Levels

Ronald Shannon Jackson • Puttin' On The Dog

Currently putting some artist specific mixtapes together,
one of them being Ronald Shannon Jackson.

This track from his album Pulse has gotten a lot of play of late.

QP VS JC • THE CAGE | BLACK ICE CARTEL

Space Capsule • Bill Laswell interview 2012

Stylo350s Mixtape 00

Finally jumped on the mixtape bandwagon, anyways enjoy. Will try to knock a few out before the inevitable...

01. Caminho • Ramiro Musotto

02. Kala • Mbongwana Star

03. Ubombo [Smith & Mighty Remix] • Madala Kunene

04. Sessaphêre • Audun Kleive

05. Be Ki Don (Cockpit Dub) • Schneider TM

06. Humble • Paul St. Hilaire

07. Blue Fire Celebration • Summit

08. Waldron's Lament • Rhythmic Theory

09. Hello Bored Biz Man • Mu

10. Nhem Nhem Nhem • Totonho E Os Cabra




 

Katie Gately • Lift

 More pop music like this please.

Pat Thomas • Remembering

Pat Thomas is a very special musician in that he plays a great variety of musics, and uses electronics as well as piano and Synthesizer. He is equally comfortable in playing jazz avant-garde improvised music, multiple genres of rock and fusion as well as jungle. Sampling and the jazz anaesthetic are fused on this CD to make a unique hour of music. Here Jungle embraces a high level of creativity and freedom that is usually only associated with jazz. These sounds are the heart and soul of this very gifted musical being. Listen.

Joe Gallivan 

(Album liner notes)

1. One Nation

2. Remembering

3. The Way To Heaven

4. Who Are The Strangers?

5. Repentance

6. Precious Gift

7. The Reply

8. As You Well Know

9. It's True

10. No Surprises

Pat Thomas

Electronics, Piano, Synthesizer, Sampler

Programmed, engineered and mastered by  Steve Geekie

All songs written and produced by Pat Thomas

Label: Newjazz.com ‎– NJC 003
Format: 320
Country: US
Released: 1997
Genre: Electronic, Jazz
Style: Contemporary Jazz

Material live in Italy July 1983

Sonny Sharrock • guitar
Henry Kaiser • guitar
Michael Beinhorn • synth, drum machine
Grandmixer DST • turntable, voice, synth
Bill Laswell • bass
JT Lewis • drums

Black Science Orchestra • Walters Room

Here's some more Beedle for your needle - if not the one attached to the tone arm, the one embedded in the digital junkie's arm at least. See bio info for Ashley Beedle over at the Ballistic Brothers post on Soundological. For his BSO effort, Ashely forsook the talents of buds Rocky & Diesel for a heavier reliance on Uschi Classen and engineer Marc Woolford. The album is named in deference to one of the early pioneers of the extended remix, Walter Gibbons. In all seriousness, if you just glossed over that link and you don't really know who Gibbons was then you better check yourself and click on that link, kiddo. You're in for a treat. Then go to the Disco Museum for a nice in-depth bio on the man you can read while listening to BSO's homage to the glory days of Philly, New York and Jersey disco. Shout out to Julian over at Play Jazz Loud for his psychic request!

AMG

1. Start The Dancer

2. City Of Brotherly Love

3. A Hot Family Day

4. Bless The Darkness

5. Just Holdin' On

6. Hudson River Revisited

7. St. Mark's Square

8.Save Us (The Jam)

9. Downtown Science

10. Rican Opus #9

11. Hudson River High

The Black Science Orchestra

Ashley Beedle • Percussion, Keyboards, Drum Programming

Marc Woolford • Keyboards, Programming

Uschi Classen • Keyboards, String Arrangements

The Brothers & Sisters

Amy Simmons • Flute

David Alvarez • Live Drum Overdubs

Dave Maggio • Saxophone

Lewis Rhone • Trombone

Charles Marin • Trumpet

Stella Hinton • Guitar

Tommy 'D' • Keyboards

Oscar Ronindéz • Percussion

Carl Walker • Vibraphone 

Vocals

The BSO, Steve Lucas, Carla Hendry, Tommy 'D', Sister Soul

Strings

The Classenic String Ensemble • Strings

All songs produced, arranged and written by

Ashley Beedle

and

The Black Science Orchestra

Except ‘Save Us’ co-produced and co-written by Tommy ‘D’

Engineered by James Brown and Marc Woolford

"Music is the first science known to man. Understand while you dance."

"The BSO would like to thank everybody who has supported us. Much love!" 

Label: Junior Boy's Own ‎– JBOCD5

Format: Flac

Country: UK

Released: 1996

Genre: Electronic

Style: Disco, Deep House,

Las/wɛl/ kuh m-plee-tist /ˈse·ries | 04

com·plet·ist
[kuh m-plee-tist]
a person who attempts to complete a collection or set,
especially a collector who wants to collect an example of every item in a particular field:

Tetragramaton • Submerge

1. Turn the Screw
Material with Graham Haynes

2. Carbon 12
DJ Soul Slinger and David Quinlin

3. Active Code
Material with Byard Lancaster

4. Secondary Inversion
DJ Spooky

5. Ephedream (Benwa Mix)
Full Cone

Bill Laswell • beats, bass, sounds (1,3)
Graham Haynes • trumpet (1)
DJ Soul Slinger • sounds, beats (2)
David Quinlin • sounds, beats (2)
Byard Lancaster • saxophone (3)
DJ Spooky • bass, beats, scratchy record noises (4)
Tredlite Da Spazecrafta • flute (4)

Get it Here

Label: Ion ‎– IN 2001
Format: Flac
Country: US
Released: 1996
Genre: Electronic
Style: Illbient, Future Jazz, Trip Hop, Drum n Bass

Book of Woo Vol. 1 • A Bill Laswell Mixtape

 

On Friday (July 29th) at 8 PM, Sean will be taking the helm on this week's What It Is and featuring an incredible treat. 
Bill Laswell has put together an epic mixtape highlighting his work with Bernie Worrell, and Sean will be sharing it with us. Here's what Sean has to say about this feature: 
"Bill Laswell is a legendary producer and Bernie Worrell is the legendary keyboard player for Parliament and Funkadelic, Talking Heads and countless others. Bill and Bernie worked together extensively over the years and this is a mixtape of some of those collaborations put together by Bill Laswell himself." 

Sean Westergaard

Playlist: What It Is

with rotating host Sean Westergaard on Friday, July 29, 2016

1. Alabama 

2. Blood Secrets 

3. At Mos'Spheres 

4. Volunteered Slavery/Bern's Blues/Outer Spaceways
5. Woo Doo 

6. By a River (for Peter)
7. X-Factor 

8. In a Silent Way 

9. Flashlight - Redux            
10. Revelation in Black Light 

11. Flex 

12. Outer Woo 

13. I'd Rather Be With You 

14. Black and Strong (Homesick)

RIP
Bernie Worrell
April 19 1944 to June 24 2016

 

Thiago Nassif • Três

Thiago Nassif is a musician, composer and music producer.

After graduating in sound engineering and record production he became active on the independent music scene in São Paulo, improvising in clubs,galleries and art installations. Thiago’s sound research often investigates the visual aspects of sounds or the visual sensations that sounds generate. In 2009 he released his first album called “Garçonnière. built around audio collages and produced by Rubens E. Santo, an artist and art teacher. In 2011 Thiago released his second album “Práxis” acting as his own musical producer. For this record he gathered a supporting cast including musicians, painters, sculptors and architects, who each brought their own perspectives and techniques to the record. His third album,called “Três, strikes a balance between lyrical tunes, electronic music and noise, and is produced by Arto Lindsay.

Download

Las/wɛl/ kuh m-plee-tist /ˈse·ries | 02

com·plet·ist
[kuh m-plee-tist]
a person who attempts to complete a collection or set,
especially a collector who wants to collect an example of every item in a particular field:

Death Cube K • Dreamatorium

1.  Land of the Lost
2.  Maps of Impossible Worlds
3.  Terror By Night
4.  Maggot Dream
5.  Dark Hood

 Buckethead • guitars, sounds
Bill Laswell • bass, sounds
Robert Musso • treatments, processing

 

 Recorded and mixed at Greenpoint Studio, Brooklyn, New York
Engineering: Robert Musso
Assistant Engineer: Layng Martine
Designed and arranged by Bill Laswell

info: silent-watcher

Label: Strata 0001-2
Format: Flac
Country: US
Released: 1994
Genre: Electronic, Rock
Style: Illbient, Abstract, Ambient

Lee "Scratch" Perry • Weeping Willow

ISIS truth

Imagine if you will...

Fake Stage Viral Photo of Ieshia Evans

 

Black Panther’s Return With Artist Brian Stelfreeze

Caitlyn Jenner vs Bruce Jenner

Dizaster

KOTD • The Saurus vs Daylyt

KOTD

Elijah Wood Has to Backtrack Proving that is Hollywood is Full of Pedophiles

Pockets of the Future

Elijah Wood Says Hollywood Full of Pedophiles

An Open Secret 

FULL DOCUMENTARY 

I GOT IT • SENSATIONAL

Bandcamp, Downloads, Streaming, and the Inescapably Bright Future

In light of a recent report that Apple will soon abandon music downloads (later denied, but undoubtedly containing a certain amount of inevitability), we thought we’d take a moment to update you on the state of Bandcamp’s business and our plans for the future.

Bandcamp grew by 35% last year. Fans pay artists $4.3 million dollars every month using the site, and they buy about 25,000 records a day, which works out to about one every 4 seconds (you can see a real-time feed of those purchases on our desktop home page). Nearly 6 million fans have bought music through Bandcamp (half of whom are younger than 30), and hundreds of thousands of artists have sold music on Bandcamp. Digital album sales on Bandcamp grew 14% in 2015 while dropping 3% industry-wide, track sales grew 11% while dropping 13% industry-wide, vinyl was up 40%, cassettes 49%… even CD sales grew 10% (down 11% industry-wide). Most importantly of all, Bandcamp has been profitable (in the now-quaint revenues-exceed-expenses sense) since 2012.
Subscription-based music streaming,* on the other hand, has yet to prove itself to be a viable model, even after hundreds of millions of investment dollars raised and spent. For our part, we are committed to offering an alternative that we know works. As long as there are fans who care about the welfare of their favorite artists and want to help them keep making music, we will continue to provide that direct connection. And as long as there are fans who want to own, not rent, their music, that is a service we will continue to provide, and that is a model whose benefits we will continue to champion. We have been here since 2008 and we mean to be here in 2028. Thank you!
*Bandcamp is not a download store, and we very much embrace the convenience of streaming. When you buy music on Bandcamp, whether that’s in digital or physical form (30% of sales on Bandcamp are for vinyl and other merchandise), you not only get the pleasure of knowing you’re supporting the artist in a direct and transparent way, you also get instant, unlimited streaming of that music via our free apps for Android and iOS, as well as an optional, high-quality download. Your purchase is about direct support, ownership and access, whether that access takes the form of a stream, download, or both. So please consider joining us in never using “streaming” as shorthand for “subscription-based music.” The former is an inevitable technological shift, the latter is an unproven business model.

Fans have paid artists $157 million using Bandcamp, and $4.3 million in the last 30 days alone.

KOTD • The Saurus vs Daylyt

King Of The Dot Entertainment

Billy Bang, Craig Harris, Henry Threadgill ‎• Hip Hop Be Bop

Our idea with this effort was to mix two genres - hip hop (the underlying culture of modern jazz).
 The two did not seem to exclude each other because both relied on unusual tempos and often discordant harmonies for there effect. Will believe by honoring the principles of each form, they would naturally mix.
the phrase that was used to describe the overall effect is ‘surface tension’ where the melodies and rhythms sometimes sometime challenge each other. By choosing the words and voice of a jazz poet we attempt to illustrate the literary of contemporary rap and offer the listener the relief from standard predictable rhyme schemes by choosing the diversion of the reggae form we hoped to show that another popular modern form could carry the sophistication of the jazz melody. In addition, egg has influence the evolution of rap and has drawn its inspiration from the R&B music of New Orleans, itself a jazz extension.
The listeners need not know anything except what they hear: challenging  rhythm and intricate ensemble playing.

• Billy Bang •

1. Hip Hop Be Bop
Music by Billy Bang
Words by Wayne Providence

2. Riding With Ra
Music by Billy Bang

3. Night Stich
Music by Joey Eboli
Words by Alphonzo Stanley

4. If You Like It, Lick It
Music by Billy Bang
Words by Wayne Providence

5. Breeze
Music by Joey Eboli
Words by Alphonzo Stanley

6. Shine
Music by Billy Bang
Words Traditional

7. M'am
Music by Billy Bang
Words Adapted From ‘Thank You M'am’ by Langston Hughes

8. Breezy Dub
Music by Joey Eboli


Henry Threadgill • alto saxophone
Craig Harris • trombone
Brett Allen • guitar
Wayne Providence • voice
Prince Dominique • voice
Insane Asylum • programmed rhythms

All Rhythms Produced By Insane Asylum
Produced by Billy Bang

Label: ITM Records ‎– ITM 1480
Format: 320
Country: Germany
Released: 1993
Genre: Hip Hop, Jazz
Style: Soul Jazz, Jazzy Hip Hop

Jon Hassell Words & Music with Gilles Peterson

During a hour of words and music, Jon honestly and thought-provokingly discusses that Talking Heads period and some of the regrets he has from that time, as well as touching on his experiences working with German electronic music composer Stockhausen, his admiration for Gil Evans, and his developed thoughts on the north vs south/ mind vs body divide, which have significantly informed the way he creates his music and lives his life.

Tracklist:

Jon Hassell • Earthquake Island (Earthquake Island)

Brian Eno & Jon Hassell • Chemistry
(Fourth World Part 1: Possible Musics)

Brian Eno & David Byrne • The Jezebel Spirit
(My Life In The Bush of Ghosts)

Brian Eno & David Byrne • Number 8 Mix
(My Life In The Bush of Ghosts)

Talking Heads • Once In A Life Time (Remain In Light)

Brian Eno & David Byrne • A Secret Life
(My Life In The Bush of Ghosts)

Stockhausen • Klavierstuck I (Klavierstuck)

Miles Davis • On The Corner (Take 4) (On The Corner)

Terry Riley • In C (In C)

Jon Hassell • Mombasa (City: Works of Fiction)

Jon Hassell • Blues Nile (Vernal Equinox)

Jon Hassell • Hex (Vernal Equinox)

Gil Evans • Prayer (Porgy & Bess)

Jon Hassell • Tribal Secret (Earthquake Island)

Jon Hassell • Balía (Earthquake Island)

Jon Hassell • Maarifa Street (Maarifa Street)

Jon Hassell • Dreaming (Forthcoming)

Jon Hassell • City Spot (Forthcoming)

Podcast download: right click and save HERE

Gilles Peterson

Hy Brazil Vol 10 • New Music From Brazil

I have been dipping into this series every now then. Good to hear some fresh electronic music.

GOOD VIBRATIONS, VOL. 80 • ESOTERIC AND OCCULT ASPECTS OF PRINCE, PART 1, WITH FREEMAN & MATT SERGIOU

Danny Myers vs B Dot

LABATTLEGROUNDZ SCARSAZYFILMZS

Henry Threadgill wins a Pulitzer Prize

Henry Threadgill, a saxophonist and flutist known as one of the most original composers influenced by jazz, has been awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his recording In for a Penny, In for a Pound.

The jury described the piece as a "highly original work, in which notated music and improvisation mesh in a sonic tapestry that seems the very expression of modern American life." The recording was released as a 2-CD collection on Pi Recordings in 2015, and was listed among the Top 10 albums of the year in the NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll.

The Pulitzer Prize is an award that historically has celebrated compositions in the classical style. But your work blends a lot of improvisation with pre-defined composition. I wonder how you see the difference between those two, improvisation and composition.

Improvisation is a part of what I do. I write notated music — there's a balance between notated music and improvisation that occurs. What is notated is what is written, the improvisation takes place, and the composition contains all of it. That's what I do as a composer.

I'm happy that the Pulitzers' views have gotten broader, and seen fit to give me this award. Myself and others who have been working outside classical music — the rest of the artists in the United States, in North America, have been creating art for a long time, and sometimes it doesn't fall under the rubric of so-called classical music. Nonetheless, it is just as creative, and it is important. The Pulitzer Prize has made a major statement, in recognizing my work and others', that they have a bigger picture of creativity. Because that's what we need as a country and as an artistic community, is to have everything recognized. 

(Read the full article)

In for a Penny, In for a Pound is the latest installment in saxophonist/ flutist/composer Henry Threadgill’s ongoing exploration of his singular system for integrating composition with group improvisation. The music for his band Zooid – his main music-making vehicle for the past fourteen years and the longest running band of his illustrious forty plus-year career – is no less than his attempt to completely deconstruct standard jazz form, steering the improvisatory language towards an entirely new system based on preconceived series of intervals. His compositions create a polyphonic platform that encourages each musician to improvise with an ear for counterpoint and, in the process, creating striking new harmonies.

pirecordings.com

Gary Thomas, Christy Doran, Mark Helias, Bobby Previte • Corporate Art

REPOST

This quartet date by guitarist Christy Doran, bassist Mark Helias, drummer Bobby Previte, and saxophonist Gary Thomas may have been recorded in Europe by Stefan Winter, but its feel is utterly New York. Doran's playing is far more on the jazz-rock than avant tip here, giving the entire proceeding a feeling of that beautiful, edgy walk between composition and improvisation. Thomas -- normally an outside player -- reins himself in as a soloist in order to focus on the sometimes wondrous ensemble playing at the heart of the disc. Each member of the band writes on this set and it's obvious that the groove comes from within. It's knotty, sometimes intense, and often complex, such as on the opener "Blood Sugar," and on Doran's "Heitere Gelassenheit," where staggered arpeggios intersect with scalar riffs to form a kind of contrapuntal melody line. But there are wonderfully elegiac and gently swinging tunes as well, such as the flute-driven swing in Thomas' "Chiaroscuro" or the languid tempos of Helias' "21" and "Bass Minotaur." Helias also offers a jazz-funk workout with "Skin," with furious basslines driving riffed-up guitars and a bleating saxophone that stays in the pocket. The album closes with Previte's beautiful nocturne "Theme for W.," where Thomas and Doran weave around one another slowly and purposefully to erect a floating melody that seems to float and hover while actually moving toward a complex harmonic architecture with a controlled dynamic.
AMG

1. Blood Sugar 360 Degrees
(Bobby Previte)

2. 21
 (Mark Helias)

3. Mutations
 (Christy Doran)

4. Skin
 (Mark Helias)

5. Chiaroscuro
 (Gary Thomas)

6. Heit Ere Gel As Sen Heit
 (Christy Doran)

7. Bass Minotaur
 (Mark Helias)

8. The Same But Different
 (Christy Doran)

9. Theme For W.
 (Bobby Previte)


 
Gary Thomas • Tenor Saxophone, Flute

Christy Doran  • Electric Guitar
Electric Bass • Mark Helias
Bobby Previte • Drums

Engineered by Adrian Von Ripka
Produced by Stefan F. Winter

Label: JMT Productions – 849 155-2
Format: 320
Country: Germany
Released: 1991
Genre: Jazz
Style: Contemporary Jazz

Las/wɛl/ kuh m-plee-tist /ˈse·ries | 01

com·plet·ist
[kuh m-plee-tist]
a person who attempts to complete a collection or set,
especially a collector who wants to collect an example of every item in a particular field:

F. Robert Lloyd ‎• Think About Brooklyn

1. Blind Willie

2. Daly Day

3. Corkscrew Swamp Road

4. Waltzing Kate

5. Lullaby You

6. Bloody Buddy Rumba

7. Four Lives In A Day Suite

8. Proverbs From Hell

9.True Man Coyote

10. La Femme Bachir

11 .Brooklyn Fuss

12. Crossroads

13. Hellhound On My Trail

14. I Want To Drink It Straight

15. Tribute To Sun Ra

F. Robert Lloyd • guitars, words, voice

Sonny Sharrock • guitar, voice (2 to 9, 11, 14, 15)

Jean Touitou • Wurlitzer, Tibetan bells (5,8,14)

Bill Laswell • bass, fretless bass, bowed bass,

guitar sitar, percussion (1,4,5,6,7,8,9,10)

Gregoire Garrigues • Bass (1 to 9, 11, 14, 15)

Anton Fier • Drums (1 to 7, 9 to 11, 14)

Recorded in seven days at Greenpoint Studio,
Brooklyn, New York

Recorded by Oz Fritz for Hish Velocity

Mixed by F. Robert Lloyd, Gregoire Garrigues,
Jean Touitou, Oz Fritz

Produced by A.P.C.

Format: 320

Country: France

Released: 1993

Genre: Jazz, Rock

Style: Blues Rock, Contemporary Jazz

RBE • Chilla Jones vs Danny Myers

Watch the other battles from this RBE event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgytqS...

Bill Laswell • Fireside Chat

Studio visionary, bass maestro and musical activist: Bill Laswell guides us through his varied and immense discography, from Herbie to Fela.

Red Bull Music Academy

 

1. Reduction • Material
2. America Is Waiting • Brian Eno & David Byrne
3. Work Song • Bill Laswell
4. Crackin • Last Exit
5. After • Massacre
6. Army Arrangement • Fela Kuti
7. Cosmic Slop • Material
8. Crooklyn Dub Syndicate • Bill Laswell meets Style Scott
9. Rockit • Herbie Hancock
10. Improvised Music #3 • Bill Laswell, Sonny Sharrock, 

Derek Bailey, Fred Frith & John Zorn
11. Blast / War Machine Dub • Praxis