Can’t really say much about this collection. It’s SirOJ, it’s a beattape, it’s chill. By now you probably know what to expect from the Slumgillion producer: minimal beats, good grooves, laidback samples and complementary synthwork.

Ok that may sound a bit boring, which this release definitely isn’t. It’s kind of an after hours space-age lounge collection throughout, with a couple of sparkling gems on it. Ranging from jazzy beats to futuristic electronics, you’ve got an hour of really decent music in 30 tracks. My personal favorites are the more downtempo’ish tracks like The Doks, Zwart ~Wit and Who’s Bringin’ It Back.

There’s a small downside to this pack, some MP3’s are in pretty low quality and the volume between tracks varies from time to time. Still, it’s free!

Check out some of the beats below (courtesy of Blunt Guts Nation) and download “Vibe Out” through zShare.

Siroj – baby dork – vibe out by BluntGutsNation

Siroj – 204 – vibeout by BluntGutsNation

Sir oj – thirty two – vibe out by BluntGutsNation

The first EP (”19/76″) that Crookram released on Budabeats back in 2008 was met with open arms in the downtempo scene because of the perfect in-style feel and melancholic atmosphere. Two year later he returns with 19 tracks to show us downtempo isn’t only not dead, it’s actually in damn good shape! Let’s do some quick highlights here of the album that came out on Budabeats as well as Bankrupt Recordings.

The album starts off with an oldschool ‘who am I and what do I do’ intro. A dope beath with a bunch of rap vocals scratched on it. Da Crook still brags and boasts and follows with ‘Crookrilla’, one of his sample-laden breakbeat tracks that Wax Tailor would be proud of.
Next up on the menu are ‘Breakadawn’ and ‘Missione Pericolosa’, two steady 90bpm groove tracks. Dope cinematic vibes with straight drums is the recipe. ‘Bij De Rest’ also features these ingredients but because of the dusty Dutch sample (nice find bro!) it has kind of an early Spinvis vibe.

Speaking about nice finds, ‘Please Get Out Of The New One If You Can’t Blend The Ancient’ is a beautiful and funny interlude. It almost seems like a message to all the young kids out there making hip beats without researching their predecessors (my words, not Crookram’s!). The title track ‘Through Windows’ and ‘Two Seven Three Eleven’ continue the downtempo stream that’s ideal for a sunsplashed sunday morning. It’s the perfect build-up to ‘Good Morning Good Days’, an interlude which welcomes you to the more uptempo track ‘Makedonija’.

After this happy segment it’s back to cinematic moodyness with ‘Your Eyes Are Full Of Hate’, ‘Bodies’ and ‘Badalamenti’, an eastern Europe influenced track in which Crookram shows us he’s capable of more than simple breaks and boom-bap drums. ‘A Man Named Ivan’ continues the exotic sample-trip before getting back to straight funk on ‘Business Is Business’ and ‘Eugène Et Le Cerceau’, which are more minimalistic and reminds me of the Belgian loop-cutters 40 Winks.

Ending the album in style, the last 3 tracks take us back to the Crookram we know from “19/76″. Dragging movie styled sampled accompanied by robust beats. A perfect goodbye and ’till next time that makes you lunge for the repeat button before the final track is over.

On “Through Windows” Crookram not only shows us his growth as a producer, but also that regular downtempo music isn’t dead and the pile of old records to sample from is still not depleted. As much as I love our new erratic stuttering synthy counterpart, I’m filing this release as a classic without a single doubt.

Check out the intro track below and download the album at Budabeats or Bankrupt Recordings (direct links).

crookram-back to school by budabeats

update: The Dutchies can check an interview with Crookram at 3voor12. And here’s a video of the track ‘Through Windows’

Simon Amon (of Bathtub Piracy Recordings) teams up with Fret Hinge (the 2 men behind the boards of The Fringe, get it, get it?) and together they’ve made this incredible funky & sexy track called “Afrodisiacting”. I was pleasantly surprised because a) I had no idea Simon could sing like this, and b) I recall the production for The Fringe to be a bit more harsh and electronic.

The drum-heavy and bassline driven track is the perfect set up for Simon’s smooth vocals. The production and harmonies are plainly awesome. Broad enough to evoke an emotional response, and not too overdone that it gets a too slick rnb feel.
While the remix by Ebokai is in a total different form, bouncing simplistic beats and straight-up electronics, it’s just as sexy and groovy as the original. With the pitched-up vocals, chicago bassline and house-stabs it’s a straight-up dancefloor killer.

You can check out the tracks below, or download the package here.

Simon Amon x Fret Hinge – Afrodisiacting by Simon Amon x Fret Hinge

Simon Amon x Fret Hinge – Afrodisiacting (RMX by Ebokai) by Simon Amon x Fret Hinge

“Your favorite’s favorites of 2009″ is what Cinnaman, Shady, Brutuzz, Giographic and O.Boogie call this collection of 5 small mixes to celebrate the upcoming New Year’s eve.

Cinnaman launches off with some boom-clap beats, bleeps  and distorted arps. Fresh styles as we’re used from him, so ’nuff said. After dumping the initial boosters, Shady takes us smoothly out of orbit and into the dark void of space. From there on he slowly takes us into the dubstep nebula, where it’s time for Brutuzz to take over.

It seems Brutuzz has had enough of the endless darkness that surrounds the nebula. Ditching impulse speed he goes straight to warp 6, heading for a beautiful supernova with some blissfull 80’s electrofunk influenced stepping. While the rest of the crew is tightly strapped in, the passengers are now wiggin’ out.
After the supernova has died out Giographic relieves Brutuzz and, to make up for lost time, kicks it to warp 9 with harsh synths, steady drums and a lot of LFO’ing. Getting pushed back in your seat, the stars off the port-bow suddenly go from little white dots to bright long stripes.

Quickly entering the new constellation, it’s time for O. Boogie to explore for a suitable planet to descend to. Conducting surveys of each planet within the star system, Boogie encounters and debriefs us on everything that we’ve already heard and seen on the journey to this corner of the galaxy. Then, out of nowhere, appears a red dwarf of the likes we’ve never seen: That’s where we need to go. Setting down the spacecraft with a nostalgic tune, excitement buzzes through the ship. Everyone suits up and gets ready to depart…

…and that’s where the transmissions ended. I guess we’ll have to wait ’till next year to see what was on the planet’s surface.

Get the mix through soundcloud (MP3), mediafire (full package containing covers and flyers), or listen below.

no need to rush by niwa

Slow soulful but rough track. I couldn’t resist cutting up the (well-known) sample and adding some boomin’ drums and sizzlin’ distortion on it to push the groove.

shut up and just ask me by niwa

Another sexy soulful track, but a bit more uptempo with a touch of disco. Didn’t even realize this was sampled before until I reached the end of the track ;)

properly prepared by niwa

Some oldschool 90′ish bpm boom bap downtempo tune. Broad pads, simple soothing melodies and some nerdy speech cuts. “Don’t you like beats, doctor?”

All these tracks (and more) are also on:
-soundcloud
-last.fm
-myspace
-thesixtyone
-hyves
-my own lil’ site

Enjoy!

As usual Sandman lays down the new hip hop bangers mixed with the hottest tracks you missed out on.  This goes side to side with the occasional sampled original thrown in and dope timeless music for all us not-so-narrowminded peeps. Ofcourse all of this freshness is smoothly blended together, making this yet another Sands mix you won’t skip through!

tracklist:

1. Jay-Z Feat. Nas – Success
2. Art & Ron – Can’t Stop Talkin’
3. Marco Polo & Torae – Coney Island
4. Rustee Juxx feat. Sean Price – Wipe off Ya Smile
5. Alchemist feat. Snoop Dogg, Pusha T & Jadakiss – Lose Your Life
6. Drake feat. Lil’ Wayne – I’m Goin In
7. The Clipse feat. Wale – Forever Fly
8. Bishop Lamont – Grow Up
9. Lil Wayne – Mrs. Officer
10. Emily King feat. Lupe Fiasco – Walk in my Shoes
11. Freddie Cruger feat. Lin – Pretty Little Thing
12. Alice Russell – Hurry on Now
13. Jay Electronica – Exhibit A (Transformations)
14. Suff Daddy feat. Miles Bonney – Late Night Stuff
15. Suff Daddy feat. Kissey Asplund – Late Night Reprise
16. De Javaanse Jongens – On You
17. Mr. Beatnick feat. Ahu – I know all the Bitches
18. Pacific Division – Shut Up
19. Common – The Corner ‘09 Pt. 2 (Beatnick & K-Salaam remix)
20. Rich Girl feat. Bun B – 24’s
21. Paper Route Gangstaz – Bama gettin’ Money (Diplo remix)
22. Wham! – Careless Whisper (No Homo)

Download the blend for free here!

And here are some more older mixes (right-click -> download):
- Spinnin’ Mixtape 1
- Spinnin’ Mixtape 2
- Sandies Blends: Cherry Blend

While we were out there checking the headliners, a group consisting of 3 young Amsterdam natives almost managed to slip past us. Luckily a friend from Amsterdam slipped us an EP containing 7 sweet and soulful tracks by Nation Of Elzi.

I honestly have to apologize for posting this a couple of months late, because this is that summer barbeque shit right here! Jazzy rhodes, soul guitars and a lot of head-nodding beats are the ground on which some joyful and positive are laid-down. The EP can be easily filed between old Common and Slum Village albums, but without calling it a copycat-effort.

You can get this groovy release in 256kbps MP3 at the Nation Of Elzi website, and I also found a 320kbps version on ZShare for all you Serato/Traktor people out there.

Also, next saturday they’ll be opening for P.O.S. at the Sugar Factory.

Around that same time Kyteman’s album ‘The Hermit Sessions‘ skyrocketed in The Netherlands, ensuing in a shitload of gigs for his Hip Hop Orchestra of which Surreal and Jule are a part of. This in itself is a good thing ofcourse, but in my opinion it kinda meant less shine for these 2 dope EP’s. But hey, that’s what we’re here for, right?

:: Master Surreal – Adaptation EP

Tracklist:
1. All Right Now (Here I Come)

2. I’m Back – Cuts by DJ DNS
3. The God Of War ft. Tyrone of T-N-T
4. Adaptation Interlude (A Message)
5. In Love And War ft. Omar Soulay
6. Infinite Potential ft. Avi
7. Cowboys & Indians – Cuts by DJ DNS
8. Omega ‘09

Buy the EP @ iTunes here, and download the Master Surreal Mixtape here for free.

:: King Jule – The Hunter, The Tracks

Tracklist:
1. Saudacao (Intro)
2. A New Day – Cuts by DJ DNA (beat by yours truely)

3. Culture
4. Ill Format – Cuts by DJ DNS
5. Hold My Own

6. Street Style Lessons
7. R-A-W ft. Avi & Keynote Speakerz

You’ll have to search for this one yourselves for now.. I’m not using iTunes and I’m still waiting for the link =)

Next Friday (the 29th of May) 4 EP’s will be released at 1 party:

• Master Surreal – Adaptation
• King Jule – The Hunter, The Tracks
• Klap van de Molen & homies – Sessies
• RealiTijd – Kop Voor Mijn Plaat

DJ DNS (of Shit Is Bangin’) has made a 55min mix to celebrate Master Surreal’s EP. You can get the mix for free here.

The releaseparty will be held @ Rof! in Ekko. Doors will be open at 21:00 and the damage is EUR 8,-.

Skidz & Mseize are spinning between the acts, so b-b-b-be there!

Kyteman dropped his well-received album “The Hermit Sessions”, Keynote Speakerz released their “Remix Record“, EP’s by Master Surreal and King Jule are scheduled to blow and if I’m correct Arts The Beatdoctor is (as always) working on tracks in his new pad. Inf’s “The Go Round” is also scheduled to be released soon, and until that time we can still chill out on Pax & Pry’s “A Day Off”.

But let’s put that aside for a second and focus on the recent issue: Skiggy Rapz has signed to the Austin-based Beats Broke label and as of May 12th (yea tomorrow!) you can buy his brand-spankin’-new EP called “Bang To The Boogie” on CD or MP3.

It’s been a while since Skiggy dropped his last EP “Boatdrinks”, so let’s not get into the usual compare-the-old-with-new review style and just check out this EP on it’s own.

As it should be, the release is very well timed. Spring is already in full effect here considering the weather and BTTB fits it well. Venturing into a more musical side of hiphop, Skiggy delivers a fresh and cheerful blend of summer-worthy tracks. Uptempo beats with uplifting melodics are combined with Skiggy’s signature content-filled raps to make a solid feelgood EP.  The guys get proper lyrical lines and the girls get hooks they can sing to.

Also featured on the EP are Tinusz and Annemarie of the happy-go-lucky band Leaf, and remixes are done by Inf and Arts The Beatdoctor.

Ofcourse a release like this should be celebrated. This will take place Thursday the 14th of May @ Ekko. The doors will be open at 21:00 and the damage is EUR 6,-

For people sympathetic with Beats Broke and Skiggy Rapz there’s  a discount on the album. It only lasts until today, so better check your mail/hyves/myspace inbox!

Also, there’s already 1 track up for free download at bandcamp, click!

If you’re not on their mailinglists, shame on you and tough luck! Luckily you can already order the EP here or get it the next thursday at the releaseparty.