step Ahead
7. Dee Dee Warwick: It's Not Fair
8. Quinn Harris feat. Lady Bianca: Stop Telling Me Lies
9. Dusty Springfield: Piece of My Heart
10. The Soul Children: The Sweeter He Is
11. Ciel Miner: Stardust (sampler)
12. Nick and Valerie: I'll Find You
13. Sharon Forrester: Don't Let Me Be Lonely
14. Candi Staton: You Don't Love Me
15. Lezli Valentine: I Found Love On a 2-Way Street
16. Honey and the Bees: You Better Go Now
17. Lynn Williams: Don't Be Surprised
18. Lorraine Ellison: Stay With Me
19. The Emotions: As Long As I've Got You

Here are the annotated playlists (i.e. descriptions of each song) for the two mixes. There's three ways to listen to all this:

1) Podcast/free DL

Love Me/Leave Me will appear as a Daptone's podcast later this month and Mr. Lonely is slated to appear as a podcast on the Galactic Fractures site.

DJ Phatrick plans to make the Aretha mix available for a download soon as well.

Cost: Free

2) Digital album

Available through The Corner Store.
Cost: $8.99 per album. (Aretha mix not available as digital album.)

These will be individually tracked and of higher quality (the podcasts are one long, 128 bit track).

Downloadable artwork here.

>3) Compact disc

Mr. Lonely + Love Me are being sold as a pair. Each album is in a slimline case with original artwork. I made 50, individually numbered sets. (I'm unlikely to do a second run on these unless

The Aretha Mix is available for free as an "add-on". I may eventually sell them separately but currently, priority goes to people ordering the Lonely/Love pair.

Cost: Mr. Lonely/Love Me pair = $25
Aretha Mix = free (add-on only)

Shipping (US): free
Shipping (Overseas): $5 flat.

To order: Email me at soulsides AT gmail.com and please include your mailing address and preferred paypal email account.
SOLD OUT!

PAC DIV: LEFT-HAND BALLERS posted by O.W.

Pacific Division: Church League Champions mixtape

What's staying in heavy rotation right now. Ball up.

GET 'EM WHILE YOU CAN! posted by Eric Luecking

Recently, Schoolhouse Funk Volume 1 was reissued through DJ Shadow's website as well as other retailers. The original release came out earlier this decade in a very limited release and sold out rather quickly. The concept initially started when Shadow and Lyrics Born were trying to outduel one another with who had the best high school records. Currently copies of the initial release are going for $80 on eBay, so get the reissue for a much more reasonable $15 or so while they last. The album features a variety of high school bands performing funk and soul songs like “Scorpio,” “Chameleon,” and “Cisco Kid.” A bit quirky but very fun. My wife hates when I listen to it, but screw it... sometimes a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do.

In other LB news, this past Tuesday Lyrics Born released a digital-only mixtape The Lyrics Born Variety Show Season Pho (samples available on his website). No reason to not get this... it's only $5. FIVE DOLLA! He even rocks the auto-tune on “Pop Campaign” as well as puts his own spin on Kanye's "Paranoid" on the "Differences" mash-up. Apparently he didn't get Jay-Z's memo. Catch some new exclusives, get a sneak peak of his upcoming album (due in early 2010), and enjoy a solid mix of the one and only LB!

BRING THAT BARTER BACK! (5TH ANNIV. MIX) posted by O.W.

First of all, Soul Sides is celebrating its 5th anniversary party in Los Angeles at the Shortstop next Thursday (May 14th). I'll be spinning solo, trying to mix in as many "Soul Sides classics" (presuming such a thing exists) as possible. I would love to see my Southland posse roll out in full force.

That night, I'm also debuting the 5th Anniversary Special CD, which will include as many of the 20 "5 Year Rewind" songs as I can fit. Free to anyone who comes up and asks for one (while supplies last, of course). I'll also try to tape the entire 4 hour set and I'll make that available (via an email list) to anyone who rolls through.

For the rest of you not living in LA (or who actually have to work on Friday mornings), I decided to try a little experiment. Rather than sell these, I prefer to barter them - for goods or services. People can offer what they want; it obviously doesn't have to be expensive but ideally, it's something connected to you - your interests, your career, your hobbies, etc. To me, this is just an interesting way to learn more about the people who read the site.

(This said, I'll be completely self-serving right now and say that I''m definitely down to barter one of these to anyone who can help me get some discount tickets to Disneyland. The Great Mouse is sticking me for my papers!)

Mull it over - this could turn out to be a complete failure of an idea but I'm hoping there's folks out there who'd be game to swap something of theirs for something of mine. Drop your barter offer to here.

And hey, just so you don't leave empty-handed right now, here's a cover of Dennis Coffey's "Scorpio" I recently came across, from some random exploitation LP. Overall, it's not better than Coffey's but the percussion breakdown in the middle is pretty massive.

The Sound Effects: Scorpio
From Summer '72 (QMO, 1972)

PLAYING CATCH-UP posted by O.W.

1) The last covers-related mix I'll likely do for a while is now up as a podcast for Truth and Soul Records. Here's the tracklisting:

1. Crowns of Glory: Ain't No Sunshine
2. Joe Bataan: Under the Street Lamp
3. Mark Holder: Mixed-Up Cup
4. Karkey and Woodward: Dirty Old Bossa Nova
5. Nancy Holloway: Hurts So Bad
6. Smith: Baby, It's You
7. Rhetta Hughes: Baby, I Need Your Loving
8. Eduardo Araujuo: Baby, Baby Sim Baby
9. Ray Barretto: Pastime Paradise (edit)
10. Fruta Bomba: Che Che Colé
11. Black Sugar: Valdez In the Country
12. Monty Alexander: Love and Happiness
13. Timothy McNealy: I'm So Glad You're Mine
14. Candi Staton: In the Ghetto
15. David Briggs: Son of a Preacher Man
16. The Professionals: I Can See Clearly Now
17. The Troubadours: My Sweet Lord
18. Roberta Flack: Gone Away
19. Alton Ellis: Ain't No Music

I will not be making this available in the short-term as a separately tracked mix (though I have something in the works). For those without iTunes access, here's a download alternative: http://rapidshare.com/files/168317017/final.mp3.

2) It's a Kanye-palooza! Here's my NPR review of 808s and Heartbreak and I had a few more things to say about it for my Side Dishes column.

DJS O-DUB & MURPHY'S LAW PRESENT: RITMO DEL CAMINO posted by O.W.

First of all, thanks to everyone who came out to the gig on Thursday night; we had a really great time - hope you did too.

Will (Murphy's Law) and I collaborated on our first official Boogaloo[la] mix-CD, Ritmo Del Camino (rhythm of the road). The idea behind the mix was to capture what our gig sounds like. As such, there's a mix of old and new tracks, a range of tempos and genres, but it's all meant to get people a'movin'. I haven't done a party mix in ages and hopefully, Ritmo will inspire me to go back to the lab to knock out another one of my own.

Here's the tracklisting:

Chua Chua Boogaloo--El Gran Combo
Tumbando Coco-- Los Tropicales
Karakatis--Jose Maria
Soupy--Maggie Thrett
If you can want--Smokey Robinson
100 Yard Dash--Raphael Saadiq
You're Losing Me--Ann Sexton
Sayin' It and Doin' It--SugaSwing Session
Bomba--Hermanos Latinos
Belleza Espiritual--Orquesta Zodiac
Lupita--Perez Prado
Cookies--Brother Soul
Disco Function--Rare Function
Anikana-O--Kongas
No Nos Pararan--Charanga 76
Dilo Como Yo--Chico Mann
All I Do-- Stevie Wonder (U-Tern remix)
I'm Your Pimp--The Skull Snaps
One Way Ticket--The Real Thing
Eso Se Baila Asi--Willie Colon
Donde--Bronx River Parkway
Baby--The Phenomenal Handclapping band
Under The Street Lamps--Joe Bataan

Right now, we have copies available for digital purchase; we haven't made a firm decision on how many physical copies we plan to sell but there will be CDs made at some point (beyond the ones that we gave out last Thursday) for those who prefer the physical object. The only caveat is that the final CD will be of the same sound quality as the download (256-rate MP3s).

By the way, if you didn't get a copy last week, come back and holler at me or Will this week or next and we should still have copies.

If you want to download the full-res artwork, go here.

THE SOUL SIDES' "UNDER COVERS" MIX FOR DUBLAB.COM posted by O.W.

I recorded this mix for Dublab.com back in June and is now available on their website archive. I originally created it as a promo mix for Deep Covers 2 (though the timing was off since Dublab was back-logged over the summer). Still, I put in a nice selection of different cover songs here - some you've heard, some you haven't. Here's the tracklisting:

Simply Red - I Know You Got Soul - You’ve Got It - WEA

James Brown: Your Cheatin’ Heart - Soul On Top - King

Jimmy McGriff - Ain’t It Funky Now - SOul Sugar - Groove Merchant

Bo Diddley - Bad Side of the Moon - Another Dimension - Chess

The Gimmicks - California Soul - Em Las Brisas - Swedisc

Klaus Wunderlich - Summertime - Hammond Fur Millionen - Telefunken

The Professionals - Theme From Godfather - On Tour - CES

Dutch Rhythm Steel and Show Band - Down By the River - Soul, Steel and Show - Negram

Byron Lee and the Dragonaires - Express Yourself - Reggay Splashdown! - Dynamic

Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band - Movin’ On Up - Live at the Haunted House - Rhino Handmade

Hielo Ardiente - Mensaje (The Message) - Ritmo Ardiente - Dicesa

Al Escobar - Tighten Up - The Modern SOunds of Al Escobar - Tico

El Freddy Flaco - K-Jee - La Fiesta Vol. 2 - FTA

Manny Bolone and His Latin Boys - Micaela - Boogaloo - Boogaloo

Conjunto Universal - Que Se Sepa - Que Se Sepa - Velvet

Enrique Lynch - Viva Tirado - Sexympacto - Sono Radio

Wganda Kenya - El Abanico - COmo Se Hace Ah - Fuentes

Alton Ellis - What Does It Take To Win Your Love - Sunday Coming - Coxsone

Sparrow’s Troubadours - Soulful Strut - Hot and Sweet - Hilary

Joe Bataan - More Love - Singin’ Some Soul - Fania

Margie Joseph - Let’s Stay Together - S/T - Atlantic

Rhetta Hughes - Light My Fire - Re-Light My Fire - Tetragammon

West Coast Revival - Feelin’ Alright - S/T - LAX

Hodges, James, Smith and Crawford - Nobody - 7″ - Mpingo

El Alamo - Candy - Malos Pensamientos - Decibel

Donovan Carless - Be Thankful FOr What You Got - 7″ - Impact

Nancy Holloway - Never Can Say GOodbye - 7″ - N/A

Mark Holder - Sweet Caroline - Where THere’s a Will, There’s a Way - Deriva

And just because I wanted to be a good egg - I created a downloadable version of the mix, split into individual tracks (but no IDs written; I'm lazy - deal).

Enjoy! Hopefully I'll be rolling back to Dublab to do another mix soon.

ALMA...MUERTA posted by O.W.

So Alma was an unqualified...flop. Clearly, we underthought the importance of outreach for the venue which only makes me respect the success of their Wed and Sat salsa nights even more; they must really have done a bang-up job of getting the word out. I can't be 100% certain about this, but I'm pretty sure our only paid guests of the evening partially comprised of an older sugar daddy and his younger, um, "friend."

Shout out to Bao Tran, the Seattle filmmaker behind Bookie who stopped by with some friends.

The upside to a totally dead evening is that Rani D and I were more...shall we say...creative in our mixes? It actually reminded me of my radio days, when I'd be on late at night, had no idea who was listening, and therefore, felt empowered to just do whatever.

Here's an edited-down, 80 min set from Friday evening. DJ Phatrick says that people prefer individually tracked mixes so I want through and hand-edited that sucker. No tracklisting however mostly because neither I nor Rani wrote down the songs as we were playing. Consider it the price of free-ness (that plus the low audio quality but that's what recording on high-capacity minidisc sounds like).

On that "just do whatever" tip: you might note a subtle yet copious amount of scratching in the set...that'd be by yours truly...especially those scratches not-quite-in-tempo. I'm ashamed to say that despite learning how to DJ in the Bay Area and being Asian, my scratching skills have never really been very strong. I learned how to DJ from mixers not scratchers and never had the patience or time to train intensively to get my crabs or flares in working order.

That said, when there's literally two people in the room (not including yourself), and the sound system is good, why not get in some practice time? To wit:

"The Ill Advised Scratching Bonus Set." Rani D on the mix, O-Dub on the scratch (though I may deny this at a later point).

KING MOST: THE OBAMIX posted by O.W.

"The intent of this mix was to try and capture what WE'VE all been feeling these past months: hope, struggle, and the importance of facing a challenge. It also serves as a reminder, and perhaps an introduction to what OUR candidate is all about. With that being said enjoy, register, & get involved.

History, Change, & Victory In November" -King Most

The Obamix

Intro/Smoked Sugar: I'm A Winner
Roy Davis Jr.: People Get Ready
Jackson 5: We're Almost There (DJ Spinna Remix)
Erykah Badu: Solider (Sasaac Remix)
Masta Ace: Beautifull
Black Spade: We Need A Revolution
Skull Snaps: It's A New Day
Marvin Gaye & The Mizzel Brothers: We Are We Going?
James Brown: Mind Power
Antibals: Si Se Puede
Grandmaster Flash: The Message (Next Message Blend Version)
Dj Day: A Place To Go
Double Exposure: Everyman For Himself
Donald Byrd: Change Makes Ya Wanna Hustle
Stevie Wonder: Blackman (Kay Sputnik Re-Edit)
L.T.D.: Love To The World
Cymande: Bra
Pitbull: American War
The Dynamics: Move On Up

DEEP COVERS 2: MAS PROFUNDO! (NOW ON CD!) posted by O.W.

I'm proud to announce the official CD launch of Deep Covers 2: Mas Profundo. It's already been available as a digital download from the good folks at East Bay Digital* but is now finally available on CD.

CONTINUE READING...


Orders taken now!

Description: Deep Covers 2: Mas Profundo follows up on two previous covers-related projects: Deep Covers and Soul Sides Vol. 2: The Covers. This time though, I take it international, with 20 songs, all recorded overseas. I tried to balance things by region (otherwise, hell, I could have done an entire CD of reggae covers) but still kept the vibe oriented around soul and funk covers. It's really astounding what one can find out there - this merely scratches the surface! Overall, I was pleased with how this mix turned out, both in terms of song selection as well as sequencing. There will definitely be a DC3 somewhere down the road but for now, enjoy this in all its global glory.



Tracklisting: (by song title, original artist and country of cover)



1. How Deep? Intro/The Message (Cymande, El Salvador)

2. Rainmaker (Sweden, Nilsson)

3. Use Me (Poland, Bill Withers)

4. Breakthrough (Nigeria, Atomic Rooster)

5. Slipping Into Darkness (Sweden, WAR)

6. Tanga Goo Bonk (Philippines, Niteliters)7. I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little More (Jamaica, Barry White)

8. Be My Baby (Jamaica, The Ronettes)

9. Pick Up The Pieces (Brazil, Average White Band)

10. Wicky Wacky (Colombia, The Fatback Band)

11. Different Strokes (Argentina, Syl Johnson)

12. Buzzsaw/In Gadda Da Vida (Malaysia, The Turtles/Iron Butterfly)

13. Found a Child (Peru, Ballinjack)

14. Cardova (Trinidad, The Meters)

15. Never Can Say Goodbye (France, Jackson 5)

16. Groovy Situation (Jamaica, Gene Chandler)

17. Cold Sweat (Brazil, James Brown)

18. Angel of the Morning (Mexico, Evie Sands)

19. I Who Have Nothing (Panama, Ben E. King)

20. Sweet Caroline (Guyana, Neil Diamond)



Bonus:

21. Signed, Sealed, Delivered

22. Hit Or Miss

23. September Song



Order now!



*LAME encoded at 320.

DEEP COVERS 2: MAS PROFUNDO! (THE SOFT LAUNCH) posted by O.W.

It's finally here!

I'm proud to announce the (soft) launch of Deep Covers 2: Mas Profundo, now available as a digital download from the good folks at East Bay Digital. It's 320 LAME encoded (good enough for all but you hardcore audiophiles). Physical CDs are in motion - I'm hoping to have them manufactured rather than duplicated but we'll have to see. I'll have a formal launch for those at an upcoming Boogaloo[L.A.] gig and then make them available for order by mail.

Meanwhile, you can download full-res, front and back artwork.

Description: Deep Covers 2: Mas Profundo follows up on two previous covers-related projects: Deep Covers and Soul Sides Vol. 2: The Covers. This time though, I take it international, with 20 songs, all recorded overseas. I tried to balance things by region (otherwise, hell, I could have done an entire CD of reggae covers) but still kept the vibe oriented around soul and funk covers. It's really astounding what one can find out there - this merely scratches the surface! Overall, I was pleased with how this mix turned out, both in terms of song selection as well as sequencing. There will definitely be a DC3 somewhere down the road but for now, enjoy this in all its global glory.

Tracklisting: (by song title, original artist and country of cover)

1. How Deep? Intro/The Message (Cymande, El Salvador)
2. Rainmaker (Sweden, Nilsson)
3. Use Me (Poland, Bill Withers)
4. Breakthrough (Nigeria, Atomic Rooster)
5. Slipping Into Darkness (Sweden, WAR)
6. Tanga Goo Bonk (Philippines, Niteliters)
7. I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little More (Jamaica, Barry White)
8. Be My Baby (Jamaica, The Ronettes)
9. Pick Up The Pieces (Brazil, Average White Band)
10. Wicky Wacky (Colombia, The Fatback Band)
11. Different Strokes (Argentina, Syl Johnson)
12. Buzzsaw/In Gadda Da Vida (Malaysia, The Turtles/Iron Butterfly)
13. Found a Child (Peru, Ballinjack)
14. Cardova (Trinidad, The Meters)
15. Never Can Say Goodbye (France, Jackson 5)
16. Groovy Situation (Jamaica, Gene Chandler)
17. Cold Sweat (Brazil, James Brown)
18. Angel of the Morning (Mexico, Evie Sands)
19. I Who Have Nothing (Panama, Ben E. King)
20. Sweet Caroline (Guyana, Neil Diamond)

Bonus:
21. Signed, Sealed, Delivered
22. Hit Or Miss
23. September Song

As a special bonus..., here's two songs that did not make the cut:

The Marvels: Rocksteady
From 7" (Pama, 196?)

Hint: A different song by the same artist appears on DC2. Originally, I was going to put this on the mix but much as I think the Marvels do an excellent job with Aretha Franklin's funky single, I found myself increasingly gravitating to the B-side instead (which is what made the mix). That said, it was a close race between the two sides and their cover of "Rocksteady" is definitely one of my favorite Aretha covers out there.

Manito: Gang's Back Again
From O Incrivel (RCA, 1970)

This is one of those Brazilian albums that gets some heads all ga-ga and for good reason: cut for cut, for U.S. funk fans, it's a surprisingly rich album with not one, not two but at least three solid funk covers, including one of "Tuck's Theme" (that was a surprise) plus this slick version of Kool and the Gang's "Gang's Back Again." To be honest, I'm still not completely sure how nothing from the Manito album made the DC2 cut...it may be one of those cases where I've had this album so long, the tracks didn't quite seem as fresh but hell, there's always DC3.

GETTING DEEP posted by O.W.

I'm prepping my first new mixtape in god-knows-how-long (at least a few years): Deep Covers 2: Más Profundo. It's all covers, all from artists outside the U.S. It will be fun - probably around 20 tracks, most of them songs I've never posted on the site.

What I'm trying to gauge is whether people would rather download the finished mix or purchase it as a CD. The download option is less expensive ($9 vs. $12/CD) and arguably more convenient, but I also know that old school cats (like myself) prefer something you can hold and look at. In both cases, I'll make artwork and liner notes info available on the site for download in case you want to print your own materials.

Log in your preference in the poll below, thanks!

SOUL SIDES DIGITAL STORE posted by O.W.

Thanks to DJ Icewater up in Oakland, Soul Sides now has seven of its cataloged mix-CDs online for digital download.

Format: 256 rate, LAME encoded MP3s (sorry, no alternatives available right now but hey, it's the same as Amazon.com).

(Click CD image for description of mixtape. Order here).

MUXOLOGY posted by O.W.

Hua put me up on this new experiment in social music networking: muxtape.com.

I've gone ahead and created my first Soul Sides Muxtape, filled with a bunch of goodies, a few songs I've written about but most of them I've yet to yap about here. Consider it the preview.

I like the lo-tech quality of the site and its basic concept but seriously, would it kill them to throw in a search function? Random play is not a bad idea in principle but I still like some level of organization. And while we're whining, it'd be nice to be able to FF and RW on a track. But really, we like it otherwise.

In any case, be sure to peep the other muxtapes in rotation, including Hua's (both of them), Sasha Frere Jones' and Tony Phrone. Sasha just blew my mind a bit by including a cover of "Crumbs Off the Table" by Dusty Springfield.

RESTOCKED ON CDs posted by O.W.

I promised I'd bring back some old mix-CDs once I cleared out the remaining stock. Just because it's hard to gauge interest, I only did limited stock (30 copies) on all these but after a few weeks, I'll make all four available through the digital site.

Right now, what we have left is:

Headwarmers: 19

Auditory Assault: 19 

Groove Thing: 15

Adventures in Rhythm: 18


I also got free copies of Scion's Daptone Records Remixed CDs back in stock. While supplies last, any CD order from us will come with the Scion double-CD as a free bonus.

Here are the four new CDs we have available:

1) Headwarmers (O's Dub, Vol. 6)


I originally recorded this mixtape back in 1997. As you might guess, it was the sixth tape in my hip-hop mix series, and for some reason, it became the one I have gotten the most props for. DJ Shadow even has it as one of the mixtapes shown in the liner notes for Private Press.

Over the years, folks have nudged me to make more of my old tapes available on CD and while I've resisted, I decided if any single one of them was going to get "reissued," it might as well be the fan favorite.

As it is, I was given added incentive by the folks at Staple Design in NYC who had originally asked me to submit a CD of some sort for a project that eventually got iced. However, it gave me an excuse to digitize the tape - yes, this was from when mixtapes actually meant tapes and not CDs - as well as make some tweaks. Note: The CD version is a little shorter than the original. Partly it's because my tapes were always 90 minutes and I can't fit that on a typical CD. More importantly though, some songs just ran on too long to my liking on the old tape and I decided to edit the songs to make them shorter and keep the pacing brisk. All the original songs still appear though: an intriguing mix of indie and major label hip-hop that's a snapshot of the underground, circa 1996 and '97. (Cue nostalgic sigh: "ah, the good ol' days.")

Here's the tracklist.

Here's a lo-fi, 10 min sampler from the tape.

I don't plan to bring back very many of my hip-hop mixtapes - there's this one, Auditory Assault (see below) and of the rest (I had 10, in all), I'd consider Vol. 8: Polyrhythmatic and Vol 9: Double Flip and leave it at that.

Speaking of which:

2) Auditory Assault (O's Dub, Vol. 9.5)


Ok...so the 9.5 thing was mostly because I had grand designs of doing a Vol. 10, Anniversary edition that'd cover ten years of hip-hop...but then grad school intervened. Then I had a kid. Then...you get the idea. In any case, this was the last hip-hop tape I ended up making - and the first one to actually be on CD. The songs on here are all drawn from circa 2000 (which now seems like an era or two ago) and even though there's a few tracks I wouldn't have included in hindsight, I do like how it comes together as a mix.

Here's a 11 min, lo-fi sampler.

Tracklisting and liner notes here.

3 + 4) A Groove Thing + Adventures in Rhythm

A Groove Thing wasn't technically the first soul/funk mix I put together. That'd be Soul Symphony, but this was the first real dance mix I ever assembled, back around 2002, then followed it up with Adventures in Rhythm in 2003. To be honest, I've been dying to get to a new one (I can't believe it's been five years since the last) but in going back to these two, I'm actually still pleased with how they turned out, especially in figuring out how to transition between funk, Latin and hip-hop. Song-wise, there's still stuff on here that I'd put out again though, in all honesty, some stuff I wouldn't touch again (but isn't that always the case)?

Adventures has been avail on digital download for a minute but I haven't repressed either it or A Groove Thing to CD in years and after this run, I'll likely permanently retire both to digital pastures.

Here's a Groove Thing sampler, and here's the Adventures sampler.

TO ORDER: I've updated the Orders page. There's a discount for multiple CD orders and as noted, all orders come with a copy of the Scion/Daptone Remixed CD (while supplies last).

THE SOUL SIDES FIRESALE CONTINUES! posted by O.W.

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings: How Long Do I Have To Wait For You? (Ticklah Remix)
From Daptone Records Remixed (Scion, 2007)
I'm still trying to move out all my mix-CDs and copies of Soul Sides Vol. 2.

I'm down to: 9 copies of SSV2
9 copies of Incognitos
(For descriptions, visit here.)

Here's the deal: until supplies last, I'll include, with any purchase, a copy of the Daptone Records Remixed CD, put out promotionally by Scion. (Not for sale anywhere). They sent me a batch as giveaways-with-purchase and hence, here I am. This offer does not apply to any digital purchases, sorry.

To order: click here. Please help me move these out of my house for good!

By the way, I'm reissuing at least two more mix-CDs in digital format AND I will also consider doing a small run of them on physical CDs but not until I clear out all the dead stock. Thanks!Oh yeah, before I forget: I have exactly ONE copy of Soul Sides Vol. 2 left on vinyl. If you want it,email me.

We're out of Deep Covers now (thanks to those who bought, sorry to those trying to buy. I'll update the site later and refund people who tried to purchase it).

ICEWATER AND THE POSSE THROW IT BACK posted by O.W.

DJ Icewater feat. Chioke and Sizwe: Throwback Vol. 1 (snippet)
From Throwback Vol. 1 (2007)

Uh, ok...late pass. Apparently, this came out last April but I only got familiar recently and alas, it's not even avail through Icewater's mixtape site anymore :(

Just some quick history: I've known Icewater since the '90s, when he was interning for Solesides/Quannum in Berkeley. He's always been one of my favorite DJs and frankly, dude is just a funny, good-natured guy. He's also handled my mixtapes for several years now, both CD and digital form so I got nothing but love for all his support and help.

This Throwback mix is for the geeks and fanboys (I mean this in a good way) since it's wall-to-wall covers of rap songs. Note: hip-hop is arguably the only major American music genre in which cover songs don't exist in any meaningful way (remixes, I suggest, are a different beast and therefore, don't count) and it's not that hard to explain why (hint: authenticity claims). There are a few examples, such as that recent Beyond a Reasonable Doubt mixtape that was out there and of course, Snoop's "Lodi Dodi." Well, Throwback Vol. 1 is like that...only with a lot more songs to enjoy, spanning the classic '90s era but trying to give love to the different coasts, plus a balance between major label and smaller imprints. Chioke (The Dime) and Sizwe (Lunar Heights) may not outdo the original artists (and that's not the ambition anyway) but it is a rollicking good time hearing them flip on these classics. The four song snippet I put together includes my favorite span on the tape, beginning with Group Home's "Supastar" (note: Malachi's verses were vastly improved upon), then into Ed O.G.'s "I Gotta Have It," and back to Cali with Erule's "Listen Up" and ending with a most welcome surprise: a cover of the Nonce's "Who Falls Apart?" I'm getting all misty for '98 now...

SOUL SIDES DIGITAL DOWNLOADS + FIRE SALE posted by O.W.

You asked for it. Now we're delivering.

Thanks to my old friend DJ Icewater, I can now sell many of my past mix-CDs in a digital download format. Sad as I am that physical media (for some) is going the way of the dodo, at least I can stop dealing with stuff going out of stock.

Soul Sides Digi Style

Currently, there are four CDs available there: Incognitos Redux and Deep Covers most of you should already know about. But I'm finally able to bring two other CDs back into rotation. More on this in a sec.

First of all though, I want to get all the remaining CDs I have out the house so I can start clean for the new year. I've discounted everything and am especially trying to move my six remaining vinyl copies of SSV2 out the door. Check it out.

As an incentive, I have a lot of extra CDs (Nicole Willis, Gilles Peterson, La Clave, El Michels Affair, etc.) that I'll randomly distribute for among the outgoing packages for people buying up remaining stock.

In the future, I haven't decided if I plan to keep that many physical CDs in stock or go strictly digital; a lot of that depends on reader interest so I'm game to go whichever way.

In any case, here are the two CDs that are now available digital-only:

Adventures In Rhythm: This is a party mix of funk and hip-hop songs; probably one of the favorite mixes I've ever labored over and something that really doesn't go out of style (read: no "Crank Dat") just because the songs are older. HIghly recommended for those who need 60+ minute workout and are tired of spinning or Thai kickboxing. (order!)

Classic Material: This was a hip-hop mix I put together in conjunction with Classic Material: The Hip-Hop Album Guide. The mix includes songs from many of the albums reviewed in the guide and the additional conceit is that I tried to use album-only cuts (instead of songs released as singles) so there's likely to be a few songs on here you had forgotten about or didn't catch the first time around. Highly recommended for rap heads looking to cover 25 years of hip-hop history in 30 songs. (order!)

The digital site includes sound snippets for everything so you can sample the wares first.


P.S. Thanks to everyone who ordered the LP. I managed to get all those sold already!

BACK TO THE GM posted by O.W.

Aaron Neville: She Took You For a Ride
From Tell It Like It Is (Par-lo, 1966)

Quantic Soul Orchestra: Tropidelico
From Tropidelico (Tru Thoughts, 2007)

The B.U.M.S.: West Coast Smack
From Lyfe N' Tyme (1995)

DJ Shadow: Best of the KMEL Mixes Part 1 (snippet)
From The 4-Track Era (DJ Shadow, 2007)

Crystal Mansion: And It Will Take Your Breath Away
From S/T (Rare Earth, 1972)

It's been a while since I've done one of these GM posts but I was recently in the Bay Area on a short holiday/family trip and, of course, had to make my pilgrimage. As I've written before, the joy in going there is simply the vastness of music I can get acquainted with. Especially in L.A., where the geography isn't conducive to a similar arrangement, I miss having someplace to just kick back and chew the fat about records. That is, of course, partially why I do this blog.

This time around, I was hanging around when DJ B.Cause slipped on the Aaron Neville LP. You wouldn't think this album would be such a pricey piece - "Tell It Like It Is" is one of Neville's biggest hits ever, but the original album is quite the collector's item but luckily, the excellence of the music helped defray the sticker shock. "She Took You For a Ride" is a magnificent track, with a different soulful feel from "Tell It Like It Is," especially with the background vocals. I was initially struck by that element since I don't normally associate it with Neville but it gives this song an added dynamic in this case.

Joining me at the GM was my man Beto, who I last wrote about in July. This was the first time the two of us actually got to sit down and build for a minute...I was bouncing a ton of Latin music (especially boogaloo-related) questions off me and it is downright scary how much knowledge he's been soaking up for his research on the music scene in the Afro-Antilles. I'm going to say this now: when his book comes out, it has the potential to be a major game-changer. Remember the name: Roberto Gyemant.

In any case, while we were hanging, he hit me off with the new QSO CD - something I had been meaning to check out but still hadn't gotten around to yet. It's a great concept: Will Holland (Mr. Quantic himself) decided to record a series of songs inspired by music of the Latin American tropics, basically covering ground throughout the Greater Caribbean Basin; he recorded on location in Panama City, for example.

Beto helped turn Will Holland onto some of the artists that he works with on the Tropidelico CD, including (I presume) the incredible Peruvian pianist Alfredo Linares (I have an upcoming post about Linares and other Peruvian Latin players). That's Linares you hear at the beginning of "Tropidelico"; he has such a distinct touch on the piano with his chords and tempos. I love that Linares was killing it back in the '60s and is still holding it down in the '00s. (Rappers should be so lucky).

Speaking of which, I quietly threw on the B.U.M.S. album at the store, just for kicks, and took the assemblage on a reminisce trip back to the mid-'90s Bay Area hip-hop scene. The B.U.M.S. always makes me nostalgic, partially because I've always wondered why the didn't do better than they did, partially because the album itself was produced by one of my favorite, slept-on producers from that era, Joe Quixxx. B.Cause mentioned he'd actually been giving "West Coast Smack" some spin at his gigs and though my fave cut remains the title cut, it was worth giving some shine to one of the other tracks, especially with this CD long, long out of print.

Sticking to the Bay Area hip-hop tip, the GM had a copy of DJ Shadow's 4-Track Era CD for sale and I scooped that with a quickness. I actually had some of this on an ancient dub tape I got from the old Solesides crew but it's great that it's been compiled onto CD. The back story is this: Shadow first came to prominence on the strength of these crazy mega-mixes he did for KMEL back in the early '90s (this is back when KMEL was arguably the greatest hip-hop station on FM, west of the Hudson). You young'uns, raised on Pro Tools off your Mac Books, probably can't even remember the era of Tascam 4-Tracks and what not but sheeyit, I grew up on listening to radio DJs create these insane, multi-layered mixes off them and created most of my early mixtapes (back when they were actually tapes) off analog 4-tracks myself ('tis true: check for Head Warmers on the Private Press inset), following their inspiration. To make a long story short: even in 2007, these kind of mixes are incredible to listen to, without even factoring in the technological acumen that it would have required (f--- a mash-up, back then, we called 'em "remixes"). Damn, how old do I sound right now? I need to get out of this "back in the day" mode! Too late.

For real though, I'm still trying to figure out how he remixed that De La song at the end...was there an acapella to "Afro Connections" I didn't know about?

I'm ending with a song I've been meaning to blog about for, oh, at least a few years now but just never got around to it: "And It Will Take Your Breath Away" by Crystal Mansion. I copped this from the GM years ago and I still don't know a ton about them, apart from the fact they were a blue-eyed funk group, in the vein of Rare Earth, who never hit it crazy big but managed to stick together for about half a decade. I've always loved, loved, loved how this song opens, especially with those soulful piano melodies and then the drum drops. If this sounds familiar to anyone, there's a reason why.

Birthday Bash posted by O.W.

In celebration of my 35th, I decided to share a present with ya'll: a digitized copy of my first funk/soul/jazz mix-CD, Soul Symphony. I originally put this out back in the '90s (at this point, I can't even remember when) and have never brought it back into rotation. It was a concept mix of a sort and rather appropriate with Soul Sides itself since all the music on here was inspired by Sole Sides, the Bay Area indie hip-hop label whose name obviously inspired mine. Sample hounds will enjoy this but it's also got some great songs regardless of how it's been used by later producers. Unfortunately, I don't have a tracklisting available - ya'll will just have to piece it together yourselves ;).

Soul Symphony - Side A
Soul Symphony - Side B
Password = gimmesoul

(oops, I redid the second link. The original was the wrong one).

Incognitos Redux Back in Stock posted by O.W.

It only took, um, a few years but I finally put Incognitos Redux, my rare rap CD, back in stock.

As an incentive, here's one of the songs featured:

De La Soul: Double Huey Skit
From 12", test pressings of "Say No Go" (Tommy Boy, 1988)

As I note in the liners for the mix-CD: "The "Baby Huey Skit" was introduced to me by Jeff "DJ Zen" Chang way back in the day. He knew I was a De La Soul fan and wanted to hep me to something that I didn't know about yet - a song that was only available on test-pressings of "Say No Go" (as well as promo-CD copies of the same song as I was to discover later). As you can hear, the skit uses the theme from the "Muppets Show" which explains why it never made the official 12": sample clearance deaded it. It's a fun song, not the least of which is that it has Double D (of Steinski and Double D fame) and Mase rhyming on it. A must for any De La completionist."

I haven't had Incognitos available in a while and I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it in permanent rotation so get your copies while you can.