Many evenings that involved being in front of a computer were soundtracked by this Luca mix, these tracks embodied everything I loved about garage music at the time.

I can’t find anything about Luca on the Internet anymore, but some of his mixes live on in the back corners of my external hard drive. Have fun with this one.

DJ Luca – Ragga Mix

Pete Tong – BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix – 09.04.2011 by djmixes

01. A Guy Called Gerald – Voodoo Ray (Tong & Rogers Edit) [Warlock]
02. LaTour – Blue (Nush Me Club Mix) [Blunted]
03. React 2 Rhythm – Intoxication [Jackpot]
04. Leftfield – Not Forgotten [Hard Hands]
05. Ruffneck Feat. Yavahn – Everybody (Acapella) [Strictly Rhythm]
06. Lil’ Mo’ Yin Yang – Reach [Strictly Rhythm]
07. K-Scope – Planet K [Tribal]
08. Phonique Feat. Alexander East – 99 And A Half (I:Cube Remix) [Dessous]
09. Green Velvet – La La Land (FK Dub) [Credence]
10. Garbage – When I Grow Up (Acappella) [Mushroom]
11. Miss Kitten – Golden Shower [City Rockers]
12. Victor Calderone & Matt Quayle – Resonate]
13. Ethan – In My Heart (Dub) [Back Yard]
14. Spektrum – Kinda New (Tiefschwarz Mix) [Nonstop]
15. Jimi Electric – Baby Come Down (Deadguys Instrumental)
16. Moby – Go (Part) [Mute Recrods]
17. The Future Sound Of London – Papua New Guinea (Part) [Jumpin' & Pumpin']
18. UNKLE Feat. Ian Brown – Reign [Global Underground]
19. Orbital – Halcyon On + On [FFRR]
20. Underworld – 2 Months Off (Part) [Junior Boys Own]
21. Hysterix – Talk To Me (Sasha Mix) [Deconstruction]
22. Slam – Azure [Soma]
23. Dennis Ferrer – Hey Hey (Acapella) [Defected]
24. Shakespears Sister – Black Sky [London]
25. Lil’ Louis – I Called U [FFRR]
26. Halo Varga – Future [Hooj Choons]
27. Continuous Cool – Automatic [FFRR]
28. Der Dritte Raum – Hale Bop [Virgin]
29. Funk D’Void – Diabla (Funk D’Void’s Heavenly Mix) [Soma]
30. Sander Kleinenberg – My Lexicon [Combined Forces]
31. Underworld – Born Slippy Nuxx (Drums) [Junior Boys Own]
32. The Chemical Brothers – The Private Psychedelic Reel (Tong & Rogers Re Work) [Freestyle Dust]
33. X-Press 2 – Kill 100 (Tong & Rogers Re Work) [Skint]
34. The Beatles – Tomorrow Never Knows (Tong, Rogers & Vasco VIP) [Parlophone]
35. Orbital – Belfast [FFRR]

“Black Water” is a new, complimentary tune from German producer Sascha Ring, known as Apparat, and is a bit of a departure from his earlier, more dancefloor-oriented works. Most noted for his 2003 and 2006 collaborations with Ellen Alien, Apparat has teamed up with Joshua Eustis of Chicago’s Telefon Tel Aviv, TTA collaborator Fredo Nogueira, and Patrick Christensen to produce a much more subdued and ambient record titled “The Devil’s Walk”.

Check out the blurb at Paste Magazine, where you can download the free mp3.

ViperVman ft Maxxi – Sweatbox vol1 2011 by dj-maxxi

If you don’t remember, it’s the same MC Viper as here:

But not to be ever confused with the MC Vapour:

And definitely not to be mixed up with the Special MC:

Anyway, enjoy. Hopefully you’ll not only like the mix, but I might have dropped you down a YouTube rabbit hole in the meantime.

I came across these recently, apparently Trigga is still around and is making tunes.

Straight up at 0:10 is “Creatin’ rap music ’cause I never dug disco…” Historically attributed to Chuck D of Public Enemy, this line and a host of others throughout Octagon’s tune are actually from a track called “Urban Sound Surgeon” by a rapper named 4-Ever Fresh. Signed to Tommy Boy in the late 1980s, 4-Ever Fresh dropped a few tunes and then split.

Check the 2:50 mark below.

http://www.reverbnation.com/shaolin42ndchamber

MJ Cole – WINTERvibesMIX by MJ Cole

Although we had previously gotten tastes of Stevie Hyper, most of us were used to more minimal toasting as per the styles of GQ, 5ive-O, Moose, Det, MCMC, and others. With Skibadee came the dawn of a new era, defined by the apparent freedom from the need to breathe between stanzas. Frankly, it flew in the face of most of what we had learned as MCs, breaking most of the conventional wisdom about things like not chatting over the DJ’s mix, and that the MC was the facilitator and secondary, and not the focal point of the set.

[ DOWNLOAD ]

For nostalgia purposes only, I went ahead and gave the first side a listen while trying to type this out. I had to shut it off as I could barely hear myself think. Although at the time Skibadee and his MCing style were quite a bit of a novelty, even with my own 10+ year career as an MC in the 1990s and early 2000s I find this to be pretty unlistenable. Regardless, it’s certainly one for the archives, and needed to be pulled out and posted.

I grew up listening to Buju in my later youth, and have watched him progress and change in lyrics and attitude. I caught him live when I was barely old enough to hit the clubs, as he’s become an icon of reggae music worldwide. It’s difficult to watch someone fall hard who has spent his career proclaiming all he does is for only Jah.

I’ve had a few of his more recent tunes on rotation since the news hit.

But the clip I really think of when he comes to mind was shared with me by the great Sean Roofless, a clip of the mighty David Rodigan from a performance in Houston. It really is stunning.

Rodigan – Live In Houston – Buju & Pinchers Dubplates by westheoperative

Lastly, I was moved by this article in the Jamaica Observer, in which Buju’s parents relate their overall lack of words over the incident, a sentiment that would be resoundingly echoed by any parent in the same situation.

“Though you may think my faith is in vain, til Shiloh we chant Rastafari’s name.”