October 13, 2009

Emayo Cutz Blog & Label

Some time ago we already told you about El Hijo La Cumbia, one of the coolest exponents of the Nueva Cumbia scene in Argentina. Together with 2 friends he'll be launching a new label called Emayo Cutz,  releasing .... well .. yeah ... cumbia, of course mixed with electronics and other sounds. The first release is planned for the end of the year, but meanwhile you can keep up with their activities on their blog. Check it, cause there's also a remix from Sekreto and a mix by Zurita available for downloading! Go to the blog here. A Bailar!

Upcoming Soundway Releases: Ghana Special & Panama! 3

The mighty Soundway label just released a nice collection of sounds from Guadelupe & Martinique called Tumbélé! “Biguine, afro & latin sounds from the French Caribbean, 1963-74”, check the Tumbelele mix by compiler Hugo Mendez here. The label's been pretty active lately (personally I can't wait to see the next epsisode in the Colombia! series, which they have been promising us for a while now) and November is gonna bring us some more exotic goodies (text from the soundway site):
Ghana Special: Modern Highlife, Afro Sounds, Ghanaian Blues 1968 - 1981
Soundway Records step back into Africa with thirty-three original and previously un-reissued tracks from Ghana delivering a follow on of sorts from the hugely successful CD/LP Nigeria Special. Ghana Special comes as a double CD hardback case-bound book and 5LP vinyl box set. The CD features 44 pages of history, photographs and original record scans. Wow ..a 5lp box? This is serious. (release date november 16th)
Panama! 3: Calypso Panameno, Guajira Jazz & Cumbia Tropical on the Isthmus 1960-75
Volume 3 showcases more of the unique tropical music created in Panama in the fertile decades of the 1960s and ’70s. From bilingual calypsos to guajira jazz, from tropical guarachas to cumbia tamboreras, Panamanian musicians fearlessly combined and brilliantly executed styles that reflected their multicultural environment during a turbulent time in the young country’s history. This collection presents more of the golden age of Panamanian music and the music of the combos nacionales on rare recordings that have never been released outside the isthmus until now. (release date november 16th)

October 11, 2009

Tiki Masala Tribute: Indian Grooves mix



This mix is a tribute to one of my favorite dishes in the whole wide world: Tiki Masala! If you don't know it already you should try it...meanwhile you can listen to this collection of eastern grooves, including big Indian artists like Ananda Shankar, Kalyanji Anandji and  R.D. Burman, but also French genius Serge Gainsbourg and Ramsey Lewis with sitar. Most of the stuff is from late sixties till late seventies, with the exception of Anjali and the french guy called Paikan, who released a damn fine sitarfunk 12inch on Jazzman some time ago. If you dig this sound check out the Sitarbeat series, and the Bombay Connection compilations.

Kalyanji Anandji - Anjane mein
Sapan Jagmohan - Meri Aakhon Main
Ananda Shankar - Dancing Drums
Kalyanji Anandji - Theme From the Don
Paikan - Detective Pandit Rey
Ramsey Lewis - Jade East
Anandji – Pyar Zandagi
Sohail Rana - Soul Sitar
Biddu ft Manhar & Anand – Hum Tumhe Chate Hain
Dave Pike – Mathar
Serge Gainsbourg – Psychastenie
R.D. Burman – The Burning Train
Keith Kanga – Butterfly
Ananda Shankar – Streets of Calcutta
R.D. Burman - Kati Patang
Anjali – Stinging Sitars
Serge Gainsbourg – New Delire
Chitragupta – Hamara Adhikar

October 08, 2009

Ambient-mix: The Hum in your Room by PVC

"The Hum in the Room" is the final part of the three-part mix dedicated to ... the hum in your room!




The buzz that you suddenly notice, that appears to have been there forever but unnoticed - until this moment. The sound that will be there forever from now. The hum that appears to come from the inside of your head, and that keeps changing when you turn your head or walk through the room. The noise that can irritate as well as fascinate.
Here at Lock it Down we are always interested in strange and new sounds, and thus we present to you this ambient collage, done by our friend Peter van Cooten, who has been working on ambient and experimental music for the NPS (Dutch National Broadcast) for years. Like myself, most of you probably will not be very familiar with with this style, and it takes a little while to get used to the sound. But once it captivates your mind, it will take you along on a mental trip, much like classical music or movie scores. Not a single beat is heard, but wicked things are definitely happening! Tracklist includes, among others, Ryoji Ikeda, Biosphere, Edgar Varese, Robert Henke, Kettel, Thomas Köner,  Alan Howarth and the sound of a food mixer.
Listen to PVC's mix here.

October 07, 2009

MULATU ASTATKE RETROSPECTIVE













On the heels of his extremely successful Inspiration Information collaboration with The Heliocentrics, Mulatu Astatke teams up with Strut once again for the first complete overview of his career, including many rare sides which have never before been compiled for world wide release.

Vibraphone and keyboard player, master arranger and bandleader, Mulatu Astatkeis one of the all time greats of Ethiopian music, and the creator of his own original music form, Ethio jazz. Through the acclaimed Ethiopiques album series and through featuring on the soundtrack to the Jim Jarmusch film Broken Flowers, his music has belatedly reached a global audience and a new, younger generation of fans. Strut is now unleashing, for the first time anywhere, the definitive Mulatu career retrospective covering his landmark ‘60s and ‘70s recordings.

Mulatu is a true pioneer of African music. He was the first Ethiopian musician of his generation to travel extensively and to record abroad – he studied in the UK in Wales and at Trinity College Of Music in London, cutting his teeth on the buoyant London jazz scene of the early ‘60s. He became the first African student to attend Harvard and he lived and recorded in New York, developing a unique sound that fused Western jazz with traditional Ethiopian melodies. As Mulatu says, “it took a long time to get the balance, to let the colours and the feelings of the Ethiopian modes shine through.” Returning to "Swinging Addis" during the late ’60s, he became a pivotal figure, arranging for many of the country’s top vocalists and developing rich, dense textures in his own music during the final years of Selassie’s reign and the mid-‘70s rule of the Derg Communist military junta.

Tracing the progression of his Ethio jazz experiments with full access to all of the labels for whom he recorded, Mulatu Astatke: New York-Addis-London is the essential Mulatu. Covering his first recordings in the UK during 1965, his groundbreaking fusions for the small Worthy label in New York and his key ‘70s recordings back in Addis on Amha, Phillips and Axum, the album features comprehensive sleeve notes by Miles Cleret, boss of the excellent Soundway Records imprint, and rare, previously unseen photos from Mulatu’s personal archive.

Tracklist
1. ASIYO BELEMA (feat. Frank Holder)
2. MASCARAM SETABA (with Ethiopian Quintet)
3. I FARAM GAMI FARAM (with Ethiopian Quintet)
4. SOUL POWER (with Ethiopian Quintet)
5. GIRL FROM ADDIS ABABA (with Ethiopian Quintet)
6. SHAGU (Mulatu Astatke Quartet)
7. MULATU
8. DEWEL
9. NETSANET
10. YEKATIT
11. ENE ALANCHIE ALNOREM
12. YEGELLA TEZETA
13. YEKERMO SEW
14. TEZETA
15. EMNETE
16. YEKITIR TEZETA
17. LANCHI BIYE with Tilahoun Gessesse
18. FIKRATCHIN with Menelik Wossenatchew
19. EBO LALA with Seifu Yohannes
20. WUBIT with Muluken Melesse
21. KASALEFKUT HULU with Tilahoun Gessesse

The Gaslamp Killer - My Troubled Mind 10 inch













If you're into freaky music and dj-ing you should have heard by now of the motherfuckin' Gaslampkiller. Coming out of LA, with lively djsets (check out the Sonar!), mixing up beats and dubstep with rock, funk, hiphop & psychedelica. He's been releasing some of his work on the net; It's a Rocky Road part 1 & 2, We Make it Good 05, Hell And The Lake Of Fire Are Waiting For You. and Mary Ann Hobbs BBC mix , and also did a splendid mix cd for the Finder's Keepers label, blending sounds from the label's first 20 releases. Oh, and he also loves his breaks.This august he released his first own production on a 10 inch: My Troubled Mind contains seven sketches of sound and gives a nice look into the man's troubled mind and his unashamed blending of musical styles. Check samples here.
If you're in the Netherlands, you are very lucky! Gaslampkiller is gonna play the Doornroosje venue (Nijmegen) on okt 31, together with Nosaj Thing. See ya there!

October 04, 2009

Funky Soul 45s Only mix


This sunday, recovering from last night, I was browsing through my funk45 section and got inspired. And in case you were wondering...yes, these are all re-issues. Check the mix here....




Ernie & The Topnotes – Dap Walk (Fordom)
Soul Vibrations – The Dump (Vibrant)
Charles Spurling – Let Me Be a Steppin’ Soul (King)
Tony Alvon & The Belairs - Sexy Coffeepot (Atlantic)
Fire – Soul On Ice (Funk 45)
The Swinging Seven – Football (King)
Muco – Organize (Kaydee)
The Stovall Sisters – Hang on In There (Reprise)
Dawn and Sunset – Move in the Room (Luv N Haight)
The Chefs – Mr Machine (Funk 45)
The Gaturs – Cold Bear (Atco)
The Presidents – Which Way (Deluxe)
Charles Wright – You Gotta Know What you are doing (Warner)
The Third Guitar – Baby Don’t Cry (Funk 45)
L.A. Carnival – Color (Stones Throw)
The Diplomatics – Humbug (Lamp)
The Highlighters – Funky 16 Corners (Jazzman)
The Second Amendment Band – Backtalk (Funk 45)
Wayne Cochran - Chopper 70 (King)
Billy Ball & The Upsetters - Popcorn 69 (Apollo)
Ricky Calloway – Call It Right (Kaydee)
Latin Breed – Hard to Handle (Funk 45)
Robert Moore – Old Grandma (Deluxe)
The Blenders – Nothin But a Party (Tramp)
Inner Souls - Just Take your time (Funk 45)
Bad Medicine – Trespasser part 1 (Enyx)

October 01, 2009

Anikulapo 2012 mixtape

Brothers & Sisters! The year 2012 is approaching rapidly and only little time is left for our human race. In the last years on earth as we know it, Anikulapo will gather as much sounds, in as much styles possible and serve them to you in groovy, chaotic, cinematic and no-holds-barred soundsystem mixtapes.