For a gray rainy day. I was very happy to get this latest Akwaaba Music release last week from Skeat (pronounced Skea-tee) out of Botswana. I’ve seen The Very Best perform a few times already (including down in Austin at SXSW), but for some reason I hadn’t given their album a proper listen until just recently. This track is a standout for me- as is the remix from DJ Sabo, but you’ll have to dig that one up yourself! Sounds from Soweto coming soon…

Skeat :       Dumelang
taken from the album Basimanyana Mamela Meropa available on iTunes

The Very Best :       Nsokoto
taken from the album Warm Heart of Africa

It looks like Nas might be reading this blog. Way back when it was still called “Captain’s Crate” I posted this bootleg 12″ remix of a Mulatu Astatke song called “Yegelle Tezeta”. I was playing that remix out a lot- perfect slow builder which delivers with a HUGE drum break after 4 1/2 minutes. Next up, young Murphy posts the brand new Gil Scott-Heron single as soon as it’s dropped and gives it proper shine. Then what should happen? Nas & Damian Marley team up (someone in heaven was listening to people’s prayers) and drop the first single from their new album Distant Relatives. What’s this? A rework of that same Mulatu record. Genius. But am I really to believe that it’s merely coincidence that then he hops on the new Gil single too? Just by chance? Maybe, but maaaaaybe not. If you’re Nas and you’re reading this, give a shout in the comments! And for the rest of you, enjoy this remix I cranked out yesterday, adding drums and a little dirty synth to make this epic collabo track a little more playable when DJ-ing.

Last note: I’m throwing this big party with my boy DJ Enrock tomorrow (Fri) night in downtown BK, come through! Details here

Gil Scott-Heron & Nas :       New York Is Killing Me (Chuck Wild Remix)

Damian Marley & Nas :       As We Enter

Nephews Of Phela :       Mulah 2

The most titillating aspect of listening to (or producing) a remix, has to be imagining the original artist coming in contact with the remixer. Even on the most digital and choppy sounding musical collages I try to imagine the artists jamming in a basement together, or playing for quarters with a makeshift soundsystem powered by a car battery on the subway platform. Often separated by oceans, decades, languages and rhythms, a good remix inspires me with the vision of all those barriers disappearing. I was happy to hear from a regular reader in Brazil  (DJ Mulher) who similarly loved the Aloe Blacc song I posted last week and sent me this very club-worthy rendition she made with her DJ/remix crew called Pristine Blusters (Caribbean Sea skipped in a single bound!). Sabo, G.R.C. and Kraak & Smaak are all homies who I feel proud to know. Debruit is new to me, but after hearing his latest EP (songs I would classify as grade-A Gumbo Funk) I can tell we would get along nicely. I think I met one of the cats from Dub Traffik Control once, but even if not, this record is put out by my favorite Bastard, so it feels like family. Now, uprocking alone in my apartment while listening to these tracks, my titties undulate, thus, titillation complete. Go pay for some music by these folks to help them quit their dayjobs.

Debruit :       Nigeria What?

Sabo :       Soundbwoy Cumbia

Aloe Blacc :       I Need a Dollar (Pristine Blusters & DJ Mulher Remix)

Dub Traffik Control :       Bongo Dub

Greenwood Rhythm Coalition :       Oye Dub

Zuco 103 :       Back Home (Kraak & Smaak Remix)

Just a couple great songs for you today. Before I went through all the promo CD’s I got at SXSW, I realized I had never even listened to half of the one’s I got there last year. I get tons of promos every week and it’s pretty easy for songs to slip through the cracks and be forgotten, or for entire stacks of CD’s to remain untouched for a year. But now that I’m unemployed- which brings particular poignancy to today’s first song (from a promo CD)- I actually do have more time to listen to music. And while most of the promo’s I get are total garbage, I still keep listening to find unknown gems like today’s second song from Ellie Holland. I guess I should have listened to her promo a while ago because her myspace page has since gone defunct and I can’t find any traces of her on google. I hope this means she’s just changed her performing name and not that she’s given up singing. If you’re not familiar with Aloe Blacc, get acquainted, he’s a little easier to track down.

Aloe Blacc :       I Need A Dollar

Ellie Holland :       Guilty Man