Mostly New (Something Else! for WTNR Radio.com 6/10/10)

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Putting together this week\’s show reminded me why I like my usual format so much. I attempted to give you a show that was purely new music (as in recently released.) While I can really play whatever I choose, I still prefer it to hold together thematically. Given that, I mostly accomplished my objective, but I had to put in a few \”oldies\” to make the set work.

As always, we start with the \”Something Else! Intro\” before diving into Jyoti\’s \”The Black Mother.\” Jyoti is a new alias for Georgia Anne Muldrew who is expanding into jazzy instrumental music. I\’ll be honest with you, generally I\’m not a big fan of Ms. Muldrew\’s work, but this is lovely. We follow some jazz with jazzy hiphop by The Funk League. \”The Boogie Down Bombers Feat. Diamond D & Sadat X (Main Mix)\” is classic-sounding in my book. It\’s a great return to the musical vibes of the 90s in hiphop before the ascendancy of \”thug-hop\” and the over-use of stoner-funk grooves. Speaking of a return to classic 90s music, Sandra St. Victor was a member of the UK\’s Family Stand which helped pioneer the \”nu-soul\” sound that brought us superstars like Erykah Badu & D\’Angelo. \”Cosmos\” is a more uptempo track than tends to be associated with that genre, but she brings just as much emotion and vocal power to it. Pablo Sanchez is an artist I was made aware of courtesy of Nickodemus and Pablo\’s \”Sunstar feat. Kissey Asplund\” shows that Nicko wasn\’t leading me astray. It\’s a slice of nice, latin-tinged broken-beat just the way I like it with a pleasant vocal. The next track is by Scott Hardkiss, part of the legendary Hardkiss Brothers (Gavin & Robbie are the other two.) \”Beat Freak (Fort Knox Remint)\” keeps it dancefloor-appealing. While we\’re already in \”bump mode\” I follow up with \”Bo Diddley-Itis (Ursula 1000 Rework)\” by Bo Diddley vs Ursula 1000, a breakbeat re-rub of a track by the 50s rock & roll legend. Sia, the featured vocalist from Zero 7\’s first album Simple Things has stayed busy putting out her own music and the most recent single is \”Clap Your Hands.\” This week I\’m featuring the Diplo Mix, but there\’s a few others that are quite good as well and you should expect to hear some of them in the following weeks. Months ago I got my first promo single by Nikki & Rich and assumed their album was out already. \”Next Best Thing (Steve Aoki Remix)\” is yet another single from the still forthcoming album. Once again, there are some other remixes I received that are quite good and I will be putting them on in the coming weeks. Mellowing out a bit, Caltrop\’s \”Good To See You (Original Mix)\” from this year is uptempo, yet pretty as electronic dance can get. Digging in the crates (you were warned) an electronic classic is up next from Jean-Michel Jarre, son of film composer Maurice Jarre, \”Oxygene (Part II.)\” Jarre and contemporaries Tangerine Dream and Vangelis were masters of texture and ambience. Although Most of J-M Jarre\’s titles weren\’t that inventive (mostly consisting of the album title + part 1, 2, etc.) the music tended to envelope one in sound atmosphere. Eventually Tangerine Dream & Vangelis ended up scoring films a few popular films (Risky Business and Blade Runner, respectively.) Although quite simple in structure, Bossa Tres\’ \”Imprevisto\” immediately captured my attention on first listening–there is a real \”vibe\”to it. Keeping it a bit latin, another track by Canadian-Cuban Alex Cuba is \”Directo\” notching it down from a Brazilian jam session to a mojitos-on-the-beach feeling. The show closes with another re-edit, \”Family Tree (Norman Cook Disco Edit)\” by Family Tree featuring Sharon Brown. The prominent conga drums tie it in with the preceding tracks and the ending is appropriate for the final track of a set.