Apologies for the title of this post. It’s rubbish. I don’t know what I was thinking….Anyway, one thing that certainly won’t be rubbish is next weeks live radio show. The return of Heavy Vibes. Straight up roots, dancehall, dub, and other heavyweight smoked-out selections. DJ’s on the night will be your Blunted Residents Agent M and the Erbalist, who will be joined by special guest and Blunt cohort Christafari, live at Blunt HQ. Change the water in your bong. Get a new gauze. You’re gonna need it.

Blunt Beats Radio presents Heavy Vibes - 8pm UK time - Wed 23rd Jan - www.bluntbeats.com/radio

Our good friend Burt Fox at Riot Control has been busy. Aside from recently finishing the latest in his podcast series, Riot Control 9 (with Sonny Noir), Burt’s also been working on some of own beats, and working on various tracks, including this little number entitled “The Jungle“, featuring El Juba.

Now, those of you who are up with what Riot Control are doing, may have heard a version of this before. However, the man himself mailed me the other day, with a copy of the finished version, so here it is. Enjoy.

And let us (and Burt, and Juba), know what you think! - Leave you thoughts in the comments box, people.

As far as we’re concerned….well, wicked stuff! - Heavy beats (as always), and dope lyrics from Juba.

Expect to hear this getting dropped in a “Soul Food” night, or similar, very soon!

Now, some time ago, a chap named Machel left a comment here on bluntbeats.com on a post regarding graffiti. We took it upon ourselves (being the inquisitive souls we are) to check out Machels site, called M-DZYN. Needless to say, we were impressed. So impressed, in fact, that we got in touch to arrange an exclusive interview for you lucky people. It’s Agent M on the questions, chattin’ to Machel. Continue reading…

Our good friend Dex Digital at mixtapeshow.net (snap, son!) has just released the latest edition in his video podcast series. Check it out. Good beats, good visuals, from probably the best hip hop website on the ‘net. Nuff Said. Do yourself a favour and take a look. This video concept looks like its gonna run and run, so get up to speed with what’s happening.
For the lazy among you, I’ve embedded the video itself below. More details/comments etc are up the post at mixtapeshow.net 

Now, my obsession with sports shoes is well documented by the crew here. It’s a well-known fact that I can’t help myself when it comes to buying old-skool Adidas (and Nike…and Puma…and Reebok) My bedroom at Blunt HQ looks like a sports shop with all the trainers, boxes, bags, laces and whatnot. But there are people who put me to shame when it comes to their love and understanding of sneaker culture. – These people are Woody and the gang at Sneakerfreaker, based in Melbourne, Australia.

Continue reading…

OK, it’s been a while since our last podcast recommendation, but we’ve found a good ‘un to kick things off again.

Mowaxcuts is a nice little arrangement featuring “rare and not so rare tunes from mo’ wax back catalog and other related labels/artists”. Each one is a beautifully crafted 20min. (average) minimix of smooth breaks and beats. Produced by the guys at Bare (creators of designer vinyl toys and figures that are just as cool as this podcast), there’s 17 episodes so far, and they seem to drop on a (almost) monthly basis.

If you know Mo’ Wax then you’ll be right chuffed with this lot. If you don’t, give it a go - you won’t be disappointed. Check it!

After a bit of a break der Berliner is back on the block with Episode 25 of his podcast.

It’s a firin’ 30min. mix of drum and bass styleee, broken beats, hip hop instrumentals and old-school Russian jazz funk.

It’s been long awaited, but I can’t complain as I promised him a guest mix a couple of months ago.

Anyways, it’s new, it’s good and it’s there for the taking, so go grab it!

Like most graphic designers I need inspiration almost as much and as often as I need food and air. The internet is a brilliant invention for shifting creative block, but sometimes you just can’t beat seeing quality art and design close up in large format.

Every now and then, usually when I’m hunting for ideas, I head down to the Design Museum in London to see what’s on show. I did just that on Sunday and thought I’d put up a quick post to tip you guys off about an exhibition that’s well worth catching. Until 10th October the Design Museum is showing ‘Friendly Fire’ a collection of works by prolific British designer Jonathan Barnbrook. Continue reading…

The time has come. Burt Fox and Sonny Noir have put the final touches to number 7 in the Riot Control podcast series, entitled “The Payback Mix”, and it’s now available for download. Do yourself a favour. Get hold of it. This episode is back to basics. Pure hip hop and funk material on a wicked vibe. Also of note is the inclusion of some material from Burt Fox and El-Juba. Well worth a check. Really really nice tune, and a spot-on mix overall. We’ve been on the Riot Control tip for a while here at HQ, and are loving the shows. As I say, do yourself a favour and download it. Simple as that.

The keystrokes you’re gonna need to do that are: www.riotcontrolnyc.com

i first saw Battles about 18 months ago supporting Prefuse 73 at Scala.
When Battles first came on stage the audience were gobsmacked. Im sure no one had ever heard anything like this before, there was 3 guitarists & a Drummer with laptops, keyboards and other toys at their use. It must have been like seeing Capitan Beefheart or Sun Ra back in the day.

This time the audience knew what they were letting themselves in for. The start of the night was a bit of a let down, the first act on seemed like a poor version of the fantastic Keiran Hebdon & Steve Reid, with a person on digital oddments & a poor drummer. The music playing in between the acts was supplied by Four-Tet aka Keiran Hebdon, what can i say, great tunes.

Battles came on to a rapturous applause. When they played their last single Atlas, the crowd just erupted. They rattled of tunes from their latest Album Mirrored which went down really well with the crowd, toes tappin, shoulder twitchin head bangin, body movin, great stuff. If you like your music a bit unusual try the avant-garde tones of Battles.