Back in the day (as they say) there was a vogue for using this Jimmy Castor sample; “Let’s go back…. waaaaaaaaay back” When you heard Jimmy Castor’s comedy caveman growl, you knew you were gonna hear some dusty fire from the vaults. So if you could just imagine that sample before reading on, you’re pretty much prepped. It’s good to do these things properly.
For the last week or two I’ve been digging in the archives and forming new obsessions, primarily with the legend King Sunny Ade, Nigeria’s biggest star. Specifically one tune from the King, the epic Edide E Mujo has been on constant rotation round our place. The track is split into several parts and lasts for about 15 minutes in all, 15 minutes of hard Niger rhythm and cascading melody. It’s all brilliant, from the vocals exhorting…
“Let your feelings show, let your body know, cos the music is so nice, and the mood is so right,”
– to the extended instrumental sections where the band combine intricate syncopated drums with a heady cosmic disco sheen and the sort of propulsive afro slap bass that’s kept Paul Simon in crisp chinos for years. Edide is available on Classics Vol 1 which is a top listen from start to finish. Go and have a look in the African CD section at your local library (you do have a library card, right?) and you’ll be able to find a copy. Trust me this is easier than spending fruitless hours trying to track down a shit quality download. In the meantime you can download parts 1 & 2 here–
Staying in the past, quality label Mr Bongo have just released a compilation entitled Psychedelic Pernambuco, which is essentially a round up of stuff from North West Brazil from the 70s. I think Soul Jazz covered some of this with their Tropicalia comp from a few years back; it’s pretty fertile ground. My history on the place is pretty sketchy, and where I’m typing this doesn’t have a web connection so I can’t mask my ignorance with a load of ‘facts’ from wiki. As far as I can remember the area was under the rule of military junta, who tried, and failed, to stop loads of rebellious cats wigging out to crazed psychedelic rock. The Bongo comp documents some of these freak outs, and whilst it’s a bit of a mixed bag, it’s got some mad gems on it. All 5 of the tracks from the man Geraldo Azevdao are truly excellent, coming in somewhere between Arthur Russell, Can, Joao Gilberto and Nick Drake, if you can imagine such a thing, with beautiful acoustic arrangements, curious vocal progressions and wistful melancholic melodies. Really worth a listen, this was a wicked intro to an artist that I knew absolutely nish about.
Back in the horrifying slo-mo apocalypse we call the present there’s been some serious head smashing crunk banging out. Everyone’s favourite tattoed goblin, Lil Wayne, has released a mixtape to apologise for the delay on his next album, and whaddayaknow it’s got some really good tracks on it. You can pick up the whole thing for nowt over at ‘Dat Piff’, and just to give you a taste here’s Wayne’s freestyle over Kreayshawn’s Gucci Gucci beat. Let’s not get confused over this; Kreayshawn is a horrible goggle eyed sock puppet, cursed to have the entire music industry’s well oiled fist jammed up her arse, ghoulish A&R fingers manipulating her mouth into lumpen half assed raps about ironic stuff like being really poor and aspiring to have expensive label clothes, and y’know, niggas and stuff. But fair’s fair, that Gucci Gucci beat rocks, and it’s ace hearing a proper artist spit on it. Make your own mind up eh—
More excitement comes from Travis Porter who’ve followed up their strip club anthem ‘Make It Rain’ with the epic ‘You Don’t Know’. It sounds like the music Laura Palmer would have nodded out to if Twin Peaks was set in Georgia and I don’t think I need to say any more than that.
Finally, in a shameless plug, should you give any sort of a fuck about new music coming from the States check out my latest mixtape over at my mixcloud. It’ll fulfil all your dreams and make you a better person.
