Happy holidaze to all! Hopefully you’re able to spend a little extra time this week with fam and friends, enjoying good food & booze, and working on your dance moves rather than work itself. I’m gonna try to put together some form of “best of” list before the year is out, but in the meantime, here’s some big tunes to help kick off your party and keep it going til the sun is up. I got heavy doses of inspiration last week thanks to the legendary DJ HARVEY (absolutely insane!), DJ Revolution (killing it), the Subsuelo crew (which includes my homie Farah Sosa whose pic is featured above) and DJ THC Electra who does all things debaucherous at the Alvarado House– lots of parties last week. Also, for anyone in the Bay Area, this is your official warning that I’ll be dj-ing New Year’s Eve with my blood-brother Murphy Lawless and my other brother from another mother Elegante (Soul Imperial massive) at this cool spot in San Francisco’s Mission district named after the muppet band. There’s no cover, which means no excuse not to be there.

Unicorn Kid :       True Love Fantasy
I’m not a “raver”, never have been, but this monster is too epic to be confined by swirling glow sticks or baby pacifiers. It does however make me want to find some MDMA.

Breakbot ft. Ruckazoid :       Fantasy
French house funk pop awesomeness from this man.

The Rapture :       How Deep Is Your Love (Sidechains 90's Rework)
a great song just got even better for the dancefloor, and we have Sidechains to thank.

Max Sedgley ft. Tor Cesay :       Sound Boy (Kraak & Smaak Remix)
Godbless my dudes Kraak & Smaak for keeping the wah-wah pedal alive and well. Disco hip-house banger.

Siriusmo :       Simple
My boy Tony turned me on to this dude recently and I’m now a big fan. Haven’t had a chance to test this one on the floor yet, but I forsee very good things.

Chris Lake :       Secrets In The Dark (Hector Couto Remix)
Good ole funky house music. Some things simply are.

Diesler :       Buzzin'
Something tells me that I’d get along with Diesler quite well. The man clearly loves afrobeat horns and breakbeats as much as I do.

Martin Solveig :       I'm A Good Man (Mousse T Breakbeat Mix)
a little something for the funk heads

Wahoo :       Make Em Shake It
I used to have this 12″ and I played it til the groove wore down. Happy to have it on mp3 finally!

Beni :       It's A Bubble (Round Table Knights Remix)
possibly as gay as “Is It All Over My Face”, and that’s half the beauty of it. Props to The Knights who keep killin it.

Ed Solo & Skool Of Thought :       When I Was A Yout
stole this one from the Afrolicious bros. Classic reggae roots meet breaks and HEAVY electro synth bass.

Lana Del Rey :       Blue Jeans (Penguin Prison Remix)
2 of 2011’s hot names come together on this remix and it really works. I can’t even front like I’m not crushin hard on Lana, and you already know I’m feelin the work of Mr. P.P.

Christmakwanzikah just came early! Two really cool record labels (who happen to be homies of mine) are celebrating big anniversaries. Tummy Touch, the home of Tim “Love” Lee and a slew of highly respectable musical innovators, is turning 15. Bastard Jazz, run by THE DUDE (sorry Lebowski) Dj DRM, is now 10 years old! Crazy, I know. Expect really big things from both of these labels in 2012. To set the combined bday party off right, the 2 labels combined forces to release this compilation of remixes, available for FREE! Artists from Tummy Touch remixed artists from Bastard Jazz, and vice versa. Of course I had to be a part of the action. Here you can check my remix for Los Chicharrons (who I have been a fan of for a while now), but what you need to do is head over to the Bastard Jazz bandcamp page to check out the whole album – and download it for FREE. I repeat… FREE.

Ma Do Nar (Captain Planet Remix) by DJ Captain Planet

Iris Chacon, you haunt me from another era. Your perfectly placed eyebrow mole, like a mysterious third eye staring directly into my lusting soul. I’m actually not including any of Iris’ spanish power-ballads in todays playlist, although I definitely should at some point since I think I own all her records. Instead, I offer some soul, some psychedelic sounds, and a hearty portion of organ funk- basically a well rounded meal including most of the essential food groups.

Michael Kiwanuka :       Tell Me A Tale
British soulster with Ugandan roots, on a mission to keep Bill Withers spirit alive. I fully approve.

Tame Impala :       Why Won't You Make Up Your Mind?
Not new, but new to me, and I’m very grateful for the discovery. Probably the best example of modern psych I’ve heard since Black Moth Super Rainbow. The entire album is a winner.

Cookin’ On 3 Burners :       This Girl (ft. Kylie Auldist) &       Cars
You know if it’s related to cookin’ I’m down. Some remember I had an early love of Organ Funk (one of my first ever t-shirt designs!), and that passion has not faded in the least. This breakbeat cover of Gary Numan’s “Cars” is pretty much perfect. Props to these guys.

Mr. Chop :       Greedy G
speaking of organ funk covers… how bout this tripped out JB interpolation? Not sure if I could ever dj this one out, but it gets a great reaction in my private mind garden every time it spins. Check the rest of the album here.

Booker T. Jones :       Progress (ft. Yim Yames) &       Rent Party
The man who helped put organ funk on the map (did he invent it?) has returned with the ever-prolific Questlove. The album has been out for a minute, but I slept on it. Friends don’t let friends sleep on good music.

Katalyst :       Day Into Night (ft. Stephanie McKay)
So happy to hear my old friend and early collaborator Ms. McKay sounding fresh as ever on this old school reggae track provided by Katalyst. Some of my first shows in NYC were alongside this lady, and we even made a couple Beatards tracks featuring her. Oh the memories…

Incarnations :       Make You Mine &       Let Love Find You
these guys! Same funky NY’ers behind the truly Phenomenal Handclap Band. Sounding extra smoothed out and tripadelic on this record– just how I like it. “Let Love Find You” is a slow burn, but let it catch fire and you’re toast. This one’s a late night lady pleaser for sure.

Sometimes I have to return to the basics, to the beautiful things that got me into blogging to begin with, and one of my primary inspirations for making music… OLD VINYL! I don’t have the time to digitize these bad boys as often as I’d like, but when I do, you better believe I’m gonna pull out some secret stash gems. Here’s a handful of recent digging discoveries, good ole gumbo funk for the masses…

Akido :       Gone With Yesterday
Early ‘afro-rock’ crossover from Nigerian music maestro (and producer of Lijadu Sisters infamous ‘Danger’ album) Biddy Wright. I always knew about this record for its heavy percussion and K&D vocal sample (still sample hunting!).

Rim & Kasa :       Love Me For Real
Most people know this funky ex-Fela drummer from his earlier LP Rim Arrives, but don’t sleep on this ‘mini-album’ called Too Tough which introduced the wolrd to his unique ‘Combination Music’ & the ‘Earthboogie Dance’. Sounds like pure ‘Gumbo Funk’ to me. Heavy break around minute 4 mark is NOT TO BE MISSED.

Mack & The Creators :       Brick Road (Part1) &       Brick Road (Part2)
Blazing disco funk from… BELIZE! This is the type of record cover that is almost unbelievably funky- brief life story on the back, crooked type set, afro pics aplenty. The beauty is just how pre-irony era it is.

Michael Boothman :       Greasy
Boothman verges on too smooth here, but hits it home on Greasy with a hard syncopated breakbeat and airy vocals that would have been fitting on a top tier 70’s release from Quincy Jones or Roy Ayers. The little steel drum is a nice touch in the mix as well.

Jimi Solanke :       Owo Orisa
I really don’t know much about the man behind this record, but once again, when I saw this record cover at the flea a few weeks back, I just knew it HAD to be good.

Kalyanji Anandji ft. Amit Kumar :       Y.O.G.A.
old time Bollywood favorites of mine, the K&A brother duo come correct as usual on this epic multi-part moog-disco bomb dedicated to keeping your figure fly with the help of India’s biggest export- YOGA!!!

Sonny Davis :       Runnin'
from St. Thomas (the Virgin Islands) we have Mr. Davis. Also a member of Tremile & The Jamals, this 2-track disco 12″ might be the man’s only solo release.

Caribbean Torpedoes :       Love Making Mood &       Freedom Ride
can we just take a moment to appreciate that these guys misspelled their own band name on the cover!?! Apparently a later pressing of the same record fixed that problem. I’m a total sucker for wah-wah ballads (shouldn’t this be a genre?) and Love Making Mood is a prime example. Also a lover of drum breaks, and Freedom Ride has a goodie!

Star Band De Dakar :       Cheri Coco &       Malaguena
it’s no secret that I’m a bit of a fanatic when it comes to African music. This is one of the few records here that I actually spent some significant loot on, and happily! This entire Star Band LP, while it may sound like it was recorded using technology from the 30’s, is a beautiful coming together of Cuban classics with a Senegalese Mbalax twist.

Roots Rock Reeeeeeemix! This one’s for all my reggae lovers out there, and for people who are feelin Katy B (I can’t front, I’m including myself in that later category as well). Once again I was hoping this would go official, but who needs a label to put out your music when you’ve got the magical connectivity of the interweb! Get yourself a subwoofer and turn up the volume on this one for maximum effect. And don’t be stingy, share with friends since this is the season for giving. Big shouts to Anthony & Dave from The Lions for blessing the track with horns!

Katy On A Mission (Captain Planet Remix) by DJ Captain Planet

Just found out that my official Captain Planet remix for AM & Shawn Lee has been available for a couple weeks already! It goes to show how well organized record labels are- definitely NOT an industry full of stoners and forgetful DJ’s. Better late than never of course. This one being official and all, I can’t give it away for free, but I should have another FREE-mix for you by the end of next week (you know I always try to be as generous as possible). If you find it in your heart to support a struggling music junky like myself, go ahead and purchase the MP3 and help me pay rent! And if you haven’t yet, check out the rest of the Celestial Electric album that dropped earlier this fall.

 
City Boy (Captain Planet Remix) by DJ Captain Planet