…Well Coming Back… (Something Else! on Wtnr Radio.com for 9/9/2010)

In the last several weeks I\’ve been pretty busy with things other than the show: traveling to the UK twice in 4 weeks, playing new locations in the Barcelona area and working on new material with my production partner Maxey Blaze as \”Los Chicos Altos.\” You will be seeing a lot of that name in the near future, keep your eyes peeled. The station\’s season just started up again and I\’m happy to be getting back to putting together shows and writing about the music I\’m sharing with you!

As always our journey begins with the \”Something Else! Intro\” before we head off to this week\’s opener, \”Great Dub In The Sky\” by Easy Star All Stars. If you\’re not familiar with them, this group is known for doing reggae/dub versions of classic rock albums like OK Computer by Radiohead (their version is called Radiodread,) Sgt. Pepper\’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles (Easy Star\’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band) and the one this track is drawn from, Dub Side of the Moon (tribute to Pink Floyd\’s Dark Side of the Moon.) All of them are recommended for both lovers of dub/reggae and classic rock. While dipping my toe in the groovy vs. rock bag, \”Wouldn\’t Want to Be Like You\” by Alan Parsons Project seemed appropriate for the next cut–especially since Alan Parsons worked on Dark Side of the Moon and received a grammy nomination for his engineering on that album. \”Mangotee\” by Lonnie Liston Smith keeps the groove going, even if in a slightly more jazz direction. \”Sticks and Stoned\” by Common Ground, a collective of electronic producers including Tim \”Love\” Lee, Jadell, Waiwan, Raw Deal and Dj Wool (producer of this track) leads us into \”Suite for Beaver Pt. 1\” by L.A.\’s own People Under The Stairs–a tale of a night out… Return of Forever (Swell Session Remix) by High Contrast is from a recently re-acquired compilation Out Patients 3 from one of my favorite labels from the late 90s & early 00s–Hospital. The smooth, musical production is obviously the hook here. Speaking of smooth, one of my favorite vocalists of all time works with one of my favorite producers from the 2-step/UK garage scene, Zed Bias. \”Special feat. Omar (Simbad 4×4 Remix)\” is under the Maddslinky alias for Mr. Bias and remixed by one of broken-beat\’s name producers, Simbad. \”At Peace With Woman\” by The Jones Girls is a song that was obviously influential on the broken-beat crowd, given that they were devotees of \”boogie\” and classic vocals. Great message on the track as well. Nice vocals as well on the Brazilian track \”A Sereia (The Mermaid)\” by Democustico leading into the instrumental bossa version of Horace Silver\’s \”The Jody Grind\” by Quintetto X. Another recent re-acquisition is \”Life of Fortune & Fame (Runaways Remix)\” by Doctor L. I found this in London on a 10\” single (the 12\” has different versions) during Notting Hill Carnival weekend. The show closes out with \”Raise (Long Mix)\” by Greg Osby feat CL Smooth (Pete Rock\’s long-time MC partner) as remixed by Ali Shaheed Muhammed (of A Tribe Called Quest.) Greg Osby is generally known for working in the avant-garde jazz world, but a number of years ago he decided to do a hiphop album. I think a few things on the album worked but this was really the best done track.