After The Smoke Is Clear 727
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Below this write-up, you’ll find the track list, complete with artists, albums, and the city they represent. If you’re using the Mixcloud app to listen, hit the “…” to check out the track list. Above this there’s usually also a video from the Twitch stream where I slapped the mix together.
Most weeks I go live on Thursdays to DJ on Twitch. Come through and say hi, hang out and listen to music. I’m streaming often on weekday afternoons: working on ATSIC on Thursdays; listening to the Canadian new releases each Friday or Saturday to make picks for the show; or talking with artists for Fly In Formation interviews on Tuesdays. I’m trying to do some streams working on my own music when I can find time. The Thursday Making of ATSIC stream where I spun this week’s mix is posted under this.
I did two mixes back to back because the stockpile of music is getting ridiculous. This one was picked on the fly from 6 hours worth of new releases I’ve bought this year and still haven’t aired on ATSIC. Generally speaking, the more music I have to pick from the better the mix ends up, and I don’t think this one breaks that pattern. I haven’t listened back to it myself yet, but if I do, I’ll try to find some time to type something about what’s in here - but for now I’ll say there’s new music from Sayzee (who I talk to on Fly In Formation on Oct 27), RUNXGUN (who I just talked to on Fly In Formation 147), & Split Sphere (Moka Only joins me for Fly In Formation Oct 20 at 7pm MT). I played new music from a bunch of artists I’ve talked with on FiF tonight actually, now that I look at this list - Junk & Imperitiv; Asun Eastwood & Lord Juco; JRoberts; B1 the Architect; and K-Blitz have all ben guests on the pod in the past. One day I’ll put together a mix with only artists I’ve talked to, but this day isn’t that day just yet. I’ve also got new gems from Daniel Son, Drezus (who just released Nagamo, his first album in a long while - I hope we can lock in a date for an episode soon to talk about it); Jaykin with one of two Casual feature appearances; Siibii & Rex Smallboy; Steve, the Connect; some francophone fare from ParakOne & Legicko; my favourite Tea Fanny track thus far; and Frankie Payne with Maestro Fresh Wes calling for some much needed yet ever elusive “Unity”. There’s also a brand new track from Swamp Thing has them reuniting once again for spooky season, this time talking about the looming doom and apocolypse on “One Year Left”. If the end is nigh, at least we have some good songs to get us there.
Listen to the music. Go buy something.
Fly in Formation is back for weekly interviews now until December. The week to week schedule is still a surprise usually announced just before the interview happens - but I’ll always be talking indie Hip Hop with someone worth talking with. 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.
I buy every track I play on ATSIC (unless it’s sent to me). 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 artist’s 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.
