Strictly Cassette is a new website/blog that's been collected, compiled and presented as a cassette archive. 
Seeing it all come together and on display is pretty mindblowing. Some of these I had when I was younger, so there's the nostalgia factor, but then a lot of them I had never seen or even thought that they [...]

RIP to Jimmy Castor. Saxophonist, percussionist, singer/songwriter & funk MONSTER. I knew about him like most people my age (I assume) through his Bboy anthem "It's Just Begun". With the break appearing in the 1983 film Flashdance in the scene with legendary Rock Steady Bboys Frosty Freeze, Crazy Legs, it blew up Bboying (and Hip-Hop [...]

L-Fudge – Liquid – What If – Show Me Your Gratitude 12"
Great moments in Hip-Hop 12"s – L-Fudge, Mike Zoot, Shabaam Sahdeeq, Skam & Kweli – "What If". Produced by DJ Spinna.
This was a classic Rawkus posse cut. Spinna had released his Heavy Beats LP, Skam (Skam2) dropped a 12" w/ Eminem (he also did [...]

For this post, I gotta give a big shout out to a friend, mentor & inspiration: Danny Holloway aka @smokinvinyl. I can only footnote it with the time I have, but from selling wax to Cut Chemist, the Beat Junkies, Peanut Butter Wolf, Madlib, etc, to having a young B+ (Mochilla) working as his early [...]

Wildflowers The New York Loft Jazz Sessions Sampler 
The Wildflower grows naturally, developing in its own time according to the laws of its own inner nature. Life outside the greenhouse can be harsh, but somehow it survives, bursting forth with ever renewed vitality and conviction. Jazz is by its very nature a music of improvisation…Therefore of invention…Therefore [...]

Coast To Coast Album Covers: Classic Record Art From New York To LA
by Graham Marsh and Glyn Callignham
Jazz is forever associated with labels like Blue Note, Prestige, Atlantic, Contemporary, Pacific, and Riverside. Each of these companies strove to communicate the essence of its sound through album covers. Now, this captivating anthology of 400 covers brings [...]

Hampton Hawes with Carol Kaye & Spider Webb – Northern Windows 
A1 – Sierra Morena
A2 – Go Down Moses
A3 – Bach
B1 – Web
B2 – Tune Axle Grease
B3 – C&H Sugar
Hampton Hawes – Acoustic & Electric Piano
Carol Kaye – Electric Bass
Spider Webb – Drums
Thanks to:
George Bohanon – Trombone
Allen DeRienzo, Snooky Young – Trumpets
Jackie Kelso, William Green, Jay [...]

Eddie Palmieri – Exploration – Salsa-Jazz-Descarga
Since the beginning of his career, EDDIE PALMIERI has constantly explored the outer limits and expanded the boundaries of Latin Music. PALMIERI'S musicians and followers have come to expect this and no one is more aware of these demands then EDDIE. For this reason the release of each EDDIE PALMIERI [...]

Slang Yourself is an excellent short film by the homie @waltergross, a staple of the DIY LA beat scene. I'd heard his beats for a while, and some Youtube vids for them, but had no idea he had skills like this behind the cam. Definitely a cool look into the process, from starting the beat to [...]

 
Archie Shepp – Dollar Brand – Duet
Two different styles of two gifted musicians are combined in this album are engraved in Tokyo by Archie Shepp and Dollar Brand in June 1978. While Shepp was staying in Tokyo during his concert tour in Japan, Brand came to Japan specifically for this recording session and the two met [...]