Free Download: Alphabethead Mixtape (60s & 70s Vol II)

Alphabethead says...I’ve been gathering old vinyl since long before I became a DJ. I got my leg up in record collecting through inheriting countless LP’s from relatives and family friends. In 2000 it seemed all the Baby Boomers I knew were spring cleaning, purging records and discovering the Compact Disc. Recording my extended family’s LP’s onto CD was a small price to pay for getting to keep them! In digitizing vinyl I was exposed to bands I normally wouldn’t touch (I was a strictly Hip Hop kid). Most of these records were vibrant mono recordings by 1960’s ‘British Invasion’ bands such as The Beatles, The Yardbirds, The Animals and The Zombies. Every so often a King Crimson, Tangerine Dream or Kraftwerk album would crop up and leave me forever changed. I can still remember the day Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ arrived on my turntable!

Perusing ones records can give such an insight into the psyche of a person. I was consistently surprised in seeing who listened to what. The most straight-edged investment banker could be rocking out to Captain Beefheart (true story)! An uncle of mine was a devout hunter, rugby player, gardener, and ‘good old’ kiwi bloke. When he passed on I was gifted his modest stack of 25 records, all of which were tender female folk singers; Joan Baez, Melanie, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Joni Mitchell et al. What a guy!

This is my second mix of 1960’s and 70’s music. It’s assembled from vinyl, in various conditions, all of which I inherited – the fuzz, crackle and other spurious record noise are all included! Once again it’s mostly pop and psych although this time a little more hard rocking due to the inclusion of Led Zeppelin, Hendrix and May Blitz, a monstrous band on Vertigo records. I made sure I included some Kiwi groups from the era; The Underdog Blues Band, Human Instinct and The Fourmyula’s quintessential Sixties tune ‘Nature’ all make an appearance. Other tracks of special interest are The Beach Boys lesser known ‘Feel Flows’ which is in my opinion their most psychedelic tune and Spirit’s ‘The Other Song’ which Gonjasufi used as a rhythmic canvas last year. It’s mixed in a Hip Hop style with scratches, drum-breaks and cut-up sample segues! Please give it a spin – I hope you enjoy.

DOWNLOAD: “Music From The 1960’s & 70’s (Volume II)”



DOWNLOAD: “Music From The 1960’s & 70’s (Volume II)”

Free Download: N37 Modulation Mixtape

and Alphabethead says...

G’Day buds,

Whenever I bring a stray piece of vinyl home my fervent hope, aside from it being good music, is to use it as source material in something. Unfortunately, due to my ‘habit’ it’s very hard to assimilate the relentless inflow of records. This recording was a conscious effort to utilize all the random records that had slipped through the cracks. I’d grab any unused LP in arms length of the turntable and set the goal of making a beat from it. This is certainly not a unique approach; many beat-makers set themselves such exercises as a challenge and to breakdown any preconceived notions of what ‘should’ be sampled. In sampling unconventional records I learnt about filtering songs to isolate bass and create muffled drones, amplify and affect record pops to make percussion and stretching and layering notes for textures.

Over 60 LP’s went into this one – mostly Sally Army or junk shop finds. Sample sources include; Frank Sinatra, Uriah Heep, Fiddler on the Roof, Gong, 3 Hur-El, Bach, Donovan, Silver Apples, Ravi Shankar, Santana, Stockhausen… Although it’s my fifth beat-tape, it’s the first I’ve presented in mixtape form with transitions, miscellaneous tit-bits of sound and segues between tracks. This one also includes some Hip Hop cutting!

I’m tickle pink with both ‘Tibetan Glitch Beat’ and ‘Two-Zero-One-Zero’. Both of these beats transcend their source material; I’ve no recollection of what records I sampled? They’ve been mangled and affected beyond recognition! When making sample-based music I feel I’ve succeeded when, rather than the old ‘Oh, he just slightly tweaked Kraftwerk’ type of response I elicit more of a ‘What the hell was that? Was it Frank Sinatra or Frank Zappa?’ The further removed my piece is from the original the better. This kinda sums up my thoughts on sampling. I have absolutely no qualms about using another artist’s work just as long as:

(a) The ‘sample’ of another piece of work is a ‘component’ or ‘element’ in the new work rather than the ‘crux’.

(b) The work can be viewed as a new composition in its own right and doesn’t decrease the artistic merit or impinge on the viability of the existing piece.

Of course what defines a ‘new composition’ or constitutes an ‘element’ is certainly a contentious issue. I’ve found that proving a piece of sample-based music is (at least) equal to the sum of its parts can be an uphill battle…

I’m glad to have finally weaved that classic Kiwi bloke Fred Dagg into a mix. I have a crate of lectures, theatre, advertisement and comedy records which I draw on as the garnishes for my mixes. Next stop for spoken-word samples Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and Sam Hunt! The other track I was pleased with was ‘One-Nine-Eight-One’. In the second half all the samples (excluding drums) were pitched up an octave creating a dreamy vocoder effect (thank you Rza)! Please give it whirl…

For those still rocking a discman, hardcopies with covers and disc art are available for 8 NZ bucks.

Alphabethead – N37 Modulations

2Much!

x alphabethead

ps. If you rap feel free to jump on any of these tracks.

ABC Does 60's & 70's Music

This isn't new but I was just listening to it this morning and I wanted to share something, so if you haven't got this already I definitely recommend taking advantage of the free download below...

FREE MIXTAPE: Alphabethead - Music from the 1960's & 70's



Hello everybody,

Much to my delight my beaten up old ’93 Toyota Corrina has a tape deck! To me my automobile has always been seen as a walkman, with additional combustion engine. I periodically make mixtapes for my car, usually following dubious themes such as film music, 80’s Hip Hop, Kabuki/Gamelan/ethnic and dollar bin soul. ‘Dollar bin’ meaning really common $1 records... These mixes are really just a fun way of condensing my abundance of decrepit records down for listening purposes.

I’m pleased to offer one of these older mixtapes for download. It is of rather sentimental value to me as it was the sole cassette to survive an unfortunate and rather serious slip-up I had driving a car in 2008 (read: car crash). The mix is simply ‘Music from the 1960’s and 70’s’. It was the soundtrack to many a road trip and catalyst for numerous passenger sing-along’s. It’s also quite mellow in nature so makes for good anti-road rage music. I now use Marvin Gayes ‘What’s Going On?’ to quell any anger behind the wheel. It’s hard for my blood to boil whilst ‘Brother, brother, brother, there’s far too many of you dying’ is sung is such a sweet voice.

The mix is mostly pop, with a touch of folk and psych rock. Some of my most beloved songs from that era are featured; namely Jefferson Airplanes ‘Crown of Creation’, Beach Boys ‘In My Room’ and McDonald & Giles ‘Flight Of The Ibis’. Also rare Kiwi psychedelic rock bands Human Instinct and Quincy Conserve are featured. Human Instinct do a droll (but, with searing guitar solo) cover of The Kink’s ‘You Really Got Me’ to great effect!

Please check it out – hope you enjoy. You might even discover your new favourite ‘old’ band! Also available as a second generation cassette dub.

DOWNLOAD HERE (copy and paste into web browser):
http://www.mediafire.com/?zgezzlk2zxz

Over and out,

Alphabethead

Read more: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=403213811&blogId=528222168#ixzz0w4YXZI82

Free Download: Jay Roacher Mixtape Is Here!!

BREAKIN WRECKWORDZ, JAY ROACHER, AND ALPHABETHEAD PROUDLY PRESENT....

JAY ROACHER - JUDGE ME BEFORE YOU KNOW ME (MIXED BY ALPHABETHEAD)




01. Jay Brings the Terror
02. Wrong With Me
03. Don’t Be Nervous
04. It Ain’t Easy Freestyle
05. The Trip/Pages Freestyle
06. More Or Less Freestyle
07. Dead Wrong/Phantasm Freestyle
08. Trapped
09. Flashing Lights Freestyle
10. Flashing Lights Beat Juggle
11. Naughty Stewardesses (Intermission)
12. They Know Freestyle
13. All My Friends Are Half Dead (Cyphanetik & Orakle)
14. Chedda Get Low (Hash)
15. Feels So Good
16. Feels So Good (Shakuhachi Glitch Remix)
17. Hopeless Freestyle
18. Psych-Out!
19. Lithium Romp
20. Mouthwash (Kate Nash Cover)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

Jay Roacher Mixtape - May 15 Release

The new Jay Roacher mixtape "Judge Me Before You Know Me" will be available for free download from May 15th. The mixtape, mixed by Alphabet Head, consists of a shit load of original and bootleg Jay Roacher songs with a dash of guest appearances. Heres a song to keep you at bay...

Jay Roacher - Mouthwash [Cover] by breakinwreckwordz

Grips N Tonic Mixtape Now Available

click on the link above to download their new mixtape "Songs To Fuck Your Hand To" for free.