Beauty's a ring of smoke
I've been meaning to put in a plug for a pair of free mixes my homeboy Phill Most a/k/a Phill Most Chill a/k/a the Soulman recently put out and, this, the shortest day of the year, feels like a good time for this wintry pair.
Phill's nice with the mic, the pen, the marker, beat machines and other stuff, but he's deservedly best known for his World of Beats tape series, which was among the first to mix rare beats and breaks. Throughout the 90s, Phill regularly dropped tapes featuring obscure original tracks sampled for recent rap hits alongside unknown gems. For many people, Phill's tapes were not just an introduction to the music their favorite songs were based on, they were a gateway to record digging.
Now, having said all that, I actually was never a huge fan of his World of Beats tapes. As much as I love a lot of the music he put on them and as much respect as I have for Phill as a digger and listener, I often found them a little choppy for my taste. Like the rap songs that popularized many of the records he mixed, Phill's tapes tended to focus on little four- or 8- or 16-bar sections-- drum breaks, basslines, loops-- and however hot these pieces were, I usually felt like they didn't stick with me the way songs do.
His two new tapes are a real departure in that respect. Each is a roughly hour-long collection of songs that are minimally mixed and flow naturally.
The first mix is devoted to psych, and it's largely made up of quiet, folk-ish tunes. Many are acoustic, many are female-fronted and quite a few are gorgeous. It's a great nighttime listen and it had me revisiting a few recent reissues that are in a similar style: Dirty French Psychedelics, Fuzzy Felt Folk and Folk Is Not a Four Letter Word and Folk Is Not a Four Letter Word 2. If you enjoy Phill's mix, all are really worth buying.
You can download Beautiful here.
The second mix is closer to traditional Soulman territory-- it's mainly made up of soul songs, although there's some jazz and a few other things in the mix, too. It's a little bit groovier than Beautiful but overall the tone is similar-- much of it is slow, pretty and reflective.
Come to Me Softly is here.
Phill's nice with the mic, the pen, the marker, beat machines and other stuff, but he's deservedly best known for his World of Beats tape series, which was among the first to mix rare beats and breaks. Throughout the 90s, Phill regularly dropped tapes featuring obscure original tracks sampled for recent rap hits alongside unknown gems. For many people, Phill's tapes were not just an introduction to the music their favorite songs were based on, they were a gateway to record digging.
Now, having said all that, I actually was never a huge fan of his World of Beats tapes. As much as I love a lot of the music he put on them and as much respect as I have for Phill as a digger and listener, I often found them a little choppy for my taste. Like the rap songs that popularized many of the records he mixed, Phill's tapes tended to focus on little four- or 8- or 16-bar sections-- drum breaks, basslines, loops-- and however hot these pieces were, I usually felt like they didn't stick with me the way songs do.
His two new tapes are a real departure in that respect. Each is a roughly hour-long collection of songs that are minimally mixed and flow naturally.
The first mix is devoted to psych, and it's largely made up of quiet, folk-ish tunes. Many are acoustic, many are female-fronted and quite a few are gorgeous. It's a great nighttime listen and it had me revisiting a few recent reissues that are in a similar style: Dirty French Psychedelics, Fuzzy Felt Folk and Folk Is Not a Four Letter Word and Folk Is Not a Four Letter Word 2. If you enjoy Phill's mix, all are really worth buying.
You can download Beautiful here.
The second mix is closer to traditional Soulman territory-- it's mainly made up of soul songs, although there's some jazz and a few other things in the mix, too. It's a little bit groovier than Beautiful but overall the tone is similar-- much of it is slow, pretty and reflective.
Come to Me Softly is here.
posted by Matthew at
10:14 PM
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