Summer has officially arrived. New moon. Late sunset. The all-prevailing song of the ice cream truck ringing out to school-less children everywhere.  And with a flip of a switch, hot ass days are here as well. We revolve around the sun and this is the time of year when old mother gaia reminds us of that. I was out dancing the other night, and the bouncer straight passed out right in front of me due to the club being 200 degrees farenheit. He got some water and fresh air and was back to standing statuesque in less than 10 minutes (this time with slightly bent knees). In lieu of all this heat, some hot ones for you today.

Niama Makalou et African Soul Band :       Kognokoura
this is the type of record, that when I first heard it, I couldn’t believe it was actually recorded in 1979. Thank you Sofrito for this beautiful heavy press reissue accompanied by the late-night friendly re-edit from a man called Daphni on the B-side.

Orchestra Of Spheres :       Hypersphere (Daphni Edit)
speaking of Daphni, gottdamn! Homie is on some shit right now. I have to thank him for introducing me to this band, and if you’re not familiar, you should thank him too.

Débruit :       Afro Booty Musique &       Ogene Udu
been waiting a minute on this. Debut full-length from this funky frenchman hits all the bizarre places in your eardrum that you never knew existed.

Maga Bo :       Xororô ft. Russo Passapusso (Uproot Andy Remix)
&       É da Nossa Cor ft. Mestre Camaleão (Sabo Remix)
First you should probably get the OG album, but then there’s all these bangin remixes too. My favorites happen to come from friends, but maybe I’m biased.

Superpendejos :       El Macho Pendejo (La Sintonia Es Total)
first word I learned in spanish was “pendejo”. Thanks to these dudes and to Urban World records, I now remember why it’s a necessary part of your vocabulary.

Nacho Patrol :       Lineas Angola (Edit)
deep trippy electro-cumbia/merengue 12″ I picked up in London. Insane Shangaan Electro remix on the B-side.

Curumin :       Passarinho &       Paris Vila Matilde
great new album from this man. Sounds like a hot brazilian afternoon with friends and good weed.

Nickodemus :       Under the Volcano ft. Navegante
very happy to see and hear the new release from my friend Nickodemus. Deep soulful late-night heaters from a true originator.

Rascalz :       Top Of The World (DJ Theory Remix)
this one just keeps growing on me, to the point where I now need it multiple times daily. Thank you sir.

Ghetto Knowledge :       Deep Within
Jah Cure gets screwed in the best way possible.

And no where in particular. Trying to stay afloat in a swirling sea of music projects that had been put off for the past month and a half. It’s nearly Summer though, the season for swimming, so I say bring it. Heaps of good music coming at me lately. Not much time to share why I like these tunes so much, but enough to share the songs themselves and let you decide for yourselves.

Electric Guest :       This Head I Hold &       American Daydream

Santigold :       Fame &       This Isn't Our Parade

Niva :       Ghost In My Head

Jaqwar Ma :       Come Save Me

Phoenix :       Lisztomania (Shook Remix)

Arcade Fire :       Sprawl II (Soulwax Remix)

Grimes :       Oblivion &       Vanessa

MOTM :       Leaves Fall

Scrimshire :       Ascension &       Alignment

Jono McCleery :       Tomorrow

After 11 flights, 10 trains, 12 DJ sets & 3 radio interviews in 11 different cities… I’m finally back in the states! The glorious feeling of sleeping in my own bed was trumped only by cooking my own meal for the first time in more than 30 days. I couldn’t have asked for a better ending to the tour- playing records to a packed crowd in a beautiful pre-war theater in Hannover, Germany with the Agogo Records crew. Huge thanks to them and to everyone else who I met and hung out with along the way.

Back in LA for no more than 2 days and now I’m already moving again. Last night I played in San Francisco with my funky homies Afrolicious and later today I’m heading up to sunny Napa Valley to DJ and be a part of the wedding festivities for one of my best friends in the world- the man who DESIGNED this site (as well as the old Via/Captain’s Crate site before this)- IXLEY. Thus the abundance of love in the air today. Soak it up!

Lee McDonald :       I'll Do Anything For You (Patchworks Remix)

The Popular People’s Front :       I Love Only You (Trussel Re-Edit)

Suzy Q :       I Can't Give You More shoutout to Bethan for this gem, new #1 on my vinyl wants list…

Rufus ft. Chaka Khan :       Do You Love What You Feel

The Whispers :       It's A Love Thing

Sylvia Striplin :       Give Me Your Love

Ram :       Love Is The Answer

The Masquaraders :       Do You Love Me Baby

Charles Bradley :       I Believe In Your Love

Solomon Burke :       If You Need Me

As part of my ongoing effort to never let you know what to expect from this site, and because I’m writing this in Berlin (where techno and deep electronic sounds seem über appropriate), aaaaand because I’ve pulled more all-nighters in the last month than the sum total from all my years leading up til now– for all these reasons– today I’m listening to some deep shit. When the sun starts coming up, and people don’t want to stop dancing, and the collective mindstate is riding high on alpha waves; that’s when minimal, slow-building, highly repetitive music like this is king. Instead of big sudden drops, its all about gradual evolution. Last night was my last gig on this European tour. Been a full month on the road now, and honestly, I’m near exhausted. That being said, I already want to start planning the next one. Shouts to DJ Bodoo in Budapest for a couple of todays selections.

Havana Cultura Band :       Orisa (Alex Patchwork Remix)

Novem :       Lemonizer

Yuksek :       Off The Wall (Brodinski Remix)

Todd Terje :       Ragysh

TWR72 :       Summer Of 91 (Acid Version)

DJ Mphulo & Angelo Agnell :       Off The Wall (Tshwara Lebota)
2 songs called “Off The Wall” this week?!? This one’s from S. Africa, Yuksek is a Frenchie- no end to the worldwide inspiration of Michael Jackson.

Booka Shade :       Teenage Spaceman (Booka In Space Mix)

John Tejada :       Unstable Condition

Claude Vonstroke :       Who's Afraid Of Detroit

Osunlade :       The Distance

Greetings from Budapest! Running on fumes right now after another string of all-nighters through Spain and Basque Country (which is NOT THE SAME THING– as I recently learned). I’m definitely in need of a rip-van-winkle type snooze, but I wanted to check in and post some tripped out international sounds to try to at least hint at the level of mind expansion and multi-culti juxtaposition that I’m experiencing on my journey. Between DJing at haute-couture museums and Basque-punk street festivals, I’ve been having awesome conversations and making new friends even when I least expect it. If you happen to be in Hungary or the relative vicinity, then get your act together and come out to this party on Wednesday. If you’re nowhere near, then just press play and take a trip anyway.

Tyrone Evans :       Rise Up
one of the nastiest tracks I’ve heard re-issued in a long time. Early 80’s Jamaican steppers disco dub originally on the Bronx-based Wackies label, now available as a 10″ along with a beat-heavy cover version from the good folks at NYCTrust. Don’t snooz, get yourself a copy.

Edip Akbayram & Dostlar :       Ayrilik (Baris K Edit)

Derdiyoklar Ikilisi :       Yaz Gazeteci Yaz (Baris K Edit)
both of these Turkish gems can be found on this excellent comp that came out recently.

Hoggar :       El Fen
mysterious and highly sought after Arabic disco 12″ that has been reissued recently.

The Jeronimo Brothers :       The Immigrant

Nora Dean :       Angie La La
this mind-bender and the one above are both taken from this crazy mix by Dom Thomas. Shouts to my new homie in Barcelona Breixo for these and a few other tracks in today’s selections.

Unknown Artists :       Klout (Golem Edit) &       Sumak (Golem Edit)
two mysterious tracks released as vinyl only edits by Golem 

Katie Kovacs :       Add Mar
had to post something from Hungary, and this one’s a monster. More here.

Richard Schneider Jr. :       Hello Beach Girls

Persimfans :       E.S.P. (Drums)
these two last nuggets of mind-fuckery can be found on this Light Sounds Dark comp. Other than that, I know nothing about where they come from…

Don’t even know where to start. Every day on this tour so far has been a non-stop barrage of experience. Music is coming at me from all angles and spewing out from me at every gig (6 in 2 weeks so far). In the between time I’m wandering endless city streets that I’ve never seen before, eating ridiculously good food, drinking way too much drank, meeting cool person after cool person, and trying my best to understand other languages (while poorly attempting to speak at times). I already have a million stories (including having my cell phone stolen from my hand by a crafty Parisian and having to sleep in the street) and the tour is only at the halfway mark. But this isn’t the place for me to write a book, so instead I’ll just share some new sounds I’ve picked up. MUCH more in store… gonna take several months to go through it all I think. Huge shout outs to folks who’ve hosted me already and allowed me to pillage their music: MPS Pilot (from 22tracks.com), Daferwa (from Mash It Up! and Funkhaus Europa) , Dom Servini & Scrimshire (from Wah Wah 45s), Emile Omar (from Radio Nova), and Makala (from Lovemonk). Still in Paris, loving every minute of it. Next stop Barcelona…

Sierra Leone’s Refuge Allstars :       Mother In Law
new album produced by my man Ticklah. You need this in your life.

Jungle Fire :       Tokuta (Kid Gusto Remix)
another homie, Chico Gustoso comes correct on this joint.

Jungle By Night :       Ethiopino
Amsterdam high grade, stolen from MPS Pilot

Lightning Head vs. KoÄŸani Orkestar :       L'Orient est Rouge
shouts to fellow Paris fiend, Marley for this cut

DJ Theory :       Club Tearz
simple and effective bmore rework of a tried and true classic by this steady hustling dude

João Brasil :       L.O.V.E. Banana (ft. Lovefoxxx)
funny tropical-pop, stolen from my Eugene connect Drea

Matanza :       Temazcal
amazing work from this Chilean producer, jacked from my Cologne homie Daferwa

Kraak & Smaak :       Runnin'
thanks due to the one and only DJ DRM  for this

Merry Clayton :       Southern Man (Scrimshire Edit)
man of the hour, so says Gilles Peterson. Check his latest album and see why

The Dø :       Too Insistent (Trentemøller Remix)
lots of “ø’s”

Juj :       Mbira Spirit
shout to a reader for hipping me to this after I openly professed my love for mbira on here a while back. More from Juj here.