Friday, January 28, 2011

Abstract Index Playlist - January 27/11

carambaba - omar sosa (ota)
skew - chris speed trio (knitting factory)
taht - cecil taylor segments II (soul note)
levels - bilal rmx by sonnymoon (plug research)
nitelite - xi (orca)
kibose - maria y jose (generation bass)
e acordeon del rio - gux swadharma (cabeza)
tabaco mascao - los gallegos rmx by criolla (no label)
que s'est il passe - tommy guerrero (galaxia-rush)
bwana - los relampagos (novola)
hit after hit - earth girl helen brown (forest family)
fawn ngeo - johnny guitar (sublime frequencies)
om shanti om - kishore kumar (sarega)
akai hashi - andy haas (resonant)
playbak dub - midnite (fifth son)
africans for unity - version xcursion feat treson (vx)
under heavy manners - prince far i (heartbeat)
wind loop - teebs rmx by bearclaw (brainfeeder)
noir - elaquent (soulection)
cyber convicts - azaxx (tru thoughts)
grouper soup - empresarios (fort knox)
rwampunga - mighty popo (tamba)
houmeissa - tartit (crammed)
can't go to cuba - nikita quasim (wolf & lamb)
duo for solo viola and percussion - duo jalal (innova)
verwobene muziki - harmonious thelonious (morr music)
float - tirogo (normal/qdk)

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Friday, January 21, 2011

Abstract Index Playlist - January 20/11

flashback - fred anderson (delmark)
passport to freedom - full metal revolutionary jazz ensemble (FMRJE)
analog paralysis 1978 - tim hecker (alien 8)
eno an co - babe rainbow (no label)
chrysalis - benny tones (wonderful noise)
i think i'm gonna make it - gushee (otnorot)
less corruption - love avalanche feat mc benjammin' (urban world)
nothing beats a dub - jah warrior (jah warrior)
mosque vibrations - dem hunger (leaving)
fear of the unknown - colin stetson (constellation)
callers - hard mix (double denim)
when the night stood still - slakah the beatchild (bbe)
a casa de pedra - cassiano (emi/odeon)
sem deus com a familia - cesar roldao viera (far out)
espanola kolo - a hawk and a hacksaw (lm duplication)
soyledi yok yok - neriman altindag (dust to digital)
tragic zeibekiko - rembetika hipsters (no label)
phir teri yaad - r.d. burman & asha bhosle (world psychedelic classics)
no esta en na - charlie palmieri (mp)
monkey face - the liberators (bbe)
mystery team 2090 - jesse futerman (no label)
hip hop - los rakas (no label)
creeper shit - groundislava (friends of friends)
dazees - datahowler (no label)
funkrocker - georgia anne muldrow (mello)
get involved - george soule (trikont)
who's gonna help brother get further? - lee dorsey (polydor)
trouble in the land - charles bradley (daptone)
hot pop - jojo bennett (mudies)
mousetrap - dubmatix feat eek a mouse (7 arts)

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Saturday, January 15, 2011

Abstract Index Playlist - January 13/11

photo courtesy of Exclaim

As usual, I played lots of interesting music this week from around the world, past to future. But I want to write about something I didn't play.

For my money Derek from Northcliffe (woo! neighbourhood bwoi!) aka D-Sisive had the track of last week. In a one-take masterpiece, he gets righteous with expertly constructed anger raining down on haters of every description - especially a long rant about body image. This man's internal struggle is far more interesting to me than Kanye's navel gazing, and his music is far more compelling. I'm so wrapped up in his flow that I almost forget that it's Sigur Ros, who are just OK in my book, providing the music.

Of course I could never play something filled with so much profanity on the air, even if the profanity is entirely appropriate and actually adds to the flow (again, unlike Kanye's laziness with profanity). However, I do recall dropping an accidental f-bomb in my first hour. Sorry CRTC...

Having just finished The Big Payback and read about, among many other things, the initial conflicts over profanity in hip hop butting up against mass media made me start thinking about what I don't play rather than what I do. Having a radio show means that when I hear new music I'm usually thinking about whether I'm going to play it the following week. In order to make that decision, music passes through automatic, invisible filters. Does it have twee vocals? Fail. Is the rhythm section inert? Fail. But certainly the most obvious filter for musical selection is the use of profanity. Over the years I think it's made me less interested in playing vocal hip hop - or any music with a lot of swearing. I puzzle over this: I play hip hop instrumentals, dancehall and hip hop in foreign languages (where artists could be cursing up a storm, or worse), but hardly ever do I play conventional North American beats and rhymes. It would appear that I seem more aligned more with those programmers who resisted hip hop because they claimed it was too vulgar or attracted the wrong demographic or just too damned black. It's ironic because I played my part 20+ years ago in helping to establish hip hop programming on CIUT, and the latter point was heatedly argued at the time.

Reading Payback, I realized that I owned almost every record the book talked about from 1982-93. Rapping was such an important part of my life and I don't know when or why I closed myself off to it. It might have been when I became a parent, but I'm not too concerned about my kid hearing a stray cuss word.

I wish with this post I could say my attitude is going to change, but it probably won't. I don't want to spend my time vetting lyrics; anybody who listens to my show knows that it's mostly instrumental anyways. Since hip hop doesn't rely on radio play anymore, there's a lot more casual profanity even in songs that do strike a chord with me (to say nothing of the N-word which I also try to avoid at all costs), so I just leave most rapping alone and save my investigations for stuff recommended to me by friends. This is too bad for everyone, cause I write about and advocate for a lot of music that doesn't get recognition in proportion to its popularity, and hip hop in Canada is surely in that category. I feel like I'm letting the art form down by not paying closer attention. The function of the radio show is dictating my taste.

Maybe that's why when D-Sisive left me a CDR in my mailbox at CIUT 3 years ago I ignored it. It was unfair of me to dismiss it just because it was another local rap disc. Derek, I'm sorry I didn't check it out at the time.

It's uncomfortable to confront one's own limitations - a theme I've dwelt on a bit of late - when one spends so much time finger-wagging about keeping an open musical mind. There's no good takeaway from this post except that I'm going to keep working it through, and most probably something's going to completely blindside me with awesomeness as is so often the case with music. I promise to lighten up soon.

Podcast


the heatin' system - brother jack mcduff (cadet)
happy house - ornette coleman (columbia)
enta omri (you are my life) - andy haas (resonant)
making babies - gushee (otnorot)
never never - full crate (melting pot)
no clear reason - gang colours (brownswood)
an old escape - illum sphere (fat city)
obafunke - 911 feat zap mama (saturn never sleeps)
fog - nosaj thing rmx by jamie xx (alpha pup)
worldwide - ancient astronauts (switchstance)
cut form three electric kingdom - mophono (cb)
gem - geordie haley (no label)
north winds - christopher campbell (innova)
tape chants 6 - gregg kowalski (kranky)
heat - marcos fernandes (accretions)
floor tom + cymbal + turine - jason kahn (cut)
bright wave - adlr (non projects)
wo yé n'gnougobine - ballake sissoko & vincent segal (six degrees)
players balling - ohio players (westbound)
i believe in your love - charles bradley (dunham)
love is a hurting thing - soul children (stax)
hit me with funky music - little beaver (tk)
frontera - dj lengua (unicornio)
reggae feeling - dynamiyq (no label)

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Friday, January 07, 2011

Abstract Index Playlist - January 6/11

More Bollywood on the way in the next few weeks. In the meantime, you could do worse than picking this up for the generous (if tiny-fonted) liner notes. The title and cover imagery say it all.

Podcast

right way - jahdan blakkamoore (lustre kings)
people talk - etana (vp)
push push - lloyd & devon (studio one/soul jazz)
days of dub - michael rose/twilight circus (m)
terminator dub - dubmatix (7 arts)
peaceful warrior - mad professor feat sly and robbie (ariwa/ras)
who is the ruler - alpha and omega (greensleeves)
loco - atom heart & tea time vs mexican dubwiser (no label)
perfection - boogat (no label)
boha - kubo feat joyce muniz (man)
airtime - masuper star rmx by dj mpula (masalacism)
ovva - bassanovva (t&a)
dum maro dum - asha bhosle & r.d. burman (world psychedelic classics)
right on for the darkness - willie wright (numero)
funky in here - dayton sidewinders (funkadelphia)
afro revolt - afro soultet (luv n haight)
i feel the earth move - moody (sunbeam)
so be it - new york electric piano (buffalopuppy)
intensives leben - triosk (leaf)
sibanye - marilyn crispell & louis moholo-moholo (intakt)
chickle that bottom - subtle lip can (drip)
space cellar - ayal senior (inyrdisk)
paradise of ashes - andy haas (resonant)
i never learnt to share - james blake (atlas/universal)
i got a woman - nicolas jaar (wolf and lamb)
autotune - emsitka vs. gulls (no label)
tension spirit - kaly live dub (jarring effects)
kumina mento rasta - wareika hill sounds (hones jons)
dove song - nicolette (shut up and dance/k7)
business of panic - mastermind xs (lcl)

podcast coming soon....

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Monday, January 03, 2011

Abstract Index Playlist - December 30/10

You know you're reading a Canadian blog when there's a picture of Poutine A L'Italienne from Chez Morasse in Rouyn-Noranda (where I spent more than my fair share of time during my big rock n roll adventure of 2010).

The last show of the year contained some favourites for 2010 hastily gathered, hopelessly incomplete & sprinkled with dub:

Podcast

songs:
special - maddslinky feat omar (tru thoughts)
sun - caribou (domino)
ayobaness! - pastor mbhobho (out here)
ya yo se - chico mann (no label - sorry this was late 2009!)
celebrate my love - dubmatix feat jay douglas (7 arts)
put the stereo on - gappy ranks (vp)
hold you - gyptian (vp)
abrazame -los rakas feat fabiola (bersa discos)
he don't want it - jazzy jeff feat ayah (unknown)
lift your head up - annette brissett (TAC)
cmyk - james blake (r&s)
choo choo beep - south rakkas crew feat deerhoof (mad decent)
blue - salva (friends of friends)
coco drunk - poirier rmx by douster (ninja tune)
no ta llevando el diablo - rita indiana (dutty artz)

albums:
jamana be diya - bassekou kouyate (I Speak Fula, sub pop)
everything must spin - ryan driver (Who's Breathing, rat drifting)
sketch #14 - drumheller (Glint, rat drifting)
cannonball adderley's tattoo - lina allemano four (Jargon, lumo)
three - little women (Throat, aum fidelity)
yem efe - tony grey super (The World Ends, soundway)
el ausente - fruko y sus tesos (The Afrosound Of Colombia, vampisoul)
mi cantando par ti - ngoma jazz (Angola Soundtrack, analog africa)
gol-e aftab gardoon - noosh atarin (Pomegranates, finders keepers)
raga malkauns - charanjit singh (Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat, bombay connection)
suetala - dj orion (Carajo Colombia, no label)
djama - donso (Donso, comet)
frawdulent - bonjay (Broughtupsy, mysteries of trade)
wondaland - janelle monae (The Archandroid, bad boy)
nobody knows - pastor t.l. barrett and the youth for christ choir (Like A Ship, light in the attic)

Thanks for your ongoing support.

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