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…

Sly, Slick & Wicked: Love Gonna Pack Up (And Walk Out)
Taken from the 7″ on Bad Boys (197?)

Today I present a real treat. Discoverd deep in dollar bin at the Pasadena Flea Market, this song has been playing non-stop chez moi for the last two months. To my taste, this is very nearly a perfect soul song. Period.

I would put this alongside Darondo’s recently re-discovered and much-hyped “Didn’t I”, as a 70’s soul music masterpiece. The fact that, like Darondo, Sly, Slick & Wicked is a certifiable mystery, only makes the record that much jucier.

Not to be mistaken with a lesser, Cleaveland-based Sly, Slick & Wicked (also a 70’s R&B group), the geniuses in question hailed from none other than my own glorious backyard: East L.A. And that’s about all I know. Supposedly SS&W released a single uber-rare LP (cerca 1975) which fetches a very pretty penny whenever it surfaces. Deservedly so.

Listen to those rolling drums, the languid keys work, the emotive vocals. The call and response break downs for Chrissake!!! Leave me on a desert island with nothing more than the memory of this song, and I would die a happy man.

Los Angeles represent!

(p.s. If anyone has further information about these cats, please share it in the comments section.)

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.

Natalie Gardiner: Trouble In Mind
Taken from the Trouble In Mind EP on Ramjac (2004)

Natalie Gardiner: Can’t Quit You Now
Taken from the 12″ on Ramjac (2005)

It’s easy to get lost in old soul tunes. (When I say lost, I mean literally lost. My living room looks like the forgotten underbelly of the New York Public Library.) Part of it owes to the high quality of the music that came out of the 60’s and 70’s, and part of it, as any wax fiend knows, is the hunt itself–the quest for that hithertofore unknown or long forgotten gem that will set the heart and/or dancefloor afire.

But every now and again it’s important to remember–and I believe this deeply–that we are living in an immensely rich musical period right now. Truly great (and innovative) soul music is being created as we speak. Steve Spacek, J*Davey, Badu–this is the real deal ish. So what if it’s not getting radio play. It’s our jobs as music lovers to seek it out for ourselves. You wouldn’t blame a crack dealer for not reaching his market; the onus is on the fiend to get his fix.

All this is just to say that, dipping back into some of my more contemporary finds, I rediscovered these Natalie Gardiner tracks and was reminded like WOAH! This is some heavy soul music.

These tracks come from two separate 12 inches released prior to her debut LP (which dropped last year, I believe). I haven’t actually heard the whole thing, but I think it’s pretty safe to say it’s well worth your $15–that is, if you can find it. Sadly, few publications (print, internet or otherwise) have offered much in the the way of hype.

The producer, a Swede by the name of Ramjac, obviously knew what he was going for with Ms. Gardiner: super stripped-down, moody, broken beat instrumentals that accomodate the purity of her melancholy vocals. Just plain good stuff.

Dig on!

Ramsey Lewis: Kufanya Mapenzi and If Loving You Is Wrong, I Don’t Want To Be Right
Taken from the album Funky Serenity on Columbia (1972)

Ramsey Lewis: Aufu Oodu
Taken from the album Salongo on CBS (1976)

One of the great thrills of a record hunt is the occasional stowaway find. Out at the flea market, digging at a garage sale, you spot a desirable record, pay the crumpled dollar, get home, dip your fingers into the dusty sleeve and remove–what’s this?!? This isn’t Roberta Flack! Why, it’s… SALONGO!

So it was that I discovered Ramsey Lewis at his mid-seventies easy listening/pop-jazz-funk fusion best. It would be another several years before I would actually acquire the record in it’s proper jacket, and only then that I would realize just how indispensible this album really is. Take a closer look, people: that’s Ramsey, in tribal paint, unabashedly beaming… in braces.

Truth be told, Salongo is actually kind of a wack album, full of banal groove, mood music and flaccid synthesizers. That said, the cover is amazing and Aufu Oodu is one of those delectable Afro-centric mid-seventies cuts that you just can’t help but love. If you hear a sonic resemblance to some of Earth, Wind & Fire’s contemporaneous work, it’s because EWF’s frontman/producer, Maurice White is behind the mixing boards.

Far more substantive as a whole album, “Funky Serenity” epitomizes the early seventies fusion sound. (The heavy drum presence, the Rhodes work, and the Zulu track titles are a good tip-off.) This album, which preceeded the much more successful “Sun Goddess” by a year, is easily my favorite of Ramsey’s work from this era.

The highly rhythmic uptempo cut, “Kufanya Mapenzi” was a happy suprise after listening to the “If Loving You…” cover about thirty times in a row. Damn! That song kills me every time. Stay tuned for the Millie Jackson and/or Bobby Bland version in the near future. PEACE!