ATSIC S06E23
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Below this write-up, you’ll find the track list, complete with artists and their hometowns. You can listen here and follow along, or if you’re using the Mixcloud app, hit the “…” to check out the track list while you listen. There’s also a video below from the stream where I slapped this mix together. I’m having fun week to week.
As always, it’s all Canadian, hand picked, and hand mixed. Theres a solid blend of chill boom bap vibes on this one, and some American legends made the cut by working with Canadians (or at least being remixed by Canadians) - Slick Rick kicks off the mix with a remix from Toronto DJ duo MiLKCRATE on “Landlord”, and Masta Ace has a Marco Polo remix later on in the hour as well. Tons of good good, lock in. I haven’t listened to Rick’s new album yet, but I saw someone claim that Hip Hop had died another of it’s 1000 deaths as a result of Rick the Ruler coming back to to tell us stories about demanding rent from his tenants. I sort of feel two ways about it, on one hand at least he’s rapping about his reality, and on the other, fuck landlords for commodifying a necessity. It’s not like Rick was ever not a sneering ruler mocking the peasants he was rapping to, so it’s not out of character and sort of funny to me as a result of that. Either way, I hadn’t heard it so I took the opportunity to hit play when I saw it was on the new MiLKCRATE drop, “Many Styles 2” to decide for myself. I figured if I hadn’t heard it, a lot of others probably hadn’t either, and playing the originators when I can call it CanCon is something I rarely pass up.
This week there’s another “Making of ATSIC” video from Twitch, so check that out if you want to see my learning curve as I spin records and try to keep the vibe alive. In these Twitch videos it mutes out anything the algorithm recognizes - so congrats to anyone who has their business in order well enough to tell the big corporations to not allow me to promote your music, I guess. You can hear the audio if it’s live, so tap in on weekdays over on Twitch, I’m on all the time either working on ATSIC, listening to the new releases each week to make picks, or working on my own music.
Fly in Formation is officially on hiatus for the summer, I’m taking July & August off from weekly interviews for holiday time. I’ll keep doing ATSIC, but one less thing on the schedule frees up a lot of free time. On the episode attached to this ATSIC, I talked with Quake Matthews, a Halifax emcee who’s been one of the most consistent and successful emcees on the Canadian scene for a while now. We talked about his new album “Patio Season”, self producing his own beats, building a cohesive project, country music song writing camps, karaoke trials and tribulations, and a bunch of other important stuff. You can watch it on Youtube below as well. Tune in every Tuesday for interviews with artists across the country starting back up in September as I continue to endeavor to learn more about local scenes and artists creative processes, talking to artists we play regularly on ATSIC. Come through, hit subscribe on Twitch, skip the ads, and chat live while I stream, I’ll still be active on there making ATSIC, listening to new releases on Fridays, or working on my own music.
I buy every track I play on ATSIC unless it’s sent to me directly. Streaming barely pays, so it’s essential to support indie artists by buying their music, tickets, or merch to keep them creating. Listening to #ATSIC on Mixcloud is free for you, and makes sure that each song you hear pays the artist at least SOMETHING. Spotify pays 0.006 CAD per stream, and only if the song hits 1000 plays in 3 months. Assuming a song gets 1000 spins, that means it takes around 125 Spotify plays to earn an artist the same .76 cents they earn from my 1.29 purchase on iTunes.
Shows like After the Smoke is Clear also need support. If you appreciate discovering new music without the algorithms, or if you appreciate my efforts to get indie artists music in more ears, consider donating via PayPal to help me buy the tracks and keep the show going. Every dollar helps indie artists and ATSIC alike.
If you can’t donate, that’s all good — people who can afford it are paying, and you get to enjoy a free show while I earn a living. Do me a favour though, and help spread the word to other people who love Hip Hop! Shoutout to everyone who is already supporting financially, by sharing the show, or by coming through in comments and chat to help build community.
Stay up.
