Mister Rogers Remixed | Garden of Your Mind | PBS Digital Studios - in downtempo fashion

I had to post this - it's going around the internet and it is absolutely beautiful. A wonderful tribute to Mr. Rogers with an incredibly innocent, pure and spirited message that we must never forget. Not to mention the song is quite good and it's actually in the downtempo vibe that I love to share. So please, enjoy this if you haven't seen it already and let it take you back to a time where the garden of your mind did blossom incredible things, and may we all allow ourselves to tender that garden for our lifetimes.

Pretty Lights - You Get High

Pretty Lights has been busy, playing festivals and concerts all over the country while producing his online podcast/radio show The Hot Shit and recently releasing a new single "You Get High" that does just that - gets you high on life in Pretty Lights style.

This Pretty Lights track is true to form in what we've come to expect from him - steady hip hop beats laying the foundation for a perfectly mixed mash of funk, electronica (lighter dubstep in this case) and glitched up vocal samples. According to Pretty Lights, this is the last single he's dropping before releasing a brand new album this summer on his own label, Pretty Lights Music. I'll be sure to share the release date on my blog or via the Downbeatscape Twitter handle when it is announced.

Hear "You Get High" by watching the video and Download it for free at Pretty Lights Music website:

Artist Interview & New Acid Jazz/Jazztronica Release: Outerattik - Attic EP

Outerattik, the UK's Jamie Smith, released his acid jazz Attic EP recently and it's a great downtempo tribute to the nostalgic early days of jazz that he discovered pouring through vinyl records in his parents' attic. As he progressed as a jazz musician, Jamie began to experiment with more acid improvisational techniques and electronic sequencing, creating a "jazztronica" sound that pays homage to his classical training and gives a nod to his interest in other genres like electronica and funk. Read my interview with Outerattik, listen to Attic EP and download his track Electro Funk #50 for free:



Downbeatscape: What does "downtempo" mean to you and how does your style fit into this genre?

Outerattik (Jamie Smith): Downtempo to me means groovy, laid back and atmospheric. Chillout music with some bite. Genres are so blurred that I find myself going in circles trying to define the music I produce. In essence, I produce downtempo with harmony and rhythms from jazz, funk and soul.

DBS: How did your interest in jazz develop and how has it evolved through the years?

Jamie: Early on I’d been playing and improvising over stuff that had some overlap with jazz: mainly American songbook material. My uncle introduced me to it, and how to play chords and improvise. A few years later I bought some jazz CDs and books and began learning how jazz worked. I plucked up the courage to go to a few jam sessions around town and eventually joined some jazz combos. It was a difficult transition from previously playing mostly classical music. Jazz is quite different and I spent six or seven years not being able to play well enough to record - really frustrating.

I’d also experimented with sequencers and computer music in my teens, and after playing jazz proper I wanted to combine the two. It was after playing in fusion bands and learning to play funk that I felt confident and versed enough to embark into acid jazz and form Outerattik.

DBS: How did you first get your start as a musician?

Jamie: Music was always in my family. My Dad still plays in a brass band (which I played in for a few years) and my Mum performs in musicals. I started piano lessons when I was six and began composing a few years later, first with pencil and paper then with a sequencer my parents got me for Christmas.

DBS: How do you like composing in the studio compared to performing live? How does the art of improvisation, so important in jazz, come into play in a studio vs. live setting?

Jamie: I enjoy both. Going from one to the other keeps things interesting. Playing live is exciting but often the sound on stage, especially if playing in a noisy bar, is a bit rubbish. Being in the studio allows you to concentrate fully on the sound and play with more nuance.

The stage tends to be where you can really stretch improvisationally. I find the studio experience to be quite tense because I know bad notes will be recorded! But on stage, you’re jamming in real time and can be spontaneous - I find that really exciting.



DBS: What gigs do you have coming up?

Jamie: I’m looking to take Outerattik live soon. I put some feelers out to other musicians to collaborate and I’m pleased with the enthusiastic response. Until then I’ve gotta write more tunes!

DBS: Where do you find influence for your songs?

Jamie: Sometimes I write tunes to reflect a particular experience I’ve had or mood that I'm in. Other times it’ll come from something I’ve improvised. This EP, particularly Attic Faery, has quite a nostalgic feel to it. The main inspiration was discovering music through my parents’ vinyl collection in the attic. It was quite eclectic.

DBS: Where do you see the future of downtempo music and of acid jazz in particular?

Jamie: Downtempo will always find an audience. It’s such an adaptable form. You can fuse it with other genres, like folk and jazz, and it works really well. Who knows what the next twist on it will be. I thought glo-fi a few years back was pretty good, bringing back that 80s pop sound but in a new way.

As far as acid jazz goes, I have a vested interested in a revival! They say these things go in 20-year cycles, don’t they? Musicians like BADBADNOTGOOD and Robert Glasper are having a lot of success at the moment with their jazz and hip hop sound, and a more mainstream audience is responding. So it’s an exciting time to be playing acid jazz.

New Label & Mix: The Bohemian Club

I've recently become interested in the work of Alistairr Read - a London downtempo and electronic producer. His work is a mix of chillout downtempo and lounge house electronic, with light melodies creating weightless overtones throughout. He also runs The Bohemian Club - a blog showcasing a variety of music ranging from traditional downtempo to various electronic styles.

From his success as a producer, music mixologist, and blogger, he has recently launched a music label under the same name - The Bohemian Club. Alistairr's label will release music ranging from "downtempo, to dub, to electronica and beyond" (his words). His label will showcase artists and music that break the "predictable mould of current electronic music and creates a path of its own." I love the spirit of this project and look forward to the range of downtempo sounds it produces.

Here is a mix by Alistairr of the type of music he finds inspiration from and is seeking to promote via his label - remember, if you're a DJ/producer/artist send demos to The Bohemian Club here:

Duck Sauce (A-Trak & Armand Van Helden) Interview - Governor's Ball is really their 1st NYC show as Duck Sauce!

I can't mention Duck Sauce and not share Barbra Streisand and Big Bad Wolf (Warning: video for Big Bad Wolf is, uh, weird)

An Interview with Therapist (Global Downtempo/Ambient DJ) - help him win a spot @ the TREE OF LIFE Festival!

Therapist is a downtempo DJ in Bulgaria that specializes in chillout, psychill and ambient styles. He is a regular at the European outdoor festivals and he shared a set designed to win him a spot at the upcoming Tree of Life festival in Turkey this summer. He creates his sets to be a fully immersive experience, where a listener can truly allow their feet to lift off the ground and float along, while allowing themselves to be moved by this energy that bubbles up inside them. I interviewed Therapist about downtempo music, DJing and festivals he's playing next. Listen to his set and read the interview below. AND, please comment on the set in Soundcloud - this set is for a contest to win a spot at the Tree of Life Festival, and the set with the most comments by June 15 wins. We want to help Therapist win, so please read the interview and click on the set below and add a comment:



Downbeatscape: What does "downtempo" music mean to you? Is it any different from chillout or ambient styles, and how do consider the terms/styles working together?

Therapist: Most people see "downtempo" as something that puts them to sleep, something to listen when they meditate or relax. For me, downtempo is much more than that. The term itself includes a spectrum of genres - all kinds of ambient, chillout, electroacoustic, IDM, dub and some world and ethnic music. Downtempo is a type of music that can explore a part of one's consciousness that very few genres can. It can produce unique states of mind and take you on a serene journey or reveal a part of you that you never knew existed. Also, it is not just the sound that matters - its the culture it brings with it, of positive and open-minded people.

DBS: How did you first get interested in ambient music?

Therapist: It was more or less an accident. I have always listened to electronic music, but never anything similar to downtempo. Few years back, I was listening to an online radio and an ambient mix started one morning - I was instantly captivated by the sound and it all began from there.

DBS: How did you first get your start as an ambient DJ?

Therapist: I have been mixing and producing in a few genres since the age of 17. I had a different alias back then, but my music varied from progressive trance to dark psychedelic and hardcore. I was experimenting and searching for the field I am most comfortable with and I think I found it with ambient (mainly psychill) some 5 years ago. Since the scene and community here in Bulgaria is very small and I was already a part of it, it didn't take much time to start recording mixes and participating on major events in my own country.

DBS: What have been the biggest challenges to you as an ambient DJ, seeing as many 'popular' scenes aren't always quite inclusive toward your style of DJing?

Therapist: The main issue, as I see it, is getting people to listen - [ambient] is not a genre that can be understood just by glancing at it. Downtempo isn't club music and most people aren't aware that the alternative is not just for listening to at the office or before bed. The best setting for such music are the open air festivals, which most people don't visit very often, for their own reasons. Even in Europe we have our versions of mainstream music that flood all the media and leave a lot of quality production (not just downtempo) behind. Still, I don't envision downtempo as something that can or should be everyone's choice of sound. The fact that it is mostly underground does not bother me at all. Also, the funding of most of the festivals in Europe is really limited, which makes it difficult to participate in festivals because of travel costs.

DBS: What festivals or other gigs do you have coming up?

Therapist: For the moment, my main goal is to help promote and form a stable ambient subculture in my own country - I am not only DJing, I'm also doing my small part in the organization of all kinds of indoor and outdoor parties and festivals - Chill Station, Artmospheric and Tangra festivals, to name a few. Apart from that, I am participating on the chill stage of Gaea Festival in Greece, which hosts some really great artists. Hopefully I will win the best set contest for Tree of Life festival in Turkey and participate on the chill stage there. I'm also having negotiations with few other festivals around Europe and an exclusive set for Q-Lounge.fm coming soon.

DBS: Where do you find influence for your DJ sets?

Therapist: I don't really have any DJ influence - I try to set my own path, using my vision of what the set should look like, forge a concept around it and hopefully send a message that the listeners can receive. Of course, there are numerous labels that have shaped my perception of the genre - Ultimae, Cosmicleaf, Altar, Soundmute, Dakini, Chillcode, Spiral Trax, Fluid Audio, Celestial Dragon, Twisted Records and many more.

DBS: Where do you see the future of ambient music going?

Therapist: Electroacoustic is becoming more and more popular at the moment, which is really cool to see - it is a very interesting mix of acoustic instruments and drones, a lot you can experiment with. Also, some of the major psychill artists are focusing on space and beatless ambient and there are a lot of great tracks and albums coming out. Personally I would like to see even more variety in the downtempo subgenres - mainly some ethnic and psychill variations, more experimenting and blending of different elements.

Friendzone - Follow Me

I was super pleased to hear Friendzone's "Follow Me" on Hype Machine. It the perfect song for a chilled Saturday morning - a truly atmospheric downtempo track that drives you forward with staccato hip hop beats underneath a dream-like, synthetic melody. Friendzone is a producer duo based on the West Coast, particularly the Bay Area. Check out "Follow Me" and more of their tracks and instrumental beats below, and download "Follow Me" here - provided via Friendzone's Tumblr page:

Solid Steel Radio Show 5/25/12 - Funk & Soul Edition, by Coldcut, Dobie & DJ Irk

Every edition of Coldcut/Ninja Tune's Solid Steel Radio Show is a treat. Its not always exclusively downtempo music, but they always feature a different selection of downtempo styles. The last show I really enjoyed (HERE) focused on downtempo trip hop with some glitch, and this show is completely different but equally entertaining - featuring funk and soul, with a bit of Amon Tobin, trip hop and electronic sounds to finish it off. This show features the "godfather" funk fusion Chuck Brown, along with artists he's influenced, including Nas, Chris Turner, the Beatles, and more.