Wrapped in Plastic

January Mix

01/04

January's mix is here

To paraphrase my friend Sig, listening to this may evoke a desire to be in a VIP booth, passing the Courvoisier. Ever since Raphael Saadiq's "Instant Vintage" album became the de facto soundtrack for extended New Year's celebrating one year ago, I've been paying more attention to R&B and soul (along with a bunch of other DJs, judging from what I've been hearing at the Top), and that's inspired this mix, along with a couple good friends who recently had birthdays. (shouts to Loax and Oze)

This mix is a bit unique in that it's the first I've done of exclusively vocal tracks, and all share a soul/r&b influence. A couple artists who have been quite inspiring this year are Yam Who and Blackbeard, UK 'pirate soul' remixers who have been doing some stunning reworks of both mainstream (Nas, Raphael Saadiq, Freeway, Pharrell Williams) and underground artists. They deepen the originals, stretching them out and discarding the more commercial elements - Freeway's rap is completely excised on the version of "Alright" here - and in the process recontextualize them, as in Blackbeard's stunning organ-led jazz take on Nas's "Heaven." It's an ethic that's also displayed on the opener, a remix of North Carolina soul artist Calvin Richardson by Darkstarr. One question, though - who the heck is Darkstarr?

The rest of the tracks are more straight ahead versions - 2003 breakout Detroit artists Dwele and Amp Fiddler are represented, with album tracks from their respective debuts (Fiddler also does the vox on the Only Child track), and another new artist, Venus Malone is also here. The Ohio-born Malone, now based in Germany, put out one of my absolute favorite albums of the year (so good I picked it up on CD, too, just so I could listen to it in the car), "Pretty on the Inside." It took awhile to get decent distribution here in the states, but should be around now. Les Nubians pop up with their French cover of Sade's classic, given a bit more motion by Philly's The Roots, and there's another classic tune here in cover form, Omar and Angie Stone's update of the William DeVaughn essential "Be Thankful For What You've Got."

Lyrics in this genre can get a bit trite at times, but many of these tracks seem to have something to say; something to relate to beyond cliched love/loss themes. (although those are there too). Anyway, I hope you enjoy, and if you have any questions about any of these, I'm happy to help out. If you like this stuff, I'd recommend going over to Groove Distribution and picking up the Yam Who double CD, as well as checking his mix out at Batacuda (under 06).

1 Calvin Richardson - More Than A Woman [Darkstarr mix]
2 Dwele - Truth
3 Venus Malone - Eye on the Prize
4 Les Nubians - Tabou [Roots remix]
5 Common - Come Close To Me [Blackbeard rework]
6 Nas feat. Jully - Heaven [Blackbeard rework]
7 Only Child - U Bring Me Vibes [DJ DSL remix]
8 Earth Wind & Fire - Brazillian Rhyme [Bozo Meko edit]
9 Xantone Blacq - Search For The Sun
10 Amp Fiddler - Dreamin'
11 Omar feat. Angie Stone - Be Thankful [Soul Inside mix]
12 Andreus - Mississippi
13 DJ First Rate feat. John Maccallum - One Day
14 Freeway feat. Allen Anthony - Alright [Blackbeard rework]
15 Raphael Saadiq - Sky's The Limit [Yam Who mix]

Posted by Joe at January 11, 2004 03:24 PM