Paris DJs Soundsystem presents Some Of The Best Things In Life Are Free Vol.6
(MP3 Podcast on www.ParisDJs.com) 2015-05-16
The 'Free Music' biz is vast and mostly uncharted. While every kind of shitty media only spotlights music that is sold, distributed, promoted, subsidized, etc., meaning: music from people who might buy advertising, at Paris DJs we often take the opposite route. If some music doesn't need to be sold, sometimes it's because it can't be sold, sometimes it's because it's just too good to be sold and shared with the whole world! But I digress. In 1984 The Grateful Dead revolutionized the music biz with their approach to free music. In the 1990s if you thought nothing happened, you just missed all the free music that followed 1984, from a whole generation of bands. If you don't get what I'm talking about here that's just because you haven't been reading/following properly what's been published in this website... Anyway. Free music is quite something and every two months roughly, I go, hunt, dig and pick some of the finest free music that's out there, and build a short story with it. I called it 'Some Of The Best Things In Life Are Free', which is quite self-explanatory. Isn't it?
My first pick is the single extracted from Dokkerman and The Turkeying Fellaz's new album out on Tramp Records this month. Gritty deep funk from Budapest, Hungary, this is heavy shit from a badass nine piece band! I've stayed on the same spirit with Breakdown Brass, a masterful brass band from Brooklyn, NY, who've just released an essential Afro-funky 7 inch on Kept Records, which they also share for free in digital form on their bandcamp page. You're gonna love those cats...
Coming next are some friends/collaborators of Paris DJs, the Ancient Astronauts duo of Kabanjak and Dogu, two dope downbeat/hip hop/reggae producers from Cologne, Germany. They have a dub tune in the latest 'Bust Free' compilation from Cold Busted that I couldn't do without here.
Doctor Stereo from Buenos Aires, Argentina, is not that much of a collaborator of this little Paris DJs label, but he's been appearing in those pages quite repeatedly anyway. The man's got a knack for digging into the groovy obscure and he's often very on point.
Now let's get back to Europe with a hip hop producer from Bristol, UK, Frenic, who's released an elegant cinematic/downtempo/instrumental hip hop album for free on Bandcamp. Picking a tune out of it wasn't an easy treat since the album has really been conceived as a whole story but I did my best.
Italian Crime Funk masters Calibro 35 shouldn't be unknown to Paris DJs' readers and listeners. We invited them for a mix of Italian soundtracks, did an interview with them and featured the band quite prominently in these pages. To celebrate their current Euro tour, they've released a free mashup version of The Beastie Boys' 'Sabotage' hit. Psych rock meets hip hop at its finest, it's just huge, don't pass on this one!
We then head back over the Altantic with DJ/turntablist, musician and beat maker from Palm Springs, California, DJ Day, and his latest edit, a disco/hip hop classic tune from 1982 for all the party b-boys out there. But the party doesn't stop here, and I'm glad to be able to featured some DJs from Paris, SLKT et Jodeli, better known as the Around The World duo. Their rework of 1970s Nigerian singer Mad Man Jaga builds a bridge between modern electronics and old school afrobeat. A heavy dancefloor tune for sure.
Also from Paris, French producer with roots in Chile Orlando Diaz Corvalan, better known as Medline, is present with an hybridation of latin and Kenyan music. Pure roots for the soul announcing the debut album of The West Bridge Band-Kibera Esbera on Electric Cowbell Records for Record Store Day 2015 - which I need to check asap!
A Paris DJs mix or compilation is always better with a track produced by Adrian Quesada in Austin, Texas, and this one isn't an exception. The 'Brownout presents Brown Sabbath' album released last year on Ubiquity is such a marvel of latin psych funk rock that I'm very enthousiastic about finding another free extract from this LP. You're gonna trip yourself out on this one that recalls the famous 'Maggot Brain' from Funkadelic. You should get that album if you haven't already...
Brooklyn, NY based producer, DJ and Musician Gramatik is one of the rising stars of the electro-soul hip hop scene. He puts out frenetically some free albums and EPS that generate millions of downloads and consequentely fills a crazy booking schedule. His latest release is a cool downtempo hip hop/soul crossover, the kind you play on repeat while waiting for a long-player in the same vein, featuring Raekwon of the iconic hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan and soul singer Orlando Napier.
Closing this selection is a track from 2013 by a band from Iceland I had never heard about before: Kaleo. Their blend of indie rock and blues is catchy and groovy, as opposed to other Icelandic bands, rather more focused on chilled electronics or ambient pop... I'd love to be able to check the album but I don't think it's been released outside of their homeland. Thankfully their appearance at the 2015 Bonnaroo festival might be a game-changer!
...And that's it for this mix, I'll be back in a month or so with my collegue Grant Phabao on the decks for a new volume of mixed music that you may download for free as a whole or separately, track by track (check the individual links in the tracklist below).
Tracklisting :
01. Dokkerman and Turkeying Fellaz - Snake Bite
(from 'Mango Season' 7 inch, 2015 / Tramp Records)
[free download on tramprecords.bandcamp.com]
02. Breakdown Brass - Monmouth
(from 'Monmouth' 7 inch, 2015 / Kept Records)
[free download on breakdownbrass.bandcamp.com]
03. Ancient Astronauts - Halfway Through
(from 'Bust Free 18' digital compilation, 2015 / Cold Busted)
[free download on shop.coldbusted.org]
04. Joe Tex - Give The Baby Anything The Baby Wants (Doctor Stereo Joe-Hop version)
(unreleased remix, 2015)
[free download on soundcloud.com/doctorstereo]
05. Frenic - Cut up Music
(from 'Monomyth: Separation' album, 2015 / self-released)
[free download on frenic.bandcamp.com]
06. Calibro 35 - Sabotaggio
(unreleased mashup, 2015 / Record Kicks)
[free download on soundcloud.com/recordkicks]
07. Super 3 - When You're Standing On The Top (DJ Day Edit)
(unreleased remix, 2015)
[free download on soundcloud.com/iamdjday]
08. Mad Man Jaga - Hankuri (ATW Rework)
(unreleased remix, 2015)
[free download on soundcloud.com/atw0rld]
09. West Bridge Band and Aillacara 2743 - Papa (Home Made Master)
(unreleased, 2015 / Electric Cowbell)
[free download on soundcloud.com/dimsum66]
10. Brown Sabbath - Planet Caravan
(from 'Brown Sabbath' album, 2014 / Ubiquity)
[free download on noisetrade.com/bonnaroonoisetradesampler]
11. Gramatik - Native Son feat. Raekwon and Orlando Napier
(from 'Epigram' upcoming EP, 2015 / Lowtemp)
[free download on soundcloud.com/gramatik]
12. Kaleo - Broken Bones
(from 'Kaleo' album, 2013 / Sena)
[free download on noisetrade.com/bonnaroonoisetradesampler]
Total time : 47mn 04s
All the original cover artworks from records played in this mix are available on parisdjs.com
Credits :
Selected by Djouls (parisdjs.com)
Mixed and mastered by Grant Phabao (grantphabao.com)
Artwork by Ben Hito (facebook.com/benhito)
Links :
Paris DJs : parisdjs.com | bandcamp | facebook | pinterest | soundcloud | twitter | youtube
Ben Hito : official | discogs | facebook