Track of the Day: LA Beatsmiths' Pure Vinyl Craftsmanship

Daedelus

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The newly-released Secondhand Sureshots emanates pure creative energy, joining together the efforts of LA radio station Dublab, eclectic hip-hop label Stones Throw , and some of Southern California's most interesting and enlightened beatsmiths. The idea was simple: four artists (Daedelus, Ras G, J. Rocc, and Nobody) go digging for five records from which to sample. They then make new songs using only those dusty vinyl slabs, and the whole process is filmed. The final CD/DVD package is a handcrafted multimedia explosion of ingenuity. Not to mention that the release comes with with individually screen printed, gate-fold sleeves and limited-edition 12" picture discs for the vinyl junkies out there.

The Secondhand Sureshots project sees the light of day today, and a couple items from it particularly piqued our interest. First is the track produced by J. Rocc for the release, "Secondhand Sureshots," with a head-nodding, classic hip-hop beat and a heavy reliance on lilting string arrangements and faux James Brown vocal samples. Also, you can watch the mini-doc on the creation of Sureshots (for a few remaining days) over here. The half-hour film is an in-depth look into this creative project, as well as a chance to see some of the West Coast's coolest producers share their creative process.