About two weeks ago, we recieved an email from Esquire Classic editor and fellow music aficionado Alex Belth emailed us with a tip regarding an upocoming mix. We've previously showcased features on a number of hand-crafted mixes constructed by Belth, sometimes, known as Al Dente, and his music-making parter-in-crime, Alan "illchemist" Friedman. illchemist is a self-described audio provider, sound designer, editor, mixer, composer, musician, producer, voice-over, mash-up artist. Alan Friedman has previously worked with or remixed C + C Music Factory, Depecche Mode, Janet Jackson, Madonna, Steinski, Vitamin C. However, in more recent years, Friedman has been tediously creating and reelasing mixes of his own, all the while, running his own studio/hub, Audiolifer.


Somewhere along the way, Alan Friedman met Alex Belth and they've been meticuliously mashing up and releasing music together since the early 2000's. Alex Belth & illchemist's mixes include, but are not limited to, Borough to Borough, Another Fine Mess, Quick In A Slow Way, Tribute to The Greatest, and This Is A Comedy Mash-up. Now, back to that mysterious email from Alex Belth... he was reaching out to me, of course, about a new full-length mix concocted with noneother than illchemist. SOUP TO NUTS: a hip-hop mix is just that, a full-length hour-long mix started around 2008 and finished up much more recently during Quarantine. Once fully completed, SOUP TO NUTS was gifted to a close friend, commentator, and email friend of Belth's, Brooklyn-born James Catchpole AKA Mr. OK Jazz.


Catchpole now lives in Japan and runs his own weekly podcast, K.O.L. Radio with co-host DJ Otsuka, along with OK Jazz Podcast and Tokyo Jazz Joints. SOUP TO NUTS: A Hip-Hop Mix By Alex Belth & illchemist was played "on-air" during a recent episode of K.O.L. Radio. It boasts a wide array of musical samples, bits of dialogue, stand-up, and TV ads from a wide array of artists, comedians, etc. Upon hearing SOUP TO NUTS, we recieved a 6-page PDF document from Belth, which readily lists everyone from Madlib to Henry "The Fonz" Winkler, De La Soul & Biz Markie to Al Pacino, and Monty Python's Flying Circus to Marvin Gaye. While that sounds like a crazy cast of characters (becasue it is!) trust us, it's all woven incredibly well into one cohesive extremely listenable mix. SOUP TO NUTS: A Hip-Hop Mix By Alex Belth & illchemist is now available to stream on Soundcloud, as well as within K.O.L. Radio's aforementioned episode on Mixcloud.