Just some good tunes for your weekend. Check the audio and the details below…

Busy week. Crazy tings. Nuff new tunes, an old tune, and a guest set from Federation’s Alric & Boyd. We’ll expand this description and add links soon. For now, it’s all about the music, so just listen.

Download the podcast here: Federation Podcast #162.

Music site Breath Of Life comes through with another mixtape fans our our site can dig, this time featuring live music from Nas & Damian Marley. Check out the mix and details below…

These tracks are taken from two different sessions. The first five selections are from a live in-studio BBC 1xtra radio program recorded in London. The remaining selections are from a May 17, 2010 performance at the Highline Ballroom in New York City.

I am very impressed that the live performances are on point. If you get a chance to see this show, you might want to reserve tickets at the earliest possible moment. Unfortunately, these recordings are not commercially available. Fortunately, however, sharing music is the raison d’etre of BoL.

So, whether you get to see Damian and Nas, here is close to an hour of live versions of music from their new and aptly titled album, Distant Relatives.

—Kalamu ya Salaam

Download the mix here: Via BoL: Damian Marley & Nas - Distant Relatives Mixtape.

In all honesty, I’m posting this off the strength of the cover alone. That said, if the music is as good as the image, then this should be a great way to start the week. Only one way to find out….check out the music below…

Back with their latest issue of mixtape magnificense Dj Matt Cali and Russel Fong return reggae style with “Rude Bwoys Pon Deck.” Staying true to form, the duo does not disappoint with a truly unique mix of classic and hard to find vintage reggae music. **Smoke to This!**

“Brooklyn to the bay……” - Matt Cali & Russel Fong

Back cover after the jump….via…

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On the heels of Sugar Minott’s recent passing, producer/rapper Wayne Lotek has constructed The Dead Rasta Mix.

Check out parts one and two below…

….via.

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Breath of Life turns their focus over to the year 1976 and the trio of albums that arose from the ashes of the Wailing Wailers. Check out the mix and info below…

….The Wailers. After over ten years together, sharing the hard times and the lean times, and also after a critically acclaimed debut recording, Burnin’, the bond of friendship fractured. There are any number of theories about what the centre couldn’t hold—I’ve no interest whatsoever in doing an autopsy.

What I’m interested in is the magic that all three would come out with sterling albums in the same year. Moreover, while there is no doubt that Bob Marley is not only the major name in reggae, also he is unarguably the leading composer of reggae music, nevertheless, I am not alone in considering Bunny Wailer’s Blackheart Man the superior of the their respective 1976 recordings.

Peter Tosh was basically a polemicist, whether urging the sufferers to “Get Up, Stand Up” or urging the political establishment to “Legalize It,” Tosh had a way of writing hooks that summed up the feelings, beliefs, dreams and realities of the majority of the Jamaican people. But Tosh didn’t have Bob’s thematic range nor Bob’s penchant for memorable melodies. All of which is why I rank Tosh in third place in the 1976 derby—and regardless of what anyone might think today, back then every reggae fan could not help but compare and contrast this particular trio of recordings….

Download the mix here: BUNNY WAILIER, BOB MARLEY, PETER TOSH / “1976 Magic Year Mixtape”.

Following up on last year’s gem, here’s DJ Junior and Lil’ Dave’s follow-up tribute to MJ to commemorate the one-year anniversary of his passing.

Listen to the mix below…

…and download it here: Eavesdrop Presents Another Part of MJ, Volume 2.

Tracklisting is after the jump.

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A little something to help you get through the day. Check out the mix below, recorded live on the air in London this past weekend….

Black Chiney Mix On BBC 1 Xtra

Walshy Fire’s Weekly Podcast (Live)

BBC’s 1xtra Radio hosted by Seani B invites Walshy Fire and Willie Chin to do a guest mix Live on Air!

Download it here: Black Chiney on BBC 1Xtra.

Nothing like some music to help get you through your day. Check out Diplo’s description below…

This is a live dj show I did in Chernobyl,RU during my tour of russia. Just some things i’m feeling, not too underground but its mad real son, filled with major lazer exclusivezzzz ~ Diplo

Download the mix here: New Podcast - Major Lazer Summer Mix!.

…via MADDECENT & seen.

Tracklisting after the jump…

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Fader’s Ghetto Palms normally features Dancehall but in the latest installment this mix is all about kreyol. It mainly features a Haitian-born Montreal rapper Mr. OK. Props to the Fader for always mixing it up.

Download Here

Hopefully your long weekend is treating you well…(those in the US anyway…)

I should have maybe brought you this earlier in the day, before you headed out the BBQs that would have served as a perfect scene for the music, but since the summer’s just getting started, I’m sure you’ll all put it to good use eventually.

Check out the Gregory Isaacs mixtape, put together by the folks over at Breath Of Life, below…

Gregory Anthony Isaacs – 15 July 1950 (or is it 1951?), Fletchers Land, Kingston, Jamaica, is the originator of “lover’s rock,” a whole sub-genre of reggae. There are more than 300 Gregory Isaacs albums circulating in the world. That’s right, over 300 different recordings. Sure at least 100 to 150 of them are compilations put together by diverse producers, each trying to corner the market on the “cool ruler” treasure chest of reggae recordings.

Much like Bob Marley, you don’t have to be a fan of reggae to recognize the importance of this artist—in this case there are literally over a hundred other love rockers out there, each of whom has their own following, but all of them owe a debt to Gregory Isaacs

Download it here: Gregory Isaacs “Cool Ruler Mixtape”.

Check out the full write up @ BoL here: GREGORY ISAACS / “Cool Ruler Mixtape” @ breath of life | a conversation about black music.