This past Wednesday’s Gilles Peterson Worldwide on BBC1 was a banger, and it’s well worth a Sunday afternoon/evening replay. The tastemaker’s tastemaker debuted some fresh, previously unheard material from a few of my personal, and LxNxM’s, favorites: Lunice, Tokimonsta, Flying Lotus and Raphael Saadiq. He also threw the new Little Dragon single, “Nightlight,” in the playlist and played an exclusive, short-but-sweet DJ set from Ms. “On & On” herself.  (If those aren’t enough reasons for you to listen, then you’re on the wrong blog, dude.)

You probably already know about my unrequited love for Erykah – no need to repeat myself too much, lest I come off as a creep-o.  But I gotta say, Erykah’s DJ sets are always on point.  She might not be a seamless mixmaster, but she knows how to get deep.  And I’m not just talking about the depth of her crates, but the depth of the feeling she’s able to convey with her song selection.  That’s why it’s also cool to hear Erykah and Gilles geek out on the music afterward. The love that these two have for the music is inspirational and infectious.  Turntables, here I come!

Download the mp3 or stream the two-hour program from the BBC (stream only available until Wednesday).  Playlist after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

The BBC4 recently debuted this documentary about reggae and Jamaican culture’s influence on British popular culture in the 70s and 80s. It’s called Reggae Britannia and, thanks to the internet gods, its now on YouTube.

I saw this video go up on Large Up on Monday, and I thought that the link would be dead by the time I finished watching. But it’s still up. So, while you still can, take a 90 minute break from whatever you’re doing and watch this. It’ll be good for you like a Guinness.

My only qualm with this doc is that it left me wanting more. I wanted it to get into more contemporary British reggae/dancehall/bashment. UB40 was not the end of British reggae, man. And a little discussion of reggae’s influence on grime and dubstep woulda been be nice too. Oh, and where the hell is Rodigan?! I guess that’ll have to wait for part two… I hope.

We sure love us some BBC Radio over here at Last Nights Mixtape.  We’re also big fans of Hudson Mohawke, the young Glaswegian who recently released what I would argue is one of the best albums of 2009, Butter.  That’s why it was really hard not to post this exquisite Hudson Mohawke mix featured on BBC Radio 1 last Friday.

Much like Hud Mo’s album, this 120-minute mix is also butter.  It features  tracks from his album, unreleased material, and a bunch of other jams straight from the man’s crates.  Stream it on BBC, or download here.

Tracklist after the jump

If you don’t already know about Gilles Peterson, that’s your bad.  He’s an OG cratedigger and tastemaker extraordinaire coming outta London, England.  His roots are deep in jazz, but he’s not afraid to deviate from the beaten path, and everything he plays is butta.  Peep the podcast if you’re not familiar, but first check Theophilus London and Dam-Funk on Mr. Peterson’s show on BBC Radio 1.  Click here for the tracklist.

I took a few days off from the blog to get ready for a DJ gig I had on Halloween, among other things.  I got all excited and planned this really cool dance set, which featured a bunch of music from Last Nights Mixtape, of course.  However, no one was really feeling what I was playing and I kept getting  requests for Lady Gaga.  Unfortunately for everyone, I came ill-equipped and I did not have any Lady Gaga.  The next day I found this video.   I really wish I had the audio to play the night before: