a deeper groove

Keith The Peace Duff Craft Mix

Is it ever perfect?

I’ve spent almost half my life attempting to make my perfect mixtape, coming close with one or two that I’ve been really pleased with, but always something lets it down. Whether it’s a missed drop in here, a bit of dead air there, or – worst of all – a beats-all-over-the-place mix going everywhere, there’s forever a flaw that means the mix never gets heard beyond my ears.

So, to plumb the depths of barrel scraping, here’s one that combines all three of the above no-no’s.

As age goes by, I realise that I’m not going to turn into the J Rocc/Keb Darge/DJ Spinna/Q-Bert combination that I hear in my head sometimes when I’m hanging over the decks, which means that it’s becoming more about the music than mistake-free mixes. This wee three-quarter hour jaunt is what normally happens when the record light is flashing: a tendency to rifle through the racks leads to a bit of everything getting selected including a funkified Jimi Hendrix , a smoothed out OC, and a UK-souled-up Erykah Badu.

It’s all rounded off with two of my favourite purchases of this year. The Soul Investigators are best known for being the band on Nicole Willis’ superb album ‘Keep Reachin’ Up’, but here they throw down a much more northern soul type sound to back up some smooth vocals from Myron & E. And, ask anyone to name a Nancy Sinatra song and you’ll get answered ‘These Boots Were Made For Walking’. Well, Nancy girl was obviously mighty miffed with men for this period in her life (divorce to her first husband was either in the post or freshly raw), because this superb slice of 60’s pop is in the same spirit as ‘These Boot’s….’. Two albums separate the two tracks, but this is the only thing that splits them. Same theme, same vibe, same musicality.

Perfectly flawed.

The Widowmakers Meet Jamaica

Craig G Welcome To The Game

Peanut Butter Wolf with Planet Asia & Madlib Definition Of Ill

OC Times Up (DJ Eclipse remix)

The Pharcyde Pandemonium

Channel Live Mad Izm (Original Buckwild Remix)

Slum Village Get Dis Money (instrumental)

Erykah Badu Honey (DJ Day remix)

Grace Jones La Vie En Rose (Casinoboy version)

Jay Dee Rico Suave Bossa Nova

Lizzy Parks All That (Natural Self remix)