RETURN OF THE BOOGIE pt 2

Early 2009 Lock it Down wrote a piece about the return of the boogie in the dubstep scene. Much has happened since then. Joker has become a major player in the scene, playing in front of large crowds and signing a publishing deal with Universal Records. His succes has caused a floodstream of boogie influenced dance music, most commonly know as 'Purple Wow" these days. The other artists we wrote about have taken things into a different direction...

2000F & J.Kamata were always ahead of their time. For one, Joker was greatly influenced by these two Danish producers (and played a key role in their Hyperdub release) as are a great many other people out there. Still, not much is heard from the dynamic duo themselves after their monsterhit "You don't know what love is." Granted: they've made a couple of remixes, which were really good, but didn't quite reach the great heights of their debut 12 inch. The wait for a new, original tune is long. But the future does look promising...

Earlier this year I visited 2000F and J.Kamata in their studio in Copenhagen where they played me some snippets of new material. All tracks were still work in progress, but from what I heard the lads are taking it even deeper into the jazz, boogie and funk registers. Their signature sound was still there, but the tracks sounded even more autonomic and different than anything else they ever made before. Quite an effort for a team who didn't regard musical boundaries as something to acknowledge to begin with. Perhaps the duo just needed a break from the dubstep scene to get back to their own?

Because, as much as they love bassheavy dancefloor music, they seem to draw more and more from their roots. When asked to make a mixtape for a Danish dance event called Raw, they came up with something that is nothing short of stunning: a 9,5 hour (!!) mixtape containing funk, soul, disco, jazz, dubstep, purple wow and everything in between. To listen to the whole thing is a bit of a stretch but worthwhile the effort. The mixes are so solid you sometimes can't tell one track from another and the tracklist is simply amazing : some evergreens, some underground goodies, some dubplates, some new, most old...

Now, take a day off, disconnect the phone, grab your (wo)man and take it from the lounge to the dancefloor. The return of the boogie is here!

Tracklist:

Guy Bonnet & Roland Romanelli - Amour, Emoi... Et Vous (feat. Heidi)
Art Of Noise - Moments In Love
Don Blackman - Since You Been Away So Long
Bernard Wright - Music Is The Key
Ronnie Laws - Tidal Wave
Bobbi Humphrey - San Franscisco Lights
Lonnie Liston Smith - Devika (Goddess)
Idris Muhammed - Loran's Dance
Joe Zawinul - In A Silent Way
Herbie Hancock - Butterfly
Herbie Hancock - Sun Touch
Eddie Henderson - Inside You
Idris Muhammed - Piece Of Mind
Earth, Wind & Fire - Brazilian Rhyme (Interlude) 1
Deodato - Love Island
Eddie Kendricks - Intimate Friends
Bootsy's Rubber Band - I'd Rather Be With You
Anita Baker - Sweet Love
The Isley Brothers - Between the Sheets
Kleer - Intimate Connection
Bernard Wright - Who Do You Love
J.P. Rodgers, Jr. - I Enjoy Making Love (Just Like You Do)
Luther Vandross - The Night I Fell In Love
Patrice Rushen - Remind Me
Zapp & Roger - Computer Love
The S.O.S. Band - High Hopes
Hall & Oates - I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)
Alfreda James & Billy Ray - Back To Love (Remix Club Version)
Yellow Magic Orchestra - Computer Game
Trouble Funk - Trouble Funk Express
Kraftwerk - Metall Auf Metall
Kraftwerk - Trans Europa Express
Cybotron - Clear
George Kranz - Din Daa Daa (Original US Mix)
Kraftwerk - Number
Kraftwerk - Computer World 2
Vangelis & The American Orchestra - Blade Runner Blues
Strafe - Set It Off (Instrumental)
MC Shan - A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste
Rob Base & D.J. E-Z Rock - It Takes Two
Big Daddy Kane - Raw
Connie - Funky Little Beat (Instrumental)
Twillight 22 - Electric Kingdom
Kraftwerk - Musique Non Stop
Paul Hardcastle - King Tut
Zapp II - Dance Floor
Fatback - Is This The Future?
Midnight Express - Danger Zone
D Train - Keep On (Dum Mix)
The Other People Place - It's Your Love
Transllusion - Do You Want To Get Down

Galaxy 2 Galaxy - Journey Of The Dragons
Posatronix - Danz'
UR - Twista (The Dance)
DBX - Squelch
Pepe Bradock - Deep Burnt
Anja Schneider & Sebo K - Rancho Relaxo (Original Mix)
Aril Brikha - A Groove La' Chord
Cube 40 - Bad Computa
Choice - Acid Eiffel (Live by Bugge Wesseltoft)
Digital Mystikz - Neverland
Ramadanman - Offal
Dubbel Dutch - Throwback
Raheem Devaughn - I Don't Care (Mischief Makers Remix)
Ted Esha - 83
Harry Craze - Wa6
Brian Eno - An Ending (Ascent)
Mr. Fingers - Can You Feel It
Bam Bam - Where's Your Child?
Plez - Can't Stop
Tyree - Acid Over
Mike Dunn presents The MD X-Press - God Made Me Phunky (Original Mix)
Tim Driver - Colorama
Paperclip People - Remake U No
Jonny L - This Time (Carl Craig Mix)
Crystal Waters - Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless) (Basement Boy 'Strip To The Bone' Mix)
River Ocean - Love & Happiness (Yemaya y Ochun) (Masters At Work Dub Beats) + Love & Happiness (Yemaya y Ochun) (Maw Remix Keyapella)
Peshay - Vocal Tune
Fusion Forum - Vintage Keys (The Art)
Bizzy B & Pugwash - Just A Little Crew
Immortal Minds - Cosmic Jungle Remix
Deep Blue - Helicopter
Goldie - Inner City Life
DJ Dextrous - Nice 'N' Slow + 313 Bass Mechanics - Pass Out (Acapella)
DJ Slugo - Bitch Give Me Some Pussy
Remote - The Swarm
Silicon - Electorn Push
DJ Zap - I Can Make U
JKamata - Ekstasi
Dave Clarke - Protective Custody
The Prodigy - Weather Experience
Vangelis & The American Orchestra - Blade Runner Main Title
Lil Jon & The East Side Boys feat. Gangsta Boo - Da Blow + Bo Hagon's Phone Call
2000F & JKamata - You Don't Know What Love Is (VIP)
2000F & JKamata - You Don't Know What Love Is (Sukh Knight Remix)
Skream - Filth (Silkie Remix)
Silkie - Step Aside
Skream - If You Know
Von D - Incognito
501 - Everything In Its Place
Phuturistix - Blind Faith
Quest - The Unknown
V.I.V.E.K - Barcelona
Improvistators Dub meets Iration Steppas - Wah Wah (12" Mix)
Digital Mystikz - Thief In The Night
Mala - Lean Forward
Synkro - Just Say
Von D - E Von
Silkie - Test
Kito feat. Reija Lee - LFO
Turboweekend - Something or Nothing (2000F & JKamata Remix VIP)
Low Pressure - Babylon Bigtime (2000F & JKamata Remix Instrumental)
Caspa feat. Uncle Sam - London City (2000F & JKamata Remix)
L-Wiz - Girl From Codein City
Mr. Dé - Superugly (Funk Piano Mix)
Drexciya - Andreaen Sand Dunes
Lilly Allen - Just Be Good To Me (Joker Remix Instrumental)
Sticky - Paccman
Mala - Left Leg Out
Erykah Badu - Next Lifetime
Frank McComb - Twenty Four
2000F & JKamata - Dukkehus
Joker & TC - It Ain't Got A Name
Aztec Mystic A.K.A. DJ Rolando - Jaguar (Original Mix)
The Deacon - Soulsaver
Moreso feat. Filthy Rich & Damon Trueitt - Take My Hand (Industry Standard Mix)
Millennium To Millennium - Timeline
Ramadanman - Mir
Beezy & Kromestar - Say Yes
Alicia Keys - Feeling U, Feeling Me (Mala Remix)
Alicia Keys - Feeling U, Feeling Me (Interlude)
Nabo - Helt
Roy Davis Jr. - Dance With Me
A Tribe Called Quest - Bonita Applebum (UK Radio Edit)
Carly Simon - Why
Madlib feat. M.E.D. - Please Set Me At Ease (Hip Hop Mix)
Sunshine Anderson - Heard It All Before
Dâm-Funk - 10 West
LL Cool J - I Need Love
Nabo - BS Disaster (Bless Edit)
Flying Lotus feat. Andreya Triana - Tea Leaf Dancers
Quest - Smooth Skin
Jill Scott - Slowly Surely (Theo Parrish Remix)
Faze-O - Riding High
Mazarati - Stroke
P-Funk Allstars - Hydraulic Pimp
The O'Jays - Put Our Heads Together
D Train - You're The One For Me
Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam - Let The Beat Him 'Em (The Pop Radio Edit)
Main Source - Looking Out The Front Door
Larry Larr - Confused (The Soul Convention Remake)
Keith Sweat - Keep It Comin'
Earth, Wind & Fire - Brazilian Rhyme (Interlude) 2
Weather Report - River People
Carl Craig - At Les (live in Paris)
Timeline - A Moment
Timeline - Time Sensitive (Los Hermanos Remix)
Flora Purim - Transition/Conversation
Dâm-Funk - The Sky Is Ours
Azymuth - Dear Limmertz Prelude
Robert Glasper feat. Bilal - Chant
Mark Pritchard - ?
Kraftwerk - Spiegelsaal

Download:

https://www.yousendit.com/download/aHlReFlYT2JwTVd4dnc9PQ

HOLY MAMA WAILER!

As some of you dear readers may know, I've worked in a record store for quite some time. It were good times. Not only did the job help me broaden my musical horizon, it also greatly expanded my record collection in a pace that would make many heart stutter. From jazz to funk and idm with a quick stop at indie and back on via a different route: there was always a new record to be found, something to be discovered or, in some cases, re-discovered. Being an avid record collector with a fling for everything vinyl, this meant I often had to dig deep and hard to find what I was looking for. I could have just bought the damn cd at the store I was working in, but, as stated above, I love vinyl and always have the odd feeling of not really owning a record if it's a cd (too small, too clinical) or download (likewise) .

Anyway, sometimes I was lucky, sometimes I was not. It's all part of the game and part of the charm of record hunting. Some records, however, are just so damn hard to find, it makes you wonder why you even bother hunting for them anymore.

After hearing a Lonnie Smith tune called "Move your hand," I was completely stunned, baffled and head over heels in love. A colleague (and now my co-writer on this blog) and I immediately began looking for information, which led us to find out the track was to be found on a record with the same title as the song. "Move your hand" was released on Blue Note in 1969 and was recorded live at "Club Harlem" Atlantic City. After ordering a cd version (released in 1996) I fell further in love with the album and my search began. Up to this day, I haven't find my copy yet.

After discovering this record, I have bought some other Lonnie Smith albums, which weren't bad at all. "Drives" (Blue Note, 1970) is a decent set, for instance. For the most part because it includes a wicked version of Blood, Sweat 'n the Tears' "Spinning Wheel." But in all honesty, it misses that certain vibe, that feel that comes along with "Move your hand." There are no rough edges and it lacks the grittiness I was looking for. The same goes for his work on the Groove Merchant label. It's damn good, but there's better stuff out there.

And then I stumbled upon "Mama Wailer". It was released on a label I had never heard of before (Kudu), the sleeve looked impressive and it was fairly cheap. Also, the fact that side 2 of the record was completely taken up by a cover (or should I say: interpretation?) of Sly and the Family Stone's "Stand" intrigued me. This could go either way, but once at home...the record completely blew me away. Blue Note's "Move your hand" had finally met its competitor.

"Stand" is without doubt the most important track on the record. It's a musical excursion par excellence, a trip that takes you allover the place. It's a jazz take on a great song at first, with great solos by Grover Washington among others, but soon after it becomes more. Way more! It's jazz, funk, blaxploitation, soundtrack music, hell, it's rock for all I care. The rattling bassline laid down by Ron Carter after the break is not only hypnotizing, stunning, vibrant, gritty, dirty and impressively tight considering the speed it's played at: it also provides the solid base of a souljazz jamsession that is simply stunning. And then some....This album is worth picking up for this track alone.

After hearing "Stand" you could easily forget there are 3 more songs on the other side of the record which are more than worth checking out. The A side starts with the impressive title track, in which vocals are used as an instrument, dropping in and out of the track. The vocals give the tune a bit of a Brazillian feel, but the restrained way of playing (no Hammond, but a clavinet for instance) contradicts heavily with that sentiment.

The other two songs are "Hola Muneca," a nice, laid back jazz track with a repetetive bassline you could easily lose yourself into; and the Carole King standard "I feel the earth move" which, although heard many times before in many different versions, does not fail to make an impression.

All in all I'm glad to be on a quest for "Move your hand" because if I wasn't looking for that record, I'm pretty sure I would have missed out on this beauty of a record. And that would have been a terrible shame...

If you don't own either of these records: go hunt. Who knows what you end up with...

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

New Vampisoul releases: Sensacional Soul Vol 2 and La Nueva Banda De Santisteban

Various - Sensacional Soul Vol 2
32 groovy Spanish soul & funk stompers from 1965-1972! Soul turned Spanish pop into the fuel that ignited the dance floors and parties of Spain. Spanish soul became hugely popular, and during the second half of the 60s was the dominant music genre in a country still under Franco’s dictatorship. Apart from artists that imitated the purest sounds from the US, others took risks and tried subgenres such as progressive R&B, freakbeat soul, sunshine soul or psych-pop with soulish influences. This new volume offers a fantastic selection of all of them, including tracks by hit acts such as Los Bravos, Los Pekenikes, Manolo y Ramón (aka Dúo Dinámico) and obscure bands such as Jae’s Soul and Conjunto Brillant’s.
Tracklist: Hey, Hey Bunny (Los Gatos Negros), Sintonía En Soul (Jae's Soul), Bugulú (Los Albas), Las Bellas Ilusiones (Conjunto Brillant's), Abandonado (Karlo Y Su Conjunto), Tú Lo Tienes, Mi Amor (Los Go-Go), Soul 2 (Chus Martínez), Higher & Higher (Ossie Lane),Rudy’s In Love (Los Bravos), Perdóname (Las 4 Monedas), El Saltamontes (Los Roberts), La Vida Es Un Juego De Azar (Gino), Limón Y Sal (La Nueva Banda De Santisteban), Donkey (Henry C Martin), Stone Free (Los Brisks), Camino Cortado (Los Roller), El Sol Es Una Droga (Los Kifers), Lo Que Puede Ocurrir Con El Café (Henry), No, No, No (Los Pops), La Máquina Infernal (Lone Star), I Don’t Know What To Do (Conexión), I’m Walkin´ High (Evolution), Para Siempre (Wagon), Polución (Los Pekenikes), (Los Ros), Lágrimas, Sonrisas (Manolo Y Ramón), Darkness (Joe Cogra Group), Pilé Beat (Ritmo Pilé), Boom Boom (Peter Soto), East Side Story (Los Talismanes), El Fuego (Los 5 Diablos), Es Mejor Dejarlo Como Está (Alex Y Los Findes).

La Nueva Banda De Santisteban - Sabor a Fresa
Reissue of this 1971 classic. An exotic cocktail of jazz, Brazilian music, flamenco influences and spaghetti-western soundtracks. Born in Madrid in 1943, raised on copla and popular Spanish song genres, with a solid classic formation, initiated in jazz and in love with Brazilian music, Alfonso Santisteban is, among many things, different. He was a session musician and composer for hire from the early 60s for stars of flamenco pop, author of countless soundtracks, many of them patchy, some remarkable. Santisteban also wrote innumerable melodies for an incipient TVE (Spain’s public TV broadcaster) hungry for a liberal modernity. He decided to pay this pleasant toll in order to gain moments of total creative freedom. The Sabor a Fresa album (Belter, 1971) is re-released by Vampisoul under its original title for the first time, with the addition of an extra track from an ultra-rare 45 of the Enseñar a un Sinvergüenza soundtrack.
Tracklist: Sabor A Fresa, Brincadeira, Zorongo, Persecución, The Suitcase, Manías De María, No Te Acuerdas De Mí, Tierra Mojada, Un Día De Lluvia, Nuestro Ayer, Vuelve A Tu Ciudad, Limón Y Sal, Soledad (Bonus track not on original LP).

Text ripped from the Vampisoul website...check it here for more info.