cubikmusik

BlogFresh show

Head on over to BlogFreshRadio for the latest show where I talk briefly about Curv's tune' Fuse' along with other tunes from other blogs such as Sound Bites, The Rich Girls are Weeping , Chocolate Bobka and Covert Curiosity.

Happy Birthday to....

...me!

33 years old today (in Irish time).

Life is nothing but big old adventure really; full of music, wonder and laughter and I've got my parents, family and friends to thank for helping me live 33 years with all of that in abundance. So today as I celebrate my 33 years here I will be thinking back on the great living, loving, laughing and listening that I've shared and look forward to many more years of the same.

Kinda weird that I found this tune by Future Loop Foundation today along with story behind the album and the great video that goes with it.
The album 'Memories From A Fading Room' is constructed using recordings from family interviews that have laid dormant in an attic somewhere in the north of England for almost a quarter of a century and comes with an accompanying 50 minute film edited by BAFTA nominee Annie Watson. FLF have assembled a highly personal and organic album around these speeches using electronic and acoustic instruments to present a synth-centred orchestral album that will be released worldwide in June 07.

 

What a glorious tune this is.
Artist: Future Loop Foundation
Tune: Sunshine Philosophy
Download 01_sunshine_philosophy.mp3

Buy tune: Clickgroove
Buy album: Amazon ,Play.com ,iTunes

R.U?

Spent some time today doing some organizing of my office  at home and came across a bunch of CDs that I guess I had never loaded on my computer and so had fallen off the radar.
One such CD was from the super DJ Cam's ' My Playlist' which can be hit or miss depending on your tastes but does contain some gems.
One such is 'R.U?' by Athletic Mic League as described by DJ Cam in this compilation "escape from the motor city "detroit". one of my favourite hip-hop track."
This tune is gritty with its observations and has that great flow that we have come to to love from Detroit-there is no messing with this sound but you still have some west coast sounds hanging out keeping things nice and smooth.
Truly a hip-hop classic.

I gotta do this post as a shout out to Soundnexx up there in Detroit who represents the people that make the music, the music that brings the love and loves the people that bring us the music.
Hats off to you Nexx mate.

Some info. on AML from theirspace:
The six emcees of Athletic Mic League came together while still attending high school in Ann Arbor, MI. Known then as the Anonymous Clique: Buff, 14KT, Grand Champ, Texture, Tres Styles, and Vital joined forces with DJ Haircut and after two years of love and support from the local hip-hop community they made it official. Athletic Mic League was out to show the world what their brand of hip hop was all about.

In November of 2003, AML released their single "Feel It" to a thunderous reaction from the hip hop nation. Their new album Jungle Gym Jungle, is a highly anticipated watershed moment for both Detroit and for hip hop music.

Download 07_r.U_.mp3

And, if you like that, I definitely think you'll like this!

Buy 'My Playlist'
Buy Jungle Gym Jungle

Cumbia

I got this track from Fat Planet back in April and really feel it needs to get out again. It has consistently been played in my car, home, ipod since then. In all honesty I reckon this tune has got to be one of the sexiest electronic tracks that I have ever heard.
The style of El Remolon (who hails from Argentina) could best be described as electro cumbia.
Over at Disco Shawn there is an excellent post on this scene in Argentina and to me it is so exciting to hear these sounds.

Here is a little background on 'cumbia' from that post:
"Cumbia actually originated in Colombia and dates back centuries.....Cumbia has existed in Argentina for decades, largely in its traditional form. In the late 1990's a new brand of cumbia began to emerge - cumbia villera. Emanating from the swelling villas (shanty towns) in the midst of an economic slowdown that would eventually become the crisis of 2001-02, cumbia villera mixed traditional cumbia sounds with hardcore lyrics detailing a world of crime, poverty and drugs."

The rhythms are so very South American with a sway to them that ooze beautiful movement. What happens in this tune though is that it kicks off (excuse the pun) with a massive 808 drum that eases us into hypnotic melodies, electronic tweeks and some of the most beautiful sounds that I have ever heard at around 4:40 mins.
My hat goes off to El Remolon for this one.
By the way- we are expecting El Remolon to post for our "Under the Influence with..." series so if you wanna see that sooner rather than later (as I do) message him here or leave a comment and I'll past it on.
;-).

Download 02_cumbia_bichera.mp3

Get more El Remolon (and other great tunes) over at the pueblo nuevo netlabel.

Cheers

Links...July 19th 2007

First day checking the updated posts since I last checked in a week ago and it sure takes some catching up. There has been some choice tunes posted so here goes with a wrap up.

Dilated Choonz play off each other with some Kenny Dixon Jr., Andres and DJ Dez.
Love that DJ Dez tune.

Horse Latitudes has some Tye Tibbett and GA. Sweet, sweet tune.

If you are in any way into gospel get yourself over to Groovin' You for some Rev.Louis Overstreet.

Fat Planet brings us a great tune (and album) from Villa Diamante.

I love Audio.Out for this. Acid Bass along with the soundtrack to Ibiza(A Short Film About Chilling)

Check out the Straight No Chaser radio show with a lil' summin for the summertime. (Tracklisting here)

Covert Curiosity has some rare DJ Shadow bizness goin' on as well as a link to the live set of the Beastie Boys at Sonar 2007.

I am super jealous of Nialler9 as he got to see Pharoahe Monch in Dublin last night. He has a great review of the show with pics and tunes.

I will post some tunes over the weekend and gotta find one that's extra special for a BlogFreshRadio piece next week.

Cheers.

Links...July 13th 2007

A very quick post today as I am heading for the airport soon to fly to San Diego for a few days.

New blog discvovery this week that I am very excited about. Innersounds
just rocks my world right now and there are too many posts/tunes there for me to list so just head on over there and check it out-nice one.

Second new blog for me this week is One Day Later.
Just some choice tunes there covering an eclectic selection of styles.

GiveMeAural lounges with Nicole Willis and pays tribute. I just can't enough of that tribute tune.

HeadphoneSex has an amazing Pharoahe Monch tune that is super rockin'.

Gotta finish packing!
:-)

Cheers

Snowflakin'

I had forgotten that I had bought this tune a little while back and I didn't even open it up in itunes so I haven't been listening to it. A nice little surprise to find it lurking on my desktop this morning.
It is really a beauty with lazy breakbeats, warm melodies and sounds that just creep out and wrap themselves around you.
This to me is all about magical moments like staying up  all night just to watch the sunrise or just sitting on your porch at night watching snowflakes as they fall slowly to the ground.

Snowflakin' by Jimi Polar is taken off the The Future Classic Exclusives Vol 1, the first in a series that provides a near instantaneous snapshot of some of the essential music being made by our artists by way of regular digital only compilations featuring brand new, previously unreleased material. Check out Future Classics for more info. on this label that also dabbles in design and has a great site to hang out in.

(July 6th- file removed at the request of the label).

 

Cheers,
Cubik

No hats, no trainers

"No hats, no trainers" (for those of you that haven't experienced that line from a bouncer) is a rule than many clubs in the British Isles have in an effort to try and stop the 'wrong' crowd from coming in.
Trainers=tennis shoes in USA speak.
Personally I (a) don't understand it as it applies to 'dance' clubs that I used to frequent. If I am going out to dance my night away you can be assured that I am not gonna do so in shoes and so (b) I don't/ haven't gone to clubs with such rules.

Shameless is from East London with a mix of Irish and is backed by the wonderfully named PaddyRaggaband. Check out this great interview with him here along with the excellent album, Smokers Die Younger that this tune, 'No Hats, No Trainers' is taken from.

Shameless with PlanB brings us this rockin club track that is a commentary on the weird and wonderful world that contains the policies of no hats and no trainers. This mix is brought from DJ Die and Ben Westbeech that we featured here a while back.
This takes a super ska driven hip-hop track and wraps it up in some jumping drum 'n' bass that can't fail to move.

Download dj_die_ben_westbeech_remix.mp3

Buy tune from Clickgroove
Buy album from USA/ UK

BlogFresh Links

It has been a quiet time over here in cubikland as I have been super busy in the real world what with work and summer classes in college. I've also been kinda sick the past few weeks so not been on form to get super excited about too many tunes.

This week is cool though as tomorrow if July 4th (Independence Day) so I don't have to work.
There is something nice about a Tuesday night, drinking beers and not having to worry about getting up  to work tomorrow. Its also my 6th wedding anniversary on Thursday but we will hang out tomorrow to celebrate so thats to be looked forward to. :-)

So-a few things to bring to you as I play catch up on linking to some nice stuff that been going on:

BlogFreshRadio has been very active the past few weeks and CubikMusik has been lucky enough to be invited to join Alex and team.
A few weeks back I was on the show talking about the music from the movie 'Once' that I am such a huge fan of. You may remember me mentioning it back in May. What a movie-a must see.

Yesterday BlogFresh posted their summer mix tape and it has been on Play with me every time I get into my car. A nice selection of tunes to get you into the summer mood.

From the mix tape I have found a great new artist and one of my new favourite blogs that introduced me to him.
The blog is Chocolate Bobka ,wonderfully described as such "Some Dudes from Jersey share their favorite music. Organic Grade A Tunes, Served Fresh Daily. We care about music, not spelling."
Nice one! There aren't enough hours in today to explore the great posts that these guys have put up since begining in April this year.
Choice tunes guys-cheers.
Onto the tune that Chocolate Bobka contributed to the mixtape.
OCDJ brings us what is self described as "Candy Crunk, Chip Chop Dance Classixzzzzz". Chocolate Bobka sent this out in May so I am behind with this one. Get these fresh sounds onto your speakers NOW! (And check out my next post for a tune that will follow along nicely to this).
Download pls_stp_th_hstl.mp3

One of the bonuses of writing a blog such as CubikMusik is that I get to chat with people from around the world that otherwise I may not get to come across and share tunes with.
Another great blog that has come across my radar recently is Give Me Aural coming to us out of Oz.
Great posts with tunes and lots of nice writing.
Check out some recent posts on Jimi Tenor, covers of Stevie Wonder and some Lanu.
Evan also shared some pre-Cut Copy Cut Copy tunes that are just super-nice one mate.
You also need to post that 'Tribute' tune-gets my goosebumps going every time mate.

Here is a roundup of some other choice tunes from the past few weeks:
Game Over with Nialler9
Groovin' You gives me the bumps
Get some Sandals over at another favourite of mine right now, Audio.Out
Keep it on the down low with Jackmaster Charles and Pound for Pound

Our Under the influence series has not gone away. This really is my favourite part of CubikMusik so I've been lining up some pretty sweet artists to share their musical influences. Of course (like the rest of us) they are busy so check back in the next month or so and we should have an update.
Also-I know that JC's Vinyl Room has been particulary quiet lately  what with Glastonbury, a new job and two beautiful kids to distract but hopefully he will find some time to share some of that lovely vinyl that he has just gagging to be heard. ;-)

Lastly, but not leastly, I am getting a mix together for my mate Fi's birthday so if you would like a copy drop me a line.

Cheers,
Cubik