Finally got home late last night after 2 weeks of non-stop good times bouncing through 4 cities. The mini album release tour was a huge succes! I know I should have actually promoted all the shows on here beforehand rather than telling you about them after the fact, but I was more than a little bit busy. HUGE GARGANTUAN THANKS to all the people who helped make the trip happen. Every stop was a piece of history for me, and I couldn’t have asked for better crowds.

Starting with the legendary Afro Funke party here in LA with Jeremy Sole, Glenn Red, & Rocky Dawuni (picture above is Brit Laurén murdering the vocals at that party). Afro Funke was the very first party I came to in LA back before I lived here, so it felt like a proper full-circle to be up on stage there with the whole place jumpin. Friday night I joined forces with the Turntables on the Hudson crew (Nickodemus + Nappy G & Amon on percussion) as well as Chris Annibel (Afrokinetic) and the man behind Bastard Jazz– DJ DRM. It was a proper Brooklyn throwdown, with tons of family and friends who I hadn’t seen in way too long breaking a sweat on the dancefloor. Saturday I hit the classy DC establishment Eighteenth Street Lounge, joined by my B.J. comrades DRM & Erik The Red. Having heard about this club for years, I gotta say it definitely lived up to its reputation and then some. Back in NYC I met up with DJ Jeannie Hopper for a hilarious and very informal interview that aired on her WBAI show Liquid Sound Lounge (stream the show here at least until next Sat).

Next stop was the Bay Area, where I went right from the airport to the KALX studios in Berkeley for a great interview and DJ takeover with host Citizen Zain. You can check the 60-min show as a podcast below (new exclusive un-released remixes in the set!). Then I rocked with the Afrolicious crew (finally we met in person!) in SF at the Elbo Room in front of what may have been the craziest cowd of the whole trip. I have never seen people throw up their hands, shouting, jumping and full-on bugging out… to afrobeat. It was the type of reaction I would expect at a Tiesto or Major Lazer show, but I guess in the Bay they take their funk music seriously! I managed to sneak in some time to catch up with fam and friends, and also got my paws on a ton of new music, which will of course be making its way onto these pages starting now…

Superhuman Happiness + Cults :       Um Canto de Afoxe parra o Bloco do Ile (Juan McLean Remix)
such a deep groover! This one did some serious devastation on the dancefloor. A rare example of many chefs in the kitchen working together without spoiling the stew. You can find the rest of the remixes here

Lucky Gomes :       Zeze E Toto (Remix)
from the excellent compilation of modern African bangers put together by Radioclit. Get it here.

Afrolicious :       Thursday Night Kinda Swing
after experiencing what these guys do every week, this track has taken on a whole new meaning! Check the whole EP on ESL Music and stay tuned for more heat from them soon…

Alex Dimou :       Nina & The Band
simple re-edit on one of my all-time favorite b-boy classics

Orlando Julius :       Disco Hi-Life (Edit)
“Enjoy yourself and be happy”. I have the OG lp and I always wanted to do an edit of this one, someone beat me to it.

Ted Taylor :       Ghetto Disco (Edit)
favorite disco discovery in ages. For me, the song starts at the 5:30 mark.

The Congos :       Congo Man (Carl Craig Edit)
another simple edit on a classic, but the subtle touches here make it even more deadly.

Björk :       Crystalline (Omar Souleyman Remix)
probably the coolest collabo of the year. I don’t know who made this happen, but it’s pure genius, and the definition of Gumbo Funk.

Finally, here’s that radio interview on       KALX with Citizen Zain (new material alert!)

Today marks another big one in my book- it’s the official record release date for my first full-length Captain Planet album “Cookin Gumbo”. This album pulls together some of the best tracks from the 3 prior EP’s I released on Bastard Jazz Records (all re-mastered & sounding better than ever)  as well as a handful of new tracks that I’m really excited to finally unleash out into the world. Captain P was my first ever musical alter-ego, a sonic superhero on a mission to protect the planet’s dancefloors with funk and soul from around the world.  If you’ve been following this blog for a while, or if you’re one of the dedicated few who remember the old Captain’s Crate days, you’ll know that DJ DRM who runs Bastard Jazz Records was one of my earliest supporters, and has since become one of my best friends. I could keep blabbing, but I’d rather let the music do the rest of the talking. Go get it now on iTunes or for you classy old school heads, pick up the CD & vinyl 2XLP (comes with free download) from the Bastard Jazz Webstore.

If you live in the US or Canada, tune in to your local NPR station to hear Captain Planet as the featured artists today on PRI’s “The World”. There’s a 5-minute segment called “Global Hit” that I’m very excited to be taking over for the day. AND, if you live in LA, NYC, DC, or SF then I really hope to see you at one of the upcoming record release parties… all of which are sure to be bonkers.

Here’s another free download off the album in case you still need to be convinced
Captain Planet feat. Brit Lauren – Get You Some by bastardjazz

FINAL NOTE: I swear I’ll go back to posting other people’s music soon! I don’t want this blog to just be my promo outlet, it’s just been strange timing with a lot of different projects coming together at once. As always, stay tuned for more of the hot shit.

This is the album we made. It was supposed to be released a long while back. Got leaked. Was available on iTunes. Basically one fumble after another. But all that being said, I’m really glad that it’s now officially available to you all for FREE.99. I had a great long run with these dudes. We devoted so much of our creativity into this– countless hours spent in our stuffy home studio recording, mixing, laughing, and arguing. I think it’s safe to say you won’t be hearing much else from The Beatards any time soon, but we’re all still homies and will continue collaborating on projects (UTK’s Members Only EP that I produced is getting mastered as I type this…) and getting into trouble (twice we’ve been in jail together). The 3 of us are definitely musical misfits, and this album does a pretty good job of documenting that. In whatever we did, the focus was always on having fun, not taking ourselves too seriously, and getting the people around us to loosen up and join in the party. Bump loudly…
I’m The DJ by The Beatards

DOWNLOAD THE WHOLE ALBUM AS A ZIP FILE RIGHT HERE

It’s official, the dog days are here. We are rapidly approaching the end of Summer. Instead of getting sad about it, listen to this new mix from The Beatards and soak up every last drop of sunshine before it’s too late. A bunch of stone cold classics on here, as well as some new tracks that have been in heavy rotation recently. Blending reggae, hip hop, rock, funk and electronic sounds- this mix is pretty characteristic of the patent Beatards melange (full tracklist available on the soundcloud page). I’m also making a few of these individual tracks available so they can make their way into your own dog days mix.

Dog Daze Mix by The Beatards

Laza Morgan ft. Mavado :       One By One (DJ Theory Remix)

Cults :       Go Outside (Menahan Street Band Remix)

Gyptian :       Nah Let Go

With the final landing of NASA‘s last space shuttle, a new generation space program is on the rise. Welcome to Virgin Galactic. I really hope that one day I can DJ in space. I truly believe it will happen. If so, it would still be a stretch for the dance floor to be as hype as what I experienced this past Saturday night, here on Earth, in a huge downtown warehouse, at the monthly Lift party. Resident Deejays Jeremy Sole & Wiseacre were joined by special guests Gilles Peterson & Nickodemus. It was church for music obsessed pagans like me. The photo above (taken by Farah Stop) is a lil taste of the beautiful mayhem that occurred. With today’s selections, I’m taking one more small step towards the interstellar party to come. Also big shouts to KCRW, where you can hear Jeremy Sole on Weds nights, where I first heard multiple songs from this playlist, the same station where you can currently hear songs from my upcoming album! It is indeed a good feeling to hear your own music on the airwaves, especially when it’s a station of such quality.

LDFD :       Outtacontrol
19 years old and already killin the game.

Dark Sky :       High Rise
funky.

Little Dragon :       Ritual Union (Tensnake Remix)

Teeko ft. B. Bravo :       More Than Just A Dream
my homie from the BAY coming correct once again. Check his full-length album here.

The Very Best :       Yalira (Douster Remix)

Caribou :       Odessa

Salva :       I'll Be Your Friend

Mount Kimbie :       Before I Move Off

Pantha Du Prince :       Welt Am Draht (Die Vogel Remix)

Ok, so here’s how the story goes: I’ve been making music with these guys for 5 years now. We started by throwing this party together called Mixtape Riot! in NYC. DJO and I did live remixes with 4 turntables while UTK would host the whole thing and we’d rap a little back and forth. We brought guests in each time. People like Santigold, Spankrock, Ninjasonik, Jasmine Solano, Ladybug Mecca, Trouble Andrew, Bahamadia and a ton of other artists came on stage with us and helped make the party dope. Then on our first trip to Europe, where we were asked to bring our Mixtape Riot! party- we became a band- The Beatards were born. We wrote our first song together driving on a bus from Norway to Sweden. Fast forward through multiple mixtapes, an EP, and countless shows in front of crowds all over the country where we’ve shared the stage with Kid Cudi, Mike Posner, LMFAO, Shwayze, Lady Sov and many many more. An album gets made. That album gets tossed around between different possible record labels who toy with the idea of releasing it, and we wait patiently for nothing to happen. While the album, “I’m The DJ” will finally drop at the end of this Summer, we got impatient so we went ahead and asked cool producers we know and friends we’ve made along the way, to help us with some remixes. That’s where this EP comes from. Available now, for free. There’s a mix of styles on here- Moombahton, Dubstep, Trunkstep, 2-Step, Electro and BASS, mixed with overall goodtime vibe that we always try to bring in whatever we do. In case you missed it, there was a pretty awesome Jet Pack video that used one of our songs in the not so distant past. You can find more info on each of the producers if you check the individual songs on soundcloud.

The Beatards Remix EP by The Beatards

TO DOWNLOAD THE WHOLE EP CLICK RIGHT HERE