Latin Hotness

Because there's nothing better to brighten up your day than some Latin hotness...



I've seen Latin percussionist Bobby Matos live a few times... this was a few years back when he hooked up with Ubiquity Records and turned out some albums and showed up playing hip clubs with some of the more electronic acts on their label. But he goes way back to Greenwich Village and the '60s and Tito Puente and all that stuff... which is another way of saying he's got "street cred", yo. Here's a cut from way back...

Bobby Matos & The Combo Conquistadores - En Casa de Alfredo (ysi)

Good, good stuff, that. And speaking of "good stuff" and "Latin hotness" (and "increasing your blog hits with a little gratuitous T & A"... :P ), here's a random photo of Adriana Lima for ya...





You're welcome...

Boppin' with Kenny

Hey there! So before we get to the music, I gotta give a shout-out to my Syracuse University Lacrosse team for winning the National Championship yesterday. "Lacrosse... at least it's not as gay as soccer!"...



We'll start the short week with some classic Blue Note Jazz from pianist Kenny Drew, a highly thought-of guy who wasn't super famous, though... probably because he was another one of those cats who moved to Europe in the Sixties because they liked Black people there. Anyhoo, this one does feature a couple of the more famous cats, namely Freddie Hubbard on trumpet and Hank Mobley on saxamaphone... and despite the title is not a funk track. Don't know what that's all about but I'm about 48 years too late to do anything about it so I'll just shut up and deal...

Kenny Drew - Funk-Cosity (ysi)

And because the YouTubes are so clogged up with good stuff, here's Kenny playing with Sonny Rollins...



Dig it...

Valicondo

Happy Memorial Day!

It's been a while since I've inflicted an original tune on ya, but the vacation is over, kids!

Tonegent - Valicondo (ysi)

Yep. I finally finished another track... and by finished, I mean "got to the point that I couldn't be arsed to twat around with it any further". It's a Tech-House number, I guess... I was told that it sounds a bit Underworld-y at one point, but I'll assume that person just told me that to be nice. Have a listen and leave a comment if you dig it...

Peace.

Darn series get me every time

It's House Music Friday and I promise not to bring up American Idol again...



Today's track comes courtesy of the now-defunct production team known as Circulation, who, in case you were wondering, are a couple of pasty British dudes. Didn't see that one coming, did ya? It's actually kind of strange that they (seemingly, according to Discogs) aren't making records anymore, because these guys were absolutely shit-hot for a while. This album is a compilation of their Colours series of vinyls, each of which was simply color-coded and contained no other information, which of course made them extra cool. I love that shit for some reason. Give me a themed "series" of some kind and I want all of them. Of course, it helps if the music's good... and these guys pretty much nail all the different kinds of House, from the deepness to the peak-hour progressive. This one is deep and techy...

Circulation - White (ysi)

It's a long weekend here in the States, and that means one thing. Drinking! Stay safe and have an awesome one...

David Cook meets Dr. Dre... possibly gets shot

I'm gonna lose some of my blogger street cred for this, but screw it... I am so psyched David Cook won American Idol last night. That dude is awesome and he's going to be a huge rock star, I guarantee it. Now, that's not too say that he's not going to put out a first album of Idol-producer-approved Nickelback-like crap (which will sell mega copies), but after he gets out of his contract to those people... then he's gonna be okay. If you saw his twist on Mariah Carey, you know what I mean... the guy's got some originality! And there are two other positives to take from it... a) American "voters" actually got one right for a change... maybe they'll get another one right in November and elect my boy Barry... but I'm still scurred... and b) Archuleta losing probably did more damage to the terrorists' cause that the entire Iraq War. We dodged a bullet there, folks. (Actually the breakfast burrito I ate this morning probably did more damage to the terrorists' cause than the Iraq War as well... ZING! Take that, Bush!). Okay, enough of the political humor...



Today, the shuffle lands on some sample-source goodness courtesy of Mr. Leon Haywood. Now Leon was never a big star... more of a session guy. But he did touch the R & B charts a couple of times, and this was his biggest hit. It might sound a bit familiar...

Leon Haywood - I Wanta Do Something Freaky To You (ysi)

Yep, I'm sure Leon got paid way more after Dr. Dre flipped this one than he ever did on its original release... and since I'm in a good mood today, here you go...

Dr. Dre - Nuthin' But A G Thang (ft. Snoop Dogg) (ysi)

I think the Haywood tune should be considered a classic with or without the update... don't you?

This is getting kinda random...

Today, we have another pretty ambient tune... plus a special bonus sure to confuse and appall you...



So, we have our second straight French artist today (I think), Mr. Jay Alansky (not the most French sounding name ever, but again information on this dude is somewhat scarce), aka A Reminiscent Drive, maker of relatively unheralded but very nice chillout biznezz. The album is called Mercy Street, but I don't think that has anything to do with the Peter Gabriel song. Why you'd want to name your album the same as a popular song by another musician is beyond me, but I'm not here to judge. Oh, wait a minute... this is a blog... I am here to judge! What a freakin' idiot!

A Reminiscent Drive - Life Is Beautiful (ysi)

And since (once again) I don't have a lot of material today... here, in honor of Indiana Jones 4, coming out tomorrow and I'm gonna see the shit out of that shit, is Harrison Ford getting his chest waxed...



Now, I get the sentiment, but WTF? I would have liked to have been in the pitch meeting for that one...

"So, we got Harrison Ford. He's a big supporter of the cause... I say we rip all of his chest hair out... symbolism, bitches!"

"I like it... Quick! Call him before he sobers up!"

Plus, I think it would have been much funnier if he yelled out "ArarraghKellyClarkson!"... but maybe that's just me...

Just how clutch is he?

Here's some international Hip-Hop action for ya...



Today is yet another day on which I'm not going to be a fountain of information, but here's what I know. Clutch Player is a French Hip-Hop producer... and there you have it. But when one puts out a record on BBE Music, one will get a listen from Tonegent, and this is a nice effort. There's an interesting roster of international MC's on the vocals, but this guy OneChance must be the most obscure, 'cuz I can't find a thing on him... nice enough flow, though. But hey, it's a producer album, so it's kinda all about the beats... which I think you will agree are pretty sweet...

Clutch Player - Family Ties (ft. OneChance) (ysi)

And by the way, if you watch American Idol (and I must admit that I do... don't hate me), you better vote for David Cook tonight... because if that Archuleta kid wins, the terrorists win. It's that simple...

Hippo Sex... intrigued?

Checked out the San Diego Zoo this weekend. Pretty awesome. Saw some Hippos having sex underwater. Hippos rule...



Howzabout we start off the week with some nice downtempo from Germany's A Forest Mighty Black? I put that question mark in there as a formality, because we all know you have no say in what gets posted here! I don't say that to be mean, it's just, you know... my blog and stuff. Not that I'd be averse to requests... feel free to make one if you like. Anyhoo, this one's got a great stand-up bass line (always good for bonus points) a solid funky beat and some cool Rhodes action... three things we likey a lot...

A Forest Mighty Black - Tides (ysi)

... and no, I can't really come up with a connection between that song and Hippos getting it on. Not that I didn't try...

Hippie House

House Music Friday takes you to the place we don't always like to talk about...



Now, I would guess most people wouldn't associate House music with dirty hippies, but there are House Hippies out there... and they're actually pretty easy to spot. Basically any party, music group or (best) "collective" that has the word "Tribe" in their name = dirty hippies. Full moon parties = dirty hippies. Didgeridoos & Nitrous tanks = dirty, dirty hippies. Were talking bonfires, bongos and birkenstocks. And there were no more popular makers of Hippie House than Dubtribe Sound System. Notice the word "Tribe" in there? Not a coincidence, folks. Hell, the two members of the group went by the names Sunshine and Moonbeam, for fuck sake. But, unlike your garden-variety hippies with their jam bands, House Hippies actually listen to good music... because Dubtribe, for one, were pretty awesome...

Dubtribe Sound System - Nothing Is Impossible (ysi)

As you might have guessed, I have attended such events in the past. And I've come to terms with it, so back off... :P

Have a fantastic weekend!

Homeboy, you never shut up!

Breaking away from the obscure for a stone cold classic today...



Now, at first I was thinking that there's certainly no need to tell anyone who Run-D.M.C. is... but then I realized this record is 23 YEARS OLD! And then I remembered how Raising Hell was the first Hip-Hop tape (TAPE!) I ever bought. Then I also remembered how I used to tape songs off Yo! MTV Raps and listen to them in my Walkman (WALKMAN!) as I drove a tractor around a hay field. Then I remembered that I'm really freaking old... and then I drank 2 bottles of Vodka. When I woke up, um... well, actually that just happened. So, what were we talking about?...

Run-D.M.C. - You Talk Too Much (ysi)

So there you have it, a nearly quarter-of-a-freakin'-century old version of "Stop Snitchin'"... they were ahead of their time...

(Reaches for new Vodka bottle)