Category Archive: Songs I’m Diggin’

Antwon – “Living Every Dream” (Official Video)

This video for Antwon‘s 2012 summer jam “Living Every Dream” manages to look and sound like a pitch-perfect recreation of everything 1993.   I’m off to scour YouTube for taped VHS uploads of… Continue reading →

Walter Ego ft Trim – “Set Off” (Official Video)

Joining the dots. To get familiar with East London MC and former Roll Deep member Trim, listen to his track “Confidence Boost” as excellently reworked by James Blake under his Harmonimix alias. Here… Continue reading →

The xx – “Chained” (Official Video)

More oil-and-water video promo from the one of the coolest bands on the planet. Nocturnal and warm. Jamie xx goes for a Burial beat shuffle vibe on the drums.   “Chained” is the… Continue reading →

Zara McFarlane – “Police & Thieves” (Junior Murvin Cover)

  August music in every sense of the word.         This sublime soul-jazz cover of Junior Murvin’s reggae standard “Police and Thieves” will feature on Zara McFarlane‘s second album out… Continue reading →

TNGHT – “Bugg’n” (Official Video)

I never thought I would say the sound of a metal spatula banging on rusty basement pipes would be the future of music, but here we are.   I also never thought Elmo… Continue reading →

The Orb ft Lee Scratch Perry – “Golden Clouds” (Official Video)

Little Fluffy Clouds turn golden with some help from the Upsetter. I once saw Lee Scratch Perry play a tiny venue in a tiny town in the middle of France. He walked on… Continue reading →

Colonel Red – “Spaceface” (Official Video)

Love this for the lyrics, the mood, the soul, the groove.   Spaceface is the place.    

Doc Daneeka & Abigail Wyles – “Tobyjug” (Official Video)

Considering that this is a Toby Jug, it’s not first thing I would have thought of titling this beautiful, understated slice of late night bliss.   “Tobyjug” is out now on Ten Thousand… Continue reading →

Kilo Kish – “Watergun” (Produced by the Internet)

Sounds like summer.   Kilo Kish – “Watergun” (Produced by the Internet)   It’s all done.      

Canto-Pop Goes Trap! – 農夫 – “同伴” (Official Video)

Rap game kayak lessons. I’m completely loving everything about this tune. Trap 2012 goes global!   It’s only a matter of time before Andy Lau guests on a TNGHT record.    

Bobby Womack – “Love Is Gonna Lift You Up” (Julio Bashmore Remix)

On first listen, it’s all Julio B business at usual, but then that classic Chicago house bassline comes in at 1:33 that catapults this remix from good to great.   Drop at 3:06… Continue reading →

Koreless – “Lost in Tokyo” (Video Edited by Blunted Soul)

Borrows footage from DarwinFish105. Mixed with “Sais (Dub)” by Floating Points. Taken from Jamie xx‘s BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix.   Beautiful in every which way.    

House Shoes ft Jimetta Rose – “Castles” (Official Video)

This beat.   “When you appreciate someone else’s art, it makes your art better.”    

Phonte ft Median – “Eternally” (Official Video)

The Foreign Exchange’s Phonte teams up with Median to take the hip-hop gospel door to door and make music video history by being the first to rap to camera while wearing bicycle helmets.… Continue reading →

Happa – “Freak”

Happa aka Half a Persian is otherwise known as Samir Alikhanizadeh: a 15-year old bass music producer from Leeds, UK.     Happa – “Freak”   He’s also put together a very good guest mix… Continue reading →

Om Unit ft Tamara Blessa – “Dark Sunrise” (Official Video)

Katy B might have popularized the pop-dubstep template, but this goes one better by sounding far more subtle, underground, and woozy.   Om Unit plays Stop Biting at Lo-Fi in Seattle on August… Continue reading →

Scuba – “NE1BUTU” (Official Video)

90s! Love everything about this. The Mad Men-like attention to historical detail is commendable, right down to the first few seconds of VHS fizz and the appearance of early 90s British youth television… Continue reading →

Chief – “Shadows Collision” (Official Video Trailer)

Late-night boom-clap.   More from Swiss beat-chef Chief here.    

MS MR – “Hurricane” (Official Video)

This anonymous duo from New York call their music “Tumblr glitch pop.” This description is spot-on.   SO MANY IMAGES SO FAST.    

Alt-J – “Tessellate” (Official Video)

Dubstep-influenced bass and drum patterns are sneaking into every genre of music in 2012. Leeds, UK band Alt-J‘s video for “Tessellate” is a gangstered reversion of Italian Renaissance painter Raphael’s “The School of… Continue reading →

Family Band – “Night Song” (Official Video)

Brooklyn ambient rock group Family Band describe their music as “heavy mellow.” While Johnny Ollsin, Kim Krans, and Scott Hirsch’s particular brand of dark and solemn, starless sky indie is indeed heavy, mellow, and… Continue reading →

Samuel Yirga – “I Am the Black Gold of the Sun” (Rotary Connection Cover)

I’ve made no secret of the fact that this 1970s psychedelic soul classic is my favorite song of all time. This new version by Ethiopian piano prodigy Samuel Yirga features the Creole Choir… Continue reading →

Boy Kid Cloud – A Better Version of Me EP (Promo Video)

Maximalist joy from a Prince-adoring bedroom producer from Leicester, UK.   Great songwriting that injects some real heart and soul into the laser synth storm and dubstep bass wobble.    

Famous Eno ft MC Stitch – “All Good FM” (Official Video)

Played this big-tings-a-gwan homage to London pirate radio on the radio show on Friday. Those rave synth stabs, junglish beats, and multi-handclaps, plus MC Stitch’s incredible vox.   It’s VIBES!    

Jessie Ware – “Wildest Moments” (Star Slinger Remix)

Star Slinger just posted this new remix on his Soundcloud.   Jessie Ware – “Wildest Moments” (Star Slinger Remix)   Seems like every producer out there right now can’t help but succumb to… Continue reading →

Marvin Gaye Sings the US National Anthem at NBA All-Star Game in 1983 (Video)

Whitney’s is a close second, but Marvin’s is the one. A perfect rendition.   Happy Fourth of July.    

Enjoyed – “Teeth” (Clip) (Live Video) (Free Download)

We’ve talked about Enjoyed‘s life-affirmed, sunshined housed beats on Neoned Milked befored, but that only means you should get even more acquainted with the talented UK producer and Shoes Off label boss by… Continue reading →

Daughn Gibson – “A Young Girl’s World”

Future classic. An utterly sombre and harrowing 3am MPC ballad from Daughn Gibson: a Pennsylvanian former trucker turned bleak country-soul crooner-producer.   Daughn’s debut solo album All Hell echoes the voice of Johnny… Continue reading →

Vox Mod – “Embers and Snow” (Free Download)

I am especially enjoying this new release from Seattle’s Vox Mod, he of the mighty experimental space rock trio Lazer Kitty.   Vox Mod – “Embers and Snow”   From his album ABSTRACT.… Continue reading →

Melody Gardot – “Mira” (Live on Later… with Jools Holland) (Video)

I played the studio version of 27-year-old Philadelphian singer Melody Gardot’s “Mira” on the radio show on Friday and decided to allow about seven seconds of silence after introducing the song and before… Continue reading →

Cornershop ft Katie – “Solid Gold” (Official Video)

I wasn’t sure at first but the filtered disco bleeps at 0:26 won me over. From Cornershop’s latest album Urban Turban. As solid gold as solid gold.   As roller rink as the… Continue reading →

Monica da Silva – “Walk on the Wild Side” (Lou Reed Cover) (Official Video) (Free Download)

Brazilian-American singer Mônica da Silva and her partner Chad Alger expertly cover Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side.”   Impossible to tell whether this was filmed in 1965 using an 8mm camera… Continue reading →

Xolisa – “Be Felt” (Official Video)

While. I’m Not. Always. In. The Mood For. Spoken. Word. Poetry, this is pretty good. Superb soul-jazz beats and bass with a voice and flow that recalls a younger, laid-back Ursula Rucker.  … Continue reading →

Disclosure – “Control” (Official Video)

Disclosure are two brothers from the UK who had their first single released on !K7’s Moshi Moshi imprint two years ago when they were just 16 and 18 years old.   Since everyone… Continue reading →

The Sufis – “Sri Sai Flora” (Official Video)

Like listening to the Beatles’ “Taxman” after enduring a sleep-deprived long-haul flight and landing in a remote, exotic, sun-heavy island paradise, no?   “Like” the Nashville, TN psychedelic rockers on Facebook here.  … Continue reading →

Herbert – “The Audience” (Video)

It’s all about the piano at 1:51.     Still classic.                    

New from Ben Westbeech aka Breach – “You Won’t Find Love Again” (Clip)

Funny how Ben Westbeech’s funky, bass-driven throwback house output under the moniker Breach always sounds so much more confident than his singalong soul tracks recorded under his real name, given that he’s a… Continue reading →

Samon Kawamura – “Natty Fu Shake” (Video)

Samon Kawamura is a Japanese-German hip-hop producer. Like Onra, Samon draws inspiration and samples from the vintage vinyl of Southeast Asia and blends his findings with beats. “Natty Fu Shake” is taken from… Continue reading →

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – 4Play Interview & Short Film for Channel 4 (Video)

Orlando Higginbottom (probably the most British name since Nigel Tufnel or Armitage Shanks) is a dance music producer from Oxford, UK, who also calls himself Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs.   “Well I say… Continue reading →

My New Favorite Korean Rock Band: Peterpan Complex – “자꾸만 눈이 마주쳐” & “You Know I Love You” (Official Music Video)

Over the course of their 10-year existence the K-Indie band Peterpan Complex, fronted by Jeon Jihan, have sounded like a spookily exact (and I mean exact) Korean replica of Radiohead Peterpan Complex – “You… Continue reading →

Tall Black Guy Presents “Tempo Dreams Vol. 1” (Official Video Trailer)

Summer beat vibes.   Out now on Bastard Jazz.   Featuring music by Tensei, MonkeyRobot, Ta-Ku, Evil Needle, Teru, Chief, Jeriko Jackson, Buscrates, Floydcheung, Doc Illingsworth, Schecky’s Jazzy Tofu, and Tall Black Guy.… Continue reading →

Colm K – “Slipping (into Tomorrow)” (Stream)

Love this one from Cork, Ireland producer Colm K that reworks Steve Miller Band’s “Fly Like an Eagle.” With that expertly-lifted retro sample and vinyl crackle, it sounds like something the Avalanches might… Continue reading →

Weird Together ft Yaw Boateng & Karima Madut – “Chale” (Official Video)

I’ve been obsessed with Ghana’s azonto rhythms and saying “chale” a lot ever since hearing E.L.’s dancey and ridiculously catchy “Obuu Mo.” Suffice to say I was extremely pleased to stumble upon Weird… Continue reading →

Rudimental ft MNEK & Syron – “Spoons” (Official Video)

From UK producer Rudimental.   Probably what Soul II Soul would sound like had they come up in the xx’s and Disclosure’s London of the early 2010s.    

Poolside – “Slow Down” (Official Video)

I want to live in this video for a day or year. Already one of my favorite songs of 2012. If you appreciated the main sentiment of Friendly Fires’ “Jump in the Pool”… Continue reading →

Mapzzz x Signal Flow Present Sharkbite Sessions: Shortcircles – “Meatball in Space” (Video)

Oakland, CA producer Shortcircles performs his track “Meatball in Space” with a live band including Geoff Saba of Forest Floor and Adam Myatt and Glenn Jackson of James & Evander.   That beat… Continue reading →

Hackney Colliery Band – “Prodigy Medley” (Death Jazz Covers of Prodigy Songs on Wah Wah 45s Label) (Stream)

Even caps lock can’t do justice as to how much I LOVE THIS. Death jazz (love that genre name) from East London’s Hackney Colliery Band covering the almighty Prodigy.   Trumpets, trombones, saxes,… Continue reading →

Lenzman ft Riya – “How Did I Let U Go” (Official Video)

New from Metalheadz.   Late-night emotive D&B soul.  

Cookie Monster and the Girls – “Pinball Number Count” (DJ Food Edit) (Video)

One of the best funk and soul songs (and one that is surely embedded deep in your consciousness if you spent any time at all watching Sesame Street in the 80s and 90s)… Continue reading →

Jazzanova ft Paul Randolph – “Let It Go” (Funkhaus Sessions) (Official Video)

It was Friday afternoon, in the middle of June.   Sunshine music. Jazzanova are unstoppable.