Hello Summer!

Tonegent Presents "Mistura Do Verao"


(Continuous (sorta) DJ Mix (or should I say blend?) - 76:48 - 87.9 mb @ 160 kps - yeah, I know... it's huge. Deal with it :P )

100% Pure Brasilian Summer Vibes:

1) Escola de Samba da Cidade e Paulinho e sua Bateria
2) Milton Banana Trio - Vesti Azul
3) Mandrake Som - Deixa Isso Pra La
4) Trio Mocoto - Swinga Sambaby
5) Raul De Souza - Estamos Ai
6) Luiz Carlos Vinhas - Ye-Mele
7) Dom Um Romao - Escravos De Jo
8) Escola de Samba da Cidade e Paulinho e sua Bateria
9) Sergio Mendes - Capoera Do Brasil
10) Escola de Samba da Cidade e Paulinho e sua Bateria
11) Luiz Bonfa - Apache Talk
12) Luiz Carlos Vinhas - Pourquoi
13) Azymuth - Esperando Minha Vez
14) Joao Donato & Eumir Deodato - Whistle Stop
15) Bebeto/Helcio Milito/Luiz Eca - Reflexos
16) Jorge Ben - Ponta De Laca Africano (Umbabarauma)
17) Caetano Veloso - Alfomega
18) Gilberto Gil - Bat Macumba
19) Tom Ze - Dor E Dor
20) Banda Unaio Black - Black Rio
21) Gerson King Combo - God Save The King
22) Banda Black Rio - Vidigal
23) Miguel De Deus - Black Soul Brothers
24) Dom Salvador e Abolicao - Uma Vida

Enjoy!

No, Soup for you!

One of my all-time favorites today...



Alphabet Soup are straight-up legends in the Bay Area, and the only live hip-hop band I've ever seen that can come within shouting distance of The Roots. I actually came to know of them completely randomly, though. At the time I was living in Marin County, and one night a bunch of the folks that I worked with at a movie theater decided to go out together. After a harrowing 100mph drive down the twisty part of the 101 to the Golden Gate (thanks to my insane friend Puckett), we ended up at this relatively nondescript club on one of the piers, and the Soup just happened to be the evening's entertainment. I was blown away, and probably went and saw them once a month for the remaining time I lived up there as they gigged constantly. This is the only album they've put out in any kind of wide release (as far as I know), and why they never picked up any kind of following outside of Cali is a mystery to me, especially since the Acid Jazz thing was so big in the early '90s, as was the jazzy hip-hop like Tribe and Digables. I'm so stoked to see that they are apparently still out there doing it and even have an active Myspace page. Made my day. Enjoy...

Alphabet Soup - Take A Ride

You can cop the record for a measly buck on Amazon. It'll be the best buck ya ever spent.

Peace. Have a great weekend.

Today in NPR Music Cues...

Jazz Guitar, bitches!



And probably the best ever in Mr. Grant Green. I'm trying to remember exactly which show on KCRW uses this for their promos (pretty sure it's "All Things Considered"), but that's neither here nor there. This is actually a Burt Bacharach tune, with some cute lyrics basically telling women that just because you're married, don't be gettin' all frumpy and shit, or your man will go out and get himself a little piece on the side! Well, that's the 00's version... they said it a lot more, um, politely back then...

Hey, little girl,
Comb your hair, fix your make-up.
Soon he will open the door.
Don't think because
There's a ring on your finger,
You needn't try any more

For wives should always be lovers, too.
Run to his arms the moment he comes home to you.
I'm warning you.

Day after day,
There are girls at the office,
And men will always be men.
Don't send him off
With your hair still in curlers.
You may not see him again.

For wives should always be lovers, too.
Run to his arms the moment he comes home to you.
He's almost here.

Hey, little girl
Better wear something pretty,
something you'd wear to go to the city.
And dim all the lights,
Pour the wine, start the music.
Time to get ready for love.

Dim all the lights,
Pour the wine,start the music.
Time to get ready for love.
Time to get ready,time to get ready for love.
Time to get ready,time to get ready for love.

I'm so ready for love right now, let me tell ya.

Anyhoo, no lyrics on this version. Green is accompanied by two of John Coltrane's top guns, pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones (two names you need to know), as well as bassist Bob Cranshaw who I've not heard much about. It's a catchy little number in 6/8 time, so get ready to snap those fingers...

Grant Green - Wives And Lovers

BTW, I'm going to the dentist today for the first time in (cough cough)... so if I survive that, I'll see ya tomorrow...

Mos Def vs. Jack Bauer

Hey, we haven't heard any hip-hop in a while...



Mos Def is pretty much just an all-around cool dude. He makes good music, he's a pretty good actor, he's does the Def Poetry, he hangs out with Dave Chappelle... and he closed down Coachella a couple years back in most memorable fashion. You wish you were there... it was awesome. Yup, he's kind of a renaissance dude. The only thing he can't do is program a TIVO. Seriously, I missed three episodes of 24 because I left that guy in charge, and I'll never forgive him. You can't just miss three episodes of 24, ya know? Too much goes on! (Okay, that didn't really happen, but I gotta say, this year after getting off to an awesome start... what with Jack having to kill Curtis and the nuke going off in Valencia, the show went straight into the crapper. The appearance of Ricky Schroder = the exact second 24 jumped the shark. If Zack from Saved By The Bell shows up next year, I'm gonna go burn down the Fox lot, I swear.) They should put Mos Def on the show next year as Curtis' pissed off brother who comes and challenges Jack to a freestyle battle, loser gets a cap in his ass. But Jack would probably win because Chloe would be sending him rhymes on his PDA. Either that or Jack would shoot him in the face.

Where the hell was I going with this? Uh, never mind...

Anyhoo, Mos Def put out his third musical album recording in December, and this is a selection from it. I like when Mos sings, as he does here, and I like the reggae vibe for him as well...

Mos Def - Crime & Medicine

... so yeah, that's pretty good. And check out this flick he just finished shooting with with Jack Black. I'm gonna see the shit out of that movie. But unfortunately it's not out 'til next year... damn.

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Finally, a quick reminder not to fuck with Jack Bauer...



That tree got off easy, if you ask me.

From here we go Hoff!

Another selection from a German record label today... if this keeps up, we may just hear a David Hasselhoff song by the end of the week...



From Here We Go Sublime, the debut record from Swedish producer Axel Willner, aka The Field, has been getting some major love around the blog-o-sphere these days, and with pretty good reason. Although it's out on techno label Kompakt, I wouldn't exactly call it techno... it's not all about the thump and has a nice, lush, even ambient texture about it... actually it's even kinda trance-y and though that sounds pretty scary, it's really quite good. Here, see what you think...

The Field - The Little Heart Beats So Fast

Definitely something different for around here, and the album is a nice listen all the way through. Good music for night driving, I would imagine...

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And you know what? Fuck it! Here's the Hoff in all his glory! I've been making proclamations lately, and this may very well be the Greatest Music Video Ever Made...



I could start commenting on that, but honestly, I'm just speechless right now. Just don't hassle the Hoff, 'cuz who knew the motherfucker could fly? Imagine a drunk Hasselhoff swooping through your window on his flying motorcycle with a spear in his hand and a chip on his shoulder! Be afraid. Be very, very, very afraid. I just had a nightmare and I'm not even asleep...

Plus Music

Okay, it's official. Summer is here. How do I know? Because it's 8:00 AM and it's already 80 degrees in Burbank. Get ready to sweat, people. This one's gonna be a doozy.

Ready for a genius segue?

Wait for it...

From hot weather to cool tunes!

Damn, I'm good :P



Germany's Compost Records is one of those labels where you can buy anything they put out without listening ahead of time, and have no worries that it's gonna be tight. Take this record for instance. I'm pretty sure I came across it at an Aron's sale or in a used bin somewhere, looked at the artist, title... never heard of 'em. Flipped it over, saw the word "Compost" and instantly put it in the "to buy" pile. Took it home and was just floored by how good it is from start to finish. Minus 8 is in fact the alias of Swiss producer Robert Jan Meyer, and well, that name is kinda boring, so good work on the handle, bro. The sounds on the record vary from way-downtempo to way-uptempo, kinda like Jazzanova, and since I've brought that name up, I'm guessing I don't have to say much more. Here's some mid-tempo broken beat bliss...

Minus 8 - Beyond Material

I could listen to that stuff all day...

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Oh, and for some great videos from Coachella, be sure to check out the stellar recap over at Benzaiten Music. You'll feel like you were there, except your braincells will still be intact and you won't have had to throw away your shoes. Peace.

This is where the magic happens...

I've noticed that in the short run of my shuffle-based blogging, that Friday's selections for whatever reason have turned out to be quite funky. Today, not so much....



I made a big proclamation yesterday about Led Zeppelin and I'm about to make another big proclamation today. Saint Etienne are quite possibly the Greatest Pop Band of the Last 20 Years. Yeah, they have a rabid, albeit small, fan base, but they've been criminally under-appreciated by the mainstream. The members of Saint Etienne pick perfect pop songs out of their teeth after breakfast, I'm telling ya. If all pop music was as good as Saint Etienne, we wouldn't have to bitch all the time about how bad pop music is. If Saint Etienne was the biggest band in the world, the terrorists would throw away their car bombs and start bunny farms.



Continental is a Japanese import, odds-n-sods compilation and it's the only place where this song has popped up. So this perfect little pop song here isn't even good enough to make a proper Saint Etienne album. That should tell you something. Be careful though, it might make ya cry...

Saint Etienne - Lonesome

Buy It!

I'm a little choked up myself. Just focus on the bunnies, Tone. Focus on the bunnies...

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Now, I am not ashamed to admit that I think David Blaine is awesome, at least when he's doing his street magic. But he certainly is ripe to make fun of. This parody, in two parts, is one of the funniest things I've seen in quite a while.

Part 1:



Part 2:



Genius. Makes me wanna borrow a camera and shoot something. Hmm...

Have a great weekend!

Ready to (Classic) Rock!

It ain't all drum machines and synthesizers 'round here...



Since I don't consider Radiohead to be a quote-unquote "rock band" (You ever hear any stories of Thom Yorke trashing hotel rooms or banging groupies or snorting ants? Me neither! They may be geniuses, but they're pretty much a bunch of boring nerds. They have a freakin' blog for crissakes! That is SO not Rock & Roll!), I consider Led Zeppelin to hold the title of Greatest Rock Band of All Time. And really, it's not even close except for maybe the Stones... and don't even mention the word Beatles in this conversation, or I will smite you - they were the original boy-band until they did a load of drugs and got freaky. Led Zeppelin, now, they were born freaky, and that my friends, makes all the difference. You think Jimmy Page would put up with Yoko Ono's bullshit for more than like 5 seconds? Hell no! He woulda kicked her shrieky ass out the door, erected a bouncy castle in his hotel room, filled the sink with Jack Daniels and wrote a song about Gollum while getting a three blow jobs! And you know what, the Gollum blow-job song would fuckin' RAAAAAAAAAWK!!!!!!!

This song, however is all quiet and pretty, from their fifth album, Houses of the Holy, which I would say is one of their best, but they're all brilliant, so what's the point in that?

Led Zeppelin - The Rain Song

Buy It!

Because sometimes you gotta serenade a lady before you stuff a live fish up her hoo-hoo...

Anybody remember Drum & Bass?

It was pretty popular for a second there, ya know... what with all the drums and... er... bass... and, um... I got no idea where I was going with this bit.



So anyhoo, here's one of my fave trax from '96 (yeah... '96... I don't think I'm going to get over how old I am any time soon... this is just getting silly) off a 2-disc mix compy by LTJ Bukem. Actually there were a series of these. Adam F, well, if his website is any indication, is a bit of a wanker. But he came out with a few good tunes, and this is my favorite, probably because it's got MC Conrad on vocals, and damn if that dude doesn't have the most booming voice ever. Brother could make "My Humps" sound ominous...

Adam F - F Jam (Vocal Mix)

Buy It!

I'm hung over. See ya tomorrow.

2 x 4 (Tet)

Today a couple of collaborations by Mr. Kieran Hebden, better known as Four Tet. First, the one the shuffle picked for me...



This album was the first in what has turned into an ongoing series of collaborations between Hebden and veteran Jazz drummer Steve Reid. Reid has a long and impressive resume, hittin' da skins for everyone from Miles Davis to James Brown (you may have heard of them?), so why he wanted to collaborate with this skinny knob-twiddler is quite beyond me :P The results have been pretty interesting, mostly taking the form of free jazz freakouts + electronics, maybe not everyone's cup of tea, but certainly interesting listens. This track more of a straight up jazz number with a thematic horn line, some solos and Hebden squiggling away here and there at his leisure, with Reid keeping a solid rhythmic underpinning... hah! Actually sounds like I know what I'm talking about there, don't it! Goin' all NPR on yo ass!

The Steve Reid Ensemble - Which One

But It!

They've put out three more since, with more to come. If you check out their website, there is some interesting video of them at work. Geek out on that.

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So that was today's shuffle pick, but I also recently came across this:



Mr. Tet also has a band that he formed way back when with his mates from university, and that band is called Fridge. Their third album, The Sun, is coming out soon, and the sound is a little bit closer to what you'd expect...

Fridge - Comets

Nice. Out June 19th. You heard it here first!

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So, a couple weeks ago, the little lady and I were out for a morning walk along the Marina channel, cuz that's how we roll, and I took what I thought was a nice picture of the UCLA rowing team practicing. I decided to send it to them and they liked it so much it's now the first photo that comes up on their website. So add the "photographer" feather to my hat. Put it right next to the "dork" one.