Ron Contour (Moka Only) "Damage" Download

Dope track, vintage Moka. Via Grandgood.

March 2010: Zinnstrumentals
DJ Ian Head

Just as many of us djs and producers look up to those who work and look outside the box, I believe in looking outside the so-called box when thinking about history, politics and society in general. So did legendary historian and author Howard Zinn, who sadly passed just a little over a month ago. His book "Peoples History of the United States" was his attempt to tell history from voices and viewpoints often shut out of history text books. I found it inspiring, as well as his belief that "neutrality" was basically bullshit; that if you are silent, you are siding with the status quo. In his words, "you can't be neutral on a moving train."

Rob Swift, who has a new album out, will always be one of my favorite DJs of all time. After mentioning him in yesterday's post, I was going through some records and remembered this classic instrumental off of Bill Laswell's "Altered Beats" compilation from the late 90s.

Found a couple nice pieces tonite at the record spot...some stuff I'd been lookin for for a long time. The above joint is classic from the De La sample, but what it really reminds me of is Rob Swift's legendary tape "Soulful Fruit." A great record though, I'm excited to finally have it to kick back and vibe out to.

Also found a Latimore record I'd been looking for since the late 90s when Rev. Shinez played it on Beat Jeopardy, a classic Portland hip-hop show hosted by Jumbo the Garbageman.

The other day I was digging at a thrift shop, sticking my hand in crates full of dirty, un-sleeved 45s, hoping to come up with a couple treats for the next mixtape. Mildly successful, I reached back into a crate to grab another stack - and my hand hit something furry. A quick glance revealed some greyish fur, but I couldn't exactly what it was.

That doesn't really matter. I still get a chill thinking about it. After yelling "FUCK!" a couple times - my friend thought something had fallen on me - I asked her to retrieve the hand santizer from my backpack and toss it over to me.

A few days later, I'm perusing veteran musicologist and writer John Book's blog, and I notice he's begun to write recently about these very incidents - "Reasons to Bring Sanitizer on a Record Buying Trip"

Longtime record collectors and crate diggers will tell you that going through vinyl is one of the great things about the hobby. Looking at covers, labels, or merely browsing. Whatever your method is, whether it’s hopping on boxes and making your way through, bending down at a yard sale and thus becoming one of the few examples of a workout for you in a year, it’s one of the joys that leads to hopefully finding good sounds.

My dude Megatrip is comin with some nice selections - and not just for this month, but for the whole year. Definitely keep peepin him out at his blog: http://megatrip.blogspot.com/.