Um, this...

Only getting in one post this week, so let's make it weird...



... and generally when you're looking for weird, your first two stops have to be Japan and Scandinavia. So here, from Sweden, is Goat... in which a bunch of blonde Nordic types play heavy psychedelic Afrobeat with vocals from a pack of deranged schoolgirls. And it's good. No, really...

Goat - Disco Fever

And if that's not enough, get a load of this...



Yep, they must have good drugs in Scandinavia...

R.I.P. George Duke

I actually have a George Duke story for you. I met him once whilst working on one of the Soul Train Awards shows. He was putting together a tribute to (I believe it was) The Isley Brothers and I got to sit down with him as he broke down the music for the medley. He was really cool I remember thinking "Damn, I'm here chatting music with a legend!" Rad moment. And... that's pretty much it. Hey, I didn't say it was an amazing George Duke story...

George Duke - I Want You For Myself (ft. Lynn Davis)

Cross one off the list

Another amazing show in DTLA this past Friday...



Jose James has has long been a favorite around here and until Friday was near the very top of the list of artists I've desperately wanted to see live but haven't. (Currently also near the top of that list... Fat Freddy's Drop, Beardyman and Portico Quartet to name a few...) And lemme tell you, when I finally got the chance, the man did not disappoint. I wouldn't have thought that the dude's voice could actually be even BETTER live, but damn... just damn. His tight-ass band brought an extra level of energy to the tracks from his new album No Beginning No End... and don't even get me started about the Bill Withers tribute. There can't be too many humans alive that can do Bill justice, but Jose is one of them. Damn. Here's a tune played Friday...

Jose James - Vanguard

And now some video, this one featuring a solo from fantastic trumpet man Takuya Kuroda, who has his own album upcoming on Blue Note. I'll be keeping an eye out for that one...



Don't ya wish you were there? (Hint: You do.)

Booze, Music and Chicks... Brazilian Style

We haven't visited Brazil in a while, have we?



I won't claim to be an expert on Samba... as a matter of fact, I know pretty much jack shit about Samba except that I like it and download some occasionally. You can't really dislike this music... it's so freakin' happy. I mean, I don't know any Portuguese or anything, but I'm almost positive that the lyrics to any and every Samba song ever go something along the line of "Let's grab a Caipirinha or twelve, go out to the streets and dance around with some beautiful naked girls"... but, ya know, I'm paraphrasing. Anyhoo, here's a tune from one Martinho Da Vila and it's quite nice to listen to...

(DMCA'D FOUR YEARS AFTER POSTING... WHATTHEFUCKEVER)

Actually, I ran the song title through Babel Fish and it came out "Master, Arrests It's Cattle", so I'm gonna conclude that a) Babel Fish sucks or b) Brazilian folks have some pretty odd metaphors for getting drunk and freaky on the streets with naked girls. Anyone care to help me out on this?