The Love You Save

I was cleaning up the other day and came across this intriguing promo item for the Love Movement album that I forgot about. Hmm, wonder what's in the box?

Tribe Called Quest chocolates - SS. Yum. I wonder what's held up better - the album or the chocolates? (That filmy white residue pictured above isn't glare, btw.) True to my hoarder's nature I promptly packed these babies back up and put them somewhere safe. (Note to self: remember to check in on Tribe chocolates in 2018.)

Mañana

Tomorrow night I gets busy once again at APT with my special guest, my mellow my man, DJ Monk-One - co-founding editor of Wax Poetics, partner in renowned production squad the Greenwood Rhythm Coalition, longtime resident mix-master on WBAI's "Underground Railroad," big cheese buyer at Turntablelab, and purveyor of beloved mixes like this and this. Though we've held down both floors of APT separately time and time again, for some inexplicable reason Monk and myself have never rocked the downstairs lair together. Well, in the words of Souls of Mischief, never no more! Looking forward to this - should be a really fun night.

We'll also be celebrating the release of Monk and GRC's latest muy caliente single for the Names You Can Trust label, "Salsa Verde" b/w "Pachanga Pistola." You can purchase and find more info on this lil' ditty here, as well as DL a bunch of great mixes from Monk that are unavailable anywhere else. 

Thankful

Not sure whose bright idea it was to have these guys pose with their shirts off. (At least they didn't go out like this.) But I am extremely appreciative of their rendition of William DeVaughn's enduring classic (an overlooked album track from the above), which for me stands head and (emaciated) shoulders above all others, and never fails to elicit at least one "Who's this?" whenever I play it out. Happy (Jive) Turkey Day!

The Intruders "Be Thankful For What You've Got"

BTW

I know, female rap is so last spring. But here's MC Peaches' version of that Temptations tune I posted - one of the tougher Bumrush titles to pick up. (Well, I guess they're all tough to pick up now.) I'm feelin' the well-placed "Seventh Heaven" synths on this one. And good news for all you Alliance fans: King of Chill is still in the game, working with Premier over at HeadQCourterz Studios (p/k/a D&D).

MC Peaches "Treat Her Like a Lady"

Broadcast News

"Spine Blowing Decisions" radio Vol. 5 is now up on the Spine Magazine site and available for your listening pleasure. This month's show is primarily composed of things that I brought with me out to London but didn't get a chance to play at the gig. It'll be on the site's main page for about a week, and after that you should still be able to DL via the archive. Enjoy!

You Remind Me

This one has always reminded me of this - especially on the eerily similar sax break. (And don't front, that Wham sh*t is still incredible; BITD at NYU Adam Sandler used to do an acoustic version with obscene lyrics at our dorm's talent shows. Always knew that guy would go far.)

Anyways, check it out and see if you don't agree. (FYI, there's a pretty elusive 12" version too. But for the time being in the infamous words of Lou Reed, I'll keep it with mine...)

Gateway "Can't Accept the Fact"

Finer Things...

I almost forgot about this record. And I was a big Temptations fan. How big (pause), you ask? Well, back in the day when I was a teenager my first concert ever was the group's 1982 Reunion album tour with OG leads David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, and Dennis Edwards all in together. (My mom - bless her heart - took me to the show; afterwards we wound up running into my school guidance counselor, Ms. Alexander, who memorably exclaimed - no doubt to the amusement of the throngs of middle-aged Black folks exiting the venue around us - "Jeff, what are you doing here - you're too young!")

So suffice to say I was into these dudes, and was fully intoxicated (in that "Fantastic Voyage"-y kinda way) by "Standing on the Top," their way 2 fonky Rick James (a/k/a Melvin Franklin's nephew)-produced comeback single (his return favor for that nifty cameo they made at the end of "Superfreak," you gotta figure). Compared to that Stone City-backed bonanza, the conventional R&Boogie of "Treat Her Like a Lady" - which came out a couple years after the reunion honeymoon was over and Ruffin and Kendricks were off makin' moves with Daryl Hall and John Oates - sounded softer than Cottonelle. Especially against Purple Rain and King of Rock. 

Sounds like pure class now. I guess I'm finally old enough.

Temptations "Treat Her Like a Lady" 

Oh, What a Night

"People/ People who need Plastic People/ Are the luckiest people in the world..."

As transcendent gigs go last Saturday's has gotta be up there for me: my first in London Town, at a venue with a near-legendary rep and great crowd, and a sound system that lived up to all expectations. I mean, you'd think that anyone planning to open a club - ostensibly a place where folks go to listen to and dance to music - would place "good sound system" somewhere on their priorities check list. Yet strangely enough it doesn't seem to work out that way too often.

Not so at Plastic, where the records (and I do mean records as it was an all vinyl affair; I've got the sore back to prove it) sounded amazing. And I'm not even tooting my own horn on some yeah-the-stuff-I-rocked-sounded-off-the-chain-whatever-whatever (since I was, of course, in the booth and not out on the floor during my own set). I'm talking about just kickin' back and checking the selections my colleagues Judah, Benny and Ed were dropping even before things got busy. Records that I'd inexplicably never heard before (that Jacques Loussier thing Dr. Dre hijacked years ago for Eminem). Records that I thought I'd heard and had obviously, erroneously dismissed (a blazing Ronnie Foster cut off Sweet Revival - which I actually sold off semi-recently, and yes, I'll be re-buying... - that sounded every bit on par with my favorite by him, "Chunky"). Records that had been mysteries to me and I didn't realize were already in my own damn collection (an Alphonse Mouzon joint - not the one off UBB - that I'd heard a few years ago off of an old Afrika Islam WHBI "Zulu Beat" tape, but never knew the identity of until Saturday). Records that whether I was hearing them for the first time or not, I was in essence hearing for the first time because I was hearing them for the first time in this environment, on this system, in this part of the world. 

Just based on the vibe early on I knew it was gonna be a really fun night. By the time I got on and got to shit like this - fuhgetaboutit. By the time I was long done and the lights came on some time around 5am, but the party people (and more importantly, the manager) said, keep on a la James Williams, we were all giggling like little school kids who got granted extra recess. In short: These. Are. The. Good. Times.

Special shouts to: Zaid @ Spine for bringing me across the pond and being such a gracious host - truly above and beyond the call of duty; Judah, Benny and Ed @ Non-Sense for sharing the set at their super-superb soiree; Benji and Tony for repping and just bein' their cool-ass selves; Mr. Bernard for keeping it live on the after hours tip; and all the beautiful folks - especially those that stuck around til' da breakadawn - who gave me 100% positive feedback. 

My last song of the session (a Dave Tompkins sure-shot... shot... shot...), para alla youse:

Emerson "Sending All My Love Out"

Tonight's da Night

Are We on the Air?

The homie Benji B of BBC1Xtra was kind enough to allow yours truly on his world renown "Deviation" radio broadcast last night to yap a buncha mambajahambo, wasting away valuable airtime that he usually devotes to playing fresh new music no one else on the planet has. Oh, I also got a chance to present a brief mix of old folks' choonz, and plug the gig tomorrow night at Plastic People presented by my peeps at spinemagazine.com (peace, Zaid - one of the few, the proud who may actually be reading this).

Although I enjoyed some real limited radio experience several years back when Danny Rudder, Ricky Powell, Frankie Inglese and myself were doing our thing on WKCR, I only had a chance to (illegally, sans license) man the board unsupervised on a few occasions. And even doing that - steering the college radio ship on the sneak tip - was somewhat unnerving. Like driving on the FDR whilst eating a messy chicken sandwich (not that I would ever attempt something so reckless). Anyways, every time I'm in the presence of actual broadcast professionals in their element I'm reminded of how much goes on behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly on the air. (It's never as glamorous as these guys made it look.) So props to Benji and co. for letting me hang out at the station and goof around while they maintained their world class operation. 

Thanks to the magic of tricknology, even if you missed it live you can peep this week's show (my UK radio debut, yo!) here.

Down in the Tube Station at Midnight

Light of the World "London Town"

Date With the Rain

It's been raining off and on in NYC ever since Election Day - hopefully not some kind of bad omen for the next four years. Still giddy from this week's wave of optimism, I'm gonna say it's simply Tha Mystery God shedding tears of joy. (Awww, what a softy you are, Mystery God.)

Anyways, here's a few precipitation-themed joints to enjoy while waiting for things to clear up (tomorrow, says Doppler). From the recent acquisitions file/pile: the Jewel Bass is on the lovely femme modern soul tip - mid-tempo heat complete with cool spacey synth accents, quiet stormy sound FX and mildly risqué lyrics ("I can feel the moisture dampening my skin/ I'm ready for this cloudburst that's about to begin"). Okay, not exactly Smokey Robinson-level poetry. But still more subtle than what passes for R&B song-writing these days. (It's all hip-hop's fucking fault - but that's a discussion for another time.)

The Rae and Ghost is one of those great Loud heyday promo 12s - same era as Mobb Deep's "Temperature's Rising (Remix)" (which reminds me - gotta remember to digitize that one too). Back then for myself and many others, Wu-Tang could absolutely do no wrong. Just when you thought you had them pegged (or as pegged as was possible given the sonic mold-shredding of stuff like Cuban Linx...) they came with something unexpected like this - the grimiest dudes out the group spitting over a straight lift from Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes." Wu-Tang gone Bad Boy - sans Puff's annoyingly saccharine, sanitized aural sheen. Plus - Biggie's affection for "Hey Love" notwithstanding - who else was showing love to Thom Bell and company lyrically like Ghostdini? ("Beware - I'm hittin' like a snare from the Delfonics/ Crushin' n*ggas I be blowin' like economics...") 

The things is, the snares on Delfonics records were fuckin' hard as hell. I can just imagine the conversation in the studio that precipitated that line being written. Those dudes were just doing their thing in their own isolated weird world and we were just lucky enough to be privy to it for a little while.

Jewel Bass "Let Your Love Rain Down on Me"

Raekwon ft. Ghosface Killah "Rainy Dayz (Remix)"

YES!

The Impressions "We're a Winner"

The Notations "A New Day"

Moment of Truth

Marvin Gaye "You're the Man Pt. 1 & 2"

At Last

It took a whole lot longer than I'd have liked but I finally finished my contribution to this jam. For now primarily on sale in Japan and a few spots in downtown NYC. Hopefully in a few weeks it'll be more widely available. Thanks to Muro, and K-Prince & Zunbug at BBP for being so patient. 

What's Really Mahood?

Tonight we got my man George Mahood coming through all the way from Manchester UK to lay some treats on us. George runs the Concourse Records on-line record shop, and is the former EIC of Big Daddy and Grand Slam magazines. Last year when he played our party he killed it, particularly on the crossover tip, with a lot of joints (Sherrell Bros., Harmonics on Seventy 7, C.O.D.s on Magic Touch etc.) that seemed to have slid under the radar - at least at the time.

Here's another from his set that night - an overlooked cheapie by former Spinners lead singer G.C. Cameron. Sort of reminds me of Billy Paul's "How Good is Your Game" with the acoustic guitar up front. David Ruffin also does a version but it's not nearly as good. G.C.'s Curtis Mayfield-style vocal carries this shit. 45 only too, I think. 

G.C. Cameron "No Matter Where"