sometimes i get a good feeling

derek vincent smith - finally moving

this colorado producer takes mood music to the next level. wanna throw your hands in the air? take a drive through the desert? tell someone how they make you feel? throw this on for size. smith has put his double length filling up the city skies up for download on his website. here he takes electonic music to the next level, sampling riffs, blips and vocals transcending vintage soul to current hip hop... part 1 is smith's self-styled "organic downtempo" autobiography. part 2, worthy of some major rump-shaking action, is what he plays at his live shows. don't take any of this lightly. smith is a mastermind of sound.

he ties up part 2 with a remix of finally moving, a track that he opens with the deep, velvety souldarling etta james introducing something's gotta hold on me... then comes an electrosonic ride complete with video game sounds, broken violin beats, thumping bass and vintage guitar riffs à la hendrix. the skies clear for a moment when etta returns rippling over a flourish of piano keys. just barely long enough to catch your breath before hopping back on the soundwave...

i get a good feeling... and i don't wanna get off.

pretty lights - finally moving (remixed):


related to this:

• up, bustle & out - all out king
  
• four tet - as serious as your life
  
• yonderboi - riders on the storm / pink solidism
  
• the blow - the love that i crave (strategy's strata club mix)
  

if you like what you hear, give a nod to smith... he's continously sharing his brilliance.

drum thing in the air tonight

i've always loved phil collins' in the air tonight. mostly its tom tom drum - the dark, ominous beating heart that explodes a good three minutes deep into the track in an angry face off against cowardice and evil.

it's this sound that floats me back in history to when the first people of this land used drums that sound like this to communicate, to signal, to pow-wow, to live by. a skin, broad diameter, pounded steadily with a mallet.

and i can only guess that it's this sound that also caught the ear of house music guru and ifá priest, osunlade. the yoruba records boss polished up the sound and layered polyrhythms over top in his remix release, the backside of which is an instrumental dub.

thanks to jez proctor and his project innersounds, for weaving side b over a with a surprise horn, piano and cymbal-laden crescendo that pours back into to collins' original backbeat before it flies off.

i smile and think that eshu - yoruba god of spiritual justice - should be pleased...

phil collins - in the air tonight (yoruba soul mix) side a/b edit:

shiva's lounge

tony estrada - shiva lounge mix

i sometimes wonder how different life would have been if i was born in east africa like my parents or in india like my grandparents. i may have had a completely different musical palate, for one thing.

i've grown to appreciate the incredible vocal ranges, sophisticated scales and intricate instrumentation that are all part of classical indian music. but the pop stuff only made sense to me when i travelled to india the first time last year.

indian electronica, though, has been a great bridge for me. similar to indian cuisine, where spices are simmered together at the exact right time, indian music and electronica must be carefully combined to elicit an undeniable yet dramatic flavour. sometimes the results are disastrous. and at other times the results are incredible - and very addictive.

today's post features a podcast by chicago-based progressive house/trance producer and dj, tony estrada. this came to me courtesy of qasim virjee - also known in dj circles as abdul smooth, and his baby: www.indianelectronica.com.

the set starts off a bit bland. with track names like "lost in reflection" and "pink elephant" i wondered if tony's track selection resulted from too many india pale ales... but halfway through the mix i heard it: nomadix's beautiful remix of asha bhosle's cinematic classic 'chura liya'. this was immediately followed by meme's 2001 nights mix of shakira's 'ojos asi'.

seriously.

these were followed by some infectious electric-cairo-disco, including a must-hear version of "walk like an egyptian' by cleopatra + hakim, and tony's own rhythmic remix of dead can dance's 'saldek', topped by 'haram aleyk' by the yalla-chant queen herself, natacha atlas... some great hip shaking tunes.

i suddenly want to jet to mumbai... and if i did, i'd be lucky to check out qasim's mumbai instalment of the indian electronica music festival.

in the meantime, tony estrada's 2006 shiva lounge mix:


related to this:

• gigi shibabaw - gela

rokia traore - 98 (timmy regisford & quentin harris mix)

so yes, i've been quiet for a little while. it's been hectic and i usually get a bit quiet in november because of my birthday. and although i try not to, i always end up thinking about what i've accomplished and what i still want to accomplish. and sometimes i get a bit ambitious.

what sound-tracks this reflective process?

over the last week or so i've been plugged into a mix by louie 'lou' gorbea. especially one track by 33-year old malian rokia traoré (as remixed by timmy regisford and quentin harris).

besides hypnotizing me with her voice, traoré - who happens to be born the same year as me - has accomplished a lot. she has pushed the boundaries of malian traditional music by combining distinct traditions to come up with her own signature sound. she's defied her 'place' as a malian noble woman by performing. she's won BBC music awards. and she's performed in the presence of ali farka touré, salif keïta, youssou n'dour, manu dibango, khaled, baaba maal, peter gabriel, gilberto gil, and neneh cherry. to name a few.

98 is a beautiful, lush track featuring multilayered african drums, gorgeous west african string arrangements, all laid up against a classic house key. timmy regisford and quentin harris are outstanding. the jewel of this track, though, is traoré's voice. soft and buttery, but with so much soul. zero pretentiousness. true: you never really know exactly what she's singing about. but really, with a voice like her's, who cares.

all i can say is... 1974 was a good year.

without further ado, rokia traore - mancipera (quentin harris & timmy regisford mix):


rokia's unmixed music is incredible. check it out - visit rokia traoré's official website: www.rokiatraoré.net

related to this...

• nelly furtado - say it right (quentin harris mix)
  
• osunlade feat. divine essence - my reflection
  
• mmm... mulatu
  
• more mulatu
  
• mama afrika forever
  
• yamasuki singers, black blood.. a.i.e.o.a
  
• gigi shibabaw
  

2.0 osunlade feat. divine essence - my reflection (quentin harris remix)

osunlade - yoruba priest - produces music that makes thousands of people want to dance.

behind his music are spiritual messages rooted in yoruba ifa beliefs. on 'my reflection', the lyrics remind me of an ancient southern african belief called ubuntu. ubuntu means: i am, because you are, because we are. it speaks to the connectedness of all of us, all things living. we are all made of the same stuff, called life. indeed we are all a reflection of each other...

you are my reflection
you are all that i need to survive
if i don't breathe you don't exist
if i don't call you by your name i have misrepresented my soul
i call on you
i wake you up in me.



osunlade - my reflection

thank you saint-bioz

1.0 nelly furtado - say it right (quentin harris remix)

i can't remember how i stumbled across this. but it's brilliant and made me decide to start a blog. thank you, quentin harris. he actually renamed the track "i'm impressed when music matters". so apt.

thanks to richard who helped me remember the original sample source - the nightcrawlers, push the feeling on - remix. it was my personal earworm for weeks.


nelly furtado - say it right
(quentin harris mix "i'm impressed when music matters"):


special thanks to saint-bioz

related posts:

• osunlade feat. divine essence - my reflection
• rokia traore - 98 (timmy regisford mix)