Happy Halloween

No Name - Jason's Revenge(instrumental) 1988

WARNING: This will jack the house.

What is happening in Chicago? I'm going to this...

Skank if Your Skankin, Bubble if Your Bubbling

DJ Memmie - Memmiemix

A pretty killer Bubbling mix that might not have much in terms of chipmunk remixes otherwise known as "Mickey Mouse Style", but it's still pretty great. There is a moment towards the end that goes Kawina, Merengue, slow dance Batchata. It's Kind of nuts.

D.C. Not Dodge City Part 37

Lissen Band - Touch It (from Lissen Bootleg 2009)

The Beat! Go Go Music from Washington D.C. was very recently put back into print, along with a new edition of great photographs from the scene from the last 15 or so years. This summer while I was an intern at Stop Smiling magazine, we got a copy and excerpted a great piece from the book on Go Go and media/lack of media. Local zines and websites covering the scene when many of the Washington papers ignore it completely. The excerpt went up on the web today, and I suggest you read it. Stop Smiling is pretty much the only music related non-D.C. magazine I know of that has done much in terms of covering Go Go, as shown in the D.C. issue with Anwan Glover gracing the cover. Correct me if I'm wrong though, maybe the Fader has something? Xlr8r? Anybody?!

And while we're at it, Lissen band does Missy Elliot, very well.

Rubbarubbarubbarubbarubbarubba

New dance in Jamaica pointed out by Heatwave. Looks like Jerkin on Valium to me.

Global Ghettotech

DJ Assault - No Vaseline (from Fuckadancemania 12" 1998)

Most people don't know it, but DJ Assault composed the Jeopardy theme song. Before he was born even. This was his original version, which he fought for years to keep uncensored. Anyone who can tell me what street in Chicago has this engraved in the sidewalk gets a gold star.

Afro-Dadaism

DOWNLOAD

Another weird as fuck House mix from Spoek. I spit out all of my cereal when I read the title this morning.

Me Shine Like an Oscar and I Bling Like a Grizzzam

Juicy J and Project Pat - Break it Down 2009

Pretty straight forward Memphis party music with an evil down-pitch echo for the hook.

Antillean Throwback Heat

DJ Prako - Lagaz Lekkerding (Kaseko remix) (from Mix-it-Up 2006)

This guys mixtapes are loaded with goodness. Everything from Chutney Reggaeton to Kawina Bubbling remixes and any other weird hybrid you could imagine. Just the kind of stuff I've been looking for. My focus lately has been on Suriname, Curacao and the rest of the Dutch Antilles lately. This track is a bit of both, a Kaseko re-edit fast forwarded a few years and with some Soca underneath. Grab some of the free mixes off Prako's site in the discography section.

Skanking All the Way to the Bank

Lamin pointed out the Lee Perry’s ‘Blackboard Jungle: From Dub to Dubstep video the other day, a cool mini documentary on one of the most important records ever. Also the 2nd best Dub album ever after Heart of the Congos which is pretty much #1 in every category for me. I was reminded of a great tale of Perry hustle that I thought I'd share. I couldn't find anything to really back this up online, this is from the back of my copy which is one of those Earmark fancy vinyl versions.

"There were only 200 copies pressed up of which Scratch brought 100 to the UK and these were sold only to those 'in the know' for £20 each [over £200 in today's money] and reflected the cult of exclusivity that Sound Men who ran 'Sounds' were creating."

So this is where it all started really.

Wanna Battle?

DJ Moortje - Battlestation Mix

This dude has quickly become one of my favorite DJs ever. This one is super techy, with a lot of ??? moments.

I missed this article from last year over at the Guardian on Bubbling, written by Prancehall. I guess Cutty Ranks showed up at a club in Amsterdam and got mad because Moortje was playing his music too fast. Also some talk about the government in Curacao destroying Bubbling tapes back in the day. Makes me sad.

My Day was Thursday

Mississippi Fred McDowell - I'm So Glad I Got Good Religion (from Amazing Grace 1966)

Hearing Amazing Grace for the first time about 4 years ago was like one of those corny record collector stories about music that changed your life. Like "the first time I heard White Light White Heat I knew I wanted to start a band", or "I got my first kiss to DJ Funk", or "I lost my virginity to Schlachthofbronx". Well it wasn't really, I just happened to put it on as the sun was rising after being up all night from partying or something. Fred McDowell is often lumped in with the rest of the Delta Blues musicians, although he is actually from the northern Mississippi region, and if you ask me better than them all (save Blind Willie Johnson, Son House maybe). These recordings were made with his wife and the Como church choir and are some of the best these ears have ever heard. Not really into his later electric stuff, but I'm not into much of that anyways. And there aren't many things that bother me as much as college kids ranting about Robert Johnson or Leadbelly. Maybe it's just as bad listening to a collage graduate ranting about Ghetto House? I can't even listen to other versions of a lot of these songs, namely this track. They just aren't as convincing.

RIP Maryanne Amacher

1943 - 2009

Maryanne Amacher sadly passed away today. She had suffered a series of strokes caused by a hematoma after falling down at a Bard faculty party in July. Known for her work with dissonance tones, notably her Sound Characters (Making the Third Ear) disc, Maryanne studied the phenomenon of additional tones created by the acoustics of your actual ears, which creates the illusion that your hearing the sounds coming from inside your head. Personally I never really had the right stereo system to have the full experience, but if you do, throw on Sound Characters at the right volume level and things get weird.

You will be missed.

Power D

Free Power D Compilations (not direct link)

Zouk producer Power D is nice enough to give away a bunch of his productions, including a massive 10 year retrospective the Best of Power D 1998-2008. He's the man responsible for the Ghetto Zouk compilations, but also a lot of French Dancehall and other things in between. Definitely a mixed bag, but there is some nice grimier moments mixed into all the wussy stuff.

Buenos Aires Implodes

Alika y Nueva Alianza - Para Bailar Cumbia (El Hijo de la Cumbia remix)
Los Destellos - Elsa (Sonido Martines remix feat. Fefe)

From Nueva Cumbia Argentina 2009

Brand new Soot release! Sonido Martines compiled the essential overview of what's happening down in Argentina, mixing the likes of ZZK residents with old Peruvian refixes and Buenos Aires boy band Damas Gratis. A lot of this stuff is scattered throughout both other outlets and the internet, and having all of it in one place is wonderful. Martines' paean to Los Destellos (who you know from the Roots of Chicha) adds bigger drums and Brazilian MC Fefe to the squealing guitars, retaining the original psychedelia only found in the bottom half of the world. El Hijo de la Cumbia's remix of Para Bailar has that bootleg keyboard sound engineered by the likes of a long-time Sonidero engineer, shrunk to fit a size Reggaeton. There's a little bit of everything for fans of Cumbia here, as long as your into the "lo-fi, high-tech" sound of Villera keyboards.

You can get the CD/LP now at places that sell those types of things.

Ground Wire Blues

DJ Slugo - No Ground Wire (from Like it Raw 12" 1995)

The first Slugo 12" as far as I know, though he did appear vocally on some earlier Dance Mania singles. His debut is really great, and with most Dance Mania stuff floating in the realm of out-of-print and hard-to-find, this Ghetto House ground hum track deserves some attention. Honestly one of the best places to score this kind of stuff is Reckless Records, where the clerks have no clue how to price anything that's not rare 70's rock or indie boners. I've walked out of that place paying $2.99 for Ghetto House singles that Europeans will pay $50 for. Doesn't happen all that often though.

You can buy this track at high quality on Slugo's site, this is a pretty crappy vinyl rip.

Poppin Bubbles

DJ Dyna - Drum Along 2008 (from Bubbling Beats 2009)

One more for the Bubbling marching band collection.

Scarface - Alichokee

This is the kind of spastic thing that Breakcore tried to be, but failed. There was just not enough sped up and slowed down Dancehall I guess.

If anyone out there has any DJ Moortje mixtapes they want to pass by me I would be super happy. Can't get enough of this stuff lately.

Scotch and Soul

Rufus Harley - Nobody Knows the Trouble Us People Done Seen (from Re-Creation of the Gods 1972)

"Do I look like I'm Irish or Scottish to you?" is what Rufus Harley used to tell police when his neighbors complained about the screech of his bagpipes. And he might not have, at least not back before receiving the MacLeod tartan from a Scottish family which he wore for the rest of his life. I'd take a guess that he was buried in it even. What drove this maintenance man for the Philadephia Housing Authority to seek out such an instrument? My only answer is that it fit with his attire, which was just as snappy as Sun Ra's. His playing reminds me a bit of Rahsaan Roland Kirk's, minus the garden hose and political ranting replaced by funk chanter. A powerful (albeit weird) force that some overlook as a novelty.

I've been on some grown man shit lately after selling a big chunk of my record collection. All the Jazz and Kraut Rock records I have remind me of how much of a nerd I am.

Comedowntech

DJ Slugo - I'm a Hoe ("Screwed") ( from Disco D - Ghettotech for Slow People 2006)

I've always been confused as to why Disco D decided to pull down the beats-per-minute on these tracks from his Midwest peers, but Slugo at the wrong speed is well, even heavier. The quirkier Ghettotech synths are pretty confusing as well. So the Jewish kid from Ann Arbor not only helped pioneer Midwest booty music, worked with Dancehall artists, and had a black belt in Karate, but he was also a codeine fiend. Somebody needs to write a book on him and his incredibly productive, unfortunately short life.

One more Disco D fact: He helped bring those clear rolling papers to the States.

Based Juke

Lil B - So Much Pussy
Lil B - Drop That Azz
Lil B - Like Me
Lil B - Yea

Via Cocaine Blunts

B dives deeper into Chicago territory with four more outsider Footwork tracks normally only found on Youtube. Most of them are actually pretty good too. If he and DJ Nate made an album I would hope it would be titled The Divine Styler Swagtard.