T Flex

Funkmaster Flex's The Mix Tape, Vol. 1 recalls hip-hop's past while pointing toward its future. Featuring a wide array of hip-hop styles graced by amazing freestyle raps by some of the '90s top MCs, the album sounds like a mixtape compiled from the radio and 7" singles - there's simply nothing but first-rate music, with no filler whatsoever. Although there are elements of old-school rap as well as modern funk, the daring production and stunning rhymes make The Mix Tape a rarity of mid-'90s hip-hop - it's a record that sounds like none of its competition. It announces itself as an instant classic.

Funkmaster Flex keeps his Mix Tape: 60 Minute of Funk going with Volume 4, which features mainly freestyles. Performers include some of the industries top rappers - primarily New Yorkers like DMX and Ja Rule but also a few out-of-town surprises like Eminem and Ludacris - most of whom freestyle over Flex's own productions. The plethora of exclusive productions sets Volume 4 apart from its predecessors, which were more straightforward mix albums comprised of previously released hits. As such, Volume 4 offers a lot of performances that cannot be found elsewhere, so fans of the featured rappers should take note.

This expanded 2CD version of the original album release contains a comprehensive selection of extended mixes and B-side bonus tracks, many which are appearing on CD for the first time, as well as a well-illustrated booklet using the fully restored original album artwork.

An anthology of Seefeel’s 94-96 work made for Warp and Rephlex, including their out-of-print studio albums Succour and (Ch-Vox), two non-album EPs, Starethrough and Fracture/Tied, and 22 bonus tracks from the Seefeel archives, many previously unreleased tracks.
Succour was released quickly after the success of their 1993 debut Quique - regarded as a prophetic example of shoegaze’s eventual transformation into post-rock - a newly minted contract with Warp would prove symbolic of where the group would steer the project next. The few "rock" elements of its full-length predecessor had evaporated, and vast spaces of dub and ambient would come to inform 1995’s Succour. Skeletal rhythmic elements amalgamating into their brooding, elemental and completely singular sound…

The third (and final, according to the album's subtitle) chapter of New York DJ Funkmaster Flex's mix albums is the best of the bunch, a gritty combination of old- (A Tribe Called Quest, House of Pain, Naughty By Nature) and new-school rappers (Missy Elliott, Wu-Tang Clan, Busta Rhymes).