VIDEO: Miles Bonny – On Impulse

This is the official video for the track On Impulse by Miles Bonny, it’s a project created with the INnatesounds label and Marmo Films. The intro to the video is lifted from the new Miles Bonny album Scorpio INN. In Miles’ own words, “the feeling of impulsive, natural instinct is a wonderful thing, and that is what the song is about. Although, the “like a tune from Duke & Train” lyric is a reference to the Duke Ellington & John Coltrane album released on Impulse. I love this song. Enjoy and share.”

Miles Bonny remains one of my favourite contemporary soul singers, although given his own productions and others that he has appeared on, perhaps he would be better considered a ‘soul-hop’ artist? That’s not too important, as we all know how irrelevant genres are becoming these days! As always, the most important thing is that you like what you’re hearing, and I like Miles Bonny very much. There’s a certain je ne sais quoi about Miles Bonny – a real blend of passion and honesty to him, plus his output is consistently of a very high quality – basically, you’d be well advised to buy his music pronto!

I’ll leave you with a mean El Michels Affair cover of Walk on By with Miles Bonny on vocals…

mp3: El Michels Affair – Walk on By (Miles Bonny remix)

VIDEO: Dorian Concept – Trilingual Dance Sexperience

This is Trilingual Dance Sexperience, Austrian maestro Dorian Concept‘s second release on Affine Records. It’s a crazy electronic affair, held together by a feverish energy, and it’s also bizarrely addictive. Dorian Concept has been revered for his unique electronic creations for the past few years and it’ll be no surprise for you to learn that this 12-inch (backed with the track Tropical Hands) is already getting a lot of press and play from such influential luminaries as; Mark Pritchard, Kode9, Martyn, Gilles Peterson and Mary Anne Hobbs.

Enjoy the video above for Trilingual Dance Sexperience, in all it’s retro home-video glory, and give the b-side, Tropical Hands, a listen below…

mp3: Dorian Concept – Tropical Hands

GIG: DMC World DJ Championship 2009 (RESULTS)

As mentioned last week, the DMC World DJ Championship took place this past weekend, with the World Team Battle and Battle For World Supremacy competitions on Friday night and the individual World competition on Saturday night – both at IndigO2 at The O2 in London. Inja and Billy Biznizz (pictured above) hosted the events and Inja even performed a track or two to get the crowd hyped up, plus Rob Swift gave a quick masterclass on the turntables too! A lot of readers will just want to know who the winners were, so I’ll cut to the chase…

• 2009 World Team Battle Champions: Kireek (Japan)
• 2009 Battle For World Supremacy Champion: Switch (UK)
• 2009 World DMC Champion: DJ Shiftee (USA)

That’s the third year in a row for Kireek and the second year in a row for Switch! I was at the individual final on Saturday night and the competition was strong. Particular personal highlights were; DJ Mandrayq (Italy), DJ Co-Ma (Japan) and DJ Final (Norway) – but as ever, despite the skills of all the finalists being of a very high standard, there are always a few who are just a level above the rest. DJ Shiftee was definitely a worthy winner, combining tight skills with some impressive scratching and juggling tricks. To be honest, I thought DJ Co-Ma of Japan might just pip him to the proverbial post, but I’m no expert and DJ Co-Ma came runner-up to DJ Shiftee in the end. Ligone of France came third, but after Shiftee and Co-Ma, there was a whole bunch of very talented guys who could have grabbed that third spot. Alas, only one DJ leaves with the fabled winners jacket and golden turntables, and for 2009 that was DJ Shiftee of America, as decided by an army of judges which included the likes of; Switch, Q-Bert, Cash Money, Rob Swift, Tony Vegas, Blakey and a hatful of other names/legends that I’ve conveniently forgotten.

Also, check the showcase Switch gave before the competition started, on the Jus Like Music YouTube Channel…

mp3: DJ Craze – 1998 DMC World DJ Championship Set

Friday Finds: Foreign Beggars / Brother Ali / Constrobuz

The end of another week! So, what do I have for you within this inaugural edition of Friday Finds? Well, check this exclusive studio footage from Foreign Beggars, arguably the best UK hip-hop group around today. What you’re seeing is a sneak peak, via their Dented Records Studios in London, from their upcoming album, United Colours of Beggattron – due out in October. By the sounds of things it should be a pretty heavy record indeed, and I wouldn’t expect anything less from Foreign Beggars, to be honest.

mp3: Foreign Beggars – Contact feat. Noisia (Dirty)

You’ll remember the other day that I posted up a video and track from Brother Ali‘s upcoming new album, Us. Just so happens that I’ve got another sneaky track to share with you today. This track is called Fresh Air, and naturally it features that distinctive Brother Ali flow – it’s a catchy number with a real groove to it. Us is out via Rhymesayers Entertainment on 21st September and, like I mentioned the other week, if you’re in London you can catch him live on 15th September at Barfly in Camden.

mp3: Brother Ali – Fresh Air

Finally, I want to leave you with a track that has haunted me, for all the right reasons, this past week or so. It’s simply beautiful. The track has, what I can only describe as, an ‘ironic’ title – but please don’t let that put you off! I’m talking about Fecal Vomiting by Constrobuz, an unsigned hip-hop producer from North Carolina in the USA. I don’t really know much about Constrobuz, except that he continually spits out fantastic tracks on his BEATS series of albums, all of which are available as free downloads – check his MySpace page for links. Fecal Vomiting is lifted straight off the latest volume; BEATS Vol. 3, which contains 30 tracks. Anyway, I urge you all to go grab all three volumes, you wont regret it!

mp3: Constrobuz – Fecal Vomiting

Have a good weekend and maybe I’ll catch some of you tomorrow night in London for the DMC World DJ Championship!

GIG: DMC World DJ Championship 2009

It’s here! Local heats and national finals are over and out of the way, now it’s crunch time! The DMC World DJ Championship takes place this Friday and Saturday (11th and 12th) at indigO2 at The O2 in London. This year is the 25th anniversary of the prestigious event and there’ll be no shortage of talent to help celebrate. The Battle For World Supremacy and the World Team Battle are on Friday – they’ll be hosted by Inja and Billy Biznizz who will be joined by DJ Yoda, DJ I-Dee and also Jehst with Micall Parknsun and Jazz T for some special appearances and showcases. Then Sunday will see Inja host the World Final accompanied by performances from DJ Q-Bert, Rob Swift, Switch, DJ Fly, Shiftee, DJ I-Dee, Killa Kela and Teeko. A 1-Day ticket is £15, or you can grab yourself a 2-Day ticket for a bargain £20!

Naturally the main focus of the two days will be the actual competitors, and history tells us they get better and better each year, but I cant help but be extremely impressed (and excited!) by the above list of special guests – that’s a very strong look indeed. I’ve been to my fair share of DMC events over the years and I’ve always come away totally gob-smacked – most of these guys will spend a whole year locked away in their bedrooms or studios perfecting their DJ set and sharpening those skills. If you’ve never been to one of these before, then it’s definitely worth checking out the recently launched DMC MUZU channel to see how it all goes down. Obviously the best way to really appreciate the events is to actually go! You can watch a thousand videos, but nothing compares to actually being there and soaking up the atmosphere in person.

mp3: A-Track – 1997 DMC World DJ Championship Set

GIG: John Robinson @ Doctor’s Orders 33

As mentioned on this site back in August, John Robinson was indeed at Herbal in London for Doctor’s Orders 33 this past Friday evening. It was a good night in Shoreditch, London where Spin Doctor boomed out some classic hip-hop tracks, Lowkey gave a lyrical showcase and the main-man John Robinson reminded us all why he’s still one of the best emcees out there. If you weren’t there… you missed out big-style!

After some top choice DJing from the likes of Harry Love and Spin Doctor, Lowkey went on after midnight and hyped up the crowd with some interactive lyrical games and a few tracks, mainly with a political edge, including the new track We Don’t Want Them, produced by The Last Skeptik. It’s a track released in association with Love Music Hate Racism as a response to the fascist British National Party and their recent growth in the face of the recession. Then at about 2am John Robinson hit the stage. He played for a solid hour, getting the crowd involved regularly and he worked through from old material right up until brand-new tracks made with J Rawls. The man is as sharp live as he is on record! I also shot six small videos and uploaded them to the new Jus Like Music YouTube channel, here’s one…

mp3: John Robinson – I Am Not For Sale

Was a great evening hosted by Spin Doctor and I felt genuinely privileged to see John Robinson perform live. If you ever get the chance to see him live, make sure you do catch him! He’s a funny guy indeed and a true professional too. The next Doctor’s Orders will be number 34 and will see the legendary CL Smooth come to London with support from UK hip-hop emcee Micall Parknsun – that’s on 2nd October, so get your tickets booked!