Monday, May 18, 2009

afro-central

  Ashley Beedle is one of my favourite music people. Black Science Orchestra are totally the bomb; the Soul Power Music EP is one of my treasures; his remixes of Beng Beng Beng by Femi Kuti and Weak Become Heroes by The Streets are jewels in The Crate; the Grass Roots compile of lost disco and lush Philly changed my ears, as did The Ballistic Brothers and at least some of X-Press 2. He's also, in some way, behind Black Jazz Chronicles and Delta House of Funk, East Village Loft Society and Disco Evangelists. On killer labels like Junior Boys Own, Strut, Nuphonic and ffrr. A great producer.

So it was with some delight I re-found the Afro-Art Greatest Hits Volume 1 double disc submerged in the archive. Afro-Art is the label he co-founded in the late 90's at the crest of the broken beat/Phil Asher wave to release a lot of that kind of music (where breakbeat fused with deep house and jazz) but also swags of backroom breakbeat, afro-house, garage, the beginnings of 2-step/dubstep and even some drum 'n' bass. Here's 3 of 18.

Headspace Lullaby (mp3) by Black Science Orchestra is from 2001: moody, time-shifting, lush early dubstep.  

Ghetto: New Yorkshire (mp3) by Supafix is from the year 2000: a funky breakbeat with old acid noise alerts.

Question? (The Phillysophical Soul mix) (mp3) by The Man feat Ashley Slater is also from 2000: superdeep and righteous jazzy house with a preacherman vibration and Rhodes.

Ashley Beedle has just recently done a thing with Horace Andy: they talk it through here

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