Last year this was the Funk Rumble Block Party, but from here on out it will be “Make It Funky!” Another great line-up of bands with Connie Price & the Keystones, The Rebirth, Baby Stone and Jeremy Sole’s Musaics. I was lucky enough to do a couple of sets, and thought I’d share my first mini-set with you guys here. Already looking forward to Make It Funky 2011!
…Almost forgot about this video that the mighty Anthony Valadez put together, with music from Orgone who was on the bill last year, I make a cameo appearance at the very end.
With the word coming down of the passing of Melvin Bliss last week, it seemed more than fitting to get this together, the first proper post in the “Top 5’s” section, all on the most iconic break-beats in Hip-Hop history. The choice of “iconic” is a deliberate one. Though many of these songs have been sampled 100s of times, it’s not just the fact that they have been mega-sampled that makes them iconic, it’s how they’ve been sampled and how they stick in the mind. So, here’s my list of the 5 most iconic breaks in Hip-Hop history, feel free to add your own in the comments section.
5: Melvin Bliss – “Synthetic Substitution”
With it’s massive drums and gloomy piano/organ, “Synthetic” is certainly one of the most sampled tracks of all time. It might also be the best overall song on this list, with observations on a dystopian world that seems a little too close to our present civilization from Mr. Bliss (RIP). To me it’s iconic status is secured by virtue of being on one of the earliest and still to this best examples of sampling on record, Ultramagnetic MC’s “Ego Trippin’” a song that continues to sound ahead of its time now almost 25 years since it’s initial release. For a mix of some of the other classic tracks to use this break look no further than this mix put together by Matthew Africa
Melvin Bliss – “Synthetic Substitution”
Ultramagnetic MC’s – “Ego Trippin'”
4: Lyn Collins – “Think (About It)”
Though this James Brown produced track gets associated mostly with Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock’s “It Takes Two” it’s been sampled by a ton of others as well, from Chubb Rock to Kool Moe Dee to Slick Rick to even more R&B/Pop based artists like New Edition, BoyzIIMen and Janet Jackson. It’s still amazing to me how few people recognize the original, until it hits the classic “It Takes Two” breakdown, but when it does, you understand immediately why I’d have it on this list.
Lyn Collins – “Think”
Rob Base & DJ Ez Rock – “It Takes Two”
3: The Winstons – “Amen Brother”
Another bedrock sample, that’s been chopped up and slowed down by countless artists. The “Amen” break is such an icon it even has an excellent documentary detailing the impact of this exceptional break on modern music. Besides it’s effect on Hip-Hop, the “Amen” break spawned a completely separate break-beat culture in Jungle/Drum’n’Bass and for that it deserves it’s legendary status.
The Winstons – “Amen Brother”
N.W.A. – “Straight Outta Compton”
2: James Brown – “Funky Drummer”
“Funky Drummer” might be the most sampled song in the history of Hip-Hop. While the drums have been used in songs like Public Enemy’s “Rebel Without A Pause” (matter of fact, is it even possible to think of the Bomb squad production sound without the use of “Funky Drummer”?) Eric B & Rakim’s “Lyrics of Fury” and my choice below LL’s “Mama Said Knock You Out,” don’t forget that many of the classic James Brown yelps and screams that punctuated many Golden Era productions came from this one as well. In the end though, it always comes back to Clyde Stubblefield’s massive drums.
James Brown – “The Funky Drummer”
LL Cool J – “Mama Said Knock You Out”
1: Freddie Scott – “(You) Got What I Need”
Unlike the other tracks here, Freddie Scott’s “(You) Got What I Need” has not been sampled to death, in fact it’s only been sampled a couple of times. This one heads the list because after Biz Markie sampled this for his “Just A Friend” it was absolutely impossible for anyone else to even attempt to sample this. Biz makes such brilliant use of the opening drums and the hook that anytime you hear even a snippet of this track, people immediately think of it as “Just A Friend.” Even at soul clubs, when I play the original, people sing the Biz Markie lyrics “But you say he’s just a friend,” instead of Freddie Scott’s original lyrics.
It’s also at the top of this list because I don’t think there is a more life affirming action than dropping the needle on Biz’s version or the original and having people immediately respond and start singing with the chorus. I would argue that no Hip-Hop song, including “Rapper’s Delight” has brought more people together in good times than this song and because of that, I don’t think there is a mightier sample than this one.
Battered Ornaments – The Crosswords And The Safety Pins
Battered Ornaments – Staggered
Battered Ornaments – Smoke Rings
I was initially drawn to this record because of the surrealist cover art. Not knowing anything about the band, I originally thought they were called Mantle-Piece and the record was The Battered Ornaments, a look at the spine fixed that. When I checked things out inside the gatefold, I found that they definitely fit my criteria in choosing psych/prog-rock records from this period of time, with reeds, flutes, organ, “african” percussion and even tambourine listed in the credits in addition to the usual guitars and drums. At the very reasonable price of $6 (downright bottom of the barrell pricing at Burbank’s Atomic!), it was worth a gamble to check them out.
Turns out, the Battered Ornaments were an English group that originally featured Pete Brown. Brown is notable for his collabortions with Cream, co-writing many of their hit songs. As the story goes the band recorded “Mantle-Piece,” their second album, only to unceremoniously kick Brown out of the band before releasing the record. Brown’s vocals were removed and Chris Speeding magically inserted his vocals into the mix.
Personally, nothing on Brown or Speeding, I would have preferred if they had just released this as an instrumental record. I really love the sound of this record, especially Rob Tait’s drums. On the slightly slower songs like “Sunshades” the instrumental “Staggered” and my personal favorite “The Crosswords & the Safety Pins” the drums have this huge and slightly hollow sound, just perfect to Hip-Hop tuned ears. They’re also super crisp on the upbeat numbers like “Smoke Rings,” which has this really great psychedelic passage with flute and electric guitar after the vocals drop out in the first minute or two. Unfortunately, there are no really clean breaks, Tait’s drums always seem to be on the verge of massive breakdowns but they never materialize (though there still is plenty of spots to chop up, if that’s your thing).
In terms of overall musicality the group has more of a slightly jazzy prog feel to their work, not as heavy as King Crimson not as subtle as McDonald & Giles, but a really great mix of sounds. Apparently the UK Harvest versions of this record go for big money, alas my copy is the US version, but for $6 it still is a steal and maybe one of my top finds of the first half of 2010.
While I hope this doesn’t start a trend (I can see Heidi Montag: Slowed & Throwed already…) this is a fascinating little remix project by the folks behind Tri Angle records. It might be hard to remember but once upon a time Lindsay Lohan put out the same sort of bland pop music other former child stars got rich with (Britney Spears, Hillary Duff, currently Miley Cyrus). All her mayhem over the last few years put a dent in that, but there were a few songs that leaked more recently before trouble reared its ugly head again for Linds. Taking original material from older and newer tracks by Lohan, the Tri Angle crew reimagine and recontextualize these songs into a soundtrack worthy of a downward spiral. The mix is at its best, as it is here with Babe Rainbow’s “I Can Try To Run”, when they slow things down and get deep and murky.
Just so you can see how vast a difference there is between this and the original, here’s LiLo’s “Stuck” which is the source material for Babe Rainbow’s “I Can Try To Run”:
Pacha Massive out of New York City were the first in-studio guests for KPFK’s Melting Pot. Pacha Massive consists primarily of multi-instrumentalists and vocalists Nova & Maya, here joined by vocalist and flute player Monica. They’ve released a couple of records on Nacional, 2007’s All Good Things and 2009’s If You Want It.
Pacha Massive's Nova on guitar and Maya providing percussion on a KPFK trash can!
In our interview we chatted about their love of Los Angeles, their distinctive mix of styles and sounds and a bit about the recording process. They also performed two songs, “Your Love” and “If You Want It” in our studio, with Nova and Monica on vocals, Nova on guitar, Monica on flute (ala Rahsaan Roland Kirk playing and singing!) and Maya on percussion which as you can see from the picture was improvised on the spot using one of our trash cans! Looking forward to bringing them back at a later date with the full band and hopefully a much better sound person (I simply don’t cut it as a sound man…)
Our first show of August also had a historic first for Melting Pot, the first in studio performance and it comes from NYC’s Pacha Massive! Below you can catch audio of the whole show (slightly less quality than normal, this comes from the recently reinstituted KPFK Audio Archvies), I think I’ll have a separate post for this performance, that will just include the interview+performance from Pacha Massive (and hopefully many more artists as the years go passing by). Also in the show, new music from M.I.A., Best Coast, Myron & E with the Soul Investigators, Cooly G, Budos Band and more. Show opens with a most of my set from Saturday’s Make It Funky Fest 2010 (a post on that to follow) and closes with a tribute set to Melvin Bliss, whose “Synthetic Substitution” is one of the seminal breakbeats of all-time. Tune in and tell a friend, audio will be up for a month from today…
{opening theme} Booker T. & the MGs – Melting Pot – 7” (Stax)
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Make It Funky 2010 set:
Lafayette Afro Rock Band – Hihache – Voodounon (Editions Makossa)
Toni Tornado – Podes Crer Amizade – Toni Tornado (Odeon)
Ray Camacho Group – Si Se Puede – Salsa Chicana (Californio)
Ruby Andrews – You Made A Believer Out Of Me – 7” (Zodiac)
The Trinikas – Remember Me – 7” (Pearce)
The New Holidays – Maybe So, Maybe No – 7” (Soul Hawk)
Cymande – Bra – Cymande (Janus)
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Myron & E with the Soul Investigators – On Broadway – 7” (Timmion)
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble – Rainbow – Heritage EP (Choice Cuts)
Shawn Lee – Christopher Walken On Sunshine – Sing A Song (Ubiquity)
The Pepper Pots – Dream Guy – Now! (Black Pepper)
The Breakestra – Back At the Boathouse – Dusk Til Dawn (Strut)
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Best Coast – Summer Mood – Crazy For You (Mexican Summer)
Versus – Lose That Dress / Yeah You – Secret Swingers (Teen Beat)
Budos Band – Rite Of The Ancients – Budos Band III (Daptone)
The Comrades – Bullwalk – The World Ends: Afro Rock & Psychedelia in 1970s Nigeria (Soundway)
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Pacha Massive Live Interview & Performance
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Pacha Massive – Lejos Cercas – If You Want It (Nacional)
M.I.A. – Story To Be Told – MAYA (N.E.E.T. / Interscope)
Cooly G – Up In My Head – 12” (Hyperdub)
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Melvin Bliss Tribute Set:
Melvin Bliss – Syntehtic Substitution – 7” (Sunburst)
Ultramagnetic MC’s – Ego Trippin’ – Critical Beatdown (Next Plateau)
Public Enemy – Don’t Believe The Hype – It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back (Def Jam)
De La Soul – Potholes In My Lawn – 3 Feet High & Rising (Tommy Boy)
The Pharcyde – Ya Mama – Bizarre Ride II (To) The Pharcyde (Delicious Vinyl)
Gangstarr feat. Nice & Smooth – Dwyck – Hard To Earn (Chrysalis)
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{closing theme} Dungen – C. Visar Vagen – Tio Batar (Kemado)
Super gassed about being apart of this for the second year straight (last year it was called the Funk Rumble Block Party), with a DJ set on the main stage at 9:00pm. If you’re in the Los Angeles area Saturday July 31st, this is where you need to be, 50+ DJs spinning every funky style under the sun, 25+ Artists painting live all around and some of LA’s finest and funkiest on the main stage (schedule below). Early next week I’ll be throwing up a few pictures and probably my set as well. Hope to see you there!
Mauricio Smith – Old Shoes
Mauricio Smith – El Green Hornet
Mauricio Smith – Going Uptown
I’ve been on lockdown recently, obsessively focused on putting together a set for the upcoming Make It Funky Music & Arts Fest in Chinatown this Saturday, but I did want to share this swinging record from reedman Mauricio Smith. Smith cut his teeth with Joe Cuba and others, and for this album, which I believe was his debut as a leader, he hooked up with Joe Cain to produce a top notch blend of latin inspired go-go music.
What’s always been a bit perplexing for me is the title, “Bitter Acid.” While this music certainly burns, there’s nothing bitter about it at all. The whole record is winner after winner after winner. Strangely the three tracks I chose follow one another (though not in this order) on side 2. “Old Shoes” is really the Nancy Sinatra classic “These Boots Were Made For Walking,” retaining only the opening signature bass line before busting out with a great and wild go-go beat. “El Green Hornet” is a straight ahead latin rocker, with stinging (pun intended) guitar work from Vinnie Bell. “Going Uptown” was actually the song that Cool Chris of Groove Merchant sold me on this record, with it’s fuzzy guitar and mid-tempo beat. When I first heard it I swore there was a hand-clap in there too, but subsequent listens have shown my ears to be wrong about that, but little else when it comes to this album.
Right now my mind is pretty consumed with trying to figure out what I’m going to spin during this Saturday’s Make It Funky! Music & Arts Fest in Chinatown, but I had to post up a little something about this exceptional compilation from the folks at Soundway. If you checked out Side Dishes #1 with Oliver Wang of Soul-Sides.com you’ve already heard a couple tracks on this double CD collection of obscured songs out 1970s Nigeria. Add this devastatingly funky instrumental from the Comrades and you STILL haven’t scratched the surface! With 33 total tracks, all of them top shelf material, you could get lost in these sounds for days and days and days.
For this week’s show I decided to switch things up a bit. Most weeks I do this show, I spend hours upon hours figuring out how I’m going to fill up the 2 hours I have with you each week. My focus generally is on new music, with probably 70-80% of the music being things that have recently been released or are upcoming and the rest being classic material that connects to these new sounds in one way or another. As a new tradition (and since the show is so new, any tradition would be new), I decided to dedicate the last Sunday of the month to vinyl, think of it as a “Dig Deep” edition of Melting Pot. I don’t plan out these all vinyl shows, just bring in a couple boxes of records and see what develops. This first go round, there was a fair amount of music that I’ve featured here in the Dig Deep section, which makes sense, since all the things I feature here are in my collection. In the future I’ll likely be bringing in guest DJs to spin a guest set or two all on vinyl, stay tuned for more on that in August.
At the top of the second hour, this week’s show also had our first guests at Melting Pot, Chad and Derek, the organizers behind Make It Funky: Music & Arts Festival in Chinatown (DTLA) July 31st! I’ll be posting more on “Make It Funky” this week and next, since I’ll be doing a little mini set on the main stage late in the proceedings. Unfortunately, I had double technology issues, first with DJ equipment, which robbed us of a guest DJ set from the ReMitch of Soul Sessions, and then my recording of the show blanked out just about at the end of the interview (which explains why it ends so abrubtly on the audio that’s here), but I just did some quick edits to bring everything back together, I think we only missed a minute or two, just the round-up and thank yous. We’re back to regular programming with a bunch of new releases next week and potentially a performance or two…Audio is up for a month, enjoy the show and make sure to spread the good word.
{opening theme} Boris Gardiner – Melting Pot – Is What’s Happening (Dynamic)
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Harvey Mandel – Wade In The Water – Cristo Redentor (Phillips)
The Purpose – Dustcracks, Bugs & Roaches – The Purpose (ABC)
Gal Costa – Hotel Das Estrellas – Le Gal (Phillips)
Barry Goldberg – Sittin’ In Circles – Reunion (Buddah)
The Heliocentrics – Space Time Girl – 12” (Now-Again)
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The Spectrals – Don’t Mind – 7” (Slumberland)
John Barry – …And How To Get It – The Knack: Original Soundtrack (United Artists)
Eva Pilarova – Vazky – EVA (Supraphon)
Johnny Hammond – Call On Me – Gambler’s Life (Salvation)
Sergio Mendes & Brazil ’77 – Love Music – Love Music (Bell)
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3 Titans – College – 7” (Dunham)
Mandrill – Fencewalk / Hagalo – Composite Truth (Polydor)
Eddie Palmieri – Oyele Que Te Conviene – Unfinished Masterpiece (Coco)
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Joe Farrell – Upon This Rock / Seven Seas – Upon This Rock (CTI)
Interview with the organizers of Make It Funky!: Music & Arts Festival (July 31st in Downtown LA/Chinatown)
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Myron & E with the Soul Investigators – On Broadway – 7” (Timmion)
Jimmy McGriff – The Now Thing – Soul Sugar (Capitol)
Sugar Billy Garner – Super Duper Love – Super Duper Love (Fast Track)
Toni Tornado – Aposta – Toni Tornado (Odeon)
Tim Weisberg – Tyme Cube – Hurtwood Edge (A&M)
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The How – Polly – 7” (555 / Slumberland)
The Sorrows – Teenage Letter – Take A Heart (PRT)
Canned Heat – Whiskey Headed Woman No. 2 – Boogie With Canned Heat (Liberty)
Reflection Eternal feat. Mos Def & Mr. Man – Fortified Live – 12” (Rawkus)
Cactus – You Can’t Judge A Book By Its Cover – Cactus (Atco)
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{closing theme} Kenny Baker – Mississippi Waltz – Plays Bill Monroe (County)
{Congrats to Linka O. & Daen L. for winning the passes to see Sleepy Sun!}
Neo-psychedelic group Sleepy Sun will be in town performing at Spaceland here in Los Angeles on July 23rd. If you’d like to go to the show, send me an e-mail to michael[@]meltingpotblog.com by 12noon on Thursday, July 22nd. Sleepy Sun is a fantastic band on record, with a wide range of sounds and textures to their music, but they put on an even better live show! Here’s some evidence on both counts…
{Update, this one didn’t go on Ebay, so I took it up to Groove Merchant and traded it pretty much straight up for this!}
Got a few additional pictures up for this one because it’s currently on auction over at Ebay. I don’t run into too much original Jamaican vinyl these days, so when I saw this at a local record store, I just had to pick it up. From what I’ve been able to gather, Winston Turner was a trumpet player from JA, and this record was the debut release for him and his group, which also featured Roland Ashby (Piano/Organ), Boysie Williams (Bass), Joe Graham (Drums) and Tony DaCoata (Vocals) in 1967. I’m not sure if the group cut a second record, but this one is quite a rarity.
For the most part the music here is what I’d term “supper jazz,” instrumental versions of popular tunes, including in this set “It Was A Very Good Year,” “Monday, Monday,” “El Cid,” and “Don’t Make Me Over.” What separates this record from similar “recorded at Hotel lounge” albums is the sound. The record has this deep sound, which is best experienced on a very loud sound system or in really good headphones. On the tracks mentioned above when Turner’s trumpet plays, it comes through so clean you can really feel the notes.
Though Turner’s trumpet isn’t heard on it, “Take It Easy” is the best example of what I’m talking about. Everything sounds gigantic, especially those rock steady drums. As much as I like Hopeton Lewis’ version of this track, I’d put this one just slightly behind Prince Buster’s live and wild rendition with the added “have some fish & chips with a cup of tea” lyric (unfortunately, those brilliant lines are only to be had on Prince Buster’s version), just because of that great sound of the drums. The band also plays with great spirit on the two Calypso tracks here, “Obeah Wedding” and “Love In The Cemetery”.
Aside from the music, another reason this is a great collectible and rare record is the original sleeve. As you can tell from the pics below, Federal was a record label that really cared about its consumers and wanted to make sure they took proper care of both their records and turntables.
That level of attention is something that is sorely missing in our current digital times, but that is after all the reason we keep digging for original vinyl.
Last year around this time I was heavily impressed with Orgone’s performance at the Funk Rumble Block Party in Chinatown (BTW, Funk Rumble part 2, “Make It Funky” is coming up soon July 31st! More info on that shortly). I loved the way they effortlessly shifted their funky focus, from an opening instrumental working of Peter King’s “African Dialects” to “Who Knows Who,” their own original material featuring sassy vocalist Fanny Franklin. Their new album “Cali Fever” builds off of the promise their debut “Killion Floor” hinted at as they dig deeper down the well of funkiness, with some afro-beat flavors on the title track and on “Mantanza,” to even some late 70s vibes, especially on “The Only One” and “Time Tonight” (though that track shows that someone is a fan of the Gossip’s post-punk sound on “For Keeps”…).
Several songs still feature the tough and rough funk of the debut, including “Crazy Queen,” where the boys take the rhythm to their previously released (On the Time Tonight 12″) instrumental “The Big Escape” and add Fanny’s vocals into the heavy funky mix, and instrumentals like “The Last Fool” and “The Cleaner.” All in all, a fine funky time and another reason to think that the center of the current Funk/Soul revival may be shifting from the east coast to Los Angeles.
