three feet

First, let me apologise for this week's tardy post. Due to a misunderstanding with my gracious hosts at PodBean, I had to wait until the first of the month to reclaim enough space to upload this week's post without having to retire an old one. I'd like to say that I took the time to make this week's mix extra-bonus-special, but you'll have to be the judge of that. Recent posts have focused on different lyrical themes. This week, I've selected tracks with an ear for the beat. My original idea was to mix up a drum & bass fiesta, but as usual, things worked out a little differently. We still have a top selection of drum & bass and jungle, but I thought mixing in some other genres also featuring syncopated rhythms would be a lot more interesting. 

The opening track is the popular single from Bentley Rhythm Ace's self-titled debut album. BRA formed from the remains of Pop Will Eat Itself and drunken desperation, and their first album shows real promise. Known mainly as a big beat and house band, the duo weren't afraid to lay down hard-to-dance beats — sometimes at the cost of listenability, as on their second and final album, For Your Ears Only. I would definitely recommend giving their first album a listen before tackling the next. 

Roni Size brings us an excellent fusion of jungle beats and drum & bass. Another British act, Roni Size (Ryan Williams) blends the rhythms of his Jamaican heritage with the breakbeat sounds of the Bristol DJ scene. Williams cites reggae as a root influence. I must say I hate reggae, but I'm a big fan of its cousin, dub. Both styles contribute to drum & bass and jungle, combining with house to help form dancehall and big beat. You can see my challenges in containing the mix within a single genre. 

“Magic Medicine” comes from Incubus' second album, S.C.I.E.N.C.E. Incubus are mainly known as a metal band, but this album pulls together a disparate (and dissonant) array of styles, including hip-hop, jazz and drum & bass. Although this album is a real mixed bag, the variety hits the mark as often as not, excusing the painful misses. 

Jacky Terrasson is another name one might not expect in this mix. Known mainly for contemporary jazz, Terrasson's 2001 album À Paris features this excellent breakbeat interlude. Longtime listeners may recognise a sample from Brazilian Amon Tobin's track “Rosies”. A shorter sample formed the core of MC Honkey's "What a Bringdown". Tobin has been making genre-busting albums for 15 years. He combines challenging beats with an avant-garde sensibility, and a wry sense of humour. Have a listen to "Like Regular Chickens" from Permutation to hear what I mean. 

New York group Soul Coughing broke through on the strength of their alternative rock sound, but their albums feature a more eclectic mix of jam poetry, jazz fusion and funk. "Rolling" was their last US single to chart, from their underrated album El Oso. Flow Dynamics is an Australian funk and hip-hop producer who has worked with various artists to combine samples with live performance. Not that that's anything unique, but I love the sound. 

Thievery Corporation are a DJ duo based in Washington, DC. Although primarily dub musicians, their trip-hop sensibilities show through with “Shoalin Satellite.” DJ Shadow picks up the count from the Corporation, with this track from his groundbreaking album Endtroducing. I really cannot recommend this album highly enough. It is a unique piece of music, composed entirely of samples. 

We sidetrack completely into a more recognisable realm, with “Mission Impossible”, composed in 5/4 time. Schifrin once commented that one would need three feet to dance to the music. (Or, at least, I seem to recall he did. For the life of me, I can't find a citation supporting this vague memory, even with 30 seconds of scouring the internet.) We move into straight pop with some underlying breakbeats thanks to Boca 45 and Tammy Payne. “Take a Ride” is yet another case where the radio hit gives you no real indication of the rest of the album, which I found took years of listening to appreciate. Dave Angel started by basically remixing "Sweet Dreams" from the Euryhthmics with his own keyboard and beats. Based on the popularity of his re-use of appropriated music, he was picked up by a rotation of performers, and ended up founding his own label, as well as releasing two albums. 

There's a lot of cross-fertilisation in music, as with Dave Angel's remix; Thunderball's track features on the album Den of Thieves, a compilation of artists from the Thievery Corporation's Eighteenth Street Studio. Aïwa are an Iraqi-French "collective" bringing Arabic rap to that tragically underserved demographic. I found them on a sampler album, Coup D'État, featuring international beats. According to their bio, "They're trying to make the classical Arabic music heard from their parent's records (Om Kalsoum, Abdel Halim Hafez, Fairuz…) meeting with the western music." I like their sound in this mix. There's a predisposition to think of drum & bass as a strong fit with syncopated Latin rhythms, and it's cool to hear the breakbeat sound coming from unexpected quarters like Arab rap. 

The last two tracks combine sharper, more electronic beats with canny observations of the music industry. Trash Palace may or may not be named after a gay bar in Soho; their track featuring Brian Molko of Placebo leaves nothing to the imagination. We close with “Velvet Pants” from Propellerheads, a 90s big beat pair who, apparently, revolve around music. 

Track 01 “Bentley's Gonna Sort You Out!,” Bentley rhythm Ace Index: 00:00:00
Track 02 “Strictly Social,” Roni Size Index: 3:43:42
Track 03 “Magic Medicine,” Incubus Index: 10:32:22
Track 04 “Métro,” Jacky Terrasson Index: 13: 35:35
Track 05 “Rosies,” Amon Tobin Index: 15: 614
Track 06 “Rolling,” Soul Coughing Index: 20: 28:74
Track 07 “At the Speakeasy (Flow Dynamics remix),” Flow Dynamics Index: 24:5 after five
Track 08 “Shaolin Satellite,” Thievery Corporation Index: 28:34:59
Track 09 “The Numbers Song,” DJ Shadow Index: 32:56:02
Track 10 “Mission Impossible,” Lalo Schifrin Index: 37:29:56
Track 11 “Take a Ride,” Boca 45 Index: 39:55: 11
Track 12 “Brothers,” Dave Angel Index: 43:56:74
Track 13 “The Panther,” Thunderball Index: 48:59:43
Track 14 “Oudaïwa,” Aïwa Index: 55:1214
Track 15 “The Metric System,” Trash Palace Index: 59:26: 20
Track 16 “Velvet Pants,” Propellerheads Index: 63: 19: 37