Toca La Guitarra

Bryan Vargas & Matt Hilgenberg : Vamonos Pa'l Monte
as performed live on "Passport" 05/09/05

Luis Segura : Yo Quiero Hablarte
taken from a bootleg compilation called "Grandes Exitos" (not sure about date of the recording)

Ahhh, back to some rootsy latin joints for ya. Holding off on these gems was like squeezing my legs together and penguin hobbling around to the nearest bathroom. Of course, that depth of frantic desperation always makes the ensuing piss (or blog entry in this case) that much more enjoyable. So feast your ears on the fruits of my patience- and Ant's insistence on "no more spanish shiz for at least a couple of weeks". Tonight I'm giving you a "Captain's Crate" exclusive- BLUH! BLUH! BLUH! and a tune that I heard in a comedor in the D.R. and eventually tracked down back here in New York (courtesy of Niki "Gansta" Andujar at I.S. 90- big up!). The sun spanked the streets today, melady's back in town, we got a space for our next VIA seasonal bash, and I finally bought myself some CDJ ish, so there's plenty to celebrate. Tune in again soon for the first post from baddass Busquelo, don't say I didn't warn you...

Bryan Vargas and his rad group Ya Esta! put out an album in 2004 aptly titled Afro Latino Soul. He used to play with Antibalas, and has gigged with many heavy cats. This album is a hearty serving of exactly the things that I love: soulful vocals, tight percussion, smooth solos that leave imprints in the memory banks, lenghty arrangements, raw recording quality, and a strong connection to ROOTS. I put the album on my 2004 top ten list and Bryan found out. He came on my radio show a few weeks back to chat and do a little live performance. This is just him (on guitar and vocals) with heavy-hitting Ya Esta! trumpet player/percussionist Matt Hilgenberg. This is an extremely paired down version of what you'll find on the album, but it doesn't lack a thing. You very well might recognize the tune, it's a Palmieri classic. Seriously, get his album.

On a lesser-known (at least to non-Dominicans) tip, Luis Segura is a cat who I had never heard of prior to my trip to the D.R. (yes, that is the tent that I was sleeping in) last month. Known as the "Papa de Bachata", this man has been putting out tunes consistently for more years than I know- thus the absence of a date on the recording. He's still making records, more run-of-the-mill metallic-y sounding Bachata, but nothing that compares in passion or sincerity to this tear jerking urgent love plea. You have to love the lady to hit notes that high. The CD that I took this from is a street bootleg sin cover, but the song can be found on this collection.

Entirely unrelated, check these blogs for more MP3 dopeness:

Worldly Disorientation and Cotton Candy Hammer

Rainy Sunday Daydreaming Summer

Zap Pow : Sweet Lovin' Love
taken from the album "Zap Pow Love Hits" on IMS (19??)

and Roots Man Reggae
taken from the album "Zap Pow" on Island (1978)

My first exposure to Zap Pow was picking up this crappy Jamaican pressing of "Love Hits" in a bargain bin, thus the super bad popping shiz. But pop or no pop, it was summer of 2001 and I was playing this entire A-side on repeat. I don't understand how Jamaican pressings can be so poorly made sometimes- it's a shame. For starters, my labels are on the wrong sides of the record, then the glue from the label is smeared all over the grooves, there are little dimples pockmarking the vinyl, and finally the record is thrown into an ultra-thin plastic sleave that always ends up crumpled in the bottom of the record cover when you go to push the vinyl back in. I guess they're more focused on making the music sound HOT. And that's exactly what I need right now, a little bit of summer heat, 'cause it's a drizzling damp 50 degrees outside, and my girlfriend is outta town so I'm looking at a cold empty bed. Saturday was nice, I went to the flea market and it was at least sunny for most of the morning, so I should stop complaining already. I'm dealing with my heat deprivation by dreaming up a sun-glazed summer sound system- on a rooftop, or better yet in the park. "Sweet Lovin" has just been dropped and now the DJ is juggling the sick break midway through the song. I need to track down a nice clean copy of this track.

"Roots Man" shows a cleaned and polished version of their funky sound. It's on Island records, so that crispness is to be expected. Pretty much just a groove, but a sweet one that keeps my attention with a simmering horn line and a cracking rimshot. I feel like it's getting a little bit warmer already.

Zap Pow was a big time studio band whose biggest hit "This Is Reggae Music" has been justly compiled a few times. Cop that tune, it's super mellow blunted funk. I could easily do five more posts of music that they made or were a part of, but it's late and I'm tired and I got work tomorrow morning. Back to dreaming...

Steady Bottom

Assagai : Barazinbar
taken from the album "Afrorock" on Sounds Superb (1971)

Makhona Zonke Band : The Webb
taken from the album "The Webb" on Soul Jazz Pop (1976)

Your boy Cap'n P is now officially a full-time man. I've been avoiding this type of serious commitment for quite some time now, but rushing head-on into another unemployed summer of Craigslist part-time hustling and humiliating subway station performances kinda gave me the willies. So yeah, there goes the last scraps of my free time. But the blog must go on.

I was going to go ahead and break the single rule that I had just laid out for myself last week by posting the live recording I made of Bryan Vargas on my radio show last Monday. He sings in Spanish so Ant stopped me, but stay tuned. Soulful FIRE! Then I DJ-ed at Kush on Saturday night and met up with Wunmi this morning (to finish details for the upcoming ByWayOf.net feature) so I was thinking of posting some Afro-club tunes. But gosh darned if at the last minute I didn't get that same ole voice calling me back to the ROOTS. So here are some funky South African grooves from the 70's that are only really connected in that they look for inspiration outside of Africa- it could also be said that they share relentlessly steady bass riffs.

Assagai recorded this material in England after effectively being exiled for performing as an interracial band. This super-heavy genre fusing combination is the product of saxophonist Dudu Pakwana (bummer of a name) and white South African Chris McGregor. There's a bunch of other cool stuff on this LP, it all sounds a bit like it was recorded in a dust cloud, but for now that's all yer gonna get.

"The Webb" = "The Ghetto". For anyone who has never heard this Donny Hathaway track, read no further, it's a required prerequisite. Naw, I ain't snobby like that, but seriously, "The Ghetto" from Donny Hathaway Live is one of my all time favorite soul songs. When I first heard this South African group doing a cover version, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. It's nowhere near as mind blowing as Donny's version, but you know that if heads in Jo'burg were feeling this same bassline as much as folks over here, then there must be a higher power. I had to perform a little edit on this one- the LP version rolls on for another 4 minutes at least, taking up half of the A-Side 'cause they dug the groove THAT much. Don't know why they added the second "b" to the title though.

Gittin' In A (Late) Groove

Michael Longo : Ocean Of His Might
taken from the album "900 Shares Of The Blues" on Curcio (197?)

Joe Thomas : Polarizer
taken from the album "Feelin's From Within" on T.K. (1977)

Last week's Cinco De Mayo festivities at Bembe went down PROPER. Big up once again to Busquelo, who (keep your fingers crossed) will hopefully be contributing a lil' bit to this here collective crate. It was an ole skool Latin throwdown: funk, descargas, boogaloo, and salsa mixed with fresh broken beat tracks and accompanied by live conga mastery from Isabelle. Dancefloor went absolutely buckwild around 2:00 AM. I still feel dehydrated from sweating so much! Later on tonight (Monday) I've got Bryan Vargas and members of his group Ya Esta! coming on the radio show. If you're near a computer (wnyu.org) or you live in NYC and own a radio (89.1 FM) tune in at 8pm EST to hear a live performance and some knowledge being dropped.

In the midst of all this Latin music, it would probabally make more sense for me to put up a couple timbales 'n cowbell grooves, but I promised myself- no more Spanish numbers for at least a few weeks. Instead, a couple of mellow jazz-funk bombs to nod your head to.

I had heard of Michael Longo, but this is the first record of his that I've acquired (courtesy of a dollar dealer at this past weekend's flea market). The original pressing ('74) of this album, on Groove Merchant, has a much cooler cover and can be purchased as a reissue. My copy is #48 in an Italian series of jazz giant re-issues. The music is the same, so I'm happy. This same album has the uptempo banger "Like A Thief In The Night", but I've seen that on a couple comps and I'm feeling a bit more in the laid back mood right now. That's Ron Carter on bass, with Joe Farrell and Randy Brecker on horns. Unfortunately, I realized too late that this Longo record needed a good cleaning, so you get the version with crackle and pop- suck it up.

Polarizer, better known to most as "B-Boy Document", is a pretty nasty piece of work as well. Not as badass as some of Joe's earlier funk, but nicely chopped syncopation with a darting flute line and a synth solo that kinda makes me laugh. The keyboard solo sounds like a really short guy getting all worked up in an argument- Danny DeVito or Joe Pesci maybe. This album was also originally issued on Groove Merchant in '76, so there's the connection for you; two nice Groove Merchant items that came to me through other labels.

Oh yeah, and in case you hadn't noticed, the Crate takes comments now, so let me know what you think...

Raices de Reggaeton

El General : Bunduff Kun-Kun
taken from the album "Muevelo" on BMG (1991)

El Comandante : Mi Gente Latina
taken from the compilation album "Latino Power" on Rota (1997)

Vico C : Bomba Para Afincar and Yogurt
taken from the album "Sentimiento Hispano" on Cassetera (198?)

My trip to the D.R. was most highly excellent. Quite a piece of paradise we found down there. Yes, there's plenty of poverty, lack of jobs, corruption, pollution and the like; but when you have the extreme privilege of being able to temporarily experience that type of environment- when you know that you'll be getting on a plane and bouncing back to first world comfort in a matter of days- you're able to appreciate the sun and scenery a lot more than the locals do. No day passed without an ice cold Presidente, and we spent a good bit of time playing cards with a mellow Swedish couple. Emil, a drummer with a shaggy, practically albino-blond 70's doo, is in a dope rock band. He didn't dig the everpresent sounds of merengue, bachata, and reggaeton nearly as much as I did. Sorry brah, I don't really dig the rock as much as you do- but we can still be friends.

Now that Daddy Yankee, Don Omar, & Tego Calderon, are getting serious play on pop stations (at least here in NYC), I've been making a lot of connections between the current Latin music boom and what happened in the sixties when "salsa"- ingeniously marketed by Jerry Masucci- first became a term. Salsa removed the specific stylistic titles (like "Son", "Guaracha" and "Plena") and mashed it all together under one easily digestible lable. I recently copped this ridiculously dope documentary made in '74 about the salsa explosion. Featuring the Fania All-Stars, Manu Dibango, and a young Geraldo Rivera, the film also splices in clips of traditional African dances and disturbingly humorous, early-Hollywood portrayals of Latinos. I want to figure out a way to get video clips up on here.. maybe soon. Until then, get yourself a copy.

I've been into reggaeton for a minute; ever since my big sister spent a year down in the D.R. and hooked me up with some original hits by Tego. As soon as I started backtracking I learned that like "salsa", the "reggaeton" title is pretty new. This music I'm giving you today is from the days before "reggaeton", when music like this was called "underground" or "reggae espanol". Vico C (from Brooklyn & P.R.) and El General (from Panama) are some of the godfathers of the music, and they're both still putting out semi-hits (nothing in comparison to the sales of newer artists like Zion Y Lennox or Don Omar). Expect to see some exclusively reggaeton labels popping up under Sony and Universal really soon.

A lot of the tunes from that time (like "Yogurt") were heavily influenced by early house and techno too. You can hate if you want, but everytime I've dropped this C + C Music Factory meets El General track, the party goes buckwild. Try it yourself. The other tunes I selected are more directly coming out of Jamaican reggae, dancehall and hip hop. I don't know much about El Comandante, but the dude got mad flow. "Bunduff Kun-Kun" uses that synth horn sound that can be deadly- it usually is- but here it sucessfully becomes a trance inducing bounce generator. The two Vico C tracks come from a CD that sounds like it was dubbed from a cassete tape- kinda weird. He looks like he's 13 on the cover of the album. I'm not sure about the date, but I have another record from him that dates 1990, and by that time he had grown a stache and acquired a lot of gold.