Digital Crates: NPR Tiny Desk Concerts

Sep 12, 2016 |

I love music. And I love great ideas around how to package and share music. The evolution of technology has both totally disrupted industries as well as provided the tools to be able to share great music. In creating Digital Crates on this site, I have tried to share what I come across while traversing the world of the interwebs, albeit inconsistently. The non-profit NPR hosts Tiny Desk Concerts, which is  a simple yet powerful concept – bring in artists to perform in a corner of their offices and film them. The intimacy of the performances place the spotlight firmly on the music...

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Digital Crates: Summertime Mixtape 6

Jul 11, 2015 |

In 2010, DJ Jazzy Jeff and MICK (then Mick Boogie) collaborated to release the Summertime Mixtape Vol 1, which fittingly opened with the track Summertime by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. It includes: Kool & The Gang – Summer Madness, Quincy Jones – Summer In The City, Ahmad – Back In The day, Ice Cube – It Was A Good Day, Roy Ayers – Everybody Loves The Sunshine, Bush Babees – The Love Song, Michael Jackson – I Can’t Help It, Carl Thomas – Summer Rain, Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly – Before I Let Go and En Vogue – My Lovin’. Since then, they have released a new mixtape in the...

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Digital Crates: Brika

Jun 13, 2015 |

In an entertainment world where every detail of everyone’s life is put on display and everything is often over-marketed (seemingly at the expense of the actual music created) it was a bit alarming when I struggled to find background on Brika, and Art House Records, the record label that released her debut album, Voice Memos. What I could find is that Art House Records is a Miami-based independent label that spent three years on developing Briana Alexa Martinez, who was born and raised in Miami, and that 2014 was their first year of operation. There’s the standard Wikipedia page, which...

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Digital Crates: FKA twigs

Jan 28, 2015 |

If there’s one thing the Internet shows you, it’s that there is a multitude of artists out in the world building solid careers, creating great music. And there is no greater feeling than coming across an artist who resonates with a part of you in ways indescribable. Without fail, when I come across such an artist, there’s usually a couple of people out there who have been down but didn’t put me on. Randomly browsing, I came across a piece on Slate on the English singer-songwriter, producer, dancer and video director, FKA twigs, who started out in the industry as a backup dancer for musicians...

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Digital Crates: What The F#@k Is A Jay Electronica?

Sep 15, 2014 |

Jay Electronica is probably one of the most fascinating characters to enter the realm of hip hop. The trajectory of any artist is to put their music out there, build a sustainable career (although with some of these people out here, one does wonder), and go from there. But, the New Orleans native, who was born Timothy Elpadaro Thedford, has had hip hop fans anxiously waiting for an album for over half a decade now, especially after the tracks Exhibit A and Exhibit C, both produced by Just Blaze, were released in 2009. The closest we’ve come to an album is the compilation What The F#@k Is A...

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Digital Crates – Yasiin Gaye: The Return (Side 2)

Jun 4, 2014 |

My Digital Crates feature, albeit erratic (as with most of this space), is the opportunity for me to share the really dope music (in my view) that I come across. The beauty of the digital realm for me continues to be the fact that I am not dependent on radio, television and the major record labels for the music I listen to. Whether it is through social media or randomly browsing the web, there are many artists and deejays that I have 'discovered' that have become part of my life's soundtrack. Amerigo Gazaway is most definitely one of these. I recently wrote a short post on him, sharing some...

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