ATSIC S05E19 - Happy @ Home
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This week we’re back to a DJ Dice mix, freshly back from the future with all his turntablist skills in tact. I went with another historic pic of him for the cover because dude puts in a lot of work and has been for a long time, so people ought to know it. That photo was from the 30 years ago.
The music on the mix is fresh though, with new releases from across the country, as usual.
There’s a “Making of #ATSIC” video below, which shows my portion of the “work” on this episode.. basically just me yelling over top of Dice’s mix. I do put in time listening to a ton of music each week and making the picks, but once songs hit the vault, it’s usually Dice who decides what to actually play week to week.
There’s also a spreadsheet below with the entire track listing, along with my best guess at which city each artists is repping. Sometimes I have to click 4 or 5 links to gather that information, but ya boy is tirelessly out here internet stalking artists to gather the info the heads need to know.
This mix features a scratch exhibition from DJ Dice as well. He took an instrumental from Tone Chop & Frost Gamble (produced of course by Frost), and sliced up some of the drops we’ve been sent from artists shouting his name.
There’s all sorts of dope through the rest of the mix: producer Rad Brown recruited top tier lyricist Rel McCoy for “Double Fresh”, a fun and light hearted high tempo boom bap bop; Hamilton’s The Emsee dropped yet another reality rap report with “Drake’s House” where he recounts his evolving personal opinions of the most famous Canadian rap act ever; Roshin suggested I check out his fellow TO based lyricist Beauge when we talked for FiF, and I think it was Lee Reed who suggested I tap in with SUPERDRAMAGO! - they both join Vancouverite Teon Gibbs for “Pon Road”, a critique of the people they never see outside; Mark Jordan continues pushing for the “The Breakthrough”; Moka Only joins the NWNB crew for “Smoke It” and lights the place on fire; Sythe’s production is always “Right on Time” for Marley B and Jabee to deliver some smooth bars over; new artist to #ATSIC Methadist jumps on some upbeat Navi the North production with SWANN to rep their spot on “I’m From Toronnto”; Oshawa’s 420 Klick link with B1 the Architect who continues to drop more music than anyone around, for a single off their Blade Kingz album “Aw Yeah” feat ELz Large; Sayzee’s self produced run begins with “Heat Press”; we circle back to earlier in the year to finally play Starz Coleman & IMPERETIV’s “Kung Fu Grip”; TALEBSON aka Yung Papi Bonito marks his ongoing Calgary based legacy with “Headstone”; Kitz Willman’s newest single “Can’t Sleep” keeps the world woke; and Montreal’s Kris the $pirit checks in with 2 tracks, “Hold It Steady” & posse cut “Another Day” with Nate Husser, Rvlr Magz, and Lolly D in tow. Tons of good shit throughout.
The music is followed by another episode of my podcast interview series Fly in Formation, this time featuring Roshin, an emcee based out in Toronto ON who’s been collecting his dues and knocking out a ton of solid work lately. We talked about his new album “Underthinking” and what that approach looks like in a world where artists are supposed to nitpick every last detail of every release, the various lanes in the land of Toronto rap, rapping about nerd shit while actually being engaged in nerd culture deeper than the Disney movies, and a bunch more. Check the FiF playlist for an archive of all the past guests. Mixcloud is the only spot to listen to the audio only interviews each week, grab the app, it’s free and there’s all sorts of dope DJ mixes from curators who care about the music much more than an algorithm cares about your playlists on streaming platforms.
Every week, I buy every song I play, unless the artist sent it to me, saving me a buck. I believe in buying music to support independent artists. Making music is time-consuming and expensive. Streaming doesn’t pay much at all, and since streaming has become the way most people consume music, it’s even more important to make sure to buy tickets, buy music (physical or digital), and buy merch from artists you want to hear more from. Streaming pays next to nothing, so if you want artists working on more music instead of working more shifts at their day job, you need to show them love by opening your wallet and giving them financial support.
Season 3 of my interview series Fly in Formation is soaring along in style, and I’ve double booked June. The most up to date schedules are posted below, including the new one for June. I’m trying to accelerate into summer with twice weekly live streamed interviews next month, adding Saturdays to the regular Tuesday weekly rotation for a month straight to build up some momentum. Make sure to hit follow on Twitch or subscribe so you don’t have to watch the ad breaks during interviews too. I love seeing the community pop up in chat to say hi during interviews.
Telling a friend is another great way to support the show, I appreciate everyone who helps spread the word immensely.
Stay Up.
