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some bangin mixes, spanning juke, bmore, bassline, and dubstep :: fun at 140 bpm!
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a couple niche/bassline mixes :: get up to speed
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“Middle Eastern Influences in (Prog/Psych) Rock, Folk and Fusion” — a series of curious record reviews (via thomas @ norient.com)
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see video > hip-hop revolution :: excerpt of doc on hip-hop in s.africa
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awesome, hilarious video from one of south africa’s finest
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“it seems there is definitely another hip hop in South Africa.” :: showcasing the non-kwaito side of things
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post on algerian hip-hop (in some cases via france), w/ some nice videos
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finally, a clear, substantive comparison of obama’s and clinton’s records as legislators :: quite a contrast :: study up, chris matthews (and obama surrogates)
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radio killed the hyphy star
audiyoga ::
I’ve not listened much to Bassline before, I quite enjoyed that mix. Is it just me or is there a definite spiritual connection to the Yorkshire “Bleeps & Bass” techno scene ca. 1990? Sheffield seems to like its basslines, then as now. Examples from the Warp and Bassic era:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF0YNXc9Hoo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwdRIk3E6Cw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGL0y_0i0vI
They do seem in the same spirit, innit. At the least there’s some serious aesthetic affinity between the two scenes/sounds — though I’m not sure how much of a genealogical relationship there is, despite geographical ties (let’s not compare apples and ice-cream cones, yeah?). Notably, both seem strongly influenced by video game music, both engage closely with the sounds of (diva)house and (rave)techno.
Some important, zeitgeisty differences, though: 1) bassline shows a much more marked influence from the (Anglo)Caribbean, from soca rhythms to bloodclaat vocals — UK’s post-colonial character finally catching up with itself; and 2) bassline’s bleeps-and-bloops are much more related to today’s specific synth technologies, especially those thick, buzzy, mid-rangey — um — basslines (also found in figdet/electro-house, tho now overshadowed by bassline’s grassroots vivrancy), which seem like a pretty specific response to today’s socio-technological listening contexts: kids blasting tunes on the bus via mobile mp3 players / cellphones, and bloggerheads auditioning mp3s via crappy laptop speakers. Those midrange basslines are the only kind you can hear through these thin plastic boxes.
Hey, the Nightmares on Wax track at least has a-rhythm-that-sounds-almost-like-a-clave in it! That’s anglo-caribbean. Or something. :)
But yeah, the social groups are clearly different – rave was always a fairly middle-class affair. Less so in the north, though, where of course there’s a strong working-class clubbing tradition (not least in Sheffield) going back to northern soul in the sixties.
Even so, I don’t wish to distort the historical record too much. The UK rave scene’s first and second waves (even pre-hardcore/jungle) certainly had their share of JA stylee. (& the term “raving” itself is often attributed to the UK-JA dance hall / blues dance scene.)
Take, for example, this video of a late 80s acid house party. The crowd is largely white, the music straight up 4X4 techno, but the MC is steeped in patois poetics (“Leicester posse!”) —
This is a really nice piece of history. Some original pirate radio from ’89. Centre Force was one of the biggest illegal stations in London that playing rave in the late eighties. Not too much mcing but thats probably a good thing!
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=81C3BG37
Apparently “Centre Force became the first 24/7 pirate acid house station. The station is set up with help from Andy Swallow and other people connected With links to ICF (West Ham United’s football hooligans) . Police ‘intelligence’ and general rumours suggest that Centreforce was run by the ICF.”