Posted on Dig Deep

Dig Deep: The Lat-Teens – Buena Gente – Cotique (1968)

LatTeens

The Lat-Teens – Smoke Shop
The Lat-Teens – Buena Gente
The Lat-Teens – Soulful Thing

I’ll admit that I haven’t found too much on the Lat-Teens. I know they had a “hit” with their first single “Mary-Wanna,” which must have endeared them to the Hippies. I wonder if group member Carlos Papon is at all related to Jorge “Popmaster” Fabel Papon of the legendary Rock Steady Crew, I know Popmaster grew up in Spanish Harlem which was the epicenter of all things boogaloo in the 1960s. “Smoke Shop” is clearly a follow-up to “Mary-Wanna,” “Buena Gente,” a track I imagine was inspired by their parents after they found out that their first hit was a song about Marijuana, starts off real upbeat and then settles into a nice boogaloo beat. “Soulful Thing” could have been titled “Fly Girl” which kind of trips me out, because I didn’t realize that referring to someone as “Fly” went all the way back to the 1960s, I thought that was a 1980s Hip-Hop thing, but clearly not. Again and again what I really dig about this album is the added element of the electric guitar. Even when it is included in latin groups, it’s often pushed into the back of the mix. Here it’s pushed more upfront and has a little bit of grit and fuzz to it, that makes everything all extra groovy.

Cheers,

Michael

Posted on Ephemera

Giveaway: Valerie June @ the Bootleg Theater on September 20th!!!

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I couldn’t prouder of the fact that KPFK and Amoeba Records are presenting Valerie June’s performance at the Bootleg Theater this Friday, September 20th. Along for the ride will be actor/musician John C. Reilly with his friends Becky Stark and Tom Brousseau and yours truly will be providing the soundtrack for the evening at the start and in between sets. Over the last year, June has been causing quite a fuss and seems poised for potential stardom. The show at the Bootleg sold out when it was initially scheduled for the “Bar,” and then sold out when it got moved over to the larger “Theater” but you still have a chance to get to see her here in LA, just make sure to e-mail me before 3pm Thursday, September 19th if you want a chance to win the tickets!

Here’s a taste of potentially what to expect, from a recent concert for World Cafe featuring June performing by herself with a whole bunch of guitars:

Posted on Ephemera

In Heavy Rotation: Valerie June – Pushin’ Against A Stone – Concord

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Valerie June – Shotgun

2013 has really been a pretty fantastic year for music, especially for those of us who tend towards the soulful. Hailing from right around where my people come from in West Tennessee, Valerie June has made a welcome addition to an already packed year of great music. Her album (essentially her third or fourth release under her own name, but her first for a proper label, thus the reason everyone seems to think this is her debut, not to mention her time in the group Bella Sun), Pushin’ Against A Stone separates itself from a field of other “retro” styled artists in it’s complexity and diversity. Stone could just focus on the blues, or just focus on soul, or just focus on folksy roots music, but instead she’s put it all together in a fairly stunning manner, with a little help from Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys. “Working Woman Blues,” and “Can’t Be Told” are strong singles, but to me the most exceptional song on the album is “Shotgun.” It’s remarkable simply because it’s so rare to hear a murder ballad where the woman is not only the narrator but also not the victim. It’s sung in a way that you could almost be forgiven for not recognizing that she kills this man with a saw-off shotgun at the end, but that’s a testament to her talents as a singer and songwriter. Recently she did an interview with NPR and said this about how the song came to her:

“I was seeing this field, this prairie in the middle of America, I guess. The wheat was over-my-head high, almost, and it was blowing back and forth. And there was this old house with white vinyl siding — almost falling off, like a haunted house — and a screen door, and it was flapping in the wind. There’s a song [the blues standard ‘Baby, Please Don’t Go’] that goes, ‘Baby, please don’t go / Don’t go down to New Orleans.’ Well, this woman, she was like, ‘No, don’t go! Don’t leave me! Don’t go down to New Orleans!’ And the man had other ideas for what he wanted to do. So she decided that she was upset about it, and she wanted to get her sawed-off shotgun and do something with the relationship that was gonna make him hers forever.”

Hopefully we’ll get much more to come from Ms. June, and you should count yourself very lucky indeed if you get to see her perform in person (which there are a few chances to do so here in LA this week, including a free show at Amoeba on Thursday and her sold-out performance (which KPFK is presenting) at the Bootleg Theater on Friday, with yours truly spinning tunes between the sets.

Posted on Radio

Breakdown: September 15th on KPFK’s Melting Pot

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Still working off some of the rust from being off the air for a month, mostly in the preparation and behind the scenes stuff for the show. Generally, because of the lack of a library at KPFK, I like to have my shows completely planned out and ready to go well before I arrive at the station. Much of this Sunday’s show came together at almost the absolute last possible moment, about 20 minutes INTO the show. I’m still not entirely sure how it even all came together, so the fact that there were a few bugs is perhaps not surprising. I knew where I would start the show, with one of the most iconic and beautiful memorials committed to song I’ve ever heard, John Coltrane’s “Alabama,” played in honor of 4 little girls killed 50 years ago in a church bombing that served as one of our country’s lowest moments and likely led to some of our country’s greatest moments. While MLK’s “Dream” speech is revered, this event might have had a more significant impact in changing public opinion. From there we move to happier considerations, particularly the multitude of incredible shows that are going on in LA all this week. If you didn’t win tickets on-air, make sure to keep checking here, since I’ll have a few more to giveaway. Until then, and until next week, enjoy the show.

Melting Pot on KPFK #139: First Hour
Melting Pot on KPFK #139: Second Hour

Playlist: 09-15-13
Booker T & the MGs – Melting Pot – Melting Pot (Stax)
John Coltrane – Alabama – The Best Of John Coltrane: His Greatest Years (Impulse)
Sly & the Family Stone – I Remember – Higher (Legacy)
Chicano Batman – Amor Verde – Magma EP (Self-Released)
Roky Erickson – Realize You’re Mine – Don’t Slander Me (Light In The Attic)

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The Julie Ruin – Just My Kind – Run Fast (Dischord)
La Sera – Never Come Around – Recorded Live At KPFK (KPFK Archives)
Fat Night – Sometimes – Fat Night (Self-Released)
Poets Of Rhythm – Smilin’ Why You’re Cryin’ – Athnology (Daptone)
Blu & Exile – The Only One feat. Jimetta Rose – Give Me Flowers While I Can Still Smell Them (Fat Beats)

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Boogaloo Assassins – Mi Jeva – Old Love Dies Hard (Sicario Records)
Horace Silver feat. Andy Bey – Old Mother Nature Calls – Total Response (Blue Note)
Kwes – 36 – Single (Warp)
Darkside – Golden Arrow – Single (Other People)

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Lee Fields & the Expressions – The Only One Loving You – My World (Truth & Soul)
Aloe Blacc – You Make Me Smile – Good Things (Stones Throw)
Jose James – Come To My Door – No Beginning, No End (Blue Note)

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Laura Mvula – She Robin Hannibal Remix – Sing To The Moon (Self-Released)
King – Hey – Recorded Live At KPFK (KPFK Archives)
Lake – Takin’ My Time – The World Is Real (K Records)
Bobby – Taming Of The Shrew – Single (Quieres Chicle)
Ikebe Shakedown – Tujunga (Brennan Green’s Disco Acido Stripped) – Tujunga Remixes (Ubiquity)

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Valerie June – Pushin’ Against A Stone – Pushin’ Against A Stone (Concord)
Becky & John – I’ll Be There If You Ever Want – 7″ (Third Man Records)
The Louvin Bros. – I See A Bridge – Great Gospel Singing Of The Louvin Brothers (Capitol)
Jorge Negrete – Mexico Lindo y Querido – Fiesta Mexicana (Arcana)

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Dungen – C. Visar Vagen – Tio Batar

Posted on Dig Deep

Dig Deep: Clifton Chenier – Bon Ton Roulet – Arhoolie (1967)

CliftonChenier

Clifton Chenier – Bon Ton Roulet
Clifton Chenier – Keep On Scratching
Clifton Chenier – Jole Blonde

This coming Friday I’ll have the honor of spinning music at the Valerie June concert here in LA. Currently I’m in the process of figuring out what music to bring, how I want to set the mood and handle transitions from the classic country sounds of John C. Reilly & friends to Valerie June’s mosaic of American roots with soul. For whatever reason Clifton Chenier’s “Bon Ton Roulet” popped into my mind. The song is a cajunized version of “Let The Good Times Roll” and is something that I used to play back in Atlanta on Album 88’s blues show Crossroads. Even though I wasn’t even sure I’d find a way to play the track in my mix, I realized pretty quickly how much I missed it in my collection. I considered buying a copy of off Ebay, but there was always the chance that it wouldn’t arrive on time, so I tucked it back into my mental wish list. Turns out, the album was just waiting for me to pick it up, sittin’ pretty in the Cajun section over at Atomic in Burbank.

I’d forgotten just how enjoyable a sound Chenier had at this point, 1966, already well into his career and a legend on the rise in Louisiana, but a recent discovery for much of the rest of the country. The music certainly holds a lot of traditional elements, mixed up (as you’d expect) with a whole lot of other things, a true gumbo of musicality. In addition to “Bon Ton Roulet,” the album features a version of “Jole Blon” here titled “Jole Blonde” (which if I’m being completely honest is still my second favorite version of this, with my favorite remaining Buckwheat Zydeco’s featured in the closing credits of the film the Big Easy, likely the catalyst for much of my appreciation of music from out of Louisiana) and what is essentially the instrumental of “Keep On Scratching.” “Scratching” misses something without that Grandma Gee Gee rap that Cut Chemist and Shadow immortalized on Brain Freeze, but it’s still mighty groovy, as is the whole album. It might not magically appear in a record store near you, exactly when you need and want it, but it’s definitely worth looking out for.

Cheers,

Michael

Posted on Ephemera

In Heavy Rotation: King Khan & the Shrines – Idle No More – Merge Records

KhanIdle

King Khan & the Shrines – Pray For Lil

It’s been far too long since we’ve had new music from King Khan & the Shrines. Though the King has been busy with a multitude of projects, this marks the first proper new release from the group since 2007. Given that long period of time, some changes might be expected. The group’s sound is not quite as wild as it was in the early years, nor are the antics of frontman Khan. Idle No More presents a more refined, more settled and controlled sound from the group. it might not endear itself immediately to long time fans, but repeated listens ought to allow even them to warm up to the new King Khan. “Pray For Lil” gives a taste of that new sound, a track that I believe is dedicated to King Khan’s wife (though I don’t know who sings along with Khan on the track, such is dilemma of being a DJ/Music writer in the digital age, we rarely get full notes anymore).

While the sound is a bit more refined from King Khan and the Shrines, they’re clearly still a right powerful band when they perform, which hopefully one day will be on KPFK:

Posted on Radio

Breakdown: September 8th on KPFK’s Melting Pot

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Getting back into the swing of things has been difficult of late. My rhythms are all off from being away and then coming back just as the semester starts. Gremlins took advantage of these feelings on a couple of times, particularly on the recording of the show. Part of the first hour sounds like it was recorded in a closet, but about 40 minutes in, eveyrthing clears up (thankfully just in time for Can’s “Hallelulwhah”!). Next week in addition to the music, we have a ton of giveaways, so be sure to tune in!

Melting Pot on KPFK #138: First Hour
Melting Pot on KPFK #138: Second Hour

Playlist: 09-08-2013
{opening theme} Booker T & the MGs – Melting Pot – Melting Pot (Stax)

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Maceo & All The King’s Men – Don’t Waste The World Away – Doin’ Their Own Thing (House Of The Fox)
The Poets Of Rhythm – Path Of Life – The Anthology: 1992- 2003 (Daptone)
Dungen – Soda – Skit I Allt (Kemado)
Los Diablos Rojos – Olga – Al Rojo Vivo (Ifesa)

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Boogaloo Assassins – Magic Rose – Old Love Dies Hard (Sicario Records)
The Pepper Pots – Dream Guy – Now! (Black Pepper)
Chicano Batman – Magma – Magma EP (Self-released)
Aloe Blacc – Take Me Back – Good Things (Stones Throw)

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King Khan & the Shrines – I Got Made – Idle No More (Merge)
Can – Halleluhwah – Tago Mago (UA)

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Natalia Clavier – El Tren – Lumen (Nacional)
Kraak & Smaak feat. Carmel – Why Do People Fall? – That’s Our Word EP (Jalapeno)
Moonchild – Mmm (The Heaven) – Be Free (Self-Released)
Jose James – Vanguard – No Beginning, No End (Blue Note)
Terence Blanchard – Pet Step Sitter’s Theme Song ( Magnetic)

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Ashley Eriksson – Sunset – Colours
Valerie June – Shotgun -Pushing Against A Stone (Concord)
Magic Sam -My Love Will Never Die – West Side Soul (Delmark)
Hope Sandoval & the Warm Intentions – Clear Day – Bavarian Fruit Bread (Santctuary)

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Fat Night – Things You Do – 7” (Colemine)
Hiatus Kaiyote – The World It Softly Lulls – Tawk Tomahawk (Flying Buddah)
Bosq feat. Mendee Ichikama – Never Feel Cold – Bosq Y Orquesta de Madera (Ubiquity)
Grey boy feat. Bart Davenport – To Know You Is To Love You – Soul Mosaic (Ubiquity)

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{closing theme} Dungen – C. Visar Vagen – Tio Batar (Kemado)

Posted on Dig Deep

Dig Deep: Los Diablos Rojos – Al Rojo Vivo – Ifesa (197?)

DiablosRojos

Los Diablos Rojos – El Chacarero
Los Diablos Rojos – Romance En La Serrania
Los Diablos Rojos – Olga

After three years on KPFK, one of the most memorable moments remains the guest DJ session from DJ Lengua in 2011. Again and again and again Lengua dropped the needle on absolute Latin perfection for the set (if you haven’t heard it yet, what are you waiting for! Click here). Cumbia is a style that I’ve rarely bought records, though I love the sound. Part of the difficultly is that the best of the “classic” sounds are from Peru, Colombia and Venezuela and the records largely stay over there. Every now and again one of the records that Lengua played does end up on Ebay and the vinyl gods smiled on me when I snatched this one up earlier in the year.

I don’t know much about Los Diablos Rojos, I’m not sure when this record was released, though it appears there might be multiple versions of this one (or multiple “Diablos,” which is also possible). I loved the sound of “El Chacarero” when Lengua started his set off with it, but had no idea how the rest of the LP would sound. Turns out it sounds pretty damn good, with many more instrumentals than vocals, which is always a good thing in my book with Latin LPs from this era. Now that I’ve tracked this one down, on to the next one, at least until Lengua releases new music or new mixes and starts up more obsessions.

Cheers,

Michael

Posted on Ephemera

In Heavy Rotation: Fat Night – Things You Do – 7″ (Colemine)

FatNight

Fat Night – Things You Do

Being away from the work you do for a long period of time is always an interesting experience. In my case being away from my radio show meant that I was basically able to just focus on listening to music for purely personal reasons and personal attachments for a solid month. While I bought quite a bit of vinyl, I wasn’t even really thinking about “this would sound great on Melting Pot” or “I need to feature this in a post.” Strangely I feel that this month off from my musical pursuits allowed me to hear things differently, in a literal way. I feel like everything I listen to sounds different, with certain things sounding even better than I remember them. One my newer discoveries, and a track to my ears just sounds absolutely fantastic is this 45 from a Florida based funk outfit by the name of Fat Night. Though this single has been out for the better part of the year, I only heard it on the recommendation of Cool Chris at Groove Merchant. After living in LA for now a full 6 years, I generally only make it up to Frisco once a year, but the pilgrimage is always worth it. This particular time around I actually had a hard time chosen records, things just didn’t sound right to me. After a couple of misses, Chris suggested that I listen to this 45 and the feeling I got from it was almost immediate and very strong. While the music is fantastic, slow, funky and sultry like a hot Florida summer night, it’s the softness in the vocals that keeps me coming back to this song. Deeply soulful without sounding like what you’d expect “soul music” to sound like. Once I finally got the record home I must have listened to it 15 or 20 times in a row, such was the hold it had on me. Now, I pass that obsession onto you…

Posted on Radio

Breakdown: September 1st on KPFK’s Melting Pot

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It’s been over a month since I’ve been on the air and I’ve missed it. After almost 20 years since I started in radio, I’ve never tired of the simple joy of playing music for other people and telling them about it. One month doesn’t seem like a long time, but it felt like ages since the last time I was at KPFK. being away for so long means there’s a ton of music, new and old, that I’ve been stockpiling to play for y’all. Newer tunes come your way via Valerie June, Fat Night, Haitus Kaiyote, Marta Ren & the Groovelvets, Frootful, King Khan & the Shrines, the Spandettes, Chicano Batman and (finally!) the Boogaloo Assassins, with classic material worked in from the Isleys, Michael Jackson, Donald Byrd and others. Very very happy to be back on the air and looking forward to all of these Sundays in September to bring you the best music I can find.

Melting Pot on KPFK #137: First Hour
Melting Pot on KPFK #137: Second Hour

Playlist: 09-01-2013
{opening theme} Booker T & the MGs – Melting Pot – Melting Pot (Stax)

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The Isley Brothers – Work To Do – Brother, Brother, Brother (T-Neck)
Bing Ji Ling – Move On – Shadow To Shine (Tummy Touch)
Belle & Sebastian – Your Secrets – Third Eye Centre (Matador)
Myron & E – If I Gave You My Love – Broadway (Stones Throw)
Marta Ren & the Groovelvets – 2 Kinds Of Men – 7” (Record Kicks)

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Fat Night – Things You Do – 7” (Colemine)
King Khan & the Shrines – Pray For Lil – Idle No More (Merge)
Lake – Giving & Receiving – Giving & Receiving (K Recs)
Michael Jackson – I Can’t Help It – Off The Wall (Epic)
Quadron – LFT – Avalanche (Vested In Culture)

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Elyas Khan – Bells – Single (BBE)
El Guincho – Bombay – Pop Negro (Young Turks/XL)
Lime – Your Love – Your Love (Prism)
The Spandettes – Sweet & Saccarhine (Whiskey Baron Remix) – 7” (Do Right!)

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Haitus Kaiyote – Nakamarra – Tawk Tomahawk (Flying Buddha)
Jose James – Love – The Dreamer (Brownswood)
Frootful feat. Mazen – The Road – 7” (Freestyle)
Jovenes y Sexys – Amor Platonico – Original Music and Songs Inspired By Rudo Y Cursi (Nacional)

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The Decoders feat. Noelle Skaggs – Walk On By – Single (Self-released)
Valerie June – The Hour – Pushing Against The Stone (Concord)
Dimas III & the Royal Jesters – I Won’t Love You Again – 7” (Clown)
Chicano Batman – Cycles Of Existential Rhyme – Magma EP (Self-Released)
Terence Blanchard – Central Focus – Magnetic (Blue Note)

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The Boogaloo Assassins – Para Mi – Old Love Dies Hard (Sicario Records)
The Hawk feat. Little Hannah Collins – Don’t Judge A Book – Record Kicks 10th (Record Kicks)
Donald Byrd – Dominoes – Places & Spaces (Blue Note)
{closing theme} Dungen – C. Visar Vagen – Tio Batar (Kemado)

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Trinikas – Remember Me – 7” (Numero)

Posted on Dig Deep

Dig Deep: Horace Silver – Total Response – Blue Note (1971)

HoraceResponse

Horace Silver – Acid, Pot or Pills
Horace Silver – Old Mother Nature Calls
Horace Silver – Total Response

I’m not sure where or when I heard of this album. Generally my memory is pretty exact with music, but not in this case. I feel like it was in Atlanta that at some point I’m pretty sure I heard “Acid, Pot or Pills,” maybe in a club or on a mix, but I’m strangely not sure. What is much more perplexing is that it took me all this time to actually track down a copy of the album. “Acid, Pot or Pills” should have been more than enough to get me searching for this one, but it wasn’t until a more recent listen that I started on the hunt. Total Response finds Silver playing in a funkier vein, though depending on how you define the term, there was certainly always a heavy amount of “funk” in his piano playing. But this album, along with the others in the United States Of Mind trilogy were still a bit of a departure, less so in the music, definitely in the lyrics.

I think that was what struck me most about this album, the music is pretty fantastic, as are the vocals of Andy and Salome Bey (aren’t they always?), but it’s the lyrical content that is really striking. “Old Mother Nature Calls” and “Big Business” are songs that would be completely in step with the current era, even though they’re over 40 years old. That seems less like a “more things change, the more they stay the same” kind of thing and instead really shows how far out ahead Silver was with this music.

Cheers,

Michael

Posted on Ephemera

In Heavy Rotation: Hiatus Kaiyote – Tawk Tomahawk – Flying Buddha

HaitusKai

Hiatus Kaiyote – Nakamarra

So…as you might have noticed I’ve been away for most of the month of August, both here and on the air at KPFK. KPFK was planned, this was not and it has to do with the blur that has been this month of August with tons of personal things going on and the fact that my laptop basically gave up on me part way through the month. Now that summer is almost over, another school year has just begun and I’m about to return to the KPFK airwaves, it should be back to business as usual here on the blog (strangely though August has been the most visited month in the blog’s history…perhaps I should go away more often?).

I return here with a track that I first heard when Morgan Rhodes filled in for me a few weeks ago. Driving around LA (a bit surreal listening to your own show when you’re not on it) I became increasingly enamored with the song she was playing. At first I thought it might have been some obscure track from the Soulqarians with Badu on vocals, but the singer did things that Badu doesn’t and perhaps can’t. The phrasing was a bit more left of center than I’d expect from her and so I knew that I had a real mystery on my hands. At the break Morgan solved it for me saying the band was Hiatus Kaiyote, they were from Australia and they’d just played a show in LA at the Bootleg Theater. While I was kicking myself for missing the show (and for being pretty late on this train, since AntVala and other KCRW’ers had been up on it since last year!) I was happy to learn that the record from the group had been released by Salaam Remi’s label Flying Buddah earlier in the summer. Since that first moment I’ve been crushing pretty hard on this song, a late challenger for the song of the summer for me. If you haven’t heard it yet, welcome to your latest musical crush as well and look for big things from this group in the near future.