Focuz is a podcast mooching through the styles of hip hop, nu-jazz, funk, soul, dub, drum&bass, ambient and electro. Each mix is carefully selected from around the globe and well off the beaten track…
Latest episode. Jan 2009.
Back once again! It is my great pleasure to present the latest installment of fresh new beats for a fresh new year.
We have another mixed bag of tricks this month, and slightly more dancefloor oriented than normal. There’s another cut from the Waxolutionists, new releases from Mos Def and Boozoo Bajou, and a tasty new remix from DJ Vadim. Get stuck in!
So here we are on Boxing Day. Hangovers are clearing and turkey leftovers are already being recycled up into sarnies, curries and salads. To carry on this spirit of recycling I’m posting up a mix I did earlier in the year for the podcast of my buddy Mr. Phipson.
It’s a mix of nu-jazz and broken beat with a Brazilian samba flavour, and will hopefully be a little Christmas bonus for you loyal listeners. Hope y’all dig it, and all the best for 2009!
A quick post today to share a vid from my cousin Andy (AKA: ab0181 and Prolifik). It’s a live jam and some comedy xmas beats from a bunch of beatmakers from around the country at a jam in Birmingham. And sick, sick beats at that. Enjoy!
“Louis Den is a community for beatmakers to show their talent, an area to explore the science of beat making. Here is highlights from the second Louis Den Beat Cypher held in Birmingham 11th Dec 2008. The theme was for the four featured producers to flip a christmas themed record into a brand new sound. The sample this time around is Paul McCartney/Wings – Wonderful Christmastime.”
Here’s the last installment for 2008. To finish off the year in fine style I bolted together a tough selection of head-nodding, boom-bap hip-hop.
Brand-new joints from RZA, Austrian crew Waxolutionists (I just discovered their stuff, but will be keeping track of them for sure), and a bangin’ remix from mein Deutsche freund fLako.
Towards the end of the mix I wanted to soften things up and space the beats out a bit. So I wound down to an older track I’ve admired for a long time from Xela. Floaty stuff to round off proceedings nicely.
I’ll be posting again before the end of the year, but musically that’s it till 2009. Have a good festive period folks!
It’s nearing the end of another month so here’s the November dosage.
It’s varied mix of beats this time starting at the down-tempo end of the scale with a recent Flying Lotus remix and a new cut from King Midas Sound on Hyperdub (cheers to J for the tip-off on that one). Steadily cranking up the BPM through the 7 Samurai on German imprint, Poets Club and an older, but timeless jam by Boxcutter.
I decided on a DnB rush for the finish line with a smooth number from top Californian beathead, Tyler Straub (many thanks for that, buddy. Keep up the good work!), an epic from Apex and to wind things up one of my favourite records of 2008 from London Elektricity.
Hope y’all dig it
It’s the end of the month and about time for another episode. I was feeling like a broken-beat, nu-jazz affair this time around so I dug out some more up-tempo beats – some new, some old, all slick.
Those of you into the harder-edge of the drum&bass spectrum will be interested in this. My good buddies at the brand new label Narukami Records have burst onto the scene with a brace of new digital releases.
TrackItDown had the following opinion on Seizmic’s debut ‘Rejuventation’:
Always ace to see brand new labels kicking off as they mean to go on! UK based Narukami drop their first smash by label manager Seizmic and boy what a stormer. Pumping jump up drum and bass that bobs and weaves like a champ with some live sounding percussion and great vocals. Kinda like Technique meets Viper. Styling.
And they had this to say about the follow-up release ‘Transistor Hustler’:
Someone is making an impression this week! Another killer cut from new breed producer Seizmic on his own Narukami label. This sounds like classic jump up drum and bass covering all angles and edges nicely. Big rolling basslines and larger than life production will slay any system. Support the next generation!
Any DnB headz out there should check these out. Fully recommended from me!
You can also cop these tracks from Dogs On Acid, Juno and Chemical Records.
I finally fathomed out the issue of embedding a player on this here blog. You’ll be happy to see the convenient wee interface for streaming episodes direct from their pages.
I spent a while wrestling with PodPress, but it just wasn’t playing ball so I went back to the drawing board. After a bit of browsing through the WordPress plugins directory I found the excellent Podcasting plugin from Ronald Heft, Jr.
No messin’, it’s clean, simple, quick and highly recommeded from me. Any other WordPress bloggers/podasters out there should check it out.
So here’s the debut mix. To kick things off it’s an early-autumn, hip-hop, nu-jazz mash-up. The end result is a varied mix of tracks – some new, some I’ve had for a while. A laid-back mix and a low-key launch – no fuss, just good beats. Enjoy…