Tuesday Born – Kwabena
Tuesday Born is the project by one half of the UK based Afro influenced electronic music couple ‘The Busy Twist’. This titletrack, which means “Thuesday Born” in Ghanese, is inspired by a 6 month trip the Londener made to Ghana. Tune has an amazing vibe and sounds modern with its electronic sounds and compact production, but it seems completely build on traditional patterns and melodies.
Cottam – Untitled (Cottam 002 B)
More Cottam, and more awesomeness. This time its from 2009. This track is a re-edit of the Nigerian Bola Johnson’s ‘Lagos Sisi’ and created quite some stir when it got a limited release on Cottam’s own imprint. Track has a monotone character and a very slow build, but a fantastic vibe and sound, making it an awesome dj tool.
Olli Ahvenlahti – Grandmas Rockin Chair (Kenny Dope Percussive Explosion Edit)
Rare and very dope track from 2001 by one of my major influences in music (as part of house wizards ‘Masters at work’, Solo as an hiphop producer and some of his other projects that took electronic music to a whole notha level), ‘Kenny Dope’.
The track is 15 minutes long and is an Edit of Finnish Jazz genius Olli Avhenlahti’s Grandma’s Rockin’ Chair. The speech of an angry Ol’ Dirty Bastard, that in no way felt like coming out of bed cuz he was but-fucking-naked is hilarious and works very well. The rest of the track is Kenny Dope going nuts with different jazz/funk tunes and live percussion, showing off what a beast of a DJ and producer he is.
There is a digital version of this track available at different Web Stores, but that is a shorter version with less percussion, less riffs and less ODB. That probably has to do with sample clearance etc. If you want this version, you’ll need to buy the 12″.
The Gaff – High Life
Edit of the Ghanese, and this is quite a mouthful, Funky Highlife featuring C.K. Mann & His Carousel 7′s ‘Asafo Bessuon’. Tune is part of The Gaff’s wonderful ‘Katakana Edits Vol 7′ EP.
El Rego – Zon Dede (Mojo Filter Remake)
Dope remix of AfroFunk greatness El Rego’s tune ‘Zon Dede’ by Mojo Filter, who turns this gem into a proper sonic headfuck with awesome percussion and sub bass, while maintaining the groove of the original. Tune is available as a free download.
Marvin Gaye – Calypso Blues (The Gaff Edit)
Wonderful and very usable edit of Marvin Gaye’s ‘Calypso Blues from his ‘ A Tribute To The Great Nat King Cole’ Album. The Gaff added a nice groovy beat and aligned the whole thing to a grid.
I am a big fan of both artists and always loved this song and its lyrics, so its great to be able to use it in sets. You can get the edit for free at soundcloud.
Kerri Chandler – Coro (The Colonial Mentality)
Kerri Chandler is an absolute legend and one of the originators of deephouse. This tune is a classic from ’99 and recently found a digital release on a new series called ‘House Legends’ on NYC’s label ‘King Street Sounds’. I have a serious weak spot for everything with afrobeat influences and this tune is that but stripped down to an incredible sounding and super contagious house tune with lively percussion and vocals.
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Lord Finesse and Ebo Taylor – Keep The Crowd In Heaven (Steely Chan’s Blender Mash)
Lovely and original Mashup with the old school raps of D.I.T.C’s Lord Finesse from his track ‘I Keep the Crowd Listening’ and Ebo Tayler’s great Afro Beat instrumental ‘Heaven’.
Freebie at soundcloud.
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Seun Kuti – Slave Masters (Jacques Renault Remix)
Haunting and hypnotic remix of Sean Kuti’s “Slave Masters” with a lot of delay and a no-nonsense percussive approach by NYC’s Jacques Renault. Lovely clean sound and a great tune to get shit going.
Bibi Tanga – Be Africa (Beg To Differ Mix)
Shits about to get sweaty. And why not, its Saturday night! The amazing compilation series ‘Future sounds of Jazz’ saw, since its last release 5 years ago, its 12th edition yesterday. The compilations are always a fine blend of all kinds of genres within modern electronic music and compiled very tastefully. This tune is an amazing remix of the also very contagious original by Bibi Tanga. A cool blend of African music with some uplifting burning, playful, arped Disco.
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