Wanluv broadcasting from Accra

Some more catches

Went fishing once again.

Mr. Roy Ayers debut album is a great piece of late 60's jazz. Really good jazz, not soul jazz, not fusion, but JAZZ. Recommended for folks who want to get a glimpse of Roy before his soul/funk workouts. It's produced by Herbie Mann too.

Bob & The Wailers "Survival" is the Jamaican press. Mine bears no catalog number (1979).

The Dollar Brand LP is cool. Only 2 tracks. After one listen, I like the B side, "The Pilgrim" a lot more. But I'll have to give it another, more thorough listen. "The Pilgrim" is a nice flowing piece, I like the mood it sets.

The J.B.'s "Damn Right I'm Somebody" is a great album. I had been looking for "Blow Your Head" for a minute! The synth intro is dooope. I think the music from a pre-75 JB's album speaks for itself, not anything my review will do for it!

And last, but certainly not least, Rev, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's Why I Oppose The War in Vietnam speech. He touches on so many important topics in this one. I think it is his best speech. Everyone could benefit from a listen, a thorough listen, and then one more. His words ring too true, even today. His birthday is on Jan. 15th, same as mine. Just had to throw that in there. Haha.

PS: I don't know why the image is vertical like that.

Mo' records

Just picked these up on a day-trip out of town...

I've only listened to Zappa's "Hot Rats" and Astrud's "Now", so far. Astrud Gilberto's "Now" is the gem of the digs. Beautiful album loaded with great Afro-Brazilian percussion, some great rhythm guitar work on a few tracks, and Astrud's comforting voice. I'm always hunting for Brazilian records and the Astrud along with the "Brazilian Guitar Fuzz Bananas" comp (can't wait to listen to it) ended a little drought finding ones I was interested in.

The "Brazilian Guitar Fuzz Bananas" piece is a compilation of super rare Brazilian psyche/funk nuggets, compiled primarily from 45's I believe. Dude who put it together, Joel (pronounced "jo-EL") Olveira, runs a shop called Tropicalia in Furs out of the East Village section of NYC. I'm actually planning on making a trip up to NYC in a month or so, you already know one place I'm heading!

I also picked up two 45's: Bobby Byrd's "I Know You Got Soul" and Afrique's "Soul Makossa". It's my 3rd copy of the monster Manu Dibango cover by Afrique. Messed up my copy of the OG LP (I don't sweat it though, life goes on) and my other 45rpm copy is scratched.

PS...As of the end of this post, I finised listening to Herbie's "Fat Albert Rotunda" and I'm currently running back the Astrud....Worked on two beats today, one for my homie and another for my EP. A heavy afro-funk burner and a Spoonie G assisted instro. Holla.

Too much is a problem, but up close...

(via: NPR)

Nina, Nina, Nina...

Presents for myself

I went on a walk and I came back home with a few records. Here are 4 of them:

A morning playlist

It's my birthday and I'm just relaxing.

Shyne - Bad Boys
Collie Buddz - Come Around
Fela Kuti - International Thief Thief
Killer Mike - Swimming (prod. Flying Lotus)
Mongo Santamaria - O Mi Shango
Curtis Mayfield - We The People Who Are Darker Than Blue

Feeling good.

Slackin on ya pimpin' patna?.......

...well,

Every last Wednesday of the month, myself and my homeboy Kani spin at the Chameleon Club's "Lizard Lounge" in Lancaster, PA.

If you're every around and it happens to be a last Wednesday, come on through and show some love.

Latin Heat!

Took a trip to a 2nd hand shop on Wednesday and to my surprise, boxes of Latin records were freshly dropped off. Peruvian, Colombian, Puerto Rican, Mexican, and more. I went through it all and made my selections, about 30 records in all. Not all in the best condition but I'm a hip hop head, we make things work! A handful of Fania and Tico releases were a pleasure to find. What is crazy, is that I had a day dream that I was digging at another 2nd hand spot and came up on a bunch of Latin joints, and the next day, to my surprise.....

Mix coming soon...

Here's two of the records (their actually not good, but I like the covers! haha):

In the Lab

Well in my living room, but you get the idea. Sporting the microKorg courtesy of my man DJ Image (on tour nationwide with Slacker Radio right now).

Working on a track for an EP I plan on releasing in this new year. Made great progress this past December, conceptually, helping me get a better vision of where I want to take it. My influences and ideas feel like they are starting to settle and gel together very naturally, marking a very creative period for myself. I believe this is my best production work to date. I take a lot of time even on the smallest pieces of my music, so this should be finished this upcoming spring, and be readied for the summer. But that's ideally, I don't impose time-limits on myself, because I don't follow them! Haha.

How would I describe this music I'm working on? Well check out the post throughout this blog and you'll find many things I have drawn inspiration from. I've been on a afrobeat/highlife kick for sometime now, with salsa and other afro-latin sounds follwoing ride beside. So those undercurrents are very present in the music. Peppered with touches of what I think of in my head as spiritual soul jazz (a hodgepodge of influences that seem to dance around in my head in unison), the album when completed will attempt to present my thoughts and feelings in a musical format.

Freedom Flight.

NYE Finds

First off, Happy New Years. That said, I had a great day to send off 2010 and enter this new decade. Not partying, but doing some digging earlier in the day. I had been wanting the Kraftwerk "Computer World" album for the longest. Not a hard record to find, but one that had eluded me until yesterday. First pressing too, so that satisfies the smaller collector part of my wax habit! The Coltrane is amazing, free, spiritual, fulfilling; those are my adjectives to describe it. Herbie's "Sextant" is incredible as well. I accidentally listened to the whole A side on 45 and didn't realize it! Now I have to go back and re-listen, correctly, haha. And last but not least, Kurtis Blow's classic street jam, "The Breaks". That's hip hop. Pulled some nice 45's too. I stepped out of my usually funk/afro/soul/jazz zone and picked up a French rock 45 (Joel Dayde) which is pretty dope. Nice fuzzed out lead guitar over a great groove. I can dig it. The best of the bunch is the Gary Burton Quartet 7" that has killer A & B sides. Some "out there" but funky joints with great use of the Vibes.



and the lil homies:

Curtis Mayfield - The Makings of You b/w (Don't Worry) If There's A Hell Below We're All Gonna Go (Curtom)

The Whatnauts - Message From A Black Man b/w Dance To The Music (A&I Records)

Ella Andall and Shorty Vibration International - Hello Africa Pt. 1& 2 (Charlie's Records)

Yambu - Sunny b/w Caballo (Montuno)

Joel Dayde - Mammy Blue b/w You've Got Freedom (Riviera) <---Spanish Pressing

The Gary Burton Quartet - Fleurette Africaine b/w General Mojo Cuts Up (RCA/Victor)