That's it? Really?

Coachella has historically been kind of a big deal around here. Being based in SoCal, I went to the first 6, had some of the best times of my life and really it was one of the events around which my whole year was based. The festival started out as kind of our own little thing here, but of course grew into a thing big thing that drew the (frankly unwanted) attention of the unwashed masses. I missed the last couple because of work commitments, and was pretty pissed about it. This is the year I don't think I'm gonna be pissed anymore.


(Click to embiggen)

Now, there WILL be more acts added, particularly in the Sahara Tent, per the Coachella reps on the message boards. And if the reunited Orbital is on that list, you can forget what I just said. I'm there. BUT, if not... so be it. Maybe I'm just old... oh wait, if I was that old I'd be thrilled with the likes of Paul McCartney, Leonard Cohen, et. al... so scratch that. The lineup just isn't that exciting. I am not feeling the excitement. I need to feel excited to spend that much damn money! But hey, there are plenty of nice acts on there... acts that I have not covered here at Tonegents, and maybe we'll discover some that get me excited... so Blog-achella begins Monday. But today is Friday, so here's some House music...



Fittingly, it's a Chicago connection today, as new(ish) Chi-town kid James Curd gets his shit remixed by old Chi-town pro Derrick Carter, who as always brings the boompty-boomp...

James Curd (ft. J-Dub) - You Know What To Do (Derrick Carter Dub Mix) (ysi)

Have a great weekend... Monday we head to the desert!

I have no clever title for this one. Sue me.

Here's an act with a crappy name that is ironically composed of two people with cool names...



The Politik is a collaborative project between producer Mark De Clive-Lowe and singer Bembe Segue, two fixtures of London's Broken Beat scene. That said, the record is more on a downtempo "future soul" vibe, and a lot of it is actually kinda weird, not that that's a bad thing. I'm kinda weird (as you well know), you're kinda weird (I can just tell) and weird stuff tends to be interesting, unless it's food. Then it just scares me. You wanna try this mango-infused jellyfish tort? Fuck and no! You keep that shit away from me, Top Chef wannabe! Anyhoo, that said, here's the one Broken Beat track on the album...

The Politik - Money (Don't Let It Catch Ya) (ysi)

... bonus points to me for the ripped-from-the-headlines song title. I am so on it like that. Anyhoo, if you haven't already, go to Mr. De Clive-Lowe's Myspace at that link up there. He's got two dj mixes and a whole live show available for download. See, someone's hip to this recession stuff! Givin' away free shit! We salute you, sir! Now make me a steak...

Just say no... unless you play Jazz

Today we get some West Coast Jazz from one of those legendary dudes you've never heard of...



Trumpeter Luis Gasca has had a pretty interesting career. He played Jazz in New York in the '50s, then went to San Francisco in the '60s. There, he worked with folks like Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, The Dead, Santana and all those cats and of course did copious amounts of drugs. Then he got his crazy on and eventually disappeared, as sometimes happens when your amount of drugs used is, in fact, copious enough. But hey, in Jazz the people who do blow are usually the people who can blow, and Luis is no exception. Check out the lineup on this record... Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, Mongo Santamaria, Bernard "Pretty" Purdie... yeah, not much of a chance of this sucking, eh?

Luis Gasca - Cosia No. 2 (ysi)

So I guess the moral of the story is... kids, if you want to be good at Jazz, do lots and lots of drugs. The fact that Luis has come back from his journey to Highsville and is still performing does nothing but prove my point...



Man, I'm jealous of that dude's hair...

While we wait...

Well, Coachella gave us the ol' blue balls today, so we shall proceed as usual...



This one's a little different. I mean, it has to be... a house remix of free jazz? You got your House in my Free Jazz! You got your Free Jazz in my House! Dogs and cats, living together! Anyhoo, we got Detroit producer Theo Parrish, who's kinda hit-n-miss for me vs. bona fide nut job Sun Ra... who's kinda hit-n-miss for me. The result? Some nice background music. That's not a slam. You gotta have background music. Sometimes the ol' Drum & Bass is a little much when you just wanna sip some coffee and fuck around on Facebook, ya know?

Sun Ra - Saga Of Resistance (Theo Parrish Remix 1) (ysi)

This one's out on the Kindred Spirits label, which is one to watch these days. And now, back to waiting on that damn lineup...

The Push is strong

I hate to use the phrase "slept on"... but here is a record from last year that was seriously slept on...



I would say that you would have to be more than a casual Hip-Hop fan to know the name Raashan Ahmad. I even own the record of his main project, Crown City Rockers, and I didn't know the name. I don't like getting my music bogged down with stupid things like "details". I'm pretty sure anyone who reads this blog regularly can attest to that. But I picked up this Bay Area cat's solo joint based on a friendly recommendation... and the name Raashan Ahmad will no longer be forgotten. This is one of the best Hip-Hop records of '08, maybe even as good as The Renaissance... I know, crazy talk... but it's definitely in the conversation. Listen to this and tell me I'm wrong...

Raashan Ahmad - If I (ysi)

That song is amazing, no? I think that vocal hook is sampled... major love to anyone who can tell me the source...

And tomorrow's a big day here at Tonegents... the Coachella lineup will be announced and we will begin our yearly slog through it. Stay tuned!

Big Migs

It's House Music (Rainy-ass) Friday, and since this has been a week of "big names", here's another one...



Miguel Migs. House Music Don. I've covered him before, so go read that if you want to know more. Yes, I am lazy like that. I can't even be arsed to put on pants unless I absolutely have to. Anyhoo, this is a great vocal track, a heavy rotation record back in the day...

Miguel Migs - Find What's Mine (Mig's Transporter Vocal) (ysi)

Classic. Well, time to brave the rain and the idiot L.A. drivers. Wish me luck... and have a great weekend!

Just enough time for a quickie

No time for the jibber-jabber today, so...



... enjoy this classic bit of DubReggaeJungle from the amazing first album by Bristol's Smith & Mighty, with none other than Mr. Horace Andy on the vocal... I think... I'm reasonably sure...

Smith & Mighty - Down In Rwanda (ysi)

Sorry to rush, but I gotta go...

Welcome to the waffle house

Was it just me, or did Barack Obama look like he'd had a couple glasses of champagne in the limo last night? I say because a) that would be awesome and b) he was acting pretty goofy dancing at those balls and had a Cheshire Cat-like grin on his face the whole time. Of course, I probably would get a little loose, too, if I was him... it might just be last fun he has for, oh... the next 8 years...



Today, the Tonegents debut of IDM superheroes Autechre. Here's the thing about the IDM (which is, ironically, a pretty stupid name for a music genre)... most people see that tag and think that the music is going to be unlistenable experimental garbage, and to be sure a great deal of it is (I'm looking in your direction, Venetian Snares). But there's a reason groups like Autechre... well there's a reason you've actually heard of them. Because while they do go off the deep end sometimes, they also sometimes drop really warm melodies and surprisingly straightforward - dare I say, funky - beats. And this song actually has a little bit of both. It starts out with the straightforward part and ends with the experimental part. Which part do you like best?

Autechre - Vose In (ysi)

Me, I like 'em both. Because "waffle" is my middle name. Well one of 'em anyway. The ol' birth cerificate reads Tonegent Steve Waffle Hummingbird McTonesterson III. My parents were a bit odd...

Time to come together

Hey there, sorry I missed ya yesterday... I was, um... giving a talk on the Israel-Gaza conflict at the U.N. Yep, that's what I was doing. But I'm back today, on this cool-ass day, as my man Mr. Obama becomes President Obama. And that, to be as eloquent as I can about it, is pretty fuckin' cool. Let's just all hope this guy is allowed to do what we all believe he has the power to do... a.k.a. fix this shit up. It's not gonna be easy, but if we all help out in the little ways we can maybe it could really happen...



... which leads me to my painfully on-the-nose Inauguration Day music selection, by the ever-infuriating Primal Scream. Infuriating because very few bands can go from so good (like on this all-time classic album) to so shitty (on those albums they decide they want to sound like a low-rent Rolling Stones) from album to album. They were great the time I saw them live at Coachella though, for what that's worth. So without further ado...

Primal Scream - Come Together (ysi)

On. The. Freaking. Nose is how I roll. Everybody party today... the hard work starts tomorrow. Peace.

The new stud in town

House Music Friday goes once more to the source for today's tune...



... and the source is, of course, my heterosexual man-crush object Gilles Peterson. Because I had never heard of this Trus'me fella until listening to Gilles' annual Worldwide Winners show last weekend. And if it's on that show, odds are you need to own it. Call it DiscoFunk House... and bear with it, it takes this song a good 3 minutes before it gets going...

Trus'me - Narda (ysi)

But Gilles better watch his back, because there's a new stud in town and his name is Sully...


"That's Chesley B. Sullenberger III to you, bee-yatch."

Sorry, my bad. You do what Sully says, folks. This dude drinks danger and pisses excellence. He looks Death in the face and punches it the cock. Well done, sir.

Have a great weekend!

Goin' BIG TIME!

So yesterday afternoon whilst checking my Google Analytics (because am indeed that much of a freaking dork) I happened to find out that my little blog had been mentioned in UK newspaper The Guardian's website. Wow, I thought, that's kind of a big deal! Think of all the new readers! I can't wait to see how many there are! Well, there were 12. 12 hits. Apparently... not that big of a deal. Thanks, though, Guardian... I guess... :P



So anyways, today we have Latin fire from percussion master Francisco Aguabella, another one of those guys who's been everywhere, played with everyone and recently gotten a boost in popularity thanks to re-issues and new music from Ubiquity Records. This one is big, fierce and way too fast for white people to dance to...

Francisco Aguabella - Casa Fuerte (ysi)

Wow, I just checked and today I've gotten a massive 7 more hits. Tonegents is goin' big time, folks... BIG TIME!

Capital City Funk

I can't remember exactly what it was, but I think I heard that something is happening in Washington D.C. next week. I'll get back to you on that if it comes to me. I only mention it because today we have a D.C. music legend...



... and that legend is Mr. Chuck Brown and his Soul Searchers. Chuck's the guy responsible for the awesome (if overused in TV ads) "Bustin' Loose" and the infamous "Ashley's Roachclip". I say infamous because the break from that song was used for the beat of Milli Vanilli's "Girl You Know It's True" (and about a half million other songs). So yes, in a way, Chuck Brown is responsible for Milli Vanilli... You know what? I'm not sure I like him that much anymore. Maybe some time I'll tell you all about the time I saw Milli Vanilli "live" in concert. Epic. Anyhoo...

The Soul Searchers - Blow Your Whistle (ysi)

Oh yeah, now I remember what's going on in D.C., sorta. Something about some dude with a funny name. Supposed to be a big deal... maybe I'll check it out... :P

Don't piss off the kittens!

It's not like I spend my time clubbing baby seals or anything, don't get me wrong... but PETA must be the single stupidest group of people on planet Earth. The latest proof... their campaign to rename fish as "sea kittens". I... just... no.



Much less stupid than PETA is the Tru Thoughts label, who as I've told you can do no wrong these days. One of the latest goodies from them is this compilation of Hip-Hop tunes from a number of their artists. Here we have label stalwart TM Juke, who among other things produced the new Alice Russell record, with rhymes by the purportedly Canadian Bread & Water, who I can't find jack about so obviously they must not be very important :P ...

TM Juke - Get It Together (ft. Bread & Water) (ysi)

But seriously, "sea kittens"?!? Next thing you know, they'll want us to call spiders "web kittens" and snakes "tube kittens". If I was a real kitten, I'd be pissed...


Damn straight! Who wants their eyes clawed out?

Actually, I think whoever came up with this idea should be clubbed to death with a baby seal... who's with me?

In which I phone it in...

Didn't watch the Golden Globes last night, but I'm glad that Slumdog Millionaire won. Go see that movie. It's good and stuff...



I guess what we have today is what you could call a precursor to Dancehall, some early Reggae/Dub toasting from the excellently named Tapper Zukie. You know, the more I think about it, the more I can see that name being a little raunchy. Think about it.

"Hey, that girl's cute."

"Yeah, man, I'd like to Tapper Zukie!"

And... that's it. That's the joke... the tune's better...

Tapper Zukie - Ital Pot (ysi)

Actually I think I will blame today's substandard comedy on the fact that I'm seething with bile over Andre Dawson once again not getting voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. It's a travesty... and as good an excuse as any...

Too many Hippies!

It's the first House Music Friday of the new year... Huzzah!



For today's tune we go to sunny Denver, and the producer known as Hipp-E, which is a real unfortunate moniker to choose. Because I think we can all agree that nobody anywhere likes Hippies. Hippies' moms don't even like Hippies. When someone asks a Hippie's mom how said Hippie is doing, the mom more often than not looks down at her shoes, shrugs her shoulders and tells the person that the Hippie is dead. Even if they're in the next room. But luckily, the name is the only Hippie thing about Hipp-E, because the music is just bumpin' in-the-pocket goodness...

Hipp-E - Snap Jaxx (ysi)

And it's a good thing that Hipp-E is no Hippie, or else this might happen...



And with that, I promise to never use the word Hippie again in this blog... have a great weekend!

My bass is bigger than yours

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like you to meet the undisputed king of bass...



Brit Dave Tipper, who records under the cryptic alias Tipper, is a man obsessed with bass. The kind of bass that is not heard, but felt. The kind of bass that makes your bone marrow vibrate. The kind of bass that can cause you to lose control of your shadoobie control. Yeah, there's funky nu-school Breakbeats, there's synths, there's samples. Whatever. Tipper, and this song, are about one thing only. Prepare to make your subwoofer tremble with fear...

Tipper - Deez Bass Lessen (ysi)

Holy crap, eh? And if that's not enough, Tipper is also co-owner of the world's loudest car. You must read that article. And the best part is, there's actually two of them. That form together into a stereo pair. That makes my man parts tingle. I'd love to see one of the gangsters that rolls around L.A. blasting bad rap from his lowered-down Civic with it's factory Alpine that he thinks is so bad ass run into these monsters some day...



The cars that go boom.


Yeah, that would be pretty funny. I gotta get me one of those...

United nations

Sometimes countries reach out across their borders and work together for the greater good... and sometimes they just bomb the shit out of each other. I'm gonna stay positive and focus on an example of the former...



Here's the kind of multinational collabo you gotta love... Finnish band Nuspirit Helsinki featuring Canadian vocalist Lisa Shaw remixed by British duo Capoeira Twins and released on American label Guidance. Can't we all just get along? Apparently, in this case... yes we can. As long as there's no Mongolians involved. Don't trust 'em. Anyhoo, this mix is in a UK Garage 2-step style... a style that's kinda gone the way of the dodo but still works for me. Bonus points for excellent wobbly bass...

Nuspirit Helsinki - Trying (Capoeira Twins Murakawa Remix) (ysi)

I think we should start a petition to bring 2-Step back. And if I had to let, say... Indie Rock die to make it happen, so be it! Yep, if I had to throw Vampire Weekend, Deerhoof and every other Pitchfork band into a boiling cauldron of oil to get me a new Artful Dodger record... well, consider it done!

In which I provide some actual information for a change...

In the last few months, I've posted a few times on my growing obsession with the African funk, and I'm here to tell you that's gonna last all the way through 2009, so get ready for some...



Orchestre Poly-Rythmo, also known as T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo or Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou... just to clear up that confusion, which I know has been bothering you... were/are the biggest band in the West African country of Benin, which used to be called Dahomey... just to clear up that confusion, which probably wasn't bothering you that much. They were another band that fused the raw African sound to James Brown funk, and have recently actually been heard of outside of Benin thanks to the work of Analog Africa, who released this compilation as well as another one devoted entirely to O.P.R. (as their friends call them) in the last year. How's that for informational, suckas?

Gabo Brown & Orchestre Poly-Rythmo - It's A Vanity (ysi)

Not that I'm planning on getting all informational around here or anything. Because we've established that I don't know jack... but good tunes! YEEEAHAHAHAHA! Sorry, guess I should go take some more meds now... :P

Off to a great start... or not...

Happy 2009, everyone! I could make some kinda big pronouncement here, I suppose... but screw that. Let's get back to the random tunes...



And randomly starting off the year will be... Raz Ohara & The Odd Orchestra, which is really just Raz Ohara and one other guy who apparently has delusions of grandeur. "I am an orchestra!" "Yeah, right, Bob. Just shut up." Kind of odd that this is out on Get Physical, which is primarily a House label, because this record is not House at all. It's acoustic/electronic Pop... very Morning Becomes Eclectic. Not that any of you who don't live in L.A. would have any idea what that means... but it's not like any of you expected the commentary around here to improve or anything with the new year, did you? Because that would be silly of you...

Raz Ohara & The Odd Orchestra - Kisses (ysi)

Actually, I'm just kidding... Tonegents will be better than ever this year!

Or not... we'll see...

:P