Jaime Foxx ft. Ludacris : Unpredictable (Captain Planet Remix)
Crate exclusive… you know.

Me and my boy DJ O (Beatards / Sway) have been planning this event for a minute now- it takes some serious effort to pull off a night with 4 turntables and 2 serato’s (yeah, that’s right, I’m hoppin’ on that digital hover-wagon) doing all LIVE remixes with 100% ORIGINAL BEATS. We make lots and lots of beats all the time, and this is where we get to put them to the test. The above track is one of the myriad concoctions that came together during our hazy-brained experiment sessions. A bunch of live acts that you want to see too, showcasing all kinds of sickness- it’s like the STD segment of Sex Ed, but fun, and with everybody dancing.

So if you’re in NYC this upcoming Wednesday night, then come out, show your face, and give us the thumbs up by wiggling it to a booty beat we probably made last night. It will be many bonfires of hotness.

The Beatards and Via Present:
MXTR6! MIXTAPE RIOT 6

Wednesday, April 5, 2006
@ SOHO:323
323 West Broadway (b/w Canal & Grand)
21+ // $5
Free beer from 10 – 11

The monthly scandalous notorious shocking dumb large girl meets boy boy meets girl party til dawn event, with on-site remixing by DJ O & Captain Planet. Live performances by Sky Hy, Lisa E, Louie Bricks & Nest, and Loot.

Grady Tate : And I Love Her, Work Song and All Around The World
taken from the album “Windmills Of My Mind” on Skye (1968)

In a bit of a different bag today, this is some of that sophisticated soul. I always knew to look for a Grady Tate drumming credit on the back of CTI records and whatnot, but I had no idea about the man’s musical story. Someone by the name of Kristian St. Claire has already written the review that belongs here, so I’ll just tell you to head over there for more info. Really beautiful arrangement by Gary McFarland on the Beatles cover- if, like me, you get impatient with anything that doesn’t start right off with a fat back open break, please push yourself on this one. It gets better, and better, and BETTER. (It’s Pretty Purdy behind the kit if that makes the wait sound a bit more rewarding to you). And when the humming drops at the close of the track, I’m pretty sure you’ll be sold on this tune as well. This is McFarland’s own start-up label, the same one that put out the ridiculously ill Armando Peraza record that I blogged a while back. Sadly, the man passed in ’71 and the label was no more…

Gnarls Barkley (Cee-Lo & Dangermouse) : Smiley Faces and Crazy
taken from the upcoming album St. Elsewhere on Downtown/Atlantic (2006)

Cee-Lo : I’ll Be Around and All Day Love Affair
taken from the album Cee-Lo Green… Is The Soul Machine on Arista (2004)

Cee-Lo : Gettin’ Grown
taken from the album Cee-Lo Green And His Perfect Imperfections on Arista (2002)

First off, I was really really really having a good good good time watching this movie. I think I would be happy just watching Questlove drum for 2 hours straight, but seeing all these cats together was just outta control. It was so good that it almost made me not be mad at myself for missing the concert in person- where was I?

Perhaps the only person missing was my man CEE fuckin’ LO to the mutherfuckin’ GREEN! If you haven’t been travelling through the Siberian backcountry for the past 5 years, then you’ve heard his music. You very well might have all these songs in your iPod already, but on the off chance that somehow you have missed the absolutely brilliant career of one of our greatest contemporary soul music geniuses (yup, I ain’t afraid to say it!) then you will be thanking me for this revelation.

From Goodie Mob to Dungeon Family to solo steez to countless sideprojects (“Sugar” by Trick Daddy or “Don’t Cha” by Tori Alamaze if you need to be reminded), this man has never ceased to deliver TOP quality music while still managing to actually make it sucessfully (at least somewhat) in the industry. “All Day Love Affair” can bring me to tears, no joke. Plus, dude writes mad songs that make it to the Billboard charts without most of us ever knowing it. To me, that’s genius.

As much respect as I had for the Cee, I really didn’t think I could be as blown away as I was when I first heard “Crazy” a while back. But there’s just nothing else like it. Not sure how or when Cee-Lo first hooked up with Dangermouse to form Gnarls Barkley, but the match seems to fit just right. Simple, haunting, raw, organic… the man has a voice worthy of delivering the gospel. Then just this week I got my hands on “Smiley Faces”, holy crapoli. I’m really feeling tunes at this tempo right now, it’s that ole’ tyme side to side sway shizzz. Makes you clap your hands and bounce and bob yer freaking head and shake your hair and just WILE OUT! I’ve heard some other songs of theirs on the internet (including a really interesting cover of Violent Femmes’ “Gone Daddy Gone”), check it out for yourself. You know I don’t usually post music that is easily available for download from any file sharing network, but this is an exception, this needs to be everywhere. This needs to be what gets played non-stop on the top 40. This needs to go triple platinum. Sadly, it’s very unlikely that it will. Thank you Cee-Lo. and Dangermouse too.

Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 : Mais Que Nada
taken from his self-titled album on A&R (1966)

Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’77 : Promesa De Un Pescador
taken from the album “Primal Roots” on A&R (1972)

Sergio Mendes (ft. Q-Tip & Will.I.Am) : The Frog
taken from the album “Timeless” on Concord (2006)

I gotta admit, I was really getting my hopes up about this Sergio project. Sure, the guy has had plenty of leanings towards the ever expanding empire of cheesy-dom, but I still have much respect for Will.I.Am (I can hear you folks jeering in the bleechers, but come on now, listen to how he flipped Jorge Ben’s “Comanche” back in ’98 and tell me that ain’t siiick) and I just kept hearing about more and more artists getting on the album (Erykah, John Legend, Pharoahe Monch, Marcelo D2, and even STEVIE for cryin out loud!), so I was honestly expecting some hotness. Well, “Timeless” doesn’t quite make the grade in my opinion. It’s comes across kind of like a lighter version of the Red Hot + Riot album, but not as badass (Sergio just doesn’t compete with Fela), not as diverse (I would have loved to hear Bugz freak some of this material), and it’s just not as much “Brazilian” as it is “Hip Hop”. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, Hip Hop is good, we love Hip Hop, but I wish Sergio could have exploited his uniqueness a lot more. The sad thing is, whenever he does step up to solo, I usually wince and wish he hadn’t… I don’t want to get old like that.

This old school version of “Mais Que Nada” highlights the type of swinging, groovy, pop originality that I had hoped to see more of. When Sergio’s first A&R album (produced by highly herbie Herb Alpert) dropped in the U.S., it shook. It still shakes. That track is timeless. He continued swinging through the 60’s, fusing latin sounds with British and American pop and soul. There were a lot of cool, jazzy, swingin tunes that came out of it. The early seventies saw Sergio getting a bit funkier. “Promesa” has that nasty drum break (used by none other than Madlib on one of his many side projects) but it also has those elements of Afro-Brazilian music that make it so unique.

This new album ain’t bad, aside from a couple forgettable tracks and some very cheesy soloing, but it doesn’t have anything to really get me excited – so that’s dissappointing. “The Frog” is very playable, same with “Yes, Yes, Y’all” and a few others, but it’s basically just a hip hop track (is Sergio anywhere on this?) with a catchy Brazilian hook. I want to hear Quantic do a track on this album, and Ursula 1000, and Dangermouse could have really flipped one of these songs… oh well.

Bossa 70 : Think
taken from the compilation “Jeff Recordings on Crippled Dick Hot Wax! (2002)

Bappi Lahiri & Salma Agha : Come Closer
taken from the compilation “Indiavision” on Buda Musique (2005)

Some really cool stuf on these two collections. The first one features 16 tracks all engineered by a German chiller named Jeff Nieckau. Not really feeling the scene in early 60’s Germany, he took off for sunnier, funkier places. First stop was Tanzania, but that proved to be so much fun that he decided to keep on trekking. All the recordings from this comp were made between 1972 – 1976 while he was working/living in Peru and Trinidad. The album has some great liner notes and cool pics that help paint the picture of this groovy man’s musical (and technological) adventures. Turns out he engineered a record I have by Lord Shorty which Jeff claims was the first Soca (soul + calypso) record ever – dope stuff.

If you’ve been checking my blog for a while, then you know I like to slip in a little bollywood stuff here and there, thing is, the really sick tunes are so hard to come by. That’s why I was psyched when Buda Musique (the same French cats that keep putting out bangers under the Ethiopiques series) decided to do this awesome collection of Hindi film songs. They’ve got a bunch of songs from the more well known soundtracks (at least to beat diggers), but then they dig up some gold like “Come Closer” (from the soundtrack to Kasam Paida Karnewale Ki, 1984) which is kinda in a league of its own. Smooth drum machine porno preparation music. When the horns slide in, just after the sitar solo, I’m definitely ready to get it on with melady – good thing she digs the bollywood too, haHA!

Ray Barretto Tribute Mix
Part 1 (mixed by DJ Busquelo)
Part 2 (mixed by Captain Planet)

I’ll post some new stuff soon, sorry to keep you hanging, but for now enjoy this Tribute Mix. It’s about as much Barretto as could possibly fit onto an 80 min CD. Part 1 is Busquelo bringing you many heavy oldies and the full length version of ‘Cocinando’ – bonkers. Part 2 is my handiwork, more oldies and some of the funk and soul as well. Enjoy the tunes and share with friends. Oh yeah, I guess you’ll want a proper tracklisting… well once it’s up in the “Loose Tape” section (gimme a minute) you’ll have that as well.

PEACE