SAMMY SENIOR’S MIXTAPE DIG #44

Well my friends, New Years Eve is fast approaching and I tell ya what the key is wherever you are.. find somewhere that you know is going to be playing music that you love, make sure you are with some friends, don’t drink too much and pass out before midnight and you can’t go wrong! If you are in the UK there is only one place to be.. BRISTOL! I can’t say too much at this stage but it’s going to be BIG!!

Speaking of things that are big and amazing, have you seen the Fro on AfroQben? It’s a thing of beauty, quite like his music. I had to investigate and find out if it had any magical powers.. kind of like if Erykah Badu got off with Dumbledore and created a cosmic funk wizard. You never know..

SAMMY: You are from Portland in the US.. tell us about the music scene there, what should we look out for when we come a visiting?

AFROQBEN: Portland has a little something for everyone. The biggest shows are mostly electronic music, ranging from House, Trap, Dubstep, and those unique West Coast Bass producers. Ghetto Funk isn’t really that well known, and the big promoters don’t book funky acts too often. I played the biggest halloween show in Portland called “Howl” this year, and opened up for Fort Knox Five, which was a rare treat to have them in town, and JPod also played. I may just have to start putting on my own shows to get more of the funky acts I like, because I’m sure people would love it, but they don’t know about it nor have the chance to see it live.

SAMMY: You should definately start your own shows, thats a great idea! Where do you mainly play gigs? And where in the globe would you really like to play in the future?

AFROQBEN: I’ve been putting most of my focus into production over the years, but have been playing more and more shows lately. Over the summer I played my first two canadian shows after Shambhala Music Festival. I’d really like to play Canada more, because they have a huge love for the funk, and the vibe is awesome up there. I’m hoping to play Shambhala 2014, because out of all the festivals I’ve been to, it is top. I played a few west coast festivals this last year, and my club shows range from Seattle down to L.A. My plan is to keep releasing music, and get more involved in the festival circuit for 2014 as well as more club gigs over the winter/spring. I would love to see more of the world and travel while playing shows to make it feasible. You know, Europe, Canada, Australia, and South America for starters… Playing more internationally interests me more than traveling around the United States. The West Coast has the vibe though, and would like to get down to San Francisco/L.A. area more often. Thats where it’s really happening.

SAMMY: That sounds like a great plan, we can’t wait for you to come visit us in Europe! You released a remix album this year of your “Liquid Gold” album and had some big names remix your tracks. Did you have a favorite remix from the album?

 AFROQBEN: It was great to work with producers from all over the globe and get new versions of my tunes. I was pretty happy with them all, and its too hard to name one since they were all so unique. My top 4 were if I can is, Qdup – Massive Move Forward, Drumspyder – Dream The Impossible, Empresarios – Cafe and Zebuel – Dirty Heart.

SAMMY: In this mix you teased us with some huge unreleased tracks, can you tell us a bit more about when we can get our funk-loving mitts on them, and tell us about this forthcoming EP!

AFROQBEN: I’ve been sitting on a lot of those tracks for a while, and will be released this fall, so I thought I’d put them on my mix to get a early start on the release hype. The collaboration track I did with Lafa Taylor, who was the vocalist for the tune “Everyone Jump” off the album “Liquid Gold”, will be released this thursday, the 14th, on SF based label, Street Ritual. The “Hypnotize Me” track, which I’m really excited about, will be up for a free download along with a Funk Hunters video to go with it, in the next couple of weeks. There will also be a “Jam Packed” EP, with the release date still unknown, but sometime this fall/winter. Trying to find the right label for support, but may just do my own bandcamp free release. This 4 song EP, has two tracks featuring Lafa Taylor, and 2 tracks featuring Hip-Hop legends Aceyalone and Myka 9 from the group “Freestyle Fellowship”. If you don’t know who they are, they were pioneers in the underground hip-hop scene and influenced so many well know MC’s underground to main stream.

SAMMY: Wow that’s big! I love the Freestyle fellowship, especially that track hot potatoe.. they are funky cats! Where do you get your inspiration for making music?

AFROQBEN: Music has been in my family for generations, and was always something that came naturally to me. My grandfather made his first guitar out of a cigar box, gut strings and a broom stick. He became an amazing jazz guitarists and played strictly by ear. I’ve been playing the guitar for about 20 years now, and picked up the bass, drums, keys and percussion along the way. I started out, only having my brothers cd’s to listen to which gave me the influence of Classic Rock and Metal. By midway though high school, I heard “Herbie Handcock – Chameleon” through a friend, and those sounds blew my mind, and from then on, I left Metal and developed a love for 70′s Funk and Reggae, and started digging for that sick funk, as well as Jazz and Hip-Hop. I’m also hugely influenced by current electronic music- Ghetto Funk, House, Dubstep, Trap, and Downtempo. I think every genre has something good to offer. When people say they “hate house” or “hate trap”, its because ever genre gets saturated with everyone trying to make it, which leads to a lot of crap and only a small percentage of quality. Thats why certain genres get bad raps. So, i’m influenced by them all to some extent. That’s why if you listen my music, it may sound random and diverse. Nothing really sounds the same because there are so many different influences. My main goal is to make people dance and be happy through my music, so that’s also another inspiration as well as what I listen to.

SAMMY: That’s incredible, your grandfather was a genius! Well said about genres too, that is a really good perspective. And lastly,  apart from the ability to produce amazing funky music and making women throw their underwear at you when you DJ, does your afro have any special super powers?

AFROQBEN: Well, I wish I had super powers but not really. Having an afro coincidently fits my love for old school funk. Rhythm and a musical ear has been a super power if I had to say I had one. I’ve been playing instruments for a long time, and producing since 2002. The music production has led me to not play my instruments as much as if I had stuck with pursuing the band thing, but making beats became more fulfilling because I didn’t have to rely on anyone else, and could get all the parts that I wanted, and have something left to show for. I’m not a master of any instruments or producing, but can only keep at it and do what I love. Hopefully the powers will get more super as the years progress. The funk in me will never die and will always be the main core of my music.

Thanks man.. sounds like you have funk flowing in your veins, anyone that listened to your music could tell you that! Keep up the amazing work and I’m sure I can speak for everyone when I say we are really looking forward to your new material coming out.

AfroQben FACEBOOK

AfroQben SOUNDCLOUD

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SO who wants to hear about some of these tracks that were mentioned? Get this mix on.. pronto!

AfroQBen – Fallin’ For Funk – DJ Mix by AfroQBen

Don’t forget to leave a comment and favorite the track if you decide to grab it, and feel free to spread the word.. sharing is caring!

Have a good Week all!

Sammy Senior

If you have a mix you would like me to consider for the mixtape dig, please send it to:

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