Various - Where the Palm Trees Shake at Night (2011)

 

01 - intro - andre tanker - our music

02 - wganda kenya - el evangelio (calypso)

03 - les vikings de la guadeloupe - do do l' enfant do

04 - tabou combo - alle lave

05 - barel coppet - vini vini missie

06 - daniel forestal - les coupeurs de canne

07 - duke - freedom in africa

08 - st. maarten's the rolling tones - it's a feeling

09 - ti celeste - misye dowle a yo la

10 - les vikings guadeloupe - ti tong ti tong

11 - la perfecta - toutt moune boule

12 - les rapaces - mpuli man muni

13 - henri salvador - j'aime tes genoux

14 - les difficiles de petion-ville - tue lamp

15 - dolor et ses etoiles - bourrique la

16 - super combo - cozando y bailando (merengue)

17 - les aiglons - ce rat la

18 - wganda kenya – yoro

This compilation, which I made some time ago, is mainly about the sounds from the islands of Guadeloupe, Martinique and Haiti. The release of „Tumbélé! Biguine, afro & latin sounds from the French Caribbean, 1963-74“ in 2009 on Soundway Records opened up a totally new musical world to me. Before that I basically didn't know about the beautiful and manifold sounds of the French Caribbean. So after listening many times to the mighty „Tumbele“ album - compiled by no one else then Hugo Mendez, I wanted more of these oh so sweet sounds. So I started listening to any album from the Caribbean, from Martinique, Haiti, Guadeloupe I could find. I must have listened to a hundred something albums. Most of the albums and compilations I listened to didn't come anywhere close to the music shared on the „Tumbele“ compilation. But I found a few songs which have the right mixture of sweet grooves, deep funkiness, tropical sunshine and rhythms to make my grandma dance. Listen yourself!

Peace; DubMe

Various - Calypso Party! (2011)

01 - cyril diaz & his orchestra - voodoo
02 - cyril diaz & his orchestra - taboo
03 - the gaylads - africa
04 - ella fitzgerald - stone cold dead in the market
05 - ella fitzgerald & louis jordan - stone cold dead in the market (ticklah remix)
06 - blind blake - de pig an' goat
07 - derrick harriott - monkey ska
08 - andrews sisters with vic schoen & his orchestra - rum and coca cola (1945)
09 - caresser - edward the 8th
10 - roaring lion - carnival long ago
11 - cyril diaz & his orchestra - chive soup merengue
12 - the talbot brothers - atomic nightmare
13 - the duke of iron - loving woman is a waste of time
14 - lord jellicoe - big bamboo
15 - louis jordan - run joe
16 - g-swing - run joe
17 - me and you - last night (last heads)
18 - lord cobra & pana afro sounds - rocombey
19 - orchestral overture - me ting is mine
20 - derrick harriott - john tom
21 - colin kelly - the snorkel song
22 - wilmoth houdini - uncle jo' gimme mo'!
23 - don cunningham - angelina
24 - rupert clemendore and band - mambo chop suey
25 - trinidad steel band - l'homme a la grosse tete

Back with a fresh compilation out of my musical treasure box: „Calypso Party!“. Since I started buying records when I was 12 years old I have always listened to Calypso a bit – but never really went crazy about it. Always found most songs to be too much on the vocal side – while usually when I listen to music I rather go for a good groove, riddim, beat, melody... I have had a folder of some 200-300 random Calypso songs which I have been collecting over the years hiding on my laptop – so this week I finally sat down and gave them all a good listen – and here are 25 favourites – some well-known ones – and maybe some lesser known ones as well. And beware – there are a few scorchers in there which could set your local tropical dance on fire! Starting this compilation with „Voodoo“ by the one and only Cyril Diaz hailing from Trinidad. Terrific 50ies upbeat Calypso song with some killer saxophone, horns and drums – and some wailing exotic vocals. To be found on a another niceee reissue by the mighty Soundway label. The second song again is from Cyril Diaz. His very own reworking of the traditional Cuban standard "Taboo" - the prototype for the third song: „Africa“ by the Gaylads. Studio One Classic from Jamaica. Now I am skipping a few songs on the tracklist. Not that they are not good – but I am in the mood for some more uptempo Calypso sounds to keep me on my dancing feet – and here the right medicine is: „Roaring Lion - Carnival Long Ago" – which you are lucky to find, without having to pay crazy bankster dollars on eBay, on the not so new anymore „Sofrito: Tropical Discotheque“ compilation – which was selected by our ever favourite Sofrito Crew and released on Strut Records last year. Like I said above – when it comes to Calypso – be prepared for some hilarious lyrics – either some social commentary or much more often just some silly and playful lyrics revolving around saucy or bawdy topics – which would put Mister Yellowman to shame. So the classic and endlessly covered song „Big Bamboo“ - this time in a version by Lord Jellicoe. Listen to it yourself – I don't want to spoil your surprise! Another Calypso song from the „lyrical side“ is the relentless „Atomic Nightmare“ by the Talbot Brothers which was inspired by the prospect of atomic war in the 1950ies. Now lets leave the lyrics aside and go back to some deep dancefloor madness: „Me Ting Is Mine“ by the Orchestral Overture, a hypnotical Calypso scorcher with some serious horns! I first heard this song on the Calypso vs Cumbias Mix by Frankie Francis. Took me quite awhile to track this beautiful gem down with my limited digital diggin' abilities in China. Towards the end of this compilation I am trying to slow things down a little bit – its time for some good Caribbean Rum at the bar. Perfect to play the song "Mambo Chop Suey" from Rupert Clemendore's album "Le Jazz Trinidad". An album that the liner notes refer to as "sophisticated jazz with a pixie beat". The music is somewhere between the sounds of Moondog and Sun Ra – music that is often very rhythmic at its core, but with an earthy sort of orientation that's quite unique. The song "Mambo Chop Suey" has a far eastern theme – let me just quote the liner notes from the original album cover: "What Rupert does with his voice in "Mambo Chop Suey" (...) must remain completely unclassified. Over a steel spring mambo rhythm he cavorts through some unlikely story dealing with an Oriental girl arguing with her Chinese father about marrying a Creole gentleman of doubtful antecedents. Rupert takes all the parts." After this song I am finally finishing "Calypso Party!" with the very very beautiful song "L'homme a la grosse tete" by the Trinidad Steel Band from their 1975 album "Magia Caribe". A steel band song that surprisingly has no steel drums in it – but some meditative drumming and a guitar gently playing along. This again is a song I heard on another tropical Sofrito mix: New Miles Cleret tropical DJ mix. Thanks to Indi-k (SoWhat Sessions) for making me happy and sharing this beautiful gem with me! Enjoy this compilation – and leave a little comment – it means the world to me ;-)

Peace; DubMe

Various - The Best Dub Album In The World" (a-side Mixtapes - 1998)

01 - prince fari - give love

02 - prince hammer - king selassie in dub

03 - joe gibbs & the professionals - international treaty

04 - bobby kalphat & phil pratt all stars - the war is on

05 - the overnight players - shaka the great

06 - peter chemist - red stripe dub

07 - augustus "gussie" clarke - loving pauper

08 - dub specialist - message from a dub

09 - harry mudie meets king tubby's - roman dub

10 - scientist - third generation scientist

11 - prince jammy - throne of blood

12 - scientist - invaders

...Here I share a real goodie! A long-lost Mixtape which I compiled and recorded from my record collection some 13 years ago. I never made a b-side for this Mixtape - the a-side is so tight, musically and tunewise - so after some unsuccessful attempts of creating a b-side, I just left it like this. Just before I made this mixtape I for the first time saw the album „Introducing Scientist - The best Dub Album In The World (JB Music – 1980) at a friends place. I was a huge Scientist fan back then – and the cover just blew me away – seeing some pictures of Scientist outside the Studio with other musicians. That album is still on my wishlist – Scientist's debut album. And that is also where I got the inspiration for the very modest title of this mixtape.

Whenever I listen to this mixtape again, it gives me deep pleasure and a good meditation - Jamaican Dub at its best - spiritually, riddimwise, mixing, melodies and and and... just like the title of the album says: "The Best Dub Album In The World". After I had lost the tape for many years, I recently sat down, tried to remember all the tunes and get the tracklisting right. And it was easy. Once I got the first song - all the other songs just naturally followed. So here it is - the "The Best Dub Album In The World" ina mp3 style. Enjoy it!

DubMe

~ a month in tunes 22.0 (2011 shai'li) ~

This time fellow music enthusiast and digger shai'li - check out his nice blog Duendiness - shares some recent finds,  digged out treasures and other sweet songs with us:  "A Month In Tunes 22.0 (2011 shai'li)" pt. 1 and pt. 2. I have had the pleasure to enjoy his monthly selections of favourites for the last few years - always looking forward to the beginning of the new month - and another bag of quality music: new and old, rare and not so rare... some good Reggae/Dub... A sweet likkle over-looked soul gem - side by side with some modern day quality hiphop grooves & funkiness - as well as some leftfield disco or soulful edits - and so much more. As always - versatility is the name of the game! This months compilation is full of good songs - October 2011 was a good month. Among the songs that really captured me from the first moment of listening are these goodies: "Us Warren & The Genghis Pea - Hard Headed Woman" - - -  killer drum and bass heavy funk track!!! Don't know from when this track is - I would guess probably from the very late 60ies?! This track has a monster beat courtesy of the drummer hitting the hell out of the snare - very "drum & bassy"! Would go down well with some minimalistic/ambient drum & bass tracks by Roni Size. And the lyrics by Us Warren are also not to be missed - especially when his woman wants to teach him how to drive a car when she doesn't have a license or even knows how to ride a bike:

"You wanna give me driving lessons

Teach me how to drive my car

You ain't never had a driving licence

Can't even ride a bike"

Another highlight are the two edits "Speaking of Happiness + And I love you" by Suonho which are just about to hit your local record stores - here is what the man Suonho has to say about these two tracks: "Two wonderful voices singing about love and happiness... that's what life's all about. isn't? With the meaning of making these rare soul cuts available for those soulful clubbier occasions, i've built a whole new rhythm section, processed with echo-chambers and made a new structure, basically... result is something warm for the cold season, enjoyable in and out the floor. It goes straight to my deepest arsenal." If I Had The Drugs I'd Take Em by Turner Cody is another track that I fell in love with from the moment the first warm grooves came out of my speakers. Then shai'li surprised me with the quality Dub song "Lamb's Bread Herb" by Tommy Mccook & The Aggrovators from the 1977 album "Disco Rockers". Next song. If you have also enjoyed the Jazz song "1960 What?" by Gregory Porter - then the "Opolopo Kick & Bass Rerub" which gives this powerful song a kick and bass treatment for some clubbier Jazz Dancing - is definitely something for you. Download the zipped file and find out for yourself! And lets hope there will be another great "month in tunes" selection from shai'li next month...

DubMe

Various - Palmwine Grooves & Disco (2011)

CD 1

01 - benis cletin - jungle music (sofrito edit)
02 - quim manuel o esperito santo - eme lelu
03 - buari - advice from father
04 - kaleta & akoya afrobeat - the spirit of fela is alive & well! (guynamukat remix)
05 - manu dibango - wakafrica (danimalswainger edit)
06 - risco connection - ain't no stopping us now (version)
07 - guynamukat - music, music, only music (afro boogie edit)
08 - unknown - ay cosita linda
09 - orlando julius - disco-hi-life
10 - prince nico mbarga & rocafil jazz - cool money
11 - d. o. misiani and shirati luo voice jazz - amuka salama
12 - mandingo - dewgal (panama cardoon cut n paste edit)
13 - eddie hooper - pass it on

CD 2

01 - teaspoon & the waves - oh yeh soweto
02 - la tromba - calaba calabao
03 - shina williams & his african percussionists - agboju logun
04 - victor uwaifo - ohue (frankie francis & simbad edit)
05 - black soul - mangous ye
06 - richard ace - supernatural thing
07 - mixed grill - a brand new wayo
08 - steel an skin - reggae is here once again
09 - k. frimpong & his cubanos fiestas - kyenkyen bi adi mawu
10 - king errison - caribbean congo (pat les stache re-edit)
11 - teaspoon ndelu - sputla
12 - ray stephen oche - odeiyolaoo (pat les stache re-edit)
13 - eddie hooper - tomorrow's sun

Palmwine Grooves & Disco

This basically was going to be a compilation sharing various African disco-influenced songs and some more recent afro disco boogie edit niceness. Sweet deep music that has been sleeping on my hard-drive for ages. I was mostly going to build this compilation around songs like Guynamukat's „Music, Music, Only Music (Afro Boogie Edit)“ or some Afro Disco funkiness like Buari's „Advice From Father“ (which got sampled by Groove Armada for their song „Dr Eiff“ - but better try the 1979 version Shake by the Bombers, a kinda leftfield Disco song with some sweet strings – definitely funky stuff!) - but ended up adding songs in a similar vein from places like Guyana, Colombia or Jamaica to spice up this selection of music. Basically every song is a favourite on its own to me – some highlights are „Pass It On“ by Guyanese singer Eddie Hooper - which has been re-released as a 12inch by the mighty Soundway Records label: „Recorded in 1980, Hooper delivers some of the most life-affirming and spaced out disco soul you’re likely ever hear integrating Rhodes keys, orchestrations, the odd early keyboard synth and vocals that permeate the tracks and aptly spell out how to ‘set your spirit free’.“ Another big big big favourite is the funky 1976 afro-disco classic „Disco Hi-Life“ by Orlando Julius – can a song get any sweeter, groovier, smoother & uplifting than this? Just need to hear the first few seconds of this song and the „Blade Runner“ like grey Winter Sky in China's 10 Million people metropolis Chengdu suddenly seems to brighten up. This song has been re-released on Hot Casa Records some time ago – with a bit shorter 2009 edited version on the b-side. The nice thing about the edit is that Orlando Julius actually introduces the song himself adding a small message of "Enjoy yourself and be happy!". You can get the edit here. Another sweet song fitting right into this selection is „Risco Connection - Ain't No Stopping Us Now“ - which are some late night clubby soul grooves with a bit of Caribbean flavoring. I did some googling – and it seems they were actually a Jamaican band put together by Joe Isaacs (an original member of Jamaica's Studio One group „The Soul Vendors“) in the late 1970s - which specialized in remakes of the hits of the day, with nice and dubby rhythms at the bottom, and some sweet moogy touches on the top! Another Risco Connection favourite of mine is their remake of Billy Stewart's "Sitting in the Park." Other songs that deserve to be mentioned are „Mandingo - Dewgal (Panama Cardoon Cut n' Paste Edit)“ - another fresh edit by super-talented Panama Cardoon. D.O. Misiani and Shirati Luo Voice Jazz - Amuka Salama – a sweet uplifting Kenyan Benga song that needs a Sofrito edit. Just listen to that „break“ at 3:20 – boom! And last but not least the Danimalswainger edit of Manu Dibango's 'Wakafrica' - Ok! Now lets go and hit the download button. And don't forget to play it load!

Beatz & Carrots (October 2011)

                                                                                          (Original Cover Artwork taken from the great album "EL GRAN DUELO" by Akshin Alizadeh)

Here is my first compilation – "Beatz & Carrots“ from October 2011. Check the tracklist:

01 - raphael gualazzi - reality and fantasy (gilles peterson remix)

02 - rude hi-fi - cybercuba

03 - agape ft nadia harris - she really likes it

04 - quantic y su conjunto los mitcos del ritmo - nuthin' but a 'g' thing (dre en cumbia)

05 - turntables dubbers - get lively now (dreadsquad rmx)

06 - charlie winston - in your hands

07 - the breakbeat junkie vs djp - got what it takes (kurtis blow - the breaks)

08 - donny hathaway - the ghetto (suonho reloved)

09 - sam & dave - soul man (dj twister edit)

10 - maylee todd & circle research - hooked

11 - afrobuddha meets kakatsitsi drummers - obame (radio mix)

12 - petrona martinez - aroro (nate mars remix)

13 - quantic - cumbia clash

14 - faraon bantu soundsystem - macaco mata el toro (batata remix ft novalima)

15 - jmmy 'bo' horne - spank (reremaster)

16 - sun sect ft pam - shes hot

17 - red astaire - follow me

18 - slim gaillard - fuck off

There a quite a few upbeat/uptempo songs in this „beatz & carrots“ selection – probably because I have selected them from a more dj/dancefloor orientated angle this time. Most songs either seem to be disco/boogie/edit/soulful grooves/breakbeats or cumbia/latin/world sounds. Two fresh cumbia songs by „Mister“ Quantic my ever favourite dj/producer/musician: „Cumbia Clash“ by Quantic sounds like a dubby Cumbia Mash-Up like probably King Jammy would have mixed it ina de 80ies Digital Reggae Style – KILLER STUFF. Wait for the nasty bass to come in! „Cybercuba“ by Rude Hi-Fi is another beautiful Cumbia gem I only discovered on Soundcloud a week ago. Check out Rude Hi-Fi's Soundcloud page – the man is sharing/producing some serious music! Another Soundcloud find was „Agape ft Nadia Harris - She really likes it“ - let me quote the track description from Soundcloud: „Funk, soul, ska, drum and bass and Brazilian come together in this sultry hot little number to create a mood that is fun and up-tempo.“ Yes! And a voice that sounds like Sister Nancy's little sister! Nate Mars remix of „Petrona Martinez - Aroro“ was another big big monthly favourite. The bass and those powerful voice of Petrona Martinez is just killin' me! Mars places Martinez's vocals in the middle of spacey synths, tropical percussion sounds with a rolling bassline that comes and goes. Interesting information on the side - Petrona Martinez from Colombia didn't really start her music career until 2002 at the age of 63 (she made her money collecting sand for brick making prior to then), but continues to sing and perform now moving into her seventies. Well - I hope you enjoy some of these songs as much as I do... If you do, please leave a comment - its always rewarding to hear what fellow music lovers and addicts say - especially if you live in China - a blank spot on the world-map of music...

PS: Usually when I make these "compilations" of favourite songs - I try to put them in a certain order so there is a certain flow, mixing the songs without actually mixing them (so that you still have the unmixed song to make your own mixes/compilations ;-). This compilation fits perfectly on one CD – just click "NO PAUSE BETWEEN TRACKS" - and the CD will be exactly 79:40 long – so burn it & share some good vibes with friends & family...

Peace; Dubme