After The Smoke Is Clear 720
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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. Above this there’s usually also a video from the Twitch stream where I slapped this mix together. If I streamed while spinning the mix, the stream should be posted right under this. Most weeks I go live on Thursdays to DJ thought. 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 week felt cohesive in a way that some mixes (last week’s) don’t. Things came together and formed an hour of smooth boom bap that has a lot of OG knowledge and wisdom being passed along across the track list. Sometimes it do be like that. Last week still had a bunch of good music, but I think this one flowed nicer. Maybe I’m just high.
These ATSIC mixes are never really planned out. I keep a playlist of “Unplayed Boombap” and a list of “Unplayed Dance” and a list of “Unplayed Trap.” A few others too. Songs get swapped off once they’re aired on ATSIC, replaced by whatever I’m buying each week .99 at a time. Beyond that, I don’t really plan ahead. I’d be a better DJ if I did.. but I don’t, for now. Maybe one day I’ll think through the week about what I should spin, but for now I’m working on the fly one song at a time, letting Serato arrange any given playlist by bpm and slapping together a list in as close to an hour as I can. I used to do them slowly and drop in every song on a new track, but now I do my best to keep up and mostly do one takes as if it were live (cuz it is, on Twitch). Nothing fancy, just trying to line up some easy drops and hope for the best. I’ll cue through a couple tracks sometimes trying to mood match, but these songs probably average about 2.5 minutes, so you don’t have long to find something and cue it up next to keep the tempo. Real DJs are amazing. I’m barely hanging on by the skin of my teeth as the mix plays out each week. When it lines up and a transition sounds dope melodically, or the subject matter of a song lines up, its a golden coincidence, and those are the moments that keep me doing this. If I planned sets and lined shit like that up from my entire library instead of just doing week to week mixes from the unplayed lists, these mix sessions could get nutty. Then after that I can start practicing hand skills and by the time I’m 73 I’ll be dope. One day. I’m 7 years deep and still definitely learning and getting comfy one thing at a time, very slowly. I’d still rather be rapping, honestly, but these shows seem more important that my own music. For now. This scene deserves some eyes, and I’m having fun.
I’ll type more if I get the time to about the songs. Check the playlist spreadsheet at the bottom.
Fly in Formation is keeping up with weekly episodes every Tuesday through til the end of June. The interview with Halfcut & Cole the God just went live! Coming up next is episode 142 with Edmonton emcee Deuce Fantastick. You can watch every interview I’ve done up until this point on Youtube - Leave a comment, hit like, or show some love and run up the playlist - 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 musicians would thank you.
Shows like After the Smoke is Clearalso 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.
