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?

Luther The Love Man

Here's one you might not expect from me...



... but I've been on a bit of an '80s R&B/Dance/Boogie kick lately, so get ready... it's that "big Kentucky Fried Chicken eating motherfucker" Luther Vandross, ladies! Drop those panties! I'm not saying I'm a big Luther fan, per se (because slow jamz are for GIRLS!)... but this is a nice little funky number from '82. Dig it..

Luther Vandross - You're The Sweetest One

You know it's from the '80s because he's wearing a sweater on the cover...

Grandpa's Still Got It

Old guys trying to stay hip can be pretty sad indeed. But not in today's case...



The trio Azymuth are legends of Brazilian music, mixing in Jazz, Funk, even Disco and House at times... you would almost call them "fusion" if that wasn't such a horrible (as is any word that instantly invokes the visage of Kenny G) word that should never be used to describe music that is actually good. But their willingness to mix in these popular styles has in the modern day resulted in them being willing to have their music remixed the shit out of... to often spectacular results. There have been multiple Azymuth remix compilations, the latest being reworkings of their 2011 record Aurora. Here's one from the fantastic Mr. Ashley Beedle...

Azymuth - E Mulher (Ashley Beedle's Afrikan On Marz Voyage Remix)

Sweet. But to see how good these three old geezers really are, just take the next hour and check out their recent performance from Gilles Peterson's Brownswood basement via The Boiler Room...



Suck on that... AND GET OFF MY LAWN!

212 X 2

I've been on vacation and it's been a minute since the last post... so let's not fuck around and just drop a quick 'n' dirty House Music Friday on that ass...



Here, the mighty Inland Knights take Azealia Banks out behind the shed and do some naughty things to her... which, from what I gather, she's probably okay with...

Inland Knights - Same Talk (ht)

Man, those guys are good. And here's where I promise to post more often... again...

Assorted Boom-Bappery

I've always been somewhat hesitant to do a Old School Hip-Hop mix because A) There are sooooooooooo many of them out there already and what can I really say with this mix that hasn't already been said?... and B) I don't scratch and what's a Hip-Hop mix without scratching? But then I got stoned and said fuck it. Because 4THOFJULY'MERICAFUCKYEAH! Listen, Download, Enjoy...

Assorted Boom-Bappery by Tonegent on Mixcloud

And here's your "get the post on Hype Machine" sample...

D-Nice - Call Me D-Nice (ysi)

Get yo grilled meatz on to dis, yo!

MDCL DTLA

Would you believe I actually made it out to another show? Me neither, but behold...



One of the cool things about L.A. is the amount of great free shows in public places that pop up every summer. There's a bunch of venues around town that host their own little series and the California Plaza's yearly Grand Performances slate is easily one of the best. This year, it kicked of with a pretty unique show featuring the ever-funky Mr. Mark de Clive-Lowe and a couple of cohorts (on drums and saxamaphone) improvising a soundtrack to a montage of classic Sci-Fi movie scenes... everything from Metropolis to The Matrix. The sound was atmospheric, jazzy & electronic, and even though it didn't always totally jibe with what was going on up on the screen (as you would expect "soundtrack" music to do) it was a pretty darn nice way to spend a warm Friday evening. Here's a taste...



So that was fun. They said he was reprising this show a little later this summer somewhere else in L.A. that I don't remember at a date I don't recall. You are welcome for that bounty of information. Anyhoo, it wouldn't be a Tonegents post without a tune, so here's one from 2005's Tide's Arising album that gives you some of Mark's usual sound, in case you didn't already know...

Mark de Clive-Lowe - Slide (ysi)

I feel like such a dazzling urbanite when I go to stuff like this... BECAUSE I AM!

The Synths Of Summer

More newness on the first day of summer...



And check it out, it's a band called Solar Bears! Solar! Sun! Summer! See what I did there?! I'm so fucking on-the-nose like that. Anyhoo, these guys are a duo from Ireland, a country that hardly ever sees the sun from what I understand, so... um... something! It would be hard to generalize about the sound, the record's a bit all over the place (in a good way), so I won't. This is the peppiest tune on there... on kind of an old-school Italo vibe. Dig it...

Solar Bears - Happiness Is A Warm Spacestation (ysi)

Something fun is coming your way this weekend... keep on the lookout.