Our good friend Dex Digital over at mixtapeshow.net has been keeping busy. Aside from the recent Jay Electronica video footage, he’s also just put out some new material on a kind of nu-soul/soultronica kind of vibe.

Now it’s always nice to get pointers when it comes to music. We get people who open our ears up to music, in the same way we do to you guys out there. So, here, I’m kind of passing one on to you.

Listening to this mix certainly made me resurrect a few forgotten numbers from the crates here at HQ, and give them another listen. The kind of sound in question, is to my mind, one of the freshest styles in use (think Yesterdays New Quintet, Teedra Moses, Anthony Hamilton etc), and it’s always interesting to explore some of the influences of any kind of musical style. So, this mix, put together by Black TK for Dex, draws on the production duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who have been working away at what they do for years, and doing it well. Even if you don’t like ‘em ,you cant argue that they are certainly infulential in a lot of todays sounds, and were pioneering in their heyday.

I’m not gonna review it. All the information you need is there, so I’ve copied it below for you, as written by Dex himself.

Been a long time coming, but here we go with yet another installment of The New Soul (see whole series lineup here), hosted by Mixtape Show comrade Black TK. This time, TK introduces - or re-introduces, us to two of the true pioneers of this soultronica sound - Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. What they did with their drum programming and synthesizer lines was groundbreaking - and continues to influence producers of progressive music to this day.

For you old heads out there who remember these joints, take off those rose-tinted glasses and really listen to what these dudes are doing with their instrumentation, basslines, and production. Then compare with the next installment of the Soultronica Saga…coming quite soon. Or while you’re waiting, go listen to some of the old Soultronica episodes and hear whence people like Sa-Ra, J*Davey, and hell, Pharrell are taking their cues.

Tracklist:

Cherrelle - I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On. The bassline on this is mean!
Janet Jackson - Nasty. The clarity of the snares on this cut is brilliant. I remember hearing this as a young child and thinking Janet was talking about boys that played in the muddy part of the sandbox.
The S.O.S. Band - No One’s Gonna Love You. Check the processed 909 work and basslines on this one.
Janet Jackson - Making Love In The Rain. I’ve always dug the muted trumpet sound, regardless of the genre. I think I have a Suburb beatflip of this one, now that I listen to this again.

Note that this is also a continuation to the Origins Episode - highly recommended for some more early Soultronica sounds.

….Right then. There you have it. I hope that was an interesting little listen, and maybe a bit of an ear opener. Do yourself a favour, and keep up with Dex’s work over at mixtapeshow.net, and check out some of the artists and producers we’ve talked about here.

That’s me done.

M.