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[vimeo width=”525″ height=”325″]http://vimeo.com/5898495[/vimeo]

Audio and video are not completely in sync, but who cares, really? Especially, when the sound, visual, and message are so soulful and sexy (and she’s trying not to spell it out, but she can’t help herself…) “Milk and Honey” is deliberately sweet, seductive, and celebratory.  I find the experimentation and lightheartedness here much more interesting. Props to Bedrock for the beat.  I haven’t heard or seen much from Goapele since her 2000/1 song “Closer” – positive, dreamy, a bit wistful now.

On a general note -  neo soul and alt contemporary R&B has been anemic, stale since 2001 (after D’Angelo’s Voodoo and Erykah Badu’s Mama Gun, what else is there?)  I’ve stayed away for the most part, but very now and then, there are impressive, surprisingly great albums and songs like Erykah Badu’s “The Healer” from her 2008 offering New Amerykah Part One (4th World War). For 2009, Sa-Ra’s album Nuclear Evolution: The Age of Love is amazing and has been very enjoyable.

vimeo spotted @ TSS

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= summer.

in London we have mangy urban wheat fields where one can sit and hear passing subs through the bones.

and on that topic,

stush has been around for a while now. crucially, on dollar sign produced by sticky, also on (not this) remix of that lisa maffia tune, also live, also with sway (UK sway – don’t get confused), also top 10 with groove armada (but you still nah see me), also:

in a UK funky / funky bashment style on hard house banton’s sirens riddim:

stush – we nah run (sirens riddim)

this tune sounds like (being in/driving/not driving/standing outside) cars.

stush copy

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wayneandwax gates

[‘wheatpaste mugshot’ from Wayne & Wax’s flickr]

riffing on Lamin’s last post, I feel compelled to quote the most salient, on-point appraisal of the Skipgate affair I’ve seen. From Adam Serwer:

Gates isn’t being invited to the White House because he’s black and Ivy League. Gates is being invited to the White House because Sgt. James Crowley has become the latest totem of burgeoning white resentment against the president, which happens to be a matter so urgent that Obama felt obligated to make a dramatic gesture of reconciliation — lest racial resentment swallow his presidency. . . This is an example of white privilege — and how even a country that elects a black man president still demands that he assuage feelings of white resentment when they grow strong enough. Totems of black resentment, which Gates is not, get called racists and race hustlers. They do not get invited to the White House.

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beersummit

As I write, the beers are in the presidential fridge. After their drink, Gates will go back to Harvard, Crowley will return to the force, Obama will stay in the White House. Nothing about law or race, not even the national conversation, will have changed. And Troy Davis will remain on death row. For now the only beer he can expect will be with his last meal. And he will be drinking alone.
READ MORE of Beer and Sympathy by Gary Younge @ The Nation

*

The Gates arrest gave the president ample opportunity to stimulate a broad national discussion about police and community relations and the role of race and ethnicity when these relations become contentious. Such a conversation would have been a politically risky endeavor, no doubt. But discussion would have been far more valuable than a brewski photo-op, which is how the Gates case will likely be remembered.
READ MORE of Obama flunks his “teachable moment” by Mark Anthony Neal @ The Grio

Extra props to MAN and his particularly interesting and essential blog.

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This is probably the craziest rap video you’ll see all year. I saw the preview for it, but slept on the actual video. Thanks to The Times writer Caramanica for the reminder. You might remember Pill from my Recession Rap Jams.  Juvenile’s “Ha” immediately comes to mind, as a point of reference and, to a lesser extent, and so does Goodie Mob’s “Cell Therapy” to a certain extent – using the rap video purposefully, to unmask black poverty and show real human suffering that we rarely see in mainstream American media.  Also, look for the Amnesty International “JUSTICE FOR TROY DAVIS” poster.

[vimeo width=”500″ height=”400″]http://vimeo.com/5282853[/vimeo]

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Having only been away from the states for nine months I’m amazed at the diversity of produce available at the grocery store. I’m equally excited about the excellent shows laced up and down the best coast these next few weeks.

First up is Tim Turbo from Seen (aka the non-hippie reggae and dance hall site) and Danny Scrilla doing dates down California  and then over into Texas… “equipped with black duffle bags, brimful with Ghetto Lazerbass.”

Turbo and Scrilla Tour Mix Tracklist HERE

[audio:http://www.seen-site.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Tim-Turbo-Danny-Scrilla-Lazerdaze-Tourmix-2009-hosted-by-Prince-Zimboo.mp3]

August 5th, San Francisco @ Vessel Nightclub
August 6th, Santa Barbara @ EOS Lounge
August 7th, L.A. @ Lot 613
August 8th, San Diego @ The W Hotel
August 12th, Dallas @ Zubar
August 13th, Austin @ Barcelona

I really wish they could have joined me up in Cascadia- where I’ve got a few things going on in the next week.

I’ll be dropping down to Portland for a party this Saturday- August 8- with the Various crew at Branx… You can listen to the exclusive mix “DefinatelyMaybe” I did for them HERE.

Next week, the 13th,  I’ll be up in Vancouver  with the Thursday Ting! Crew at The Woods Studio @ 2nd and Ontario

Come through!

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DJ Rupture & Matt Shadetek Solar Life Raft CD Cover
OK we’re going in again. This time it’s me and Rupture, Solar Life Raft, the new mix album dropping November 11th on The Agriculture. For those of you that caught Uproot and enjoyed it we’re taking the format and going in deeper, wider, rougher. Me and /R have been cooking up tracks together for a while, some of which are appearing on Jahdan’s album and some on SLR. It’s our first official thing together with our names on it which is pretty exciting. It’s got a bunch of unreleased exclusive new collabo instrumentals plus excluse remixes of Telepathe and Gang Gang Dance. Mad I know. Expect to hear a lot more about it here soon.

“With the release of Solar Life Raft, DJ /rupture and Matt Shadetek emerge from the shores of Brooklyn bearing gifts from the future. A rich blend of bass, beats, and space, rocked by a tropical wind out of the west, Solar Life Raft is an arresting testament to the fruit that grows at the margins, free from genre orthodoxy and pulsing with gentle mutant energy. Created by two individuals with a shared appreciation for engaging with streetwise dance music from a ground-up, participatory perspective, as well as more experimental sounds, Solar Life Raft, the duo’s first extended project together, features tracks blended on three decks into a complete hypnotic and gripping narrative. ”

from alt.sounds.

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[audio:http://nyc.duttyartz.com/mp3s/TIME2SHINE.mp3]

Double Jay – Time 2 Shine

Early on this year, Wayne (you already know – wayneandwax.com) introduced us to Skeat’s “Dumelang” – a jam which I think gets played at every New York Tropical, and I’ve heard Geko Jones and Uproot Andy played it several times at Que Bajo?! and other parties, and needless to say, it destroys the dance every time.  Big up Wayne & Botswana’s Ruff Riddims for unleashing that, and this “brand new dirrty south african hip-hop” by Double Jay.

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jj

[audio:http://nyc.duttyartz.com/mp3s/jj_ecstasy.mp3]

jj – Ecstasy

“Lollipop” has been sampled by David Banner, covered by rock and country musicians, and now versioned by a mysterious Swedish pop outfit, with a radical lyrical shift, a stretch, an expansion – bottles are replaced with pills, and shawty is getting high on her own supply.  The same aesthetics, but more drugs and less sex. Either way, Wayne, Jonsin, and Static will be/would be proud.

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mosdef

GETTIN’ BLACK AS I WANT!

[audio:http://nyc.duttyartz.com/mp3s/MosDef-Revelations.mp3]

Mos Def – Revelations

“Revelations,” a mellow and extraordinary post-Obama, ridiculously pro-black, one-verse track with shots directed at the CIA, the US Federal Reserve/bankers/money-grubbers, doubters and none-believers, the recession, race, violence, etc. New York has been very hot and sticky lately, and Mos Def‘s latest album The Ecstatic has been in heavy rotation, especially the tracks with themes that are seemingly nonsensical/irrational/unhelpful for the times we are in. Just yesterday, we played two cuts from it on WFMU’s Mudd Up! with DJ Rupture. While we’re talking Mudd Up! radio, here are two more joints Rupture played (on his first and in all likelihood last cumbia-free show)  – another Mos track titled “Wahid”, and a song by “the most unusual star on the planet” (at least, that’s what he, himself claims.) Please check out Dan Hancox 10 Essential Wiley tunes on Fact Magazine, timely reminder of why the tireless genius can’t be stopped.

[audio:http://nyc.duttyartz.com/mp3s/MosDef-Wahid.mp3]

Mos Def – Wahid

[audio:http://nyc.duttyartz.com/mp3s/Wiley-EyesoftheLord.mp3]

Wiley – Eyes of the Lord

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[youtube width=”525″ height=”455″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWEReAtGJf0[/youtube]

Jahdan on Dollar Van Demos, singing a track titled “Songs of Love,” Leaving Babylon and going to a place where “the birds dance in the trees, singing songs of love” and “the breeze blow so free.” Dollar vans in the outer-boroughs are basically a response to the lack of adequate public transportation in certain parts of Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, and other underserved NYC neighborhood.  I’ve been in the vans a few times, sometimes just keeping it extra-local like Jahdan, riding for only a few stops in Bed-Stuy, uptown in Harlem and BX, but they become extremely valuable during MTA/Transit worker strikes. Anyway, enjoy this one.

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[youtube width=”525″ height=”455″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q-gx7YGNcE[/youtube]

While Vamanos was busy shutting down Brooklyn with Radioclit/The Very Best, Matt Shadetek, Uproot Andy, etc. this past Saturday, Boima was holding down the other half of the Ghetto Bassquake sound system in Dakar. The video above shows the Chief preparing for a show… Big!

Update – D of Bigger Judgement pointed out the nice tune Boima is playing is by Laden.

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this one should be fun… i can vouch that Matt & I have a bunch of new remixes and exclusive tunes to run, Gex & Lamin always bring it, and Zuzuka is meant to be a firecracker.

Dutty (and cheap-$5 early) tropikkkal fun on the edge of Brooklyn, sound enhanced by Grimm’s reggae bassbins.

let the CIA know yr coming by hitting Facebook.