Rafferty Funksmith -- Live Vinyl Set @ the Royal -- March 29th 2011

Rafferty Funksmith - Live Vinyl Set @ the Royal - March 29 2011 by Rafferty Funksmith

There's more info at the soundcloud page if you want. Basically it was a night I played with Joel West, and we swapped off every hour or so. So at the beginning of the mix you hear Joel's last track, and at the end you hear Joel get back on for 3 tracks.
Here's a tracklist for those of you who like to look at lists of tracks:

01 The Chilites --- Have You Seen Her
02 Dr Dre --- Nothin But A G Thang
03 Radiohead --- The National Anthem / Audio II --- Top Billin' (acapella)
04 Bill Withers --- Kissin' My Love
05 Edan --- The E's Have It
06 Taj Mahal --- Gonna Buy You A Chevrolet
07 Gang Starr --- Full Clip
08 A Tribe Called Quest --- Check The Rhime
09 The Meters --- Funky Miracle
10 The Chambers Brothers --- Funky
11 Trouble Funk --- E Flat Boogie
12 James Brown --- Soul Power
13 Parliament --- Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucka)
14 Sly & The Family Stone --- Thank You Fahlettinme Be Mice Elf Agin
15 Blondie --- Rapture
16 KC & The Sunshine Band --- I Get Lifted
17 Otis & Carla --- Tramp
18 The Chilites --- We Are Neighbors
19 Manu Dibango --- Weya
20 War --- Galaxy

Then Joel finishes it off with:

21 Meco --- Star Wars
22 Prince --- Kiss
23 The Isley Brothers --- Fight the Power

Oh man, you don't even know.

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?

Rafferty's Magic Funk Balm

Rafferty Records has a little something-something for your hungry ears: an all-vinyl funk/disco/soul extravaganza. It's basically a dream come true, but see for yourself:

01 Timmy Thomas - Why Can't We Live Together
02 Quincy Jones - Boogie Joe the Grinder
03 Blondie - Rapture
04 James Brown - Soul Power
05 The Player's Association - Love Hangover
06 Raydio - Hot Stuff
07 David Matthews with Whirlwind - Gotta Be Where You Are
08 Taj Mahal - West Indian Revelation
09 Brick - Happy
10 Ramsey Lewis - Hot Dawgit
11 The Commodores - Look What You've Done To Me
12 Kenny Rogers - Tulsa Turnaround
13 Galt MacDermot - Aquarius
14 Donovan - Hurdy Gurdy Man
15 The Honeydrippers - Impeach the President
16 Joe Tex - I Gotcha
17 The Soul Searchers - Ashley's Roachclip

click here for the one-track version at Soundcloud, for streaming/downloading
click here for the mix separated into 17 tracks, suitable for your car or whatever

Thanks for listening!

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!

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.

Thistledown Roadtrip Mix

a little mix from Rafferty, for Thistledowne's BC/Alberta tour, chock-full of inside jokes you won't understand unless you're in Thistledowne. Which you probably aren't. Hip hop, funk, jazz, rock and soul, together at last.

The Thistledowne Roadtrip Mix

01) The Honeydrippers - Impeach the President
02) Dynasty - Adventures in the Land of Music
03) The Spinners - It's a Shame (Rafferty's Come Get Some Mix)
04) 9th Creation - Bubblegum
05) Brother Ali - Uncle Sam Goddam
06) Radiohead - I Will
07) J Dilla f Pharoahe Monch - Love
08) Redbone - Come and Get Your Love
09) Roy Ayers - Everybody Loves the Sunshine
10) Pharoahe Monch - The Light
11) Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
12) Pete Rock & CL Smooth - T.R.O.Y.
13) Aspen Switzer vs Edan - Fumbling Over Words That Rhyme (Rafferty's Winter Mix)
14) Magnum - It's the Music that Makes Us Do It
15) Charles Earland - Betty's Dilemma
16) Cold Crush Brothers - Fresh, Wild, Fly & Bold
17) Abdominal - Pedal Pusher
18) J Dilla - Stop
19) Nice & Smooth - Sometimes I Rhyme Slow
20) Danger Doom - Old School (f Talib Kweli)
21) Paramedic - Ol Skoolin

Like I said, full of inside jokes, and weird awkward changes, and obtuse track selections. Also it's not divided into separate songs; it's just one long unwieldy track.

Should you still want to listen to it, you'll find it in here. Enjoy.