Holy Crap I'm Fired Up!
After recent fits of frustration and inspiration, I started a blog. The frustration stems from doing a weekly radio show that's just a tad too ephemeral for my tastes-- I do it live, it's broadcast and webcast live and then it disappears forever. (I do record almost all of them, but I'm a little too quality-obsessed and lazy and not quite self-involved enough to post those.) The inspiration came from a few blogs that were routinely turning me on to really cool music. I figured I should do it, too.
I've been posting daily about songs I love, mostly older and obscure stuff, although I hope to showcase some newer things, too. It's a mere click away at matthewafrica.blogspot.com.
I Don't See Nothing Wrong with a Whole Lotta Kells
After months (no exaggeration†) of listening, sifting and mixing, I'm finally done with my latest opus, Dirty R&B: The Best of R. Kelly.
Featuring 69 songs on 2 CDs, Dirty R&B collects all of Kells's greatest work, including collaborations, remixes and slept-on album tracks. XLR8R loves it, my mom loves it (!)††; it's really good.
Peep the tracklist, reviews and ordering details on the clips page.
† Do you know how many songs Kells has? Do you know how many remixes he appears on? I did some math and determined that R. Kelly records and releases a new song approximately once every 1.467 minutes. In the time it takes you to read this sentence, he will have recorded and released two whole albums, both of which will be quite good.
†† True story: my mom had never actually heard Kells-- in fact, I'm not sure she had even heard of Kells before-- but I gave her a copy of the mix and she loves it. She keeps going on and on about the medieval polyphony present in, and beauty of, his music. She wanted to buy a stack of copies to give to friends and business associates, but I told her maybe she should listen to the lyrics first.
Don't Watch Me, Watch TV
Me and my #1 homie, DJ Eleven, are on TV, kinda. XLR8R, which is pretty much the best dance music magazine anywhere, has a web-based TV show and they just did a feature on us and the making of our last CD, Dirty Raps: The Best of Too $hort.
XLR8RTV has a whole lot more videos, including segments with folks like Devin the Dude (!!!!!!!!!), Chromeo, Matmos and so on.
and now for a refreshing change....
SOMETHING WHOLESOME!
Recently, I started DJing a new monthly gig, Baby Loves Disco.
Baby Loves Disco is an afternoon dance party for kids and their parents. Basically, the BLD folks take a nightclub, childproof it and then fill it with fun stuff-- funky music, bubble machines, hula hoops, tents, scarves, toys, snacks and an open bar--um, juice box bar, that is.
Me, I provide the music while my homie WonWay gets on the mic and motivates little heinies.Baby Loves Disco takes place from 2 to 5 p.m. on the last Saturday of every month at the Aura nightclub in scenic Pleasanton.
Plenty more details are available at Baby Loves Disco's website.
Twee Funk article and mix
A few months ago, the folks at the Fader invited me to write an installment of their Vinyl Archeology column, a regular feature dedicated to unearthing and spotlighting neglected music. In the issue pictured on the left, I wrote about Twee Funk—roughly speaking, 70s soul and funk releases that followed in the wake of the Jackson 5’s success.
In part, I chose this style because I love the way kids sing. There’s a sweetness, purity and exuberance in their voices that you really don't hear from grown folks. But I also chose Twee Funk as my subject because it gave me a reason to prepare a mix of a lot of great music I don’t otherwise get to play. You can download the mix for free on the Clips page.
DIRTY RAPS, BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITCH!
DIRTY RAPS: THE BEST OF TOO $HORT is a new mix CD by me and my #1 homie, DJ Eleven of The Rub. Although these days he's best known as a Brooklyn-representer, Eleven and I are both Oakland dudes to the heart. This is our salute to the Godfather of Bay Area rap.
Featuring 39 songs plus one custom-built outro, DIRTY RAPS comes deftly mixed, liberally seasoned with drops from $ir Too himself and packed in a full jewel case.
According to the big homie DJ Ayres-- a man who knows a thing or two about putting a great mix together-- "There is no way anyone has made a better Best of Too $hort, this is perfect." I am super proud of it.
Click on the $hort Dog image above to check out a sound clip and a full track listing.
Get your orders on via Paypal to matthewafrica [at] hotmail [dot] com. Prices (including shipping) are: $10 in the U.S.; $11 to Canada; $14 to Europe; and $15 to Asia or down under.
The CD is currently (or should soon be) available at the following spots: Turntable Lab, Amoeba, B-Sides and Rasputin's. Folks passing through any of my various jammie-jams can also cop them hand-to-hand at a player price.
New Party!
TAG TEAM @ Bar Kitty’s
Details are the same as the Friday jawn except, like, on a different night. Yee.
OUT NOW!
My homie DJ B.Cause and I are flogging SOUL BOULDERS, a flynamic 70+ minute mix of slow, funky soul.
SOUL BOULDERS came together because B.Cause and I share a love for a certain sound -- 70s era soul that's a little too soulful for the funk crowd, a little too funky for the soul crowd and too slow for the dancefloor. We both have a lot of records and we spent weeks scouring for some of the heaviest soul sounds we knew of and then stitching them together into a seamless mix. A lot of the songs are hopelessly obscure, but our emphasis is on quality, rather than rarity, and it's a fantastic listen all the way through. Or at least I think so. Fortunately, some folks agree with me:
"A set of slow, funky burners perfect for easing into summer. Standouts like the Lijadu Sisters' 'Life Gone Down Low' show that these kids have been doing their homework." - Wax Poetics
"SOUL BOULDERS is one of the best things I've heard in a long, long, long time." - Oliver Wang, Soul-sides.com
"SOUL BOULDERS is that schitt!" - Phill Stroman a/k/a the Soulman, mixtape legend
"[T]he tasteful wicky-wickies, subtle blends and transformer scratches ... are a welcome treat. Those transitions make the heartwarmingly weeded funk of Lee Fields 'Honey Dove' and the Paleozoic synths of Muchos Plus's 'Love Misunderstood' flow together even more sweetly...." - The Fader
"I put SOUL BOULDERS on the other night while chillin' with a female and I'm sure I got some tang b/c of it... bless up!" - a dude who hollered on my MySpace page
Unconvinced? Check out the sound clip on the "Clips" page.
The CD is available online at Turntable Lab, SoulStrut and Groundlift and in the following retail stores: Amoeba Music (Berkeley and SF), Groove Merchant (SF), Rasputin's (Berkeley and perhaps elsewhere), Good Records (NYC) and Turntable Lab (NYC). You can also order it directly by sending payment by paypal to matthewafrica [at] hotmail [dot] com. The price (including shipping) is $10 in the US/$11 in Canada/$14 in Europe and $15 in Japan/down under.
Catch me in NYC at the RUB!
Woo-hoo! Saturday, May 6 (a/k/a Cinco de Mayo + 1 to you fine Spanish folks), I’ll be causing a ruckus at the Rub with my compadres DJ Eleven and Joe Quixx.
The Rub is by most accounts the best party in New York City. With superb skills and awe-inspiring hustle, the resident DJs, Eleven, Cosmo Baker and Ayres, have built their monthly party into a juggernaut, bitch. Their flynamic, eclectic party-rocking style is documented on dozens of mix CDs, including their mash-up series, It’s the Motherfucking Remix Volumes 1 &2. These days their party routinely attract guest DJs like Diplo, A-Trak and Mark Ronson and press coverage from seemingly everbody (MTV, the NYT, Spin, Vice, XXL, XLR8R, Urb, the Fader, the Wire, etc.). You can catch the whole story at www.itstherub.com.
May 6th, me and my ace homie Joe Quixx will be doing it up Oakland-style, while resident DJ (and Oakland native!) Eleven attempts to contain the unprecedented levels of hyphy. I’m dumb flattered to be playing this party, especially in such fine company.
The Rub is held at Southpaw, which is at 125 5th Ave. in the Park Slope area of Brooklyn. It goes from 10p to 4a-- ladies $5, fellas $10. Come early or wait a looooooong time.
Catch me in SF at PST!
CORRECTION: Evidently, San Francisco wasn't ready for your boy and needs a few more weeks to prepare. Accordingly, I'll be playing at PST on Thursday, June 8 and NOT May 11 as previously listed.
Whew, as if playing the Rub wasn’t enough, the following week I’ll be guesting at the best party in the West Bay, DJ Sake One’s PACIFIC STANDARD TIME on Thursday, June 8th.
I’ve been knowing Sake about ten years and seen him grow from a tadpole to a killer whale. For real, your boy is running the SFC right about now-- if there’s a party over there and his name’s not on the flyer, it’s probably not the place to be. The PACIFIC STANDARD TIME party at Levende Lounge is Sake’s home base and he’s crafted an incredible night with a grown and sexy sound that’s both eclectic and electric. It’s a testament to Sake’s skills that every week he keeps Levende packed (often a little too packed) with sexy people sweating late into the night even though they got like jobs and stuff.
PACIFIC STANDARD TIME happens at the Levende Lounge, which is at 1710 Mission St. (at Duboce, right off the freeway) in San Francisco, from 10p to 2a. Come early and often.
