Squeeeeeeeel!

As you may recall, in last week's House Music Friday we experienced Accordion House... so it only makes sense to take it one step further this week... to Banjo House!



Yes, it's the perfect mix of glowsticks and Deliverance, which means I can only be talking about one song, The Grid's classic, dare I say Pantheon-level track, "Swamp Thing". For those of you who don't know... who think I'm being facetious or something... I swear to you this really is one of the best songs ever. And if you disagree, I will smash a banjo over your cranium...

The Grid - Swamp Thing (Southern Comfort Mix) (ysi)

I know, I know... violence is wrong... unless it is against a cast member of "The Hills", in which case it should be encouraged and handsomely rewarded. So just forget I said that and have a fantastic weekend...

Brazilian Beauty

I'm not sure but I think it's been quite a while since I've posted some proper Brazilian business 'round here... let's fix that today.



When it comes to current Brazilian chanteuses, everyone knows Bebel Gilberto, but she has some competition in the form of Ms. Rosalia De Souza. Who? Well, Rosalia doesn't have the immensely famous family, but she does have the same last name as the great Brazilian tromboner Raul De Souza, so let's just go ahead and start the rumor that she's his daughter here at Tonegents, okay? Good. Done. Actually, Rosalia left Brazil for Italy to get her start, finding a champion in Nicola Conte, and we all know how the chicks dig Nicola. Sure. Anyhoo, how about some brand new old-school Samba with vocals that'll make yer pants get twitchy...

Rosalia De Souza - Amanha (ysi)

You're gonna like her even more after checkin' this YouTubes...



You ever see Bebel Gilberto rock the shaker like that? Didn't think so! Recognize the game, foo! :P

We should get back in touch...

Sometimes this blog helps me get reacquainted with my own music collection... to wit...



Now, I don't have anything against the dude... it's not like he owes me money or anything, but me and RJD2 aren't exactly close. I mean that in the sense of... I'm not as familiar with his work as I should be, considering it tends to be pretty dang good, and I own most of it. Rack it up to me having too much music, I guess... but then this beauty pops up in the shuffle this morning and I says to myself, "Self, you need to listen up to that RJD2 shit more often"...

RJD2 - Clean Living (ysi)

That vocal sample sounds like Nina, but for some reason I don't think that's who it is. Anyone got any info? The main sample of the track, however, is no mystery, and because I loves me some sample sources, here it is...

Pure Essence - Third Rock (ysi)

I'm actually not sure which tune I prefer... what's your vote?

Skid Row Serenade

Short one today because I got lots to do and don't really know too much about this dude, anyhoo...



I think it's fair to say that saxamaphonist Ike Quebec is one of the less-famous members of the Blue Note roster, even though he has possibly the coolest name. This tune is the soundtrack to a rainy alley populated by down-trodden folks... in the nostalgic '40s movie sense where the bums are raffish and the hookers have hearts of gold... I did read that Ike had the requisite heavy drug habit, so you know this is quality, people...

Ike Quebec - Brother Can You Spare A Dime (ysi)

Oh and I'd be remiss without mentioning Syracuse University's amazing win in the NCAA Lacrosse final yesterday. What's lacrosse, you ask? Ah, shut up, you...

Another day, another German duo

House Music Friday makes dirty love to an Oompah band...



... and the result is not nearly as horrifying as it sounds. Because the ones making the dirty love are German Techno/House studmuffins Ame, and they know how to make the lovin' sweet, even if it involves four Lederhosen-clad Bavarians. What the hell am I on about? Listen and find out...

Ame - Setsa (ysi)

I don't think there's enough Accordion House in the world, so thank you, Ame, for inventing the Oompah-ty-Boomp. Have a great weekend, folks...

Die Sowlenjahzzen!

Today, I have for you a new-ish cover of a classic Soul Jazz jammy, the original of which was on my podcast for Simple Harmonic Motion. Have you checked that site out yet like I told you to? There's over a dozen other shows besides mine and they're all very tasty. Just do it, already...



So anyways, the song covered is Doug Carn's "Western Sunrise", and the dudes covering it are called Intuit, a couple of German dudes. Of course. Because Americans don't like classic American music. They like Lady Gaga now. Sigh... Anyhoo, the Shnitzengruben-eatin' fools did recruit a veritable Soul Jazz legend, Mr. Andy Bey to sing this one, and he rules... then they got Japanese DJ Toshio Matsuura, who's one of the guys from United Future Organization to do the remix, and he rules, too.... so basically this track rules...

Intuit - Western Sunrise (Toshio Matsuura Remix) (ysi)

In my write-up for the podcast, I mentioned how the Soul Jazz was the basis for the Broken Beats of today, so... see? Huh? See? This is like what I said, see? Ha! Told ya.

Where's the hairs?

Today on Tonegents, it's the return of one of the smoothest Neo-Soul singers of them all...



So where the hell has Maxwell been, anyway? Dude was hot shit around the turn of the century... three nice albums, bona fide hits, tons of babies being made to his silky slow jams... then the brother disappeared. Maybe he got deep into World of Warcraft... Maybe he took time to travel the globe teaching playas in undeveloped nations how to get their swerve on (them Laotians is gettin' laid now)... or maybe it just took a reallllllllllllllllly long time to get his hair cut. And what a coincidence, reports just now surface about how Maxwell's back with no hair and my iTunes shuffle randomly picks a Maxwell track. No, really, totally random. Anyhoo, here's what we've been missing since '01 and hopefully will be getting more of soon...

Maxwell - Drowndeep: Hula (ysi)

Smooth. Make sure you hit his website for a new vid. And did you hear? He got a haircut!

Cannonball Fun

Get ready for some serious academic throwdown here folks. No blowjob jokes today...



I'm finally getting the feeling that I've listened to enough jazz to actually be able to form opinions on who I like. I know that might sound weird, but I think with instrumental music it takes time. One saxamaphone kinda sounds just like another saxamaphone, ya dig? The average listener... hell, the above-average listener... isn't going to be analyzing different jazz players based on their chord choices or note patterns of whateverthefuck... leave that to the music professors. Nah, I think the key for someone like me or you is that once you hear a body of work, only then can you say, okay, I like this dude more than this other dude. So therefore, now I believe I can say, after listening to a nice amount of his body of work, that Cannonball Adderley is one of my favorites. He went from playing with Miles on "Kind of Blue" to "Cannonball's Bossa Nova" to getting very, very funky in the '70s... although he didn't get nearly as experimental. Which is probably a good thing, because sometimes you need some crazy shit and sometimes you just need some funky shit...

Cannonball Adderley - Hummin' (ysi)

Although if you wanna hear Cannonball get weird, I got two words for you "Soul Zodiac"... that's some out there shit, but I guess that's for another blog... but anyways, get to the guy with the badass nickname. His saxamaphoning is a bit better than some of the other ones... and no, I would not be confused with any music professor, now would I?

Okay, one blowjob joke:

A guy walks into the bar and orders 9 shots of tequilia. So the bartender pours nine shots and the man downs one after the other.

"Holy shit!" the bartender exclaimes "That the most tequila I've ever seen anyone drink that fast before - whats the occassion?"

"My first blow job" the man anounces quite plainly.

"Well" the bartender replies "let me buy you another!"

"Listen, if 9 doesn't take the taste out of my mouth, another one won't help."

ZING!

Here's what you missed...

So I went and did it again... took a week off with no warning whatsoever to you, the faithful readers that exist in my head. Sorry 'bout that. But hey, to make it up to you I started a Twitter, because that's not a waste of time or anything... why, if you check out my latest "tweet", you will discover my take on sandwiches. Not any particular kind of sandwich... just sandwiches in general. Strap in and enjoy the thrill ride, folks...



Attica Blues is a project involving one Mr. Tony Nwachuku, who makes his third appearance here at Tonegents, and you don't make three appearances here by sucking at music... you make 'em by sucking something else!

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...

Yep, a whole week off, and that's what I got for you... that blowjob joke. Enjoy the Twitter! Anyhoo, this is a Mo' Wax compilation, which means it's that super-deep, stony downtempo that it doesn't seem gets made much anymore... dare I say, classic?

Attica Blues - Contemplating Jazz (ysi)

And since I don't want to step on that amazing blowjob joke, I will bid you good day...

Trying slightly harder

So yesterday's post was pretty stupid, eh? You're welcome. I'll try to do a little better on House Music Friday...



... but that's going to be pretty hard, because the only info I can find on Nature Soul is that they are two Japanese dudes and they've only put out this and one other record according to Discogs. Gripping stuff, eh? Anyhoo, this poorly named remix is from two big names from the Ibadan Records crew, Jerome Sydenham and Dennis Ferrer. Those names should tell you what you're in for... some laid-back shizz...

Nature Soul - River Benue (The Just For Fun Dub) (ysi)

Yep, that's a 6 A.M. track for sure. Maybe you'll still be up at 6 A.M. and wanting to here this... you can only hope so. Just don't end up like these chicks...



Or do... either way, have a great weekend!

No ouchies

Today will be quick and painless...



Before trumpeter Donald Byrd got all funky, he was a Hard Bop guy. It was pretty good...

Donald Byrd - Bo (ysi)

See? Didn't hurt a bit...

One crazy bitch...

The fine line between genius and insanity... usually depends on how much drugs are consumed, true... but here's someone who walks it, one way or the other...



Admittely, I'm a little bit behind the pack on this one. Everyone else was raving about Erykah Badu's latest record months ago, but somehow I just now managed to get my grubby paws on it. And I gotta tell ya, everyone else was right. New Amerykah is onsumuthasheeit, man. I mean, it became apparent on her Worlwide Underground tour, or the 2 1/2 hour Earth Mama Freakout as I dubbed it that night, that the sassy hood sister of "Tyrone" may have just been an act and Erykah Badu was, in fact, totally batshit crazy. In a good way. And this record just proves it. So freaking weird... and so freaking good. Put it on my retroactive Best of 2008 list, for sure...

Erykah Badu - My People (ysi)

Honestly, just taking one track out of this album does it an injustice, so you better go pick up the whole thing... before this crazy bitch finds out you haven't. Because I don't know what might go down if she did... :P

Toumani Diabate is teh awesummmz

Today I'm gonna go a little Tom Schnabel on you, only minus the Filipino pool boys... that would be really funny if anyone but me got it, but whatevs...



Toumani Diabate from the West African country of Mali (as popularized by Damon Albarn :P ) is the world's top master of an instrument called the kora, which is a weird stringy/harpy contraption made out a big-ass gourd, cow skin and some strings. From what I gather, it's mostly used for traditional music, but my man Toumani has taken the kora outside the box, to use a phrase I hate, and combined it with Western sounds, blah blah blah... but despite that lackluster description, this song is about to melt your face. That will be the kora you hear at the beginning, then after that comes the awesome...

Toumani Diabate's Symmetric Orchestra - Mali Sadio (ysi)

What do the kids say? I'm feeeeelin' it, man. Plus there are some really good uptempo numbers on here as well... it's really just one of the best world music albums I've ever heard, and if you disagree with that, I will have Tom Schnabel fight you... Here, watch this and learn something about the man and the instrument far more enlightening than you'll get from me...

In which I order you around a bit...

It's only Monday, but I already have your weekend planned out for you... if you live in the UK, that is...



I don't usually do compilations here at Tonegents... I'd rather give the shine to individual artists... but the Southport Weekender series is just too good for me to not tell you about. The Weekender is a twice-a-year party held in the UK, home of every festival you wish you could go to, and is basically made for you and me... people who like all things funky. Anyhoo, in addition to the party, they put out these amazing multi-CD compos every now and then. The ridiculous line-up you see on this first edition isn't just a one-off, either. Number 8 just came out with King Britt & Ashley Beedle. There was one with Jazzanova & Mr. Scruff... you get the idea. Quality. I've picked a tune from Gilles' disc for you... shocking, I know...

Har-You Percussion Group - Welcome To The Party (ysi)

The latest Weekender takes place... you guessed it, this weekend... peep the sick lineup here. Har-You is a pretty interesting group to read about, btw... I suggest you do so. This track actually got a Jazzanova remix once... you should get that. I'm feeling bossy today apparently... deal with it. :P

Beware of groaning bushes

Pulling out another classic for this edition of House Music Friday... hope you don't mind...



I follow the House music pretty closely, so I feel I can say that despite the fact that he seems to be really old, Markus Nikolai would count as a "one-hit wonder"... which is fine, I am currently a "no-hit blunder"... so I ain't frontin'. And the thing is, his one hit was possibly more Fatboy Slim's fault than his, as it was this remix that got all the spins. I neither have nor even know what the original sounds like...

Markus Nikolai - Bushes (Norman Cook Remix) (ysi)

But then again, it's probably not as good. I remember much being made of the supposedly saucy lyrics to this jam. "If the bushes in the park groan after dark"... well, most likely it's a homeless guy jacking off, so ew... And I'll think I'll leave it at that. Have a great weekend!