A massive batch of instrumentals from J Dilla – one that strongly transcends the wordless hip hop genre – and perhaps his rawest, and most adventurous listening experience yet! The loopy soul samples, rich synth/electronic shine, and thumping bass and soul beats that Dilla largely made his name on are laced throughout, but he also takes things a step into stranger territory – with spacey elements that buzz as much as they groove! The cuts never less than soulful and funky, and never steps into Madlib's brand of the weeded out style, either. We love how raw this all feels, too! It's easily identifiable as the work of Jay Dee, but at the same time wholly unpredictable! One of the better Stone's Throw hip hop efforts in a while – instrumental or vocal! 31 pieces in all: "Donuts (Intro & Outro)", "Workinonit", "Waves", "Light My Fire", "People", "Mash", "Airworks", "Lightworks", "Stepson Of The Clapper", "One Eleven", "Don't Cry", "Geek Down", "Thunder", "Gobstopper", "Walkinonit", "U-Love", "Last Donut Of The Night" and more. CD

The latest salvo from Krush, and he keeps getting more and more out, but that's always been the best thing about his approach – the way he can take abstract sounds, and snap them into a dope beat. We thought from the first half of this disc that he's been listening to a lot of the noisier new breed of underground hip hop, like the Def Jux camp, and you can tell by who he's selected to collaborate with this go 'round that he's feeling the leftfield approach: Anticon, the Opus and Anti Pop Consortium, but he pulls in Sly & Robbie, vocalists Angelina Esparza and Abijah too, for the jazzier half of the disc. Eleven tracks in all, including "Trihedron", "Sanity Requiem", "The Blackhole", "D'You Hear That", "The Lost Voices" and "What About Tomorrow". CD

Bedrock beatcraft and DJ mix mastery from Steve Stein – including the hugely important Double Dee & Steinski mixes of the early 80s – paired up with solid later work for this excellent 2CD compilation! The Double Dee & Steinski stuff really couldn't be more important to the turntablist scene of the mid 80s, and its influence stretches up to and beyond the mash up DJs of the 00s. Monumental DJ funk and deftly blended samples. Astounding! Disc 1 is the retrospective material – featuring benchmark Double Dee & Steinski mixes: "The Payoff Mix", "Lesson 2 (James Brown Mix)", "Lesson 3 (History Of Hip Hop)", "Jazz" and "Voice Mail (Sugarhill Mix)" – plus the Steinski tracks "The Motorcade Sped On", "I'm Wild About That Thing", "Ain't No Thing", "Number Three On Flight Eleven" and more. Disc 2 is Nothing To Fear – A Rough Mix By Steinski – done for Solid Steel Productions and BBC London – 28 continuous cuts including "Swingset (10 beautiful girls mix)", "The Id (small world mix)", "By All Means Necessary (Malcolm & Bobby mix)", "I Like It Like That (Scratch It One Time mix)" "Country Grammar (hydro mix)", "Funk Construction (Prodigal Son mix)" and lots more. It's all in the title – it's a rougher set with the scratch & cut effects, bit not as dance club bubbly as other Steinski work. CD