New and Classic… (Something Else! Radio on www.WtnrRadio.com for 2/25/10)

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As always, the Something Else! Intro starts the show off before serving up lots of newness! \”Five Apple-Maples\” by Barrio Jazz Gang from their album 2 has an appropriately jazzy feel to their song in 5/4, the same time signature as Dave Brubeck\’s classic \”Take Five\” (written by his saxophonist at the time, Paul Desmond.) \”The Piper\” by Cheba is a hiphop take on children\’s story \”The Pied Piper of Hamlin\” and I actually remember hearing this song on the radio years ago in Los Angeles. The next two tracks are some of the new tracks I was excited to receive just after I completed last week\’s show,\”New York Is Killing Me\” by Gil Scott-Heron and \”Jump Up In The Air and Stay There\” by Erykah Badu feat. Lil\’ Wayne. I\’ve played a lot of Gil Scott-Heron on my show (including last week\’s \”Peace Go With You Brother\”) and had heard from the man like Gilles Peterson that Gil was coming out with something new this year, so you can imagine how excited I was to hear some of his new album! Gil\’s voice has a rougher edge than in the past and I think that the \”blues-flipped-on-its-head\” approach taken on \”New York…\” where he talks a bit about his current views on city life works to properly convey the message in an interesting way. The album is called I\’m New Here. The Erykah Badu track is sort of a preview of her approach on the second installment of her trilogy, New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh. As it turns out, this track isn\’t actually on the new album, but is a taste of the direction she\’s moving. \”Da Place I Know\” by Deela feat. Firetongue is from the Everything Counts EP on Switchstance Recordings. A little bit of afrobeat is never out of place with Something Else! and it leads us well into \”Center\’s Groove\” by Dj Center from his album debut, Everything In Time which features him working with Afro-Latin musical themes combined with electronic elements. More on the electronic tip, but still soulful, is \”Constant Questions (Two Banks of Four 40 Degree Rinse)\” by Silhouette Brown. The group is Bembe Segue, Kaidi Tatham and Dego–all stalwarts of the \”West London\” music scene and they have a new album out as well, Two. The remix is courtesy of Demus from Two Banks of Four, check out their site it\’s pretty fun (and quite nice to look at as well.) \”Partytime\” by Roy Porter is one of those tracks that I initially approached as a \”break\” (i.e., sample source material) but I enjoy the original song so much that I\’ve forgotten which song I\’d heard sample it now! \”See The Light\” by Eddie Russ was something I found out about thanks to Gilles Peterson\’s INCredible Sound of mix cd. It is originally from Eddie\’s album of the same name and if you diggers see a copy of it, there\’s a few other nice tracks on there, too. I will be playing more from this album and I\’m not sure if it is still in print. \”Brotha (El-B Remix)\” by Angie Stone is a track I used to play every chance I got! El-B is an underground UK garage producer who tended toward the moody or even spooky sound that is associated with dubstep. Appropriately, some of his original tracks came out his label called Ghost. This track is more on the warm side as is befitting of Ms. Stone\’s soul sound.
While we\’re on the vibe of remixes, some of you know that I produce as well as dj. \”Hallelujah (T-Bird\’s Something Else! Mix)\” by Imogen Heap is a remix I did for a contest, but honestly, I like the track so much that winning (while it would be nice) is immaterial. I\’ve loved drum & bass for a while and frequently play some of it on this show, but I don\’t make as much of it as I used to so it was nice to create a track that was so rewarding. I\’ve got another remix in this same style that I need to polish up and I\’ll lay it on you soon… Cooling down for the closer, I leave you with \”Ladies and Gentlemen: Miss Grace Jones\” from Grace Jones\’ EP/Album Slave to the Rhythm. While I can\’t imagine anyone thinking of Ms. Jones as a great singer, there are some songs she really works on and this is definitely one of them!
Enjoy and see you soon!