Paris DJs Playlist - April 2013
April 2013 was not the most active month we've had so far on the CD and vinyl front from other labels and artists. Thankfuly Nik Weston sent us a trilogy of his latest and upcoming releases on Mukatsuku Records, Ping Pong Promotion in France fed us with news from the Ninja Tune and Big Dada labels and the expanded edition of the Pepe Deluxé album, Tru Thoughts Recordings, Tramp Records and Analog Africa who kept on being the most faifhful labels we've been working with in the recent years, plus a few guests we've been in touch with who don't get much exposure in France, such as Stonephace Stabbins or The Greyboy Allstars. And of course the four Paris DJs releases of the month, something our readers and listeners should be used to, since we started putting out a new single or album every week for quite a while now. Our new compilation 'We Are The Fire Inside Your Mind' has just been released, but we'll come back to it next month. Meanwhile, artists & labels may submit tracks for the next compilation 'Rise Of The Troubadour Warriors', which we've already started working on. Elvis Martinez Smith from ©© Les Frères Smith will be helping us curate this new volume…
The April 2013 Paris DJs Playlist :
AFRO / TROPICAL
01. Mukat Edits - Afrodisco Boogie Edits Vol.2 (12", Mukat Edits, 2013) info | buy
02. Nick Weston presents GUYNAMUKAT - Archway Riviera Tropical Jam EP (12", Mukatsuku, 2013) info | buy
03. Nik Weston Presents Afro Funk Gems Volume 4 (7", Mukatsuku, 2013) info | buy
04. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou - Vol.3: The Skeletal Essences Of Voodoo Funk (CD/2LP, Analog Africa, 2013) info | buy
From the Mukastsuku label run by Nik Weston come some very very very good and limited vinyl for the most demanding global DJs out there. First of all, there's the second volume of the 'Muka Edits' series of Afro-Disco-Boogie goodies from the past, re-edited and re-mastered for maximum dancefloor efficiency. The bouncing boogie of 'Afro Disco Connection is irresistible. 'Sao Paulo Brazilian Groove Thang' is an instrumental edit of a 1986 track by Sandra De Sá and that means serious digging, really! On the flip, 'Bassline Frenzy' leans towards the electro-funk side of disco, while 'Are You Ready Now' steps into pure Nigerian vocal disco. Don't pass on this limited 12 inch (500 copies only), no digital, with a hand-written number. Then there's the new GUYNAMUKAT 12 inch, 'Nik Weston presents Archway Riviera Tropical Jam EP' in its beautiful Mukatsuku packaging, on a tropical/deep house vibe that fits the modern 'Nu Disco' tag… And finally the fourth volume of the 'Afro Funk Gems' 45s, with the ultra rare private afro funk of ''Nande' with beautiful strings from the Senegalese African Soul Band, backed by Columbian Funk from Wganda Kenya - essential vinyl for those who like unusual afro grooves!! More kings of the funky afro reissues with Analog Africa and the third volume of the Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou series and it's a must-have, once again, gathering 14 tracks of West African cosmic Blues, Jazz, Rumba and Soul. Sit down, relax, enjoy, start toe-tapping, get up and get entranced! Afro-voodoo at its best.
REGGAE / RAGGA / JUNGLE / HIP HOP
05. Congo Natty - Jungle Revolution (CD/LP, Big Dada, 2013) info | buy
06. Doctor L - Sweet Life / Never Play Me (Grant Phabao Remixes) (Digital single, Paris DJs, 2013) info | buy
07. Grant Phabao presents Carlton Livingston - Cramp & Paralyze (Digital single, Paris DJs, 2013) info | buy
08. Grant Phabao presents The Lone Ranger & Echo Minott - Plant Up A Vineyard (Digital single, Paris DJs, 2013) info | buy
09. GregSky & Grant Phabao - La Danse Du Shadow (Digital single, Paris DJs, 2013) info | buy
10. London Posse - Gangster Chronicles The Definitive Collection (2CD, Tru Thoughts, 2013) info | buy
Old school Jungle lovers rejoice, UK pioneer Rebel MC is back, calling himself Congo Natty now, with a new album 'Jungle Revolution', out on Big Dada Records mid-june and mixed by Adrian Sherwood. The flame of ragga jungle from the late 80s/early 90s is burning again, drenched in a deep rub-a-dub sound, dancefloors are gonna jump & twist all over England once again! But the revival of the ragga sound doesn't stop here. With the reissue of the classic masterpiece from the London Posse of MCs Bionic and Rodney P,'Gangster Chronicles', it's the early 90s once again for UK hip hop. But that's not all! If you still had the original piece of genius from 1990 in your alphabetically sorted hip hop records shelves, between Living Legends and Lone Catalysts, you're in for a surprise with the 'Definitive Collection' to be reissued by Tru Thoughs Recordings roughly a month from now, with an additional & massive CD including 4 cool, exclusive, previously unheard tracks, and two handfuls of new remixes. Not many will be able to not stand up and dance to the Jungle Remix of 'Money Mad' by Drumagick, to not nod at the sound of Bogle's remix of 'How's Life In London', to not roll a phat one while grooving to Wrongtom's remix of 'Money Mad' - and we're not even talking baout the leftfield reworks by Steve Mason or Hint… 'Definitive' indeed.
On the reggae front, Parisian Grant Phabao embraces the past, taking Doctor L's 'Sweet Life' and its lucious vocals from slam master Allonymous on a deep and dubby odyssey to Kingston, Jamaica, during the 70s… The unstoppable French producer also found some time to cook some new riddims for Carlton Livingston - whose 'Cramp & Paralyze', is another reggae classic, a great singalong tune, driven by a rolling and booming bassline, on a late 70s/early 80s tip - and the Lone Ranger inna combination stylee with Echo Minott, urging their fellow countrymen to go back to the roots, plant their own vineyard and become farmer men again, on a brand new, elastic and everlastingly groovy reggae riddim. And if that wasn't enough, Grant Phabao also started a new series of collaboration with saxophonist/singer/poet Gregsky, starting with 'La Danse Du Shadow', a surprising Roots Reggae number reminiscent of late 70s Serge Gainsbourg's 'Aux Armes et Cætera' cultural blend of French Chanson and Jamaican Reggae - with its deep instrumental dub version, 'Le Dub Du Shadow' , on the b-side for the spiritual souls out there.
FUNK / JAZZ
11. The Hot 8 Brass Band - Tombstone (CD, Tru Thoughts, 2013) info | buy
12. Jaga Jazzist - Live With Britten Sinfonia (2LP/CD, Ninja Tune, 2013) info | buy
13. Stonephace Stabbins - Transcendental (Featuring Zoe Rahman) (CD, Noetic, 2012) info/buy
14. The Greyboy Allstars - Inland Emperor (CD, MRI, 2013) info/buy
Less than a year after releasing 'The Life & Times Of…', The Hot 8 Brass Band are back with a new full-length, 'Tombstone'. The band, who gained a large exposure thanks to featurings in Spike Lee's documentary 'When the Levees Broke' and the recent HBO series 'Treme', are dedicating this album to the musicians friends they recently lost.. Four band members of the band between the ages of 17 and 25 have died due to handgun violence in the last years. As a response to loss & tragedy, this new album is poignant, emotional, featuring all original material. New Orleans backbeat & horns at its best, the new soulful & funky album is playing on repeat at Paris DJs. On the jazz front, Norway's Jaga Jazzist, always hard to pin down, have released what we felt as the album of the month for April 2013. We never had the chance to hear their previous album, 'One-Armed Bandit', so we lost track of where the experimental jazz band was heading, but recorded live with a full orchestra, this new release is a masterpiece of cinematic & symphonic psychedelic jazz-funk, bridging the gap between Danny Elfman's orchestral scores and Frank Zappa's most inventive pieces from the early 70s. Just brilliant!
Legendary UK free-jazz saxophonist Larry "Stonephace" Stabbins came to our attention in 2009 with the trip hop-tagged 'Stonephace' album, produced with Portishead guitarist Adrian Utley and rave DJ Krzysztof Oktalski, released on Tru Thoughts Recordings. He's played with British jazz pianist and composer Keith Tippett in Centipede and lots of his other bands, he formed British latin-soul ensemble Working Week in the early 80s. And numerous other bands… Stonephace Stabbins is his latest project, featuring Mercury Prize-nominated pianist Zoe Rahman, Crispin 'Spry' Robinson on percussion, Karl Rasheed Abel on bass and Pat Illingworth on drums, for a synthesis of Exploratory Jazz with Groove, loads of percussion & eastern modes, and Transcendental Euphoria, with inspiration from Pharoah Sanders, Albert Ayler, John Coltrane and McToy Tyner. The incantatory album of the month, a superb slice of old-school uplifting UK spiritual jazz.
While The Poets Of Rhythm started the deep funk revival in 1993 in Europe with their album 'Practice What You Preach', it was The Greyboy Allstars who were their active counterparts the following year with the groundbreaking 'West Coast Boogaloo With Fred Wesley' LP. They've influenced a whole generation of bands playing improvisational music in a funk format and arrived on the scene one or two years before the Dap-Kings, known as the Soul Providers in their early years at Pure and Desco records… Historical clarification aside, let's get back to this album, only their 5th in a 20 years-long career filled with many other solo projects from saxophonist Karl Denson, keyboard maestro Robert Walter, guitarist Elgin Park or bassist Chris Stillwell - Aaron Redfield having replaced Zak Najor on drums after the previous album in 2007. With both feet grounded in 60s and 70s soul-jazz, 'Inland Emperor' sees the band adding some hints of growling electronics for a cinematic & eclectic record focusing on songwriting rather than improvisational sequences, re-inventing American acid-jazz for the 21st century. A band we would LOVE to see play in Paris!!
POP ROCK / COMPILATIONS
15. Pepe Deluxe - Queen Of The Wave (The Expanded Edition) (Book+2CD+DVD, Catskills, 2012) info | buy
16. Various - Shake-A-Leg Vol.2 (CD/LP, Perfect Toy/Tramp, 2013) info | buy
Released at the end of last year in the UK, Pepe Deluxé's new edition of their 'Queen Of The Wave' album is just plain astonishing. Packaged in a 64 pages book filled with encyclopedic information on the Finnish electronic band's music and crazy-looking designs in the vein of Terry Gilliam's collages blended with comicbooks and Bollywood graphic styles, this deluxe reissue also adds an album's worth of exclusive tracks, interludes and outtakes on a second CD, and a DVD packed with videos, instrumental versions, samples, drum breaks, artwork and wallpapers! If the original record was an opera pop jewel, this augmented edition is the ultimate thing, an aural and visual feast, and an unexpected twist on an already grandiose psychedelic rock opera.
We'll be closing this month's selection with a top quality compilation from Perfect Toy Records to be released june 10th, 'Shake-A-Leg Vol.2', cooked by professional DJ, vinyl digger and Tramp Records label owner, Tobias Kirmayer, and latin/jazz producer, Jerker Kluge. The musical spectrum is quite large, from Hip Hop (Mighty Mocambos ft. Afrika Bambaataa) to Afrofunk (Afro Latin Vintage Orchestra, Fanga), Heavy Funk (The Qualitons, Tommy Dark) to Nu Soul (Radio Etiopia feaT. Bajka), Latin Jazz (Pucho & his Latin Soul Brothers, Cesar's Salad, Willis Jackson) to Hip Hop/Jazz hybrids (Jacknife Lee, Samp Brothers), Soul (CJ. Leach) to Dancefloor Jazz (Deep Jazz)… The two German selectors are music pros with GREAT taste, there's no filler to be found here - only 74mn of pure communicative grooviness!! So, is this compilation recommended? Heavily.
Contact us to be featured in this monthly playlist or send us records at :
Julien Lakshmanan / Paris DJs
240 rue de Belleville
(gardien au 55 rue du Telegraphe)
75020 Paris, France
The April 2013 Paris DJs Playlist :
AFRO / TROPICAL
01. Mukat Edits - Afrodisco Boogie Edits Vol.2 (12", Mukat Edits, 2013) info | buy
02. Nick Weston presents GUYNAMUKAT - Archway Riviera Tropical Jam EP (12", Mukatsuku, 2013) info | buy
03. Nik Weston Presents Afro Funk Gems Volume 4 (7", Mukatsuku, 2013) info | buy
04. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou - Vol.3: The Skeletal Essences Of Voodoo Funk (CD/2LP, Analog Africa, 2013) info | buy
From the Mukastsuku label run by Nik Weston come some very very very good and limited vinyl for the most demanding global DJs out there. First of all, there's the second volume of the 'Muka Edits' series of Afro-Disco-Boogie goodies from the past, re-edited and re-mastered for maximum dancefloor efficiency. The bouncing boogie of 'Afro Disco Connection is irresistible. 'Sao Paulo Brazilian Groove Thang' is an instrumental edit of a 1986 track by Sandra De Sá and that means serious digging, really! On the flip, 'Bassline Frenzy' leans towards the electro-funk side of disco, while 'Are You Ready Now' steps into pure Nigerian vocal disco. Don't pass on this limited 12 inch (500 copies only), no digital, with a hand-written number. Then there's the new GUYNAMUKAT 12 inch, 'Nik Weston presents Archway Riviera Tropical Jam EP' in its beautiful Mukatsuku packaging, on a tropical/deep house vibe that fits the modern 'Nu Disco' tag… And finally the fourth volume of the 'Afro Funk Gems' 45s, with the ultra rare private afro funk of ''Nande' with beautiful strings from the Senegalese African Soul Band, backed by Columbian Funk from Wganda Kenya - essential vinyl for those who like unusual afro grooves!! More kings of the funky afro reissues with Analog Africa and the third volume of the Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou series and it's a must-have, once again, gathering 14 tracks of West African cosmic Blues, Jazz, Rumba and Soul. Sit down, relax, enjoy, start toe-tapping, get up and get entranced! Afro-voodoo at its best.
REGGAE / RAGGA / JUNGLE / HIP HOP
05. Congo Natty - Jungle Revolution (CD/LP, Big Dada, 2013) info | buy
06. Doctor L - Sweet Life / Never Play Me (Grant Phabao Remixes) (Digital single, Paris DJs, 2013) info | buy
07. Grant Phabao presents Carlton Livingston - Cramp & Paralyze (Digital single, Paris DJs, 2013) info | buy
08. Grant Phabao presents The Lone Ranger & Echo Minott - Plant Up A Vineyard (Digital single, Paris DJs, 2013) info | buy
09. GregSky & Grant Phabao - La Danse Du Shadow (Digital single, Paris DJs, 2013) info | buy
10. London Posse - Gangster Chronicles The Definitive Collection (2CD, Tru Thoughts, 2013) info | buy
Old school Jungle lovers rejoice, UK pioneer Rebel MC is back, calling himself Congo Natty now, with a new album 'Jungle Revolution', out on Big Dada Records mid-june and mixed by Adrian Sherwood. The flame of ragga jungle from the late 80s/early 90s is burning again, drenched in a deep rub-a-dub sound, dancefloors are gonna jump & twist all over England once again! But the revival of the ragga sound doesn't stop here. With the reissue of the classic masterpiece from the London Posse of MCs Bionic and Rodney P,'Gangster Chronicles', it's the early 90s once again for UK hip hop. But that's not all! If you still had the original piece of genius from 1990 in your alphabetically sorted hip hop records shelves, between Living Legends and Lone Catalysts, you're in for a surprise with the 'Definitive Collection' to be reissued by Tru Thoughs Recordings roughly a month from now, with an additional & massive CD including 4 cool, exclusive, previously unheard tracks, and two handfuls of new remixes. Not many will be able to not stand up and dance to the Jungle Remix of 'Money Mad' by Drumagick, to not nod at the sound of Bogle's remix of 'How's Life In London', to not roll a phat one while grooving to Wrongtom's remix of 'Money Mad' - and we're not even talking baout the leftfield reworks by Steve Mason or Hint… 'Definitive' indeed.
On the reggae front, Parisian Grant Phabao embraces the past, taking Doctor L's 'Sweet Life' and its lucious vocals from slam master Allonymous on a deep and dubby odyssey to Kingston, Jamaica, during the 70s… The unstoppable French producer also found some time to cook some new riddims for Carlton Livingston - whose 'Cramp & Paralyze', is another reggae classic, a great singalong tune, driven by a rolling and booming bassline, on a late 70s/early 80s tip - and the Lone Ranger inna combination stylee with Echo Minott, urging their fellow countrymen to go back to the roots, plant their own vineyard and become farmer men again, on a brand new, elastic and everlastingly groovy reggae riddim. And if that wasn't enough, Grant Phabao also started a new series of collaboration with saxophonist/singer/poet Gregsky, starting with 'La Danse Du Shadow', a surprising Roots Reggae number reminiscent of late 70s Serge Gainsbourg's 'Aux Armes et Cætera' cultural blend of French Chanson and Jamaican Reggae - with its deep instrumental dub version, 'Le Dub Du Shadow' , on the b-side for the spiritual souls out there.
FUNK / JAZZ
11. The Hot 8 Brass Band - Tombstone (CD, Tru Thoughts, 2013) info | buy
12. Jaga Jazzist - Live With Britten Sinfonia (2LP/CD, Ninja Tune, 2013) info | buy
13. Stonephace Stabbins - Transcendental (Featuring Zoe Rahman) (CD, Noetic, 2012) info/buy
14. The Greyboy Allstars - Inland Emperor (CD, MRI, 2013) info/buy
Less than a year after releasing 'The Life & Times Of…', The Hot 8 Brass Band are back with a new full-length, 'Tombstone'. The band, who gained a large exposure thanks to featurings in Spike Lee's documentary 'When the Levees Broke' and the recent HBO series 'Treme', are dedicating this album to the musicians friends they recently lost.. Four band members of the band between the ages of 17 and 25 have died due to handgun violence in the last years. As a response to loss & tragedy, this new album is poignant, emotional, featuring all original material. New Orleans backbeat & horns at its best, the new soulful & funky album is playing on repeat at Paris DJs. On the jazz front, Norway's Jaga Jazzist, always hard to pin down, have released what we felt as the album of the month for April 2013. We never had the chance to hear their previous album, 'One-Armed Bandit', so we lost track of where the experimental jazz band was heading, but recorded live with a full orchestra, this new release is a masterpiece of cinematic & symphonic psychedelic jazz-funk, bridging the gap between Danny Elfman's orchestral scores and Frank Zappa's most inventive pieces from the early 70s. Just brilliant!
Legendary UK free-jazz saxophonist Larry "Stonephace" Stabbins came to our attention in 2009 with the trip hop-tagged 'Stonephace' album, produced with Portishead guitarist Adrian Utley and rave DJ Krzysztof Oktalski, released on Tru Thoughts Recordings. He's played with British jazz pianist and composer Keith Tippett in Centipede and lots of his other bands, he formed British latin-soul ensemble Working Week in the early 80s. And numerous other bands… Stonephace Stabbins is his latest project, featuring Mercury Prize-nominated pianist Zoe Rahman, Crispin 'Spry' Robinson on percussion, Karl Rasheed Abel on bass and Pat Illingworth on drums, for a synthesis of Exploratory Jazz with Groove, loads of percussion & eastern modes, and Transcendental Euphoria, with inspiration from Pharoah Sanders, Albert Ayler, John Coltrane and McToy Tyner. The incantatory album of the month, a superb slice of old-school uplifting UK spiritual jazz.
While The Poets Of Rhythm started the deep funk revival in 1993 in Europe with their album 'Practice What You Preach', it was The Greyboy Allstars who were their active counterparts the following year with the groundbreaking 'West Coast Boogaloo With Fred Wesley' LP. They've influenced a whole generation of bands playing improvisational music in a funk format and arrived on the scene one or two years before the Dap-Kings, known as the Soul Providers in their early years at Pure and Desco records… Historical clarification aside, let's get back to this album, only their 5th in a 20 years-long career filled with many other solo projects from saxophonist Karl Denson, keyboard maestro Robert Walter, guitarist Elgin Park or bassist Chris Stillwell - Aaron Redfield having replaced Zak Najor on drums after the previous album in 2007. With both feet grounded in 60s and 70s soul-jazz, 'Inland Emperor' sees the band adding some hints of growling electronics for a cinematic & eclectic record focusing on songwriting rather than improvisational sequences, re-inventing American acid-jazz for the 21st century. A band we would LOVE to see play in Paris!!
POP ROCK / COMPILATIONS
15. Pepe Deluxe - Queen Of The Wave (The Expanded Edition) (Book+2CD+DVD, Catskills, 2012) info | buy
16. Various - Shake-A-Leg Vol.2 (CD/LP, Perfect Toy/Tramp, 2013) info | buy
Released at the end of last year in the UK, Pepe Deluxé's new edition of their 'Queen Of The Wave' album is just plain astonishing. Packaged in a 64 pages book filled with encyclopedic information on the Finnish electronic band's music and crazy-looking designs in the vein of Terry Gilliam's collages blended with comicbooks and Bollywood graphic styles, this deluxe reissue also adds an album's worth of exclusive tracks, interludes and outtakes on a second CD, and a DVD packed with videos, instrumental versions, samples, drum breaks, artwork and wallpapers! If the original record was an opera pop jewel, this augmented edition is the ultimate thing, an aural and visual feast, and an unexpected twist on an already grandiose psychedelic rock opera.
We'll be closing this month's selection with a top quality compilation from Perfect Toy Records to be released june 10th, 'Shake-A-Leg Vol.2', cooked by professional DJ, vinyl digger and Tramp Records label owner, Tobias Kirmayer, and latin/jazz producer, Jerker Kluge. The musical spectrum is quite large, from Hip Hop (Mighty Mocambos ft. Afrika Bambaataa) to Afrofunk (Afro Latin Vintage Orchestra, Fanga), Heavy Funk (The Qualitons, Tommy Dark) to Nu Soul (Radio Etiopia feaT. Bajka), Latin Jazz (Pucho & his Latin Soul Brothers, Cesar's Salad, Willis Jackson) to Hip Hop/Jazz hybrids (Jacknife Lee, Samp Brothers), Soul (CJ. Leach) to Dancefloor Jazz (Deep Jazz)… The two German selectors are music pros with GREAT taste, there's no filler to be found here - only 74mn of pure communicative grooviness!! So, is this compilation recommended? Heavily.
Contact us to be featured in this monthly playlist or send us records at :
Julien Lakshmanan / Paris DJs
240 rue de Belleville
(gardien au 55 rue du Telegraphe)
75020 Paris, France
Original post on Paris DJs