Twelve 12"s

Some of you might already be familiar with the 'Twelve 12"s' mix series 'Southern Hospitality' have been running on their blog for a few months . If not, go check it out - they're currently up to volume 17, so if you're short of dope mixes to bump then take your pick and get your download on.

What's refreshing about this series is the fact that all mixes are LIVE using VINYL and, as the title suggests, contributing DJ's are limited to a choice of only twelve 12"s, a concept far removed from the vast majority of modern day mixes which tend to cater for people with short attention spans, chopping and changing between tracks every minute or so. Now don't get me wrong, I love fast mixing and when DJ's do it well the results can be amazing. Sometimes though, it's nice to kick back and listen to a mix with smooth transitions and a DJ who lets the tracks ride out longer. This is basically what you get with the 'Twelve 12"s series - I guess you could call it 'pre-Serato' ethics.

Anyway, I decided to put together a little mix using the 'rules' laid down by Southern Hospitality and I gotta say, really enjoyed going back to the days of just two turntables and a mixer. I used to make tapes like this nearly every week back in the early to mid nineties. I'd work out a nice running order from all the latest releases I'd just bought and then rehearse it a few times until I was familiar enough with any gain and pitch adjustments. Once ready I'd press 'play and record' and hope for the best, more often than not I'd end up stopping and starting again, sometimes over and over, until I had a decent enough take I was happy with. And that's what I've done here - twelve tracks (it goes without saying, all from VINYL) blended or cut in to produce a mix clocking in at just over 40 minutes, the theme being records that have all been signed by the artists. I was gonna write up accompanying little stories for each one but have been so busy recently, and with a number of other posts in the pipeline, just wanted to get it up. Basically, I was lucky enough to have the records signed either, when I was supporting DJ for the act, or when I knew the promoter who got me in back stage for the hook up.

So here you go...

'Twelve (signed) 12"s', mixed LIVE by Mr Krum...






1. The X-Men "Musica Negra"



2. Ugly Duckling "Fresh Mode"



3. Cash Money & Marvelous "Find An Ugly Woman"



4. Mikey D & the L.A. Posse "Comin' In The House"



5. Big Daddy Kane "Ain't No Half Steppin'"



6. Stezo "It's My Turn"



7. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince "A Touch Of Jazz"



8. Blade "We're Going Independent"



9. Jeru The Damaja "D. Original"



10. Mad Skillz "Extra Abstract Skillz" (feat. Large Professor & Q-Tip)*



11. J-Live "The Best Part"*



12. People Under The Stairs "Big Daddy Brown"


*For the sake of a smoother mix I cheated a little and used the Instrumental (as well as vocal) of "Extra Abstract Skillz". I also cheated by using an album track, J-Live's "The Best Part", again for the sake of a smoother mix.

Jazzy Jeff & Mad Skillz - Live (2005)

There was recently a thread on the DWG forum about embarrassing DJ moments which got me thinking. I've definitely had my fair few over the years. Feedback / speaker humming, taking the wrong record off while it's playing, jogged needles, etc, but top of the list has got to be the night I was warming up for the legendary DJ Jazzy Jeff. After rocking a packed out club for just under two hours I was feeling pretty amped by the time he was ready to do his thing. 'The Magnificent' was using Serato and I was still keeping it primitive with the good old fashioned vinyl so the switch over wasn't as straight forward as I was usually accustomed to. The laptop needed to be set up and during the minimal commotion I was asked by his sound guy to move one of my crates. Simple enough - picked it up and moved it down to the floor below the turntables. Anyway, about 5 minutes later whilst still spinning I get a tap on the shoulder. I turned around to face a very pissed off looking Mad Skillz holding one of Jeff's vinyl 'plates' which had a nasty gash right across the whole playing area. He then signals to Jeff and explains that I'd just scratched the plate whilst moving my crate. Of course I apologized straight away and Jeff was extremely cool about it all, telling me not to worry before giving his sound man a right ear bashing. Although I couldn't really take full blame for it - the plate had been placed on top of my other crate without me being told - it was still a very awkward and embarrassing moment I'll never forget.

Mad Skillz later apologized for being a little abrupt and I got a chance to chat with Jeff and get my records signed whilst playing an extra quarter of an hour or so while the sound man ironed out the problem. I gotta say Jazzy Jeff is one of the nicest Hip Hop 'celebrities' I've ever met - extremely humble and an all round really friendly guy. On top of that he's without a doubt the greatest party rocking Hip Hop DJ on the planet. Check out the first half of the two hour set he played that night...the Gang Starr and P.R.T. tracks are from the end of my set which I'm gutted wasn't recorded. The first record Jeff plays is 'Party Groove'. Enjoy...


Jazzy Jeff & Mad Skillz - Live (2005)

Working Man's Soul (Live At The Barn)

Coming from a predominantly white populated part of the country, over the years I've learnt to look at the less obvious records when searching for breaks and grooves in the local charity shops and car boot sales. Black music just doesn't turn up that often. Occasionally the odd gem will pop up but generally I find myself sifting through a lot of Easy Listening, Classical and run of the mill Pop sh*t. When I first started hunting for breaks and samples, along with my long time digging partner Barry Styles, I was only really looking out for the original artists, the obvious ones like James Brown, Funkadelic, Isaac Hayes, etc. although having said that, we'd pick up anything with a black musician on the cover (which isn't always a good thing but you learn by your mistakes). I can't remember a specific point, but one day it dawned on us that a lot of these Easy Listening records we were passing by actually contained some great Soul, Funk, Rock and Jazz covers. Huge selling artists such as James Last, Geoff Love, Percy Faith, etc, would occasionally dabble with the funky side of things and sometimes the results were amazing. Of course 99% of their output is complete sh*t but it's finding the good 1% that makes it all worth while. These obvious artists led us to discovering the less well known - records by people like Ray Davies, Alan Hawkshaw, Brian Bennett, Nick Ingman, John Gregory, etc... We'd be picking up anything with a Sly Stone or James Brown cover on but soon realized some of their own compositions were just as good and in some cases, better. Recognizing certain names in turn led to discovering Library music and all sorts of other genres. This was well before the internet took off so our finds were first hand - no Google searches or looking sh*t up on The-Breaks dot com. It's all a bit too easy for the new generation of 'diggers' (I use the term lightly) nowadays. Sorry, I'm babbling a bit now, but you can see where I'm heading...

Anyone that's interested in the artists mentioned above will more than likely be familiar with 'Licorice Soul', a U.K. record label that specializes in unearthing and re-issuing some of the most obscure funky British music recorded. More often than not the titles are by white 'session' musicians recording under a pseudonym or by little known Cabaret acts who just happened to knock out one or two exceptionally funky tunes. In the case of their superb 'Working Man's Soul' compilation it features nothing but Cabaret acts who earned their living performing up and down the country in Pubs, Clubs and Holiday camps. I must admit, when this first came out I was a bit p*ssed off as I had a few of the records they'd included. The sort of records probably only a handful of people know about and you wanna keep secret. Anyway, after the initial feeling of "sh*t, I wish they hadn't exposed that" I figured it doesn't really matter. I've still got my original pressings and at least the artists are getting some recognition and maybe a little bit of money as well. It's not like every Tom, Dick and Harry's gonna go out and find the original LP's anyway 'cause they just don't turn up that often - most of them only had a run of about 1000 and were sold exclusively at their gigs.

Just recently I've picked up a few more of these Cabaret albums so thought I'd put together a little compilation for your downloading pleasure. Big Band Jazz, Soul and some funky Pop. I've included a track listing below but I'm not giving up any other details - yet. Thought I'd run a little competition. If anyone can name all the artists and the albums the tracks come from then I'll post up full reviews of the individual records along with pictures, MP3 downloads and even sort out some goodies for the winner. Don't know what yet, but I'll make sure it's appropriate and worthwhile. I've already written about one of the tracks elsewhere on the blog so there's a little head start for you...Enjoy.




Mr. Krum 'Live At The Barn (Volume 1)'

1. Intro
2. Hoops
3. Watermelon Man
4. Changing With The Times
5. Sunny
6. Dancing In The Street
7. Superstition
8. Why Did You Do It?
9. Taurus The Bull (this is a personal favourite)
10. Get Ready
11. '2001' - Also Sprach Zarathustra
12. Masquerade

Put It 2 Music mix...

Just thought I'd add this to the blog...a mix I did early last year called "Put It 2 Music". I've now uploaded it as a 256kpbs file for those of you who missed the C.D. or for anybody wanting a higher quality version than the Puma Strut upload (cheers Mac).


Mr. Krum 'Put It 2 Music' (2007 ANCA Recordings)

The Black Version

Just been recording some Soul and Funk to burn onto C.D. for the car and realized half way through the day that a lot of the tracks I was converting are covers, or 'versions' of other peoples music. So, I've decided to put 60 minutes worth of these versions together for your downloading pleasure. Nothing mega rare or particularly hard to find on the internet but some nice bits that I've picked up at the boot-sales and charity shops over the years. I was gonna write about each individual song but you can find out anything you need to know with a quick google search. There's a few Bill Withers tunes, some Sly & The Family Stone, a couple of Beatles tracks, and a whole bunch of other artists music. Break spotters will pick up on some of the samples used by Buckwild, Lord Finesse, Rza, DJ Spinna, Dr Dre, and T-Ray. Check back next week for the 'Secret Squirrel' edition where I'm gonna go deep with some crazy 'white boy' versions. You'll have to forgive the odd crackle here and there, all songs are recorded from the ORIGINAL vinyl pressings...


1. The Shirelles "Ain't No Sunshine" (1972 RCA Records U.K.)
2. Ike Turner, Tina Turner & Home Grown Funk "Use Me" (1980 Fantasy Records U.S.)
3. Al Jarreau "Kissing My Love" (1976 Timewind Germany)
4. Gladys Knight and the Pips "Thank You" (1973 Motown Soul U.S.)
5. Clydie King & Brown Sugar "Dance To The Music" (1973 Chelsea Records U.S.)
6. John L. Watson with White Mouse "I Get Lifted" (1975 Spark U.K.)
7. O.V. Wright "Let's Straighten It Out" (1978 Hi U.S.)
8. Brook Benton "Born Under A Bad Sign" (1970 Cotillion U.S.)
9. O.C. Smith "Hey Jude" (1969 CBS U.K.)
10. The 5th Dimension "Ticket To Ride" (1971 Bell U.S.)
11. Melba Moore "Walk A Mile In My Shoes/25 Miles" (1971 Mercury U.S.)
12. Little Royal "Another Woman's Man" (1972 Tri Us / King U.S.)
13. King Curtis "You're The One" (1972 Atlantic U.K.)
14. Jackie Wilson "Light My Fire" (1968 Brunswick U.S.)
15. The Chequers "Get Up Stand Up" (1970 Creole U.K.)
16. Melvin Van Pebbles "Superstition" (1973 Atlantic U.S.)


Mr Krum "The Black Version"

Hip Hop & Rappin' In The House

Remember Hip-House? Of course you do. It was damn near impossible to avoid during the late 80's. Every Euro-pop producer and their crackhead daughter were giving it a go, a lot of them achieving chart success with some of the worst songs ever recorded. But as any Hip-Hop collector will know, most of their favourite artists also jumped on the Hip-House bandwagon, be it with the compulsory 'last track on the album' or B-side remixes. And I'm not talking about those shitty CJ Wackintosh mixes, I'm talking Marley Marl, Ced-Gee, Erick & Parrish, 45 King, productions. Obviously with the visible chart success dollars signs were flashing, and they all cashed in. Now I don't mind some of the old Chicago and Detroit House music, and obviously I love my Hip-Hop, but not together. Leave that to Rob-N-Raz or Bettie Boo.

Anyway, last November I put this mix together for a spoof radio show I was meant to be doing with a local stand up comedian. Two half hour segments - Hip-House and Rap Ballads. For one reason or another nothing came of it, so I thought I may as well put it up on here. If Shortcut can get away with a New Jack Swing mix, then f*ck it.


Mr Krum "Hip-Hop and Rappin' In The House"

E.P.M.D. 'It's Time 2 Party' (1989 Fresh Records L.P. track)
Side F-X 'Rock The House' (1990 Nastymix L.P. track)
Dismasters 'Scrum - And Then Some' (1989 Urban Rock 12")
Ultramagnetic MC's 'Travelling At The Speed Of Thought (Hip-House Club Mix)' (1989 Next Plateau 12")
Jaz 'Let's Play House' (1989 EMI L.P. track)
MC Lyte & King Of Chill 'Lyte As A Rock (House Mix)' (1988 First Priority Music 12")
L.L. Cool J 'Mama Said Knock You Out (Hot Mix)' (1991 Def Jam 12")
Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock 'Get On The Dance Floor' (1988 Profile 12")
Jungle Brothers 'I'll House You' (1988 Idlers 12")
Craig G 'Turn This House Into A Home' (1989 Atlantic 12")
Slick Rick 'Slick Rick - The Ruler' (1991 Def Jam L.P. track)
Chill Rob G 'Make It' (1989 Wild Pitch L.P. track)
Tuff Crew 'What You Don't House' (1989 Soo Deff Recordings 12")