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Special treat this week!!

Thanks to Chris Vogado of Zero Db/Fluid Oz (the man in the photo) we have a featured guest mix for Something Else! Over the last few episodes I have played a number of tracks from the release Fluid Ounce presents… a DVD featuring SEVEN HOURS of music ranging from chilled-out downtempo to glitched-out house. Chris kindly sent me a mix of tracks solely from the DVD and I don\’t think there are any of the tracks that I\’d been playing in the mix… Rather than rambling on and re-telling a story better told first-hand, I will tell you about the tracks I play to lead into Chris\’ mix and then post his tracklist and let him tell his own story (the writing is pretty good, why not share it?)

Since Chris went futuristic on us, I decided to mine the past a bit. After the show intro I started out with a Philly break I just came across, Norman Harris\’ \”In Good Faith\” (courtesy of Norman Jay — the original \”rare groove\” dj — and his compilation Philadelphia 1973-1981 The Underground Anthems of Philadelphia Soul.) Next I go into a song that I love dearly and play a lot at home—\”Tales (Reprise)\” by Marcus Miller featuring Joe Sample (co-writer of \”Street Life,\” the Crusaders\’ anthem featuring Randy Crawford on vocals.) Marcus Miller is the man responsible for Luther Vandross\’ early hits (e.g., \”Never Too Much,\”) the David Sanborn albums that people still own (e.g., Backstreet,) E.U.\’s DC Go-go classic \”Da Butt\” (featured in Spike Lee\’s School Daze) and most of Miles Davis\’ popular later albums (e.g., Tutu & Amandla.) Jhelisa\’s \”Whirl Keeps Turnin\’\” leads us into the guest mix…
The brainchild of Fluid Ounce head honcho Chris Vogado – aka one half of Ninja Tune

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…

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Following the \”Something Else! Intro\” we launch into The Detroit Experiment (including legends Marcus Belgrave on trumpet, Bennie Maupin on sax, Geri Allen on keyboard and Carl Craig on production) covering \”Think Twice,\” originally by Dr. Donald Byrd (The 70s/80s group The Blackbyrds were students of his from Howard University.) Next up is the anthemic \”If You\’re Out There (T-Bird\’s Out House Remix)\” by John Legend. Yes, the remix producer on that track is yours truly and I hope you enjoy the track! Thanks to Tortured Soul the next track is \”Home To You (DOMU Remix)\” with that Domu-istic \”broken beat\” vibe. If \”broken beat\” has always been a confusing term for you, now you have a reference. \”Make Me Wanna Holler\” by Me\’shell NdegeOcello is from one of my favorite recording artists who got started in the 90s. Ms. NdegeOcello is also gracing us Barcelonins with a performance tonight! I\’m sure I\’ll have more to say about it afterward. My good friend Yosaku turned me onto \”Tribute To Obabi\” by The Last Poets. Unlike most of their material which is poetry accompanied by music (often just drums) this is music with an ocassional vocal chant. A brand spanking new track \”World Adrift (Jon Kennedy Remix)\” Phuturesonic is your pleasure to hear thanks to my friendship with the remix producer. Very jazzy feel on top of a great drum loop (can you guess what instrument Jon plays?) \”Tout Passe (Waajeed Remix)\” by DJ Center has a world-influenced Plantinum Pied Piper groove courtesy of headman Waajeed. Makes me curious about future \”PPP\” productions–they are usually a nu-soul outfit. Dj Center is coming from a reggae-influenced place. I have heard so many tracks that have sampled Herbie Hancock\’s re-grooved standard from Head Hunters that it is nice to hear a remix of the actual track! In \”Watermelon Man (Kenny Dope Club Mix)\” by Herbie Hancock, Mr. Dope picks up the tempo quite a bit. The original version that Herbie did in the 60s was more this speed and his re-make in the 70s (the recording this remix is of) downshifted noticeably… We wrap up with another jazz-funk remix, the recording artist hailing from Brazil this time–\”Wait For My Turn (Spiritual South Mix)\” by Azymuth. Once again tempos get shifted a bit, but this time within the track–a little more interesting than the standard house remix and all that jazz…

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Is it just me, or does \”Pretty Young Thing Demo (U-Tern Edit)\” by Michael Jackson sound a LOT like a Stevie Wonder song from his 80s period? This is very different than the version we\’re used to from Thriller. Next up is something from one of my favorite current UK soul singers, Alice Russell with \”Got The Hunger?\” She\’s got the strength of a Tina Turner but with an unexpected smooth-as-honey delivery and sounds as though she grew up singing in a black gospel choir. Speaking of gospel, \”Trouble In My Way,\” the next song, is a classic from the \”negro spiritual\” tradition–one of the roots of gospel. The Como Mamas featuring Mary Moore put out their version thru a label named Daptone, which is more famous for deep funk by people like Sharon Jones & Lee Fields. \”Trouble Don\’t Last Always\” by Incognito And Carleen Anderson (With Ramsey Lewis,) yet another negro spiritual, keeps this theme and the piano introduction is performed by Mr. Ramsey Lewis who had a huge 60s hit with \”Wade In The Water\”–you guessed it, a negro spiritual. One of the other claims to fame Ramsey Lewis has is featuring a young drummer and kalimba player named Maurice White, later the founder of Earth Wind & Fire. \”Love It\” by BTSC keeps up the energy and leads us into the live deep house act Tortured Soul\’s \”Did You Miss Me?\” \”When It Was Now\” inverts my usual \”jazzy electronic\” music for a moment to \”electronic jazz\” by the legendary group Weather Report. The leaders of that group, Keyboardist Joe Zawinul & saxophoninst Wayne Shorter were alumni of the Miles Davis school of music. Joe wrote some of the pivotal tunes at the beginning of Miles\’ jazz-fusion period, most notably the title track for In A Silent Way (Miles\’ first electric album) and \”Pharoah\’s Dance\” from Bitches Brew (his most famous electric album.) Before that, Wayne was the major writer for Miles\’ famous 60s quintet featuring himself, Ron Carter, Tony Williams and Herbie Hancock. Another legendary musician on \”When It Was Now\” is the bassist, Jaco Pastorius, who at the pinnacle of his career seemed like the spiritual love-child of guitarist Jimi Hendrix and jazz saxophonist Charlie \”Yardbird\” Parker. \”Spiritual Vibes (The Afronaught Dub)\” by Misa Negra transitions us to atmospheric, moody pop song \”Four Seasons In One Day\” by Neil Finn\’s group with his brother Tim, Crowded House. Some of you know that I\’m a fan of New Zealand music like Neil Finn, Fat Freddy\’s Drop and almost anything featuring Joe Dukie. That Kiwi music really touches me, somehow! Colin Munroe\’s \”Piano Lessons (feat. Joell Ortiz)\” is a nice combination of singing, rapping and sound tweaking. It talks about \”finding your own way\”–to me, the essence of hiphop, self-discovery as a continual process. We wind down with some dub-style tracks, \”New Daylight (Instrumental)\” by Beatspoke, \”Suno\” by Raymond In Space (both from last week\’s mentioned DVD \”Fluid Ounce Presents…\”) and a hometown \’shout-out\’–\”One Two (Garth Trinidad\’s FiyahDubb!)\” by Femi Vs. Kcrw Soundclash. Garth Trinidad is the host of Chocolate City a popular show on the infamous radio staion KCRW from Santa Monica, California (go Corsairs!) and also compiled Atlantiquity a remix of classics from the Atlantic Label\’s vaults.

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The \”Something Else! Intro\” starts us out on our next journey in the 7 seas of sound…

This trip would not be possible without the direct involvement of some special people–recording artists. Of course, without recording artists there would be no music for me to play or blog about, however, certain artists have done more than merely create music for me to share with you — they have given me said music for the specific purpose of sharing with you on my radio show, at my dj gigs and even blogging about how great it is!

\”Depth Charge Dub\” by Dubmatix is the first track of the show and one of several in this show given to me to play for your enjoyment. Les Negresses Vertes\’ \”Voil

While this show isn\’t soul in its purest form, there\’s definitely a bit more than some other weeks…

I managed to sneak in two from the late Donny Hathaway\’s Extensions of a Man. I really think more people need to know the work of this amazing artist. I grew up hearing his music around the house, but a quick glance through his entry in Wikipedia proved pretty enlightening–I knew about his daughter Lalah Hathaway but I didn\’t know about his daughter Kenya, a background singer on TV\’s American Idol or his huge impact on that show (e.g., many singers audition with or perform songs he either wrote or made popular.)

After the intro song, comes \”Girl Talk\” Neil Hefti\’s grammy-nominated song about Jean Harlow interpreted by Greg Phillinganes, best known as keyboardist for Stevie Wonder and Eric Clapton. Greg gives the song an 80s soul re-fit as you might expect from someone who\’s played on Michael Jackson\’s Thriller album. \”Rien Ne Va Plus\” follows by by Funk Factory (a Michael Urbaniak project) and the first of the two Donny Hathaway tracks \”I Love the Lord He Heard My Cry (Pts. 1 & 2,)\” a lush instrumental version of a traditional negro spiritual. Freddie Hubbard\’s jazz standard \”Little Sunflower\” continues the \”lushness\” with beautiful strings accompanying his lovely trumpet playing and also features the grammy-winning (7 times!) vocals of Al Jarreau. Al is usually known for his vocal improvisations but this time he plays it straight unlike the next vocalist, Grace Jones, who seems quite playful on \”Ladies and Gentlemen Miss Grace Jones\” even introducing herself near the end in grand fashion. \”Salsa Step\” is a new track by an artist named Dusty from the album Keep it Raw mixed into one by The Don of 2-Step/UK Garage, Artful Dodger. \”Ruff Neck Sound\” is a heavily Jamaican influenced track, with reggae vocals and a ragga-flavored backing track featuring Richie Dan & Sevi G. A broken-beat ragga track from Sunship, \”Almighty Father (Solid Groove Remix,)\” transitions into Tom Noble\’s \”Kind in the Night (Misa Negra Mix)\” a remix from Bugz In The Attic\’s Afronaught. Down-shifting a bit, Branford Marsalis\’ Buckshot LeFonque project brings us \”Some Sh*t @ 78 Bpm (The Scratch Opera)\” featuring the turntable mastery of DJ Premier. Another new track \”The Steamin\’ Blues\” by The Hot 8 Brass Band leads us into the closer \”Come Little Children\” by Donny Hathaway, a soulful rendition of a few nursery rhymes.

So this show has a few \”original breaks\” as we used to say when I could still call myself a hiphop dj (that would be in the 90\’s, if you were wondering.) Starting out with the classic \”Space\” by Galt McDermot from the Soundtrack for \”Woman Is Sweeter\” (pictured on this post.) Busta Rhymes\’ hit \”Woo Hah!! (Got You All In Check)\” famously samples the groove and just to highlight that I did a \”Beat Street\” (the famed Brooklyn NYC record store that puts out compilations of \”breaks\”) and looped the sampled part just to highlight it for everyone. Next I played a bit of the hiphop instrumental and then into the Jay Dee (aka \”Dilla\”) vocal remix that is really good (well, better than \”good,\” but this is a family blog…) I used to be a real big fan of Doctor L (aka \”Doc L Jnr\”) and really the only thing that\’s changed is that I\’m not hunting his music down like gold anymore. However, I AM looking for a digital version of his \”Fortune & Fame\” (Runaways UK Remix) if anyone has a line on it… Anyway, he\’s represented by his \”Dub Power\” track on this show, followed by another \”source track\” — \”A Chant for Bu\” by Art Blakey\’s Jazz Messengers. A Tribe Called Quest \”Excursions (edit)\” follows for reasons borne out by listening as does \”House of Tribe (T. Hunter Main mix)\” by Jazzy Jeff. Keeping it uptempo, The Funky Brat\’s \”Chunki, Funki, Munki Business (Bring Me Down)\” is one of those nice deep house joints with that soul-jazzy vibe I like so much. I\’m very happy to feature a track from a friend who\’s been releasing stuff for years and is an AMAZING party dj–Ursula 1000. His new track featuring Kojak on MC duties is \”Zombies\”which is kinda fun, electro-breaks. One of my favorite French house producers, Llorca, is working under a new name: Miamik. \”Insatiable (Dub)\” is one of his tracks for \”Back To Fundamentals\” a French collective and maybe label? Although the track is definitely on the electronic tip, it\’s still quite soulful–my test is always \”Did my wife make me turn it off?\” Not only did I not have to turn it off, she actually seemed to dance to it! Speaking of soulful, I usually am really skeptical of house covers of classic 70s songs–especially Marvin Gaye tunes–but Kenny Dope lives up to his name with his proteg

A rundown of the music on this week\’s episode of \”Something Else\” on WtnrRadio.com Simbad\’s \”Airport Beat 1008\” starts out our new journey and also exposes some more of \”my new favorite album\” (see \”Featured Album\” below.) Classic Steely Dan up next with \”Reeling In The Years\” from their debut album You Can\’t Buy A Thrill. Pat Metheny\’s \”Slip Away\” melts into \”Summer Daze,\” the deep-house track playing at every bar during the summer by Nick Holder. Although you\’ll never get any argument from me about the accuracy of Masters At Work\’s monicker, I\’ve always preferred the MJ Cole Dub of \”To Be In Love\” feat. India–something about the bass. Speaking of dub… Williams Traffic make good use of a bittersweet Richard Rive poem \”Where the Rainbow Ends\” as read by James Earl Jones on \”Rainbow Dub.\” Next we hear Rasta prophecies from the Ballistic Brothers\’ \”Prophecy Reveal.\” Bopstar brings us back into the present with his current track \”Captured (Restless Soul Main Mix)\” featuring Zara McFarlane and some more serious low-end. Femi Kuti reminds us of Africa\’s exploitation in \”You Better Ask Yourself (T-Bird\’s Dollar A Day Mix) and we ponder the \”Esoteric Agenda (Tokyo Mix)\” by Kay Suzuki–another track from the featured Absolute!! \”Demand the Vote\” by D.A.A.S. Wuz Up is to remind us that residents of the Capital City of the USA (Washington D.C.) has no voting representatives in either house of Congress, yet they pay taxes and have the same responsibilities as other U.S. citizens and they would like to change that–all to the swinging DC Go-Go beat… Keeping to the funky protest vibe, \”The Word\” by Junkyard Band let\’s us know what it felt like to be in \”Chocolate City\” (aka Washington D.C. — most of the residents are African-Americans) during the Reagan years — no money available for social services, yet defense spending was up (\”Reagan\’s makin\’ bombs…) Swell Session vs. Seiji closes us out with \”Prepared to Go\” featuring Ernesto on a nu-soul tip. \”…Time that you listen, now…\”