But first... Afro. Disco. Boogie. Edits. Those four words in a row? That sounds like something I'd like to hear. Production duo Guynamukat are the dudes responsible. Can't get enough of this shit, yo. And good for me... homeboys are rather prolific. Be sure and check out that link...
Sometimes tough love is required in this music game, and I'm here to deliver some today...
Oneness Of Juju, back in the day, were one of the most bad-ass African Funk bands around, even though they were all American. I did not know that. I even led off my legendary (sure) (what?) Funk D'Afrique mix with one of their tunes. Now? Well, they're doing Smooth Jazz covers of John Legend. Go ahead to click through and have a listen. Just know... it's Kenny G-riffic not great. Let it go, Plunky. Let it go... let us remember tunes like this one...
Okay, we're gonna try to get back on a regular posting schedule around here, since shit isn't quite so CRAAAAAAAY anymore...
So there's a reason I picked this particular song today... the way my iTunes is organized, this song just happens to be the very first song on the entire list. So every day, when I hop on there to shuffle it up and find a song for the blog, this song plays first. And since I literally hear at least a bit of this song every day, I think it deserves to be posted. Riveting story, eh? Here's the master of Congolese music, the dude so dope he has only one name... Franco...
I know it's been a bit sparse around here lately, but I've been in the middle of a move. Moving sucks. But I live in Long Beach now, where the skies are always dank with the smoke from Snoop Dogg's bong. And I always thought it was just marine layer...
There is very little information out there about Tumblack. All I know is that they were French and apparently this guy had something to do with it. And that's about it. It's some serious African percussion, sometimes in a Disco mode and sometimes just raw. Here's the most Disco-y jam on the record, and quite a jam it is...
Okay, so it's about time I started sharing some of my new acquisitions made whilst Blog-achella-geddoning. Here's one now...
Just picked up this amazing compilation, the complete title of which is Brand New Wayo: Funk, Fast Times and Nigerian Boogie Badness 1979-1983, and this shit is off the hook. That title describes it better than I could, but I'll just add that this stuff is supremely funky and catchy... I woulda liked to go to the parties where this was playing. Maybe. I mean, I have no idea how killed I'd get in Nigeria in 1970... but if the answer to that is "not very" then I stand by my statement. This is also one of the most nicely remastered African comps I've heard in a while. I'll be playing this out at my imaginary DJ gigs fo sho...
So the Coachella lineup is out and looking adequately un-shitty, which raises a bit of a dilemma for moi. Do I press on with the Blog-achella tradition or just let it go softly into that good night? I ask because it became pretty obvious last year that I don't have time to do it properly... is Half-Assa-Blog-achella good enough for you, fine reader? Let me know, because the ironic thing is that I'm more likely to go this year than I have been in a long time. Stars aligning and whatnot... so it is in your hands. Really. Leave a comment...
Today's song asks a question to which my answer is Rosie O'Donnell...
Chico Mann (not his real name and I'm hoping a reference to Chico & The Man) (I'm also hoping that at least one person here gets that reference) is a member of the mighty Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra rocking a solo project. And by solo, I do mean solo... homeboy made every sound on the record his damn self. Just like Lenny Kravitz. Ha...
I blogged on them quite some time ago after first discovering 'em and in the time since I've decided that Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo from Benin are probably the most amazing band to come out of Africa that doesn't have someone named Kuti in it. Because, and you may not know this, I am the one who decides those sort of things. I won the right in a raffle. Sweet. Second prize was a crock pot. Also sweet. Anyhoo, after a 20-year absence, the Strut label has gotten the band back together and guess what... they still sound pretty damn good...
I know it's House Music Friday and all, but I got this post half-written yesterday so suck on that...
... besides, this is a pretty hip selection. Dare I say, "buzzy" even? I know, I hate that word, too. But anyhoo, get a load of Africa Hitech. They are a Marvel Team-Up of two Electronic music veterans, Mark Pritchard (Global Communication, Troubleman, Jedi Knights & about 267 others) and Steve Spacek (who doesn't have as many aliases, but has done just as much with as many people). The result is one of the more unique records I've heard in a long time, the kind of record it's completely pointless to try and tag some lame genre on. Just call it some next level shit...
Hey all! Wow, busy and sick (as in physically ill) first half of the week, but I'm back and never wack. And despite the raping the DMCA dickweeds gave my last post, I'm gonna continue on with my 2010 review with...
Part 4: International Men of Mystery
Now, I'm not gonna pretend to have anywhere near the kind of knowledge to give you any sort of meaningful overview of World music, but today we do have a couple of artists who are definitely World-y and worldly who threw down two of the really good albums of the year. The first are the masters of Tango-tronica, the always amazing Gotan Project. I'm pretty sure I remember this single first hitting my earholes on KCRW right before the World Cup started, and appropriately it has a great vocal sample from "the celebrated Argentine football commentator Victor Hugo Morales (who name-checks all the musicians featuring on the track before shouting GOOOOOOTAN instead of his trademark GOOOOOOOAL!!)" (quotes because I cut & pasted that shit, obviously)... I like how my boys are on da fuckin' nose like dat, yo...
Hey, remember last Friday when I said I'd have a special House music-related post for you today. I apparently totally lied. Okay, I just didn't record my DJ set from last night like I thought I was gonna. Might throw it together in Live for you some time soon... keep waiting with breath FULLY BATED! Anyhoo, here's a tune from the best compilation I've picked up in a hot minute...
Soundway Records, a UK re-issue label specializing in rare, vintage funkiness from Africa and South America, are just fucking killing it lately. Every compilation they have put out is gold and this one is no exception. Raw, funky and with enough fuzzed-out guitars to make your head wobbly, The World Ends is, to me, proof that the drugs in Lagos in the '60s and '70s were every bit as good as those in Haight Ashbury. So that may be why some of those cats looked Jimi in addition to James, and the results are musically stunning. Dig it...
Go buy this one straight from the source... and while you're there feel free to pick up pretty much every single thing they've ever put out. You will NOT be disappointed...
Good day and welcome to another episode of "Musicians Who Make American Gangsta Rappers Look Like The Gigantic Pussies They Truly Are"...
... because while, say, Fitty Cent slanged some rock and got shot a couple times, that's really nothing with being CONSCRIPTED AS A CHILD SOLDIER IN THE SUDANESE CIVIL WAR! Not even close, I'd venture. But that's what happened to Emmanuel Jal when he was a kid. Seriously, watch the Youtubes below before you move along from here to your favorite Japanese tentacle rape manga site. Emmanuel survived and somehow got out, determined to try to promote peace in Sudan through music. To that end, he recorded this record with Muslim Sudanaese oud player Abdel Gadir Salim (featured a while back here)... which is significant because while in the "child army" Emmanuel was charged with basically killing himself as many Muslims as possible. So nice turnaround. The music itself is, well... amazing. This is no haphazard ramming together of styles into some tepid world music mess. This shit organic, tough as nails and the real deal...
And you know, Rap in languages other than English can be pretty hard to get into, since so much of the point is what they're saying, ya dig? But I have no such problem with this record, 'cuz shit just sounds good. And here's another Fitty comparision... they made a movie about this Emmanuel Jal as well. And it, like the music, is far real-ier...
The question is not how well you know your blogger, but how well your blogger knows you...
... because I know what you're thinking today. Actually, I always know what you're thinking but I don't talk about it that much because I don't wanna creep you out... but I do know... and what you're thinking right now is, "Gee, Tone, your blog is the best thing on the entire internet and all, but you're really lacking in posting Zambian Psyche Rock. It's kinda disappointing. Also, I've heard you have a solid gold cock. Is that true?" Hey now, that's none of your business. But I can help you with the Zambian Psyche Rock. Don't know that much about Amanaz and I really don't need to, except that for some reason I can't quite put my finger on, this is one of my favorite songs in the history of ever...
I mean, there's no reason for me to love this song so much... it's not exactly my usual cup of tea... but love it I do... so, um... there you go. AND YOU WILL LOVE IT, TOO! YOU WILL LOVE IT LONG AND HARD! REMEMBER, I'M IN YOUR HEAD, MAN! I COMMAND YOU!
So Barack Obama has been President for a year now and he must feel like the title character of that Chris Rock sitcom. Dude is really getting it from both ends these days! The far right hates him because he's black a Nazi Communist Baby-Killing Terrorist who Hates America and the far left hates him because he's a Pandering Centrist Weenie who Doesn't Like To Play Basketball With Girls. Damn. Luckily most of us sane people think he's doing a fucking awesome job despite the fact that he has to deal with the bunch of corrupt, self-serving idiots that comprise Congress, and that the people who complain about the basketball thing have obviously never watched the Chinese water torture of sporting that is a WNBA game. So keep up the good work, sir. We got your back...
And hey, here's some good old-fashioned Bush-era government mistrust in the form of shuffling beats and blazing horn charts, courtesy of Antibalas, who are kind of the elder statesmen of the current crop of excellent American Afrobeat ensembles...
Seriously, Liberals... before you start getting on my man Barry's case because he hasn't cured cancer, ended all war or won the World Series for the Cubs yet... just remember how shitty things were just one short year and a day ago... and shut the fuck up and let the man work. Toodles...
Like Mr. Burns, I'm a big fan of old-timey sayings and words. Like "ramshackle". What an awesome word that nobody ever uses. But it's a word that describes a quality of African Funk that I've decided is one of the reasons I'm so into it. Some of these recordings are pretty darn ramshackle. These people weren't glossy pros working in fancy studios with all sorts of high-falutin' doo-dads and thingamajigs. They didn't have the luxury of digital editing, mulitrack flim-flammery and other assorted studio witchcraft. Nope, they just had their band, maybe one mic and one of them recording doohickeys. They went in, they played their song and Bob's yer uncle. But the rawness, the RAMSHACKLENESS of these recordings is what makes them so pure and raw and awesome... and funky as all git out. Like this joint by lesser known Nigerian artist Segun Bucknor. Dig it...
Being the semi-popular niche music blogger that I am, there are some people out there with the crazy idea that if their music were featured here at Tonegents, someone would actually notice. So people send me shit to my Inter-mails sometimes in hopes of gaining this vast exposure. Which is funny, but hey, I'll go with it. Now most of this shit people send me is, not surprisingly, shitty. But lately some of it hasn't been, thus the first installment of STUFFED IN MY BOXHOLE!
I recently got an email from Benjamin, the man in charge of Akwaaba Records. Take it away, promo copy...
"Akwaaba is a fair trade label of music from Africa. We feature music by locally established yet globally isolated artists, regardless of musical style or genre.
At our core is an eclectic catalog of African music, ranging from acoustic and traditional sounds to contemporary fusions of urban and dance styles.The scope of music in Africa is staggering. Our catalog reflects and spreads this wealth, in a simple, straight-forward way.
Akwaaba offers a fair and simple deal: we share our net revenue 50-50 with licensees, and sign directly with the artist whenever possible. We do all the work to spread the music worldwide. We distribute, license, manage and represent the artists.
The internet allows us to directly share the music and the journey with increasingly curious and socially-aware fans. Our trips to Africa are meticulously documented on the site: how we found the music, the story behind an artist or a music scene, tidbits about local culture and trends. Videos, sound bites, photos and words to share this first-hand experience with you, enjoy!"
So basically they find people who are big in Africa (because people in Africa don't have time to be listening to our shitty pop music) but unknown outside of whatever country in Africa they're big in (because we waste too much time listening to shitty Pop music to discover these people on our own). That sounds pretty awesome to me, as I have no idea where to start when looking for actual new African music. So I was very happy to hear from these guys and here are a couple of compilations from the label that kick much ass...
Compilation #1, Akwaaba Wo Africa (Welcome To Africa) features more traditional sounds, which means lots of pretty acoustic stringy things that are not guitars. Kind of exactly what you think of when you think of African music. Absolutely beautiful stuff top to bottom, like for instance this song by Mamou Sidibe, who's fucking huge in Mali...
Although really you should get it straight from Akwaaba and there's iTunes linkage on their site as well.
BUT it's not all on this vibe, as there's some Reggae and Salsa on there, too. Bet you didn't know they had Salsa in Africa, eh? Well, they do. It's right here on the CD. Anyhoo, the second compy they sent me focuses on a more modern and distinctly Urban sound...
... and that sound is called Hiplife, being a combination of sorts between Hip-Hop and Highlife. Highlife rhythms & modern beats together, synths and rapping. Not as Dancehall-sounding as Kuduro (which I've posted on a couple of times) but it's got some of that going on, too. Really unique and pretty dang funky to boot... check this jammy by Akyeame who are so big in Ghana that they can't even walk down the street without being mobbed and offered assorted sexual favors...
They actually also sent me a Kuduro comp, but let's not get carried away here, folks. So to wrap up, Akwaaba Records has got some nice music and a really solid mission, so I'm certainly stoked to give them some shine. Go out and buy their shit like nowzers...
Thus concludes the first ever episode of STUFFED IN MY BOXHOLE! Huzzah!
Okay, so I believe we can all agree that Michael Jackson is dead and move on with our lives, right? Good.
Danny Wolfers is one prolific Dutch dude. His most common alias is Legowelt, but his most excellent is Nacho Patrol. That name rules. Wish I'd thought of it. Anyhoo, this record is a weird combination of House and Mulatu-like Ethio-Jazz vibes and it fucking rules, even though I'm not sure you could dance to it. I like to listen to it and imagine an group of cartoon African tribesmen traveling the galaxy in a rickety homemade spacecraft having amusing adventures. If only I knew animation so I could make that video...
Get ready people... it may be Monday, but I'm not easing you into it this week. Today's post if very deep, thought-provoking, conversation-starting... you get the idea. Ready?
So... last night I stubbed my toe on my desk so hard that I expected it to be pointing sideways when I looked down at it. Luckily it's not broken, but it hurts like heck. I'm limping around the office like a gimp. Lovely. So this funky little Hugh Masekela jammy is dedicated to my bashed up little toe, for obvious reasons...
And that is easily the laaaaamest title for a post in the two-year-plus history of the Tonegents Interweb Blog. You're welcome...
Now, I've been known to bitch about how America is the worst at just about every current form of music around here, and well... it's mostly true. Quite ironically, one style that has no shortage of good, new-ish American bands right now is Afrobeat. Because of course, right? You got yer Antibalas, Kokolo, Akoya, Chicago Afrobeat Project... and maybe my favorite, Nomo, who rep the Serengeti-adjacent oasis of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Nomo just logged album number three, Invisible Cities, but the shuffle landed on a track from their first. Authentic biznezz...
I'll never get tired of Afrobeat horns, no sir. Okay, busy day here at the salt mine... both Chris Isaak and Soulja Boy Tellem are in the house. Can anyone say "dream duet"?
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...
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...
The music posted on this blog is for evaluation purposes only and will be removed after a short time... so if you like it... support the artists, dammit! Buy the records, go to the shows, give them a ride to the airport if they need it! Don't be a schmuck! If you are an artist or scary lawyer type and want something removed from here, just holla and it's gone! I'm easy like that!
