The Live Mix, Pt. 2 [Live]

Amazon.com
L.A.'s Breakestra might kick out the jams with some killer funk, but at heart they're a hip-hop band. After all, it was rap's insatiable sample seeking that helped resurrect waning interest in funk, and Breakestra take the crate-diggin' craze one step further. Led by Miles Tackett, this 12-plus member band rummages deep through the musical samples that have made hip-hop the sonic force it is. Raiding everyone from James Brown to Roy Ayers to the Meters and countless other small-time funkateers, Breakestra re-create the soulful and jazzy sounds of yesteryear. They tease the ear with songs made infamous by rap artists like A Tribe Called Quest, KRS-One, Pete Rock, Marley Marl, and others. Their Live Mix, Part 2 reverberates with the spontaneity that only a live band can create, as segues shift with just a quick drum break or brass stab. While trainspotting sample hounds will get a kick out of Breakestra, you don't need prior knowledge of the samples to enjoy the album. No matter what, Breakestra guarantee a funkin' good time. Oliver Wang

Tracks:

The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2
The Live Mix Part 2

Amazon.com

L.A.'s Breakestra might kick out the jams with some killer funk, but at heart they're a hip-hop band. After all, it was rap's insatiable sample seeking that helped resurrect waning interest in funk, and Breakestra take the crate-diggin' craze one step further. Led by Miles Tackett, this 12-plus member band rummages deep through the musical samples that have made hip-hop the sonic force it is. Raiding everyone from James Brown to Roy Ayers to the Meters and countless other small-time funkateers, Breakestra re-create the soulful and jazzy sounds of yesteryear. They tease the ear with songs made infamous by rap artists like A Tribe Called Quest, KRS-One, Pete Rock, Marley Marl, and others. Their Live Mix, Part 2 reverberates with the spontaneity that only a live band can create, as segues shift with just a quick drum break or brass stab. While trainspotting sample hounds will get a kick out of Breakestra, you don't need prior knowledge of the samples to enjoy the album. No matter what, Breakestra guarantee a funkin' good time. Oliver Wang

Customer Reviews:

Great album, even if short.......2006-06-21

This is a short album, but it's terrific. Absolutely fantastic music, well worth the money.

An impeccably performed Funk/Breaks Mixtape, with literally no Equal....!!!.......2005-08-03

Breakestra is a collective of musicians: (Drummers, Trumpeters, Horns, Guitar, Trombone, Keyboards, cello...etc), that center around the key figure of "Miles Tackett", a breaks enthusiast, that spearheaded the idea of taking, loads of previously highly regarded Soul, Funk & Hip-Hop tracks, and then getting an assembled Hip-Hop orchestra to interpret these tracks into a Live performance, seamlessly moving from one track to the next, in the manner of a mixtape. But the emphasis of the collective here, is that their sound is one informed more by Funk composition, more than Hip-Hop, and that, the tracks themselves, organically evolve into the next, without any significant jumps in the continuity of the performance.

The first segment of the disk (Sections 1-9) are largely taken up with absolutely sublime instrumental interpretations of tracks that most people will recognise as classic hip-Hop breaks ("A Tribe Called Quest", "KRS-One", "Pete Rock", "Marley Marl", "Public Enemy", "De La Soul"...etc), and apart from being exact (apart from a ever so slightly more audibly difference in sound, due to the instruments not being the exact ones originally used), the tracks themselves, may sound to some listeners, as if the band have taken each track, and heavily steeped it in Funk. (This is because the Hip-Hop Tracks that most will recognise, are themselves sampled originally from Funk Tracks...and so the band are merely using the original Funk recordings, as their template).

From there on in, the album is a collection of Jaw-Dropping covers / Slightly different reinterpretations / And the occasional original composition (with "Getcho Soul Together" & "Sexy Popcorn Pot," making up the bands original material), that find a incredibly talented band that simply have, not only the musicianship, but the complete accessibility in their music to appeal to a far wider audience, than they currently have. (admittedly, their album isn't widely available enough in the U.K., for more people to actually know about their music). So with a album that is a continuous collection of Funk Breaks, that rattles it way through tracks, adding or improvising the sound, but with enough recognisable tracks from artists such as: James Brown, Sly and the Family Stone, that means that, this isn't one of those Rare-Funk mixes, where none of the material is familiar & initially difficult to penetrate, this strikes a fine balance between having enough recognisable material for newcomers, & more rare/hard to find Deep Funk, for the enthusiasts/Crate Diggers. And what both parties will agree on, is the familiar material is so expertly interpreted or re-created, into a Live orchestration, that it sounds doesn't sound overly familiar and feels like a new spin (or slight remix) of established tracks.

Holding together a lot of the transitions between tracks is the MC "Mixmaster Wolf" (Aka Stones-throws "Peanut Butter Wolf"), who...sings, Mcees, Raps and shouts-out over/between tracks...and actually manages to liven up the proceedings. And without his contributions, this mixtape would run the risk of just being a merely impeccably performed instrumental Breaks album, lacking a little something, to warrant multiple plays (Purists with possibly prefer to hear the music uninterrupted), but few could deny that his high energy, high impact MCing, adds an undeniable party atmosphere to the proceedings

Possibly the most apt description I could give, in describing this stunning mixtape is....imagine the legendary Funk band "The Meters" covering well-known Funk/Hip-Hop Breaks, with all the energetic skill and unmitigated exuberance, befitting one of Funk music greatest acts, and then add a particularly skilled MCee, with all the swagger & celebratory vocals of a young 'James Brown', and you've have unquestionably one of the most brilliantly conceived mixtapes in recent memory. (Admittedly the concept & arrangement behind this, goes a lot further, than just merely being a standard mixtape), and if you have even a passing interest in either Breaks, Funk/Funky-Breaks or indeed like the idea of fantastically euphoric Jam sessions , you simply must seek out this largely ignored gem, for some of the most proficiently performed and feel-good mix-albums of recent years, and is absolutely worth any needed effort to purchase or track this album down.

Bring me some funk. With extra funk. And a side of funk........2005-07-13

This album is GREAT. If you dig funk, tight grooves, stuff that makes you drop it like it's hot, then you won't be disappointed with Breakestra. This is $15 well spent.

amazing beats-- and feats!.......2002-08-30

Anything Mr. Miles Tackett is involved in is nothing less than wonderful. From the earliest sessions with the Inclined up to any of his latest efforts, I am always impressed!

flavor by nature.......2001-11-07

This album is funky. it is not funk-ish or funk-like, but funky, pure and simple. Seldom am i moved to groove like this album did for me. The first time I heard this album, I nearly crashed my car into another car piloted by a funk philistine. Its that fresh. You would be letting yourself down to not buy this one, maybe even torturing yourself. Just when I thought that I had heard the last of the good grooves available on compact disc, I get my ears molested by some of the best jams to date. To not buy this album is to not persue happiness.

Average customer rating:

"keeping it real"
File under "rare grooves"...

The Live Mix, Pt. 2
Breakestra
Manufacturer: Crown
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Soul | R&B | Styles | Music

General | Funk | R&B | Styles | Music

General | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music

Soul-Jazz & Boogaloo | Jazz | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00005HT9N

Customer Reviews:

"keeping it real".......2005-03-10

You have to hand it out to The Breakestra for what they are doing. Here is a group of amazingly talented artists who play so tightly together that they could come up with not only one "live mix" album, but two; both of which express the feelings and emotions of the 1970's funk/soul movement superbly. They even have that dirty-down, raw, grease-stained funk sound that is so unique for a band to have today. What they represent is an even more beautiful thing. The "live mix tape" format is representative of DJ style mixing. The particular breaks on this album take you back to the dance floor in NYC where DJ's like Africa Bambaata, Kool DJ Herc, Grand Wizard Theodore, Jam Master Jay and others rocked parties all night long with these and other classic funk records. Mixing and back-spinning these breaks marked the creation of what we call hip-hop today. These breaks are now used in countless numbers of hip-hop tracks by many artists. The Breakestra takes you on a retrospective journey through "what it was before it was." The Live Mixtape Vol. 2 is a must for any appreciator of good, live music.

File under "rare grooves"..........2001-10-10

...along with DJ Spinna's "strange games & things". But unlike Spinna's lp that offers a mix of dusty records from 70's soul and r&b, Breakestra is an actual live band that churns out funky breaks-- a bit of The Barkays, Skull Snaps, James Brown, The JB's, The Meters and innumerable others listed within the liner notes. And just as the album title implies, it truely is a "live mix", with the cuts played together and connected with a bridge/drum breaks. Most are instrumentals, and some feature vocals from Miles Tackett; part Master of Ceremony, part James Brown's second cousin. But primarily, those of The Beat Generation will recognize a lot of the breaks as implemented by Primo, Pharcyde, EPMD, The Artifacts, DJ Muggs, Large Proffesor, KRS-One and The Beatnuts, to name a few. The real fun is in naming what break was used by which artists, though for musicphiles, dusty fingered dj's and cats who wear gator shoes, naming the actual cut by the orignal artist should prove interesting. So go ahead, join club rootdown: squares and the musically challenged need not enter.

"A Mixed Trip Of Intensity by: DJ DB [feat: Dr. Walker Meetz Thomas Thorn Meetz Frank Heiss, G104, Kerosene, Sweet Reinhard, Cube 40, Bizz O.D., Love Inc., Air Liquide, Monica Kurse, Jammin' Unit, Vinyl Countdown, X-911

Average customer rating:

OLD SCHOOL ACID FUN!

"A Mixed Trip Of Intensity by: DJ DB [feat: Dr. Walker Meetz Thomas Thorn Meetz Frank Heiss, G104, Kerosene, Sweet Reinhard, Cube 40, Bizz O.D., Love Inc., Air Liquide, Monica Kurse, Jammin' Unit, Vinyl Countdown, X-911
2. Shake Your Money Maker - Walker/Frank Heiss, 3. The House Of Domination (Redlight District Cologne) - Walker/Thomas Fab Thorn 1. Nuttin' But An 'E' Thang Pt.2 - Dr. Walker Meetz Thomas Thorn Meetz Frank Heiss , 5. Back From Summer Camp - G104, 6. Nurse City - Kerosene, 7. Teufelim Im Leib - S.R.I., 8. Internal Bleeding - Kerosene, 9. Philadelphia - Sweet Reinhard 4. Flashdancers On Acid - Walker/Frank Heiss , 11. U Make Me Function - Cube 40 10. Cold Metal (Business Card Mix-Live At Electro Bunker) - Walker , 13. How Deep Is Your Love - Love Inc., 14. Der Laufer - Air Liquide 12. Get Up - Bizz O.D. , 16. Metal On Metal - Monica Kurse/Walker, 17. 140 - Jammin' Unit 15. Cosmic Indifference - Love Inc. , 18. Don't F**k With Cologne - Walker , 19. Paroles - Vinyl Countdown , and 20. Equinox - X-911
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000IOHEJ8

Customer Reviews:

OLD SCHOOL ACID FUN!.......2007-02-13

A great mix of old school hard acid and techno from the early 90's. Maybe I am a little biased because allot of the people on this disc are friends, but these tracks always make me pine for the time when this was new. It seemed much more interesting in the music scene, much more crazy. No one wanted to be a celebrity, everyone wanted to be invisible and everyone was on hard drugs.

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