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sun ra remixes mixtape - “adventures on the sun” (above picture - sun ra, 1966)

i’m going to be listening to this one for a while. a bunch of hip-hop producers collaborated on a tribute album of sorts for the music of interplanetary jazz legend sun ra, and the result is pretty delicious. sun ra was an enigma, a poet, an afrofuturist, one of the first musicians to use keyboards and synthesizers extensively in their music, and the bandleader of the arkestra, a group that still tours despite his death in 1993. he was sort of a mix between george clinton, thelonious monk, and rasputin; a funkyass visionary of some sort, whether prophetic or misguided. adventures on the sun includes plenty of his vocal samples, so it can potentially serve as a gradual means of introduction into his creative mind. for those who appreciate hip-hop as a vessel for jazz in these ADD times and have been searching for a next step after tirelessly listening to shades of blue (madlib’s reimagining of the legendary blue note vaults), this is most definitely a mixtape for you, sir or madam.

i came across adventures on the sun on the same site i found that scottie pippen project album, producer depakote’s lastfm. some other free stuff there too that i’ll surely check out over the next few days. this sun ra album features a whole bunch of talented beatmakers i’ve never heard of, with depakote himself contributing one of the best songs on the album, one for the sun. it’s like a mix between parisian goldfish by flying lotus, and another jazz/hip-hop hybrid album i’d recommend, miles remixed by the apple juice kid. there’s another track on the mix called one for the sun, by cozmos, and it’s great as well. check it out if you want to hear some psychedelic, generally chill, futuristic beats, that are also accessible, familiar, and very much historically relevant.