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!

Jesse's EP for the 2009 Holiday Season

I'm gonna have to get a new free file-hosting situation, because 4shared likes to occasionally delete files for no apparent reason. Also last year they declared one of our files to be a violation of copyright without telling us or asking us about it. (They were correct, but still. Rafferty Records isn't about making fat cash selling music, either our own or sampled; and we are well below the radar; and as Biz Markie once said, everyone else is doing it. Go pick on someone else.) If anyone knows of a hassle-freer way to go please let us know.

Anyways, here's a little something from Jesse over at Rafferty Records. It's 7 tracks, originals and covers, instrumentals and songs. Recorded entirely at Sound Peaks Audio House in Nelson BC, late at night. Maybe I'll scan the cover later and post it up here, it's kinda nice. Tracklist:

1 The Hammond Trick
2 Roll Again
3 Sunny Goodge Street (by Donovan)
4 One From the Farm
5 RTD (by Beck)
6 The Krux (by Arthur Lilliott & Jesse Lee)
7 Into Dust (by Mazzy Star, tasty saxophone by Ben Eurby)

Click HERE to get your copy, and thanks for checking it out.

Yo 4shared, it's all live instruments, so leave us alone.

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!

2000 visitors!

hey, just wanted to note that we've had over 2000 unique visitors since February 2008. None of you people leave any comments, but you do download the music at a fair clip, so... I hope you're all enjoying it.


What's up Europe. What's up North Carolina. Thanks for stopping by. We here at Rafferty Records are gonna keep the content rolling so please, check in now and then. Leave us a comment sometime, it may save a life.

15 Minutes of Funky Jams from Rafferty

Hey... Raff's been busy in the lab brewing up a mix for your tender ears.

Git it here.

Make the music with your mouth, Kyran

Sorry about how loud our muffler is.