News and opinions from Broklyn Beats Records and Applecore Mailorder.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

M.C. Breed R.I.P.

Damn, just found out Breed passed away last week at only 37 years old. I saw him open for The Geto Boys in 1992 at Prince's Glam Slam club in Minneapolis. Breed's "Ain't No Future in Yo Frontin'" and Geto Boys' "Mind Playin' Tricks on Me" were shit-hot at the moment and the party was on . Breed wore a head-to-toe tan suede outfit, only to be one-upped by Scarface's hat-to-shoes olive green suede. One of the best rap concerts I ever saw. Those were different times, my friends, but this is still one of the best rap tracks ever. Damn.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

COMIN' RIGHT BACK ATCHA!!!


Back in Blog-land after a long break. Aside from Applecore Mailorder, Broklyn Beats has been on the quiet side this year. Our Pure Fire party had a good run over at APT until September when they fired the booking guy. We're now looking at Brooklyn Radio for a better outlet for our eclecticism. Broadcasts will start next month.
So what have we been doing all year? Well, paying off label debt and, as of December, we will be completely debt-free. After 10 years and 40 releases, we've managed to cancel the majority of our credit cards and not burn ourselves out too badly...
Speaking of 10 years, we're deciding what to do in a couple of months to celebrate our ten-year anniversary. Until then, we are slowly digitizing our catalog, starting with digital copies of our first 3 CDR releases from back in 1999. Those will also be available next month at Applecore Mailorder. For now, we offer you a couple unreleased remixes we've pulled out of the attic. First is a remix we (Criterion & Doily) did for Drop the Lime. It was meant for a double 12" remix release on Tigerbeat 6, but it turned into a single 12" called "Refixed"with all West Coast remixers.
The second is a raw mix of an afternoon with Brooklyn rapper Sensational from 5 years ago. He happened to be sleeping with a roommate after a loft party and we spent Sunday afternoon screwing around in the studio. Mind you, this was a rough blunt and beer afternoon, but Sensational really does sound the best under such circumstances...

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

WE NEED AN INTERN SO WE CAN MAKE MORE MUSIC!!!


We need an intern. Broklyn Beats and Applecore have continued to grow and we haven't had an intern in 8 months. It's starting to show. Less blog entries, more lateness, unfinished to-do lists. Nonetheless, we did catch up on 3 years of business taxes and managed to get ourselves planted here in blogland. Anyway, if you know anyone who would like to intern for us, please get in touch (info[AT]broklynbeats.net) We can work with Universities to earn you credits for this and we are particularly interested in people with some graphic design skills.

Otherwise, we are doing fine here in Broklyn. This would be the dead of winter and it's actually winter for a change, snow on the ground and outside not being a fun place. I'm trying to spend the time engineering Doily's new project. We're transferring material from her old Korg sampler to Ableton Live and the results are exciting. I'm also slowly working on material again. It's been a 3-year break from production for me and it's nice to feel the blood bubbling again. I often blame the lack of studio production on office work, my day-job or my annoying weed habit, but I've begun to feel like there's just good times to take a break and reflect on what it is you're making and why. We have, however, started to catch up on debt and this year finds us almost caught up and still surviving, learning and growing. Just in time to celebrate our 10-year anniversary next January!

Doily and I have managed to release a few fun tracks lately. Love & Circuits compilation double CD is released next week on Parts & Labor's Cardboard Records. It's one of the first tracks we've collaborated on and I dig it. The comp. is a great slice of the local underground scene here in Brooklyn with 2 discs of trcks by Oneida, Aa, Japanther, Parts & Labor and their cool offshoots and much more. Order it here. Doily and I also did remixes of Interference, our friend David Linton's 1982 no-wave band, for local rad rock label Social Registry. The 12" is out soon with other dope tracks by our pals Toshio Kajiwara and David Last. The original and 8-bit remixes are also grand (can't remember who did the 8-bit thing...) Check out the Social Registry site.

Sunday, January 06, 2008

More Top of the Pops

French Online site Chica-Chic always asks us for a run-down of our favorites at the end of every year and here they are for you. The list is in no particular order, although UGK's LP was my favorite release of the year and the Tes la Rock single probably my most exciting find and the song I lost it to the most on the dancefloor. All the best in 2008 (two thousand great!)

Top Ten Favorite Singles from 2007
1. Coki "Spongebob" 12" - DMZ Rec.
2. Kovert "Pressure Sound EP" - Sonic Belligeranza
3. Drop the Lime "Sky City Rising" - Broklyn Beats
4. Venetian Snares "Sabbath Dubs " 10" - Kriss Rec.
5. Appleblim / Shackleton "Soundboy's Ashes Get Ground Up and Snorted" - Skull Disco
6. Rusko "Babylon: Vol. 1" EP - Sub Soldiers
7. Kode 9 "Massive Music Find My Way (Kode 9 rmx)" 12" - Hyperdub
8. Tes la Rock "Round the World Girls" 12" - Argon
9. The Bug feat. Flowdan "Jah War" - Ninja Tune
10. UGK feat Outkast "International Player's Anthem" - Jive

Top Ten Favorite LPs of 2007
1. UGK "Underground Kings" - Jive
2. Rotator "Choose Your Poison, Mine is Hardcore" - Peace Off
3. Skull Disco "Soundboy Punishments" - Skull Disco
4. Maga Bo "Confusion of Tongues" - Soot
5. Panda Bear "Person Pitch" - Paw Tracks
6. Lil Wayne "The Drought, Vol. 3" mixtape
7. Disrupt "Foundation Bit" - Werkdiscs
8. Team Shadetek "Pale Fire" - SoundInk
9. M.I.A. "Kala" - Interscope
10. Trimbale "Soul Food Vol. 1" mixtape

Favorite Live Show - Boadrum 77 - The Boredoms' outside concert with 77 drummers on 7/7/07. Just imagine every drummer from every NYC band playing in a spiral in the park on a beautiful July afternoon with the Boredoms conducting. While at times overwhelming and lacking in focus, it was still a great time and free if you could get in ( the line stretched for almost a mile...)

Favorite DJ Set / Party - Mala at Dub War - With the collective consciousness that is the London-NYC dubstep continuum, I'd give it up to Dub War as a whole this year, but Mala's last set back in the fall was definitely a highlight. Dope dubplates, decent mixing and a sick soundsystem...