Now-Again: Return and Remix
posted by O.W.
Koushik feat. Percee P: Cold Beats
Aloe Blacc: Blind World
L.A. Carnival, Cut Chemist, M.E.D.: Blind Man Remix + Rap (Soul Sides Edit)
All from Now-Again Re:Sounds (Now-Again, 2007). Also available through iTunes.
This compilation from the Stonesthrow reissue subsidiary, Now-Again, snuck out there in mid-July and has stayed on the low which is a shame since it's actually a great way to make available a bunch of different songs that really haven't been on a single CD or LP before.*The history behind the album is this: one of the advantages of having Stonesthrow and Now-Again as sibling labels is that they're able to integrate projects across their respective genre lines. This has often taken the form of remixes of Now-Again funk/soul selections by the likes of Cut Chemist, Koushik, J-Rocc, etc. plus MC cameos from folks like Oh No, M.E.D., Percee P and other Stonesthrow affiliated rappers.Re:Sounds compiles together a dozen or so of these past remix projects plus adds another seven, previously unreleased. (You can see the full playlist here).
The "Cold Beats" remix by Koushik, featuring the rhyme inspector Percee P, was previously released on a 12", takes a variety of different loops and breaks off the Cold Heat comp and mashes them together into a thick-knuckled beat for Percee P to bring his signature fast rap over. Let the homicide continue.
The next two songs are taken from "Blind Man" by L.A. Carnival, one of the early 12"s on Now-Again and one of the best "rescued" songs I've heard in years. Aloe Blacc, on "Blind World," an unreleased cut, unleashes his own verbose lyricism onto a track built off elements of the original cut, his voice and that of the Carnival's vocalist contrasting against one another.
The next cut represents two of my favorite releases on Now-Again - the Cut Chemist remix of "Blind Man" which I edited together with the former white label remix by Cut feat. M.E.D. That original 12" remix of "Blind Man" by Cut is one of the greatest edits I've ever heard of a soul/funk song, especially because it flows together so organically, the remix (really, an edit), to me, is superior to the original song but it never sounds like "a remix." If you compare the two (check the original here), Cut's edit takes all the best elements and reconstructs the song and creates a new interpretation of it that is sheer brilliance. Then, with the M.E.D. remix (a remix of a remix!), the song takes on a whole new form as a hip-hop beat with the artist formerly known as Medaphor just killing sh-- on top. H y p e.
The comp also has some other gems, including Edan's "Sagitarrius Rap", J-Rocc's "Cold Heat Funk Mix" and a new Amnesty song discovered by the folks at Truth and Soul.
If you really want to ball - there's a 7" box-set featuring 7 7-inches with material not found on the CD. Go crazy!
*For those with blogs and other ways of getting the word out, try to plug this if you can!
