“Passport” radio broadcast from 12/29/08 – special BEST OF 2008 edition
Passport airs every Monday night on 89.1 FM WNYU

This is really not a top ten, and it doesn’t even cover half of my favorite albums of the year, but it does cover just about every one of my favorite records that got play on Passport this past year. Looking over the blog it’s easy to tell that my tastes are much more varied than what’s presented on the show – I would not, for example drop Kanye or even Mayer Hawthorne (since the station is all about focused programming). And the truth is, after 6 years of hosting and DJ-ing my Monday night program, I feel I’m coming much closer to saying goodbye to the show, especially now that I have a co-host I’ve been working with who’s going to keep it alive after I move on. However, since this year has been a good one on the program- starting off back in January with guest appearances from both Chico Mann and Ticklah– I wanted my BEST OF 2008 to highlight all the freaky, funky, global gems that I get to exercise out of my system each and every Monday. I say exersice, because I’m really not able to play too many of these cuts when I DJ out and about- your average club-goer is still not ready for the psychedelic Cumbias that I fiend. So here’s the playlist from last night’s show- I’ve thrown some honorable mentions at the bottom that didn’t make it into the show due to time restraints…

Artist – “Song Title” – Album Name – (Record Label)

Brownout “Barretta” Homenaje (Freestyle)
Karl Hector and The Malcouns “Toure Samar” Sahara Swing (Now Again)
Gabo Brown & Orchestre Poly-Rythmo “It’s A Vanity” African Scream Contest (Analog Africa)
Curumin “Compacto” JapanPopShow (Adrenaline)
Chicha Libre “Sonido Amazonico” Sonido Amazonico (Barbes)
Sonora Casino “Astronautas A Mercurio” Obsession (Bully)
Bio Ritmo “Bionic Boogaloo” Bionico (Locutor)
Grupo Fantasma “Se Te Mira” Sonidos Gold (Aire Sol)
Bronx River Parkway “Agua Con Sal” San Sebastian 152 (Truth & Soul)
Keziah Jones “Pimpin'” Nigerian Wood (Warner Bros)
Jackson Conti “Sao Paulo Nights” Sujinho (Mochilla)
Chico Mann “Dilo Como Yo” Analogue Drift (Unreleased)

honorable mentions:

V/A – The entire NIGERIA SPECIAL series on Soundway
V/A – Calypsoul
V/A – Bachata Roja
V/A – The Roots Of Chicha
Tito Puente – The Complete 78’s
Joe Bataan – Under The Streetlamps
Seun Kuti – Seun Kuti + Egypt 80
Femi Kuti – Day By Day

The Grateful Dead : Brokedown Palace
taken from the album American Beauty on Warner Bros. (1970)

Charles Wilder : Big Heart (rough draft, don’t hate!)
a song for my bro.

Been a crazy week. I heard the moon is abnormally close to Earth right now, perhaps that’s a part of it. Less than a day after spending my first ever night in jail (story for another day), I heard the shocking news that one of my oldest and best friends (a true brother to me) had died in a car accident.

Adam and I learned how to skateboard together, learned how to get into trouble together, made our first cross-country road trip together when I had just gotten my license… So many of my most memorable experiences were with him. When I was 12 and he was 13, we were in a show together where we shared the part of the Donkey. One of us as the head, the other as the butt (which meant bending down holding onto the other dude’s waist for an ungodly period of time), and we’d switch off positions. This was all in the pursuit of chasing cute girls mind you. And we even got our first girlfriends together- the scheme worked! I remember sharing a couch watching some c-grade horror film and making out with our respective adolescent girls side-by-side, taking cues out of the corners of my eyes so I’d know when to proceed to the next step- GLORIOUS 2ND BASE!

I could go on for way too long about how much of who I am was shaped by him, but since none of you knew him, I won’t. In addition to being a serious lover of hip hop, dude was a Deadhead, as are many good people up here in the New England woods where I’m originally from. This particular Dead song was sung by a long haired hippie on guitar, who was accompanied by another on Djembe, at the beautiful service I attended this morning in his honor. I love you bro and you’ll be with me for all the rest of my days on this Earth.

Makonde : Soseme Makonde & Manzara
taken from the 12″ single on EMI (1977)

Haven’t been bringing out too many rares lately, but not because I’ve had any real trouble stumbling upon them. Even with my wallet as empty as it has been these past couple months, I’ve still managed to pull some pretty crazy finds. I’ve been pushing myself to stay out of record stores as much as possible, but when I pass someone standing on the sidewalk in the cold behind a underappreciated crate- I feel almost an obligation to pull out enough money to get them a cup of soup and a hot coffee (even if it ends up going towards a lil fire water in the end).

That brings us to this latest discovery of Swahili disco funk from ’77. The cover was beat to hell which is probably why other people overlooked it, but the record (brilliant BLUE VINYL with a LEOPARD PRINT LABEL!) was kept in another sleeve and remained in great condition. Dropping the needle on side A was like opening the gate to King Kong’s beastly lair. Deranged warbling mumbles and pounding drums are soon met with a pulsing bass, a simple chant, and then what sounds like a drunken Moog synth doing the running man. This is exactly the type of track that first inspired me to start this blog.

The B side, perhaps equally as incendiary, sounds almost like the Kenyan version of The Commodores “Machine Gun”, but with fatter drum breaks. Turns out Kon & Amir unearthed this monster before me and even featured it on their recent Kings Of Digging CD for the BBE label- makes me feel pretty lucky about turning this one up. They did a nice little edit on their CD which extended the drum breaks, but I figured I’d give you both tracks unedited so you’ll have to practice your Serato juggling skills if you want to keep the break rolling.

Gabor Szabo & The California Dreamers :       San Franciscan Nights
taken from the album Wind Sky & Diamonds on Impulse (1967)

The Dazz Band / The Whitfield Brothers : Let It Whip (B.Cause Remix)
taken from the mix Playcrater Too

Remember how a couple weeks ago I said I’d be happy to open for Kraak & Smaak anytime? Well, things are moving really quickly right now. The Beatards got asked last minute to open for them at their 2 west coast shows (LA & SF) and of course we agreed- scrambling to put together whatever other gigs we could to make the whole trip worthwhile. We randomly caught the same plane as Sean Kingston and had a nice little rap session at 6am in JFK (big shout to a very chill kid whose songs I love). The shows were all good times, with successively growing crowds each night, ending on the sold out bash last Monday at The Roxy (check The Beatards site for a more thorough breakdown with some nice video clips).

Hung around in LA for the rest of Thanksgiving week with lil broski Murphy, and had a good time DJ-ing BOOGALOO[LA] with him and O-Dub. Played many a game of Risk and went to a couple other fun parties while I was out there.

So now I’m decompressing with some very Cali sounds. Been wanting this OG from Gabor Szabo since hearing People Under The Stairs flip it into a track back in like, 2000? And what DJ reps the Bay harder, and better, than the man B.Cause! I recently met him through my homie Doc Delay here in Brooklyn and he passed me a copy of his new mix Playcrater Too. SO GOOD. Don’t sleep on this 100% consistent, smooth flowing, and deeply soulful mash-up mix from one of the Bay Area’s hardest hustling funkateers – COP IT FROM HIS MYSPACE.

Alice Russell : Got The Hunger?
taken from the album Pot Of Gold on Six Degrees (2008)

J Boogie’s Dubtronic Science (ft. Ohmega Watts & Ragen Fykes) : 1.4.U
taken from the album Soul Vibraitons on Om (2008)

Friday I caught a really fun show put on by the Giant Step family at Hiro Ballroom: Alice Russell, Taylor McFerrin + J-Boogie. Coming from my bay area background, it’s essential to get my fill of unpretentious, down-to-earth soul every once in a while. Even though I missed Taylor’s set, I still managed to get my fix. Having shared the stage with Ms. Russell less than a year ago at a tiny venue in the Lower East Side, it was very encouraging to see her with a full band (the talented TM Juke on guitar) getting lots of love from a much bigger crowd. And her new songs are not to be slept on! At the end of “Hunger” she brought the song into some double-time foot stomping action ala The Isley Brothers’ “Shout”.

I’ve been listening to J-Boogie’s latest CD too- letting my inner headwrap hippie get blissed out. “Patchouli Soul” perhaps? Like I said, I’ve been a fan of his jazzy-retro-conscious sound for years, and I’m glad he’s still doing it, despite the total lack of play that this sound gets (at least in NY). And can anyone complain when Mr. Vigs gets on the talkbox? J-Boogie’s got a handful of really hot remixes floating around right now as well, but you’ll have to ask your local DJ for the connect since he’s specifically requested “no sharing”.

Kraak & Smaak :       Ain't Gonna Take It No More &       Squeeze Me
taken from the album Plastic People on Jalapeno (2008)

The Hot 8 Brass Band :       Get Up (Diesler Remix)
taken from the album The Hot 8 Brass Band Remixed on TruThoughts (2008)

Aether :       Orfeu Negro
taken from the album Artifacts on Exponential (2008)

Nujabes :       A Day By Atmosphere Supreme &       The Final View
taken from the album Metaphorical Music (2003)

I’ve never felt like such a patriot- and I’m from New England! It’s hard not to be excited about this latest twist in American history. Recognizing the importance of today, just taking a second to process that this moment is one that will be written about, that we can proudly remember to our grandkids, has me feeling kinda tingly. I don’t need to get too cheesy and gushy, but I ain’t afraid to admit that I had tears in my eyes on Tuesday. Newly imbued with pride in today and hope for tomorrow, I’m sharing some new music- funky house to keep us moving and mellowed out headnodders for contemplative train rides.

On Saturday I rocked a show with my group The Beatards opening for Kraak & Smaak and I was reminded just how funky these Dutchmen are! The stage show included a psychedelic LCD light extravaganza, a Moog keytar, soulful vocalists and lots of jumping from the crowd. When they started chanting “I’m mad as hell and I ain’t gonna take it no more!” people were getting particularly rowdy. We’d be happy to open for them anytime! And yeah, I guess I forgot to mention here in the Crate, but it was the release party for our brand new Big Bad Beat EP – which really should get its own post. NEVER enough time!

Moving on… a crowd riling, call to hand clapping produced by the U.K.’s Diesler. I’ve seen The Hot 8 do their thing (yes, the same NOLA horn troupe known for their classic version of “Sexual Healing”), and I thing this track definitely captures the live energy while giving it that little extra boost that helps build necessary anticipation on the dancefloor. I think on the bigger scale too, IT’S ABOUT TO GO DOWN!

I was real pleased by this new album from producer/graphic designer Aether, who I was completely unfamiliar with. Fans of Flying Lotus and other abstract downtempo sounds should check for this one. A moody remake of a song I recognize from the Babel soundtrack also stands out to me as being perfect journal writing ambiance.

These jazzy beats from Japanese beatmaker Nujabes aren’t quite as new, but they’re new to me and they’ve been sounding quite appropriate for Autumn in the city- Cali heads, I’m sorry, you just won’t get it. Also, hearing a simple remix of Yusef Lateef’s “Love Theme from Spartacus” (“The Final View”) gets a big 2 thumbs up from me. This was the record I always used to listen to lying in bed with my first girlfriend ever in the fall of ’98! I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since then. Sixteen doesn’t seem so far away listening to this now, and why be nostalgic when today is looking so good?