…And We\’re Back! (Something Else! 4/30/09 on Www.WtnrRadio.com)

DownloadHey there again! I took a short break and went to London-Town (woohoo!!) Bought lots of music, saw a few great shows (Onyx Ashanti – BattleJam @ Cargo; Jose James & Gilles Peterson @ Jazz Cafe Camden; Lady Bugz – Coopr8 @ East Village) and even got myself a gig–July 17th @ Inspiral Cafe, Camden Lock! I stayed in the legendary Ladbroke Grove (West London, mate!) and was walking distance from Honest Jon\’s & Rough Trade! While on my way to Soho I stumbled upon the Soul Jazz/Sounds of the Universe shop (oooh!) Hampstead Heath is lovely as ever… Courtesy of an old friend, my last night I was treated to some great comedy (Soho Comedy Club) near Leicester Square, later attended to like royalty at a Nigerian Club (I think it was private–we were the only non-Nigerians there) and brought in the new day at my friend\’s flat in Hackney before cabbing it back to West London to pack, nap, clean up a bit and then head back home to Barcelona… Now to the music… Following the intro, Cool Breeze\’s \”Travelogue\” starts us off. Next up, \”Manfred Man\” is Tosca\’s track on the Dub Club \”Get Up, Man\” EP keeping it chill and vaguely \”world-music-y\” before we go Brazilian (by way of Japan) with \”Os Grilos (Nobukazu Takemura\’s For Child Remix)\” by Marcos Valle. French Hip-Hop was a real fascination of mine during the 90s when it was still quite new. One of my favorite producers was Dj Cam for the \”abstrakt\” stuff and Cutee B did some nice dancefloor stuff. DJ Cam\’s \”Espionage\” features Guru from Gangstarr (one of my favorite US Hip-Hop acts) and is remixed by Cutee B (sounding a bit more like Guru\’s partner, Dj Premier, than I remember from long ago…) \”A Headnaddas Journey To The Planet Adidi-Skizm\” by Brooklyn Funkessentials takes Hip-Hop galactic (literally!) like Afrika Bambaata had forseen ages ago before we\’re brought back to Earth by Allen Hoist\’s cover of Marvin Gaye\’s \”Inner City Blues\” (Back to Roots Version) — A hot salsa re-interpretation. Ashley Thomas\’ \”God Given\” smoothly brings us out of the Latin thing into Broken-Beats with vocals. Speaking of vocals Pete Simpson on the next track by Mr. Scruff \”This Way\” — Thank you Domu for introducing him to us! Outside takes us to the stars again with \”Finding ALH84001 (Live On Mars Remix)\” — an Ashley Beedle remix. I follow that with another track by them \”Journeyman Pt. 2\” (Those two tracks and our opener are all on the Dorado Label) and close it out with London Funk Allstars\’ \”Listen to the Beat.\” I hope you enjoyed the ride…