Culture

16 Mixes Worth Listening to This Week

By Hua Hsu

More soon, but for now a slew of mixes (all streaming, weirdly)...

D.I.T.C. maestro Diamond D, live in London, playing an educational, "this is where they got the sample from" set of 45s. (streaming)

More of the above: Kenny Dope presents "Soul Travellin'," a mix of funk and soul. (streaming)

Those were the old classics: here are the newish ones. The Rub has been slimming hip-hop history down to periodical, periodizing mixes, and I was really curious what the "2000-2009" would offer. Andrew Cunanan references, Biggie sound-alikes, a heavy aversion to snitching: and that's just Shyne's "Bad Boyz." (streaming)

And then there are the canons which are merely personal. Matthew Africa inaugurates a series of "90s east coast indie raps." (streaming)

Meanwhile, over on the West Coast: Rob of Southern Hospitality pays tribute to the East Bay's Hieroglyphics (Del, Souls of Mischief, Casual, the Prose...) (streaming)

The shortcuts, cutbacks and backroads of dance music: Josh Dunn's set for WFMU's "Awesome New Place" is a document of where house, electro, disco, boogie etc could have gone, but largely didn't. (streaming)

Vaguely related: a live Matthew Africa boogie and funk set. (streaming)

For a more conventional path through house music, a mix of the vintage stuff from Max at Love Unlimited Sound System. (stream/DL) Also over there, a nice mix of T.S.O.P. mid/late-1970s Philly soul, funk and disco. (stream/DL)

Essential New Orleans rap and brass band mix (and short essay) by scholar/collector Matt Miller at NOLA Bounce blog, via Grandgood. (stream/DL)

Not a mix, but amazing: Derek's Daily 45 with old black-and-white artist glossies from the 1960s and 1970s.

Something to listen to while you admire those glossies: Al Kent's mix of obscure sweet soul. (streaming)

I'll just quote Dollar Bin Jams:"If you love soft grooves, if you love drum breaks, if you love African jams, if you love wicked flute jams, if you believe in the possibility of one day taking a cosmic journey, if you bothered to read this far, GO GET ABEL's NEW MIX at Noncollective now." (streams here)

An atmospheric mix by "Hard Mix"---Dilla, dubstep, Javelin, etc. (streaming)

Just reposted: DJ Hot Day's mid 2000s tribute to Jam Master Jay and Run DMC. (podcast)

Solid, carefully curated Brazilian mix (with excellent fantasy cover art) at Dreams in Audio. (streaming)