I’ve joined the Music Is My Sanctuary family and am very pleased to say you can find my scribbles plastered all over their illustrious pages. The MO is forgotten treasures, future classics and some of the finest mixes I’ve heard in ages. You’ll struggle to find a better 90s R&B mix than Throw ‘Em Up, a collaboration between MIMS founder Lexis and Onra.
If you’ve come the other way – welcome Canadian friend! There’s a good few year’s worth of quality music (including a few exclusives) so dig in and drop a comment if you need something re-uploaded.
A couple of months ago, Boiler Room played host to a group of artists High-Rise gets very excited about. The mighty TightFace joined JeenBassa (formerly Jeen Wilda) and Al Dobson Jr. to drop 50 minutes of original productions on unsuspecting revellers and support Mo Kolours further up the bill. As with all Boiler Room sets, you can watch the chaps go about their business above, or listen and download below.
Watch One Handed Music for more news on this absurdly talented collective.
Hot on the heels of a heatwave, Fredfades got in touch with High-Rise to announce Volume 2 of Ganxstas Don’t Rap, They B.O.O.G.I.E. Prepare yourself for 80 minutes of 100% original first press vinyl boogie funk from Oslo’s finest selector. If you missed Volume 1, you are in for double the pleasure.
Having just about recovered from finally getting to see Dabrye live with all-star support from Ras G, Kutmah and Flying Lotus, I am back to fiending over new music (and occasionally writing about it). House Shoes debut LP, Let It Go, is due out June 19th and anyone else who made it down to London for Dabrye enjoyed one of the best sets I’ve ever seen, with three cuts off the album played very loud. Finally Shoes’ serious talent is getting pressed up, so go listen to him speak on his musical motivations below, courtesy of ABO181 and LouisDen.
Shoes talks about the impossibly confusing (for an outsider, at least) phenomenon of Detroit’s disregard for the enormously talented local hip hop scene. When I saw Phat Kat, eLZhi and DJ Dez play back in 2010, they mentioned the same thing. Well, should anyone need convincing of the genius of Detroit native J Dilla, House Shoes reconstructs the main riff to Nothing Like This. I have to admit, I had a bit of a moment when I first heard it.
In anticipation of his upcoming release, House Shoes put out two mixes of his own work. Entitled The Makings, you can find Part 1 and Part 2 on High-Rise.
At the risk of turning High-Rise into a single artist venture, Knxwledge just dropped another EP, his fourth release this month. The tracks are short but the quality is consistently high, especially his flip of Lords of the Underground on WhatimAftr. Stream and purchase below.
Talented and not-always-voluntarily-globe-trotting DJ and beatsmith Kutmah has put together an all Dabrye mix ahead of his UK show later this week. The line up features the Detroit legend headlining, with Kutmah, Darkhouse Fam, Widows and now Ras G (!) in support. Unbelievably there are still some tickets left, so grab one here quick smart. You have Earnest Endeavours, Sketchbook and Hit+Run to thank for a very special gig. Listen to the mix below.
Late last week, High-Rise posted Oddisee’s unique refix of Ain’t That Peculiar by Marvin Gaye. Today, as promised, High-Rise returns with the full Odd Renditions EP, featuring imaginative reworkings of tracks from Bon Iver, Metronomy and K-Os. Listen and download below.
May is scarcely two weeks old and it has already played host to three new releases from the most prolific of slop-funk merchants, Knxwledge. I’ve had a good few stabs at describing the appeal of his music, but there truly is no replacement for listening to it yourself. So to kick things off we have the Klarity EP, released a couple of days ago.
Scant days prior to Klarity came the Kuntent EP, nestled below:
And just two days before that, Knx dropped the bootleg sequel to last year’s Wrap Tapes Port 1, featuring distorted guest appearances from… some rappers. Answers on a postcard please.
New music and an interview from High-Rise favourite TightFace. The good folks over at The Hungry Ear caught up with him before his Belfast show to talk influences, crate digging, and talented siblings. Click here to read the interview and journey south to check out Know How Now, an exclusive new track.
Emails from Mello Music Group have an unfortunate habit of getting promptly buried by a load of other stuff on arrival, meaning I end up sleeping on modern classics from Apollo Brown, 14KT and other talented folks from their impressive roster. Today, however, the High-Rise inbox was treated to a much-needed Spring clean, and just in time for this to arrive…
For those in need of an introduction, Oddisee is a Washington DC born rapper and producer who spends his time between his hometown, Brooklyn and London, collaborating with the likes of Diamond District, Tranqil and Damu the Fudgemunk. Ain’t That Peculiar will be released next week as part of Odd Renditions, a collection of remixes featuring K-Os, Bon Iver and Metronomy. Keep an eye on High-Rise for that one. Oddisee also has a brand new album due out June 12th, which you can pre-order here. If you need to catch up on Oddisee’s considerable discography, make sure you do it via his Bandcamp.
High-Rise 