A Trio of Treats

It's Sunday Night again and I totally have that 'shit it is Monday tomorrow' feeling. So to try and cheer myself up a bit thought I would post a trio of my favourite tracks from the last couple of months.

To Start things of we have the excellent Motor City Drum Ensemble with Raw Cuts #6.

Joy Orbison is definately the man of the moment his Jose jame remix is out later this month and it has been getting seriously bigged up. This is another absolute 'barn stormer' called Hyph Mngo.

And to round things off we have Massive MiLK favourites Floating Points and the sublime 'Vacuum Boogie'.

Quantic and his Combo Barbaro

One of my records of the year has definately been Quantic and his Combo Barbaro's ‘Tradition In Transition’ release through the every excellent Tru Thoughts.

In 2007 Will ‘Quantic’ Holland moved to Cali in Colombia to pursue his passion for both unearthing lost treasures from Colombia’s musical past and making new music with the golden array of talent available. Holland assembled his Combo Bárbaro (literally translating as ‘group of barbarians or people from outside Europe’)and with this record created a multi-cultural patchwork, a record bathed but not exclusively rooted in Colombian musical culture but embracing the musical range of all the American continent.

This is the video for my favourite track on the album 'Un Canto A Mi Tierra'which features folklore singer Nidia Gongora and is shot on location in her home village of Timbiqui in Colombia.

Zed Bias - Neighbourhood 2009

Zed Bias has given his most recognisable tune the 2009 make over. 'Neighbourhood 09' is out now and features Nicky Prince and MC Rumpus. Watch out for a cheeky Gilles Peterson cameo in the video.

Digable Planets presents 'Sounds from the 7th Dimension' mixed by DJ Alex J

Having spent my days at school during the 'Golden age' of hip-hop, I spent most of those years mainly listening to some of the great Hip-Hop of that time. Although my musical tastes may have grown I still frequently drop regular little Hip-Hop gems in my DJ sets, as you can probably notice from the Podcasts on this Blog.

The Digable Planets fused Hip-Hop and Jazz music and their 1993 debut Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space) is still a favourite of mine now! They are composed of Butterfly, Doodlebug, Ladybug and were backed by Silkworm, who later became King Britt. After their second album 'Blowout Comb' was released in 1994 the group soon split up and stayed that way until in 2005 when they embarked on a reunion tour.

Here is a new Digable Planet's mixtape entitled "Sounds of the 7th Dimension" mixed by DJ Alex J which is to promote Digable Planet's new tour that kicks off this week in the US.

Digable Planets Presents "Sounds from the 7th Dimension" mixed by DJ Alex J. by DJAlex-J.

Mayer Hawthorne - The Ills

OK with two post about his music in the last two weeks, you can probably tell I'm really diggin' the sounds of Mayer Hawthorne. I spotted this video on YouTube this morning and had to post it. It is an unofficial video for his track 'The Ills' as featured on his album A Strange Arrangement which if you don't already don't own a copy of then you need to get it pronto.

Mayer is due to visit the UK's shores at the End of this month so watch out!!!

4Hero present Extensions

4Hero are due to release a collection of versions of there tracks on their 'presents Extensions Album out on 19/10/2009. Rather than releasing the usual style of remix album'. This album is a collection of original previously unreleased cover versions of their music, reinterpreted by a selection of hand picked artists.

For this project they’ve sought out a range of forward thinking outfits, orchestra's & producers including some new discoveries to cover their music. 4hero played their part in the music supervision including some recording, mixing and co producing tracks on the album.

On this video Ayanna Witter-Johnson performs her version of 'Give In' which was originally on the Playing with the changes Album and was a massive favourite of mine.

From The MiLK: Vaults 'Summer 2008' Mix

Whilst cleaning up my Hard Drive this weekend I came across this MiLK:: Sessions Mix I had forgotton all about Recorded in July 2008 it feature a selectin of MiLK favourite from 2008

Track Listing
Belleruche - Northern Girls (DJ Vadim Mix)
Fanatix feat. Shaun Escoffery - Can’t let go
Marschmellows - Soulpower (Jazzanova’s Straight Dub Mix)
Lanu - Don’t Sleep (Maddslinky Mix)
Domu - Something Borrowed
Fred Everything feat. Wayne Tennant - Mercyless
Amp Fiddler – You Bring me Vibes (Theo Parrish Ugly Edit)
Osunlade - A Cloudy Mist
Nick Holder - Summer Daze (Original 12” Mix)
Hercules and the Love Affair - Blind (Frankie Knuckle Remix)
Marlena Shaw – California Soul (Diplo Remix)
Incognito – Wild & Peaceful (Kenny Dope Remix)

Download it here!

Seiji Goodies 5 - Tumbledown

Paul ‘Seiji’ Dolby has been posting tracks all year for free download in there full 320 kbps glory through his website. There have been some little gems already posted this year including the excellent Ravin A, as featured in the MiLK: May Podcast. The latest offering is a track called Tumbledown and we like it here very, very much. So get yourself over to Seiji's website and download yourself a copy!!

seijigoodies 5 - Tumbledown by seiji

Gilles Peterson Presents: Havana Cultura - New Cuba Sound

Not only is Cuba home to one of my favourite drinks (Havana Club Rum in case you're interested) but it is also home to some pretty darn good music too. The man that is Gilles Peterson has created this compilation, which has been almost a year in the planning and following a whirlwind trip to Havana he recorded this record at the legendary Egrem studios. Due for release on 26/10/2009 featuring collaborations with top Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca and Vince Vella it has resulted in 28 tracks with 20 artists over 2 albums.

Mayer Hawthorne - Green Eyed Love (Classixx Remix) Free Download

Here at MiLK HQ we are totally loving Mayer Hawthorne's debut Album 'A Strange Arrangement'. Later this month he is due to release “Green Eyed Love The Remixes” on 12-inch Green Vinyl. Our friends at Stone Throw Records are currently offering the 'Classixx Remix' as a free Download through there Website so dont be shy download it here!.

Plus below is the video of Mayer covering ELO's 'Mr Blue Sky, in studio at KCRW's Morning Radio Show.

Bonobo - The Keeper

Bonobo - The Keeper featuring Andreya Triana from Ninja Tune on Vimeo.

The new Bonobo Single 'The Keeper' is due for release on October 19th through Ninja Tune. The video has been floating around on the Net for the last few months and is proving to be quite a hit. It features the vocals of Andreya Triana. The new album is due for release early next year so watch out.