Friday, March 09, 2012

Remix: Set Fire To The Rain


Brand new Adele remix! Built this around the acapella using the MPC, Juno, etc.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Take Care


Love this song but I wanted to fit it more to my taste, removed the drizzy and added kicks, snares and a bunch of other subtle things, with some Juno accents for the turnaround.

Friday, February 03, 2012

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Soul Boulders 2


After a long wait, and a good dose of elbow grease, 
we are proud to announce that Soul Boulders 2 is officially out today!


Matthew Africa & DJ B.Cause - Soul Boulders 2 Snippets by djbcause


To purchase the mix in digital mp3 format go here.


To purchase the mix in physical form, please send payment via Paypal to matthewafrica at hotmail dot com. The price including shipping is $10 in the U.S, $11 to Canada. and $14 to the rest of the world.


I was going to write something nice about the mix for the blog today.  However, after reading Matthew's articulate summary I have decided to post it here and forgo my awkward attempt at an eloquent description of such matters. Thanks to all who have supported this project!


"For those who aren't familiar with Soul Boulders, here's the story.

Back in 2005, B.Cause posted a mind-blowing 10-minute mini-mix on the
SoulStrut message board. The songs were exquisite but hard to
pigeonhole-- soulful and funky, but not purely funk or soul, slow,
psychedelic, moody, maybe a little haunted. In other words, exactly my
sound.

I sent him a message urging him either to finish the mix or to let me
hop on and collaborate with him on turning his ten minutes into
something CD length. I grabbed a dozen or so of my favorite records,
figured out their sequence and recorded my half at B.Cause's house one
rainy afternoon. Once B.Cause fleshed out his half and massaged the
whole thing a bit, we released it in the spring of 2006. It was my
first commercial mix CD.

The response to Soul Boulders was amazing. The Fader, The Wire, Wax
Poetics and Hip Hop Connection said nice things about it. Friends and
peers raved, telling us we soundtracked their summer, that it was
their favorite mix, etc. In a couple cases, I even had people tell me
that the mix changed their lives. Although it sold pretty modestly--
we only pressed 1,000 copies and gave many of them away-- it's easily
the most beloved thing I've ever had a hand in. Over the years, people
have consistently and insistently pressed me and Josh to give them
more. So we did.

For me, Soul Boulders was hard to follow up because I wanted to make
something that people would appreciate in the same way. The landscape
has changed a lot since we made the first mix. Compilations, blogs and
message boards have made a lot of formerly obscure music easily
accessible and consequently everyone seems pretty blasé. Also, I more
or less stopped seriously buying records in about 2005 and worried
that I might not have a good enough set of records to construct
another set; I didn't want to just present some tracks that didn't
make the original mix. Although rarity was never really the point of
Soul Boulders-- creating something unique and special was-- the mix
did feature a lot of music that was unknown to even hardcore soul
listeners and that did help create some excitement around it.

Soul Boulders 2 features 40 meticulously mixed songs. Some are from
common records, many are from rare ones, but all are (to us)
extraordinary soul songs that embody a unique feeling.  We labored
hard on the mix, cleaning up tracks, re-editing them to emphasize
parts we liked, obsessing over the sequencing and tiny details in the
transitions and generally polishing until we felt like we had made a
worthy sequel. I think we succeeded."

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Soul 45: Brothers By Choice - Oh Darlin'


Smooth 70s vibes here on this West Coast indie, ALA being a subsidiary of the well know Laff comedy label. Really can't be too mad at it, even if it is just a overt rip of the midtempo Delegation hit.

Monday, October 17, 2011

R&B Edit: Move On/Work On Me


New R n B edit using a new J. Cole beat with an acapella from Ahmad's old project, 4th Avenue Jones.

4th avenue jones - move on (b.cause work on me edit) by djbcause

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Rap 12": Misfitz Ov Stylz


Classic hype a$$ cut from local outfit Misfitz Ov Stylz, off of their obscure '95 4 song EP on Size 12 Management. Big ups to DJ Lexx, one of the first DJ's to show me love in the bay when I was just starting to play records out.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Zack is Back



New and dope installment of one of my favorite mix series, "Weekday Warrior" by Four Color Zack. Yeah, dude is nice w/ his and plays all kind of joints. And the cuts and transitions are absolutely on point. I respect that. Check it ouuuut....

Weekday Warrior Pt. 3 (for Kicks Hawaii) by fourcolorzack

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Brand New Blend: Mad/Quickie




Here's a new in key blend, "quickie" not only is the instrumental used but also describes the creation of this edit. Fit so well it practically made itself....just re-arranged the beat, etc.