cubikmusik

Mo' Mess

Artist: Poets of Rhythm
Tune: Mo' Mess On My Thing

A super top track from the Poets of Rhythm on the mighty Quannum.
Thank you to Josh in San Diego for introducing me to this. Man- we would play this out at our bar show and parties and it would be such fun.
A funkfest at it's best-such tight production with that sexy bassline, organs grooving and horns to blow your mind.
A great compliment to the Funk Divas posted earlier today.

Download 09_mo_mess_on_my_thing.mp3

Cheers,

Cubik

Funky Divas

Two tunes now-both from some of the funkiest divas that have graced our ears!

Artist: Faith Evans
Tune: Mezmerized
Album: The First Lady.

WOW! As soon as I heard this I thought of Vicki Anderson. This has funky basslines, a solid beat and Faith Evans giving us her all as she belts out this mezmerizing tune. This is old school funk at its finest and Faith Evans shows us that she is truly the first lady in this track. Turn it up and groove away.
Download 02_mesmerized.mp3

Artist: Vicki Anderson
Tune: Message to the Soul Sisters
Source: Funky Divas- compliation of tracks by James Brown's backing singers.

Off one of the best compilations that I have ever tracked down. A double CD of pure R&B, soul and funk.
It also has some original beats that hip-hop heads will most definitely recognize.
I don't know what to say about this track-just listen away and enjoy the funk.
Download 05_message_to_the_soul_sisters.mp3

Cheers,

Cubik

Sow into you

Artist: Roisin Murphy
Tune: Sow Into You
Source: Sequins EP Two (Vinyl)

Sex-funk at its best from the wonderful Roisin Murphy. This is definitely a grower, with some some amazing arrangments that surround the sultry voice. Try and listen to this on headphones if your sound system isn't the best-there are all kinds of magical sounds that lurk in the background that just finish this off so well.
From the site: 'The funk is all built around brass stabs, a chasing bass line and Roisin’s strange assertion that she “chose you for your wave frequency”. It’s primetime.'

This is on the Gilles Peterson Sessions compilation that was mentioned a few weeks ago but I am giving you the EP version as I already gave three tracks from the Gilles Peterson compilation and you should buy it. :-)

Download sow_into_you.mp3

Also check out here for some posts with the remixes of this great track.

Cheers

Cubik

Hygh

Artist: Up Hygh
Tune: The Gift
Source: Urban Visionaries: Jugglin' With Raw Fusion (Compilation).

This is pure physchedelic funk with a down and dirty beat and low bass. From Sweden, Up Hygh are a gem that have yet to really hit the USofA the way they have in Europe. These guys deliver some more of that future funk that has me hooked right now. This track is basically about the gift of music that is being delivered......"this music is mine, but I'm giving it all to you......we got the funk for you, I know you need it....soul music, music from the soul, theres no music without soul, share your soul, set your soul free but whatever you do don't sell your soul."
Ok, so it might sound all hippiness and I'm generally not sold on that but man this tune just gets me everytime. Perhaps I should use it as the CubikMusik theme. :-)
On the Swedish Brandy label you can find their stuff in various formats online so please check them out.
Download 09_the_gift.mp3

Also check out this Nordic wonder
Artist: Jimi Tenor
Tune: Outta Space
This track goes out to Sandra-yeh! :-)
6.5 minutes of cosmic funk like you've never heard! A heaving bassline with a saxaphone and horn intro brings us into sweeping organ funk and swinging beat that sweeps you off into space "hang on, hang on, hang on. keep grooving in outta space....s.p.a.c.e.d o.u.t"
This track is like a big band classic of the future-Glen Miller meets Platinum Piped Pipers.
Turn this one up in your headphones and feel your head bopping.
Download 01_outta_space.mp3

If you like these check this out-'I believe in you'

Cheers,

Cubik

I want to ride my motorbike!

Artist: Mu-Ziq
Title: The Motorbike
Album: Royal Astronomy, Virgin (1999)
This fucker still knocks my socks off. Mike Paradinas' (aka Kid Spatula, Jake Slazenger) answer to the drill 'n' bass crew, it stands out like an angry scab from the rest of the album. Starting off with a hip-hop sample that I'm sure the CubikMuzik crowd will recognise, but I'll be damned if I know, it just keeps building in layers and layers, peaks, stops..and starts all over again. And you can dance to it....if you like pogo-ing up and down on the spot. Wicked.

Posted by Foges!.
Cheers Foges-nice one. Cubik.
Download 06_the_motorbike.mp3

Open Mic

Artist: Oddisee
Tune: Open Mic

We just hear enough from Oddisee at all. This is quite possibly one of the best MCs around-he just knocks me down with his word skills and serious beats.
"I make the beats that you like, I write the rhymes you recite, I bring the girls that look tight. Come see me at Open Mic".
This track has a huge, slow bassline that shakes you all up-your head will be swaying....in a good way!
"I'm as serious as a heart attack. You could x-ray my essays to see where my heart is at."
Download 04_open_mic_oddisee.mp3

Also check out Rappers I Know to get an Oddisee MixTape (foot in the door).

The Message

Artist: Dr.Dre
Tune: The Message
Album: Chronic: 2001 Instrumentals

There is something to be said for instrumental versions of hip-hop tracks. I dunno what it is about them but they seem to take on a new life, and excuse the pun, a new message.
I will be honest an admit that, if one exists, I have never heard the version of this tune with singing/rapping and I don't think I want to. This track, with its laid back, West coast beat and amazing orchestral melodies has a clear message for me and that is, Dr. Dre is one amazing musician with a ear that could easily have been classically trained and primed because he knows how to push those musical buttons.
This is a song for all so if you have never listened to any Dr.Dre before let this be your introduction.
Download 20_the_message.mp3

If you like this, also check out this five minute blunt from Terence Parker.

Madlib live mix at Chocolate City

WOW-I just found this on the StonesThrow site. This is a 60 minute DJ set from Chocolate City in 2001 where Madlib came into the studio and played-all music, no talking. Sweet. You can download it from the StoneThrow site or here!
***This file is 55MB****

This radio mix has been removed at the request of the record label 'Stones Throw'

"We worked out with KCRW and Madlib putting that on the Stones Throw site exclusively, and we’d like to keep it on the Stones Throw site exclusively.  Can you remove it? "

Headblock

Two tunes from the very talented BlockHead on NinjaTunes.

Artist: Blockhead
Tune: Carnivores Unite
I was introduced to Blockhead through the amazing tune, Carnivores Unite, a few months back and it is a sweet track. A sweeping song that has a great symphonic intro that leads to an amazing kick drum beat and bassline-this tune grooves and flows it's way effortlessly through almost 5 minutes. Blockhead is a clean producer who clearly understands how to structure his music 'just so'.
Download carnivores_unite.mp3

Artist: Blockhead
Tune: The Art Of Walking
Album: Downtown Science
Man oh man-what a rocking tune. This has one of the funkiest basslines that I have come across in years...so disco but with a gospel twist. You can't help but move to this one.
This track begins with one of those great pisstakes on a 50's advert on music that introduces us to the various elements that we can expect in the track.....the 'low low bass tones', 'the brilliance of the treble tones' and 'the lifelike presence of the midrange tones'.
Download 07_the_art_of_walking.mp3

Get that money so you are hot like we.

Two tracks today-both dancehall rockers.

Artist: Cecile
Tune: Hot Like We.

Too much! I got this a few weeks ago off the Ode To A Dying DJ compilation by Mark Rae( pretty execellent comp by the way).
This is a guaranteed floor filler/ head turner! A dancehall track that has a solid, off kilter beat, slightly faster than most dancehall I listen to but this track just pulls you in. Cecile has this way of singing at you that is mesmerizing- you just want more!

Please note: this track is taken from a mix CD so it starts off being mixed in from another track and it cuts off at around 4 minutes. Sorry, but I can't locate a 'pure' track anywhere.
Download 03_hot_like_we.mp3

Artist: Ms.Thing
Tune: Get That Money

From the superb compilation of dancehall, hip-hop crossover tracks, Nice Up The Dance,  from Soul Jazz Records. I picked this up used in Amoeba and it is one of my best purchases over the past few years.
This tune is like Hot Like We but a bit slower. This has the same driving style to the beat with Ms.Thing throwing out her slang like there is no tomorrow. A very sexy and fun tune. Another guaranteed floor filler/ head turner for your next party.

Someday I'll get to Jamaica to experience hot reggae/dancehall straight from it's source! :-)

Download 03_get_that_money.mp3

Do your thing

Artist: Martin Brew
Tune: I can do my thing

Martin Brew, who also shows off his musical talents under the guise of J-Walk
and Strange Brew, drops this big crunchy tune with sublime mellow moments,  electronic disco (this is how it's done Madonna!) and driving beats. It starts off slowly but after 3 minutes it kicks into a  stomper-turn it up loud for the full stereo effect.
Off his first solo album, No Room In The City For Big Hearts Like Ours, this is on the excellent FatCity label from Manchester you can't go wrong getting with this program.
Download 09_i_can_do_my_thing.m4a

Layout update

Please check out the left menu-I have added a section called All Tunes (thanks Keith). This section has direct links to the MP3s posted on CubikMusik so you can get straight to the music without having to search through the archives.
Any feedback-positive or negative is appreciated so that I can work on making improvements.

Cheers

Cubik

Are you acperienced?

Artist: Hardfloor
Tune: Acperience

Well, here is another old school acid tune that I had pulled from the vaults.
This was the first acid/house/trance/techno tune that I ever heard! At the time I was listening to Sonic Youth, Pixies, The Smiths, etc. so this came as an absolute surprise to me-of course I asked 'what is that and where can I hear more?'. Little did I realise that it was the begining of a bit of a journey that would involve many tunes like this one.
Anyho.
Starting off with one of the most solid kick beats you'll ever come across the acid 303 is slowly introduced (sounding remarkably like a demented rubber band), then the hi-hats start snapping and away we go.
This track comes in at a whopping 8 minutes and it is acid 303 onslaught pretty much all the way with finely tuned layers of 303 interwined and flowing over each other . With a build up around 3 minutes into it that'll rock you out and another one at around 6 minutes that'll finish you off! If anyone has heard The Streets' 'We All Sing'-this song is what he was talking about, excpet we weren't signing very much to be honest. :-)
Great track-gets my hair standing on end every time.
So...big up to the UFO crowd...you know who you are

Download 05_hardfloor_hardtrance_acperience.mp3

You been cubed

Artist: Ice Cube
Tune(s): It was a good day

This is dedication week!Kinda joking.
I would like to shout out to Mr.Sam back home though. He was listening to Ice Cube in C**low, Ireland way back before most of us knew what the f**k hip-hop was.
I was flicking through my tv channels yesterday and some new hip-hop guy was playing his top 20/50/whatever top videos and along came Ice Cube with 'it was a good day'.
What a cool ass tune-very simple but very powerful.
Ice Cube basically running through a day with all of the shit that could have gone down and gone wrong for him but didn't. This song has to be listened to by everyone. If you are offended easily listen to it anyway-you need to hear what story was being told.

Download 07_it_was_a_good_day.mp3

Loopy baby

Artist: Pizzaman
Tune: Babyloop

Ah, the good old days. This track goes out to the one and only JC. Many a night we would sit in his gaff listening to this, and others like it, until the wee hours.
Pizzman is (primarily), the one and only Norman Cook/FatboySlim and was formed around 1995.

This track is a classic old dance tune with a slow build up, solid driving beat, yummy squelchy acid (303) and a break that would get all the arms in the air back in the day.
Definitely fun to listen to now.
If only I could slow it down a bit......the duracell bunny is loosing his energy!
;-)
Download 04_babyloop.mp3

Japanese Mathematics

Artist: Sharpshooters
Tune: Japanese Mathematics
Album: Twice as Nice

This tune hit me in a similar way to 'This Room' posted a few days ago.
I am on my way to get some more of it these guys here.
It is such a tight and well produced song with a slow and funky driving beat and some great japanese string samples with some amazing horn playing that seems to tell a story without any words (my favourites). A song for sitting with some beers in the sun with your mates or just driving around.
A sweet, sweet track.
Download japanese_mathematics.mp3

Phone is ringing

Artist: Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf
Tune: Phone Ring Track

This is a white label from Stones Throw that I found about 6 months ago. It a very simple hip-hop track with beats from Peanut Butter Wolf laying down a solid ass beat and Charizma just spitting his magic rhymes. One of my favourite 3 minute blunts.
Download 01_phone_ring_track_by_charizma.mp3

Treachery

Artist: Phyliss Dillon
Tune: Perfidia

I am trying a new method to pick tunes to bring to CubikMusik as I find that I recommend tunes that have my attention right now and that means that you miss out on all the great stuff from the past. I chuck on my headphones, turn it up and hit shuffle and wander around my library to find something.
I got this song originally from a Mark Lamar Compilation of Rocksteady and Ska tracks.
A classic old song that you may remember from the film, Mambo Kings, sung by Linda Ronstadt (don't worry, I won't impose that on you!).

Phyliss Dillons brings you a wonderful rocksteady version that is a great love song. I added this to a compilation for a San Diego shoe store about two years ago and the guys were telling me that on a Saturday, with a full shop, about 90% of the people would ask what the song was-it's just that kinda tune.
So, grab your partner by the hand and have a little dance together.
Download 18_perfidia.mp3