Word On The Street EP

umm, so I'm hosting files at divshare now. It's better. All the old links still work though, for the time being.

Anyways, here's some music from Rafferty Records or whatever, it's 13 tracks:

01) Pansy Groove
02) Chinwax
03) 12-Inch Mandatory Boot Screef 2010
04) I Am No Thief
05) A Word That Means Something Else
06) A Special Moment
07) The Lusty Skeleton
08) Feelin' Better
09) Everybody Likes Strawberries
10) Purple Groove
11) Tikki Tembo
12) Dog's Grandchild
13) What A Wonderful World

All the music is by me (Jesse Lee) except the last one, which is by Bob Thiele & George Weiss but arranged by me. Incidentally, Louis Armstrong recorded that song in 1968, and it didn't do very well in the States but topped the singles charts in the UK, making Mr Armstrong the oldest man to top the charts, at 66 years old. (His record in that regard stood until 2009.) 20 years later, in 1988, the single was re-released in the US and made it to #38. So now you know that.

I had a bit of help on this recording, from Kyran Kennedy (vox on #08), Brian Rosen (perc on #08, flute on #05, plus I used his drum kit), Ben Euerby (sax on #02), and Ty West (I used his guitar and rig for tracks 02, 03, 05, 08, and 12, plus I received a certain amount of funkiness from his via osmosis. The good kind of funkiness.)

Get this EP right here if you dare. Peace.

Crate Kings 5: Stax o' Wax

They done it again. The hooligans over at Crate Kings have finished up their 5th beat compilation, this time sampling music released on the Stax record label.

Stax was founded in 1957 in Memphis Tennessee and was home to such notable and influential artists as Otis Redding, the Bar-Kays, Sam & Dave, Rufus Thomas, Albert King, Wilson Pickett (sort of--he recorded there but released his records under Atlantic), Eddie Floyd and Issac Hayes. Even Elvis Presley recorded three albums there at some point. The house band was the mighty Booker T & the MGs, who also had successful records of their own. Stax flourished through the 60s only to descend into financial ruin and close down in 1975.

The irreverant beatsmiths who congregate at the Crate Kings forums decided to plunder Stax's legacy of classic music and rework it into a respectful tribute to this renowned record label. 37 tracks were blended by Rafferty the DJ into a cohesive musical and historical statement guaranteed to not only educate you, but also put you in a neck-brace for the remainder of the summer. (uh, by that I mean you will physically express your enjoyment of the music to the point of bodily harm.)



Isn't the art nice? It's done by Flipa, who also contributed several excellent tracks to the project. Here's that tracklist again if you can't read the teeny writing above:

01. Rafferty Funksmith – Stax of Wax Intro
02. Broskie Woskie – Thr33 The RAW Way
03. UhOh – Travelled Road
04. The Close Shop – Oddity
05. Kwes the Bess – Walk You Home
06. Parry Illest (P.illa) – Hayestacks
07. Four Eights – Soul Jabes0
08. Qurz – Stax of Wax
09. R. K. Cerman – Grab This Thing
10. NormalZ – Long Jumping
11. Saint Bastard – Stax On Stax Off
12. Jajoe – Thicker Than Water
13. WHP – Staxasaurus Rex
14. AMFM – Love You
15. Crushproof – Lifted
16. Jajoe – Over
17. Flipa – True Love
18. Parry Illest (P.illa) – Bosac
19. Flipa – Hayes
20. B. Dolla – Doggone Good
21. AMFM – AMFMISAAC
22. WHP – Staxerlude
23. Rafferty Funksmith – Steady Beakin’
24. Yabba – Walk On
25. The Close Shop – Booking
26. R. K. Cerman – Stay
27. RESTLESS – $50 Habit
28. Flipa – Parker
29. A Word From Mr Isaac Hayes
30. Panamacanal – Watts
31. Qurz – Cruisin’ Route 66
32. R. K. Cerman – I Know
33. Crushproof – Fatal Barbs
34. Astatic – Woo Hoo
35. Cashus Flow – Firework Finale
36. Chi-Stey – Good As Gold
37. Parry Illest (P.illa) – Born To Love

So if you'd like to listen to it, why don't you download it?

Crate Kings 4: Classic - Remixed Joints from the Golden Era

The members of Crate Kings bring you a fourth installment of their series of beat mixes (or whatever you wanna call them). This one is the first non-instrumental. Instead, classic tracks were relieved of their original music and given a thorough reworking. Gems were plucked from over 2 decades of hip hop, recontextualized and reconceptualized, and reawesomeized, and then mixed together tenderly by Rafferty the DJ. You, the sophisticated consumer, get the FULL MUSICAL EXPERIENCE. The tracks:



So click your way over here to read a slightly different write-up, and find the download link. There's 3 choices!

Make the music with your mouth, Kyran

Sorry about how loud our muffler is.

Painting Excercising and Making Blended Drinks EP

Jesse and Rafferty bring you Painting Excercising and Making Blended Drinks EP. It's called an EP because that's what really short albums are called, even though it has 17 tracks. All but 2 of the tracks are under 2 minutes. This EP features live instrumentation and sampling. Recorded in Jesse's livingroom.

01 - 0:16 - Intro
02 - 1:10 - Splash Damage
03 - 0:39 - PEB 1
04 - 1:26 - Steppin Out With Mr BabyMan
05 - 1:54 - PEB 2
06 - 5:34 - Treat Your Mother Right (featuring Mr T)
07 - 0:32 - Transparent Backflipping Camels 1
08 - 1:02 - Reading Rainbow
09 - 0:23 - PEB 3
10 - 2:09 - Crying Across America
11 - 1:39 - Genuine Hero
12 - 0:29 - Some Junk
13 - 1:50 - Funky Bachelor
14 - 1:17 - Transparent Backflipping Camels 2
15 - 0:24 - PEB 4
16 - 1:45 - Capo 3
17 - 1:33 - Shaking

Download your own free copy here. It's called 240EasyTofuRecipies because my file hosting service keeps deleting it, so I'm trying a different and more boring name. Maybe it will stand this time. Thanks to Douglas Haddow for inspiration. Happy holidays.

Crate Kings 3: Homage To A Misspent Youth

A third mixtape of original instrumentals (a "beatstrumental"?) has been issued by members of the Crate Kings forums. Samples came from music and sounds associated with wasting time when you were a kid: tv themes and movie themes, video game soundtracks, cartoon intros, etc. 17 beatmakesters came up with 28 dope beats , guaranteed to tug your nostalgic heartstrings. Downstroke made the cover art. That's Xtra-K sporting the MPC.

The back cover is maybe a bit tough to read so here's that tracklist again:

00:00 ---- Intro

01:00 ---- P.illa -- Show n' Tell

02:13 ---- Shankems2000 -- Goliath

03:28 ---- Jack Nickelz -- Peanuts

04:28 ---- Downstroke -- Into The Hole

06:16 ---- Grimeshine -- Castlevania

07:36 ---- Channel Surfing I

08:16 ---- Archdukezeb -- Smurf Yourself

10:16 ---- Chi-Stey -- Halo Inda Hood

11:32 ---- Rafferty -- Eight Legs Good

13:15 ---- Panamacanal -- Zelda Meets the Microphone Fiend

14:29 ---- Jack Nickelz -- Be Easy Beat

15:58 ---- SoulSyde -- Karate Kid

17:14 ---- Big Family -- Swat

18:15 ---- Channel Surfing II

19:26 ---- P.illa - Gimme A Break

22:01 ---- Rafferty -- Plumber's Nightmare

22:57 ---- Yabba -- So High

25:07 ---- Jack Nickelz -- Latka Kravitz

26:12 ---- Panamacanal -- Hip Hop Trapped on Camp Crystal Lake

27:45 ---- SoulSyde -- Exorcist

28:40 ---- S2 -- Friday the 13th

30:07 ---- Downstroke -- Sesame Street

33:13 ---- Channel Surfing III

33:47 ---- MrFloyd -- fwarstar

35:43 ---- P.illa -- Harlem Vice

37:27 ---- Rafferty -- Roxy's Theme

39:02 ---- Rayeza Beats -- Kickboxer

41:05 ---- P.illa -- Wonder Wasted Years

42:29 ---- Panamacanal -- Hip Hop's Twilight Zone

43:15 ---- Kid Konnect -- Full Speed Intro 2

45:00 ---- BigRich -- Sanford & Son

46:20 ---- Figment -- Phantom Fuck-Up

If you're just tuning in, I refer you to a previous post. Read more and download it from here, don't miss out.

Crate Kings meets CTI

CTI was a record label through the 60s and 70s (going bankrupt in 1978). They released some good ol' fashioned funky jazz and stuff. Notable artists include Idris Muhammad, Bob James, Grover Washington Jr., Hubert Laws, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Farrell, Seawind, and Deodato.

Some of the fellows over at the Crate Kings forums put togther a little project of hip hop instrumentals and interludes sampling artists from CTI and its subsidiary label, Kudu. This is one of those collaborations made possible by the internet; none of these people, so far as I know, have ever met in real life (which I've heard referred to as "meat space"). Rafferty was responsible for hanging all the tracks together. Check out the cool cover art by Figment above.

01) 00:00 Rafferty -- Introduction

02) 00:41 Figment -- Ladies & Gents (cuts by IllStylus)

03) 01:56 p.illa -- CTI Project 1

04) 02:51 SoulSyde -- Jekyll & Hyde

05) 04:07 Panamacanal -- Murdergrid Almost Done

06) 05:13 MrFloyd -- Throw It On Now

07) 05:48 Rafferty -- All Up On It

08) 07:34 Chi-Stey -- Hiberto

09) 09:10 SoulSyde -- Bootleg

10) 11:09 IllStylus -- CTI Again

11) 12:33 Figment -- Roadways

12) 13:47 Panamacanal -- Super CTI vs the Madd Scientist

13) 15:45 Big Family -- We Ain't Free

14) 16:59 MrFloyd -- Disco Beat (Rafftronic Remix)

15) 18:30 Figment -- Feel Like

16) 20:10 Mach3Beatz -- CTI Entry

17) 22:58 Piecemakuh -- '93 Sound

18) 25:25 Rafferty -- I Might Be Back

19) 26:35 Figment -- Rest Of Your Life

20) 28:43 OliverTone -- Diggin' Piece Of Mind

21) 32:51 a drum interlude

22) 33:06 MrFloyd -- Laws Rain

23) 33:57 Figment -- Deodato Beat

24) 36:12 Panamacanal -- Goes to Visit Idris Muhammad

total running time 40:05

Check it out, these guys came correct. Totally free and everything, of course. Download it here!

This is the second Crate Kings project; don't sleep on the Crate Kings vs. Henry Mancini mixtape you guys. Seriously.