After The Smoke Is Clear 706
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Below this write-up, you’ll find the track list, complete with artists, albums, and the city they represent. 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 Twitch stream where I slapped this mix together. I’m having fun week to week, come through and say hi, hang out and listen to music. I’m streaming often on weekday afternoons, either working on ATSIC, listening to the new releases on the radar each Friday or Saturday to make picks, doing Fly In Formation interviews on Tuesdays, or working on my own music when I can find time.
This mix isn’t built for the dance floor, or for a party - you’ll want a blunt and some time to marinate on the messages for this one. It’s all down tempo boom bap and bars, with a real emphasis on substance. It’s not that it’s all political or revolutionary. It’s not all that deep either - but some of it is, and the rest maintains the vibes. A lot of these are tracks I bought in 2025 and hadn’t fit into a mix yet, but some are brand new too. They have a more serious tone than a lot of the more upbeat fun promotional singles tend to go for so they wouldn’t make sense in the majority of mixes. I like playing all sorts of styles and doing different moods for different weeks. This week’s mood is decidedly drearier than other sessions, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t also uplifting and inspirational - there’s a lot of “we gon be alright” energy throughout, and a bunch of self empowerment talk with stories of challenges in the rearview. A bit weightier than some mixes you get on ATSIC, but I think it’s a good one and it’s got some artists I haven’t played much for you to peruse through.
Fly in Formation is back to weekly episodes every Tuesday for 2026 until July, with the interview with Le Zeppo online now! Next up are some returning guests who originally joined me to talk about their solo albums and have now teamed up - Asun Eastwood & Lord Juco! That’s Tuesday Feb 17 at 6pm MT/ 8 ET. You can watch every interview I’ve done up until this point on Youtube - Leave a comment, hit like over, or show some love and run up the playlist on a muted tab - it’ll help the algorithm show this content to more people, which will get more Canadian music in more ears.
Tune in every Tuesday for interviews with artists across the country as I continue to learn more about local scenes and artist’s creative processes, talking to artists we play regularly on ATSIC. Come through, hit subscribe on Twitch to skip the ads, and hang out and listen to Hip Hop.
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 that’s 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. Spotify is also now investing the billions they earn into weaponized AI drones, which is just awful, frankly. Fuck those guys - I use it because it’s the only realistic way to keep up with all these drops from all these artists, but I never listen to anything more than twice on there - because I go buy a digital single of anything I like that much. You could to, and the music industry would thank you.
Shows like After the Smoke is Clear also need support. If you appreciate discovering new music without the algorithm, 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.
