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

Ruff Luxury 17: Sound of Our Own

Ruff Luxury goes digital for mixtape number 17.  Thirty seven minutes of bump, recorded cdj/vinyl style in september 2012.  Cumbia, 3bal, Kurudo, Jungle, Semba, Bmore, Funana and all that good stuff. (tracklist after the jump)

For the Boston massive, do remember–Sunday night September 23rd RUFFNECK FASHION meets DUDLEY DISCO inside of Zuzubar (474 Mass Ave).  This will be the final RFFNKFSHN going down at the Zuzu location, so if you haven’t made it out yet now is the time!  Dudley Disco, Mista Pala Pala and Trizlam–10pm, Free.

Other upcoming events:

Thursday, September 27th I will be spinning some chune alongside djs Riobamba (Pajaritos) and Shabbakano (Sonido Bestial) for the Boston Cyclists Union Second Annual Party  inside of the Benjamin Franklin Institute of technology (41 Berkeley st, Boston MA).

Thursday, October 4th, Subtropix celebrates its one year anniversary/Fuzzy Fotch Ep release at the Milky Way in Jamaica Plain (284 Amory St.) and I am happy to be joining residents Ted Thousand and Fuzzy Fotch as well as my man Dudley Disco for that. More info to come.

A Mix For Nomadic Picó Picante

Nomadic Picó Picante is going down today and certainly is not to be missed.  I am very happy to have been asked to put together a mix for the event, which you can listen and download below or on Pajaritos’ soundcloud. The selections are a bit of a departure from some of the sounds previously featured on this site, tending more towards the digital with heavy doses of electrocumbia and funana along with some dancehall, soca and etceteras here and there–recorded cdj-style, live and direct from home sweet Homes avenue.    Do be sure to check out the other mixes for the event created by some of my favorite Boston based Djs: Riobamba and Malagón (Pajaritos),  OXYcontinental, Wayne and Wax, Ted Thousand and False Witness.

Between this, Boston Carnival, and the august edition of Ruffneck Fashion this weekend is shaping up to be a proper way to send off the summer

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

People Reality: An Interview with Kenny Knots

Some will undoubtedly have heard of Kenny Knots through his work with a wide range of UK and European producers from Mungo’s Hi Fi to Manasseh, Cultural Warriors to Jah Warrior.  Others may know him as the one-time singjay on northeast London’s Unity Hi Fi where he recorded digi dancehall hits like “Run Come Call Me” “Watch How The People Dem Dancing” and “Ring Up My Number“.  I met Kenny Knots in June of 2008 at his studio in Leyton, Northeast London, where we talked for an hour or so about his music, London sound systems, sound-tapes and videos, and a range of other topics.  Joining me on the bus ride to Leyton was Pras who is responsible for taking these photos.  There is some talk online of a solo album coming soon on Scotch Bonnet records, so keep an eye out for that along with any other Kenny Knots releases and please do enjoy the interview.

How did you get your start in music?

I spent some time back in the day in the first studio producing Unity music which was Must Dance International–which is Jah Bunny, Ruddy Ranks, Redeye, Elroy from Black Slate.  You know all these kinda people around so I got a pretty early insight to wha gwan inside the studio environment, so it was always kinda good on that behalf.  And I always had ideas, I could go to a dance and not, like–you have some singers and some deejays they rehearse very hard even to go to a dancehall, you know.  But I be the kinda man that don’t do much rehearsing, like on that department.  You know, just go in a dance, hear something ina your head, you know and say bwoy a dat me a go with and you just spit off a thing–like you just sing a thing or you deejay a thing, because I do a bit of both, you know, inside of the music industry I sing, I singjay, I do a bit of deejay, I do a bit of this, do a bit of that.  I try to fill my life with the music still, no matter how it a come from, you know, even a guy give me a link the other day who does dubstep and stuff like that and some minimal kind of beats.  And, you know, to be a artist would you only paint houses, or would you only paint cars, you know or would you only do drawings and never do paintings–so I look at it in that perspective.  For me, music is an all around thing, when I first started working inside of this place here and doing my little thing its like, people were sent to me that done r&b and stuff like that.  I could have turned them away and said I’m a roots purist, or try and learn from the experience and I chose to deal with the experience and find out what comes from it.  And it was fun I done about seven months of recording, like trying to create beats in a different style–which is nothing to do with where like perhaps I eat my bread from, but it was all very good and I cherish them moments. So, a so it go .

Who were the big sound systems in your area and what artists were you influenced by?

Well, influenced by, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, D Brown, you know.  The one that really give me the kickstart was I heard Nitty Gritty, and I never heard any kind of singing like that in my life!  I said bwoy me haffi try that style deh–and I tried it, and I went down to the Must Dance studio, I kept singing this song over and over and over: watch how the people them dancing, watch how the dance crowd dancing and the man say you know something, mek we voice a tune. And, my first time really in front of a microphone, you know like, in a studio with headphones on it was new, different to like just singing outside–there was a few people in the studio at the time and there was words coming–put in that word there and put in that word there. You know, and we put them in and Redeye and Ruddy, who really kinda arranged the music for Must Dance, they say alright then boom–sing that piece twice, sing that piece once, come back with that piece deh thats a nice likkle phrase  try that one deh again. And it was about maybe five, six hours, seven hours and the tune was voiced up, it was sounding good.  I struggled badly on harmonies, didn’t know anything about harmonies and stuff like that, but they said come on, you can do it.  So thats how “Watch How The People Dem Dancing” was created, and I felt more confident in myself as an artist coming along, you know, young fresh and green.  Obviously at the time it wasn’t very much like–you know you had like Johnny Osbourne and them and Tony Tuff and they was releasing their music like conscious ites, but you also had the other side which was like, very dancehall–light, about girls and stuff like that, you know.  And I went ahead with that like “Ring Up My Number” and stuff like that and, you know, same thing, just moving up the fire every single time.  And even around here–because that was kinda Hackney, Stoke Newington side–like this side, Leyton, Leytonstone, Walthamstow, there was a few little sounds from round this side deh.  As a youth I had a sound called Boss Intruder, with a brethren called Beefy, you know and so forth, it was a lovely time.  We never had many speakers, we never had many amps, and we used to play like in house parties–them times it was alright to have a house party and like, you jam for the whole night.  Now you’ll get in trouble straight away with the police and rae rae.  So even at that time deh, buying a preamp, we got a guy called Reese to build us a preamp, and it was silver and it looked like a bomb, it was sloping like that.  When we was on the bus with the preamp someone said to me, like, what is that thing you’ve got in your hand and me say bwoy its a thing to play music.  Ohh its a thing to play music okay, so what’s this button do? And at the time I didn’t really know what the button done yet cause we just picked it up I was bringing it home to go and play it, so I was like I dunno that ones the bass, that ones the treble.  You know, long time inside of the sound system thing.

Ruff Luxury 13: Colinda’s Bump

I welcome you once again, my friends, to luxuriate with the sounds of another Ruff Luxury Mixxup.  This one is something of a mixed bag selection featuring musical discs from New York, Trinidad, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, The Bahamas, Louisiana, Colombia, Toronto, and Revere (Massachusetts).

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50 Ways To leave Your Lover – Freeport City Sound

Colinda – The Lawtell Playboys

Cuerpo Cobarde – Alejo Durán y Su Conjunto

Cuando Un Amor Se Aleja – Alfredo Gutierrez y Su Conjunto

Aya Ya Yai – Osvaldo Rojano Con El Conjunto De Virgilio De La Oz

La Reina Del Sinu – Noel Petro

For Cane – Mighty Gypsey

El Cacharrito – Los Curramberos De Guayabal

Sema – Djosinha

Shuss – Grupo Bota

Tu Tu’s Way – Dereck “onederful” Antoine

Yo’ Little Brother – Nolan Thomas

No Pienso Volver – Baltazar Carrero

Oudtro

50 Ways To leave Your Lover – Freeport City Sound  Kicking things off is this wicked Paul Simon cover by the Freeport City Sound, a Bahamian group that as far as I know only released one record–Old Man Times.  This sparse, funky rendition of “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover” is the standout cut on the album and was what caught my eye recently as I came across the jacketless LP on the shelves at a local Goodwill–a private-press Calypso record with a cover of that song?

Colinda – The Lawtell Playboys  This rural Louisiana stomper from Delton Broussard and The Lawtell Playboys is taken from the 1979 compilation Zodico: Louisiana Créole Music which comes highly recommended and has certainly received heavy rotations around my living room over the last month or two that I’ve had a copy.  One thing I have enjoyed about this and other songs on the album is what to me sounds like a similarity with some older Vallenato music, especially in the cadence and delivery of the vocals.

Cuerpo Cobarde – Alejo Durán y Su Conjunto  Alejo Durán was my introduction to Vallenato and in retrospect I feel fortunate of that.  Listening to songs like “Cero Treinta y Nueve” “Fidelina” and “Cachuca Bacana” I was able to soak in the countrified, stretched out sound of the genre’s pioneers before being exposed to it’s decidedly less ruff/more polished modern incarnation (thanks Carlota).  This is one of my favorite of his compositions, “Cuerpo Cobarde” taken from a Discos Orbe 45.

Cuando Un Amor Se Aleja – Alfredo Gutierrez y Su Conjunto  From one giant of the accordion to another we move now to Alfredo Gutiérrez with this uptempo side from the Codiscos LP Matilde Lina Y Mas Exitos Con El Rebelde Del Acordeon.  Hopefully you can hear some of what I was saying about the Lousiana/Valledupar connection in these selections.

Aya Ya Yai – Osvaldo Rojano Con El Conjunto De Virgilio De La Oz  More Vallenatos about heartbreak and lost love–this one from Osvaldo Rojano, co-produced by Dolcey Gutierrez and Felix Butron and released on Sonolux for Felito‘s Linea Especial.  I really like these fast, kinda-depressing minor-key songs and wish that I had been able to delve more into the rural/Vallenato records during my time in Colombia.  In fact, during the two days that we spent in Valledupar I wasn’t able to track down any person or place that was selling vinyl (though this could have been due to the Festival De La Leyenda Vallenata that was going on at the time and seemed to consume the entire city).  We did, on the other hand hear some great performances.

La Reina Del Sinu – Noel Petro  A native of Carete, Córdoba–nearby Montería in Colombia’s Caribbean coastal interior–Noel Petro gained popularity in Colombia in beyond during the seventies.  Fabian from Africolombia put me on to Noel Petro and blessed me with a couple of his LPs including this self-titled release on the Impacto label.

For Cane – Mighty Gypsey  After the somber subject matter of the last handful of songs I think we can all agree that some comic relief is in order.  Trinidad’s Mighty Gypsey fulfills the task in a fine style alongside Ed Watson and Brass Circle on this Antillana 45.  I hope you can enjoy this selection, after all, who doesn’t like to go for cane every now and again.

El Cacharrito – Los Curramberos De Guayabal  In case the last track wasn’t enough, or you prefer your innuendoes to be in spanish, we have another double-entendre laden side, this one by Los Curramberos De Guayabal, a group about whom I know very little.  Their name would suggest that they were from Guayabal, but the the only places in Colombia with that name are in Cundinamarca (pretty much the center of the country) and Medellín–neither of which are likely locations for this sort of decidedly Caribbean sounding music to emanate from.  The listed singer is Alfredo Varela, but some light-googling reveals that Anibal Velasquez was involved in the group along with this recording in particular (despite the famed accordionist’s lack of mention on the Tropical 45 heard on this mix)

Sema – Djosinha  Coladera is a type of dance music from Cabo-Verde, you can hear a fine example of the style on “Sema” by Djosinha (José Vieira Duarte) taken from the Mindelo Sound Lp Biografia D’um Criol.  Featuring arrangements by Luis Morais (of Voz De Cabo Verde fame), this set was recorded a few miles away from where I sit–in Revere, MA at Fleetwood Recording Company.  For those that don’t know, Boston and Southeastern New England are home to a large and long-established Cape Verdean community dating as far back as the early 19th century.  My collection only scratches the surface but there has been a long history of Cape Verdean records passing through, and music  being recorded and released in the areas between Boston and Providence, RI.

Shuss – Grupo Bota  Grupo Bota is a Venezuelan group that at one time had a pretty big following in Colombia, with a lot of their stuff being licensed from Velvet and released on Fuentes.  The sound leans towards the psyche/rock side of things but with heavy doses of funk and afrobeat in the mix.  “Shuss” appears on the 1976 Discos Fuentes pressing of the album Boom!

Tu Tu’s Way – Dereck “onederful” Antoine  Oh damn it just got kinda weird in here… “Tu Tu’s Way” is a Caribbean style Disco track about Desmond Tutu from the album Amandla recorded and released in Toronto sometime during the eighties.  The credited musicians are “onederful” as writer, Harley Quashie as Drum Programmer, and Mikey on Percussion.  Harley Quashie shares another credit as arranger alongside Carlton Zanda.

Yo’ Little Brother – Nolan Thomas  Almost a year ago now I met a lady at a small church flea market in my neighborhood who offered to sell me a pile of records from her car.  I was on my lunch break and had no time to look then, but told her that I would return after the end of my shift to look at the records.  A few hours later, after trying my best to get out on time, I drove over to the church about thirty minutes after the time that we had agreed on.  There was no sign of the lady, but a pile of about two hundred records was stacked on the sidewalk near where we had spoken.  This 12″ was in the pile that, when I looked through it ended up being mostly kinda bad disco and r&b.  Indeed, this song itself is pretty bad, but when you slow it down it takes on a whole new character–in my ears anyway.  There is a video but I don’t even want to subject you to the link.

No Pienso Volver – Baltazar Carrero  And back to some more ruff rugged and raw territory here with “No Pienso Volver” sung by PR’s Baltazar Carrero with backing from Nieves Quintero y Su Conjunto Cuerdas De Oro Del Caribe.  The song is listed on the Ansonia 45 as a Milonga–a style of music that I know nothing about but that seems interesting at first glance.

Thanks you for listening, Enjoy.

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

Ruff Luxury 12: Midnight Ina El Salvador

Once again I welcome you to listen to another installment of the Ruff Luxury mixtape series.  This time we have a selection for the dub and reggae massive featuring some nice new finds and one or two old favorites.  At one of the local record shops around these parts a great collection of reggae stuff came in that had been soaking wet, so the record store guys salvaged what they could and left the sleeves out in the sun to dry.  It was sad to see so many painfully rare titles in such a state, but the upside is I was able to pick up a few things on the cheap that would have been  otherwise out of my price range.  The first four cuts on this mix are all taken from dub Lps that were in the wet collection Black Unity, Zion Dub, Dubbing in the UK, and Don’t Underestimate the Force, The Force Is Within You.  “You Capture My Heart” is taken from Cornel Campbell’s 1979 Lp The Inspector General on the Toronto based Imperial label.  Cornel Campbell is really one of my all time favorite foundation singers, with so many great recordings spanning decades and an inimitable style that is immediately recognizable.  Prince Jazzbo and Leroy Stewart connect on “Step Forward” which came out originally in 1974 on a Count 123 forty-five (my copy is from a Prince Jazzbo comp).  I recently picked up this Heptones album A Place Called Love on Moving Target, not knowing anything about it, and was happy to find that it had some nice tunes, mainly just this one though, “An African Child”.  Continuing in the Boston reggae investigation, Zion Initation makes an appearance with “Society” from their Jah Light release.  And finally, “Midnight Ina El Salvador” from one of my most highly rated dub Lps ever: Junior Dan’s KTW Dub.  That pretty much concludes the rundown, I hope you enjoy the mix–tune in for more madness  in the weeks ahead.
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tracklist

Militant Salute – Bobby Ellis & The Revelutioneers Meets The Professionals

Dub For Joy – Carl Campbell

Southampton Dub – Desi All Stars

Revelation 8:11 – Sly & The Revolutionaries

You Capture My Heart – Cornel Campbell

Step Forward – Leroy Stewart

An African Child – The Heptones

Society – Zion Initation

Midnight Ina El Salvador – Junior Dan