Ruff Luxury 18: Sonido Bestial!

Sonido Bestial is going down once again this coming saturday inside of River Gods in Cambridge.   I will be joining Dj Shabbakano on the decks for a night of vintage Latin American music–so in honor of the occasion here is some mixtape love to help shake off the cold and get you in the spirit for saturday!

tracklist

Descarga Naniga – Cachao

El Agual Limpia Todo – Federico y su Combo Latino

El Ausente  - Fruko / Joe Arroyo

Lloraras – Dimensión Latina / Oscar D’León

Fayab Fayab – Wganda Kenya

Cana E – Lizandro Meza y su Conjunto

Soy Guajiro – Anibal Velasquez

El Buscapies – Rufo Garrido

Musucundu – Son Palenque

No Haces Nada – Los Blanco

Rosa Rosalia and Bumplings Lost in Out of Space

Welcome back my friends, and thank you for tuning in to another Ruff Luxury mixxup.  On this occasion we hear a handful of records showcasing some of the rootical sounds from around the spanish-speaking caribbean.  From Cuba we have the great Arsenio Rodriguez–bandleader, composer and son montuno pioneer–along with Los Llopis, a group led by Francisco and Manuel “Ñolo” Llopis.  Duo Los Ahijados’ Prendela exemplifies the early sound of Dominican salsa legend Cuco Valoy, playing alongside his younger brother Martín Valoy.  Also hailing from the Dominican Republic we hear some merengue stylings from Yoyito Cabrera and then the New York based Orquesta Fiesta.  Obeah Wedding is a Mighty Sparrow composition here being given the big band treatment by Trinidadian Saxman Cyril Diaz.  The recording was taken live during Caribana 1967 in Toronto and appears on an Abel records LP.  Colombian artists make up the remainder of the mix, with the likes of Fruko, Lisandro Meza, Anibal Velasquez, Chico Cervantes, and Manuel Alvarez y Sus Dangers rounding things out in a fine style.  I hope that you enjoy the songs as much as I do.  Thank you and please visit us again at the Ruff Luxury Bumpling House.

tracklist

Prendela – Duo Los Ahijados

Para Bailar El Montuno – Arsenio Rodriguez & The Afro Cuban Sound

Vive La Vida Hoy – Fruko y Sus Tesos (Wilson Saoko)

Castigo y Cariño – Los Llopis

Libien Tanto – Yoyito Cabrera

Ceniza – Orquesta Fiesta

Obeah Wedding (Melda) – Cyril Diaz

Rosa Rosalia – Manuel Alvarez y Sus Dangers

Me Pico La Avispa – Chico Cervantes y Su Conjunto Internacional

Las Africanas – Lisandro Meza

Mercedes – Anibal Velasquez y Su Conjunto

Ruff Luxury In The World Of Sound

From Jamaica to the Uk, Toronto to New York and even Boston–the eighties of reggae, digital dancehall in the world of sound

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tracklist

Watch Your Approach - Chris Wayne

Sound Boy - Little Kirk

Don Sound – Danovan Champion

Crowd A Come Back – Sleepy Wonder

Roughneck Fashion - Tenor Fly

Don In A Town - Ninjaman

Price Gone Up – Cobra

Long Mouth Special -Gazan

Raggamuffin - Hopeton Junior

Time So Hard – Al Campbell

Serious Times - Errol Strength

She Turns Me On - Courtney Melody

Ruff Luxury 14 – Añejo Soul

A brand new concoction–live and direct from the ruff luxury mixology lab. This time to give a taste of what will be heard this coming Wednesday (5/02) as Mista Pala Pala and myself bring the undiluted ruckus to the Milky Way in JP for Añejo Soul.  All of the songs featured here are taken from second-hand records found in and around Boston–music from Haiti, Cabo-Verde, and points in between.  Barrel-strength bumplings, in  a small-batch style.

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tracklist

Tet Ensem – Carlito Coupe

Jouman – Francisco Tropical System

Pa Gain Zanmi Enco – Maud & Ti Roi

Konoe Boto – Ernie Seedo with the Exmo Stars

Midionera – Armando Almeida

Message Pou Peup Noue La – Galaxy

Injustice – System Band

Foi a Saudade – Sonora Paramarera

Vida – Mendes Brothers

Añejo Soul

I am excited to announce an upcoming party happening Wednesday May second (5/02) at the Milky Way in Jamaica Plain, Añejo Soul.  Kangsen and myself will be pulling out all the stops and dropping some hot platters on the good people of Boston for this event and we really hope you can join us from whatever side of the river you rest on.  The Milky Way is really just a hop skip and jump from where I live so not only do my Dorchester peoples have no excuse, but it feels extra nice to be bringing ruffneck fashion back across the bridge to our stomping ground for this one.  The music for the night will be in the same vein as the cumbia/dancehall/afrobeat stew we’ve been stirring up at the ruffneck fashion nights, but with an emphasis on bostoncentric sounds taken from records found in the area–vintage recordings from Cabo Verde, Haiti, Trinidad, and the Dominican Republic to set the tone for the evening.

Come bubble with us to the finest vintage sounds from the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa.  Taking a step backwards from the ‘Tropical Bass’ movement of the moment, Djs Trizlam and Kangsen Wakai test the limits and boundaries of tropical dance music through an excursion into genres like zouk, coupé décalé, soca, merengue, and konpa alongside cumbia, soukous, salsa, dancehall and champeta criolla.   With an ear for the analogue and an aim to make you shake, ruffneck fashion presents: Añejo Soul.

Wednesday May 02

9pm // Free // 21andup

284 Amory St. Jamaica Plain

Ruffneck Fashion In a African Style 4/22 (Dj One Dread & Dj Bald Dread)

I’m gearing up and preparing myself to get ruff luxurious with my Ruffneck Fashion family in just under two weeks for round three of our monthly musical showdown at Zuzu.  Joining Kangsen and myself will be our esteemed colleagues in the faculty of sound–Dj One Dread and Dj Bald Dread.  This month we turn east to Africa, focusing on past and present sounds from around the continent–bikutsi, soukous, highlife, coupé décalé, afrobeat, makossa, semba, benga, kuduro and much much more.  Come and close out the weekend right with the finest in music, dancing and company!

RUFFNECK FASHION (African Style)

sunday april 22 . 10pm . 21andup . free

@zuzu . 474 mass ave. cambridge, ma

Serie Curramba

Continuing with the Felito Records catalogue we have the Curramba series.  Click on the images to enlarge them.  Curramba is another term for the city of Barranquilla on Colombia’s Atlantic coast.  It is here that Producciones Fonograficas Felito Ltda. was established with its 16-track recording facility–Estudios Felito – El Templo Del Sonido Perfecto–under the direction of Félix Butrón Arbelaez. 

more thoughts on boston reggae

SInce the last post on Boston area reggae I regretfully haven’t answered many questions about the labels and artists that were brought up.  I have, on the other hand, continued to run into interesting releases on the likes on Mastermind and MJH Records, as well as the pieces pictured above.

Clockwise from the left we have a Waynie Ranks 12″ on Taurus records with a Courtney Morris cut Extacy on the flipside. The only address/phone number listed is the VP distribution info in Queens, but I’m pretty sure its a Boston production given that all of the artists and producers feature elsewhere on local releases of the time.  Taurus also likely has a connection to the mainstay Blue Hill Avenue record shop bearing the same name which is sadly the last of the Jamaican/Caribbean record shops that is still open today.  Record shops catering to the city’s West Indian population were for some time a thriving cottage industry in the area–they were certainly still a common feature of the landscape still while I was growing up in Dorchester during the nineties.  The next disc is another Leroy Webb and Twin Dread production from 1991–’Gwan Skylarking’ featuring rhythms by Mikey White and a host of local vocalists like Major Jackson, Errol Strength, Lady Lee and Ras Coley. The record was mixed by Junior Rodigan and Michael McDonald at Phillip Smart’s famed HC&F Studio in Freeport, Long Island. Taurus II records lists an address on River St. not far from the aforementioned record shop.

The I-Tones were a pretty successful reggae act in the Cambridge area for a time and put out a number of records including an LP called ‘Something We Share’ in 1987.  This song apparently had a video that you can see here.  Another of their bigger tunes was a nice rendition of Love is a Pleasure by Freddie Kay that came out on a 45.  Healin of the Nations’ ‘Love is the Answer’ LP is the final label scan, coming out on the HUB Records imprint.  This album received a lot of praise from the Boston Globe at the time of its release (1982) and is one of the more solid boston released full length that I have heard yet.  Danny Tucker shows up in the credits as a background vocalist on 400 Years–making this an even more interesting find and reminding me of how I really need to track down that Take Us Home 45.

Felito Records Catalogue

For anyone interested in Colombian music and especially the 80s Cumbia and Champeta sound, here are some scans from the Felito Records promotional catalogue.  Many of the titles are available still from the label’s shop located in downtown Barranquilla which is a great place to find records and well worth a visit if you are in the area.  These are the first ten pages of the catalogue, click to enlarge the images.

ruffluxury in a ruffneck fashion

Warming things up for the launch of RuffNeck Fashion this weekend we have another mixup from yours truly–dj TriZlAm.  This selection moves around a bit, much in the fashion that will be on showcase Sunday–featuring vintage sounds from West Africa and the Caribbean with a heavy dose of Trinidad, Colombia and Jamdown in the mix.

I hope to see all of you raggamuffin ruffneck youths this sunday, February 26th at ZuZu–come help us nice up the place and get this thing started out right.

**DOWNLOAD HERE**

tracklist

Chedtro

Me Te Ase Me Mpe Nsa – Akwaboa’s Band

Tout Cote – Sec Bidens

Bounika – Le Simandou de Beyla

Spanish Amigo – Dennis Alcapone

Double Attack – Lizie & Delroy Wilson

El Alacran – Ray Fernandez y su Corte

Descarga Guajira – Cachao y Su Combo

Serenal – Cyril Diaz and his Orquestra

Gee Bongo Lay – John Buddy Williams’ Band

Busca Perro – La Cumbia Moderna de Soledad

Currucuchu – Emilia Herrera

1st Session – Baba Brooks