QB-march15th

Friday March 15th we’re welcoming EL FREAKY from Bogota Colombia to NYC. Having just wrapped shows at Moombahton Massive in DC, and Tormenta Tropical and Afrofunke on the West Coast, we’re looking forward to hearing some of the new material they’ve been working on featuring Colombian Dancehall artists and Reggae veterans Tanto Metro and Devonte.

Brooklyn’s iBomba party is hosted by DJ Beto and our very own Ushka, whom a lot of you got to meet digitally last month via her Foreign Brown mix for our Mixtape Mondays series in February. She and Beto’s residency at Bembe has been turning it out on Mondays and bringin out some really great acts over the last year, so I’m looking forward to hearing what’s in their crates.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iip_RGMLhis[/youtube]

The 1 Brooklyn Shanti just passed us this video and download from his Drop it Steady project longside Baldi.

I’m a big fan of the FX TV show Archer. In this vid, Drop it Steady take an episode and chop suey it into their verses creating new strain variant on the idea of copyright pirate video mash ups. Between stuff like this and Autotune the News, I’m looking forward to an interesting and innovative 2013.

Download The Pirate King Theme

I’m fairly sure by now some of you have heard of the mystical magical fun I have everytime I go down to Colombia and a lot of that has to do with our friends El Freaky in Bogota.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktEPuU4ch-g[/youtube]

Considered by Uproot Andy as myself as an integral part of the network of tropical parties worldwide like Peligrosa, Muevete, Tormenta Tropical etc, these dudes throw down in a really fun 2DJ/1VJ format incorporating animations from the bizarre but genius mind of Fat Suggar Daddy. I’ve partied really hard longside these guys and I’m really happy to announce the premier of the remix to their single La Pongo. Kuduro collabo from none other than Dany F and Bleepolar, who’s recent remix for Subatomic Sound System featuring Jahdan and Anthony B, I’m really happy to add a lil español to the kuduro crate.

This sunday labor day weekend we’re closing down the NYC beach scene in style with a party at Caracas Arepa Bar on Far Rockaway Beach. The one DJ Ripley will be on decks celebrating her earthstrong and a PHD – Playa Hanging Degree. Chief Boima, DJ Ushka and myself represent for brown harder than a fleet of UPS trucks and DJ Shomi Noise from NYC’s Queer Latina Dance Party puts it down for our homegirl Ivette’s Queer of the Year award.

Beach, sand,  beer,  good eats, great music, no cover… you know what to do.

Beach 106 off the rockway shuttle train

 

So here’s a full length mix featuring a lot of the homies I’ve made via my travels and Que Bajo?! parties. Its been an exciting couple of years watching this music go global and getting in touch with a lot of you producer types. There’s a heap of roots remixes, kuduro, moombahton, dembow, boombahchero and the type of latino raveyness that makes ya wanna put your hands on your knees while shouting QUE BAJO CARAJO!!! .

Sabrosura pa la kalle

.

[audio:http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9954478/Geko%20Jones%20NYE%202012.mp3]

We the good peoples of Dutty Artz invite you to join us in a hostile take over of the twitter feed on December 15th. We’re asking everyone we know to tweet the hashtag #YoutubeDivas and a link to a video of a female artist. Help us co-op twitter and expose obscure female artists that aren’t getting airplay due to payola and media bias.

Its a simple idea.. but if we can get enough people to participate it will lead to more conversation and exposure for a lot of these artists. We’ve heard a lot of feedback from ladies in the scene about how hard it is being a female DJ or producer and we’re doing our part to help balance that. In a post lecture conversation with DJ Rizzla last week (thanks for curating Ripley!), Rizzla pointed out how if we’re to eliminate bias the majority need to first surrender some of their power to the minority. We like that idea.

There are a ton of people who have never heard of Fairuz, Mercedes Sosa, Cesoria Evora, La Lupe or any number of well established female artists. But there are also contemporary electronic music producers and vocalists like Jahcoozi, Flore, Ekova, Zuzuka Poderosa who have worked really hard and recorded some amazing music. These ladies are sometimes huge within their hemispheres but this is an attempt to bring some of them to light to wider audience.

I’m posting the video below and others to get the word out. Please share if you feel comfortable but more importantly share videos by your favorite divas and unsung heroines. There are some amazing women out there from all over the world.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6rcoTwFkIM&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

You can also help by sharing the facebook event page or inviting your friends.

Following this experiment… on Saturday here in NYC, we’re hosting a fundraiser soundclash for an organization called Just the Tip of Feminism. DJ’s are battling out playing sets of strictly female vocalists.

Dutty Artz fi di gyal dem.

Free Download –> Pa la Escuela Nene (Geko Jones vs Frikstailers)

Commandeering the kitchen at Subsuelo/Gnawledge HQ in LA (thanks G-Notes!) ( foto x Farah Sosa)

8 tomatoes

1 Roasted Red Bell Pepper

1 Roasted Green Bell Pepper

15 Kalamato Olives

1 Tsp Italian Herb Tomato Paste

3-4 Sprigs Thyme

3 Garlic Cloves

2 Olive Oil Drizzles

6 Tilapia

Cilantro

Lime

I invited some friends to eat in exchange for a bread-breaking data swap. I’m definitely not on a culinary level with my dude DJ Rajah over at SoulCocina but this is really what meetings should be like. Exchanging in currencies that don’t depend as directly on the dollar really has an intrinsic value in making people connect. It leads to better less guarded conversation and reminds us that if we work together, there’s always more to eat on the table. Here’s my TOP 5  Things I won in the West Coast Data Swap

First up, G-Notes, the guitarist and beatsmith behind the hybrid flamenco act Granada Doaba and all around Gnawledge famalam hit me with a few remixes and edits

a sick Mex with Guns – Dame lo [Gnotes Rmx]  hyper dembow bizness

[audio:http://nyc.duttyartz.com/g3kojones/Dame Lo Gnotes Remix.mp3]

and this touch up of Gotye’s anti-love jam caught me off guard…

[audio:http://nyc.duttyartz.com/g3kojones/Somebody That I Used To Know Gnotes Remix.mp3]

Now my homie, Santero in the Bay Area has been holding me down for a few years now. I was happy to crash at his this time around and spend some time getting to know what he’s been up to.  I learned he has been working with our homie Boogat up in Montreal.. Notice how the cover art is Boogat with the fam all around at a BBQ or somn… home cooking how we do !

(Incidentally, since that convo I’ve been rocking Dos Cervesas (prod by Poirier) off the PURA VIDA EP like its my job)

Santero also just put out a brand new mixtape a couple days ago for Los Rakas’ homegirl FAVI called Flor de Azahar (orange blossom – really the best smelling flower in the world for my money)

FLOR DE AZAHAR (#ORANGEBLOSSOM MIXTAPE x DJ SANTERO VOL 1) by FaviSF

Santero also put me on to this Goapelle/Los Rakas Remix I had admittedly been sleeping on. It was featured on Fader and Rcrd Lbl months ago. Be sure to check them out on November 19th with me and Dre Skull at SOBs

[audio:http://nyc.duttyartz.com/g3kojones/PLAY (Los Rakas Remix).mp3]

 

 

 

I arrived at the Maiquetia airport around midnight and after a month in Colombia. The first thing that noticeably stood out in the parking lot, as I exited the terminal, was the impressive array of SUVs. Almost half the parking spots were occupied by them. My host, Piki from the group Bituaya, walks me to his sedan sized vehicle and breaks it down for me.

“Gas costs the equivalent of 50 cents”

“Per liter or per gallon?” I ask

“No, the whole tank.

A bottle of water costs more than it does to fill a hummer

Caracas Venezuela- Sept 2011

I’ve was invited by Bituaya to touch down in Caracas and the neighboring city Maracay thanks to a government grant issued to us by the Ministry of Culture. My itinerary for my trip is jam packed with youth activism, speaking engagements, radio interviews and, of course, some DJ gigs.  My first morning, I’m told we’re taking out Radio Verdura- a sound system van that cruises the streets of Venezuela instead of broadcasting its sounds. This is how the youth take it to the streets in Caracas.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDwLcleSgH8[/youtube]

The action by the kids was a demonstration on their part, in an effort to take over an old movie theater by a sister organization called Catia. There appears to be some legislation that allows for squatters rights  and organizations have popped up and reclaimed some amazing spaces like el Nuevo Circo- the city’s old bull fighting arena

This space now hosts, yoga classes, acrobatics, breakdancing workshops and the like. Its a total win for the arts and culture movement in Caracas. A like minded space that was taken over years ago is called Tiuna El Fuerte. Its an enormous lot right off the highway that recently won an architectural award for its design. There are no formal building structures on the lot instead a series of interconnected shipping containers re-purposed as studios, art facilities, class rooms and media centers. Many of the city’s largest hip hop events have been hosted here and it has served workshops encompassing not just the 4 cornerstones of hip hop but also classes on reason, a full recording studio, a silk screening press and several other amenities that make it a great environment to keep kids engaged

The director of Tiuna El Fuerte took me for a ride on the metro cable to show me first hand why they work so heard on youth outreach. The metrocable connects people whose homes are on very steep and often dangerous barrios overlooking the greater metropolitan area of Caracas. As I left the second station, I saw a group of kids, none of them older than 14 walking around with 45s as big as their forearms in hand. I worried for the safety of the old lady walking toward them as they turned the corner but they gave her a kiss on the cheek as they passed. The barrios aren’t really policed by the government. They are autonomous zones where the law is passed down by gang capos and street soldiers. Outsiders aren’t usually welcomed.

Tiuna has a working relationship with the gang that runs Barrio 70.  A lot of the kids that live in the neighborhood have come through Tiuna and come out better for it. DJ Cristian El Lunatico, for example, is from el 70 and learned how to DJ at Tiuna El Fuerte. He now plays most of the local parties. Tiuna asked the local bosses if they would allow them to bring a soundsystem and let a brooklyn DJ come wreck shop in the hood. They gave us use of a basketball court and let us set up a stage, sound and lights for the party. You’ll see here in the video that a lot of the faces are really young but there a few things the video doesn’t put you on to… A) Cabs don’t go up to the barrio, the transport buses used to go up radio in any unfamiliar faces and get clearance first B) the kids weren’t doing a bunch of drugs like I’d expect at a street party like that and C) salsa de baul! (who knew that what hood kids in Caracas really loved to dance to was epicly slow emo salsa ballads? Where I’m from we call those tunes cortavenas -wrist slitters)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxOjL8AJ5VI[/youtube]

Aside from the drunk dude that needed to make it absolutely clear that he had a gun standing right behind warning me that I didn’t need to worry because he was on guard duty, the party was a totally fun. Along with a lil help from DJ Cristian El Lunatico and Systema Sonoro Tiuna we got the hands up and the crowd jumpin to some new sounds.

Our last gig was the big show that we got the grant for in Maracay. Its about a 2 hour drive so along the way I had time to contemplate the visual overload of propaganda murals and posters that paint the town red. Even in the barrios where neither government nor police have jurisdiction you’ll see the “Adelante Commandante” slogans. The campaign has had an interesting effect. The people distinguish Chavez as an agent of change but show disdain for a government run by the interests of Big Petro.

We could spend hours getting into the pros and cons of different forms of government but in the end the story looked pretty much the same to me. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer because the shopping mall parking lot is always full. Nuff politkin tho.

You can watch the video to our last show here. Special shout outs to Arianna and Nanu and Tiuna El Fuerte for the light speed documentation. To Zona Verde and La Mega for hosting me on radio. To Insajuv for the awesome event logistics in Maracay and big huuuge massive ups to Bituaya for putting it all together and putting on a hell of a show to a receptive junglist massive in the midst of a tropical monsoon.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq365f6Yv74&feature=related[/youtube]

 

 

I’ve been on the road lately trying to get my worldwide airmiles up like the Jetlag King- DJ /Rupture. Miles to go before I sleep or even come close on that one, but the result thus far has been getting to play with a lot of ladies and gents I respect and admire and making friends of them along the way. Coming up in a couple weeks here in NYC, Que Bajo?! and Conrazon are collaborating with SOB’s to debut a friend and inspiration of mine by the name of Humberto Pernett. I wanted to take the time explain to you all who this guy is on a personal level as I’ve recently spent a great deal of time with him in Cali for the Petronio Festival and got to know his story.

Pernett’s dad was one of the founders of el Carnaval de Barranquilla. He grew up around amazing musicians his whole life. His aunt Carmencita Pernett was one of the first artists to take cumbia to mexico. Artists born in this type of conditioning? Femi Kuti comes to mind..

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVZO8NsbcFI[/youtube]

I think just by looking at the record cover you can tell dude’s family were some serious party people.

It was inevitable from his upbringing that Pernett would go on to explore los ritmos de la costa. Tambora, cumbia, bullerengue, puya, mapale sound more like the names of root vegetable or ingredients to a sancocho stew than names of rhythms but then all these styles are so distinctly satisfying on the dancefloor that their cohesion only make sense when you think about them that way.

Taking a blessing from his musical godmother, Toto la Momposina, Pernett would go further south to Bogota where he would meet Richard Blair, a UK-born producer and they would go on to form the band Sidestepper whose 3am: In beats we trust album would reverberate worldwide.

As someone who listened to the 6 degrees music label early on, and a researcher of world music fusion for quite some time I can say with confidence that the music from that album would go on to inspire a great many producers for years to come. Our global/tropical bass scene has a lot to thank them for. Electronic music, indeed, but at its essence their sound was a less mechanical and rooted deeply in Colombia’s rich musical heritage. It was a clearly defined turning point for Latin music.

Moving on to work on his own projects Pernett has continued folding time and space to create his own blend of psychodelic caribbean sounds. Carving a sound very much his own.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxernBT5oDs&feature=related[/youtube]

I invite you to listen to his soundcloud where he has over 100 original tracks and remixes uploaded

Change isn’t an overnight thing. The last car in the roller coaster sees the turn before it happens. But from where I’m standing, Pernett is a largely unsung hero who has and is helping shape the future of latin music.  He’s someone that we should pay a lot more attention to. He’s so far ahead of the pack that it will probably be another couple years before the world catches up to his sound let alone his performance capabilities.  His ableton live set up lets him trigger and effect tracks, while playing gaita or any number of traditional instruments which he can also effect, while singing and dropping some surreal visuals using his filters on his laptop cam. He’s one of those artists that keeps pushing himself to do more. To be more. And you should too. Be there to see him Oct 9th and feel more.

Que Bajo?! & Conrazon Present

Pernett (Colombia)

Oct 9th @ SOB’s $10 /10pm

204 Varick Street
New York, NY 10014-4810
(212) 243-4940

 

A couple years ago our friend Filastine was in town and I remember not being able to join him on some crazy boat ride on a trash barge that had been re-purposed as an art installation. There was talk of some armada of these vessels. Like minded people are bringing you a really fun event tomorrow.

Last weekend the naval gangs of New York assembled to Battle for Mau Mau Island (See photos here). Come see the fallen soldiers, harvested booty, and glorious victors at a new two-story space in Bed-Stuy.Mau Mau gangs, gladiator raft jousting, cocktail catacombs, clothing optional watergun fight, underground casino & film screenings of eerily beautiful movies set on the water, slide show and videos of the battle, and an awards presentation for the victors. Wet & wild all night long.

Saturday, July 30, 9:30- late80 Vernon Ave, between Marcy & Tompkins
(G train to Myrtle/Willoughby 1 block away; or J,M,Z to Myrtle)
Ice cold beer and watermelon vodka open bar 9:30-10:30
$5 for gangs in matching costumes, Mau Mau vets, or before 11pm, $10 otherwise; 21+
All proceeds go directly to the Swimming Cities India project. www.weareswimmingcities.org