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The ever-present Something Else! Intro starts us out before we journey with Underworld on their \”River of Bass\” from the second album (my favorite) DubNoBassWithMyHeadMon. Next up is Ethel Beatty with \”I Know You Care\” produced by Roy Ayers, a rare-groove classic. I just found out a friend from L.A. is involved with the group Hawthorne Headhunters. They were featured on both Gilles Peterson and Benji B\’s Best of 2009 shows! I really liked a few cuts and decided to play \”Manifest Station\” this week, expect to hear more soon (thanks Max!) I haven\’t been to Holland yet, although I definitely plan to at some point. Another recent discovery is that the Dutch version of Erykah Badu\’s Mama\’s Gun has a 2nd disc with a few fun songs on it, including \”Hollywood\”–a cover of a Rufus & Chaka Khan cut from the 70s. Thanks to the NYC organization known as Giant Step, I was introduced to the work of Salvador Santana. His \”Keyboard City (The Hood Internet Remix feat. GZA)\” is a fun vocoder joint with guest spot from one of the Wu-Tang Clan (Gza) giving it a bit more \”hood-vibe.\” Another interesting guest appearance happens on the next cut, \”Why Cry (Radio Edit)\” by rapper Afu-Ra featuring German reggae sensation, Gentleman. I\’d known Afu-Ra for years, mostly because he was associated with Dj Premier (Gang Starr,) but Gentleman I\’ve just found out about in the last few months thanks to my friend Zsofi from Hungary. Speaking of Gang Starr, \”Ex Girl To The Next Girl\” was always one of my favorite cuts by them, so I was intrigued to find out there was an official remix. \”Ex Girl To The Next Girl (Remix)\” isn\’t just the same song with a new beat, it includes new scratches from Primo along with the new groove (nice!) I\’m sure you all know I\’m a big fan of the Bamboos from Australia and over the years I\’ve featured music with Lyrics Born, um, \”a lot.\” \”Turn It Up\” has these two great flavors together–Bamboos featuring Lyrics Born. Turns out LB is a Bamboos fan as well and said they were the only group in Oz he wanted to work with. Fortunately for Lanu and the crew (i.e., The Bamboos) LB was on Australian radio when he revealed that tidbit and a few phone calls later… On to an anthem from The Future Sound Of London, namely \”Papua New Guinea (12\” Original Mix)\” which hopefully inspired a few ravers to pull out their maps or globes to figure out where the heck the inspiration was (not too far from Oz, actually.) More English music inspired by exotic places is provided by Thomas Dolby. The title track from his album \”The Flat Earth\” (you might remember the hit \”Hyperactive\”) is pleasantly atmospheric and sets you up for the energetic switch-up of Mr. Manuva\’s bass anthem, \”Witness (One Hope)\” by Roots Manuva. I hate being nostalgic, but I find myself being drawn to the music of The X-Ecutioners. I love how their first artist Album X-Pressions was really an artist album and not merely a compilation of turntablist routines or standard hiphop with MCs. There were bits where you got to hear them working out bits, talking about their approach and feelings about music and then tracks you could appreciate even if you didn\’t realize how they were constructed. \”Musica Negra (Black Music)\” features the mc Gudtyme expressing the plight of Black people in the United States and there are ingenious interjections by the djs within the rhyme. It\’s also one of the few hiphop tunes I can recall with a prominent cello part. I close it out with one of my favorite Drum & Bass tracks from back in the day, Photek\’s \”Ni Ten Ichi Ryu (Two Swords Technique.)\” Photek was always \”the one to beat\” when it came to chopped breakbeats–no mere sampling & speeding up from that guy…

Anyway, enjoy and look for more craziness from me next week…

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Hey folks, took a bit of a break over the Holiday season, but we\’re back now with the \”Something Else! Intro\” as always… A myspace friend hipped me to something really cool he\’d done and I thought I\’d start the show with it \”Marc Hype & Jim Dunloop – Al Naafisyh (Mr. Bird Remix.)\” Mr. Bird (pictured left) is practically a neighbor in that he\’s in Portugal… The club sound here in Barcelona is really different than the one I grew up with in Los Angeles, but I\’ve been adapting and finding tracks that are \”me\” but heavy enough for what people expect here. Michael Woods & Ant Brooks were nice enough to help me out by making their tribal, yet musical track \”Yemba (Original Mix.)\” Dipping back in the archives, I got reacquainted with Marvin Gaye\’s Trouble Man soundtrack recently. \”Don\’t Mess With Mister T\” gives you both the fat grooves and a bit of Marvin\’s soulful voice–not too sweet, not too tart. Speaking of archives, when I hear the name Archie Bell & The Drells, I usually think of their 60s classic \”Tighten Up.\” Although I knew the groove, I\’d forgotten they did this track for Philly Int\’l in the 70s \”Don\’t Let Love Get You Down.\” Both the sample and the subject matter dictated I play this track by Big Daddy Kane feat. DJ Mister Cee, \”Djs Get No Respect.\” If I understand Cee correctly, sounds like Kane used to be a DJ… The Bamboos feat. Kylie Auldist; You\’ve seen that name on this blog many times. \”On The Sly,\” a cut I received over the break does NOT disappoint. I\’ll have to remember his new name (although it was always his \”tagline\” before) but The Spy From Cairo (the artist formerly known as \”Zeb\”) is still up to the same thing–rocking dancefloors with the middle-eastern vibe and deep basslines. \”Ana Arabi\” features Ghalia Benali and reminds me of the old saw \”if it ain\’t broke, don\’t fix it!\” Familiar, but definitely not worn-out. Our buddy Nickodemus takes the \”world music\” formula and flips it on its head with \”The Love Feeling (Christian Prommer Remix.)\” Once again, I don\’t know how they make it work, but it just… …does. I personally find Christian Prommer to be all the German producer who helps us understand why techno is still around (some of it is just brilliant!) Michel Cleis seemed to storm the world with \”La Mezcla\” last year, his 12 minute folkloric meets house track. With his new mix and compilation \”Strictly Rhythms 3\” he retouches another popular house track with obvious folkloric roots, River Ocean feat. India \”Love and Happiness – Yemaya y Ochun (Michel Cleis \”Floreo\” Remix.)\” I\’m in awe of how he manages to take what could easily be \”repetitive\” and make it \”hypnotic.\” Back in the 90s when I was a devotee of Drum & Bass music (along with the other music I\’m always inevitably into) I loved the three closers and practically caned the last two! Ballistic Brothers \”I\’ll Fly Away\” was encouraging to me, as they are generally known for making house & downtempo. Amalgamation of Soundz were always eclectic and their \”Tears for the Yazd\” became a classic for me and my circle of jazzy music lovers as did United Future Organization\’s \”Loud Minority (Alex Reece Remix.)\”

Welcome to the New Year and let\’s resolve to enjoy good music for the whole year, what do you say?

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For all the folks in or from the USA, \”Happy Thanksgiving!\” I hope that it is a good day full of friends, family and good food. Please remember the spirit of the first Thanksgiving, sharing between two very different groups of people (Native Americans and the immigrant \”Pilgrims\”) celebrating the survival of the newcomers due to help from the locals. There is more to be said about that story, but I\’ll leave you to discuss that amongst yourselves–this blog is about music. The musical feast for today begins with the \”Something Else! Intro\” (kind of like an opening prayer or speech) and then we dive into the treats. The first few tunes have a \”food\” theme in keeping with the preceding holiday greeting, \”Corn On The Cob\” by Courtial, from the San Francisco Bay Area. That area has produced so many great acts such as Tower of Power (Oakland,) Sly & The Family Stone (San Francisco,) Santana (San Francisco,) the various Escovedos (including Coke, Pete and his daughter Sheila–better known as \”Sheila E\”; Oakland) and MC from Oakland, Del the Funkee Homosapien (featured later in this show.) For our next \”dish\” we \”go to the go-go\” with Washington DC classic \”Sardines\” by the Junkyard Band. Their other big song was \”The Word,\” a critique of Ronald Reagan\’s defense budget \”Man, Reagan\’s makin\’ bombs with all the money these days, yeah man, my sister couldn\’t even get no school loans/My grandmother couldn\’t even get her food stamps!\” Funk classic and third dish for us is \”Pass The Peas\” by Fred Wesley & The JBs (JB = James Brown\’s band–if you listen you can hear James speak in the intro right before the horns come in.) After all that food, you\’ve got to \”wash it down\” with something. What better than the original party-starter, \”Firewater?\” New Orleans\’ Wild Magnolias sing a little bit about alcoholic beverages… I\’m kind of proud that you never know what you\’re going to hear on this show and \”Where Pathways Meet\” is a great way to introduce you to the o.g. space traveller, Sun Ra. Sun Ra contended that he was born on Jupiter and had his own mythology he created around himself and his music. Space is the Place is one of his most famous albums. \”You Can Fly\” seems an appropriate song to play after the man responsible for jazz space travel. One of the original \”nu-soul\” songs by Omar (or \”UK street-soul\” as it was called at the time) from an important compilation called \”Homegrown\” on Kongo–a family affair run by his uncle. Vanessa Simon also has a track on there that I\’m sure will wind up on one of these shows. \”Jazz Thing (Instrumental)\” by Gangstarr was something I originally heard on radio many years ago and I\’m glad to be able to share it with you. Saxophone duties are handled by the producer(!) Branford Marsalis (who later worked with DJ Premier on the Buckshot LeFonque project) and keyboards are by the late Kenny Kirkland (Branford\’s pianist at the time.) Scratches of course are by DJ Premier. \”Lyrics To Go \’09 feat Del The Funky Homosapien\” by Bidimridim is from a forthcoming tribute mix in honor of A Tribe Called Quest. You can download this and another promotional track (\”Check the Rhyme 2009 feat The Lessondary\”) also included in the Eclectic Relaxation mix from here. I love both tracks and as a fan of \”The Quest\” it\’s nice to hear a new interpretation of their music. \”25 West 38th Street\” by Peter Kruder notches the tempo up a bit as Mr. Kruder seems to of late, getting away from the spacy-slow-motion music that made him and his former collaborator, Richard Dorfmeister, famous–maybe he wants people to dance more now? Truth be told, he was DJing house music even when known for producing downtempo, so this isn\’t really that new for him. The next track is a bit of a treat as it features an artist you\’re well acquainted with on remix duties–ME!! \”Conga (T-Bird Remix)\” by Groovy Costa is from a Barcelona electro/minimal house producer I know and like. The track can be purchased here. We close out with another electronic house track from Dennis Ferrer, \”Hey Hey (Dennis Ferrer Attention Vocal Mix.)\” I don\’t know Dennis personally, but I love his work…

Enjoy the show and if you eat too much food, download the show and dance it off! See you next week.

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Welcome back, friends! The Something Else! Intro and Gil Evans\’ \”The Pan Piper\” by Miles Davis set us up for Part 2 of The Vicente Bellver session. As with last week\’s show, I

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This past week I was really lucky–I only had to program half of my show! Now that sounds like I\’m being lazy and slacking off (maybe?) but the good news for you, the listener is that the half I didn\’t have to program is a special guest set by my friend Vicente Bellver! For those of you not blessed enough to know Vicente, he\’s one of those people with an amazing music collection that\’s always expanding. I don\’t know if I\’ve ever heard the same song twice when I\’ve gone to his place. In Spain when you go for dinner it\’s considered short if you\’re there less than 3 hours. I am constantly asking him what things are that he\’s playing and then I am surprised by the stuff I do recognize (\”You know about this artist/group, Vicente?\”) I should let you know that Vicente does not consider himself a DJ (although I do.) I\’m sure for him, he just loves music. The last time I was at his place I asked him to do a session for me just because I love his choices so much. Apparently when he found the time, he had so much fun he sent me TWO… I\’ve split them up so that you can enjoy \”Part One\” here and \”Part Two\” will be in the next show.

The ubiquitous Something Else! Intro starts us off before \”Adios\” by an early incarnation of Weather Report (from Sweetnighter, their 3rd album) leads us into the first track of Vicente\’s session. Since I know very little about what Vicente is playing, I\’ll just present his playlist and then resume comment on the tracks I followed with.

Guest Dj set from Vicente Bellver (part 1):

In Her Smile – Build An Ark

Annobon – Aldo Romano, Louis Sclavis, Henri Texier

Mansane Cisse – Habib Koite & Bamada

In Time Of Need – Terence Blanchard

Just for Nana (Caymmi) – Terence Blanchard feat Ivan Lins

Georgia On My Mind – Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis

End Of Guest Set, Thanks Vicente!

As you can see, Vicente is the master of setting a \”vibe\”–an essential, no, the essential ingredient of being a DJ–you can\’t teach this to someone, you can only refine it. Picking up the baton, I follow Vicente with \”Lonely Town, Lonely Street (Live)\” by Bill Withers. If you didn\’t know already there is a documentary film about Bill called \”Still Bill\”–also the name of one of his most popular albums. \”In A Week, In A Day (Ashley Beedle Streetsoul Edit)\” by Kylie Auldist was sent to me by the label, Tru Thoughts, but I already loved the original so it wasn\’t that hard of a sell. On my last trip to London, I went to a place called The Notting Hill Arts Club for a night called \”Movimiento\” hosted by resident DJ Cal Jader. My introduction to Cal was when I went up to ask about a latin track (their specialty) that prominently featured turntablism. \”Salsa Scratch\” by Rob Swift featuring D-Styles & Bob James turned out to be the track I was inquiring about. I\’m a big fan of Rob Swift and the X-Ecutioners (including the late Grandmaster Roc Raida) so this was a real thrill. I love the intro with the woman speaking about how it\’s important for there to be some scratch music with Latin flavor (Rob is of Dominican heritage.) Like many people in the late 70s and early 80s, I was a fan of the band The Police. \”Voices In My Head (Roger\’s Loft Mix)\” by The Police is a great way of sneaking them into a dance club and turning heads without killing the dancefloor. Speaking of dancefloors, the final track is like a trifecta–originally written by Rod Temperton (Heatwave/Michael Jackson) and The Brothers Johnson for their own group, it is covered by Quincy Jones (who produced for of their albums) and remixed by Mousse T (\”Horny.\”) Enjoy \”Stomp (Mousse T. Ultimate Stomper)\” by Quincy Jones and check back for the next session from myself and Vicente!

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The title of this post refers to the fact that I\’m playing a few gigs extra this next few days:

Friday November 6th – Something Else! at Sitges Room Club from 12-3am (C/ Sant Pere 2, Sitges 08870) Soulful dance music…

Tuesday November 10th – Brazelona Sessions at Sidecar Fatory Club 12-5am (Pla

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After starting with the \”Something Else! Intro\” we head north to Norway (unless you\’re already in Scandinavia) for Bugge Wesseltoft\’s \”Change\” from his New Conception of Jazz: Moving. Appropriately, Bugge is pronounced \”Boogie\”–this jazz pianist knows his way around a groove! Thanks to Giant Step I\’ve been turned onto some great new music by an artist named Somi. I completely fell in love with her track \”Rising\” on first listen, see what it does for you. If \”Le Blues (Original Mix)\” by Ingrid de Lambe and \”A Go Go\” by The Truby Trio sound familiar, it\’s because you heard the source material in my previous show (\”Tohu Bohu Pt. 1\” by Marc Moulin and \”Afro Lypso\” by Mongo Santamaria respectively.) Speaking of source material, TV show Mission Impossible\’s \”Danube Incident\” by Lalo Schifrin (yes, I\’m a fan) was sampled for Portishead\’s biggest tune \”Sour Times.\” If you\’re a regular reader you should be familiar with the name Gil Scott-Heron. Along with \”The Revolution Will Not Be Televised\” he also struck gold with \”The Bottle.\” I remember hearing the next song on the radio in the 80s called \”Angel Dust\” by Gil Scott-Heron which, as usual, was chronicling a concern in the urban USA–a particularly dangerous and highly addictive drug called angel dust. \”Can\’t Hardly Wait (Radio Edit)\” by N\’Dambi isn\’t quite so heavy, although it deals with a more common theme–a problematic romantic partner. \”Do You Love What You Feel\” by Rufus feat Chaka Khan is the last great song I remember by the group before Chaka left for solo success. Turns out it\’s produced by the great Quincy Jones (the producer behind Michael Jackson\’s biggest albums, Off The Wall and Thriller.) \”Look What You\’re Doing to Me\” featuring Phonte by Jazzanova is further proof of the worldwide impact of soul music. Berliners Jazzanova have gone from sampling and remixing to using more \”traditional\” instruments (i.e., guitars, pianos, etc.) and writing more classic-style songs. This tune is one of the best off their last album Of All The Things. Giant Step is also responsible for me hearing the music of Trus\’ Me, although I knew his reputation as part of the Manchester sound from the 90s/00s thanks to label Fat City. Given that most of the music I heard from that part of the UK was related to the sound of Rae & Christian or Mr. Scruff, I was a little surpised to find this \”world music\” track \”Sweet Mother\” by Trus\’ Me. It totally fits into my style, so it was a pleasant surprise… \”Got A Pulse\” by Hint keeps it global for a moment before we slam dunk the funk on the last two cuts \”Pushing Against the Flow\” by Raw Stylus and \”Concrete Boom\” by Aquasky (who are usually known for more breakbeat or jungle/drum and bass – type sounds.)

Next week more new stuff and other lovely finds…

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All sorts of fun stuff this week following the \”Something Else Intro.\” A couple of movie soundtrack cuts \”This City Never Sleeps\” by Eurythmics (9 1/2 Weeks) and \”The Human Fly\” by Lalo Schifrin (Enter The Dragon.) Lalo Schifrin scored the whole film and according to the liner notes managed to simulate a few traditional Chinese instruments through clever combinations of western instruments since the film budget wouldn\’t allow for the \”real\” instruments. Low budgets were the fate of some classic 70s films that yielded great soundtracks (e.g., Superfly) Maybe he learned a few tricks while playing in Dizzy Gillespie\’s band–Diz became quite interested in \”world\” music many years after his bebop heyday. Speaking of world music, \”Arroz Com Feijao\” by Saravah Soul and \”Tumbala (Da Lata Remix)\” by Novalima both come out of the Afro-Latin tradition that fascinated Mr. Gillespie so much. However, both of these tracks have a little \”something else\” added to them–Saravah Soul spice it up with a pinch of funk and Novalima gets the afro-house touch on the Da Lata remix. \”Luxury (Cottonbelly Remix)\” by Maxwell is an interesting track. To begin with, Maxwell was part of the 90s soul revival that introduced artists like Erykah Badu, D\’Angelo and Omar. Generally, he collaborates with Stuart Matthewman, player of keyboards and woodwinds for jazzy pop/soul groups Sade & Sweetback. Stuart has yet another career as electronic producer and remixer Cottonbelly–who does the soulful, electronic re-groove on this track. \”A Charmed Life\” by J-Live is an underground hiphop mc\’s story of how he got to where he is. He has some clever uses of metaphor as would befit a former English teacher (he taught in Brooklyn, NYC.) The French downtempo producer Kid Loco was also a 90s phenom. Around the mid-90s DJ Cam and a lot of great French acid-jazz & hiphop was popular Kid Loco made his mark with the album A Grand Love Story. Today we hear the title track. Carlos Guaico has been part of several great LA music groups I\’ve known about: Mesh of Mind, The Black Eyed Peas, The Breakestra and The Rebirth. \”Love Issue (Radio Edit)\” by The Rebirth is something Carlos told me about on their Reverb Nation site–sign up and go get it! As indicated in the title of this episode, the next track is by a legend–Stanley Clarke. Along with Jaco Pastorius, Larry Graham and Louis Johnson (featured on the track) Mr. Clarke helped elevate the bass guitar from being \”just\” the low-end to being a lead instrument. \”Play The Bass 10

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IMPORTANT NOTE: Last week I said that Cookin\’ On 3 Burners is a trio version of The Bamboos. This is INCORRECT! The only common member between the groups is guitarist Lance Ferguson. Drummer Ivan \”Choi\” Khatchoyan is busy with other projects as well and organist Jake Mason\’s info can be found here .

As always, the \”Something Else! Intro\” starts off the show before our first \”proper tune,\” Missy Elliot\’s bhangra-beat hit \”Get Ur Freak On (Amended Version.)\” This tune was part of a musical direction that mainstream urban music took for a while that I particularly enjoyed in the early 00s. Along with hip-hop, dancehall reggae also adopted this sound as evidenced by songs using the \”Coolie Riddim\” such as \”Pull Up\” by Mr. Vegas or official remixes like \”Dude (Punjabi Hit Squad Remix)\” by Beenie Man. By the way, Punjabi Hit Squad have a great show on BBC Radio called \”Desi Beats.\” While we\’re speaking about the UK, the next track \”So You Want Morre? feat. Roots Manuva (refix)\” by Ty is an English counterpart to the Missy Elliot track. \”Rumba Infierno\” by La Troba Kung F