Remembering J Dilla on his birthday

Raising a glass to hip hop producer extraordinaire James Yancey aka J Dilla on his birthday with a interviews and more. 

R.I.P. Amp Fiddler, 1958-2023

Sadly, Detroit singer/producer Amp Fiddler – who worked with George Clinton and mentored J Dilla – has passed away at 65. 

Toasting 20 years of Jaylib's Champion Sound album with "The Heist" clip

Check out Rory Gamble's animated clip for Madlib & J Dilla's "The Heist" off Jaylib's Champion Sound album on Stones Throw.  

BADBADNOTGOOD get assists from Arthur Verocai & Karriem Riggins on "Beside April"

Watch the video for "Beside April" off BADBADNOTGOOD's new album Talk Memory out Oct 8th via Innovative Leisure/XL

Bacao Rhythm & Steel preview Expansions with "Raise It Up"

Listen to Bacao Rhythm & Steel's version of the Slum Village classic "Raise It Up" off their new Expansions LP. 

Here's the scoop...

Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band, the mysterious steel pan outfit hailing from Hamburg, Germany have amassed a cult following around the globe. With a slew of classic 7”s and two critically acclaimed full length albums, they set a high bar for themselves, one they clearly intend on pushing even higher with this new offering. On their third album, aptly titled Expansions (out July 16), BRSB are back with more of the same, but more of the same with them is inherently different. Covering songs that span genres and range from mega hits to album cuts, they make them their own with their unique approach to the traditional steel pans of Trinidad and Tobago. 

Part of the allure of a new record from Bacao is finding out what covers they chose. However, die hard fans are also waiting to hear the original numbers like the stellar album opener “Tough Victory”. Its airtight rhythm section, brass arrangements, and layers of steel pan melodies make the term “cover band” a shoe that could never fit Bacao. Within the next three songs they go from Jazz (Galt MacDermot), to Hip Hop (Slum Village / J Dilla), to a dance floor classic (Grace Jones) taking them all on with their signature style, expanding on the originals. An easy crowd favorite is their gritty, gully, and neck snapping cover of the Timbaland produced Jay-Z club hit “Dirt Off Your Shoulder”. The infamous crushing Bacao drums start the show and the moment they start playing the top line on the pans, all bets are off. Sure to become a dance floor filler is their bottom heavy, four on the floor version of Sylvester’s classic “I Need Somebody To Love Tonight”. They venture into some gutbucket funk with Ike Turner’s “Getting Nasty” and bring the steel pans to Minnie Riperton’s Jazz classic “Les Fleurs”. Digging deeper in the modern canon and paying tribute to a tribute, they cover Erykah Badu’s homage to the late great J Dilla, “The Healer”. This is the type of thing to make Spice Adams jump on his kitchen counter and scream. From the second the beat drops they give the original Madlib production a run for its money, shaking subwoofers with the eerie tremolo bass while the pans play E. Badu’s vocal melodies. 

By the time the album is through Bacao has taken the listener on a journey that spans a myriad of energies, tempos, and moods while somehow managing to keep it all under one umbrella. For all that, these songs are alive, and they will be taken out of the context of this album and sewn into the fabric of DJ sets around the globe for many years to come. Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band is breathing renewed life into the originals and continuing to push the boundaries of steel pan music, or, as the title suggests, expanding on it. 

You can pre-order a copy of Expansions via Bandcamp right here. Check out "Raise It Up," "My Jamaican Dub" and "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" followed by the track listing.  

Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band - Expansions

1. Tough Victory

2. Space

3. Raise It Up 

4. My Jamaican Dub 

5. I Need Somebody To Love Tonight

6. Dirt Off Your Shoulder 

7. Getting Nasty

8. Blow Your Cover

9. Represent

10. The Healer 02:50

11. Les Fleurs

12. Squaring The Circles

CD bonus tracks: Juicy Fruit, Kaiso Noir, Look Out Baby (Here I Come)

Khruangbin @ Danforth Music Hall, Thursday

Khruangbin have been known to rip through some hip hop jams on tour – check the clip from their Chicago show. 

Waajeed goes back to his roots for From The Dirt

Courville School, J Dilla's basement and the Renaissance Center each played a role in the development of Waajeed's From The Dirt out now. 

Happy Birthday J Dilla

Remembering James Dewitt Yancey on his day with an orchestral version of his Slum Village gem Fall In Love.

Gap Mangione Quartet @ Hugh's Room, Monday

Hopefully Gap's performance will include his Dilla-sampled classic Diana In The Autumn Wind. 

Happy Birthday J Dilla

Remembering beat scientist James Dewitt Yancy on his day with a 28-min Dilla documentary. 

Shawn Phillips @ Hugh's Room, Wednesday

Here's a well-sampled track from Shawn's 1977 Spaced album he won't be playing in Toronto. 

Madlib digs the Radio France archives

Our man considers running out the door with a rare Saba pressing of Happy Girl by Nathan Davis.

Stones Throw Records documentary premieres at LA Film Fest June 21 & 22

Our Vinyl Weighs A Ton (This Is Stones Throw Records) is a feature-length documentary about avant-garde Los Angeles-based record label Stones Throw Records. Under the direction of founder DJ Peanut Butter Wolf, Stones Throw has consistently released critically acclaimed, left-of-center albums since its founding in 1996.

Drawing on live concert footage, never-before-seen archival material, inner-circle home video and photographs and in-depth interviews with the folks who put Stones Throw on the map, Our Vinyl Weighs A Ton will delve deeper into the label's enigmatic artists, history, culture and global following. The world premiere is set for June 21 and 22 at the Los Angeles Film Festival with a launch party set for The Exchange (618 S. Spring St, Los Angeles) on June 20 (see flyer below). Watch for a brief cameo by a Canadian television chat show host in the trailer: