As we are making something for the compilation cassette format & relating back to what we were learning in Jose’s lectures. I decided to look into some of my favourite mixtapes and compilations.
https://open.spotify.com/embed/album/6YQBUcGGAFlNwv0PHR6tY4
This compilation is called Black Rio 2 1968-1981 complied by DJ Cliffy
This compilation is up first because this compilation is a mind-bending beautiful rhythmic and spiritual journey through seventies Brazil all under an hour, the songs roll into each other effortlessly but at the same time they all have an individuality to them that makes them stand out from the others, its like the streets of Rio, all in different places but they are all apart of a greater entity like leaves on a tree. I don’t need to even say much about this compilation, the music speaks for itself. My mums been running this CD on loop for years now. Just listen and let the music speak for itself.
This compilation by Analogue Africa is called Edo Funk vol1. This brilliant compilation from the brilliant label Analogue Africa, who do a great job in retrieving archived old African tapes and records, getting them mastered and released for the world to hear and also to help the artists in Africa who may not have a means to distribute their records globally. This is a compilation I am loving at the moment and one I recently bought on Vinyl. This is compilation highlights a period of Music in in the Edo area of Nigeria, where the music is a little different to Lagos and the capital city is Benin City, this hugely historical and powerful part of the world in the 70’s was producing a music that was ahead of its time, it was making almost traditional style African Yoruba and Igbo music but with a soul funk twist combined with cutting edge synth sounds used and mixed very bravely into these lo-fi, hard hitting, warm, funky and just amazing records. This style of music has been a big inspiration to me of recent. This compilation in particular is great as it really hones in on that sound in particular and , because it is such a special and individual sound in itself all analogue Africa had to do was find the bangers.
This compilation beat tape by one of my favourite producers DJ Harrison is a journey through tape hissy grooves inspired by one of the all time greats Sly Stone (hence the name Slyish). This tape is a great journey of tape hissy beats and grooves. Very cohesive and full of character, something very important in mixtape culture.
These 3 tapes although they aren’t from very sound arty genres show me and my group some key elements of what a good mixtape needs and that’s, cohesion, eclecticism and making sure that its some sort of journey. These will be elements we will take into account when making our mixtape.