Check out this Navidades compilation by Isa GT, featuring my remix of her song La Cumbia. It’s a Caribbean inspired soca/cumbia meant for all you warm weather holidays celebrators. You can download my remix for free:
Buy the comp as a holiday gift on all major digital stores, like iTunes, Beatport and Amazon and listen to it while you drink rum with your loved ones around the house:
I have to say I am very excited that it is time for me to put this up:
Banana Clipz Preview Mega-Mini Mix
I’ve been waiting to do this style of mix for years. The influence from all those Dancehall mixes I absorbed as a youth have been smashed into this 8 minute laser extravaganza. I know that I am probably just as guilty of this as the next person, but I beg you: after downloading this mix, pleeease do not listen on your laptop. Wait until you can experience these tunes on proper speakers with some sort of bass. This music is meant for that.
I met Gavin, aka Oro 11 in early 2008 and we started working on sketches of beats at his house by Lake Merritt. In three years time we have visited up and down the California coast playing gigs, making friends, and collaborating with some great artists, several of who are appearing on this project. This project is in some way the result of all those fun times (and late nights.)
Now that I’m in New York, and these tracks are finally being released unto the world, my nostalgia for the time I spent in the Bay makes them all the more meaningful. I hope you enjoy this preview as much as I enjoyed making it. The final product will be here soon!
I’ll be a guest DJ at Tormenta Tropical this Friday June 12th in LA at Three Clubs, and Saturday June 13th at the Elbo Room in San Franicsco. I’ll be playing alongside LA based production duo Nguzunguzu, and resident selectas, Bersa Discos label owners, Oro 11 and Disco Shawn.
I’ve been preparing a pretty fun set for both nights focused on Cumbia roots in Colombia, and Panamanian Tipico mixed with Dancehall and Reggaeton of today. Come check out this fun night if you’re around the West Coast!
Double posting with Ghetto Bassquake
I just spent a few days down south in the land de los angeles. I flew over California and watched trees burn. I landed amongst the pacific haze that the area is known for (a combination of the sea mist, fire smoke, and pollution.)
Spending time with a childhood friend of Greek parentage and cultural heritage, who had just come back from 2 months in Greece, we were grooving to some of the latest sounds goin’ down at clubs in places like Mykonos. We were comparing the sounds on L.A.’s hip hop/reggaeton station “Latino” to the sounds coming out of Europe and enjoying the similarities. The fact that DJ Laz was in town and a guest on Saturday, probably added to the comparison and my excitement, as he was mixing a bunch of exclusive Latin Miami Bass remixes and promoting his new album to be released next week. His new single with Pitbull and Flo-Rida has an interpolation of this European club hit.
Here’s a classic: DJ Laz-Esa Morena
Sometime during the week my friend and I were going through some of the more Greek centered pop tracks that he picked up. After giving him a couple of Cumbia tracks to play while we drove around the expansive L.A. highway system, and after taking down a couple drinks I was shouting out the window to passersby, “CUMBIA!!!” He made sure to draw my attention to this:
L.A. is the land of Brangelina, Hollywood Starlets, Rehab, and MTV reality famous for doing nothing celebs. I see young people move there and get caught up. But beyond that, it’s a huge diverse place with vast neighborhoods of people from literally everywhere, and that’s a side to L.A. that doesn’t always make it to mainstream media markets (Black Eyed Peas being an exception?!?)
L.A. revolution music: Fosforo-Guerra
I’m uploading this mix to promote my regular Wednesday night gig here in San Francisco at the Tunnel Top (601 Bush Street.) It is a mix of African Pop, Caribbean and African American musics that are an indication of some of the styles I play at the night. I call the night African Booty Scratchers. That’s Americans’ derogatory word for African Immigrants in the United States. Being 2nd generational, people called me and my family that when I was growing up. But now since I’m a scratching DJ and I play African and Booty shaking music, I felt like the name finally fits.
I haven’t figured out how to embed music on WordPress so click on the tracklisting below (text version of tracklist at bottom) to listen:
I also am excited to announce that Benjamin from Akwaaba Music will be joining to dj on Wednesday July 23rd, and we plan to collaborate on the night for the foreseeable future. Akwaaba Music is a digital distribution label for artists from Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Mali.
For those that are interested, I asked Ben about the business side of his venture and he wrote me with this:
“So Akwaaba means ‘welcome’ in twi, the language of the Ashanti people of Ghana. Spelled akwaba, it means the same in Côte d’Ivoire. I like the meaning, AND anyone can pronounce it!
My plan is to release the music digitally, I’m shooting for August 1 for the first release, which will be a compilation introducing the label. I’ll put out three themed compilations after that, one every month, then I will start to put out full artist albums.
I have exclusive 3 year deals with my artists, and I pay them every 3 months. For digital sales, I share the reports I get from iTunes and the other outlets. When needed I am registering the artists with ASCAP or BMI here, since they are not always registered with an authors society back home. And technically for the time being I am paying them via Western Union, since hardly any of the artists have a bank account. I also have local contacts in every country I work with handling things there.”
This is something that I’ve been wanting to do ever since I started digging more into African Music. I think this is pretty cool that Ben is doing this, and now folks will be able to get their hands on new music, when it comes out straight from the artist, and money goes back to them.
His website will be up soon.
Tracklisting for mAfromatics:
1. Unknown
2. El San Juanero-Nelson y Sus Estrellas
3. Chuchi Chuchi-Five Star
4. Decale Rap-Jeune Prodiges
5. Sant Yalla-Sérigne M’baye
6. Enseralen Gojo-Bole 2 Harlem
7. Soweto Funk-DJ Mbuso
8. Oya-Bantu feat. Ayuba
9. Decale Aladji-Ramatoulaye
10. Hi 2 D Sky-Saiko
11. Activate-Latin Fresh feat. Aldo Ranks
12. Ai Ai-Pussycat
13. No se Acaba el Mambo-Banda Gorda
14. Pat Malonthone-Sierra Leone Refugee Allstars
15. Ka-Bubu No. 1-Abdul Tee-Jay
16. Profitez-Mokobe feat. Yousou N’Dour
17. Changing Flows-Mr. Slaughter
18. War Bridge-Bounty Killer
19.Solidarité-Nder
20. El Que Llora No Mama-Comando Tiburón
21. No Era Por Ahí-Tego Calderón
22. I Luv Your Girl-The Dream
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Ghetto Bassquake
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