In celebration of this year’s Record Store Day, Pretty Lights — aka Derek Vincent Smith — released a limited edition double 10” vinyl set for his The Hidden Shades EP. The blissful and bass-ful sample-heavy collection featured four unreleased B-Sides and remixes from last year’s Grammy-nominated A Color Map of the Sun album — which we posted for […]


Getting Yasiin Bey back into the USA may not be so easy, but Amerigo Gazaway has done a hell of a job bringing “Yasiin Gaye” back to us. This Mos Def x Marvin Gaye is the sequel to the last dose of goodness you may remember from here. The intent this time around was to play up […]


You remember last year when Solid-Steel Radio did a tribute to The Beastie Boys’ timeless Paul’s Boutique album? We posted the Caught In The Middle Of A 3-Way Mix by DJ Food, Cheeba and Moneyshot (with cover illustrated by the great Food One), and it ended up being one of our favorite mixtapes of the year […]


26 Oct
Gianni Lee & Mike Blud assemble 9 tracks of KL samples

If you haven’t had a chance to listen to Kendrick Lamar’s debut good kid, m.A.A.d city, we cannot recommend the album any more highly. The Compton kid is a true lyricist and storyteller the likes we haven’t seen since maybe early Outkast. For many hip-hop fans, it will most likely be considered the album of […]


27 Mar
Ninja Tune's tribute to the legendary Dusseldorf quartet

Years ago DJ Food assembled a series of mixtapes all based on the music of Kraftwerk. And while all the mixes were found scattered here and there, DJ Food has finally assembled them all in one place on Soundcloud. Not all the tracks featured on the various mixes contain actual samples of the legendary German […]


16 Feb
From Four Tet, Floating Points, Teebs & DJ Shadow to 50s jazz

Escondido-via-Oakland producer Shortcircles — the latest signee off Los Angeles label Plug Research — released his eponymous debut EP this week. He claims influence by artists the likes of Four Tet, Teebs, Floating Points, DJ Shadow and a “a plethora of 50’s jazz records,” so you can sort of get where his music’s coming from. […]


31 Oct
A tribute to one of the most sampled men in music history

On Thursday and Friday November 17 & 18 what looks to be an amazing event is going down in Los Angeles at Exchange LA. In a well named tribute to the great Roy Ayers, Homage is taking place with Pete Rock turntabling live with soul & funk legend Ayers and his band. One of the most […]


17 Aug
Brooklyn duo's "Check Yo' Ponytail" mashup mix

The Brooklyn duo of Javelin have put together a sample heavy mixtape rife with retro hits to promote their set at last night’s Check Yo’ Ponytail club night. From mashups of The Fall with MIA to older tracks of Rolling Stones and Fine Young Cannibals to newer juice like Vybz Cartel, their half hour set […]