Winter Jungle Fire

London is really cccold right now and New Years eve is a dull anticlimax. So get your party priorities straight and join Radioclit, me and the Secousse Sound system this Friday at Notting Hill Arts club for some tropical heaters to warm those frozen assed bones.

On top of that there's a live performance form The Zambezi Experience.

Free before 8pm!!

DIY Christmas

I've really enjoyed doing the blog this year. A special thanks to all those people who sent us, played or grindingly blogged about amazing music that we loved this year. Mad respects and Happy Christmas to all our readers.

and especially thanks to Miri for having the patience to let me write this when I should be doing other things.

Here's my Christmas song, a sweet cumbia calypso.

unknown - El Boticario

This is Ndombolo

New video by Mokobe, with modern Congolese Rumba star Fally Ipupa, out of Kinshasa.

Congolese music, from Rumba, to Soukous, to Ndombolo is the base influence for everything from Benga to Kuduro to Coupe Decale. I read DJ Znobia say that listening to Papa Wemba makes him trip. Listen to the guitars, they definitely take you to a different plane.

Shout out to Gregzhino who stopped by SF and brought me a couple gifts. This great CD is one of the things he brought:

Swedish Palms

Taking no prisoners in the colds of Stockholm, bringing us the tropical heat is Swedish duo Klubb Highlife

They played at Secousse last month tearing it up with their own blend of Afrorave, hip-life and kuduro. We got a very special mix from dem to warm your cold bones (especially if you're cold and sneezing like me).

Catch Sebastian and Anna live in NYC at Neblu on 30th Dec.

Klubb Highlife- Mix

1. Heart of Africa (Saxapella) - Martin Solveig
2. Last Of The Summer Alomo - A.J. Holmes
3. Music For Gong Gong - Luisito Quintero
4. One Tree (TP's Deep Roots Vocal Mix) - Tony Allen
5. Voodoo Bounce Beat - Claude Monnet
6. Ethiopo - Nôze
7. Bowungakanani - Msawawa
8. 16 Years - MzBel
9. Siyan Duduza - Brickz
10. Zeze E Toto (Kuduro Remix) - Luky Gomes
11. Secousse (Mumdance remix) - Radioclit
12. Yah! (feat. Petty) - Buraka Som Sistema
13. Tchilo (Diplo Mix) - DJ Znobia
14. Kamphopo - Esau Mwamwaya

GBQ in The Metro

We got a little piece in the London morning Metro newspaper. Shout out to Rahul!

Click to read.

Cumbia Earth Tremor

I love that ZZK are dropping mixtapes from all their artists relentlessly spreading the cumbia love all year. The latest, Vol.5 is from Tremor.

They say:

"Coloring outside the paradigm lines, Tremor breathes new life into traditional folklorico, bringing his own point of view into the rich rythms of the region, where technology punctuates the boom of the bombo legüero drum, chops up the charango and splices tunes with samples of daily life at home in South America."

Git it!

Tremor - ZZK Mixtape

01)Tremor - Domingo cura Vs M.I.A Vs Tremor
02)Beatriz Pichimalen - Canto a las Ballenas (Tremor refix)
03)Radiokijada - Manoteo en Menor (Tremor mix)
04)Tremor - Viajante
05)Micaela Chauque - El Milagroso (Daleduro refix)
06)El Remolon - Cumbia Bichera (Tremor Mix)
07)Reales de cajamarca - Loca juventud (Tremor refix)
08)Tremor - Semilla vs Elpidio Herrera vs Tremor
09)José Larralde - Quimey Neuquén (Chancha Vía Circuito rmx)
10)King Coya - Axel Krygier vs Tremor
11)Villa Diamante - Mariana Baraj vs Q Tip
12)Jaivas_ Disuación (primera parte)
13)Fussible (Nortec Collective) - The clap (Tremor mix)
14)Intima - Fatbot es Lim (Tremor mix)
15)Latinsizer - Libelula (Tremor Mix)

Oh! And Come to my party too.

Uproot Discos

It's a HOMIES post!

Sr. Uproot is getting spotlighted by Bersa Discos this time, 'long side a sick Sonidero from the Nederlands, Sonido del Principe.

I am definitely a fan of Andy's work, and it will be great to have it on vinyl! There's only 1000 copies, so don't buy it before me! But, do buy it here.

La Vida Vale La Pena (True)-Uproot Andy


Meanwhile I'll will be Chillin in Chile, 'long side the family, this Friday at the Elbo Room San Francisco for Bersa's Tormenta Tropical One Year Anniversary Party, featuring The Heatwave (gonna play some funky house guys?) and Paul Devro. If you're in the Bay you will be square if you are not there.

Pirates of Nicaragua

I just got back from Nicaragua and picked up a tonne of amazing music, too much! So get ready for some Central American fire v soon. In the meantime, here are some photos of the street cd bootleggers who sold me this damn gold.

Put the Funk in Funky

Yes I'm going on and on about U.K. funkiness, but I got it on the brain. I've been wondering why the name U.K. Funky. On the surface, the genre seems to have more roots in house, soca, grime, broken beat, or afrobeat, which are all funky in their own ways, but when I think funk, especially while living in Oakland, a completely different idea comes to mind. Today, while listening to some more tunes, I was suddenly reminded of a track by Romanthony that is buried in my vinyl collection.

I ripped it to digital (sorry for the crackles, not up on my vinyl ripping game.) Here's some real FUNKY shit, and I wouldn't be surprised if it were an influence on the new U.K. Funky sound:

Bring You Up-Romanthony


Someone commented on another blog that Romanthony is from Nueva Jersey (Ok, his bio says so), but Bring You Up was released on a U.K. label, and is probably more familiar in the U.K. than the U.S. His biggest claim to fame is voicing two tracks for Daft Punk, one of them probably being their biggest hit.

Auto-tuned? Daft Punk-One More Time
'

You can buy the track Bring You Up on vinyl at Phonica Records.

Weather Got Me Workin'

It's cold and rainy in California, at least where I am. California homes don't have really good heat compared to places that are significantly colder.

The weather got me sick, stayin' inside, but, is also forcing me to work.

London comes to mind (is that a bad association?) and perhaps inspired by the previous post, I made this:

Let me see you show your dreads-Chief Boima


Also here's a little round up of other stuff I've been gettin' into lately:

I did a mix of dance tunes for Akwaaba Music's first podcast which you can get here:

Super Akwaaba Disco Caravan #1


Most of the Coupe Decale and Hiplife tracks will be available in the near future through Akwaaba.

Also, check out WFMU's San Francisco blog post, where you can download some tracks of mine.

WFMU Free Music Archive Preview (Look for me at the top of the page)

Back to the School Yard!

U.K. Peoples! I love this! U.K. Funky has to be the most inspirational and fun music for me right now. I checked a mix by Marcus Nasty, and definitely listen on repeat. Plus, great tunes keep coming. I'm definitely going to have this stuff number 1 on my radar for 2009!

Oh Isthmus in the Sun

Already the Carnaval tunes are sonando in that crossroads land of the Central American Isthmus. Hopefully Vamanos will be bringing some back to share from his trip.

I posted a comment earlier linking to the video of the Wo Tang Clan's version of the Coolie Dance Riddim:



The Wo Tang Clan was (is?) a Reggae crew out of Panama, started by Principal who is definitely one of, if not my favorite, Regueseros.

Vamanos asked for a Principal post, so I'm gonna put here 5 of my favorite tracks by the versatile Panamanian DeeJaaay.

1. Date La Vuelta



A bangin' track that apparently made it to Spanish radio, and is a version of a Trinidadian Soca tune. I always see someone try to spin another person whenever I play it out. Check the video on the tube.

2. ¿Quieren Oirme Cantar?



Am I fine? No!, Am I ugly? Yes! Do you want to hear me sing? ¡No! Why? Because you can't!... ¡Puro comedia! The best self-deprecating Reggae tune ever!

3. Me Say Me Say



Me Say Me Say Who? The riddim on this is great, and Principal's voice and delivery murdas it! Anyone know the name of the riddim? Is it Jamaican? I have a Demphra tune called Es Gay on this riddim as well, but I won't play it out here. ;)

4. Papa



Hip Hop Reggae Bounce! Principal has recently found Jesus, and like many other Panamanian artistas has turned to promoting positive lyrics, and turning away from badman/gunman tunes. This is probably one of those. Chorus is saying, "I forgive you father (for leaving me) just like Jesus forgives me..."

Take me to church!

5. Me Tiene Loko



Calypso Jam! This one is to play for your parents at their holiday party. I love Calypso en Español. What does it sound like in Venezuela?

(Day-O! Harry Belefonte & Mr. Chavez warming up for their duet)

Vamanos y Boima

(Via)

Yesterday I spent a good couple hours trying whittle down the Reggaeton section in my iTunes down from 3 GB to 1 GB (not including Reggae en Espanol, Merengueton, or Cumbiaton,) and in the process listened to a lot of dramatic synths and Dem Bow snares. A fan of Reggaeton I've been, ever since my days in Madison, when the homie Jeffrey and I bonded over General Degree's Traffic Blocking, and the CD-R of his homie back in PR's dem-bow, demo. But, after going through my 100th Luny Tunes production, it started to feel a little like this:



Anyway, I'm excited about the book. And perhaps this process of shaving the fat is kind of like a refresher on why I liked the music so much in the first place.

The other day in the Reggaeton section of my RSS reader, a new CD by the duo Baby Rasta & Gringo popped up. I initially passed it up (because of my bursting at the seams harddrive) but the name rung in my head associated with something I liked before. Then I remembered the name from one of the Playero mixes I had heard floating around. I did a search and came up with this wonderfulness:



I did some further research (read Wikpedia) and saw that apparently the duo's 2004 release, Sentenciados, was a widely bootleged underground smash. Their hit song off that album is an example of Reggaeton at its finest:

El Carnaval


And here is a track off their new album The Comeback:

No Es Macarena


Sidenote: Can anybody out there explain the duo format of Reggaeton? Jowell y Randy, Hector y Tito, Angel y Khris, y todos ellos, is it because of the singer and rapper combination?