Showing posts with label Rocksteady. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rocksteady. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Beatz & Carrots #4 (January 2012)


Here finally is my January 2012 Beatz & Carrots #4 compilation. Some good songs in here, old and new. And it also flows quite nicely when you listen to the compilation in its entirety. Beatz & Carrots #5 is already compiled as well. Just need to write a few lines, upload it – and it should then be shared on this blog within the next few days. Until then – keep yourself busy with this tracklist:

01 - dedy dread - go miller
02 - sono rhizmo' - mambocito mio
03 - benny berigan - caravan
04 - little walter - up the line
05 - restless leg syndrome - hornrace
06 - nynfus corp. - yetti
07 - le grand orchestre de paul mauriat - vole, vole farandole
08 - tenoshi - monsta monche (tenoshi version)
09 - phyllis dillon - perfidia
10 - unknown - cumbia (soundcloud)
11 - stretch - why did you do it
12 - the electric sideshow soundsystem - give me your number
13 - culture - we a boss
14 - the soul session - root down
15 - discotech - the boss
16 - brooklyn shanti - rani rani
17 - the soul session - horse with no name suite (desert intro)
18 - the soul session - horse with no name suite (horse with no name)
19 - the soul session - horse with no name suite (out of the rain)
20 - ahmad zahir - che kelaf sar zad az mah
21 - dj catalist - everybody
22 - pan di-hua - midnight kiss

Giving some credits to all the artists and musicians out there who are enriching our lifes with grooves, musical sunshine and love everyday – The first song is Go Miller by Dedy Dread, which he shared as a little Christmas gift on his soundcloud page last year. Beautiful song – which seems to get better every time I listen to it. The intro is one of the best out there: "Hello and Greetings to all those Punks out there... 'coz I am the King of the Punks (What kind of records to you play for your own pleasure – as it were?) Generally I play Soul music, Jazz music, I love Calypso music. I love all type of music (inaudible). Generally listening to Jazz..." - "Generally listening to Jazz"... Ahhh! That line kills it for me. Beautiful! „Mambocito Mio“ - the second song is a tasty beefed up Latin/Mambo Groover by Sono Rhizmo'. That song got released on Resense records (# 004) back in 2007. But somehow I missed it. Resense records, which seems to be a sub-label (!?) of the equally great Agogo Records (check them out on soundcloud) is one of the top labels out there releasing groovy, funky, swinging, soulful music with all of our favorite artists out there! The third song Caravan by Benny Berigan is a brilliant take on the Jazz standard "Caravan", originally composed by Juan Tizol and first performed by Duke Ellington in 1937. That song (and its various covers) has always been a favorite of mine – and Benny Berigan definitely adds his own twist to it - making it a dirty whirling desert groover – or as someone on soundcloud put it "I feel like Alibaba traveling the desert at night!" - Jaaa! The next song "Up The Line" by Little Walter from 1963 was another surprice find. What a groover. While I was listening to this compilation a few times I caught myself wondering "What song is that?!" - having as much swing and raw power as Brenda Boykin's Hard Swing Travellin' Man – only to find out every time that it is that Little Walter song way back from 1963. Song #5 keeps the groove and the swing – going Cumbia: Restless Leg Syndrome – Hornrace and their version of "Cumbia en do menor" by Lito Barrientos – one of my Top 10 Cumbia songs of all time: heavy percussion, stomping horns, tropical madness! You can download the whole EP "name your price" on their bandcamp site. The remaining 17 songs are equally great and eclectic – but I now ought to do some more compiling - finish compiling questions for a survey on "Vegetarianism in China" which I need for my thesis.

The "cover" or rather image I shared with this compilation is a picture of a German "Sex" record called "St Pauli Nachrichten" on the Porno Records label (St Pauli being the Red Light District of Hamburg) which I bought many many years ago when I "got into" collecting "sex records". I can still remember when a friend first told me that he, beside collecting Exotica and Incredibly Strange Music records, also collects sex records. I was like "eh?!" - what are Sex records? Well, basically in the 50, 60 and 70... until we had Super 8mm film and video cassettes more generally available – records where still the format of the day – and so "Porn" was sold on record to some degree. I assume. It was a huge surprise when I first heard dialogues like "F##k me harder" on a German record from the 60ies. Don't know – maybe I was under the impression that people back then didn't have Sex or whatever... After this first "introduction" I surrendered myself to the mission of finding all these Sex records. And it was no easy task finding the real ones – or could you imagine your grandmother going to a second hand record shop saying "I here have some old records which me and my husband bought in the 60ies". But over the course of the years I found some records which were incredibly great and funny: sex plays with hilarious dialogues (who wrote them?!), 60 minutes of moaning over some African percussion, a record with just the sounds of a squeaking creaking bed, a porn version of Kafka's "The Trial" - which was so kafkaesque that I wanted to trash it after listening to it the first and only time... bahh! And records which just had great covers or other gimmicks – like the one I used for this post. Stay tuned and find out how the amazing 4x gatefold cover of this record opens up and reveals a secret place during the next few Beatz & Carrots posts...

DubMe

Sunday, November 20, 2011

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