Who's up for a three-way?

A three-way collaboration that is! Because... ah, fuck it. It's a cheap pun. But it's Monday, so I really don't know why you'd expect any better...



Anyhoo, this is a three-country three-way, which makes it extra sexy. We got Jazzanova from Germany with Vikter Duplaix representin' Philly on vocals remixed by Broken Beat guru Domu of England. For some reason I always seem to think Domu is part of Bugz In The Attic, but he's not... aren't you glad I shared that insight with you?

Jazzanova - Soon (Domu's Ill Dub) (ysi)

That's some smooth stuff right there. You know an album's good when a track like that is number 11 on the CD! And lacking any comedy gold for you this morning, I will bid you good day...

Stevie is slammin'!

House Music Friday is hitting you with a serious summer jam today!



Unless a Brazilian-flavored Deep House cover of a Stevie Wonder classic isn't up your alley, in which case I declare that you are all cold and black inside. The cover comes from singer Salome De Bahia, who's old, and producer Bob Sinclar, who's French. The Stevie song is "Another Star", but in Portuguese it's "Outro Lugar". And that is all you really need to know, except that it's really, really good...

Salome De Bahia - Outro Lugar (ysi)

And how about this... some live Stevie doing his version, complete with drum solo. That's right, you heard me... blind guy drum solo...



Stevie is a music god, is he not? Have a fantastic weekend.

The beats were big and bouncy

Hey, anybody remember when they had that stuff called Big Beat?



Who came up with that phrase, anyway? Probably some tosser. But here's a track from that era when Electronica was about to take over the world... only it didn't. I've often wondered if I'm supposed to be happy or sad about that... because who knows what might of happened? It could have lead to things like all-Oakenfold radio stations and Pasty Knob-Twiddler Idol, and those are a couple things we are easily better off without. Oh yeah, the track... so Lionrock was the first project of British DJ/handlebar moustache-rocker extraordinaire Justin Robertson, and it's probably a Top 10 album of the genre... which says either a lot or not much. Yeah, I'm feelin' a bit waffle-y today... sue me. No need to waffle, though, when you have the Chems on the remix and this was one of their better ones...

Lionrock - Packet Of Peace (Chemical Brothers Remix) (ysi)

This is one of those Amazon 1 cent specials right now, and considering it's two discs, I say you go for it. Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1996, yo!

Hunka hunka burnin' Gilles

Because a healthy man-crush can only be quelled for so long...



... here's a great track off the first compilation from Gilles Peterson's Brownswood Recordings. Yep, that guy again. ("I can' quit you Gilles!") Anyhoo, this one's from Seattle Neo-Soul singer Choklate, who might not be a household name but certainly has the talent to get there. Well, based on this song, anyway. I haven't heard any others of hers and quite frankly carn't be arsed right now. Cold? Maybe. Lazy? Absolutely. But that's how I roll...

Choklate - Heavy (ysi)

There is now a 3rd Brownswood Bubblers on the way and you know that shit will be off the hook, because Gilles is on the case. My man knows how to do it oh so right!

(Purchases tickets to "Mama Mia", checks to see who's on "Ellen" today)

And now, for your Bonus Post pleasure...

We have some relatively new Afrobeat biznezz from one of the genre's creators...



... and that would be Mr. Tony Allen, who was of course Fela's drummer, about whom Fela said he needed four guys to replace when he left the band. Yeah, one of the guys was only there to replace Tony's impeccable cappuccino-making skills, but I think the point was that he's pretty good at drumming. This record is from 2003 and features Damon Albarn on one of the tracks (not terribly surprising, as Tony is a member of The Good, The Bad & The Queen), but not this one. This one's all Afrobeat shuffle with a kickin' horn section...

Tony Allen - Crazy Afrobeat (ysi)

And, um... I have nothing more to add today... so there.

Ah... mid-'90s Electronica... I remember that

Okay, let's get back to some music which I'm sure George Carlin would hate...



Spirit Feel was this one-off record by a couple blokes who seemingly never released anything else, but it gained a bit of cred when it came out because of an association with Martin Gore of Depeche Mode (who supposedly "discovered" the group and did production on one song). Seems like everyone I knew had a copy of this one. And although it's probably well short of "classic" status, it's a nice World Music-infused Downtempo set. KCRW was all over this shit...

Spirit Feel - Hipslow (ysi)

I'd compare it to what William Orbit was doing at the time... don't ya think? And hey, if it sounds a little dated now, well... just add weed.

R.I.P. George Carlin

I'm not normally one of those bloggers that feels the need to do a tribute post every time someone famous dies... I didn't post any Tim Russert remixes a couple weeks ago, did I?... but today I'm making an exception...



... because George Carlin was the smartest, and one of the funniest, motherfuckers to ever take the stage... and if you disagree with that, I will fight you. The way he tore apart the way we, as a culture, tear apart the English language always left me in awe...

George Carlin - Euphemisms (ysi)

The world is even less funny than usual today, but it's good to know George will be up in there giving God a hard time from now on... :P

The elusive ones are the best ones

House Music Friday is freakin' sweating balls up in here...



This here is a CD I must have searched for for 3 years or more before I finally found a copy of it. You ever have one of those? You hear it out, trainspot that shit up, then look for it every time you hit a record store, but can't find it... then it becomes some kinda Holy Grail and when you finally do find a copy you pay way more for it than it's worth because "Oh my God, I finally found it SCORE!!1!!1!. Yep. Think I threw down 30 smacks. Anyhoo, the disc in question contains remixes of the relatively obscure Disco group Atmosfear by all sorts of good people (as you can see on the cover), and it's all DJ Dewey Chan's fault for playing that shit late nights at the legendary Club Septo. This particular cut was the deadly one, a remix by some guys called Spook with vocals by the awesome Roisin Murphy. Spacey and deeeep, best if used after 3 AM...

Atmosfear - Feel Up (Spook Remix) (ysi)

The fact that you can now purchase this for much less than I did, instantly, with just one click of your mouse doesn't make me bitter... not at all... fuckers...

... have a great weekend!

It's hot!

How hot is it today in SoCal? It's not just hot... it's not just Africa hot... it's Shaft In Africa hot!



You think that phrase could catch on? Let's make it happen, people. I've never actually seen Shaft In Africa (something about reading on IMDB that the movie starts with Richard Roundtree having a naked stick fight with a guy makes me, shall we say, slightly hesitant), but I'm sure it's Oscar quality cinema... well, it's got a good soundtrack, anyway, courtesy of composer/bassist Johnny Pate...

Johnny Pate - Shaft In Africa (ysi)

Actually, I'm going to revise something I just said... upon seeing the trailer on YouTube, I think this might actually be the best movie ever made...



(Adjusts Netfix queue)

Chillin' in St. Louie

Gonna take it down a couple hundred notches from yesterday, if you don't mind...



... to a song that truly lives up to it's title. Oddly, the best write up I could find for you on St. Louis sax-man Oliver Sain was on another blog. But since that blog is the seriously on-point Flea Market Funk, I'm glad to send you over there. RSS that shit, yo! My guy DJ Prestige even has the title cut from this record still up, so after listening to that one and this one, you will be seriously ready to get on the bus...

Oliver Sain - Laid Back (ysi)

Two things that pop into my mind: 1) To bad this one was from the age of short vinyl sides, because I could definitely groove out to that for 7 or 8 minutes (or hours) before getting bored of it... and 2) Doesn't it kinda sound like Santana bit this song for "Spooky", or is it just me?

Discuss...

Rejiggering Jigga

Some people say you can't polish a turd, but today I have proof to the contrary...



I'm guessing you might not have expected to ever see Jay-Z pop up on the ol' blog here, and rightly so. I think the guy is pretty over-rated... if you ask me, The Blueprint is the only album of his worth owning (and maybe the Unplugged, which is comprised mostly of songs from The Blueprint and it's got The Roots as his backing band, so it's pretty tight). But... let the dazzling Daz-I-Kue of Bugz In The Attic get his hands on a track, and then suddenly Hova is worthy of the discerning ears of you, the Tonegents readers! Here, he takes a relatively forgettable track from the not-so-hot Kingdom Come and breathes some Broken Beat fire into it. If only Jay-Z had this kind of production all the time... then I might actually care about him...

Bloodfire vs. Jay-Z - Hollywood (Original Mix) (ysi)

Now that's what I'm talkin' about! There's a whole series of these "Bloodfire" bootlegs... you might want to hunt those down if ya know what's good for ya...

The Cure for Monday Suck

Tiger, Tiger Woods, y'all!



If there could possibly be a musical cure for the soul-crushing effects of your average Monday, that cure would be Saint Etienne. I've previously discussed exactly what I think of these pop geniuses, so you can go check out that post for the unmitigated fan-boy lust... I ain't embarassed! Yeah, sure, I like the deep cuts, the dope beats and all that stuff, but Saint Etienne is like the syrup on my pancakes...

Saint Etienne - Split Screen (ysi)

But you know one thing I will repeat from the last Saint Etienne post... the bunnies!


Holy shit, those bunnies are fuckin' cute.

See, your Monday is at least 12% less sucky now. You may thank we with cash...

Feel the love

House Music Friday takes you to a disco dance in Chicago...



Where Chicago House heavyweight Glenn Underground takes a classic by Donna Summer into the back room, slips it a "mickey" and has his way with it...

Donna Summer - I Feel Love (Glenn Underground Cut 'n' Paste) (ysi)

You're not gonna find that record anywhere, btw. It's a white label with a DJ Sneak song on the flip that samples Samuel L. Jackson's famous speech from Pulp Fiction... but now you've got half of it, at least. Take that and have a great weekend!

The Youth Army

A little bit of classic Reggae, a little bit of genetic engineering...



Big Youth was a Reggae dude who was really into his dreads. I mean, he mentions them twice in three words in his album title, and in about half the song titles on this record as well. I would make fun of him for this, but, as you can see, his dreads were so powerful that they actually produced a clone of Big Youth within his own hairdo. I call him Little Big Youth. I wonder if the government knows about this, and I wonder if they ever captured and did experiments on Big Youth's dreads in hopes of creating a clone army that they could pay solely in marijuana...

Big Youth - Some Like It Dread (ysi)

Personally, I wouldn't put it past 'em, and quite frankly a Rasta Clone Army would probably come in pretty handy in Iraq. Give them insurgents a nice contact high and they'll be charging the kebab stand instead of setting car bombs... just sayin'...

Hey, look... bonus post!

Today's bonus content is one of those "Before They Were Stars" moments, but it doesn't involve anyone you know appearing in a laundry detergent commercial or as an extra on "Mannix"...



Before Jamie Lidell became the white-boy soul singing sensation that he is today, he worked with cool Techno-dude Christian Vogel in a project called Super_Collider. The sound was more of a glitchy IDM thing, but Jamie's vocals were present on many of the songs... a taste of what was to come. Hmmm... there weren't any jokes in that description... I am so fired...

Super Collider - Spillin' Visions (ysi)

Pretty good stuff, but ol' Jamie was just getting started. And despite the fact that he's touring the new album with a more traditional live band setup, I think he's at his awesomest when he's doing one of his self-sampling freakouts. Cue the YouTubes!



Wish I could do that...

Of beer, burps and beats...

So it looks like it's turning into British Week here at Tonegents... I guess that's what happens when you spill a Newcastle on your computer...



Break Reform is another one of those groups that I wish I could tell you more about, but information is scarce and I'm not sure if they are still together. They're two dudes and girl with a very nice voice, they have been championed by Gilles Peterson and they make jazzy new soul music that goes down just as nice as a Newcastle... but unlike the Brown ale, they will not make you burp...

Break Reform - Trust (ysi)

BUUURURRRAAAPP! Well how about that? I stand corrected...

Tasty Jelly

Mmm... jelly. My grandma and my mom both used to make apple jelly from apples we had in our back yard, a fact which has nothing to with these guys...



That somewhat sperm-like artwork you are looking at belongs to the album Lemonjelly.ky by pasty British Downtempo duo Lemon Jelly... who are definitely not to be confused with these guys... I actually know a guy who just joined Green Jelly and let's just say we don't hang out. But the Lemon-flavored Jelly made some great music and unlike their counterparts Boards Of Canada, who went with the whole mysterious vibe, they were known for being quite cheeky...

Lemon Jelly - Homage To Patagonia (ysi)

Supposedly these guys recently broke up to pursue solo careers, so... um... fuck 'em, I guess... :P

That is all.

Mopey and forgetful, the Brits...

Mondays and Brit Rock - two things that go together because of their inherent mopiness... and here's two songs posted together for reasons that are both multiple and obvious...



First off we have Doves, and that's supposed to be without a "The", so don't even start. They're from a town called Wilmslow, although they started playing in Manchester... but hey, let's give Wilsmlow their damn props, because quite frankly it seems that Doves are about the only thing the place should be given props for. Not exactly a hotspot. No offense. Anyhoo, these guys use the lost arts of great songwriting and vocals to be completely awesome, and they get many bonus points for starting out doing House music (as Sub Sub) before becoming one of the Top 5 Rock bands in the world. You heard me... Top 5...

Doves - Almost Forgot Myself (ysi)

Actually, they still close most of their sets with "Space Face", one of their old House songs... check it...



Tune!!!

----------------------------

But then, we realize that this whole "forgetting oneself" is apparently quite a problem amongst mopey British Rock types, because look what happens...



Or maybe it's just that someone's stalking someone... because Elbow are also from Manchester, they also count two brothers amongst their band members, they are also awesome... and they didn't just almost forgot, they done forgot... well, not really if you pay attention to the lyrics, but I most certainly do not, especially when I'm trying to craft clever segues...

Elbow - Forget Myself (ysi)

I guess I shouldn't short these guys on the YouTubes, should I? Here's "Fugitive Motel", from this same album, I think. I can't be arsed to look it up, though, so suck on that...



Elbow's got a new one out and Doves have one coming soon, so you got that to look forward to on a Monday... you're welcome! :P

Classic Dope

House Music Friday brings you one of the best DJ tools of all time...



The one and only album by The Bucketheads started out (according to what I've read) as the reaction of an irritated Kenny Dope (one half of Masters at Work) upon hearing way too much shitty Eurodance music. So he got a grip of weed, a case of Coors and an Asian hooker, retired to the basement and made some tracks... one of which turned out to be the all-time House classic "The Bomb". When that track blew up, he then decided to make a whole pissed-off album, got himself a keg of Heineken and 12 pounds of weed (with the residuals from "The Bomb"), built himself an entire robot hooker army and went to work. Some of the previous story may not be exactly true, but however it was made, All In The Mind is one of House music's essential recordings. And here's my favorite track from it...

The Bucketheads - Sayin' Dope (ysi)

That track, by the way, will mix into anything. And I mean anything. I once mashed it up with some Asian New Wave and it still sounded good. Don't believe me? Try it yourself... and have a great weekend!

(Not quite) Black Jazz

Who does one turn to these days for some vintage-sounding Soul Jazz like the stuff made in the '70s on labels like Strata East and Black Jazz? Why, to a bunch of pasty Brits, of course...



... but you figured it was either Brits or Japaneses, didn't ya? The Nostalgia 77 Octet is the live band that formed around producer Benedic Lamdin's more electronic-ish Nostalgia 77 project... and now they're all grows up and putting out records of their own. Extremely good records. But you probably figured that, too. Great female vocal on this one...

The Nostalgia 77 Octet - To Have Or To Be (ysi)

The thing that gets me is... why (with the exeception of Build An Ark) are there seemingly no American acts doing this sort of music? Why does so much new American Jazz seem so sterile and boring? And why don't you hear stuff like this on Jazz radio? Okay, that's actually three things, but you get my point... why?!?!

A serious musician, and I'm making a serious face as I type this...

Obama like a mofo, yo! You know, Barry is so cool that I bet he owns this album...



British/Indian producer/composer Nitin Sawhney is not just your average knob-twiddler. Nope, he's one of those serious music dudes. You know the type... the guys who in addition to putting out records and DJ mixes and whatnot also compose for the symphony and films and receive honorary degrees and props from Paul McCartney and get booked on chat shows to talk about important cultural shit. His records span all sorts of musical genres, from Drum 'n' Bass to Neo Soul that wouldn't sound out of place on an Erykah Badu album to more straight-up World music, like this one here...

Nitin Sawhney - Homelands (ysi)

... and bro's got 7 records out there for you to pick up, so you can just put off paying that cable bill for a while there, Sparky. TV makes you dumb anyway...

Drum 'n' Bass 'n' Balls

Every now and then, I need to go back to the Bay Area...



I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you may not be able to name this record by it's cover, so I'll let you know that it is the album Kwno by San Francisco artist and apparent dyslexic Jhno. This was one of those CDs that I picked up at a dollar sale once strictly because I thought by looking at it that it may be some sort of electronica... at a dollar sale, you don't have to be terribly picky. Hell, a good set of coasters will cost you more than four bucks. But Kwno did not get used as a coaster, because the Ambient Drum & Bass contained therein is quite nice to listen to...

Jhno - Drum And Java (ysi)

This guy is actually quite a well-known software programmer as well, responsible for Pluggo and a bunch of other VSTs I can't figure out how to use...

Oh, and remember a couple of weeks ago when I told you how I went bowling with JJ from Good Times and a bunch of midgets and you thought I was full of shit? Well, here's the proof...



... told ya. Remember, you must always believe everything I tell you...

... unless of course I'm making some shit up...

Bonus (non-ear exploding) Post!

Okay, since I just posted a video in which a dude gets his ear splattered across the side of his head (and it was even worse than that grainy YouTube showed... try watching it in HD like I did), I suppose I'll make it up to you with a bonus post...



... and this is a good bonus, because it's a true classic... one of those tunes that everyone needs to own and play at every single barbecue they ever attend. Can you tell I have a thing about barbecues? I grilled this thresher shark last week that was so good I had to change my pants after I ate it. I'll leave it up to you to ponder why... Anyhoo, when Jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd decided to start a funk band, none of his snooty Jazz friends wanted to participate, so he recruited a bunch of his Howard University music students for the project and The Blackbyrds were born. This worked out really well for Byrd. Not only did he have a band willing to follow his every direction, he was able to pay them in ramen noodles and Milwaukee's Best...

The Blackbyrds - Rock Creek Park (ysi)

Yep, there's not much that's not perfect about that jam... so I hope you've forgiven me for the ear thing... :P

From Zimbo to Kimbo

Saw that Universal Studios fire live and in person (well, from my patio, anyway) on Sunday... pretty wild stuff. I'm sure someone, somewhere was hoping that the flames would wipe out all evidence that Waterworld ever existed, but no such luck...



Let's start June (it's freaking June already? Holy crap!) with some nice Bossa Jazz from Zimbo Trio, another great find courtesy of the mighty Loronix, a site which I will pimp incessantly until each and every one of you have it safely stored in your bookmarks. It's hard to find a lot of info on these guys if you don't read Portuguese, but I guess you don't need to know their individual names or favorite breakfast cereals to appreciate that they make great music and continue to do so to this day... okay, fine, I think I was able to translate that the piano player likes Apple Jacks... happy now?

Zimbo Trio - Zomba (ysi)

This one's long out of print, but I've already told you where to get it and I suggest you do so...

Now, honestly, this track was picked out for today early Saturday morning, long before I randomly flipped my TV over to the MMA matches on CBS that night, which featured internet beatdown king Kimbo Slice... which naturally I had to mention, and for obvious reasons. You might not know this, but for someone who hasn't been in a fight since the 4th grade, I love watching dudes kick the crap out of each other. Anyhoo, Kimbo would have definitely gotten destroyed by someone who knows what they're doing, so wisely for his big primetime debut they put him in there with a big tomato can for him to pound on. A big tomato can who was the proud owner of the most insane cauliflower ear I have ever seen... I mean, dude was smuggling a golf ball inside his earlobe, and this was before the fight even started! And that's what made it either disgustingly awesome or awesomely disgusting... depending on your point of view... watch if you dare...



All I can say is DAAMMMMMMMMN that was nasty. I'm almost sorry for posting it, but the "Zimbo to Kimbo" line was just too good to pass up...