21 Ten Eyck St. was my first Brooklyn address. I can hardly believe it’s been so long now (8.5 years). The place was a massive, newly renovated duplex with a HUGE shared yard and a community garden next door. I also find it hard to believe how hooked up I was! A lot has changed on that street, and in Brooklyn. Same day I moved in, local cops approached me and gave me a breakdown of the dealers on the block (“keep your eyes on the guy in the wheelchair”). Now this monstrosity is a block alway, sticking it’s tongue out at the still-pretty-gully projects that you can see on the right side of the photo. More important than the space itself though, was that I lived with 3 other guys, all of them nasty musicians. We collectively built the space into extra bedrooms to fit us, went through 9-11 together, and had many epic nights of bad cooking and underage drinking (mostly Mustang tallboys as I recall). These guys always inspired me back then, probably one of the reasons I decided to follow the music path over the painter/multi-media-installationist one, and it’s still very inspiring to see what they’re up to now.

Sam Barsh, keyboardist extraordinaire and sometimes exhibitionist, has a bunch of different groups and projects that he’s involved with, but a recent release of his called The Years has some tracks that especially need to be heard. Roomie #2 was Max aka “Traxxx” who went to high school with me- we started making music together at age 15. He’s also always bouncing between bands, but as one of the 2 drummers for Francis & The Lights, he’s showing off his exceptionally funky touch. Expect big things from these guys soon since they are opening up for Drake on tour (crazy, I know). Roomie #3 was Chris Bear, who just might be the origin of the band name Grizzly Bear. These guys have been huge for a long time already, doing stadiums on the regular, performing with symphonies, and I believe opening for Radiohead. BUT I remember seeing them play to crowds of 10 in grimey Brooklyn lofts under the name Teenage Jesus when we lived together and for a little while after that.

Finally, since I’ve been in NY for a while now and have made a lot of new friends along the way, I figured I’d include a couple recent tracks by friends that I hung out with this week- Maggie Horn (vocalist on Telephoned) and Ibe (remixer/producer/cool guy). Because that’s how it is here in the city, and it might be the lure that keeps me living here for a long time to come.

The Years :       Lets Stay In Love
this song features Sam’s soulful lil bro Sy on vocals. peep the rest of the album here

Francis & The Lights :       LIME

Grizzly Bear :       Cheerleader

La Roux :       Bulletproof (Ibe Remix)

Telephoned :       Rockin' That Thang
get her whole club killin EP here and the mixtape here

Whoa. Have you seen this?

Girl can go no wrong…

EDIT: gotta give you the MP3 too

Erykah Badu ft. Lil Wayne :       Jump Up In The Air and Stay There

My homie and fellow funk freak, DJ Tantric, just passed his latest mixtape my way and it’s a good one! If you like vintage electro, freestyle, vocoders, the 80’s and, most importantly, doing the robot dance- then this one’s for you. Some staples and classics in here, but also new discoveries for me, including the Photocall track in the beginning of the mix. I’ve done a few shows alongside Tantric and his crew of funkateers Planet Rump and I heartily endorse them and the massive amounts of glitter spandex they wear. Tantric opens up the mix with a little bit of his own vocoder madness, if you like what you hear, then find yourself at one of his parties in the near future.

In Tantric‘s words: “This mix is inspired by the work of 1980’s Renaissance man and American hero, Macgyver.”

TRACKLIST
Intro
Silver Clouds – Photocall
Al Naafiysh (The Soul) – Hashim
Clear – Cybotron
Body Mechanic (Original Vocal Version) – Quadrant Six
Every Sunday – Crazy Gang
Rendez Vous At Rimini – Alden Tyrell
Electric Kingdom – Twilight 22
Situation Hot – Arabian Prince
Freaky DJ – The Egyptian Lover
Diamond Girl – Nice & Wild
Give Me Back My Heart – Corina
Leave It All Behind – Tolga
There’s A Party Going On – Yvonne
What Goes Around Comes Around – Giggles
Reckless With Your Love – Azari & III

One of my all-time musical heroes returns with some seriously dope, exceptionally dark FUTURE BLUES. Don’t sleep.

Gil Scott-Heron:       New York Is Killing Me &       Me And The Devil

Taken from the forthcoming release “I’m New Here” on XL