For the first time since babyhood, I haven’t had a bite of solid food in 10 days. Surprisingly, I feel great. I’m currently wrapping up my first experience with the master cleanse– subsisting on fresh squeezed lemon juice with maple syrup & cayenne pepper. I’ve had a bunch of friends and family do it and recommend it, but I just never had the right moment or thought I really needed it. Thing is, I drink a LOT of whiskey, and double that amount in coffee, on a daily basis. When I realized I hadn’t had more than a single night off the sauce for about a year, I figured it was time to focus and give my liver an early holiday gift. Thus, the cleanse. It’s primarily a battle of the mind, but I’m proud to say I’m winning. I’ve been able to work, DJ, even do some light exercise. I’m always a healthy eater, but I feel like after this is over I’m going to appreciate food with a whole new intensity (for 3 nights in a row I’ve had food dreams!). Anyway, all of this is to say, I’ve also been in a very mellow mood, and these songs have helped keep me in the right mind state.

Hollie Cook :       Body Beat &       Milk And Honey
The daughter of Sex Pistol Paul Cook, and singer for The Slits, has teamed up with Prince Fatty and made an album of catchy retro reggae pop. What’s not to love about this equation?

The Shoes :       Baby (ft. Hollie Cook)
Speaking of Ms. Cook, apparently she teamed up with The Shoes and made this dubby electro head-nod masterpiece as well.

Benny Tones :       Home (ft. Joe Dukie) &       On My Way (ft. Mara TK)
Recent discovery thanks to Jeremy Sole. Check out the rest of Benny’s very solid debut album on BBE.

Amp Live :       Differ.e.n.t.
Considering I had a Zion I cassette tape in high school (TRUE!), I’ve seen Amp Live come a long way. Really feeling this instrumental off his new EP.

New Look :       Nap On The Bow
Fresh sounds from Brooklyn = fresssssh indeed. Can’t remember where I first heard this, but the hook slays me. Really looking forward to more from this moody synth pop duo, and it looks like they have an album

Trolle Siebenhaar :       Sweet Dogs
My friend Marlee hipped me to this one. Simple throwback trip-hop goodness from a Danish duo. That little harmonica solo is a nice touch.

King Biscuit Time :       I Walk The Earth
More mellow trip-hop (wow haven’t even used that word in so long, today twice in one post!) from Steve Mason (ex-Beta Band frontman)

The Bees :       Winter Rose
The Bees come through with more downer psych goodness on their latest album. Get it on Amazon for the bonus tracks

Air :       How Does It Make You Feel? (Adrian Sherwood Version)
Shouts to my girl Austin for sending me this tripped out dub psych bomb. If there’s a better song to make you feel really high without blazing a fat one, then I haven’t heard it.

Reeeeeeemix tiiiiiiiime!!! I’ve been busy. There’s a lot more to come. I was really hoping this one would go official, but alas, it wasn’t to be. Apparently the band heard it and liked it a lot, but there’s always more than that to get the label involved and whatnot. Anyways, what that means for you all is that it’s now available FREE. Grab it. I know it can be a bit confusing to put out music under different names, but somehow it makes sense in my mind.

And speaking of remixes… REMIX ME! That’s right. Bastard Jazz Records are putting together a Captain Planet Remixed EP to drop early 2012 and they’ve made the stems of my track “Get You Some” (featuring Brit Laurén) available to all. You’ve got 20 more days to download, chop, and tweak and then turn in your finished mix to Bastard Jazz. The winner will be featured on the official release, so go GET YOU SOME!

Final toot of my own horn- the good people at Turntablelab have blogged about the contest and featured my TOP20 list on their site. Take a look at what’s in my playlist (a lot of tunes that you probably already have since I gave em to you here, haha).

Ritual Union (Captain Planet Remix) by DJ Captain Planet

Hope you all had excellent and debaucherous weekends! I know I certainly did. The Yellow Disco party was indeed a highlight, complete with soultrain line dancing and 2-stepping galore. In honor of a happy November, I present you with one of my latest remixes inna disco stylee. The original version by Yellow Alex & The Feelings will be available here very shortly

Lisa Lisa Lisa (Chuck Wild Remix) by ChuckWild

Parties parties parties! I DJ’d 4 nights in a row last week and there’s 2 more (possibly 3) good one’s this week. The main event is taking place on Friday night downtown LA at The Mezz – peep the FB event here for more details. My homies Yellow Alex & The Feelings will be performing and releasing their brand new single (along with a funky disco-fied remix by yours truly) and I’ll be on crowd control duties behind the DJ booth. The general idea is to bring Studio 54 back from the dead for one night. Actually, it would be more appropriate to say that we’re having a séance on the dancefloor to make Studio 54 “undead” for one night of ghoulish gaudiness. To give you a lil taste of what you can expect, I put together a playlist of some disco & Italo favorites that you may not be familiar with.

Sister Sledge :       Lost In Music (1984 Mix)
the Bernie Edwards & Nile Rogers combo never disappoints!

Stephanie Mills :       Put Your Body In It (12
possibly one of the first disco 12’s I ever got. Still love it.

Joy :       I Need Your Love

ESG :       Dance
The simplicity of this joint is devastating. When in doubt, let out a hoot over a drumbreak and you’ve got a hit record.

Loose Joints :       Tell You Today
another funky Arthur Russell production. The horn line definitely sounds like it owes a bit of inspiration to “Soul Makossa”.

Ingram :       D.J.'s Delight
who is Ingram? I don’t know but this track is dope.

Talking Drums :       Courage
moody, spaced out, New Wave meets dark disco. Or something like that. Found out about this joint from DJ DRM back when we made this mix together.

Charlie :       Spacer Woman
Italo electro craziness that makes me proud to bear the same name.

Ruth :       Polaroid/Roman/Photo
sexy bizzaro synth trippiness. The horn build at 2:20 is absolutely stunning and very unexpected.

Exile :       Stop (The Starkiller's Edit)
a little something to wind down at the end of a long night. I could definitely hear Biggie on top of this. Puffy slept on this one, but The Starkiller didn’t.

I spent the weekend under the open sky in Joshua Tree and was reminded just how many stars there are up there. Kinda like how many musicians are out there right now making new sounds. It can be overwhelming. It’s easy get lost in the vastness; feel small and insignificant amongst the giants. But it’s fun to lay back and connect the dots, draw constellations, map out your place in the ever-shifting cosmos. Do I sound like a complete tripped out hippy? Perhaps I am.

Brit Laurén :       A Tragic Disappearance
Synthy funk pop from the new EP by my homegirl (who you may recognize from her vocals on this). We’ve got some new tracks we’re working on together too, you’ve been warned!

Julien Dyne :       Layer &       Stained Glass Fresh Frozen (both featuring vocals from Mara TK)
Not sure how this EP of his from 2009 slipped past my radar detector, but now I’m hungry for more of this choppy, organic, electro soul.  Be patient when listening to Stained Glass… the beat doesn’t really start until the 1min mark, and when it does- MONEY.

HEALTH :       In Heat (Javelin Remix) &       Die Slow (Tobacco Remix)
both taken from the 2nd album of remixes from these LA noise rockers. The combination of plucked thumb piano and grimey electro synth on “In Heat” works like salty potato chip crumbs on a grilled salmon fillet, which is to say- genius.

Mayer Hawthorne :       Can't Stop &       The Walk
wow. wow. and one more wow. The level of production on here (the strings! is that a french horn?!?) is mindblowing. But then to sneak in a cameo from SNOOP D. O. double G!?!? It’s almost too much awesome for my tiny human mind to comprehend.

Miguel :       Quickie
a sleeper radio joint from one of the best things happening right now in R&B.

Gotye :       Somebody That I Used To Know (ft. Kimbra)
I know, this song is already everywhere, probably played out to many of you… BUT it’s such a monster of a track that I had to share. Also, Gotye and Kimbra will be doing a show at this very small venue a few blocks from my house tomorrow and I will most definitely be there.

Thundercat :       It Really Doesn't Matter To You
However tripped out and cosmic I may sound, this dude trumps me by FAR. His new album on Flying Lotus‘ Brainfeeder label has a heavy dose of 70’s fusion (almost in the vein of Weather Report on some of these tracks), which I’m not normally a fan of. But when paired with heavy psychedelic sounds and funk keyboards, the combination works. Still not a huge fan of his vocals, but he has his moments.

Active Child :       Shield & Sword &       Playing House
another fellow Angeleno making moves. Moody doesn’t even really come close to describing the depths of solitude and eeriness conveyed on this record. A tortured harpist with the voice of a ghost might be more appropriate.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTEc2ISxaeY[/youtube]

In honor of a very confused mass murderer, the first conquistador to con the eastern shores of the New World, and the man who bravely envisioned the vast possibilities of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, here’s a post-colonial toast to the one and only Cristoforo Colombo. May he writhe in his tomb for eternity! Or at least until we get a proper national holiday celebrating Indigenous people’s rights. I hope this playlist puts you in the mood to dance on his grave.

Also, above is a freakin hilarious music video I made to promote the new Captain Planet album with help from my dear old friend Akira Thompson, ill DJ/partyrocker/graphic designer Plann B, and his most highly talented partner in crime Maricel Sison.

Captain Planet :       Radio Freedom Mix
I made this back in ’05 for Futureboogie.com (back before they were so official looking!) and I think it’s 200% appropriate for the occaision. 60 mins of global funk with revolutionary words of wisdom from the African National Congress of South Africa. Full tracklist here.

Petrona Martinez :       Sepiterna (Thornato Remix)
I just recently connected with the Cumba Mela crew- what a revelation! I had already been playing the hell outta the Atropolis album before realizing that he was a member of the pack. Also comprised of 2Melo, Thornato, & Reaganomics (maybe there’s more?), they’re putting out a steady stream of rootsy bangers. Go get em!

Torito Bandido :       Saya De San Benito (Chong X Remix)
wish I knew more about this track, somebody with the info needs to school me.

Issa Bagayogo :       Gnangran (Atropolis Edit)
Malian musician Bagayogo has been mixing traditional sounds with electronics for years, but this re-edit from Atropolis manages to make the track both rootsier and more dancefloor accesible at the same time.

Daniel Haaksman :       Hands Up
Electro-mbira hotness from one of the godfathers of “global bass”, or whatever you want to call it.  Some of the remixes are great too.

Afrobuddha meets Kakatsitsi Drummers :       Obame
hit the nail on the head. Check the single.

Setenta :       Funky Tumbao
A little something for the Boricua b-boys, with a lil French interlude?!? Or is that Creole from Hispañola? Check the album here.

A Bossa Eletrica :       Nucleo Urbano &       Sob A Luz Do Sol
Wow, I’m sorry, but this version of Roy Ayers‘ “Everybody Loves The Sunshine” definitely trumps the Seu Jorge version I fell in love with a lil while back. I heartily endorse this whole album

Kouyaté – Neerman :       Requiem Pour Un Con &       Kanga Dub
A recent discovery from late night radio. This cover of Serge Gainsbourg‘s “Requiem Pour Un Con” is nothing short of brilliant. They have more good music for you too.