Phorilla.com

Red Bull beat academy is back for another year, in Italy this time. In-depth discussions and tutorials from the people you read about all the time on herre. I'm watching the Sa-Ra clips right now. . . they sneak-preview a great new Prince-y tune too. . .

Quit screw-facing Jeff Mao, these dudes are amped about music. . .

On the Pete Tong (UK version of Chris Sheppard) show. Sign of bigger things to come. Looking forward to the first video. . .

Looks like Sa-Ra Creative Partners might sign with Kanye! A good piece on the crew that made "Hey" (streaming real) and "Glorious" (out soon).

Excerpt:
Keith is a little cagey when it comes to divulging just how SA-RA create their music. We talk about the inspiration found in crate-digging, and I want to know the strangest record they found that influenced a SA-RA track, but Keith just chuckles. "You know what? It's a secret. Sorry!"

Whatever is lurking in their vault, SA-RA's love of rare finds doesn't mean you'll hear sampled loops on their cuts. The high fees for sampling rights make it unfeasible, although Keith also believes it's not necessary for the kind of music they make.

"A strong musician is able to listen to records ... for textures, for chord changes and intervals," he explains, "when you're able to break down records in the sense that you say, 'I'm not just going to sample this; I'm going to study it, and learn that there are things that I can pull from this, maybe just one chord.' Anything from a record can drive us, but definitely our drums all come from digging."

The Dublab cats have put together an art project that hands artists blank record sleeves and auctions the results for charity. Here's the lowdown and the whole Up Our Sleeve site.

The best thing I've heard in ages: some hardworking you man or woman has put together a mix of many of the tunes Timbaland has replayed and turned into beats over the years. Fela included. . .

More evidence that sampling (in the broader sense) ain't going nowhere, not that any was needed. Here's the treasure itself: MP3, 12.6mb.

for the link to Kanye's hottest beat this year (MP3 5.2mb).

to go with the downlow beat and the Herbie Hancock Watermelon Man "Snoooooooooooop": Realvideo. Tracks like this are why the Neptunes aren't history yet. How the hell did they get this on the radio?

Bugz back guesting on Benji B. Only about halfway through, but good tunes so far - just got turned onto the McNeal & Niles, lovely! They played the "Ying Yang" instrumental, which I prefer over the vocal. Can't get enough of the snare in that tune - an update of the one in Hold It Down rmx & Zombie - snap!

Looking ahead on the tracklisting, couldn't wait to post when I peeped the "Erotic City" into "La La" mix. Those are the proto-broken beat drums right there!

for Needy Girl is here. Fun retro stuff done right, Dave knows what's up. That family is doing alright these days:



The boys are opening this Saturday.

Here's a great piece on Paul C, producer of the classic early Ultramagnetics stuff and mentor to Large Professor.

Make sure to use the word "mad" in your posts. . .

La La (MP3). Raw. I like the false ending and the chorus will be running through skulls all over. Do think the Rhian Benson and Quantic rmxes are better though.

Love love these guys, very few doing it like this. Now remix some tough hip hop or something boys, that might just be the next step.