I've got two discs today featuring the presence of British DJ and producer Ashley Beedle. Beedle has worked his hands on all sorts of tracks and worked with all sorts of folks, and these CDs display both. The first, which came out at the beginning of the month, is the 2nd in the Inspiration Information series from Strut Records.

For those of you not familiar with the series which shares the same name as the famous Shuggie Otis album, it teams up diverse artists creating new music drawing upon both of their experience. The first volume, which came out in October of last year, featured Amp Fiddler and Sly & Robbie. This second volume teams up Beedle with roots reggae songwriter and singer Horace Andy, who has also done a fair amount of work with Massive Attack.

The music here was recorded in an intense five day writing and recording session and is certainly influenced by Andy's rasta beliefs. Besides new originals, the pair also puts together a cover of Bob Marley's Hypocrites and, even more interestingly, the Rolling Stones' Angie. Here's one to try out:








The second disc that I've dug up recently featuring Ashley Beedle is a double disc release from suSU Music from the Southport Weekender Festival. For those of you not familiar with the festival (and I was one of you before spinnin' this disc), it's been bringing musicians together for 21 years, with two events every year in Southport, England. This release has two discs, each with its own DJ mix, the first from King Britt and the second from our man Ashley. Ashley's CD starts back in the day with a Dells' song and then pulls in a filling mix of soul, funk, and disco, with only a few tracks that might be common knowledge - the previously mentioned Dells cut and one from Isaac Hayes. The King Britt mix takes on a worldly flavor, with a much more diverse mix of genres and feels to it. Both are money mixes, just with different tastes.



one from Ashley's mix:


and one from King Britt's mix: