Here’s a few tracks from albums I’ve been listening to this Spring so far…
Playlists
Playlist: Friends and Locals
Recently I’ve been feeling loved. It’s always wonderful to have supportive friends and family; something I’m extremely grateful for having.
I’d like to share some music from musicians I’ve become acquainted with over the past couple of years. I haven’t intentionally left anyone off this playlist, if you’re not on there it may be that I couldn’t find your artist profile on Spotify or Soundcloud (I also didn’t want to post demos/wips on soundcloud).
So below are two playlists for you to have a listen to this weekend…
Playlist: Young Influences (Hip-Hop through my eyes)
This week I discovered that it would have been the Birthday of Nujabes, and this month is the time of the year that he sadly passed away in a car crash. I discovered Nujabes at a young age having no idea of his influence on the worlds hip-hop scene; and indeed the scene of instrumental beat producers that I now admire. It wasn’t until I was introduced to J-Dilla in my early 20s (yes, it took that long) before I found out that both Nujabes and Dilla go hand in hand. Often referenced by the same admirers.
This lead to me thinking about a few things: At the age I discovered Nujabes I was watching an amazing anime called ‘Samurai Champloo’ (if you haven’t watched it go and check it out), the soundtrack to this was my first introduction to ‘trip-hop’, a sound that unknowingly a few years later I would fall in love with again but in a different world: ‘Beat Music’, a term that many musicians held in that category often ignore; simply the label given to the generalised sound (Check out this video ‘Not a Beat, Not a Scene‘)
ANYWAY. There here are a few iconic tracks/artists/albums that I discovered/heard around the time of Samurai Champloo, and this playlist is a small compilation of such. If I’m honest this music has been my only ever reference to Hip-Hop in my life. I jumped on the instrumental/beatmaker bandwagon before ever knowing what the lifestyle was; but I like to think that I have followed it subconsciously in some shape or form…
Playlist: Drummers
So… I started putting together my next blog, then remembered something that I’ve been wanting to put together for a while; a playlist of drummers I’ve come to admire or who’ve simply caught my ear through their creativity as players.
This playlist isn’t supposed be ‘the best drummers’, or even said drummers ‘best performance’; believe me it’s not. This is simply a playlist of tracks that have caught my ear as a drummer. Some I’ve played along to many a time, some I’ve never attempted, and some I simply sit back and enjoy. I hope you do to.
There will probably be many more to add, so I will update as I go along.
Playlist: All My Friends 2016
All My Friends is a great night run at Gwdihw in Cardiff by events organiser Lloyd Griffiths. They’ve been a great support to me over the past couple of years, and often invite me back to play in their awesome venue alongside a mixture of electronic and punk acts.
They’ve put together a Spotify playlist which I’m proud to be a part of, and featuring some of the great acts they’ve had on over the past year, so check it out below. Certainly worth a listen
“2016 has been very fun. It is genuinely exciting to look back on and see the list of ace headliners and more importantly brilliant shows, so thanks to everyone who’s supported great live music at our shows this year. Listen to what our 2016 sounded like with help from the likes of Titus Andronicus, BRAIDS, ALMA, Yama Warashi, Gallops, worriedaboutsatan, 5th Spear, Chorusgirl & many more!” All My Friends
5th Spear 