Thursday 10 February 2011

2007 Dilla mixes by AB0181 and Kosyne

Both me and Andy had created our own personal Dilla mixes back in 2007, chopping it up yesterday he let slip he was going to upload his mix as he figured he'd share, strangely I was on the same page wanting to do the same for the joint I had created back at the same time for the radio show I was then hosting.

It's worth checking both out neither of us feature the same tracks which makes the whole coincidence even doper!

Andy's Dilla Lives! mix is a 35 minute trip through some of his favourite Dilla beats, songs and even a sneaky break here and there (dont forget AB0181 is a sick DJ!! so check for the crispy cuts and live Dilla fx triggered w/ his MP), mine was in the same vein (minus the DJ element....although I was brave enough to try mix a couple joints hahaha) featuring my favourite Dilla productions and remixes for the hour long show that would have aired 4 years ago to the day..

Peep below! be sure to pass onto a friend and cop the tracks you're feeling if you dont already have them, Mixcloud has purchase links next to each joint!

Dilla Lives! by AB0181


BeatsNBars Radio #19 - J.Dilla mix by Kosyne


(throwback) LDBB Episode 17 - Reflip A Donut For Dilla (2008)

If you've never seen this you're in for a treat, this is a Den throwback to when we all when through the Donuts crates to make new beats and salute the second anniversary of Dilla's passing.

Mazzie came all the way from Devon to come and rep in the old studio with myself, Kelakovski, Figaro and Eyebs, a definate throwback to the Myspace era of Louis Den!

I went in with the editing on this particular episode splicing in the lab footage with lil Dilla factoids for your amusement!

Peep below..


Louis Den Beat Battles Episode 17 - Reflip A Donut For Dilla

(throwback) Dillamation by AB0181 (2009)

Andy posted this on the blog around the same time back in 2009, in a moment of Dillz fueled inspiration he took to the camera to knock up a stop frame tribute to Jay Dee.

Heads were quite receptive to the unique animation which featured J.Dilla produced records stacked up against a climbing flower and it even made its way onto the Stonesthrow front page!

Check it again below if you haven't seen it in a while, still fresh as ever!

Dillamation by AB0181

(throwback) Louis Den Beat Cypher 3 x Dilla Sample Flips (2009)

Cast your minds back 10 Beat Cyphers ago to the third joint we did back in February 2009; with producers Raul Supreme, Percy Filth, Jon Phonics and Winchester.

The sample flip challenge of the night was to reflip a Dilla sample into a tribute beat of its own, Raul Supreme got "The Red", Jon Phonics "Much More", Winchester "Players" and Percy Filth "The Light", the Cypher nights are all about building and networking so it wasn't a "Beat Battle" per se and neither were any of the beats attempts to remake/remix the originals...it was all about paying homage.


Louis Den Beat Cypher 03 - Dilla ReFlips

*filmed by AB0181

J.Dilla - Still Shining Documentary

Today marks the 5 year anniversary of the legendary producer's passing :( as you'll no doubt know a fair portion of us in the Den ride for Dilla so he's no stranger to blog posts here but theres even more reason to make some more noise around this time of year! given its the time of his birthday and untimely passing!! got a few more posts for today so look out, first up is the full length documentary "Still Shining"

B.Kyle of Okayplayer released his 2006 Dilla documentary entitled "Still Shining" the film goes over the life of J.Dilla, his production techniques; studio stories and his personal life as told by his frequent collaborators and musical family.

Spots are from the likes of ?uestlove, Erykah Badu, Common, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, Bilal, Kariem Riggins, DJ Houseshoes and more.

I'ts a great watch as it features quite a bit of unseen footage/pictures from studio sessions, photo shoots, performances a definite scenes feel as the door is opened on some private moments with his friends & fam.

Props to B.Kyle for putting this out for heads to digest for free.

J.Dilla - Still Shining (Gifted Films)


VIMEO LINK: http://vimeo.com/19637436
SITE LINK: http://www.thejdillaproject.com/video.php

Monday 7 February 2011

Homework 84 - [re:]Flip Fantastic

Homework 84 - [re:]Flip Fantastic



This week's goal is to reflip a sample......FROM YOURSELF.....that's right we want you to go back into the vaults and redo a sample that you picked yourself from a while back, but theres a criteria.

For the reflip fantastic we want you to only pick samples from beats you made during your first couple years of making beats, we almost want you to remake your first beats to show some growth and proof of the skills gained since your early days, see how your synth/keys game and drums/mixing/arrangement skills have improved over the years.

Soooo! we want you dig out an old beat; get your hands on the sample and start again with the advantage of a few years knowledge.

If you are having trouble finding an old beat, try digging out that old soundclick profile or maybe dust off your myspace (is there an old joint on there??) (and if you're OG louisden enough) maybe in the players of some of the old louisden blogs on myspace or even the 2008 league?.

going back just a year or so isn't good enough though we need you to go riiight back on some indiana jones tip, and don't worry if your chop game was mad weak back in the day, you dont have to recrate that or use the same drums...just approach the SAME sample as if you were to make the beat today....if you can give your beat the remix treatment then even better but its not a strict requirement.

Obviously this challenge is gonna work better for heads who aren't fresh to making beats...but if you are (lets say you've only been in this months) then feel free to sit this one out or redo an early beat just like everyone else (but only if you feel you've improved enough for there to be a difference).

Of course if you want to redo a synth beat over then also feel free if the goal of the homework can still stand (i.e. you've gone from badly composed 1 finger melodies to full on chord progressions...be our guest!!)

RULES
To go through your beat archives and dig out a joint you made back in your early days; you're to redo the beat with your 2011 beatmaking skills, the beat can be sampled/composed but just approach your choice in a way to show some growth from the original blap.

So you either have to

a) reflip a sample from an old beat of yours (remake it with better chops/drums or start over either is fine)

or

b) remake a synth/composed beat from your early days with better drums/arrangement/mixing but to show its the same beat you are remaking you'll have to improve on the elements rather than starting again (i.e. the main melody)

Also so we get a feel for your improvement, let your original joint play out for a few seconds as an intro to your beat! and let us know the details in your email to us (homework@louisden.com) always nice to have the backstory!

DEADLINE
Beats are due 13th February 2011, you got a bit of extra time seeing as its a monday! we'll be streaming from 18:30 GMT in the lab @ http://louisden.com/live as usual submit your joints to homework@louisden.com . Lets get it!

Sunday 6 February 2011

Evil Needle - Beat Making Video pt 3

Heatsmith Evil Needle is back with another instalment of his Beat Making video series with a straight to business smooth heat rock, check him laying down some smooth licks and headnodding drums to create this mellowed out jawn, great work Needz!


Evil Needle - Beat Making Video pt3



Follow @ItsMeNeedle on Twitter to keep upto date on his movements!

Saturday 5 February 2011

12 Original Players - A Cunning Plan [beat video]

Dean of 12 Original Players is like the quintessential hiphop dad, If you've seen the other joints in his Youtube channel you'll see how he gets the little ones involved in the beatmaking process whether its record shopping, drum break huntin or chopping samples.

Dean kicked off 2011 with this new joint entitled "A Cunning Plan" which see's him going through some of his Xmas digs (w/ Drum Approval from son Dillan), looking for heat and formulating the final "Cunning Plan" beat.


12 Original Players - A Cunning Plan



If you like what you hear then be sure to follow Dean at @12OriginalBeats on Twitter and/or on SoundCloud and of course his YouTube channel.

Friday 4 February 2011

Kev Brown Goodies @bandcamp



Kev BrOOOOooown rOOwoon roOOOwwwwn!


Den favourite Kev Brown has been busy getting his releases over on bandcamp, they range from the "Brown Album" which was Kev's take on Jay-Z's (then) retirement album (and one of the best renditions as well) to his underground hand to hand show CD "Open Mic Knight" featuring some circa '99 Kev Brown flows over pre MPC2000XL production.

Also included are the very dope (and worth paying for) commentary joints (Vol.1 & 2); where Kev breaks down the stories behind a few of his more famous productions (backed by a bottle of Bacardi and pot of coffee respectively ha!!). He put these out for free on his blog a few years back but you can cop them now if you missed on the "name your price" steez.

Finally theres the more recent Kev Brown Instrumentals VoL I which has a collection of well known joints, remixes and cheeky beats in one tight release! check them out below or better yet, head over the bandcamp yourself and purchase a joint or 2!















J-Dilla, Still Shining Documentary // Archive Slum Village Soundcheck footage!

Ok so its now February or "Dilla Month" as some heads like so say! so they'll no doubt gonna be a spike in J.Dilla blogs / podcasts / events and all sorts seeing as February marks both his birthday and the anniversary of his untimely passing; just remember if he's a favourite of yours (like he is for me) that his music is around all year for you to enjoy so dont just go crazy for 4 weeks a year! heh.

A couple new videos have surfaced of late; both of which are pretty interesting to Dilla fans, the first of which a 13 minute long collection of clips showing the original Slum Village line up (Jay Dee, T3, Baatin) circa 2000 preparing for their first live show in LA which involved Dilla DJ'ing using x2 MPC3000's and a discman! haa..

From an outsiders point of view there really isn't much going on and you could easily write it off as nothing to get exicted about; however there isn't a lot of candid Dilla, (or slum for that fact) footage. You may remember some behind the scenes Frank N Dank joints (showing Dilla's lab and the filming of the McNasty Filth video) but here seems a lot more natural and relaxed.

It's also dope as its a throwback to the original SV line up and to a time before playing up to the camera for Youtube existed...(case in point I dont think any of these dudes even acknowledge the camera for the 13 minutes of footage!)

Anyway the video shows the group rehearsing, going over some technicals, a bit of BS'ing and a last minute trip to radio shack for cables (heh I know them ones).


SLUM VILLAGE - SOUNDCHECK - DILLA PLAYING BEATS



*beat heads on some I HAVE TO KNOW THAT BEAT, wanna look out for Track 16 from Another Batch, the outrolude from "Its Like That" off Welcome To Detroit, Toshi / Nothing But Your Love (Jay Dee Remix)

next up the Still Shining Documentary from B.Kyle of Okayplayer.

He dropped the trailer to this earlier on in the week and like most music nerds im looking forward to peeping the behind the scenes stories retold by those who he worked closest with.

If my mind serves me right B.Kyle was actually putting together a DVD featurette for the Shining back when it dropped in '06, for whatever reason this bonus DVD never saw the light of day so its quite possible this has been in the works since then, its dropping on Feb 7th whether it'll be something to buy or a free stream is yet to be seen but I'll be checking it out for sure either way!


J.Dilla - Still Shining Documentary Trailer

Wizard At Will Beat Tape - Homework Vol 1.

For those unfamiliar with Wizard At Will (not to be confused with UK's Wizard) he's a long time Louis Den supporter and participant, been repping since '07 submitting homeworks pretty much every week since the challenges opened up.

He also took part in the 2008 and 2009 leagues and we've seen his beatmaking skills go from strength to strength as part of being inolved in what we're about over here, anyway for anyone wondering what it is that gets you the front page treatment, well Wizard At Will really reps for Louis Den and homeworks; case in point during the 2009 league dude was very ill laid up in hospital at one point and where most people's mind would be furthest away from beats, he insisted on still making his weekly deadlines going as far as to borrow another persons laptop to get a beat done...down to making IPHONE JOINTS! while he was away from his studio!

Annyway Wiz has collated some of the homework beats and league joints over the years into a neat little collection, he's in the middle of setting up a bandcamp but you can bag Volume 1 below! *update, bandcamp link added!.



01. Intro
02. Middle East
03. Sell Out
04. Expendables
05. Hair Band
06. Mid Tro
07. 707
08. Japan
09. The Wrong Sample
10. Week 3
11. 81
12. Unplug
13. Week 9
14. Bonus Track
15. Bonus Track 2
16. Outro

DOWNLOAD: mediafire | bandcamp

Salute wiz!! I've been told they'll be future volumes!

Louis Den Lab Sessions 81 / 82

Dont be sleeping on the LDBB Ustream, we broadcast every Sunday from the lab at around 18:00 GMT bringing you plenty of jokes and bangers submitted for the homework of the week!, heres a little round up of the last 2 joints in case you may have missed them.


Homework 83 - Disco Week




Last weeks homework was back at the Den with myself and Kelakovski; we wanted heads to dig through the Disco crates and see if they could change them dancefloor joints of yester year into some fresh bangers! I got a bit carried away doing the live mutes (hahaha) and accidently cut the wifi off so this joint is in 2 parts.


Homework 82 - Stax Of Soul



The aim of Homework 82 was to flip samples from the iconic "Stax" catalog, no Kela in the stream that week as myself and AB0181 had to do some sneaky overseas to Berlin to begin filming for BCD3! we still decided to get busy with a ldbb stream which we did from the hotel equipped with the room's ethernet and some dope German beer.

This weeks homework is still open and we'll be streaming from the lab at the usual time of 18:30, read a few posts below to see the theme and if you wanna get down! submit beats to homework@louisden.com

New Myke Forte - "Soulishius"


Our man Myke has been busy on the boards, chopped it up breifly with him yesterday telling me he's been getting into his Logic setup a lot more (Myke usually rocks the MPC2500) and messing with played stuff, he emailed me a little suttin afterwards which I thought was craaaazy!.

Checked his Soundcloud to see that he had upped it on there too, check out his new joint below entitled "Soulishous" its definately some of that good good!.

Soulishous by mykeforte

Be sure to follow @MykeForte on Twitter and on Soundcloud to get access to his latest joints!

Tuesday 1 February 2011

Homwork 83 - Where I'm From


Homework 83 - Where Im From




RULES
This week the goal is to flip a sample by an artist who is from the same home town as you; you're to go through their catalog to find something to get busy with and build a fresh beat using sampled elements.

We'd define where you are from as from the same city (or nearest city) as you, try and get a local name rather than using a tenious link of "they are from the same country as me" this can either be where you are living now or where you grew up depending on the crates quality!

but this should be an interesting challenge as the geogrpahy will limit your samples!

any genre is cool but obviously make it interesting...and let us know who you flipped!! maybe let the break ride out at the start!

DEADLINE
Beats are due Sunday 6th Feb, gonna try make the stream for 18:30, really sorry if you guys wait wait and wait some more doesn't always go smooth heading to the lab!

right Im off to dig through some Ozzy Osbourne and UB40 ish!!