“Toronto is full of vinyl nerds. And Cratery gives us the opportunity to connect with some of our favourites. Alister Johnson aka Catalist is DJ, producer and all-around good guy with a shitload of records. Between touring with Grand Analog and composing music for film and television, who knows when Alister finds the time to line his shelves with upper echelon heatery like Alice Clark and Lennie Hibbert. But I’m not going to ask how. I’m just going to ask which stores. Thank you to Alister, Serious, Heist and the reluctant heartthrob Kaeweezy for making our 20th Cratery another hour of fucking awesomeness.” - ARCEE

Read the rest of this entry »

“We’ve had the good fortune of welcoming some of our more accomplished and talented friends tothe monthly dig diary we call Cratery. Da Grassroots alumni Mr. Attic and Murr have both dippedinto their vinyl collections on our accord, as has Halifax transplant and DJ, Skratch Bastid. Thismonth, we’re joined by another Toronto beatsmith and crate enthusiast: Frank Dukes. Dukes’love affair with vinyl began with dj-ing, but entered the stratosphere when he decided to startmaking beats. This month, we abandon our 1-for-1 format for a 3-for-3 format that lets each ofus play little mini “sets”. Frank kicks it off, and Kae and I follow suit. Not that any of that matters,of course. At the end of the day, every Cratery is the same: A bunch of dope songs from ourcollections. Fellow beat nerds should enjoy the ebay/popsike inspired track listing. Cratery 19. Enjoy.” - ARCEE

Read the rest of this entry »

“Both the hommie Kaewonder and I recently spent some time on the left coast.  This month’s Cratery represents the fruits of our visit. I love shopping for records in a different town. Especially when that town is Vancouver. I was fortunate enough to stumble across a copy of J.R. Bailey’s “Just me and you”, Nina Simone’s “Is it Finished” LP, Bad Medicine’s “Trespasser” 45 and a copy of Marlena Shaw’s Spice of Life LP to name a few. There are definitely some records in Vancouver. And no one knows that better than the big hommie Sipreano, record guru extraordinaire. Thank you sir. For your hospitality. And your record collection. And so, in the aftermath of 2 weeks spent binging on records, alcohol and herb, we present to you, Cratery 18: The Vangover. Enjoy. ” - ARCEE

Track list and download after the cut. Read the rest of this entry »

“So. I grew a beard for four months.  Then I cut it off. But not without having some fun with a few of the hommies first.  Gotta shout my mans Clif, Darren G and my man Joe Cruz for lining me up nicely at the official De-Bearding. And my man Serious aka David Yan for trekking down to take some crazy flicks. Mad appreciated fellas. But I would be positively heartless if I neglected to mention my partner in crime, Kaewonder, with whom I share the distinction of rocking my first clean shaven Cratery. Turns out I haven’t been clean-shaven in 17 years. That almost makes Cratery 17 somewhat significant. If you’re me. Enjoy.” - ARCEE

Track list and download after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

“And we’re back.  Almost a year and a half into our monthly dig diary with no signs of slowing. This month, the hommie Kaewonder and I return with a genre-bending hour of Caribbean Funk, Sweet Soul, Folk-Psych, Spiritual Jazz and Brazilian Rock. None of which we downloaded off the Internet. But hey, that shouldn’t stop you. Cratery 16. Enjoy.” - ARCEE

Track list and download after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

“The arrival of Cratery 15 signals two things: 1. An official Cratery logo + design. 2. A brand new format for this month.

First off, a big thank you to Sean Davison (Creative Director, Maclaren McCann) for helping us bring our monthly dig diary to life with its own logo + look.  Hope y’all like it. Just the first of more new Cratery related newness to come.  And special thanks to this month’s official Cratery photog, DJ Serious – who was nice enough to join us on the first of many dig days this March.

This month, we’ve traded our traditional “1 for 1” format for two 30 minute sets from myself and the hommie Kaeweezy. I end up somewhere in the African/Latin/Rock space (Mandingo, Chakachas, Fever Tree), leaving Kae to mess around in the Jazz/Soul/Oddball realm (Cleveland Eaton, Julius Brockington, Synthesis).  In simple terms, another hour of ill shit – on us.  Cratery 15. A to the motherf****n’ Kae, homeboy. A to the motherf****n’ Kae. - ARCEE”

Read the rest of this entry »

“I’m a sucker for a good soundtrack. The covers alone are usually worth the price of admission. Composers often take experimental liberties they would never take while working on a conventional pop record. And some of the best gems can be found on tiny little one minute transitional tracks – as in the case “Dog Eat Dog” from The Thief who came to Dinner”. And this Cratery is especially auspicious since we are joined by Murr (LAL, Da Grassroots), a distinguished space cadet whose own sonic soundscapes mirror his love for film music. To simplify things, every song is listed by movie, not composer or song title. And it’s not quite a sequel – but the bonus session is a little 25-minute extra we thought you might enjoy.

By that time, the idea of writing a track list had taken a back seat to the sedentary effects of our friend Century Sam. Hell, if someone decided to make a film about Sam, Cratery 14 would undoubtedly be the soundtrack.” - ARCEE

Track Movie list + download link after the cut. Read the rest of this entry »

“Cratery thirteen. As is quite often the case with Cratery, we go all over the map with a variety of heat . Starting off with the straight boom bap of Cuba Instrumentals face-scruncher “Quema”, to Barbara & Ernie’s blissed-out “For You”. From Common (People) records, to Saverage White Band (no, that is not a typo)  we don’t sleep, nor do we hate or discriminate. We just play full-length songs from our respective record collections and hope you guys enjoy it.” - Kaewonder

Hit the jump for the track list and link. Read the rest of this entry »

We did it.  Kaewonder and I have successfully maintained our dig diary, Cratery for 1 whole year.  And what better way to round out the year than with the hommie DJ Serious? Serious has been a mainstay on the DJ/Production (and now photography!) front in Toronto for quite some time now.  Since his early days at Lola’s Lounge and Planet Mars to creating the seminal DJ Serious Revue in the late 90’s, Dave’s accomplishments have grown considerably – much like his crates. This is our 12th installment of Cratery, which means we’ve hit y’all with close to 12 hours of soul, funk, jazz, psych, library and soundtrack heat in ’09.  FOR FREE.  The generosity continues in 2010 with more fire, more guests and of course, more crates.  Shout out to Kae, Serious, Heist, Ace, Johnbronski, Taktiks, Mensa, and all who made the last Cratery of the year unforgettable.  And don’t forget to check out Cratery LIVE this Tuesday December 22nd at Andy Poolhall – I get down with residents Kaewonder and Serious for 24 Carat Tuesdays.  FREENESS.
Hollerate!!!!!!!

Tracklist and Link after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »

“Kae and I are both Sagittarians with savage qualities.  Qualities which I won’t mention here – but definitely the kind worthy of celebrating.  Cratery 11 coincides with both of our birthdays in the final week of November.  So we thought it might be fitting to pull out 11 personal favourites each – records that we like a little more than we ought to, for whatever reason – and share them with y’all.  Kae had the idea of highlighting the stories behind our selections, so we’ve included them in this month’s track list (You can find an extended version of the tracklist at barbecueorboogaloo.com). Some are joints we fell in love with when we first started diggin’. Some are oddities passed on by our peers.  And others remind us of how inventive hip-hop can be.  We give you Cratery 11. Enjoy.” - ARCEE

Arcee & Kaewonder still going strong with another edition of Cratery, including choice selections from Minnie Riperton, David Axelrod, Gil Scot Heron, Donald Byrd, Marvin Gaye, Leroy Hutson, James Brown, Little Beaver, Patrice Rushen, & much more! Track list and link after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »