JBeats Pick Of The Week #13

Monitor 66 - Triscuits

Nu Disco - House - Summertime - this track brings the classic vocals of Keith Sweats famous twisted RnB jam and mixes it seamlessly on top of a lovely chilled daytime poolside uplifting beat to jam and tap your feet to. Great remix.

JBeats Pick Of The Week #12

Erykah Badu - Appletree

Off the acclaimed album Baduizm - this tune Appletree did not get as much light as some of the absolute hits in this album, but over the years this one is without a doubt my favourite track in this whole album. Soulful RnB is up there with one of my most favoured genres of music and this track has it all - an irresistible beat, catchy occasional typical little bits of scatting from the artist, and amazing vocals and lyrics. Perfect to get going on a sunny morning.

JBeats Pick Of The Week #11

Late At The Night - Roddy Ricch

Something about the vocals of Roddy that makes me hooked to the majority of his hooks. Just like Ballin and How it is… but he only featured in both tracks. This track is him start to finish and I had it on repeat for a week straight, there is something about the cool hip hop beat with g funky vibes along with seamless vocals that build up into a classic Roddy high pitched hook…. great track and still does not feel overplayed!

JBeats Pick Of The Week #10

Rage Against The Machine - Guerrilla Radio

Gyms are back, and so is my rock collection. Oh damn I forgot how good the combination of Heavy Rock and Heavy Deadlifts are… especially Rage Against The Machine and this song in-particular… well most of their songs in actual fact… their message is definitely relevant to the times we are in too… I will say no more!

JBeats Pick Of The Week #9

Nafe Smallz - Fake Love

Been a big fan of Nafe Smallz since I saw him live at Alexandra palace way back in 2015 - he had only released one or 2 songs at the time and Skepta saw a talent in him and brought him out at his show - me and my pal loved his music and have followed him ever since. His career has been relentless and has gone from strength to strength every year and is one of the best modern day RnB artists I can think of, this song fake love off the album Good love hits you in the feels, good vocals mixed with a nice slow beat and a catchy hook. The album itself is a piece of art as well as his other albums and I cannot wait for more Nafe - at the age of 24, in my eyes could have a greatest hits album already.

JBeats Pick Of The Week #8

Canned Heat - Going Up The Country

I love all kind of music, honestly I do, there are tunes in every genre I will find a time and a place for. As of late, I have been in to my chilled out music to just sit back and relax to in the garden or on a drive without traffic. A good friend of mine had his ‘chilled’ playlist on whilst we were catching up and as soon as this song started with the flutes at the beginning, something in my brain reminded me that I knew this song from a long time ago and I looked it up instantly and realised I forgot about this tunes existence. Its Happy, its Jolly, the instruments compliment each other and for a tune that is 53 years old, it just gets better with time. Sit back when you are relaxed and happy and listen to this… you wont regret it.

JBeats Pick Of The Week #7

Ella Mai - Whatchamacallit

I tell you what, I have no idea where I was when this tune dropped 3 years ago in 2018 - I must have been sleeping under a rock. I don’t listen to too much radio, apart from old radio stations so it may have been that. I saw this pop up on someones social media and this bit of the song before the chorus that is played twice once at the start and once after Chris Browns verse had me hooked to this tune for a good week before I needed to stop playing it. Overall this tune is a huge hit in the R&B scene and shows that RnB is very much still alive - Ella Mai is a fantastic artist and I cannot wait for her future tracks and albums.

JBeats Pick Of The Week #6

Dog It - Digable Planets

This Hip Hop band formed in 1987 and the album Blowout Comb came out in 1994. For an album 27 years old it practically sounds brand new and shows how ahead of their time they were. I won’t go in to the album itself as that is something you just have to listen to and appreciate from start to finish; but the particular song Dog It hits my ear drums differently. Containing 2 very clever samples (God made me funky and Sell your soul) this is the sort of tune you can imagine yourself skateboarding down the seafront to with a drink in hand even though you have never picked up a skateboard before in your life. It is groovy, funky, soulful and the use of the looping saxophone really starts the the song well and leaves me starting this song over and over. Check them out!

JBeats Pick Of The Week #5

Lord Echo - Thinking Of You

Stumbled across a remix of this classic track from Sister Sledge by a multi instrumentalist and producer Lord Echo from New Zealand. This track is a reggae meets funky disco remix of this popular song from 1979 and I have had it on repeat on every car journey this week. A very feel good track reminding me of the good times to come this summer…

JBeats Pick Of The Week #4

Gwen McCrae - Funky Sensation

For the past 3 weeks I have been working with a radio station that bring their listeners nothing but great old school soulful dance music as well as RnB and funk! I have been diving deep into the 80s and 90s and finding tunes that really do something to my eardrums for my radio sets. Preparing for this weeks radio set going live on the 16th March I stumbled across an absolute blast from the past that is Gwen Mccrae.
Funky Sensation - being released in 1981 making it 40 years old, this tune is still an absolute banger, thumping bass and a disco atmosphere complimented with the southern accent of Gwen Mccrae matched with an extremely catchy and addictive chorus, this song has been on repeat all week and is driving my partner absolutely crazy. Shout out to Disclosure for remixing this tune too and doing wonders for it, however the original will always be my pick!
Sit back, pop this tune on and enjoy!

J Beats Pick Of The Week #3

Bicep - Apricots

Over the past 12 months or so I have started getting more and more into my electronic music and trance beats and Bicep were one of the first duos I checked out. Their new album Isles is a great listen from start to finish but the track Apricots in particular has that enticing trance progression which made me get into their music in the first place. It has a very calm overtone throughout the whole song perfect for walks, runs or just simply chilling out with a coffee and indulging. The track has soothing synthetics from start to finish and would be one of the first tunes I grab if someone wanted an example of chilled electronica.
Listen to it.

JBeats Pick Of The Week #2

Mahalia - Jealous (feat. Rico Nasty)

The collaboration we did not know we needed, just at the right time as we now have a BIG summer to look forward to.
This tune comes perfectly with the change of season, bringing us a sunny RnB / 90s style vibe with a TLC energy, and a music video that suits that completely.
Built around a calming guitar loop with a dance worthy beat, Mahalia shows us this is still just the start with this confident track and I cannot wait for more!
Rico Nasty, fresh off her new album, only compliments the song with her verse and matches it seamlessly.
Great song which will have a lot of playback time with the warmer months coming!
Good to hear some fresh RnB.

JBeats Pick Of The Week #1

Slowthai - Tyron

This week’s pick of the week has to be Slowthai’s recent album release - Tyron.
He has been in the public eye for the past couple of years now with a couple of silly mistakes that show he is just human like the rest of us and in the 14 tracks on this album takes a look at himself and shows his true colours, which I am all for.
Every instrumental on this album is worth listening to alone.
Personally the NME awards show last year has not changed my opinion on Slowthai’s ability or interest in his music in the slightest and at the end of the day it is the music we are all here for, nothing else.
From start to finish the album feels like one continuous track in which none of it seems tedious or much of the same. Each hook is catchy and gets stuck in your head leaving you to replay every track which is complimented by original harmonic beats that shake the speakers and leave you wanting more.
The first half of the album is all titled in uppercase; showing the pure energy it brings and the heavy beats that go with this on tracks like ‘CANCELLED’ featuring Skepta and ‘MAZZA’ Featuring A$AP Rocky.
The second half of the album is in lower case which I feel shows Slowthai’s calmer views on life and how there are millions of things that make an individual human being and how he accepts his flaws and I quote ‘If you love the world for its flaws, you will never be disappointed.” Which is true, we all make MASSIVE mistakes from time to time and do things that leave us thinking we wish we could change that certain thing, but we can learn that nobody is perfect and we should not be judged on certain past happenings.
My favourite song on this album has to be nhs. Lovely beat, lovely lyrics, catchy hook, less said about this one the better just listen to it and watch the music video on youtube.