Dec 28, 2009

Episode Seventeen

Anagram Jam
Tandy Love and Mad Smooth
There’s a bit of a mystery behind just what the hell is going on with this record. Released on Fat City by two suspects who may or may not have something to do with Finders Keepers or B-Music. The comp is a collection of 15 fuzzy and smashed edits ranging from Japanese surf rock to what sounds like Israeli funk. The kicker: the original titles and artist names are scrambled into, yes, anagrams. So have fun figuring out what you’re listening to. The album truly is an international affair combining elements from England, Korea, Turkey, Russia, France, Israel, India, America & Spain. Fun!

Mr. Chop
For Pete's Sake
After jack-of-all-trades engineer/producer/multi-instrumentalist Mr. Chop delivered a host of co-written and co-produced tracks on recent album Born Like This, DOOM touted his collaborator as "the illest to grace the boards." The praise hit the streets and landed Mr. Chop an offer to create a record of remixes and covers paying tribute to legendary NY DJ/producer/MC Pete Rock. In Mr. Chop’s compilation of Pete Rock’s greatest hits, the parts are replayed and filtered through the psych, funk, jazz and rock imprint that has become the staple of Now-Again Records. With previous releases on Jazzman’s Stark Reality label, Ape Records and his debut release for Now Again called Lightworlds, Mr. Chop is heading in the right direction.

Fama
Futurerus
Fama is a producer out of St.-Petersburg, Russian Federation. One word = Sick!










Raleigh Moncrief
Combed Over Chrome EP
This is a next level beat-based record, collapsing genres and rhythms while expanding the borders of previously established stylings. Moncrief likes his drums crunchy with a hint of glitch. Combed Over Chrome" is massive. Spliffed-out and dirty. Fresh and experimental, yet catchy and compatible with any Hip Hop and Dubstep dancefloor. This is a beat-based record that's so tangled up it seems to be perpetually collapsing, but it somehow manages to be expansive; growing more and more ambiguous with each successive track. The glitch-hop / future beat front. I like!


Raleigh Moncrief - Quiet Please from obstructive vibrations on Vimeo.


Set 1

Fama87 - Dream
Flako - Crying On The Inside
RJD2 - The Gentle Rain (remix)
Madvillain - Savage Beast (Instrumental)
Mos Def - Revelations
Chronicle Grime - Career Cats Get Tiger Suits - (According to the Anagram Jam Compilation)
Dorothy Ashby - Soul Vibrations
Petalouda -What You Can Do In Your Life - (According to the Anagram Jam Compilation)
Mr Chop - T.R.O.Y
Raleigh Moncrief - Goldrush
Dorian Concept - Her Marshmallow Secret


Set 3

Fulgeance - Birds Of Prey Remix
Glass Candy - Geto Boys
Mayer Hawthorne – Maybe So, Maybe No (Bluntspeakers Remix)
Wendy Rene - After Laughter (Comes Tears)
Circle Research - After The Laughter
Alice Coltrane - Journey in Satchidananda
Shawn Lee and Clutchy Hopkins - Chapter 2
Fama87 - Say Me...Love
Prefuse 73 - Gratis (Pedro Vs. Prefuse)




Young, London based Scotsman Architeq (AKA Sam Annand) has made a lot of noise without actually releasing a lot of material since his debut 'Birds Of Prey' EP on Tirk early last year. The odd well chosen remix aside, he's been burying himself in the studio making his debut album. Gold & Green includes 14 tracks of originality, innovation and musicality that confidently occupy a bright new corner of the electronic canon, and a deeply impressive first instalment of organic instrumentation with crunchy off-beat drums, lush soulful strings and burbling soundscapes.




Lit is the second album on Merck Records from Austin, Texas based producer Malcom Kipe, better known to some as Nautilis (of Planet-Mu). Lit is a get down and dirty piece focused on the aesthetics of raw sample based hip hop and the nasty sampling habits of Malcom Kipe. This is a collection of 52 minutes of beats and instrumentals composed of twenty tracks made and polished in 2004 & 2005. This album is strongly influenced early 90's hip hop production and excessive crate digging. Including lots of material that fans of his previous full length album, Breakspiracy Theories, should fall in love with.



10 years ago, in December 1997 Atom™ and Burnt Friedman teamed up in Santiago de Chile to compose "Templates". Atom™, also known as Señor Coconut, had moved life and studio to Chile in 1997 and B.Friedman flew in as part of his annual travel to New Zealand and Australia. Equipped with few electronic production devices: sampler, sequencer and keyboard the duo managed to produce the entire first Flanger record "Templates" within one week only. Nuclear Jazz is itself a reconstitution of the Flanger catalog that started on Ntone and Ninja Tune, compiling and editing 1999's Templates and 2000's Midnight Sound into a mesmerizing hybrid of the organic and the synthetic that simultaneously connects to and pushes away from jazz and the flora where it forms the root (funk, acid jazz, jungle, trip-hop).


TRS-80 are a Chicago-based duo who mix up live drums, samples, and an array of vintage analog circuitry to create pulsing hypnotic sound collages while delivering head-bobbing grooves that keep the listener entranced. Their fourth album, Mr. Kickass, draws from an eclectic pool of influences that put the pieces back together to create a unique, unpredictable, and highly listenable soundscape. One of the band's strongest features is its live show. Using a live drummer and almost anything they can plug in to create the mood with their patented analog hodgepodge of loops and sounds.






Set 2

Jonny Greenwood - Moon Mall
Mike Gao - Melamine Breast Milk
Oh No - Madness
Madlib Beat Konducta Vol.6 - Lifetime (Lifeline)
Onra - Super Genesis ft. Haez
Architeq - Spinning Plates
TRS-80 - American Smooth Division
Dalt Wisney - R2fux
James Pants - I Promise I Lied
Dans Le Eprom - Dials Mix


Set 4

Broadcast - Creation Day the Travel Flute Way
Samon Kawamura - Interlude
E Vax - The Process of Leaving
Flanger - Full On Scientist
Architeq - Sleeping Bear Lamet (Take Remix)
Danny Breaks - Windscreen Wiper
Dabrye - Special
Malcom Kipe - Off the Joint
DJ Lengua - Tope Kinky

Oct 30, 2009

Episode Sixteen


Set 1

Clouddead - Bonus Track
The Group - The Feed-back
Delia Derbyshire - Freeze Frame
Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Quintet - Serene
Koushik - Beep Tape 15
Otis Jackson Jr. Trio - Bitches Brew
The Fabulous Wailers - High Wall
The Pawn Shop - My Shade
Elephants Memory - R.I.P

Set 2

The Connoisseurs - Count Macabre
Armando Sciascia - Catalizzatore
Jason Crest - Black Mass
Nosaj Thing - Voices
Poppy Family - Shadows On The Wall
Dimlite and Ill Dubio - Searching
White Noise - Love Without Sound
Poppy Family - No Blood In Bone
New Dawn - Dark Thoughts
Los Sleepers - Zombie

Set 3

Henry Tree - Electric Holy Man
Chubby Checker - He Died
Pinch & Moving Ninja - False Flag
Michel Colombier & Pierre Henry - Messe pour le temps présent_ I. Prologue
Daniel Johnston - Devil Town
Daniel Johnston and Jad Fair - It's Spooky
Mount Kimbie - Maybes
Pisces - The Music Box
Delia Derbyshire - Blue Veils and Golden Sands
Black Dice & Wolf Eyes - Chimes in Black Water
Armando Sciascia - Circuito Chiuso

Set 4

Neon Blonde - Princess Skullface Sings
Bush Tetras - Too Many Creeps
Bruce Haack - Mean Old Devil
Venetian Snares - Szerencsetlen
Neurosis - End of the Harvest
Burial Hex - Will To The Chapel
Suicide - Ghost Rider
Artie Shaw - The Skeleton In The Closet

Sep 9, 2009

Episode Fifteen

Alias (born Brendon Whitney) is originally from Portland, Maine. In 1993, upon meeting sole, who was already recording and doing shows, Alias began rapping in ciphers at parties. He moved his "studio" from his bedroom to a friend's basement where he taught himself to use an MPC 3000 and an ADAT machine. In '96 he started doing shows with The Live Poets (sole's group) around New England. It wasn't until 1998, after finishing the seminal Deep Puddle Dynamics project he moved to the West Coast in to work on building the Anticon label, as well as to focus on his music. Shotly after In 2001, Alias released his ep Final Act on Anticon that contains "Three Phase Irony",that has a western expermental hip-hop feel to it.

Usha Khanna (born 1942 in Gwalior) is an Indian music director. Regarded as the only established female music director in the Indian film industry, she remained active for more than 3 decades from 1960s to 1980s. Hotel was released in 1981 and was directed by the Ramsay Brothers and Usha Khanna arranged the music. The premise of this movie is an entrepreneur asks his assistant to go to a hillside area and acquire some land for building a hotel. The assistant is led astray by the corrupt contractor- builder, who convinces him that they can make a huge profit if they build the hotel over an old Christian cemetery. They dupe the priest in charge of the cemetery, telling him they need the land for building an orphanage. They also implicate some government officials, by bribing them. In all this manipulation, the contractor-builder guy is helped by his foxy secretary, whose sex appeal is often used to their benefit. When the construction starts, they dig up all the corpses (some very bizarre faces there) and skeletons, and dump them all into a mass grave, marked only by some stones. However, the spirits of the dead are apparently outraged at this desecration, and seek revenge.


This Bulgarian duo, Casio Blaster and 99 Mistakes are names you will know soon if not by now. They continue their assault on auditory canals and speaker stacks worldwide, with 6 digi sound collages filled with beautifully crafted broken soul; further pushing the boundaries of their now trademark eklekto-hip-hop grooves.






Two/Three, is a futuristic perfection from the beat maker Dabrye. Dabrye combines rattling drum patterns reminiscent of nineties hip-hop, with grimey bass lines and spine-tingling synths, creating lush instrumental tracks that sound like outtakes from an 80's sci-fi flick. Two/Three, the second offering in a trilogy of albums, bridges the gap between One/Three's minimalist hip-hop, and shows a promising glimpse of what lay ahead. Highly recommended for any beatheads or hip-hop fans in general.



For those that don't know, the first installment of the Beat Dimensions series introduced much of the world to beats from Hudson Mohawke and FLYamSAM. This is the second plate from the followup installment to the series and includes heavyweight killers compiled by Cinnaman & Jay Scarlett including cuts from Samiyam, Dorian Concept, Fulgeance, Dimlite and Dizz1. Killer!




Sifunk & Garmunkle are a duo from NY introduce their debut beat tape for all to enjoy. The 'bloopers' concept is strung throughout with a grip of samples. CRAZY GOOD! This is East Coast future hop.








The Mighty Hannibal was a soul singer from the sock-boogaloo late 60s years! At his prime, Hannibal recorded some excellent singles that have a finger-popping funky feel. Very tight combo instrumentation mixed with raspy vocals that have more than a bit of a southern touch at the bottom. This record brings together much of his best work, complete with excellent self-penned liner notes about his rocky career, with great details that get at the heart of the life of an indie soul singer back in the day. A shameless name-dropper, a former junkie and pimp – or “MASTER ADVISOR AND MAINTAINER OF WOMEN’S AFFAIRS” as he put it – the Mighty Hannibal is nothing if not memorable. He even came up with a shtick in the sixties to stand out from the afro-wearing crowd: rock a turban, man! And he is still dynamite.



Set 1

Ananda Shankar- Sa Re-Ga Macha
Gaslamp Killer - A little of this
Arc - Let your love run through
A-Austr - Thumbquake & Earthscrew
Alias - Three Phase Irony
Vast Aire - Why'sdaskyblue?
Think - More Drops (edit)
Usha Khanna - Tere Jaisa Pyara Koi Nahin
Quantic and his Combo Barbaro - Un Canto A Mi Tierra

Set 2

Robot Koch vs Cerebral Vortex - Vortex Cookies (fLako Rmx)
Casual, Rock Marciano, Vordul Mega & Tragedy Khadafi - Think Differently
The Roots (Featuring Dice Raw, Pee) - Get Busy
Dabrye - Encoded Flow
Mighty King Hannibal - The Truth Shall Make You Free
Stark Reality - Say Brother
Nancy Sinatra - Friday's Child


Set 3

Mathhead - FM Dial
The Broken Keys - An Introduction
Guem & Zaka - Le Serpent
Mandrake - Berimbau (bongo re-edit)
Pamoja - Oooh Baby
Communication & Black Experience - The Road
1000 Names - Beauty Surrounds You
Fulgeance - Lonely Night


Set 4

Hubert Daviz - Falling
Daedelus - Just Briefly
Koushik - Ew
Mr Scruff (Featuring Seaming) - Beyond
Bjork - Possibly Maybe
Eliot Lipp - Tic Tac
Sifunk and Garmunkle - Chicago '95
Lukid - Veto
Dizz1 - Konotakosuke Yaro

Aug 1, 2009

Episode Fourteen

What more can I say about Dungen, I love this band and I can’t wait to finally see these guys play live later this month in LA. Tio Bitar's three minute instrumental Intro is a beautiful concoction of their sound into one concise piece of music. Devoid of anything outrageous, it's a smooth, polished, and dope entrance for the band and a good indication of where the rest of the record is heading.




This album is absolutely fantastic. It really is great music to lose your self into. the music is full of influences, from fuzz guitar to jazz interludes. It's all over the place in subtle style shifts, but still retains a psychedelic feel to it. "take a trip to the center of your mind"






This San Francisco band fearlessly combined early electronic experiments with an acid rock sound somewhere between Jefferson Airplane and United States of America and they were definitely ahead of their time. At times incredibly dark with a sharp attention to detail, their Cauldron LP is an essential psych masterpiece.




Somewhere between psychedelic rock, delta blues and old-timey folk lies the Entrance Band. The liner notes say it was recorded 16 track onto one inch tape and it sounds tremendous, close attention reveals real depth and richness with cool instrumentation and arrangements.





Its Baris motherfucking Manco. Nuff said! Totally riveting stuff that blends some traditional Turkish influences with the psychedelic sounds of the late 60s & early 70s. Including all that fuzzed out rocking funk, and an also fantastic melody. What’s also fascinating about the music is that it incorporates sounds from the East and the West, and still sounds dope. The vocals are effectively melodic and the songs tuneful, with Turkish and other parts Eastern string and wind accents, with both hand percussion and drums, and guitars that mix rock, funk and psychedelic.


Mustafa Ozkent's Orkestrasi is a Turkish funk machine. Genclikle ile Elele is their strongest offering and has recently been reissued for those of us who weren't around when it was originally released in 1973. Wait, did you say "Turkish funk? Oh yes, that's right. Hints of Anatolian folk themes mix with in-the-pocket rhythms and spikes. Great great stuff, really. The recording quality isn't the best, but that almost makes it seem even more authentic.

This is an awesome collection put together by the same people who gave us Welsh Rare Beat and Folk Is Not A Four Letter Word! The world of 70s European rock has given us some key funky kernels over the years, but we'll be the first to admit that the long-haired, rock-based, album-only, non-English, import-only genre has been pretty tough to dip into from our side of the Atlantic. The tracks here are lean, mean, funky, and often have a distinct jazz undercurrent in some part of the instrumentation.





This collection of tracks comes from the bungalow of legendary Indian masala film director Anandji V. Shah. The director, along with his brother Kalyanji, not only wrote and directed dozens, perhaps several hundreds of films (no one knows for sure, not even them), and scored them as well throughout the '60s, '70s, and '80s. These were not just any Bollywood movies - these were masala "mixed spice" films, the Bollywood version of cheap action and blaxploitation movies, B-movies, or James Bond-type thrillers. Producer Dan the Automator had DJ Josh Davis and Nana Simopoulos add some nu-groove beats and a few extra sitars to the already drenched in groove and rhythm tracks. It wasn't so much to update them as to celebrate what was already happening in the music. Here is surf music, blues, go-go, discothèque, psychedelia, cheesy R&B, and exotica all wound together with spoken bits from the films that accent the wildness of these pieces.


Sixtoo is the main project of a Canadian hip hop DJ, MC and producer Vaughn Robert Squire. He was born on January 29, 1974 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He rose to prominence in the mid-90's underground hip-hop scene initially as a member of Sebutones, along with Richard Terfry (Buck 65). During that time he worked with Sage Francis, Stigg of the Dump, Moka Only, Mr. Dibbs and other members of Anticon Records. The Psyche Intangible CD was released in 1998 on Metaforensics. Quoted by Sixtoo, "The Psyche Intangible was the first record that I really considered to be a Sixtoo record. It’s the first record that has very signature writing in it, and it’s the first record that really starts to show off the production type that I think I’ve grown into. Dark sparse beats, hard drums, and all those things that I tend to gravitate towards."


One of the greatest albums ever by studio genius David Axelrod! The album's one of Axelrod's first on his own - cut for Capitol Records at a time when he was working with some of the label's biggest selling soul acts - like Cannonball Adderley and Lou Rawls - turning their already-successful sounds into super-hit material by adding some nice funky touches, and excellent baroque production. This album lets Axelrod fully explore his talents for larger studio arrangements, and complex yet soulful instrumentation. The record is subtitled "an anthology of awareness after birth, based on the 18th century poems of William Blake" -- and it features incredible arrangements conducted by Don Randi, played by a host of excellent LA jazz and studio players. The overall sound is spacey and dark, with nice touches of funk, and plenty of cool instrumental passages that have been sampled over the years by hip hoppers and other producers.

Set 1

Dungen - Intro
Ultimate Spinach - Mind Flowers
Fifty Foot Hose - Fantasy
Gaslamp Killer - Robots
Entrance - Grim Reaper Blues
Shocking Blue - Love Buzz

Set 2

Timothy McNealy - Sagittarius Black
Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra - Song For David
Bombay The Hard Way - The Good, The Bad, and the Chutney
Joseph Koo & Wang Fu Ling - The Killing Fight
Baris Manco - Iste Hendek, Iste Deve
Meconium - Limp Love
Bullion - Long Promised
Sixtoo - Marching

Set 3

Fikret Kizilok - Haberin Var Mi
Baris Manco - Derule
Okay Temiz - Denizalti Ruzgarlan
Mazhar Ve Faut - Turkuz Turku Cagir
Mogallar - Anadolu Pop - Halicte Gu
Mustafa Ozkent Ve Orkestrasi - Dolana Dolana
Cem Karaca - Suya Giden Alli Gelin
Okay Temiz - Penguin
3 Urel - Omur Biter Yol Bimez

Set 4

Salah Ragab - Dawn Intro
David Axelrod - The Sick Rose
Peter Schirmann- Lagerfeuer
Nobody - Leading
Lorez Alexandria - Baltimore Oriole
RSD - Pretty Bright Light
Cedric I'm Brooks - The Light of Saba

Jul 1, 2009

Episode Thirteen

Mayer Hawthorne is at it again with a new single “I wish it would Rain”. The track has a sound along the lines of his debut single “Just Aint Gonna Workout”, Detroit Flavor with a modern-retro twist. Hawthorne has a nice touch, and has developed a bit of a niche that stands apart from today’s pop and contemporary crowd. Another Goodie from Mayer Hawthorne.



Ant Trip Ceremony - Outskirts is the first song on their album 24 Hours that was released in 1968. The band was formed in Utah and named after a suggestion from a local English professor who had seen the term in a novel. The phrase was a description of modern human society. Their album was recorded in two sessions, the first in February 1968 and the second some months later.
Technical faults affected the recording: the KLH deck used for playback had a faulty right speaker and the mixdown was affected as a result with vocals sounding further back in the mix than originally intended. Originally only 300 copies of the album were pressed and sold. Now the reissued version is pressed on Resurrection.


With this release, Soul Jazz Records are reissuing a long lost album by The Art Ensemble Of Chicago, one of the most important and radical Jazz groups to come out of the USA. 'Les Stances A Sophie' was recorded in Paris in 1970 and features the regular Art Ensemble members (Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell and Malachi Flavors) alongside the newly recruited drummer Don Moye and Fontella Bass on vocals and piano. Fontella Bass (who was married to Lester Bowie) had a successful career as a soul singer ('Rescue Me' was her biggest hit in the sixties). The addition of these two performers maybe in some way explains the uniqueness of this recording, especially 'Theme De Yoyo' . Vocals (and lyrics) alongside a constant drum and bass beat were new elements to the recorded music of the Art Ensemble at this time. This recording would appear to contradict the AEC's desire for music to be heard and played simply as Sound with the freedom from accepted forms (ie Blues, Jazz etc) that were used to describe music. Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Albert Ayler were the forerunners of Free Jazz (The New Jazz).


Whirlwind Heat was first signed to Jack White's label, Third Man Records. Their sound is a bit like White's band (garage rock favorites the White Stripes), but with a Moog synthesizer taking the place of guitar. Featuring members David Swanson (vocals/synthesizer), Steve Damstra (bass), and Brad Holland (drums), the trio first got together to play music in 1996. Originating from the Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA area, the band took their name from infamous punk rock illustrator Raymond Pettibon (the phrase "Whirlwind Heats" can be found on Sonic Youth's 1990 alt rock classic Goo), and started out as a conventional guitar/bass/drum rock outfit. Eventually, the guitar was replaced by a Moog as the trio befriended indie rockers Arab On Radar, with whom they toured. In 2004 Flamingo Honey was released on Dim Mak/XL Recordings and Ice Nine is track eight on that album.


The Brain Police were an early psychedelic garage band who, in the late sixties, opened for many national acts, including the Who, the Byrds, Cream, Jefferson Airplane, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Steppenwolf, and Buffalo Springfield. After recording the unreleased album and failing to land a major-label contract, the frustrated band broke up at a local gig in which they opened for Steppenwolf. This unreleased LP was reissued on CD by Normal/Shadoks, as were songs cut for a 1969 single and poppier 1964-1966 cuts from singles by the Man-Dells and the Other Four (bands that Brain Police songwriters Norman Lombardo and Rick Randle played in prior to 1967).


1984 hails originally from Philadelphia, PA. Unfortunately, this record has never seen well distribution. Even in collectors circles this 45 is quite unknown. "There's a wrinkle in our time" side A is a fantastic funk tune with a groove that never stops! You must shake your hips while listening to it! No chance to keep still! It's amazing! The B-side, which has never seen the light of the day until this Tramp reissue, is an uptempo funk instrumental with a drum / percussion breakdown half through the song! Solid!

Set 1

J Dilla Beat Tapes vol. 1 - You're the One For Me Bobby
Mayer Hawthorne - I Wish it Would Rain
Art - Love is Real
Ant Trip Ceremony - Outskirts
Girolamo Ugolini - Ritmo D'Industria
Gagle - Kuro Fessional MC (instrumental)
Glue - Catch As...(Instrumental)
Art Ensemble of Chicago - Theme de Yoyo


Set 3

Rogers Sisters - Stop what you're doing in case of emergency
Whirlwind Heat - Ice Nine
Brain Police - I'd rather see you dead
The Broken Keys - Burnt Popcorn
Quantic Soul Orchestra - End of the road (feat. Alice Russell)
The Sweet Vandals - Wake Up!
1984 - Theme
Banda Los Hijos De La Nina Luz - El Sapo/Crees Que Soy Sexy





The amazing full length debut of Hypnotic Brass Ensemble is a cool combo from the Chicago scene who have been making some big waves around the world over the past few years! The approach to their music mixes spiritual jazz, deep funk, and elements of New Orleans music too - a really unique style that has earned the group's rare singles some tremendous praise. The set features guest appearances from Malcolm Catto, Tony Allen, Flea, and Damon Albarn -but the real strength of the record lies in the group's amazing horns and rhythms. More importantly I found the Marcus Garvey song this special Record Store Day LP. This LP Crashes Hard Drives is the! It’s a joint effort by some of the best retro-soul and reissue labels on this great spinning globe, including Numero Group, Daptone, Jazzman, Finders Keepers, Now Again, Light in the Attic and Vampi Soul, with songs ranging from middle-eastern psych to gospel on the other. if you're a follower of any of the labels involved, or you just live the thrill of discovering new (and sometimes old) music, you must go out and find it. This is the kind of record that reminds music lovers why we should keep searching and buying, and most importantly, keep listening - there's always something waiting to be found.




For anyone who stumbled across the 'Cherrystone' series and can't get enough Finders Keepers this is for you. it does get weird but trust, you won't be locked into a 15 minute prog, kraut epic. Give it a go and get a life change. This is Mr. Votel's first compilation for fat city recordings. On the album he features some of his favorite tracks which takes in productions from France, U.S , U.K, Germany, Turkey and Hungary and includes countless rare breaks & beats."Find it , buy it, play it !" It's fun.




P.E. Hewitt’s Winter Winds is one of the rarest damn-good 70s jazz albums you could ever hope to come across. There are many rare jazz albums in every imaginable subgenre – funk, free, fusion... But Hewitt, a composer, arranger, vibraphonist, pianist and pilot, helmed a crack group of musicians and recorded a damn-good album ... Without ever taking the time out to name his record company. His three albums – pressed in a maximum run of one hundred pieces per album – recently surfaced after Bay Area collector Chris Veltri re-discovered an old find and sent music detectives on the hunt. You see, Hewitt’s “Winter Winds” album so damn-good that neither a micro press nor forty years of silence could suppress its reemergence. Winter Winds, his third album, is the most “accessible” of the three Hewitt records. This is not to say that his previous albums are obscure, just to say that this album appeals to those who might want to dance while having their consciousness expanded. “Bada Que Bash” will appear on Now-Again’s forthcoming partnership-release with Jazzman Records – the expanded version of the label’s Spiritual Jazz anthology.

Maravilha! Domingas is a samba soul classic from Jorge Ben on quite possibly his greatest album ever, and a true treasure through and through! The tunes explode with an amazing sense of energy driven by Jorge’s great guitar and vocals, plus key percussive efforts that sound simply amazing, and create a unique undercurrent of funk. This is the album that set a whole generation on fire, and it’s probably still one of the most-copied moments of Ben’s long career. In contrast to the cerebral output of the Tropicalia camp in 1969, this album’s much more organic and personal yet no less revolutionary!


Verocai's 1972 album on Continental is a straight up Brazilian holy grail LP and personally, if you listen to how intricate his arrangements are, how brilliant his fusions of Brazilian and American styles come together here, you can understand why people jones for this album so badly.
I was lucky enough to see the album come to life when Verocai preformed in Los Angles early this year. The original album is phenomenal and was perfectly suited for the grandiose performance with a string section, horn section, percussionists, two keyboard players, two guitarists and alternating stand-up and electric bass . . . and most importantly the ensemble pulled it off perfectly. The performance sounded great. Secondly, it was staggering to think that this was the first time that these songs had ever been performed live and the second time they have been performed at all (the first time being in the studio and most likely that wasn't all 36 pieces playing live at the same time). Lastly, it was a great concept to take this relatively obscure document from 1972 performed in 2009 and restoring it to its deserved place in history. Bottom line is that this recording may be extremely obscure and therefore considered obscure, but the music is so good it deserves to be heard and in its original form, or better than that its original form performed LIVE!

Blues Creation formed in 1969 by vocalist and guitarist Kazuo Takeda and they debuted with an album containing covers of American blues, songs written by E. Clapton, J. Mayall among others. Carmen Maki and the Blues Creation is a rare as hell 1970 heavy rock guitar monster from Japan with the beautiful Carmen Maki. "Demon and Eleven Children" is not the only heavy album from these guys! This is every bit just as essential. It has some brutal non-stop wailing guitar! It also has some sweet mellow bluesy psychedelic rock numbers too. I am convinced that if the Blues Creation were in some other place of origin, such as England or the U.S., surely the album (DEMON & ELEVEN CHILDREN) would appear in any of those categories of "Best Hard Rock Albums... "

Set 2

Carmen Maki & Blues Creation - I Can't Live For Today
Demon Fuzz - Another Country
The Rapture - Confrontation
Faust - Party 2
Orient Express - Azaar
Bokaj Retsiem - I’m So Afraid
Unfolding - I Got a Zebra
Franz Auffray - Son Of Popcorn
Christine 23 Onna - Wild private


Set 4

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble - Marcus Garvey
Jack Hendrix' Tchick-Bams - Turnround
P.E. Hewitt Jazz Ensemble - Bada Que Bash
Orlann Divo - Beleza Nao Vai Embora
Jorge Ben - Domingas
Arthur Verocai - Na Boca do Sol
Jose Mauro - Apocalipse

Jun 1, 2009

Episode Twelve




I don't know who Clutchy is. I’m sure I’m not alone. Some theories on who this man might be range from Cut Chemist to
Danger Mouse. No doubt that his music is simply timeless and his new album titled Music is My Medicine is proof of that. The album is filled with dusty jazz-influenced beats, with some Jamaican dub mixed in. What’s also interest me is the story surrounding the release of this album. To find out more about the misled children, Joshua Tree, Lord Kenjamin, and poisonous Lionfish read the press story on Ubiquity Records.


Onandon is an astonishing debut album that will slay you if you're a lover of the blunted beat constructions. This album proves just how creative the years between 12 and 20 can be when given the right channel to bloom. Onandon is filled with hip-hop electronics that uses sick loops, lazer-tag beats and dope rhythms. It’s an album that is mature, complex and (most importantly) a damn good listen.


DJ Nobody pr
esents Blank Blue with their album titled Western Water Music Vol. II
is a concept album that either deals with an Armageddon-type earthquake that sank the state of California or upon a series of nightmares that haunted Estela's (Nobody's) sleep. The music is innovative an
d atmospheric. These soulful beat productions are embellished with pop, psychedelic instrumentation, vintage samples, and above all, great drums.

If you like dark, ambient, prog-fusion
beats you will be happy to know that Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian, is a nice example of that, but a rather tricky one. At first, it feels like a Prefusemixtape. That said, the songs do all blend together rather seamlessly. While the first third is a more fuzzy, mellow affair, the second third sees Prefuse starting to stretch the beats into something more noteworthy. The last third is where things start to space out a bit, with Prefuse mixing vocal looping with a more computer, minimalist driven element. Anyone who likes dark, downtempo-ish electronica should check it out.

interjections make this a consistently engaging reconstruction of the 1970s Ethiopian grooves. The Spiky guitar riffs, restrained bursts of brass, and glitchyHeliocentrics are a somewhat musicians collective, and composer Astatke is one of the genre's original stars, so it's an unlikely pairing. On Inspiration Information 3, Mulatu Astatke and The H
eliocentrics go back and forth from songs most strongly defined by Astatke's unique Ethio-jazz style to more modern funk breaks that sound more like remixes. But the result is as vital a tribute to Astatke’s haunting sound. The Heliocentrics provide a badass complement to Astatke's more hypnotic sounds. Astatke and The Heliocentrics already sounded great individually, but together they create something new and wonderful, a fine addition to both artists' catalogs.


Set 1

Clutchy Hopkins - Tune Traveler

Lukid - The Now
Hudson Mohawke - Polkadot Blues
JDilla Beat Tapes - Track12
Flying Lotus - GNG BNG
Nobody and Blank Blue - All the Shallow
Prefuse 73 - Regato
Mulatu and the Heliocentric - Addis Black Widow

Set 3

Augustus Pablo - Lovers Mood
Horace Andy - Problems
Cornell Campbell - My Conversation

King Tubby - King Tubby’s Conversation
Prince Francis - Rock Fort Shock
Jackie Mittoo- Hang em High
Skatalities - Herb Man Dub
Lee Arab - Now
Dave Barker - Funky Funky Reggae
Pyramids - Geronimo
Cedric Im Brooks - The Light of Saba - Sabayindah




The duo’s first album, due to release in 2009, offers an intriguing variety of sounds, including what the duo describe as ’50s and ’60s-inspired space music, mood music for film and TV, haunting vocal tracks inspired by the windswept beauty of their home town, and switched-on cover versions of ’70s funk classics realised on the Moog synthesiser.






There is not a lot of information about the band or the film from which this soundtrack was taken. A special pressing soundtrack to the Barry R. Kerr film of the same name, The Flasher soundtrack was performed by Pool-pah with assistance from the group Ralph and their ARP synthesiser. The music is a strange brew of solo ARP synth, 1960s style beat / psychedelic vocal numbers and a killer slowburn funk instrumental, Sour Soul, favourite of such esteemed DJs.





Dwilt Sharpp double 7'' Ep is a hypnotic and sensual genius which evolves within dreams and reality. Gathering influences from electronic music, prog rock, and deep soul. Providence is a re-edit from Baris Manco - Gonul Dagi taken off is 1976 album Ben Bilirim.




Riffing guitar and funky drums get this one going from the start, a cooking little number topped with raspy female vocals a really bad-sister funk number that should get Dojo Cuts plenty of notice! The vocals really help the track loosen up a bit relaxing into a groove that's a nice change from some of the too-tight funk bits out there and the flipside features a very similar vibe, which is perfect for its cool cover of the older classic "See & Don't See".





Jazz Chronicles is a project by Futuristica Music Simon which is heavily influenced by his love of classic era of hip-hop and spiritual jazz. This first release is a limited 7'' series. Don't sleep on it !!!!!









Set 2

Broadcast - Locust
The Simonsound - Bad Love
Pool Pah - Sour Soul
Men's Recovery Project - How long have you lived in this house
Men's Recovery Project - Bleeding Gash
Dwilt Sharpp - Providence
Autolux - Here Comes Everybody
Unwound - October All Over

Set 4

Round Trip Ticket - Captain Purple Rides Again
Marvin Gaye - Betsy Collins Re-Edit
Betty Barney - Momma Momma
Dojo Cuts - See and Don't See
Jazz Chronicles - One of Joe
Chico Buarque - Cotidiano
Ana Mazzotti - Feel Like Making Love

Apr 30, 2009

Episode Eleven

So set 2 is my tribute to instrumental hip hop. That head bobbin rhythm. i wanna start things off with Dilla. Ahhh Jay Dilla. Not much to say that hasn’t been said when it comes to his abilities in beat crafting and moving hip hop towards the future. Donuts is an impressive creative thirty-one track instrumental album. "Workinonit," the first proper track, showcases Dilla's ability to seamlessly blend together styles, this time psychedelia, rock n roll and hip hop, to head boppin effect. The tracks are blended together with numerous jazz and soul samples, and makes all the tracks 1-2 minutes long each. Quite a ride musically all over the map. Dig it. RIP Dilla.

What makes this one special is probably the fact that it’s also a great tribute project, since it’s not only Beach Boys and Dilla mixed together but also Bullion’s style as a producer who’s apt at following Dilla’s steps, clearly shows.





Oh No displays a creative intuition in looping the source material and choosing good parts to sample. People who are familiar with Ersen or Selda will recognize he researched raw and rare psych from Turkey, Lebanon, Greece and Italy to formulate his antidote to wack samples and played-out loops.






After visiting his grandparent's homeland in Saigon Onra returned with a crateful of old Chinese and Vietnamese vinyl. He cut and mixed them up with beats that make this the
perfect soundtrack to any Hip-Hop head going or dreaming of going to South East Asia. It reflects all the different sides of those countries: Raw, sad, culturally rich, amusing, kitsch and romantic.





Madlib dropped a truly amazing double album of his tripped out beats. The smoke is in the air, the samples are wild, and the bass is bumpin.









Somewhere along the line I decided to end with Joe Pass Guitar Interludes. This track is a little more dramatic and orchestral of course but the guitar and bass lines are dope, and it really sweeps you away.





Set 4 is a collection of some of my favorite post punk songs the introverted, complex and experimental. Pylon is definitely one of those great bands of the new wave genre who were sadly overlooked by many listeners. If you're looking for really good, straight-ahead new wave, Pylon is made for you. The sound is rythym section heavy, with the bass mixed high, almost like a more melodic Gang of Four. The riffs are repetitive and always dance-able.




Lora Logic squalled her way into punk as the saxophonist on the feminist anthem, "Oh Bondage! Up Yours!" Who knows what other damage she could have done with Poly Styrene and X Ray Spex, but disagreements between the two led Lora to leave the band and form Essential Logic in 1978 and thank goodness for that.






Such an underrated album. Juggling spacious guitars sounds, dark, abstract, yet dancey. It's from the post punk hey day, and nothing will ever sound like any of these bands again. An amazing, short lived era, unfortunately



Set 2
Workin On It - JDilla
Borrowed Time - Madvillian
Wouldn’t It Be Nice - Buillon
Onra - One Day
Oh No - Higher
Madlib the Beat Konducta - Third Ear
J Zone - Calamine Lotion
Flying Lotus - Bad Actors
Omega One - Interlude Two
Glue - Vessel
Joe Pass - Guitar Interlude

Set 4
Pylon - Feast On My Heart
PIL - Memories
Lora Logic - Brute Fury
Delta 5 - Try
Gang Of Four - Damaged Goods
A Certain Ratio - Do The Du
Palais Schaumburg - Telephon
Joy Division - Digital



My whole intention with this first mix was to do a northern soul mix but it turned out incorporating a little bit of funk and then little bit of whatever I felt fell in good together which made it what it is. Starting off with Barbara Lynn’s I’m a good woman you can‘t really go wrong and how could you not get your groove on to this song.
Ouch! I been hurt, but I refuse to cry! Speaking of screaming vocals, another James Brown related vocalist, Ms. Yvonne Fair, practically shreds her vocal chords on this guaranteed floor-filler "Say Yeah Yeah"... painfully funky up tempo mid-60's soul, with superb backing track: groovin' organ, crisp drums, punchy horns, and male r&b style chorus.


Next is The Atlantics with their soul smoker called “Beaver Shot” (complete with porn-snapping camera noises that likely went right over the head of 99% of the listening audience). The rest of the compilation ranges from pretty neat to mediocre. Don’t give up the ghost too early because the real good ones are scattered all over the 30 tracks here.







This is Carolina Funk! Jazzman records continues its quest to uncover the best and rarest Funk ever with the success of ‘Florida Funk’, they moved up the Atlantic coast to look at the vibrant and original scene in the two rural states of North and South Carolina – collectively known as the Carolinas.
Bordering the Bible belt, the Carolinas share the reputation of neighboring Tennessee – and without any large urban centers, much of the musical output of the Carolinas has been limited to single towns, with bands and their records seldom venturing further than the state line. From inspired percussive instrumentals to heartfelt slabs of soul; from rediscovered tapes in the garages of retired musicians. Carolina Funk presents 22 of the best, rarest and most sought-after heavy funk songs ever recorded, with breakbeats to spare.
Legendarily rare slab of insane heavy funk from South Carolina! Hailing frin the miniscule town of Harleyville South Carolina, The Soul Drifters cut this super heavy self-penned stormer in 1974. Known from a small handful of original copies, ‘Funky Soul Brother’ has been in big demand for many years. Highly recommended!
Worrrrd

Set 1
Barbara Lynn - I'm a Good Women
Yvonne Fair - Say Yea Yea
Bronx River Pkwy - Lima Blues
The Atlantics - Beaver Shot
Sheila Wilkerson - Baby your a Jive Cat
Frankie Valli - Beggin' (Edit)
The Soul Drifters - Funky Soul Brother

Set3
John Cameron - Underlying Expectancy
Aggregation - Change
Edwin Starr - Twenty-Five Miles
Tickled Pink - Reach Out
Little Denise - Check Me Out
Frankie 'Loveman' Crocker - Ton of Dynamite
The Young Disciples Co. - Crumbs From the Table
L. Daniels - Nitecap