Boarding to a world beat
Music to skate to isn’t all about ‘80s punk and emo. Veteran skateboarder and local music guru Rick Lemley cyber digs for mostly funk and hip-hop – very little of his collection is music from the U.S. Lemley has selected music for Spirit Skate Shop’s DVD series, and he is known in the skate scene as an underground wealth of music. Here’s a playlist with Lemley’s comments about a mix he compiled for 360:
“2005 DMC routine,” C2C
This first song is by “a French turntable team and three-time (Disco Mix Club) world champions. This song is their routine from the 2005 DMC competition. It’s a good upbeat song. They have a lot of mixed genres, (such as) blues and jazz and samba.”
“Organ Donor,” Lefties Soul Connection
“This is a cover of DJ Shadow’s ‘Organ Donor.’ It’s a classic hip-hop song done with live instrumentation.”
“Eltsuhg Ibal Lasiti,” The Daktaris
“They’re a band out of Africa. It’s a nice, straight, hard funk song.”
“Illusionary Lines,” Hilltop Hoods
“They’re a hip-hop group from Australia. I just like the way he delivers the lyrics, kind of an intense type of mood to it.”
“Sangfagel,” Organism 12
“It’s got a nice jazzy sample to it and a good bass line.”
“Unknown,” Controller 7
“It starts out easy, then it builds as it goes along and keeps solid. (There’s) a heavy beat to it.”
“This Is For You,” Bliss N Eso
“They’re another group from Australia. I like the lyrics a lot. It’s just kind of about keeping everything honest – doing what you do because you love it.”
“The Basics,” Epik High
“This is a short DJ track. I really like the scratching in it. I’m a big fan of scratching when it’s done well.”
“N.Z. Connection,” DJ Raw
“It’s a DJ track. It’s really fast and he’s scratching the hell out of the record.”
“Thinking Black,” Ike Turner & The Kings of Rhythm
“It’s another good funk song. I really like the horns in it, kind of biting into it.”
“Rap Machine,” DJ Format featuring Abdominal
“It reminds me of the old hip-hop from the early ‘90s, like ‘91, ‘92. It’s kind of fast. I usually like to skate to a lot of hip-hop and funk music. It kind of has a syncopated beat to it, which drives you forward.”
“The Prophets,” Radio Citizen
“It’s a good mix of funk and jazz. I like that one. Radio Citizen is, I believe, a guy from Germany. That’s about all I know about him.”
“Sugar Cubes,” Various artists
“This next song is by four guys, I believe, out of Canada – Choke, Thesis, Uncle Fester and Jesse Dangerously. I like the vocal rhythms a lot.”
“Underdog,” Sly & the Family Stone
“Of course I just like this song, but also I had never heard it before until recently and I’d thought I heard all of his stuff.”
“47 Fascinating Babies,” Hirose Kenjiro
“This is a funk number from Japan. I really like the big-band orchestration of it. There’s a lot of different parts to it that work together well.”