Our German sucks, but we still love to *read* Hat + Hoodie’s posts – or should we say, look at the odd series of letters and wonder what they are saying. Thankfully, once they get behind the decks the language is universal, and this last mixtape of is sure to move any dancefloor from Cape Town to Hamburg, Dakar to Beijing. Here’s what the doods have to say:
How long have you been DJing?
Both of us have been DJing for a long time, together it’s over 20 years. We dug many different styles ever since and got to know lots of great music, which maybe is why we still like our sets rather diverse. Being friends for a long time, we finally teamed up in 2009 and started hat+hoodie.
How long have you been into tropical / African beats?
We both were into Reggae, Dancehall, Ska and Afrobeat at some point, which probably built the foundation for us. In the last few years we became more and more involved in electronic dance music, but always felt it lacked the rough and direct energy of a Dancehall party. Playing so-called “World Music” never was an option, as it was considered Hippie-Music and absolutely not club-compatible in Germany. So you had to listen to it secretly, ha ha. That was, until 2008 Radioclit and Buraka Som Sistema hit the clubs. Hearing “Secousse” for the first time was a true key moment – We instantly got hooked on Tropical Bass and World Electronics.
Its an eclectic mix… What’s the story behind it? What are some of your current favorites?
We tried to put everything in there that we like right now, so there’s Tropical House, some UK Funky, African Beats, Barefoot, Dancehall… We like it wildstyle, a whole night of Tech House gets us bored. Then we wanted to feature some of the great artists we met on the internet recently, such as BukBuka from Istanbul or Sabbo from Tel Aviv. We really love cruising the Web for new artists and connecting with them. We also wanted to represent the German/Austrian scene, so there’s the very awesome Schlachthofbronx from Munich, So Shifty from Hamburg, and of course Vienna‘s Ku Bo and Beware & Motorpitch.
We like messing around with music rather than only playing it out, so we mashed some of the tracks, re-arranged them, combined them… What came out is pretty much what we consider a good party: global dancehall music, lots of bass and a touch of anarchy, hehe.
Playlist:
Skeat – Relela [Akwaaba] Skeat – Mama Le Papa [Akwaaba] x Douster – Alleluja [Bebup] Killamu – Melodia de Semba [Akwaaba] x Mujava – Mugwanti/ Sgwejegweje [Out Here]
Poirier – Militaris Riddim [Ninja Tune] x So Shifty – Clap (Acapella) [Top Billin]
Fauna – Gauchito Gil (Douster Remix) [ZZK]
Skeat – Phamphanyane (hat+hoodie Edit) [Akwaaba/Bootleg]
Hat+Hoodie – o!e [Faluma Africa]
Roska – Squark (hat+hoodie Edit) [Rinse/Bootleg]
Schlachthofbronx – Vem Que Tem (Beware & Motorpitch Remix) [Man Rec.]
Sekta – Peterpan (Doc Daneeka Remix) [Top Billin]
Beware & Motorpitch – Pororoca [Man Rec.]
Manare – Pirog [Younggunz]
Old Money – Mamaseh (Sabbo Remix) [Unreleased] Jali Bakary Konteh – Combination (hat+hoodie Remix) [Unreleased]
Chief Boima – Techno Rumba (Uproot Andy Remix) [Dutty Artz]
Legobeat – Gun, Whistle, Bird (Cocotaxi Remix) [PBP] We Are Enfant Terrible – Wildchild (Myd Remix) [Web] Jamtech Foundation – Run The Track [Mad Viking]
Lady Chann – Sticky Situation (Toddla T Remix Intro) [rcrdlbl]
Bert On Beats – Suomo (Ku Bo Remix) [Man Rec.] BukBuka – Capoeiristas (Jump da f@#$ up) [Unreleased]
Schlachthofbronx – Ayoba (Ku Bo Remix) [Man Rec.]
Figura – Ze Bula (Peter Pozorek Remix Intro) [Unreleased] Figura – Ze Bula (Sabbo Remix) [Akwaaba]
We dig Dubian’s weekly radio show Dubearth, and sure enough our new Quebec City homie was down to compile some of the sounds from Jahman Eselem and Eden Roots Liberation‘s albums. Enjoy his tasteful set of roots reggae, perfect for today’s occasion… below are links to listen and download both albums. The right column of this blog has other links to iTunes and Amazon, and you can listen to more of Dubian’s mixes here.
In Dubian’s own words:
“I’ve been into dub and reggae for a number of years now but it wasn’t until about 4 years ago that I started to really make it my main style. It had always had its place in my music collection which is varied but I’d say that I developed a real passion for rootsy sounds about 7-8 years ago when I started getting my hands on everything that I could.
Musical styles which have really inspired me include delta blues, bebop, krautrock, jungle, dubstep and funk carioca to name some of the ones that keep popping back up in my sets. More than anyone else I think King Tubby and Scientist have the biggest influence in my current sound.
This mix came together very fast, I felt very inspired making it. I spent a whole day just going trough my collection trying to find the right tracks. When you have the right tracks everything just comes together and selection is often the most neglected part of the job. Basically within a few days of organizing the project through twitter and skype with Benjamin from Akwaaba we had a finished product.
I love the fact Jahman Eselem decided to cut versions for each track on his album. Big ups to keeping tradition alive! And what massive dubs they are. As for Eden Roots Liberation they have a great sense of groove and hook and write some damn catchy riddims. Great Players too a very tight band. Both were a lot of fun for me to include in this mix and I just hope I managed to bring out the best in their irie sounds.”
“The 12th installment of the FADER/Southern Comfort 7-inch series is an upbeat one, with MNDR’s electronic fizz pop and loud and grimy kuduro straight from Angola’s Os Mais Potentes. We’ve been a fan of MNDR’s hyper energy for a long time and have long loved the releases on Akwaaba Music, so to pair two exclusive tracks from the realest dance music makers from New York and Africa, respectively, together on one 7-inch is a pretty exciting and special thing. We’ve also got some wild Egyptian-inspired artwork by Keren Richter on the cover.”
You can download both tracks for free on the Fader’s website. And if you want a copy of the vinyl, leave a comment on their page!
When Akwaaba boy Benjamin Lebrave did the photo session with NY photographer Mark Squires, he was told that everybody wants to be in the Last Magazine, but that the mag’s picky editorial team turned down anything if they’d heard of it already: so no J-Lo or Lady Gaga in their pages, they are last as in first, and Mark automatically gave Benjamin major props just for having been chosen by the mag. Besides flattery and making his subject comfortable, we like to think that we are indeed the shiznit for landing this piece, which is well written by casting wizard and apparently quite talented occaasional writer Natalie Joos. Also check out this awesome video of someone flipping through the magazine’s pages. You can download a pdf of the article here, or find the entire mag at Colette in Paris – where else!
