Asia-Afrika brings their latest collaboration mixtape with Whiteboard Journal. Titled W Dub, the mix consists of classic and heavy dub tracks from legendary artists such as King Tubby, Lee Perry, Aggrovator, Dennis Brown, etc.
The mix begins with spacey and planetary vibes from the vulcan, a side project of keyboardist Ken Elliot who was in the prog-rock band Second Hand. Then there is Money, a track from Easy Star All-Star band. The tunes open with the sound of bong hits and coughing, then grooves to slow and dubby reggae beats. Afterwards there’s Jungle Lion, Lee Perry’s infamous track, combining Al-Green’s famous guitar riddim with a unique blend of murky rhythm tracks, heavy bass, thunderous drum and distant-sounding horns.
The mixtape continues with several dubs tracks from King Tubby, Don Corleone, Aggrovator, reaching its end with slower tempo of Lover Rock style from Dennis Brown with the reggae version of Black Magic Woman before finally ending with Red Red Wine’s original version by Tony Tribe. All these tracks are compiled and mixed by Lion Rock and added with deejaying (toasting/mc) from Ras Muhamad, bringing the dub reggae style version into the next level. Asia-Afrika sound choose to collaborate with Whiteboard Journal to expand the musicality and the culture to wider audiences, Asia-Afrika Soundsystem believe that Reggae is for everyone, each person should enjoy and learn the culture.
01. The Vulcan – Star Trek
02. Lee “Scratch” Perry & The Upsetter – Zion Blood
03. Easy Star All-Star – Money
04. Don Corleone – Wrong Side in Dub
05. Alborosie – Dub inna Baltimore
06. Gregory Isaccs – Night Nurse Dub
07. Lee “Scratch” Perry & The Upsetter – Jungle Lion
08. Tapper Zukie – Dub MPLA
09. King Tubby – Inna fine style
10. King Tubby – Conversation Dub
11. Lee “Scratch” Perry & The Upsetter – Enter The Dragon
12. Lee “Scratch” Perry – Sensimilia Dub
13. The Aggrovator – Move out of Babylon
14. Dennis Brown – Black Magic Woman
15. Lee Perry & The Silverstones – Finger Mash
16. Tony Tribe – Red Red Wine
I’ve always been fascinated with rhythm and it’s ability to create the illusion of motion. Rhythm is the source of the head bop, meditative in its repetition, disorienting you when it scatters, excite or lull you - it is the vehicle that takes you from the beginning to the end of a song. With this idea of rhythm and motion in mind, these are a selection of favorites from recent years that I feel put rhythm and its percussive quality in the spotlight. Enjoy.
01. Psychic Ills – East
02. Black Dice – Motorcycle
03. OOIOO – ATS
04. Islaja – Palaa Aurinkoon
05. Animal Collective – We Tigers
06. Nymph – Reeds of Osirion
07. Growing – Rave Pie Only
08. Dirty Projectors – I Sit on the Ridge at Dusk
09. Olaibi – 太陽
10. Gang Gang Dance – God’s Money V
11. Magik Markers – Brighton
It’s Independence Day month and our own Robin Hood is back! Yes I’m talking about Si Pitung and he returns with appearances in this rap flavoured Independence Day Mixtape. Why Si Pitung I hear you ask? Well because he’s a badass gangsta who fought and died struggling against the tyranny of colonial oppression, and if he were around today he’d probably some tough-as-nails emcee from somewhere in Senen, that’s why. So here are some angry rap tracks, happy rhymes, political rants, trivial hip-hopping as well as some things that aren’t rap at all but funky nonetheless.
01. Pitung Arrives
02. Homicide – Semiotika Rajatega
03. Iwa K – Tikus Got (Live)
04. Pitung Aint Dead
05. Ndeesaster – Those Days
06. Swerte, Young Vaughn & Serenada Iblis – The Recipe
07. Ronin (Intellek & Kenji) – Senapan Lirik
08. Dynomonk (Jedimonk & Danger Dope) – 02. Jangan Coba-Coba & Hallow Doggy
09. Pembalasan Si Pitung
10. Homicide – Puritan
11. Serenada Iblis & .Xceptional of Manifestone - The Illusion of Tolerance
12. Pitung Says F**k You
13. I Wayan Sadra – Bola Telah Lama Menggelinding
Ever since the long cold European winter forced him to spend more time indoors, jan learned to keep himself busy by listening to all kinds of music he could get his hands on. This kind of unnatural activity subsequently lead to a number of unhealthy obsession with certain artists, eras or genres for which he has since received the appropriate treatment. Now aiming to awaken the dormant music-lover that resides within every (wo)man.
Here is a mixtape consisting of songs that are clearly pop songs, songs that could have been pop songs, songs that should be considered pop songs and songs that are obviously not pop songs.
01. The Radio Dept. – Heaven on Fire
02. Matmos – Public Sex for Boyd Mcdonald
03. Stereolab – Emperor Tomato Ketchup
04. Spoon – My Mathematical Mind
05. Are You Employed Mr. Lebowski?
06. Television – Little Johnny Jewel (Part 1&2)
07. Silver Apples – Oscillations
08. Björk – Venus as a Boy
09. Mulatu Astatke – Asmarina (My Asmara)
10. Minutemen – The Cheerleaders
11. Cee-Lo Green – Talking to Strangers
12. William Shatner – Mr. Tambourine Man
13. Yo La Tengo – If It’s True
14. Guv’ner – Tom Tom
Whiteboard Journal managed to lure Aardvarck to burrow into his crate of vinyl and ended up with a mix of starts with raw club banging hip hop, honest & straight forward dirty south, cocaine rap, weird R&B, Big Boi himself, and progresses neatly into experimental nu-funk, nu-soul, dub, a little bit of jungle and of course some hardcore dubstep.
In South Africa, the Aardvark, sometimes called “antbear”, “anteater”, “Cape anteater” “earth hog” or “earth pig”, is a medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal animal that feeds almost exclusively on ants and termites. In Amsterdam, despite living in his own funky lair, Aardvarck the DJ, however, is one of Amsterdam’s best-known and experienced spinners/producers. Part of numerous local and international collectives, namely Rednose Distrikt, Viral Radio Amsterdam, Rush Hour and faux-Brazilian collective Mochilla, Aarvarck’s avant-garde career of hip hop, disco, funk, jazz & new wave goes back 25 years. The digger can also count Thom Yorke of Radiohead as a fan!
The second time Bergas Haryadita sent Whiteboard Journal a mix, it is this one called "Summer Cuts" which features a mix of uplifting and relaxing tracks. This is what Bergas had to say about the mix:
It’s always a pleasure when Max asked me to do a mix and this one is no different and his lovely Icha new born baby Odetta… WELCOME =) And this mix is also for all my friends who just had or is now raising their precious little ones that make them smile and rejoice the joy of being here. I’m feeling the warm and sunny side of the season now, it’s June and winter dressed up and left the building! So check these ‘Summer Cuts’, put on the shades and pop a cold one with the loved ones because summer is definitely here to hang =) -B
