The second instalment in the mixtape serie Hip Hop Reggae is due to producer Mato. The principles are the same, blending hip hop acapella classics on fresh reggae riddims, often interpolating the original theme. Not as good as the first volume of the serie, the reggae treatment of originals by The Fugees, The Beastie Boys The Pharcyde, Warren G or Michael Jackson is still very enjoyable. Even if you don't like mash-ups, you'll love those ones.
What's the difference between British disco funk and American disco funk? If you listen to Heatwave, they ain't any. Maybe because Heatwave was a multicultural combo (4 American guys, one Brit, one Czech, one Spanish) and they all spoke fluently the funk language.Too Hot To Handle,their first album,grooves from the begining to the end and never sounds corny or near anything cheesy. The harp intro, the strings and chorus on Boogie Nights are by example closer to jazz than to a suburbian hotel nightclub. It is just the perfect kind of album you can listen to very loud while driving your car all glasses opened and still don't look like a perfect idiot.
I just watched French filmmaker Olivier Assayas fantastic film about 70's left wing terrorist Carlos and it made realised that New Order signed with Dreams Never End, largely used in the film, one of the best guitar and bass lines played crescendo as introduction to rock'n'roll song. I write that being not that much a big New Order fan. I definitely respect their legacy, the way they reinvented themselves and pop music after Joy Division, their open minded ears, what they brought to clubland with the Haçienda, all what made their legend. But I don't particularly find their albums that good from the start to the end. Movement is no exception. In fact the music and Martin Hannett production are innovative and annouce the best of the 10 years to come. But I find Peter Hook voice is a bit embarrasing. OK, it is a cold wave album, it's not that important but the guy actually can't sing!!!
I just found this original 7" at a yard sale and I couldn't resist to post it, even if the vinyl cracks a little bit. Produced by Norman Whitfield, Car Wash and Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is are both classics for one damn good reason: they have that raw funky groove. that make you smile anyway, anytime. I never saw the movie Car Wash and I don't know if the trailer really makes me want to try the adventure.
The best record label around, Now Again + a compilation realised by Egon about Fela's influence over other musicians all around the globe + scorching funky afrobeat obscurities from Colombia to Trinidad, from Germany to Ghana = a must have.
I won't present Gilles Peterson. The guy is not a producer, probably not the best DJ around but he has acquired a near legendary status thanks to his fantastic ears, the record labels he created (Acid Jazz, Talkin' Loud, Brownswood), his club nights, his BBC Radio show and his compilations. Impressed 2 explores a scene staid relatively unknown and unexplored, the British jazz scene of the 60's and 70's. At the time, Great Britain was busy reinventing rock&roll and his jazz artists staid in the shadows of fame. Of course, all the gems gathered on this compilation are just excellent and it would have been a real shame to keep Michael Garrick Septet, The Stan Tracey Quartet, The New Jazz Orchestra or Tubby Hayes & The Paul Gonsalves All Stars only in rare groove diggers vinyl collection.
If you didn't like my Robert Wyatt post, you'll hate this one too. "We travelled to the state of Paraiba where we could personnaly get to know this mystical, archeological site. We became fascinated with the power of the place and engrossed in the stories and legends, in the interpretation of dreams" explains Lula Côrtes in the inner notes about the Mr Bongo reedition. "It was the perfect subject to focus our musical quest upon, and thus the idea of the record was born. Legends, Indians, maybe even the presence of aliens...pure mystery". You have undestood that whatever those guys were on when they recorded Parbirù, it was some strong shit.
iTunes is a strange software: Robert Wyatt's The End Of An Ear is classified as Alternative & Punk. Well, it maybe is not that far from the truth. Alternative certainly: The End Of An Ear is a psychedelic piece of experimental music (think Teddy Riley), influenced by pop, free jazz and world music. The End Of An Ear is not the kind of record you play to serve like a nice surounding to tea time. You must listen to it from the beginning to the end to really get into it. And if you do, you just get snatched. It is certainly a punk record too. In an era where music business was absorbing rock and afro-american seditious power, Robert Wyatt just did his thing with an arty "I don't give a fuck" attitude. On the back cover, you can even read "out of work pop singer". Brilliant.
Called Something Special, this 1993 bargain reedition gathers two excellent and during a long time ultra rare records released on Stax subsidiaries Enterprise and Volt by artists unfortunately staid confidential. The first one, Joe Hicks, produced and arranged hiw own and only album, Mighty Joe Hicks, the music and the voice deeply rooted in that form of bluesy soul only found below the Mason-Dixon line but melted with contemporary influences in the construction of the breaks. Jimmy Hughes album, Something Special, is bit less raw and benefited from the help of Isaac Hayes, Booker T. & The MG's and The Memphis Horn, the kind of help that had written deep soul masterpiece makers all over on it. And indeed they succeeded one more time. And for loop diggers, Jimmy Hughes last track, Did You Forget, properly sampled, cut and pitched, could do very well the trick.
I bought this one only for the cover, a brilliant work clearly inspired by surrealism. The album in itself isn't that good. Doris, Miltinho e Charme is a megamix of Brazilian bossa classics. Today you would call that a kind of record a mixtape. It's a kind of frustrating because each song switch to the next one after only one minute. This record is a little bit annoying, useless but curious exercice even if the voices are really nice and melt well together. Doris Monteiro made largely better albums.
Idéias is Eumir Deodato first album and was recorded in Brazil in 1964. In 1967, the young brazilian session musician and composer left for the US where he will became a heavy jazz rock mogul. Idéias is fortunately far away from Also Sparch Zarthustra and a nice instrumental bossa nova album where Eumir demonstrates his talents of orchestration and where he plays piano and organ. Only two songs are of his composition (Tempinho Bom and Tristeza Nao Existe), the rest being cover of classics written by Marcos Valle, Roberto Menescal or Jobim (So Tinha De Ser Com Voce and Ela E Carioca). Eumir orchestrations and hammond organ make of Idéias a pleasing record with a warm pop and easy listening feeling.
Compiled by British DJ Cliffy, Black Rio 2 digs deep in the samba soul dusty crates, chasing rare groove and obscure gems at every corner of Brazil. Samba soul is a generic terminology covering a lot of styles, from funk to soul or disco, but all with a distinctive brazilian flavor and representing "an important moment when blacks came down from the shanty towns and (...) were accepted by the music industry making music other than samba" as state the liner notes. Needless to say that DJ Cliffy made a brilliant work and that all the tracks are catchy and sure floor fillers, able to turn the most boring BBQ into a dancing drunken revel. My favorite track on this compilation is Supermarket by Otavio Augusto Fernandes Cardoso aka Pete Dunaway. With its bassline, its beat, its wah wah guitar and its melody full of gloomy strings, it's the kind of song that, even if Pete Dunaway sang with an English accent worst than mine, makes you realise that you live, for god's sake, and that your life is not that bad !!!
1) You will only find here music released between 1950 and 1989.
2) You will find here an eclectic selection of records I possess personally.
3) You will only find here records I digged with love during long hours spent in records shops (yes, there are still some existing and pretty good ones) or in any other place where you can find records.
4) You will only find here records I like and that I think deserve a better recognition. If you like them too, don't forget you can buy them. There's certainly a way to find them somewhere for a cheap price.
5) If you own the rights on some of the music featured here and think that my posts decrease dramatically your sales, just send me a mail or leave me a comment. I will withdraw the downloading link immediately.
6) I spend a lot of time on each post, riping, scanning, uploading, writing a little and all that with a lot of pleasure.
7) Re-uping records pisses me off. If a link is dead, just subscribe to this blog or become a member and you won't miss anything in the future.
8) Don't hesitate to leave comments: they're soothing my tourmented soul and it shows your appreciation or your concern.
9) You will only find here records ripped from original vinyl or CD source.
10) If you notice that something is not working technically, don't hesitate to leave a comment. Some do it and it helps me a lot, thanks.
