Mixtape 8 - 2010-04-02

Happy April, all -- and welcome Nabil to the team. We have a great mixtape this week, as always.

Charles Mingus - II B.S.
Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus (1963)

Nabil: Despite the fact that he is one of the true fathers of the bass (and one of Pastorius's main influences), Charles Mingus still remains widely unappreciated. II B.S., more commonly known as the Haitian Fight Song, is off his 1963 album Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus and sounds like it is years ahead of its time, featuring Mingus's always catchy yet technical basslines and your standard set of saxophones and muted brass*.
*The horns were always great because if they weren't...Mingus beat the crap out of them (seriously).

The Slew - You Turn Me Cold
100% (2009)

Chris: Most of the themes on this album were previously sketched out on Kid Koala's mixtape "Your Mom's Favorite DJ," on which he playfully bounced rock samples off of each other with turntablist flair. So imagine my excitement when I found out that Kid Koala created a project to flesh out these themes into a full album! Turntablism is a dying scene but there is still unexplored territory, as shown by the Slew.

Lee Morgan - Cornbread
Cornbread (1965)

Elliot: The first few weeks of spring always put me in a Hard Bop kind of mood. They overplay Lee Morgan to death on my local radio station, but I'm on spring break right now and it was nice to hear familiar tunes like this one while cruising around town, so I thought I'd share. Lee Morgan on trumpet, Hank Mobley on tenor sax, Jackie McLean on alto sax, Herbie Hancock on piano, Larry Ridley on bass, Billy Higgins on drums.

Ephel Duath - Hole IV
Pain Remixes The Known (2007)

Sidd: Coming from Italian masterminds Ephel Duath, this album is actually a remix [by Eraldo Bernocchio] of their "Pain Necessary To Know" album [which is equally amazing and much different]. The grooves on this song are so tight you can't help but "get yo' groove on". Apart from the tasty grooves, the combination of metal + electronic music is done amazingly [if not perfectly] on this song, and this entire album. Enjoy.

Reflection Eternal - Expansion Outro/For Women
Train of Thought (2000)

Neil: Since we were talking about seeing Kweli I figured I might as well put a Nina Simone song up.

Nobody - Green Means
Soulmates (2000)

Tony: Nobody's intense, atmospheric style is hypnotic with reverb drenched, spacey samples. Though I'm not a bigger fan of his later works, this album is a must have for any fans of Shadow, Krush, et cetera.