Friday 7 December 2007

MI Download 03-12-07, Chris Read's Diary & Some Pics

I played two segments from Chris Read's Diary Mix on Mondays show, make sure you head over to Musicofsubstance to get a free download of the full mix and plenty of other dopeness (Early Marley Marl and Westwood shows anyone?) Free cd's should also be available in selected shops very soon. Heres Mondays show, happy listening...

Main Ingredient Playlist 03/12/2007
98.7FM (West Midlands)
www.newstyleradio.co.uk for Live Streaming
www.mainingredientradio.blogspot.com for downloads
Mon Nights / Tues Morning 12 - 2am
www.myspace.com/djcrobirmingham

Part 1
http://sharebee.com/9c6bfaf8
Show & AG > Running Man
Statik Selektah > Did What We Had To Do (Show Off)
Sound Sci & Jonny Cuba > Knock Knock (Exclusive)
Guru feat Slum Village > Cuz I'm Jazzy (7 Grand)
Chain Of Command > Rogue State (Merciless)
Baritone Tiplove > When I Drop It (That Real Schitt!)
Ghost > It's All Love (Breakin Bread)
Sputnik Brown > U Havin Fun Yet? (High Water Music)
Chris Read > The Diary 90 Megamix (Substance)
Chris Read > The Diary 98 Megamix (Substance)
Zimbabwe Legit feat Vast Aire & Chubb Rock > Wake Em Up (pH Music)
Nas > Surviving The Times (Def Jam)
The Saint feat Cadence> Wisdom Over Weapons (Jakarta)
Verb T feat Kashmere > Rise and Shine (Thomas)
Mr Complex feat Pharoahe Monch > Scream Remix (Oriental Source)

Part 2
http://sharebee.com/2d317304
Ghostface > Barrel Brothers (Def Jam)
Shabazz The Disciple > Death Be The Penalty (Penalty)
Raw Breed > Rabbit Stew Godfather Don Remix (Continuum)
Artifacts > Art Of Facts Vinyl Reanimators Remix (White)
Redman > I Can't Wait Remix (White)
Smif-N-Wessun > All About The Cash (White)
Cella Dwellas > Ill Colabo (SRC)
J-Live > Sheisty (White)
The UN > Long Time Coming (White)
Large Professor feat Nas > One On One (White)
Saukrates feat Common > Play Dis (Capitol Hill)
Dabrye > Game Over Flying Lotus Remix (???)
Braille > Survival Movements Maze Remix (Exclusive)
Sir Beans OBE feat Chrome > Miles From Home (Ruztik)
Ultramagnetic MC's > Poppa Large Daily Diggers Remix (Daily Diggers)
Cormega > Sleep Well

I got to ask him a few questions about the mix...

How long have you been djing for and what was the inspiration to start?

I've been playing for about 15 years now altogether. There was no particular thing that urged me to start really apart from having a growing record collection and a need to get involved in the music somehow. A kid I was at school with had some turntables for sale so that was that!

Whats been your favourite Substance moment?

It would probably have to be one of the Substance birthday events. We've had some great guests over the years but the most memorable thing for me personally is the improvised stuff we did with the musicians. There was one event when Fingathing (Sneaky and Peter Parker from the Rae and Christian live band) were playing. We had the Mad Flow and Substance band down and our percussionist invited down the horn section from another band he was in. There were about 12 people on stage - all improvising and by some miracle it all just worked really well - me and two other DJs and a bunch of musicians just making it up and people really appreciating it!

What are you most proud of?

I guess keeping the club night running regularly for about 11 years. In that
time so many club nights came and went but somehow we survived. I would like to think it's because there was something unique about what we were doing but it might just as easily have been luck!

What release has blown you away recently?

I think as you get older the standard of what it takes to really impress you gets higher. I can't think of anything off the top of my head from the last few months but hip hop wise the music I'm really feeling at the moment is stuff like Shape of Broad Minds, Jneiro Jarel, Pete Philly and Perquisite, Art of One Mind, Strange Fruit etc.

Whats your favourite record?

Favourite record is a hard one to answer. I'm tempted to say Wind Parade by Donald Byrd. It's just one of those intros that puts the hairs on your neck on end. Places and Spaces is one of the first LPs I bought purely for a break. There's also other breaks used by Grand Daddy IU and Pete Rock on there. The whole album is pure class and it really got me into Blue Note stuff from that era. A close second is Back to Life by Soul II Soul. In my view it's a top class British soul record, a great club record and one I can listen to again and again at home. On the hip hop front, it's got to be Pete Rock & CL Smooth - TROY. A certified classic.


Onto the Diary....

What was the motivation to make the mix?

There was a point when because of Substance and 1Xtra etc people mainly knew me for playing hip hop and I wasn't really getting a chance to play much else when playing out. So I went out of my way to do mixes which took in alot of other styles just to keep things interesting for myself. Some people were into them but more often than not people were asking why I hadn't done any mixes more similar to what I would play out. There are so many forgettable hip hop mixes out there, I figured that if I was going to do this, it had to be something that stood out from the crowd - to quote LL 'Bigger and Deffer'!

How many tracks were used to make it and how long did it take to make?

There's 801 tracks used in total. In fact there's probably a few more because I didn't list all the samples used to signify the year sections. I'm ashamed to say that it's been about two years since I first started it. I worked on it on and off between other things. There was about 5 months when I didn't touch it at all. In the end I just got tired of people asking if it was done yet - I probably did about a third of it in the last few months.

What equipment did you use to make it?

Really just two Technics and a Vestax PMC06. It was all recorded using Cubase as a multi-track. In a few select places I used some echo effect but there's actually not too much editing in there to speak of.

How long before you attempt to make another mix?

I'm actually already planning the next one. It's going to be a similar in style but purely sampled funk and soul breaks. I'm not quite sure how to theme it this time - it won't be chronological this time I know that much!

Finally, where can people see you playing some records?

I have a few nice residencies at clubs and bars round East London where I live; Dragon Bar (best bar in London in my opinion), Truman Brewery, Herbal etc. I do handful of other spots in London pretty regularly and travel when I can. I'm at Solid Steel in Bristol this Friday. I should have some more stuff further afield in the new year - I'm talking to Rap History in Berlin about something off the back of the mix which should be good.


Heres a pic from when Tufkut played a few weeks back

Lefties Soul Connection rocked the Yardbird, heres a few shots courtesy of Alina


I managed to grab a quick interview with them to play on the show this Monday. Thanks to everyone that came out to that and the Hare and Hounds for Jibberings 7th Birthday.

Have a great weekend

Cro