Soul-Sides Guest Post!

I’ve been so mired in projects and deadlines that I forgot to plug my guest spot on Soul-Sides!

I was asked to write about the last record that struck me and decided on Paul Parrish's Forest of My Mind, this folky psych record from ’68 that left my face on the floor. I’m aslo real stoked that O-Dub called us one of his favorite sites. Dude, many thanks!

Here’s “Something of a Love Song”, a track off the album that isn’t included in the guest post. I felt it didn’t stand out as much as the other tracks, but I don’t dig it any less. It’s a real sweet one. Peep the post too. Enjoy!

*Note: The links on the actual post are down from being over a few weeks old, so below are the tracks that I originally wrote about. Peep ’em!

“English Sparrows”

“Tiny Alice”

“I Can’t Help Myself”

Girls Girls Girls

My Love Will Follow Me is the new EP (out next month) from brooklyn hipster babes, Vivian Girls. Interestingly, the b-side to the lead single is a cover of “He’s Gone”, the killer Chantels song supposedly written by a 16-year-old Arlene Smith, the group’s lead singer in 1957. Both versions below.

The Vivian Girls’ cover is slower and aesthetically hollow sounding, but the harmonies at the end (which the group is “moving towards”) are pretty impressive.

“He’s Gone” was a big hit single for the Chantels in late ’50s, recorded on End Records. Classic material !

Heatrocks For Haiti

If you’re a lover of music and have seen or read about Haiti, please take note of the Heatrocks for Haiti campaign hosted by Soul Strut. All proceeds of this auction will be channeled towards relief for Haiti.

Peep O-Dub’s latest contribution for an idea of what’s available, what’s happening, and how to help. Any way of generating awareness and, obviously money, is helpful right now. Spread the link too:

HEATROCKS FOR HAITI CAMPAIGN

Syncopated Triplet Aquaman: New Qbert Interview

He’s widely recognized as one of the best to ever do it. When I spoke with Automator years back, he touched on Qbert saying: “I’ll tell you this—Qbert is the best DJ in the world. Technically, that guy’s fucking untouchable.”

I caught up with Qbert real quick to see what he’s been doing and what his thoughts are on recent DJ news. From DJ Hero, to Shadow’s recent comments, to the passings of DJs AM and Roc Raida, we hear it from an OG’s perspective. For a seasoned vet, he isn’t at all salty, remaining remarkably positive, spiritual, and seemingly still a big fan of a genre that reveres him. Here’s our interview, done over the course of a couple phone calls and an email or two. Safe travels home Rich!

Where are you right now?
I’m in the Philippines doing a show where the proceeds go to the victims of the typhoon.

How often do you still practice?
Everyday, at least a few hours. I can’t miss a day!

Touch on Roc Raida and DJ AM.
God has a mysterious way of bringing souls back to heaven. Raida and AM are just there ahead of us all. I do think that it also exposes people to much of their great music and accomplishments though. Continue reading “Syncopated Triplet Aquaman: New Qbert Interview” →

DVD Giveaway!

It’s almost rare to see a Rap DVD that doesn’t suffer from poor production quality. Most, regardless of huge budgets, seem thrown together for some reason. I just reviewed the new Jam Master Jay documentary which was NOT the case AND was able to snatch an extra copy for our readers! Peep my review HERE for more on the film.

~~To get a copy of 2 Turntables and a Microphone: The Life and Death of Jam Master Jay send your name and address to NERDTORIOUS@gmail.com with “JMJ” in the subject.~~

Winner chosen at random by week’s end. Good luck!

Congrats to Dom L. out of Colorado! Your DVD is en route!

Afrobeat Goes On

“Comencemos” by Phirpo Y Sus Caribes

“Woman Pin Down” by Dan Satch and his Atomic 8 Dance Band

It’s fitting Fela gets the deluxe treatment now considering his work experienced a revival of sorts in the last decade or so (and continues to). But Black Man’s Cry: The Inspiration of Fela Kuti is much more than a project of “Fela covers”. In fact, besides a couple tracks, these covers and interpolations themselves are from rare Nigerian 45s and other international LPs.

The boxset includes 4 x 10-inches and the book it comes with—written and researched by Egon—is a great, quick primer on Fela and partly why the project’s so strong. Above are a couple snippets. The deluxe boxset comes out on Now-Again late next month.

Farewell Willie

*Studio musician Todd Simon (of Antibalas, Breakestra, The Dap Kings, and El Michels Affair fame) wrote this on Willie Mitchell’s recent passing. Willie was a big influence on Todd, and studio musicians like him, so here are some of his thoughts. RIP Mr. Mitchell.

By Todd M. Simon

To find out one of your biggest heroes has passed away via Twitter is not fun. Five days into a brand-spanking new decade, I stumble upon a tweet from the east coast vinyl-digging monster DJ Small Change: “RIP Willie Mitchell. Can’t fuck with Hi Records real schitt.” My heart sank 20 floors.

Willie Mitchell is solely responsible for creating one of the most unique sounds from the R&B Soul movement of the ’60s and ’70s. Mitchell, who died at the age of 81 due to a heart-attack on January 5th, 2010, developed something fresh in R&B while Soul radio stations were flooded with James Brown, the Motown sound of Detroit, Philly Soul, and of course, his neighbors over at Stax in Memphis.

As in-house producer for Hi Records, “Papa Willie” produced and arranged hit after hit with Soul legends Al Green, Ann Peebles, Syl Johnson, O.V. Wright, and Bobby Bland. Mitchell also led his own band as a trumpeter and released many hits under his own name, including “Soul Serenade” and “30-60-90“. Eventually, he gained ownership of Hi Records in 1970 and continued the label’s legacy until the late ’70s.

The first time I heard Willie’s sound was on Al Green’s “Love and Happiness” on an oldies radio station around the age of nine. I had already started studying the trumpet and was blown away by the powerful and intense horns throughout the entire song. Soon to find out, my mother had two Al Green LP’s in her wonderful vinyl collection: I’m Still In Love With You and Let’s Stay Together. Little did I know that these records would go on to shape my musical life for years to come. It’s these recordings that served as reference for my first ever horn arrangements in addition to the majority of albums I’ve worked on since.
Continue reading “Farewell Willie” →

Echo Party And Such: Interview With Edan

Edan’s Beauty and The Beat was one of my favorites albums of the last 10 years. It’s still so fun and all the nuances never get old. But it’s not just about a particular release, more so, it’s about Edan’s versatility and complete catalogue. From radio shows to guest spots, from mixes to his increasingly layered beats, everything is very detail oriented.

It’s been about 5 years since Beauty… and turns out his next move was Echo Party, a frenzied 30-minute opus that sounds like something out of a futuristic Black Ark studio. Now that it’s here and has sunk in, I got Edan on the phone to explain the project in his own words, what he’s been doing, and what’s up next. In the process, you’ll hear new tracks, rarities, and a song sent to us by Edan for readers to check out. Thanks E!

Explain to people how Echo Party and everything with Traffic went down.
I had a longtime friend at Traffic. I know those guys because they’ve distributed my records for a long time. And you know, they have a lot of access to a lot of stuff; Paul Winley, Peter Brown, all these old acts. They’re like the Rhino of old hip-hop. So they figured, it would be cool to have me do a mix for them. They offered me a little dough and that was that.

At what point did you decide to make it more involved than just a standard mix?
I knew that in this day and age, a mix of someone cutting up two copies of “Smokin’ Cheebe Cheeba” is not that interesting. And I don’t like to do things on consignment, which this basically was, so I figured if I’m gonna do it I might as well make it fresh. So I started fucking with it and realized that I should be real technical and showcase some sort of creativity. It wasn’t one of those mixes where I could just bank on the obscurity of the records just to impress the record community. So I basically decided to go the route that I went, which is make a record that was on some bugged out, freewheeling shit in the lab.

You mentioned collecting and not banking on obscure records. Have you grabbed anything interesting lately?
Yes! There’s this fucking record I got at this year’s WFMU Record Fair and it’s just perfect. It’s this one song called “Lookin’ in The Toaster” by this group called Research 1-6-12. The song is just this dude looking into a toaster and the lyrics are a trip [sings: Lookin’ in my toaster, lookin’ in my toaster, the face I see is mine. Weird is the image like a Hendrix poster, like a dream I had one time]. I got the test pressing which just had a piece of paper glued to the front. Once I heard it, I listened to it like 10 times. You want an MP3 of it to put up with this interview?

Yes, definitely. Continue reading “Echo Party And Such: Interview With Edan” →

Raise It Up For Ma Dukes!

Here’s a track mixed and mastered by Bob Power, the grammy award-winning producer who worked on Tribe’s and De La’s early records. It’s from the Timeless Series which were held earlier last year. The DVDs and music will be released as an ultra-deluxe boxset this March, but for now, here’s the orchestral version of “Take Notice” off Dilla’s Rough Draft EP and a link to the video. The “Suite For Ma Dukes”, and said track, really add dimension and a sense of epicness to Dilla’s beats. Take notice.

“Take Notice” by the Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and the Suite for Ma Dukes orchestra