Usually people put out a mix before their tour to promote upcoming shows… Well, I’m putting one out after — many excuses as to why — most importantly because I wanted to share a part of my set that got some interesting reactions from crowds this past month touring the U.S. (more…)
Blog (2008-2018)
6 Years Deep EP #4: L’Afrique Est Un Pays
Geko Jones’ Afro-Latin Club Mix for Société Perrier
Geko Jones turns in a wicked mix for Societe Perrier, showcasing his unique take on Latin American, Caribbean, and electronic club music. On it, you get a blended combination of remixed Afro-Colombian folk styles that he’s known for, alongside Samba, Kuduro, Nigerian Pop, Dominican Tipico, Salsa, Dembow, Reggaeton and even Chicago Juke filtered through a UK Bass lens. You can almost imagine this as the part 2, or response from the American side of the ocean to the Africa Latina mix that he and I did last month.
BomBeat @ LPR Nov. 24th
[youtube width=”525″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESj164wKc6I[/youtube]
Super excited about this new event, BomBeat, that I am launching with my crew Cumba Mela, and Nickodemus from Turntables on the Hudson. Its all going down this Saturday, November 24th at Le Poisson Rouge, in Manhattan. Expect to hear a wide range of global bass music: cumbia, dancehall, kuduro, house, moombahton, reggaeton….
We have Jeremy Sole coming from LA, repping KCRW, TheLift, and Afro Funke.
We are going to try our best to get a free EP for ever event. Be sure to check out the first one bellow!
Titica + Thanu: BKDAHivemind
[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eclyw_D154I[/youtube]
On a recent Brooklyn bound A-train ride, Geko and I were feverishly brainstorming places to host a New York performance for Titica, once we found out she wouldn’t be able to stay in town for Que Bajo next Thursday. Feeling like now is a crucial time for LGBTQ issues in Africa, we didn’t want to miss the opportunity for Titica to gain some visibility outside of her home context, and help open up the dialogue in regards to what is permissible in the realm of “African values.†While that will perhaps be a longer fight, the “Space” problem was quickly resolved when our traveling companion Thanu Yakupitiyage offered her iBomba party at Bembe on Monday night. Thanu’s work and focus made for quite the serendipitous pairing, perfect to host Titica in NY, thus initiating a kind of an informal inaugural collaboration between Thanu and Dutty Artz, the collective of cultural agitators with its spiritual heart in the county of Kings, New York.
On the eve of that event, it is my pleasure to introduce Thanu as the collective’s newest official member (something we’ve been planning before that fateful train ride)! While we’ve been bringing you blog posts, music, parties and merchandise of various sorts for a few years now, Dutty Artz has been steadily heading in a direction in which we’re trying to find ways to expand beyond music and the limitations of the Internet. It has always been our desire to facilitate ways to nurture a creative community across social and cultural borders. Adding Thanu to the lineup is a key part of us manifesting that intention in the real world!
Thanu traverses the lines between immigrant rights activist, media producer, researcher, and political/cultural organizer. Reppin’ Sri Lanka via Thailand and Massachusetts she’s now based in Brooklyn, and has been in New York since 2007 where she has worked for organizations highlighting youth media, racial justice, and immigrant rights. When Occupy Wall Street kicked into gear in the Fall of 2011, Thanu was part of a crew of organizers of color who started the People of Color Caucus in order to highlight and organize around issues faced by communities of color that were being ignored by the larger OWS movement. She also helped lead the Immigrant Worker Justice working group in the Fall, and put together the December 18th International Migrants’ Day march. She is on the editorial team and blogs for, In Front and Center: Critical Voices in the 99%, and is one of the new culture editors for Organizing Upgrade, which is re-launching this month.
While those experiences will definitely add a new dimension to the aims of Dutty Artz, it is her interests and passions in the role of global music and dance in the creation of transformative political and cultural spaces that dovetail nicely with the work we’ve already been doing. For her, politics, music, and dance are intricately linked. She is an aspiring DJ and late last year, joined forces with DJs Beto and Mios Dio to organize and bring new acts and guest DJs to iBomba. We think that Thanu is a perfect fit and welcome addition to the family.
Check out a sample of her bad gyal writing on politics and pop culture here:
M.I.A and the Real Bad Girls, Hyphen Magazine
Dispatches from Indigenous Peoples Day, In Front and Center
OWS and Immigration, In Front and Center
Drop the I-Word feature: “I am home both here and thereâ€, Colorlines
A Conscious Travel Guide to Sri Lanka, Global Post
And check her out this Monday as she hosts iBomba alongside DJ Beto and Mios Dio, with guests DJ Ripley and Angolan Kuduro star Titica! Look out for more from Thanu soon!
“DC1A” by @OLDMONEYMASSIVE
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/37733338[/vimeo]
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<<< afro // astro // astral >>>
Crank Dat Tarraxinha
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuUGRtZnAds&feature=channel_video_title[/youtube]
Angola meets meets Atlanta in this mix by DJ Eridson. One for the Fruityloops Hall of Fame indeed. This track is 3 years old but Eridson has new music up on soundcloud, including this Coupé-Décalé track he upped yesterday:
D.D 179 Gina Hot [2012] Dj Eridson, Dj Dorivaldo, M.Pondu, Dj Havaiana, Jacobe e Dr.Tchubi (remix) by djeridson
Bonus Tarracha:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7wX7YIziJM&feature=related[/youtube]
AKWAABA SEM TRANSPORTE
Last Tuesday, Akwaaba Music released Akwaaba Sem Transporte (stream the album on Fairtilizer here) – a kuduro compilation “straight from the source,” Luanda, Angola. Akwaaba Music founder Benjamin Lebrave spent six weeks in Angola, earlier this year, gathering and licensing tracks from rappers and DJs, and the result is a raw, authentic, high-energy dance comp. I’m aware that notions of authenticity, especially in the global ghetto-tech and nu whirled music (â„¢ wayne&wax) discourse is quite problematic – is the kuduro coming out of Lisbon/Europe any less authentic that what’s coming out of Luanda/Africa? European kuduro has definitely received and continue to receive more shine off late in Europe and America.
[audio:http://nyc.duttyartz.com/mp3s/DredManGi-NaoTaSeEntender.mp3]Dred Man-Gi feat. Nell – Não Ta Se Entender
This one is weird, and probably the least danceable track on the compilation, but it’s the one I like best. Upbeat, yes –but with a fractured, heavy beat and a disruptive flow. The MP3 above is standard bit rate/128 – Head over to iTunes for better quality/320 kbps, so you can hear and enjoy all the bass and efx, and check out the rest of the comp, which is all very danceable– and Dutty Artz supports that kind of music!
Also, check out Ghetto Palms last week – Benjamin writes + Eddie blends.