A lot of music from this weeks episode is picked because these artists will be visiting Belgium in the coming weeks – October will be such a busy month! So while we go polish our dancing shoes, warm yourselves up with these tunes…

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The Clonious – Emora – Ubiquity
Dukehugh – Gemkraft – Red Bull
Dexter Wansel – The Sweetest Pain (OOFT Edit) – none
Gagle – Round’n’Round – Jazzy Sport
Christo – Derby London Paris – M8MC
José James – Blackmagic (Izmabad Remix) – Brownswood
Soul Renagades – I Won’t Let You Go – Fresh Minute Music

Burial & Four Tet – Moth – Text
Little Dragon – Looking Glass – Peacefrog
The Long Lost – Ballroom Dance Club – Ninja Tune
Daedelus – Fair Weather Friends – Ninja Tune
Mulatu Astatke & The Heliocentrics – Addis Black Widow – Strut
Dyno – 400 mggg – none
Rustie – Zig-Zag (Reprise) – Wireblock
Bluermutt – Welcome to a Bluer Blue Sky – Afine

Nosaj Thing – Coat of Arms – Alpha Pup
Daedalus – Dnt Fk Sgr – Dublab
Hudson Mohawke – Spotted – Planet Mu
Shafiq Husayn – Nirvana (Mark de Clive-Lowe Remix) – Plug Research
JToTheC – Late in the Evening/Funkin’ That Ship – On-Point
DJ Day – Can You Feel Me – MPM
Bill Withers – Kissing My Love – Sussex
Cookin’ On 3 Burners – Four N Twenty – Freestyle

Soil & “Pimp” Sessions – Stolen Moments ft. Jamie Cullum – Victor
Zero 7 – Pop Art Blue – Warner
The Cinematic Orchestra – Lullaby – Ninja Tune
The Clonious – 693 Ballons – Ubiquity
Dimlite – Ravemond’s Young Problems – Rush Hour

Just to make sure you didn’t accidentily miss all the fuzz, here’s a project we want you to know about …

This evening (saturday October 3rd) Brussels’ based On-Point, Laid Back and Onda Sonora will kick ass with their RELEASE party. Part of the Nuit Blanche concept these three crews of well respected music blogs, radioshows, dj crews, documentary makers, … (well whatever) decided to kickstart a project in which they’ll be presenting you new music.

“We’ve got a compulsive need to put other people’s art we like in the spotlights. Through blogs, radio shows, video features, interviews, … . During all the years we’ve been doing this, we’ve noticed that there’s a vast amount of what we would like to call “Bedroom artists” busy in their own familiar surroundings but unknown to most outside of that little universe. This for many reasons. Out of shyness or insecurity, because they don’t know the way to a bigger exposure or simply because the establishment doesn’t bother to look their way.” (from the Release website)

The line up is an ambitious mix of fairly undiscovered bedroom producers, ranging from beat scientists (eg. Dyno), funkateers (eg. JToTheC), house cats (eg. San Soda), as well as a whole bunch of visual artists. Regular listeners of the Beyondjazz radioshow will recognize the producers as we’ve been featuring them in several of our podcast episodes. We expect a mix of tempos and styles, with a fresh and creative vibe.

• dj Azer mixing Belgium’s unreleased finest + vj
  This dj has got an excellent show on the LaidBack radio. Check below for a mix by his hand of tracks that have been sent in for the Release party.
• I-SA + live painting
  i-Sa is a trio of musicians from different directions. The music is mostly inspired by and made from analog synthesizers, old records or whatever’s got ‘that’ sound! i-Sa will tweak, layer drums, add keys … and ‘make it ours’. Up High Collective member SIR-5 will do live graphics & painting during their show.
• InfinitSkills + vj
  You might know the InfinitSkills crew from their beat tapes, or maybe more likely, from their recent release on Jazzy Sport: the Louie Gee Ensemble version of the ‘Scrabble’ classic by Rene Costy.
• JtotheC + vj
  JToTheC, the man the legend, has just released his first (and free) ep on the also new On-Point label that definitely has that raw funk feel to it. Check the documentary and get inspired by the man’s enthousiasm.
• Dyno + vj
  Dyno’s work can be described as challenging, innovative electronic music inspired by tribal drums, crunk, dubstep, 80’s electro and indie folk. We love the man not only for his out-there-spaced-out-challenging beat music, but also for his Mac Fly shop, a small store selling the freshest music … and then some (magazines, kicks and clothes). The best of Belgium in its kind, based in Gent.
• San Soda
  Residing on the We Play House record label of dj Red D (the best you can get when it comes to house in Belgium), San Soda has in a short amount of time gained lots of praise. There’s some banging deep house tracks around. At Release he’ll be doing his first official live show.
• OndaSonora
  The Onda Sonora dj crew keeps it real, no doubt. They’ve been pushing deep music, in all of its forms, by bringing over awesome dj’s from all over for their own parties, and their blog definitely ranks as one of our favourite sites. They’ll be playing the unreleased music that has been sent in for this project.

It’s said to be not only a musical event, though; there’ll be artwork hanging on the walls of the Beursschouwburg. Featured artists include Alex Deforce, who?, Y84, d-composition, Bruno Morez, Sergej Culumarevic, Sir-5 and Lizairo. The works for this exhibition and for the vj’s were partly gathered via the Laid Back flickr pool, an excellent source of inspiration if you like urban and street art.

The night starts at 9PM, concerts at 11PM. We’ll be there. It’s needless to say we’re eager for what this night might bring and look forward to it … and more to come;

“What we can promise about the future is that this will be no one-off. We’re already working on other things in a similar vein. So keep an eye out for RELEASE. We’ve begun a mission which we won’t stop until we think we’ve reached our goal.” (from OndaSonora.be)

Interesting fusions are happening these days. Techno heads experimenting with dubstep, hiphop artists trying house beats, and some cats doing them all at the same time. Boundaries are blurring, and we like it like that.

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Blacktop feat. Amalia – Reversed (Opolopo Remix) – Exchange Bureau
OOFT – This Sound – Instruments Of Rapture
Deborah Jordan – Let Go – Futuristica
LCD Soundsystem – 45:33 (Theo Parrish’s Space Cadet Remix) – DFA
Linkwood – Falling – Prime Numbers

Dâm-Funk – I Like Your Big Azz (Girl) – Circle Star
Sam Irl – Lakes – Fresh Minute Music
Joey Negro And The Sunburst Band – Our Lives Are Shaped (Grant Nelson Mix) – Z Records
Kay Suzuki – Something To Say (Bopstar Remix) – Fresh Minute Music
Phil Asher – They Heard ft. The Mighty Zaf (Dub Mix) – Restless Soul Music

Basic Soul Unit – Things Pass – Ostgut
Zomby – Tarantula – Hyperdub
Floating Points – Vacuum Boogie – Eglo
Andre Lodemann – Vehemence Of Silence – Room With A View
Joy Orbison – Hyph Mngo – Hot Flush
Gravious – World Of Tomorrow – Highpoint Lowlife

2562 – Love In Outer Space – Tectonic
Zomby – Spliff Dub (Rustie Remix) – Hyperdub
Joker & Ginz – Stash – Hyperdub
Nosaj Thing – Lords – Plug Research
Aarvarck – New Acid (Bonus 1) – Eat Concrete
Little Dragon – Fortune (Afta-1 x Gas’D Remix) – none
Kid Sublime – This Way ft. U-Gene – Kindred Spirits

Courtesy of ABtv, you can now watch the whole concert of José James and Jef Neve paying hommagé to the great John Coltrane. (More info on this project in an earlier post.)

A big thank you to José James, Jef Neve, Michael Campagna, Neville Malcolm and Richard Spaven for a very special night and thanks to the AB crew for the ability to relive this moment.

Belgian pianist Jef Neve and singer José James are about to start touring with an ambitous new project: “Facing East, The Music Of John Coltrane”. What was planned as a one time jam session, has grown into musical magic, resulting in a Coltrane tribute tour bringing them to Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris and London very soon. Oh and a collaborative cd to be released on Verve, too!

Bruno Bollaert (cc)

The first time we saw José James perform was at the gig with Lefto, Marc Mac and Drumlesson in Depot (Leuven), soon after releasing his debut album ‘The Dreamer’ in 2008 that left everybody stunned. Later that month his performance at the Jazz Middelheim festival led to lots of exposure in the local press and was by many considered one of the highlights of that year’s festival season.
Jef Neve invited him to his radioshow Neve (Klara), and that guest performance was breeding ground for 3 more shows to happen. They were brought together on stage for the first time on a night in Brussels’ Ancienne Belgique. That concert got one of Belgiums quality newspapers De Morgen so excited, they gave it a rare five-star-rating.

Neve: “We played the standard Lushlife. Just for fun, no rehearsing. It’s a complex piece of music, but it went so easily. It felt like playing around.” Magic was happening, so they decided to get into the studio together.
Neve: “After that first concert, we recorded some songs in “The Galaxy Studio”, a little studio in Mol. We listened to the recording in the car back home and it was so fresh and sparkling; we both agreed it was the best thing we’ve ever put on tape. I hardly listen to myself, but that moment, I thoroughly enjoyed.”

The recording will be released as the album “For All We Know“. Each track from the album was recorded in one take, “only piano, voice and good acoustics” and features ballads and standards. They didn’t explicitly choose for an album full of jazz standards, though.
James: “The whole idea was a short process, and standards just felt right. And it didn’t actually become just a standard jazz album. Jef plays in his own way.”
Neve: “For me José is a story teller. He really impresses with his own way of sculpting the text and atmosphere of a standard. In fact, for most of the standards, I now only realize what the lyrics are all about.”
James: “Standards are universal. They allow you to tell more. I approach my own compositions in an abstract form, open for the listener to create his own story. A same kind of intimacy can be found in this collaboration.”
The album will be released in the spring of 2010 on Verve Recordings.

Last summer, Gent Jazz was smart enough to program the duo at the 2009 edition, and again they struck a chord. Around that time they confirmed more details about the Coltrane project “Facing East“. Two days from now, we’ll see José realising one of his dreams; scatting to the work of the legendary John Coltrane. Jose and Jef both cite Coltrane as one of their main influences.
James: “I’ve been writing lyrics to Coltrane’s compositions for the past 13 years. I can’t just sing anything, but with Trane’s music it just feels right.”

From an interview with De Morgen more then a year back we knew José James had some plans in this direction.
James: [Answering a question about who his influences were] “Coltrane rewrote the alphabet of jazz, so that’s an example in itself. I’ve even written lyrics for his compositions, but the people who manage his legacy apparently found that sacrilege. A huge disappointment, as my version of ‘Equinox’ was to primarily serve as the basis around which the rest of the record would be constructed. I see it especially as a missed opportunity to introduce a new, younger audience to his music.” But now it is happening!
James: “I’m very thankful for being invited to bring this to the public. I’m doing my very best to make this something very personal and unique.”
Neve: “You see he’s grown up with Coltrane’s music. It’s in his blood. It’s not just about copying Trane’s music, we’re adding our own arrangements. It’s a challenge for both of us.”

The first concert of this series will be on Coltrane’s birthday, 23rd of september. James and Neve will play with a quartet, including the relatively unknown tenor saxophone player Michael Cabana.

Also on the solo front, the coming months will be exciting for the two. Jef Neve has written the score to Belgium’s contender for the oscars De Helaasheid Der Dingen, which will be screening soon. The film recently won the “Prix Art et Essai” at this year’s International Film Festival of Cannes. And José James will release his second solo lp in October. About that album Jose says: “I see my debut lp ‘The Dreamer’ as my love letter to John Coltrane and Billie Holiday. “Blackmagic“, the new one, focuses on todays music, and is an ode to Marvin Gaye. Eclectic, with touches of soul and hiphop.’

Update: (22 sep) On his MySpace blog Jose James shares some more info on tomorrows concert and the upcoming Blackmagic LP.

The show at Ancienne Belgique will be recorded live and some snippets from those recordings might appear on his MySpace soon after. The full line up for the concert is: Michael Campagna on tenor saxophone, Jef Neve on piano, “Level” Neville Malcolm on bass, Richard Spaven on drums and José James on vocals.

Due to additional production needs Blackmagic will be released only in 2010 on Brownswood, and not next month as stated above. The new release date will probably be mid January.

Update (23 sep): Looks like ABconcerts.be will be streaming the concert live. From 8.30PM tonight.

More:

• Facing East at Ancienne Belgique, Brussels (NL)
• Love Is Supreme, at Paradiso, Amsterdam (NL)
• More about Jame’s upcoming album Blackmagic
• MySpace José James

Sources: Jazz Magazine, De Morgen, De Standaard.

Hot on the heels of last week’s avalanche of electronic beats comes something totally different. This week we play nothing but that groovy stuff made with real instruments (*wink*). Expect brand new and older bits of funk, jazz, afrobeat, soul and nujazz…

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Cookin’ On 3 Burners – Four N Twenty – Freestyle
6ix Toys – Paint The Toon ft. Connie Lush – First Word
The Soul Snatchers – Good & Plenty ft. Curtis T. – Social Beats / UNIQUE
Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators – Feeling Free (Instrumental) – Timmion
The Quantic Soul Orchestra – Hold It Down – Tru Thoughts
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble – Alyo – Honest Jon’s
Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro – Dont Touch, Just Watch Me – P-Vine
Fredericks Brown – Betrayal – none

Fela Kuti – Question Jam Answer – Editions Makossa
Kaleta & Akoya Afrobeat – The Spirit Of Fela Is Alive & Well! (Guynamukat Edit) – Mukatsuku
The Louie Gee Ensemble – Scrabble – Jazzy Sport
Ed Kelly – Samba – Temposphere
Robert Glasper – Think Of One – Blue Note

Kindred Spirits Ensemble – Naima – Kindred Spirits
Sun Ra – I Am The Alter Destiny – Evidence
Sun Ra – Somebody Else’s World (feat. June Tyson) – Evidence
Bugge Wesseltoft – Singing – Jazzland
The Cinematic Orchestra – Brother – Ninja Tune
Moss – Mind That Child – Pork

Les Gammas – Afternoon At Rossi’s – Compost
Chanan Hanspal ft. Imaani – It’s Only Just A Garden – Here & Now
D’Angelo – Africa (Acoustic) – none

Carl Craig and the legendary Detroit Jazz Collective TRIBE performed live on 10th of September ’09 at Cité de la Musique, Paris, France. Thanks to Grandcrew.com, you can watch and enjoy the whole concert online:

Carl Craig presents TRIBE – Rebirth CD is out on Community Projects/Planet at October 6th, 2009 (Special iTunes digital pre-release – August 25th)

We went into the studio last week with a bag full of ridiculous dubstep bangers, deep house vibes and dirty hiphop loops, and after two hours of fun this is the result: Electronic beats baby, and lots of them! Turn up the volume and shake ’em!

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Luke Vibert – Belief File – Planet Mu
Domu – Two – demo
Arch_typ feat Sarah White – I Wanna Be With You (Ajukaja Remix) – Bagpak
Zomby – Digital Fauna – Brainmath
Dorian Concept – Trilingual Dance Sexperience – Affine
Rustie – Bad Science – Wireblock
16 Bit – Cobra – Southside
Cunt Trax – Logo Side 1 – Wireblock

Rusko – Moaners – Sub Soldiers
Zomby – Strange Fruit – Ramp
Tom Trago – Lost In The Streets Of NYC (Actress Remix) – Rush Hour
Daedelus – Impending Doom – Ninja Tune
Motor City Drum Ensemble – Raw Cuts #6 – MCDE
A Made Up Sound – Wire – Clone
Pépé Bradock – Path Of Most Resistance – Atavisme
Blue Daisy – The Fall – Black Acre
Jenifa Mayanja – Bearings – Bu-Mako

Phil Asher – 9 Minutes Of Fun ft. Mark De Clive-Lowe – Restless Soul Music
Rhythm Of Element – Praia (Karizma Stomp Remix) – R2
Jimpster – Just The Kind Of Girl – Freerange
Nitta – Illujon – Mac Fly
Ras G & The Afrikan Space Program – 1derful Beings – Ramp

Hayzee – Doomfood – Red Bull
Nosaj Thing – 1685/Bach – Alpha Pup
Illum Sphere – Shadowman – none
Hawthorne Headhunters x dâm-funk – PCH – HVW8
Mono/Poly – MS-14 – Faces
Ebokai – Kijk! Een amateur in een ver land! – none
Seiji – I Can’t Let it Go – Seijigoodies
Flying Lotus – Disco Balls – Hyperdub
Fulgeance – Ann Arbor – One Handed Music

Without a doubt the most exciting music this year comes from one city, and one city only: Los Angeles. Just returned from an awesome trip through wonderful California, I just had to put a whole show together with beats and melodies from the weird but inspiring city that Los Angeles is.

Not only keeping it strong production-wise, LA’s home to quality DJ’s, amongst others The M*F*cking Gaslamp Killer, who’s recently been getting the attention he deserves. “Loaded full of evil psyche beats, murderous drums, eerie interludes, dark downtempo, wonked-out bonkers, hip hop bumps and and dubstep upsetters” * his live dj-sets, but certainly his recorded mixes, take you to all new places … The other cat that’s opened my eyes, and made me love the 80’s again, is Pasadena’s Dâm-Funk. His Chart Toppers mix (together with Stones Throw’s James Pants) is excellent car-cruising material. A third mix is Kutmah’s just released Live Mix ’09, which I copped at the Poobah Records Store. I couldn’t resist playing you some teasers from these mixes because I believe their vibe is an integral part of the sound of LA. These three mixes are what I’ll be recommending over and over to my friends in the months too come. I hope you can still find your copy of them.

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*** Gaslamp’s Hell And The Lake Of Fire mix
The Gaslamp Killer – Hell And The Lake Of Fire Are Waiting For YOU!
The Gaslamp Killer – Weeping-Waiting_Gnashing Of Teeth Forever!
*** Kutmah Live ’09 mix
Dimlite – Sunsized Twinkles – Dubplate
Dabrye – Take Me Home – East Dev
Oh No – Dubplate
Tadd Mullinix – Enchanging Modes – Ghostly
Dibiase – Dubplate

Dibiase – Dubplate
Blue Daisy – Wolf – Dubplate
Onra – Dubplate
Karriem Riggins – Dubplate
Flying Lotus – Dubplate
Bun – Dubplate
Fulgeance – Rubis Cube – Low Club E.P. – Rush Hour
Onra – My Comet – All City
Madlib – Dubplate
Onra – Dubplate
*** (end)
Flying Lotus – Rickshaw – Warp Records
Shafiq Hussein – Dust and Kisses – Plug Research
Hawthorne Headhunters – She Wanna – HVW8
Flying Lotus – R2D2 – Shhh!
Mono/Poly – Oil Fields – Fat City
Lorn – Wake Up Fucked Up – CDR

Dibiase – Mario – CDR
Flying Lotus – Parisian Goldfish (Take Remix) – Warp
Flying Lotus & The Life Force Trio – Auntie’s Lock – Warp
Build An Ark – In Her Smile (Daedalus Remix) – Kindred Spirits
Kutmah – Song Song – Porter US
The Gaslamp Killer – Birthday Music – GLK US
Carlos Nino & Friends – With Azul – Kindred Spirits
Mayer Hawthorne – Green Eyed Love – Stones Throw
Sa-Ra – My Star (feat. Erika Rose) – Ubiquity Records
2Pac – To Live & Die in LA – Death Row Records

MED – Out Of Control – Stones Throw
Red – I Should Tell Ya Momma On You (Dâm Funk Remix) – Stones Throw
*** Dâm Funk Chart-Toppers mix
Choir Pasadena and The Pasadena Band – Pasadena We Love You (DF Chart-Toppers Intro)
Paradise – Love Is The Answer
Bohannon – Wake Up
Sybil Thomas – Rescue Me (Instrumental)
Firefly – Our Trade Is Life
Purple Gang – Say It
Second Image – Fall In Love
*** (end)

I just had to share this. From Neurosonics Audiomedical Laboratories.