Afro-funk King

A little life lesson before the tune today... being stoned is not conducive to keeping secrets...



It's been a while since I've posted some proper African Funk, and that, as they, ain't right! So let's fix that with a jammy by Nigerian sax man Peter King. That's about all I know about him, although if you click the name, I'm sure that article is very informative. I myself couldn't be arsed to read the whole thing this morning, but since when do I have to do all the work for you. Slackers...

Peter King - Shango (ysi)

While were on the Afro-Funk vibe, have I mentioned the blog Voodoo Funk to you yet? Well, if I haven't, I have now... so get your ass over there...

The D'n'B 3

I've been up since 4 AM, so forgive me if I ramble...



So, way back in the wee days of Drum & Bass, there were three main guys whose tunes got me into it (all courtesy of Jason Bentley), and they were LTJ Bukem, Goldie and Alex Reece. Now, Alex seemingly had the shortest run of the three, which is odd because his tunes probably had the most pronounced Pop edge. But then it was that Pop edge that seemingly led Goldie to shun Reece from his Metalheadz label, and after putting out a few records under the name "Al's Records", that was all for Mr. Reece. And then Goldie went on to shag Bjork, have a cameo in Snatch, and then become just as irrelevant himself. LTJ, of course, remains the man. The point of all of this discourse? Fucked if I know, but here's Alex Reece's best one...

Alex Reece - Feel The Sunshine (ysi)

How's that for scattered and pointless? Oh well, good tune at least...

One weird dude

Mondays are a very good day to be mellow...



Mixmaster Morris, aka The Irresistible Force, is one weird dude. The kind of weird that only a couple of decades of taking enough psychedelics to render an elephant retarded will make you. Pleasant guy to chat with though... good stories as you'd imagine. Heck, he even autographed one of my CD decks for me after he used it for a gig. But if you don't know the name (and many don't... I'd often show off my autographed deck only to hear, "who's that?"), he's definitely one of the larger figures of ambient electronica, right up there with Dr. Alex and Rick James, Bitch! (how I will now forever refer to Aphex Twin), and this album, Global Chillage, is one of the essentials of the genre. Just check out this trip...

The Irresistible Force - Moonrise (ysi)

Mixy, as his friends call him (ok, not really), has also been a fixture at The Big Chill Festival, which has an awesome lineup planned this year... if only I lived in England... sigh...

HMF + NHL

So, my little blog passed a milestone this week, hitting over 50,000 page views. Wow. Thanks to everyone who has stopped by... I really appreciate it! It's nice to know there are lots of folks out there who appreciate the good good music. Now, I had no idea you got a prize when you hit this milestone, but lo and behold, look what I got...



Now, I'm just as surprised as you that I was awarded the Stanley Cup, but it sure looks nice on my coffee table. Blogging has its rewards after all!

Now, on to House Music Friday...



I've never been to Nottingham, England, but I've sure been all over their music scene lately... and here's yet another great act from Robin Hood's, uh, hood. They're a couple of blokes named Steve & Andy, aka Toka Project, and they make good House music... that's really all you need to know...

Toka Project - I Gotta Go (ysi)

And let's end up the week with a video to celebrate my new award...



Have a great weekend!

Burger time

Quick political thought before we get started... is the difference between delegates and Superdelegates... that Superdelegates get to wear capes?



Today, I got more jazzy, Cali-style Hip-Hop for ya... which to me is a music of choice for the fast-approaching Summertime barbecue season. This one is courtesy of San Diego's The Sound Providers and NY MC Grap Luva, from the Looking Backwards compilation of previously 12"-only Sound Providers jammies. As is often the case, I can't claim to know too much about either of 'em (and I'm not the kind to cut-n-paste a Wikipedia entry and pretend I know stuff), but I do know the SPs have shown up on at least one of Mark Farina's Mushroom Jazz comps, which should tell you what you need to know about their sound... aka, it's good...

The Sound Providers - Who Am I (ft. Grap Luva) (ysi)

Yep, that kinda stuff makes me wanna grill burgers right there. So, who's bringin' the buns? (Make sure them shits have the sesame seeds on 'em, yo!)

Joe or no Joe? Who know?

I think today's song selection may be slightly ironic, but I'll have to check with Alanis Morisette on that and get back to you...



Today we have a return visit from the King of Latin Soul (it says so on his website!), Joe Bataan... sort of... because, well, Joe's famous for being a singer, but the shuffle (proving it's randomness) gave us an instrumental song. So, this Joe Bataan song may or may not contain any actual Joe Bataan. I'm guessing he's on piano, but who knows? He may just be in the back smoking a joint and hogging the credit. Which is fine with me. So yeah, you won't learn a hell of a lot about what Joe Bataan, the famous singer, sounds like from this track, but it is a killer uptempo Latin Funk bomb...

Joe Bataan - Latin Strut (ysi)

And yes, this was the first record to carry the "Salsoul" name. Turns out ol' Joe was in fact one of the founders of the famous Disco label and came up with the term (a bit of salsa, a bit of soul... clever guy!). Also, he's back out on the road playing gigs right now, so that might be cool to check out, too...

In which I say farewell to the Indie Kids

Predictably, the readership around here has taken a dip since the Blog-achella project ended and I'm no longer posting the same music as every other blog in the blog-o-sphere (did I say "blog" enough in that sentence?)... but you know what? Good! I don't need fans of flavor-of-the-day blog bands around here... I need you folks who appreciate the good stuff... like so...



Assuming that you don't recognize that album cover on sight, I'll tell you it's Skintone Collection, a compilation of Japanese producer Susumu Yokota's best work on his own label (Skintone, that is). This guy isn't super-well-known in the states, but that hasn't stopped him from being ridiculously prolific... he's put out something like 32 albums - you know those crazy Japanese with their "work ethic" and "efficiency"... hmph! Now, I'm guessing with 32 albums, there's gonna be a bit of crap in there once in a while, so this is a good place to start if you wanna check what this guy's about. He does all sorts of electronic styles, but has gotten most of his steez for his Downtempo/Ambient work...

Susumu Yokota - Illusion River (ysi)

So the folks who would take me to task for calling out bands like Gogol Bordello on their suckiness... good riddance and eat a bag of dicks! To the rest of you, just keep diggin' the tunes... and holla at ya boy!

Relaxo Monday

Hey all! Hope you had a great weekend. How about that Kentucky Death Race Derby, eh? That thing's starting to resemble the chariot race from Ben Hur more and more each year. Maybe they should just lace the track with hidden, spike-filled pits and get it over with... yikes! Anyhoo, let's start the week off easy-style...



The great Compost Records has put out many strong compilations over the years, but this might just be the best one, right here. Put together by DJ and bong aficionado Rainer Truby, this one is almost even worth the ridiculous price a used copy will cost you. Here's the lead-off track, courtesy of Extended Spirit, a side project of a couple of the guys from Jazzanova. Yep, another Jazzanova side project. What can I say? They're good at the music. This one's nice and relaxed...

Extended Spirit - Solid Water (ysi)

... yep, much more relaxed than, say, listening to a horse get it's brains blown out on live national television... ah, I'm just pissed 'cuz I didn't win any money on my bets... shoot 'em all! Daddy needed a new pair of shoes!

HMF!

And now for the actual return of House Music Friday...



... and a track from the first compilation released by the legendary Paris club, Respect, a track that stayed in my bag and received regular spins for years. That track is by a duo calling themselves Ame Strong, and if you believe what Discogs tells you, it's pretty much the only track these dudes ever produced. But hey, if you're only gonna have one track, ya better make it a good one... and it also doesn't hurt to have a legend like Francois K remix that bad boy for ya...

Ame Strong - Tout Est Bleu (FK Remix) (ysi)

You gotta wonder what the reason is for the 1-track discography? Let's see, they were French... did they eat some bad cheese? Trip into a guillotine? Can I come up with any more lame jokes to irritate my French readers? (Actually the answer to that last one is "yes", but I think I better quit while I'm ahead). Have a great weekend, everyone!

Tones of the world unite!

We've got kind of a first around here today...



... that being the first track submitted by a reader to be posted at Tonegents! This comes from my blog-buddy Floorman aka Tony Global (and yes, he does get special consideration for being a fellow Tony) reppin' Nottingham, UK. But this guy is no slouch sitting around in his underwear drinking Miller Lite and diddling around on Reason... you know, like myself... nope, Floorman runs with a cool crowd. Floorman Presents Stack is his tongue-in-cheek "supergroup", and that group includes members of a couple acts already loved by me, Fug and the awesome Crazy Penis! The results are predictably excellent, like this smooth Soul jam here, the kind of stuff that you'd think my man-crush Gilles Peterson would be all over...

Floorman - Closer To Me (ysi)

Buy it from Bocajito Records.

... pretty nice stuff, no doubt. My man also has some killer re-edits and more originals posted up on his blog so make sure you check it out. And hey, if you got some tunes and you want them to be exposed to the literally tens of people that read this blog, hit me up on the Gmail. If I like 'em, I'll post 'em. If I don't, I promise not to publicly ridicule you too badly... :P