African sound of Kuduro

Pic by Denis Doyle

I've gone on an African sound download tear since I posted the Township Funk video 2 months ago. The search brought me back to Kuduro (my first intro to such music, back about a year ago). Kuduro (or Kuduru) is a fusion of African percussion samples, traditional Angolan Kilapanga and Semba beats, and Western house & techno. Kinda like an African flavoured mini-rave, if you will. The sound hasn't really hit this part of the world yet - but with the help of musical boundary pushers such as Buraka Som Sistema and M.I.A., I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more of it soon enough.

MSTRKRFT x A-Trak

A-Trak's long awaited version of MSTRKRFT's "Bounce" finally dropped a few days ago. The edit sees a nice gradual increase in energy, from steady bouncy drums to a chopped up version of the original synths. Then a nice little pause, followed by a spiced up version of the previous synths. This'll be a dancefloor favourite soon enough.

MSTRKRFT ft. N.O.R.E. - Bounce (A-Trak remix) (zShare) [this is a 192, not a 320]

Soulwax funks up Beethoven

Soulwax + Beethoven symphony + Justice drums + funk. Whaaaaaaaaat?!?

Walter Murphy and The Big Apple Band - A Fifth of Beethoven (Soulwax remix) (zShare)

Red & Meth pics + video

Finally uploaded my pictures from our Method Man & Redman concert last Saturday. No press passes were issued, so all pro big camera peeps were turned away from the stage. All I had to work with was my tiny palm-sized Canon PowerShot - but here are the snaps:

^ No stage, just hands and shoulders.

The only video clip I got:

Douster

I haven't thrown up any Douster material since my huge N.E.R.D. remix post. That whole posting disappeared within a day, but I figured it was just some blogger error and just re-linked all the edits. Then that post vanished too (which means I stepped on toes and the internet poe-lice were on my ass). Anyways, here's some newer Douster wobblyness.

Douster - More Gunz (zShare)

Douster - Let's Get Tropical Minimix (zShare)

Tracklist:
Douster - Da Me Duro
Douster - Badman Place
Ice cube - You Can Do It (Bass Kleph refix)
Mowgli - Club Life
RQM - Miss Pacman (Oliver$ remix)
Douster - This Shit (2 Bit Thugs remix )
Laidback Luke & A-trak - Shake It Down
Francky Rizardo - Sensei (original mix)
DJ VR - Batida Chapu
Toddla T - Soundtape Killin (Nastee Boi remix)
Douster - Deh Money

Deadmau5 far from dead

In fact, he's killing everybody else. For those who need a history of this killer, here's a quick re-cap: in 2005, a tiny mouse crawls into a computer hub, gets stuck, and dies there. One month later, 24 year old Hamilton native Joel Zimmerman finds it (thanks to the rotten stench) and starts calling himself Deadmau5. He starts producing music under this name. Within a year he wins a Beatport Music Award for Producer of the Year. He takes the following year to produce, collaborate, and tour. Early this year he wins a Juno Award for Dance Recording of the Year (which was "All U Ever Want", with Billy Newton-Davis) and just recently, goes on a rampage and takes the following standings at the 2008 Beatport Music Awards:

Daaaaaaamn, he cleaned up.

Here's an older Deadmau5 edit that never seems to get old:

Daft Punk - Harder Better Faster Stronger (Deadmau5 remix) (zShare)

Deadmau5 website here.

Deadmau5 myspace here.

Buy Deadmau5 music here.

Lil Wayne x UMYO

Weezy.
Guitar riff.
Bobby Valentino.
Baltimore flavour.
Swedish dj duo UMYO (digitAlex + Mamma Erik).

Lil Wayne - Mrs. Officer (UMYO Gredos remix) (zShare)

Behind the scenes of the music video:

A good lost

Ever hop around from one person's site link list to another's, then from theirs to to the next's, and so on and so forth? You go so far that your starting point fades from memory. I do a lot of that. I just figure if a certain person, blog, or website interests me, then so might their referrals. Like earlier today... when I went from Nick Catchdubs, to a design company (Burlesque of North America) that created several promo flyers of events that he has played at, to the artist/graphic designer/dj/art gallery co-owner that designed those very flyers (Mike Davis), and then (finally), to an intriguing 2002 released book in which Mike was one of 26 contributors.

The 194 page collection includes "an interview with a shoplifter, freeway rants, a free art experiment, short stories, free speech essay & photography, freestyle design & drawing, a guide on how to get free comps from casinos, a definitive dating guide, and more".

The book is not for sale, but is available for exhibition.

Janelle Monáe makes damn good music

If not familiar with Janelle Monáe - get familiar. The girl is 23, signed to Atlantic & Bad Boy Records, and fuses soul with R&B,rock, and electronica like it ain't no thing. Her versatility and diversity is a rarity, to say the least.



Talk about a breath of fresh air.
Here is that single:

Janelle Monae - Many Moons (zShare)

Make sure to cop her full length album upon release (January 2009).

Adidas Originals Festival contest

Just got a link to this neat contest in a facebook message from Discobelle's Niklas. Basically, you book a virtual/fake one day music festival with a $120,000 budget, 8 acts/artists (you allot hour long sets, anywhere betwen 4pm and midnight), and one afterparty. Some people kept it indie, some ran out of cash and made a shortened 3 or 4 act festival, a bunch created the most face melting French electro line-ups ever, and one even had Girl Talk on at 4 (wtf?).

I tried to pase it and make it flow, so there would be a gradual increase in energy & sweat.

4pm - Peter, Bjorn & John
5pm - Hot Chip
6pm - Chromeo
7pm - M.I.A.
8pm - Digitalism
9pm - A-Trak
10pm - MSTRKRFT
11pm - Daft Punk
Afterparty w/ Diplo

I would have had a 1pm-3pm BBQ pre-drink with Lil Wayne & Radiohead, but shit, no such option existed.

CLICK HERE to view, make your own, and hopefully win stuff.

You best toggle attending... I put 20 minutes of MS Paint skills and $117,000 into this bitch.