King Britt - A Beat Happening | Lyssna här

On this week's show we welcome a producer, musician, DJ, and composer with a list of achievements longer than this introduction can afford. A Philadelphia native and proud supporter of his hometown, King Britt has been involved in beat culture since the late 1980s operating across scenes, genres, and roles: He was DJ for Digable Planets during their first album tour; he was one of the co-founders and residents of Back2Basics, an influential weekly that help stir what would become neo-soul; he helped link the US and UK dance music scenes as one-half of E-Culture with Josh Wink; he paid homage to his diverse musical roots as Sylk 130; and as King Britt he's explored beats, hip-hop, and house. But as we said at the beginning, there's much more - techno, ambient, broken beat, jazz... In recent years, King took a position as Assistant Teaching Professor in Computer Music at UCSD and used this to create the Blacktronika curriculum which honors people of color who have pioneered groundbreaking genres within the electronic music landscape.

This episode was edited and produced by Laurent Fintoni and Will Horrocks. Intro and outro music by Duke Westlake. Artwork by Kutmah. Design assistance by Paper Resistance and Brandy Flower. This show is a labor of love and if you enjoy what you hear and would like to support us in being able to continue, you can donate via PayPal at https://paypal.me/abeathappening.

In this episode we discuss...

Sylk 130 and Grover Washington collaboration

The making of Adventures in Lo Fi and working with Quas

London-Philly connections,

Meeting 4hero's Dego and Marc, James Lavelle, Charlie Dark

Spoken word/poetry scene in Philly and the importance of Black Lily

Delicious Vinyl, Giant Step, and the acid jazz era

Connecting to the LA beat scene, Soul Litchfield, and Saturn Never Sleeps with Rucyl

Tracklist:

Sylk 130 ft Grover Washington - For Love

King Britt ft Quasimoto - Spaces

4hero ft Ursula Rucker - Loveless