“Anything I say here will sound tired, lame and cliched: I’m a loving, caring, empathic person trying to survive in a culture dominated by free market, neo-liberal values, white supremacy, patriarchy and the loathsome cult of individualism. My ‘academic’ work is *never* unconnected to my passions, desires, and ambitions for radical social justice. Black Studies is a calling to me, as strong as some folks’ religious fervour, and without music, my life would be a mistake.” – Tim Haslett
We crossed paths infrequently, but everytime i bumped into Tim he would gently tip new ideas (or new music) into my head.
Somebody play this tune for him for me next Monday. We were emailing each other in amazement when it got released, gun clack and heartbeat, the reality of pain as awareness of fragility, history samples and silence at the end when the voice drops out.
& here’s a great spanish-language interview w/ El Guincho. Note: he’s the only Spanish musician i’ve ever heard who namechecks the (seminal West African) Syliphone label!
on last week’s streamable 2-hour radio show, i dip into both Syliphone 70s territory and B.A. cumbia mutations. Also: Sr. Guincho & Mr. Oceana’s blog (en espanol) is in full-on tour diary mode (“it’s 100 degrees in Austin. Oh yeah, yesterday I crossed paths with Ice Cube.”)
tonite’s radio show will be from 6-8pm EST! After the 2 week marathon madness, rest assured i’ve got ’nuff new tunes to run through… Next week: special guest Ghislain Poirier.
had a chance to check the new Kingdom mixtape and it’s zuper — streamable (and buyable) here. What’s it sound like? “ANIMATED GIFS, SECRET RURAL HOMOTHUG PARTIES, TIE-DYE, SUBWOOFERS PASSING IN THE NIGHT, MEMORIES FOREVER.”
(Memories forever? Funes the memorious understands that that sounds like a curse… )
here’s a locative Harlem b-more Cam’Ron / Kingdom refix from it to speed along your day.
More evidence that teen dancehall producer Stephen ‘Da Genius’ McGregor is pretty much creating his own genre (by splicing open silent time and organizing all the bits of guitars, voices, drums, synths, and glittering sky that fall out):
Eddie Stats’ new column ups a riddim mix of McGregor’s latest beat, DayBreak. great writeup, insane vocal runs…
speaking of reggae & daybreaks, here’s some cumbia remniscent of a dark, metaphysically heavy Lee Perry production. Traigan aguardiente!
Includes the lyrics: “que si no hay pelea no va a amanacer”
yes! coming soon on Soot: a compilation of Nueva Cumbia Argentina selected by Sonido Martines! 12″ for the DJs, then CD for the rest of the world. we’ve been working on this for months, almost there… heads up for some European dates w/ Sonido & myself in April.
last nite’s party in SF was inspiring — 400+ folks came out and dance the night away with us!
while Sonido’s comp focuses on the Buenos Aires scene, the sound travels. Here’s a fresh slice from Mexico, Grupo La Cumbia de Darwin Perea. . This synthy tune belongs to the cumbia subgenre of ‘negrita’ tunes. Which are about love, lust, human ownership, loss, and memory — slavery music! (sort of).
Fans of cumbia and other tropical sounds should come to the Bersa Discos party in San Francisco tomorrow (sat.) nite, where i’ll be DJing krunk kumbia heaters alongside Bersa bredren and some of Buenos Aires’ Zizek gang.
ive been chatting a lot about cumbia lately, so i’ll take this moment to say: reggaeton production as lively & creative than ever. here’s a supercharged cover tune, sort of… from a Dominican-German? singing one of the songs labeled inappropriate by Clear Channel post 9/11:
plus, the only neo-whatever WTF clubb jam that’s more now thing than Crookers’ Kid Cudi remix is a new top secret Jah Dan exclusive i will be airing at all available soundsystems, prod. by Matt Shadetek, the only producer i know whose music has gone full viral in NYC black youth culture.
Miami rapper Pitbull wrote this song nearly 2 years ago, and Castro hasn’t left the planet yet.
Regardless of how you feel about Fidel Castro, Cuba, Guantanamo Bay, totalitarianism, 24-hr supermarkets, “boat people”, neoliberal economic policies, santerÃa, neoconservative economic policies, cigars, Coke vs. Pepsi televisual democracy, and/or crunked up salacious Pitbull, this beat = pure Afro hypen madness and he is spitting political on it.
2:30 PM me: esta noche refieres?
esta noche refieres?
o manyana?
o manyana?
has podido poner info nueva en GoogleDocs?
has podido poner info nueva en GoogleDocs?
sonido: a las 11 pm si estoy seguro q puedo venir
a las 11 pm si estoy seguro q puedo venir
esta noche
esta noche
me: ok cool!!!!!
ok cool!!!!!
sonido: no he avanzado mucho con google docs
no he avanzado mucho con google docs
