Tag: hip hop

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Weekly Mix 13: April 2, 2017

Before we got to today’s show I want to welcome Blumenkraft from the pnut social media platform to the show. I actually know Blumenkraft from App.Net, which was a great social media platform that was ad free but unforutnately shut down last month. Anyway, I promoted my recent show on Pnut and Blumenkraft really enjoyed it and went back to download prevous episodes of The Weekly Mix. Blumenkraft, if you’re listening, welcome aboard and I hope you dig today’s show.

The other thing I wanted to chat about is the trip my girlfriend and I made to Los Angeles last Thursday to see The Firesign Theatre. You probably don’t know who they are but they are extremely important to me. The Firesign Theatre was a comedy group from the 60s who recorded these really complex concept albums. When I was a boy, about four years old, my dad would play them all the time. The Firesign Theatre had a lot of TV and radio commercial skits that confused me because at that age I was still struggling to distinguish reality from fantasy. They sounded like commercials but I knew something was not quite right. The Firesign Theatre shaped my own sense of humor and when I got into radio I would insert bits from their albums into my shows.

Last Wednesday I was talking to my friend Taylor about working on another show I produce called Pop Culture Intelligentsia. We were catching up with each other when he mentioned that he was going to provide sound effect for a life performance from The Firesign Theatre. Taylor only had a vague idea who they were and cetainly had no idea how important those guys are to me. I asked Taylor if he could get me into the show because those guys are senior citizens now, in fact, there are only two members still alive. I’d regret it if I didn’t see them. Taylor was kind enough to get me into the show and I even got to ask Phil Proctor, one of the founding members a question!

Okay, enough out of me. Enjoy today’s show.

  1. Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweat “I Need Never Get Old”
  2. Shirley Bassey “Spinning Wheel”
  3. Portugal. The Man “Feel It Still”
  4. Lauren Sanderson “Alotta Me”
  5. Yaeji “New York 93”
  6. Naadei “Not Nice”
  7. o k h o “Hey The House Is On Fire”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017mix

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Weekly Mix 12: March 26, 2017

A couple of weeks ago I nerded out about the social bookmarking service Pinboard, which I use to help produce each episode of The Weekly Mix. I hope you’ll contirnue to indulge me becasue today I’m going to rap with you about how I create the album art that accompanies each show.

One of the things that tickles me about producing The Weekly Mix is how much work I am able to do just using my iPhone. To build the album art that I insert into each podcast and to each blog post I start with the illustraiton of the headphone wearing girl that Geneva B has so graciously let me use for the show. I also use a graphic for the number of the show that I’ve created in Adobe Illustrator (I hope to some day build this graphic on my phone as well). To gather the album art from the bands and musicians that are featured on any episode that I add to my own album art I use workflow from my Workflow app that saves the album art from whatever song I’m listening to on Apple Music to my photos folder. From there I’ll use Instagram’s Layout app to organize all the graphics just the way I want. And that’s how I build the album art for each show.

To build the videos of the album art that I share on Instagram I import the album art I just created in my Glitch Wizard app. Once I’ve glitched the hell out of it I’ll take the video I’ve created and import it into Hyperspektiv to modify further. Once that’s done I’ll take the video and import it Apple’s iMovie app and add audio clips from the show I’m currently promoting.

I hope you got a kick out of all that. I sure do have a lot of fun creating the album art for each show.

Okay, enough out of me. Go listen to today’s show. It’s pretty awesome!

  1. Ibibio Sound System “Give Me a Reason”
  2. Dele Sosimi “E Go Betta”
  3. Topaz Jones “Powerball (feat. Leven Kali)”
  4. Superorganism “Something for Your M.I.N.D.”
  5. Hamilton Original Broadway Cast Recording “Satisfied”
  6. Grover Washington, Jr. “Just the Two of Us (feat. Bill Withers)”
  7. DeVotchKa “Dearly Departed”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017

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Weekly Mix 11: March 19, 2017

This week my girl friend and I started a 30-day juice fast. That’s right, 30 days of drinking vegetable and fruit juice instead of eating meals. I’ve done something like this before when I drank Soylent for a month. But this is different. It’s definitely more of a challenge. For some reason, when I was drinking Soylent for a month I barely missed food. But when I’m drinking juice all I can think about is food. Not that I’m hungry. I just want something with texture in my mouth. Crunchy things like popcorn or potato chips are always on my mind. Or barbeque. Or a wad of hot, gooey cheese. And when I go into a supermarket or a restaurant, I smell everything.

But I like challenges like this because anything that breaks you out of your routine makes you see the world and your life in a different light. For example, until I started this juice fast I didn’t realize how many little rituals I have about food. For example, on Friday nights I’ll usually eat somethingthat’s a little saltier and a little fattier than I normally eat as a reward for making it though the week. I’m sure we all do that, right? Maybe treat ourselves to an ice cream or something? I’m hyperaware about all that stuff now.

And I’ll be honest with you, I’m never excited about drinking a glass of vegetable and fruit juice. It tastes okay but I don’t crave it like I’m currently craving some rolled tacos.

And then there are the side effects: the headaches, the hunger pains, I’m tired, and my tongue is emitting a layer of white gunk. All this stuff is supposed to pass in the first few days and then I’ll start feeling energized and my cravings will change from my normal diet to a healthier, green diet. But I have to get past these first few days. On the plus side, I’ve lost almost six pounds in the first two days, so it’s not all bad.

I’m happy to chat with you about this if you’re interested. Just hit me up on Twitter. But if you want to see the documentary that inspired us to take the plunge to do this 30-day juice fast ,then I suggest going to Netflix or Amazon or whatever and watch Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. The doc follows this guy Joe Cross on his 60-day juice fast and his trip across America. I’m not being evangelical about this, because believe me, I can’t wait to eat a cheeseburger. But if you’re interested, go watch the flick.

Okay, let’s get to today’s show. I’m sure me talking about my 30-day juice fast is not the most exciting thing in the world.

You can find me online on Twitter at josephaleo or at my website at josephaleo.com While you’re there, click the links to purchase and download any of the songs you like from today’s show. It’s a simple way to show them your love and support. And if you want to support The Weekly Mix, tell a friend about the show. No need to keep The Weekly Mix to yourself, there’s plenty to go around.

You can listen to The Weekly Mix every Sunday on KAOS Radio Austin at 6PM Central and every Friday on Bondfire Radio out of Brooklyn at 11:30 AM Eastern Standard Time.

Time for me to bug out. See you next week!

  1. Walter Martin “Sing to Me”
  2. The Exquisites “Count on Me”
  3. Mateo Katsu “Nag Hammadi 1276”
  4. Pleasurekraft “Rigel (Orginal Mix)”
  5. Kid Cudi “Kitchen”
  6. Lily Allen “Smile”
  7. Keith Hudson “Depth Charge”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017

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Weekly Mix 10: March 12, 2017

I tend to ramble a bit at the beginning of each show but not today. I’ve got too much to do. I have to take my puppy, Blossom, to a manners class first thing in the morning. In the afternoon I have to take my boy to Little League practice and then in the evening I’m taking Blossom to yet another class. She’s a little crazy so we’re training her as much as possible so she doesn’t grow up to be an unmanageable dog. If there’s time, I hope to take my kids to see the The Lego Batman Movie. If I’m being honest, I’m going to see The Lego Batman Movie and bringing the kids along for the ride. Fortunately for all of us, I know they’re going to love the movie.

If you like today’s show, share it with a friend. Don’t keep it to yourself. Oh, and as of last week, The Weekly Mix is now available as a podcast. Click the here to subscribe to The Weekly Mix or go to iTunes to subscribe.

You can listen to The Weekly Mix every Sunday on KAOS Radio Austin at 6PM Central and every Friday on Bondfire Radio out of Brooklyn at 11:30 AM Eastern Standard Time.

You can find me online on Twitter at @josephaleo. If you happen to like any of the songs on today’s show, click on the links on today’s show notes to purchase and download the songs you dug. Show the bands and musicians some love with a little bit of your hard earned cash.

Okay, time for me to make like a tree and leave. See you next week!

  1. The Incredible Moses Leroy “Fuzzy”
  2. D.R.A.M. “Cute”
  3. Siya “Lil Baby”
  4. Kidswaste “Wild (feat. Khai)”
  5. Animal Collective “Kinda Bonkers”
  6. Dungen “Andarnas Krig”
  7. Baast “Teleportation”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017

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Weekly Mix 9: March 5, 2017

There’s a lot of tools I use to put these shows together and I thought I’d share one of them with you today. It’s called Pinboard. It’s a social bookmarking service that’s a lot like Delicious, if you happen to remember Delicious. It’s okay if you don’t because Yahoo pretty much killed Delicious when they purchased the service. Killing services is something that Yahoo seems to excel at.

Anyway, the way Pinboard works is that when you come across a website or article or blog post that you want to go back to later, you can bookmark it on Pinboard. You can also tag your bookmarks, include a summary of what your bookmarking and search all your bookmarks or any of the bookmarks others have saved to Pinboard.

Some people use Pocket or Instapaper or Evernote for bookmarking and I use those, too, but Pinboard is pretty much where I save everything.

So why am I talking about Pinboard on today’s show? Because I bookmark everything that I might want to reference on each episode of The Weekly Mix. If there’s anything that comes up on The Weekly Mix that you’re even remotely curious about, you can find it there. Bands, labels, interviews, videos, all of it is on Pinboard. You can click the link to my Pinboard account on today’s show notes or go directly to bit.ly/WEEKLYMIXPINBOARD

Thanks for indulging me in my nerdery.

  1. Jim’s Big Ego “Feelin’ Groovy”
  2. Francis and the Lights “It’s Alright to Cry”
  3. Erik Blood “The Attic System”
  4. El Michels Affair “Tearz (feat. Lee Fields & The Shacks)”
  5. Bishop Briggs “River”
  6. Kojey Radical “Gallons (feat. PW)”
  7. Dawn of Midi “Io”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017

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Weekly Mix 7: February 19, 2017

I’ve been having a lot of fun producing The Weekly Mix. Its different from other shows I’ve produced in the past because it’s short and informal. I’m not trying to craft a seamless mix that’ll take you on an emotional journey like I’ve done on solipsistic NATION, the electronic music show I used to do. And when I do the occasional interview on The Weekly Mix they’re quick, usually around five minutes, instead of the long form interviews I’m used to doing.

I’m also not trying to build up an enormous audience for the show. It’s mostly for my friends and family to enjoy. But look, if you like the show and you want to turn other people on to The Weekly Mix, I’d certainly appreciate it. The more people who listen to the show the more musical guests I can get on the show. Besides, why keep The Weekly Mix to yourself?

The other thing I’ve been doing differently is using Periscope and Facebook Live to promote The Weekly Mix. I don’t know if it’s actually making a difference but it’s fun and I plan on exploring the possibilities of streaming video. For example, this Friday I’ll be interviewing The Brevet on Facebook Live when they perform here in San Diego at Lestat’s. I’ll also stream one or two of their songs they’ll be performing while in town. And I’ll also be using the Rode VideoMic Me that my friend Robin turned me on to, so I’ve got an extra reason to be excited about that show. Follow me on Twitter at @josephaleo if you want to know when that’ll be happening.

You can also listen to The Weekly Mix each week on KAOS Radio Austin every Sunday at 6PM Central and every Friday on Bondfire Radio at 11:30 AM Eastern Standard Time.

Okay, I’m out of here. See you next week!

  1. Dashboard Confessional “Love Yourself”
  2. Ivy Sole “Life (feat. Dave B)”
  3. Chet Baker “It’s Always You”
  4. Alemayehu Eshete “Feqer Feqer New”
  5. AfroCubism “Djelimady Rumba (feat. Toumani Diabaté, Eliades Ochoa & Bassekou Kouyaté)”
  6. Buena Vista Social Club “Chan Chan”
  7. Orishas “537 C.U.B.A.”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017

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Weekly Mix 5: February 5, 2017

Today’s a special show because this will be The Weekly Mix’s first broadcast on Bondfire Radio!

Bondfire Radio is an internet radio station our of Brooklyn. I first heard about the station when Macedonia from the Both Sides of the Surface podcast started spinning there a year or so ago. Macedonia has exquisite taste in music so I figured anything he was involved in and was passionate about was worth listening to, so I tuned in. And loved what I heard. So much so that when I launched The Weekly Mix I approached Keisha and asked if she’d be interested in carrying my show. I’m thrilled that I’ve been invited to be part of their family and rather than try and tell you what Bondfire Radio is all about I thought it would be easier, and more fun, to have Keisha talk about the station.

You can tune into my show on Bondfire Radio every Friday at 11:30 AM, Eastern Standard Time.

Hope you enjoy today’s show. See you next week!

  1. Interview with Bondfire Radio’s Keisha Dutes
  2. US3 “Tukka Yoot’s Riddim”
  3. Grant Green “Sookie Sookie (Live) (Remastered)”
  4. David Cutter Music “Just Start Clicking”
  5. Mulatu Astatke “Tezeta”
  6. SoDown “Same Same”
  7. Post Malone “Feeling Whitney”
  8. Xinlisupreme “You Died in the Sea”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017

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Weekly Mix 4: January 29, 2017

Every day I post a song to Twitter and Facebook (#songoftheday) that I think is so amazing and so great that I am compelled to share them with you. Some of the songs are new, some of the songs are old, but you really, really need to hear them.

At the end of the week I gather those songs into The Weekly Mix. When possible, I accompany each song with a brief introduction by the featured band or musician. Previous shows have included introductions from hip hop recording artist Tall Can, UK country singer Yola Carter, gospel singer Phyliss McKoy Joubert and Dick Valentine from Electric Six.

This week, I’m sad to say, will feature no introductions. I’m not suprised. This is only the fourth episode of The Weekly Mix and I’m still growing my audience and the show’s reputation. Frankly, I’m surprised I got as many people to participate in the show as I have and I’m thankful for their generosity.

If you enjoy the show and you would like to have more bands and musicians joins us each week on The Weekly Mix, you can help. And it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. Just tell a friend or co-worker, or anyone, really, to give The Weekly Mix a listen. The more people who listen to the show the more clout The Weekly Mix will have, which will attract more musical guests.

I’ve done it before. When I was producing my small WORKD talk show I was getting something like 40,000 listeners a month, and when I was producing solipsistic NATION, my electronic music show, I was getting 14 million listeners a month. All I need is your help. So please tell anyone you know who loves music about The Weekly Mix.

See you next week!

  1. Kweku Collins “Ego Killed Romance (feat. Jamila Woods)”
  2. Moses Sumney “Incantation”
  3. Pavel Dovgal “Nibiru”
  4. Max Cooper “Seed”
  5. Call Super “Puppet Scene”
  6. The Bad Plus “The Beautiful Ones”
  7. Cymande “Bra”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017

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Weekly Mix 3: January 22, 2017

I’ve got quite a show for you today. Not only do I have a fantastic mix of eclectic music for you to groove to, but we’ll also chat with Geneva Bee, who provides the illustration of the headphone wearing beauty who graces the album art for each show.

I first discovered Geneva Bee through my girlfriend, who follows Geneva on Instagram. Through her illustrations Geneva creates a world of whimsy and color that’s decidedly very girly. Seeing Geneva’s artwork in my Instagram feed always delivers a hit of dopamine. When I launched The Weekly Mix I asked Geneva if she’d allow me to use one of her illustrations for the album art for each show and she was generous enough to let me.

See you next week with another weekly mix. I’m out of here.

  1. Interview with illustrator Geneva Bee
  2. Tall Can & Generik “Bridge ft. Generik & 12Gage The Poet”
  3. OKBADLANDS “Dust & Gold”
  4. PNL “Le monde ou rien”
  5. Lil Uzi Vert “Scott and Ramona”
  6. Anderson.Paak “Come Down”
  7. Chairlift “Ch-Ching”
  8. Yola Carter “Home”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017

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Weekly Mix 1: January 8, 2017

Hello, I’m Joseph Aleo and welcome to the Weekly Mix!

What is the Weekly Mix? It’s a show that features seven tracks from the last week that I’ve posted to Facebook and Twitter for my #songoftheday series. The songs are old and new, but with an emphasis on the new and are from many different genres. What unites all the tracks you’ll hear on today’s show and every show going forward is that they are fantastic and deserved to be heard.

The mixes often won’t be seamless and smooth because that’s not what I’m going for on this show. Again, I’m just delivering a week’s worth of the songs of the day in one place. That pains me as a deejay because as a deejay I’m all about the segue, but so be it.

The Weekly Mix will also include an introduction from the featured band or musician whenever possible. For example, on today’s show, you’ll hear from Preacher vs Choir and HypeMan Sage.

I only have a couple introductions on today’s episode because the Weekly Mix doesn’t have an audience yet, so if you like what you hear, please feel free to introduce your friends to the Weekly Mix. The more people who listen, the more talent I can get to participate on future shows.

Another reason should you listen to the Weekly Mix is because I’ve been a deejay and podcast producer for nearly 30 years. I have great taste in music and I want to share that music with you. Some of the music you’ll hear might not be your cup of tea but I think you’ll recognize that it’s good stuff. The music that is your cup of tea I hope will become your new favorite song. In fact, if you hear a song on today’s show that you like, I encourage you to go out and buy it to help support the artist.

The album art for each Weekly Mix features an illustration by the wonderful Geneva B. My girlfriend discovered Geneva on Instagram and I quickly became a fan. When I decided to launch the Weekly Mix I immediately contacted her for permission to use one of her illustrations for the show. You can find her on Instagram or find her online at her website . I hope to talk with Geneva on the Weekly Mix in the near future.

You can find me on Twitter at @josephaleo. Feel free to email me at joseph@josephaleo.com.

See you next week for another Weekly Mix!

  1. Preacher vs. Choir “Better than Ever”
  2. Subculture Sage “Childhood”
  3. Aaron Fontwell “Crystal Coated”
  4. Irene Schweizer Trio “Yaad”
  5. CRX “Broken Bones”
  6. Asadi “Throne”
  7. ADR “Severance”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017