One Time @ Bandcamp With... Freddie Joachim

It's time again to meet another Bandcamp artist. On Monday I reviewed a few of his projects, peep them here. A couple weeks ago we talked via email and now I'm presenting this to you. The guy known as Freddie Joachim represents the real So Cal, San Diego. He makes awesome instrumentals that evoke much feeling and are more often than not the perfect mood music. Scroll through his discography, grab a couple jams and peruse this conversation.

Members Only: Introduce yourself, who you are, what you do, how long you've been at it and where you do it all from?
Freddie Joachim: Hey, my name is Freddie Joachim. I'm a producer/DJ from San Diego, CA. I've been involved with music for over a decade now.

MO: When did you know you wanted to make beats?
I believe it was sometime right after high school. I got into more of the technical aspects of music, which eventually led to me producing music.

MO: Was Hip Hop what inspired you to produce?
Ultimately, yes. But other genres inspired me to experiment with other types of production.

MO: Have you collaborated with any emcees? Who would you like to work with?
Yeah, I've been working with people for a while. It wasn't until recently, that I've been releasing strictly instrumentals, but I still continue to work with artists. I'm down to work with anyone on the same page as me creatively. It'd be nice to work with artists that have truly inspired me throughout the years and that I have respected a great deal growing up - De La Soul, Common, Mos Def, Kweli, etc.

MO: Who do you find yourself listening to on a daily basis?
Recently, just a bunch of hip hop and soul... more specifically: Hudson Mohawke, Exile, Blu, Afta-1, Flako, Kweli, Eric Roberson, FlyLo, Free The Robots, Clara Hill, Andy Allo, Jose James, Eric Lau, and much more.

MO: Are you a big digger for vinyl? What's your stance on sampling vs. non sampled beats?
I'm not a huge vinyl collector. I purchase what I enjoy listening to. As far as beats, I make both, so I enjoy both. I feel sampling has a feel and vibe that's difficult to express or duplicate through not sampling. I respect the art of musicianship, so I really enjoy it when a producer can play everything on a beat.

MO: Is AM suppose to be a collection of tracks that just fit the morning vibe? Did the music inspire the name or did you aim to make tracks designed for the morn?
AM is just a collection of beats I had laying around. A couple I made specifically for the EP. Usually when I put out free little albums, they'll have a central vibe or feel. AM was mainly to express the morning.

MO: What are you working with to make your beats?
I do most of my music on the computer, using Ableton Live and Reason, also a handful of 3rd party plugins and instruments. I also like utilizing live instruments and percussion, and records when I'm sampling.

MO: Did you go to college?
Yeah, after high school I took a few recording courses at a local community college in SD. Then I went to a trade school for engineering in LA.


MO: How do you see the internet changing the face of music making and music business?
The internet has made it easy for artists to connect with one another, and for fans and music lovers to listen and keep up with their favorite artists. But the internet has also made it easy for people to download and bootleg music for free, which hurts artists, record stores, and labels. Independent ones especially. I encourage people to purchase music.

MO: What your favorite book?
I really don't know. I'm mainly into non-fiction, books with facts. Occasionally I'll read sci-fi stories, about the future, space, and time travel. I really enjoy art and photography books as well.

MO: Favorite album?
That's a little hard but the following albums have always been in rotation:
Reflection Eternal Train of Thought, A Tribe Called Quest Midnight Marauders, Pete Rock Petestrumentals and Jay Dee Vintage.

MO: We're in Seattle, have you heard any recent Hip Hop from the town?
Unfortunately I'm not too familiar with the hip hop scene in Seattle. I know of Jake One and Blue Scholars.

Bop Alloy "prePAIRED" (Free Download)

I remember hearing Substantial's QN5 record and hating it. Then while working at Seattle U last winter I met a student who goes by Marcus D. We chopped it up and he brought in a project he had done with - Substantial. Needless to say I was suspicious but I popped it in the player at work and let it ride.

Not only did I find myself nodding my head but I had a couple students come ask who it was, and Marcus D was strategically placed close enough to hear and come give her a flyer for their upcoming show.

Marcus D won the Big Tune last year for a reason and while work kept me away this year the video I've seen of his knockout round it was a pretty close call. But the beat battle is not the place for the type of beats you'll hear on the Bop Alloy tape prePAIRED. Instead we are treated to awesome jazzy tunes that will have you in the mood to kick back and relax. Substantial rides them well and doesn't bore me at all.

This collection of tracks dropped recently to help get attention for their official full length which has been repackaged as a "deluxe edition." Head over to their bandcamp to check it out, stream some of the songs from prePAIRED below - the five Marcus D instrumentals at the end are pretty impressive.

House Shoes "Newports"

I guess you could say I've been on my D shit lately! When can you not be though, the town stays coming with some of the most consistent quality tracks all the time. House Shoes is the quintessential DJ from the town and has been doing beats on the low for awhile. All City Records has been doing a 10" vinyl series featuring an assortment of cats, you can catch this song on the 4th volume.

Now if only "The Makings" could get some visuals! Stay up world.

#slap

Oddisee continues on his journey to become your favorite producer's favorite producer with his latest free offering "West Coast Beats."

This is my favorite track of the bunch for reasons obvious to those that know me.

BeanOne is still better than you.

Just in case you may have forgotten, BeanOne is still making beats. They are better than most. This remix is just plain unfair.



You can download this remix for FREE on BeanOne's Bandcamp page.

Red Bull... In Amsterdam?

When you are speaking in beats, it doesn't matter where you are at we can all relate.

Seattle has a history with the Red Bull Big Tune beat battle. Having been set up and founded by some of our town's legends like Vitamin D, Jake One & the mayor himself, J Moore it's something anyone from here reps for. And why shouldn't we, it's a competition that has traveled the country and featured performances from so many different levels of producers you can't even begin to fathom the talent Big Tune holds.

Perhaps I'm way late to the party on this but I was unaware that, just how here in America Big Tune travels around hitting different cities and regions, it also does something similar in Europe! Come to find out in September of 2009 some of the Netherlands best beat makers came out and went head to head with some of the countries up and coming talent. The result was Hayzee taking the crown with StatikMusic at number 2 and J'83 going home with the Bronze.

You are probably wondering who these cats are? Well I don't really know but the organizers of this Big Tune are some forward thinking cats. They took the time to compile tracks from all the competitors and dropped it as a free download on their websites.

Filled with some crazy beat soundscapes, if you are fucking with Flying Lotus and the Brainfeeder collective, Hyperdub, Lucky Me (Hudson Mohawke and the rest of his Glasgow beat homies) or any number of other Electro tinged, Dilla inspired/infused modern Hip Hop production, this collection is certainly worth a listen. Not only will you hear some funky and crazy beats but you are gonna be listening to an entire album of cats nobody is working with.

Some of them are flipping samples, some are getting heavy with the bass and static sounds. FS Green samples the He-Man theme and keeps you nodding to his hypnotic strings. While this is a compilation inspired by a beat battle, I think that some of the producers decided to let their work speak for itself rather than trying to come over the top for a CD and that was a good call. Battle beats are dope but don't always demonstrate what a producer can really do.

It plays for less than a half hour, download it and see where some cats are taking the future of this culture we call Hip Hop. What do the emcees out there think of these tracks?

Dibiase Carries a Torch

Sitting here relaxing I let my mind flow listening to Dibiase rock out for this "Return of The Sludge" mix he dropped for BTS Radio. I'm vaguely familiar with the show, it's always been a presence in the LA beat scene and Mr. Meza regularly seems to drop features with a number of the cats at the forefront while keeping his ears to the street.

From what I can gather Dibiase is a long time beat maker and student of the art. His passion appears to be a pure driving factor to pushing his music. And listening to this mix it's clear that he should have been getting the support to release his music long ago. It's happening today and for that we have to rejoice!

And we also have "Return to the Sludge." Free. A mix of mostly what appears to be random cuts from CDR's in Dibiase's archieve. Knowing how some artists put in work I wouldn't be surised if we could get "Back to The Sludge" Vol. 10 at some point and stil not be scratching the surface of dudes hard drive.


The beats here border on the dubby electro bent that much of the Brainfeeder collective (of which he isn't an offical part) demonstrates, yet definetly stays in a decidedly Hip Hop lane. There is no doubt left when hearing the drums here that Dibiase grew up on anyone but Pete Rock, Marly Marl, DJ Premeir, et. al.

Sometimes he lets the fuzz get heavy and wrap around your mind kinda like the haze hanging in the room. He grabs vocal samples, chops shit to pieces. Fully embraces the glitch and puts on a few fellow travlers in beats.

Some tracks feature emcees. Selfish appears on "Chameleon" and it's awesome like some vintage LA, post gangsta, kicking it in the sun vibe. This is a relaxing type beat. That's what Dibiase does, he makes some shit for you to vibe with. Any head is gonna knod their head in appriciation when this comes on. The dusty grimey goodness will only provide them with the perfect backdrop to imagine their favorite emcee rocking on.

Put this on while in between dimensions of sleep and let it sink into your cerebellum. This shit is heavy. Even when it's not. Houseshoes let's Curtis sing in chops on one of the best songs of 2010 and Dibiase closes the mix with said jam - "The Makings" - these are the makings of a future with powerful Hip Hop once again. Producers are leading the new generation of talent and borders are no more. Let the sounds speak to you.

Get the mix here!