Full-Fledged Record Nerd

Etoile De Dakar : Tolou Badou Ndiaye
taken from their self-titled album on SACEM

Elias Rahbani : From The Moon
taken from the 12" single on EMI

Formula 7 : Trouble
taken from their self-titled album on Castelinho

Erick Cosaque Et Les Voltages 8 : Decere Nou De Maye
taken from the album "Chene A Kunta Kinte"

In case you didn't already know by now, I get more geeked off vinyl than your average DJ. Moreso even than your run-of-the-mill skinny-necked record nerd. I even have nightmares that I will oneday join the ranks of those golem-esque record-fiending freaks who stop bathing and lose all social skills in the sole pursuit of posessing the holy plastic grail. If you see me start to get like that, please intervene.

However, in the meantime what that means for you all is that I've been hoarding some serious monsters for a special occaision. As a frequenter of the Soulstrut.com forums, I found my occaision in the form of what we strutters call an "ISH". This ISH business provides a place for similarly crazed crate-diggers to show off some of their favorite obscurities to fellow record nerds. Being the geek that I am, I went for it. Today's tunes are culled from the same stash that made it into my ISH. For those that are new to this website, I highly recommend hanging out for a little while. Amid the flurry of non-record-related bullshwank, there's the occaisional nuggets of real-world knowledge- not to mention a whole lot of music sharing. Without further ado, onto the music...

READ MY "ISH" TO GET THE INFO

Time For Some 12"s

Paul Simon : Late... (Edit De DJ Spun)
taken from the 12" on Editions Disco

LTJ Xperience Ft. Joe Bataan : Ordinary Guy (Latin Club Edit)
taken from the 12" on Irma (also available on this CD)

Oreja vs. Plenafro : Julieta
taken from the 12" on Candela

Schoolly D : Skool's Out (Les Rythmes Digitales Remix)
taken from the 12" on Wall Of Sound

Last week Spring burst into the city with a palpable gush of long-dormant virility. The mere site of magnolia blossoms stirring in the sun evoked more artistic appreciation and divine wellness in the collective heart of New York City than all it's art museums, galleries and theaters combined throughout the entire rest of the year. In every direction you could find someone smiling and taking a long-deserved deep breath of rebirth. Looking out on the dancefloor, the stink of fermented pheromones was spilling out in bucketloads as party people remembered why they live in the land of Gotham. This music is as close as I can get right now to expressing the communal kinetic release I see in my neighbors and friends and feel in the warmest part of myself. Enjoy these true treasures of bombasticism and use them to shake loose whatever cantankerous crust you created over winter.

HOP TO IT!: RABBITS AND CARROTS

Rabbits & Carrots: Las 4 Culturas + Romeo Y Julieta
From Soul Latino (Musart, 1969). Also available on LP.

Bonus: Rabbits & Carrots: Express Yourself (snippet)
From We Got More Soul EP (Musart, 1971). Also on Soul Latino (CD but not LP)

File Soul Latino under those albums seemingly too good to be true - a group of Mexican rock/jazz musicians with a trio of brothers and nephews at core - sitting down in 1968 to record a series of instrumentals, most of them with a hard, funk edge. Frankly, if someone had told me this was some retro-soul band, masquerading as a vintage group with that backstory - I'd sooner believe the hoax. Not that Mexico City would lack the necessary musicians to put something like this together but it's like stumbling across an album such as that by Chile's infamous Xingu. Given how rare this purports to be, it's a genuine treat that the folks at Vampisoul got Musart's permission to reissue it.

Yes indeed: Rabbits & Carrots were real, as was their Soul Latino album and subsequent EP. That album constitutes one of the holy grails of Mexican funk albums and it's not just because of rarity or its unusualness - it's damn well put together and recorded well. Check out how they take on Don Randi's "Theme From Romeo and Juliet" - all dissonant whines and moody loops, beautifully accented by Luis Agúero's guitar and a brass section lead by Ramón Flores and Ramón Negrete and I'm assuming its bad leader and percussionist Salvador Agüero on those tinkling chimes.

"Las 4 Culturas," according to the liner notes, is the album's sole "original" song, a song about the Tlateloco Massacre. That may very well be true that the song is meant to inspire awareness around the murder of potentially 200-300 people before the Mexico City Olympics but musically speaking, most people would probably note: "uh, isn't this 'Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved' by James Brown?" And you'd be right - it is. In fact, that's how it's billed on this 12" from a year or so ago. Not that I'm complaining - it would make sense to take a song with a title as politically charged as Brown's and reapply it to the happenings in Mexico City.

For a bonus cut, I threw on a tease of the group's 1971 cover of "Express Yourself." This came after Salvador Agüero (nickname "Rabito," hence the group's name) left the band and a vocalist named Max (Max what?) joined. This isn't necessarily my favorite cover of the Watts 103rd's immortal classic but I dig its Spanish-language remake and given the timing with the Watts 103rd Week, it seemed only apropos (plus, that ridiculous drum-break toward the end doesn't hurt either). Just be aware: this song, along with covers of "Sex Machine," "We Got More Soul" and "Spill the Wine" are available on the CD of the album, as well as a separate EP, but it's not on the vinyl LP version of the Soul Latino album.

NYC HEADS: 420 SHOW TONITE!

Erykah Badu :Cleva (Captain Planet Smarter Samba Remix)
taken from the upcoming 12" on BSTRD BOOTS
(available as DL for a limited time only! then you gotta buy it!)

YO!!! I miss this blog. Been way too busy with other hustling these past couple weeks, but I promise to return full force next week. In the meantime, feast your ears on the latest remix and come out to see my band THE BEATARDS tonight at Mercury Lounge. We're joined by extended family members Vamoose. If you don't know by now, then you need to get wise 'cause we know how to turn a show into a party.

And yeah, if you haven't yet, join our FAM CLUB for just $8 and get our full-length CD in full-color, super-stunning, digi-pack vibrancy. It's SOOOO worth it! On top of 12 original Beatards tunes, you get a handful of our remixes and tracks from our friends like Santogold, Stephanie McKay, Jahcoozi, Roxy Cottontail, Kid Acne, Vamoose and more!!!

Lover's Rock, Summer 's Return

Estelle: Come Over
Taken from the forthcoming album Shine on Homeschool (2008)

Here's the deal: I'm only going to post one song from this album because you need to buy the whole damn thing when it comes out on domestic release in two weeks. (If you know what's good for you you'll cough up the extra few bucks for an import and get the jump on all the cats who are gonna be on Estelle's jock come May.) Seriously. It's not terribly often that I'm introduced to a new record and can almost immediately forget about the other 35 gazillion songs on my Ipod and 46 bazillion LP's cluttering up my house... but this one did it for me.

This is an album that bears well its title. Tight production, well-selected and executed guest appearances, pop value and heady appeal, all anchored by the voice of a truly talented vocalist... If I sound gushy, it's because I am. I could have pulled virtually any one of these meticulously crafted twelve songs and felt pretty good about sharing it. But as it happens this particular tune has carried me on its lover's-rock-anthemic wings through an LA weekend that, in part because of the temperature outside (blazing) and in part because of the tone and quality of this track (blazing), seemed to usher Summer into the City one fell swoop. I had this song bumping at the beach, on the Los Feliz 3 Par, cruising late night on the balmy deserted freeways, at more than a couple BBQ's... and everywhere I went cats seemed to fall into lock step with the loping shimmering summery bounce. Oo-oh, oo-oh, oo-oh. So so sweet.

Check out tour dates and artist information here. Estelle's coming. Don't say I didn't warn ya'.

Loving Planet Earth

Demon Fuzz: Hymn To Mother Earth
Taken from the album Afreaka on Janus (1972)

The Great White Cane: Mother Earth
Taken from the self-titled LP on Lion (1973)

Gil Scott Heron: We Almost Lost Detroit
Taken from the album Bridges on (1977)

Wayne McGhie: I Can See Mother Nature
Taken from the album Wayne McGhie and The Sounds of Joy on Birchmount (1970)

Okay. So I know I'm a bit early on the Earth Day love, but why not get a jump. Start spreading the good word a few weeks early and maybe by the time April 22nd rolls around you'll already have installed your new energy-efficient fridge and traded your H3 (heinous!) for a snazzy new Prius... or one of these. Bottom line is it's never too soon to celebrate GAIA!

Here are a few tracks from the vanguard of geo-social consciousness.

The Demon Fuzz record is pretty well-known on the nerd-circuit, but always a joy to introduce to people who may not yet have heard the bounty of this U.K.-based Cymande-esque outfit... A truly wonderful song with bass lines, organs and funky changes for days. To say nothing of the album art. Zinger!

Where did Rick James cultivate his inner super freak? Why, with The Great White Cane, of course, where he fronted the band for their mostly unmemorable sole record. This meandering 8-minute anthem, however, stands as a salient exception to the mediocrity of the rest of the record. Redeem me Rick!

G.S.H. surely needs no introduction, though this selection comes off an oft slept on record of his, and one of his first great collabo's with Brian Jackson in a synthier late-70's vein. This song (which I believe is about the deleterious effects of the building of a nuclear power plant just outside Motor City--thus the Mother Earth connection) along with the devastating "Delta Man" off the same album have been late night driving staples for me for years... A discerning listener might also notice a very tasty Blackstar sample tucked in there...

Lastly, Mr. McGhie, a West-Indian bywayof Canada, who made an appearance on this blog a few years back and returns now with this delicately loping sweetness. Drive on Earth Mother. Drive on.

AY AY AY! MICAELA X QUATRO

Pete Rodriguez: Micaela
From I Like It Like That (Alegre, 1967)

Pedrito Ramirez y su Combo: Micaela
From 7" (Popo, 196?)

Los Cinco De Oro: Micaela
From 7" (Philips, 196?)

Tone Done's Hollywood Quintent: Micaela
From 7" (Vance, 196?)

In general, I've found that Latin soul/boogaloo songs are not always given to covers very well. I'm still not sure why this is - whether it's a failing on the groups covering or something inherent to the genre but, for example, covers of Joe Cuba's "Bang Bang" never sound as good as the original (in contrast, "El Pito" seems to go over better). However, it dawned on me recently that there's another boogaloo classic that might disprove my casual theory: Pete Rodriguez's "Micaela." Not only is the song well-covered - possibly the most of his several hits - but many of the other versions are done competently, often on par with the original. I think that says something important about said original: that it's one of those magical songs that lends itself to multiple permutations, all of which excel simply be referencing back to the original (for another example, see variations on Tito Puente's "Oye Como Va" - a song that can be covered any which way and still sound great).

I genuinely love this song and how it sounds and have made it a pet project to track down other versions of "Micaela" in hopes of finding yet another charmer. I have to admit though, until very recently, I barely understood it since my Spanish lexicon is limited to, um, counting 1-10 and ordering from taco trucks. That great if I ever need to order "dos tacos, carne asada," not so good for deciphering even basic songwriting en español.

Luckily, I had some friends help me out and what they came up with is a translation that suggests that Rodriguez was singing about how Micaela blew him away on the dancefloor, which seems apropos for a boogaloo song. If someone has a more elaborate translation, feel free to share in the comments.

In any case, I start with Rodriguez's original, featured on his best-selling I Like It Like That LP for Alegre. The "ooh aah" intro is just a touch too forced but it's all about that piano montuno. Hands-down, one of the best riffs of its kind in Latin. (I'm curious if it has an antecedent...songwriters borrowed from each other all the time in this era). And then there's the hook, "ay ay ay, Micaela se boto" - so catchy.

The Pedrito Ramirez y su Combo version is out of the Bay Area of all places, making it one of the rare West Coast Latin boogaloo cuts I know of (see below). I really like this version - it's livelier and brighter, especially with the addition of the piccolo and greater use of coro-pregón (call-and-response). You can also hear the obvious Joe Cuba influence with the "ah ha, beep beep" chorus that opens. A great party cut and one that I play out at Boogaloo[L.A.] with much pleasure. If you like it, the one dealer I know who has copies is selling one now.

The Los Cinco De Oro version comes from Peru and is notable for at least two reasons: one, it feels much faster than the original. Had I not known better, I would have thought it was a 33 record that I accidentally put in 45 but nope, it's supposed to be that fast. Second, it's a very stripped down version: all piano and hand-claps and that's practically it (save for a lil flute)! I made the mistake of playing this out at the club only to remember: oh yeah, there's no low end to this at all. Can't say this is my favorite but even sped-up, stripped down, with no bass...the song is still catchy.

Lastly, we come to what may be my favorite version and - damn - wouldn't you know, it's also the rarest of the batch? Let's give credit where it's due: I first read/heard this at Office Naps, which included it as part of their West Coast boogaloo series. It's an L.A. record in fact, but one that is uber-obscure and thus, this sound file is likely the closest I'm going to come to it.

What I like about it is how it's also stripped down but not as sparsely as the Los Cinco version - instead, Done's Quintet keeps it to piano and some percussion and really, the song doesn't need any more than that essence. The Ramirez is more lively but Done's just nails what I think is the essence of the song.