Davey D interviews Rev. Jeremiah Wright

The good reverend, Jeremiah Wright, interviewed by Davey D at the State of the Black World Conference held in New Orleans last week.
Thanks to Hypestyle at the Public Enemy message board for leading the way.

This is the link to Davey D´s site, from where the Jeremiah Wright interview above was 

posted .

Whenever anybody asks me 'bout Obama aka  Oh Man!, I think of The Good Reverand, when explaining the context of his "God bless, God damn" sermon, and OhMan! seemingly distancing himself from Rev. Wright. The Good Rev. said "That he (Rev. Wright) is a religious man and talks as such, while Obama is a politician, and he has to says what a politician has to say."


My point being, have we just witnessed the best marketing campaign of 2008?  Noam Chomsky thinks so.  People do need a change, ain´t no doubt about that and let the moment be savoured, it´s been a long time coming, howeverrrrrrr.......

  
Rapper NYOil was also present during the interview. If you know him it could be due to his insight which from what I´ve heard is on it, in the socio-political-music along the lines of KRS, Chuck D, Prof. Griff, Dead Prez et al.  Speaking of the Oh-Man!, check out NYOil's 'Father Father', using Marvin Gaye's 'What's Goin' On?'  and an Oh-Man! speech about parenthood.

Jay Smooth´s video blog expresses two points of view on the election outcome, one being the mundane politcal moment and at the same time a symbolic event. Both are true however the work has only just begun, meaning that voting was the first part. The real work starts Jan.20th next year when the OhMan! steps into the White House in Chocolate City. People are gonna have to be doing their bit as change never came from up top, it´s the people on the ground that bring forth the goodness.

Womad Las Palmas / Womex Sevilla

The Womad Festival rolled into Las Palmas de Gran Canaria for the fourteenth time, and it did not disappoint this one.  I was told that someone thought that it was 'too electronic'

Not sure who they were talking about because check who was on the bill....

Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, Tony Allen, El Guincho, Speed Caravan, Papirka Balkanicus, Mariem Hassan, Femi Kuti & The Positive Force, Umdumo Wesizwe, Bo Cissoko.

Speed Caravan must have been the culprits as they had a laptop with the beats, oh yeah, and that dastardly El Guincho, yeah, him, his drum pad and sequencer were plugged into the National Grid.  May the offspring of these two electricity-loving heathens be sold to the highest bidder and serve a life sentence  making drums out of the hardest of termite resistant wood. That will teach them.

A journalist friend in London asked me to take some notes of the festival, and here they are:

Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra:  (Friday night)

This NYC-based group are one of the torch bearers for Fela Kuti and Afrobeat which was one of the themes for Womad Las Palmas '08, as this edition of Womad also featured Fela's son, Femi Kuti, and also Fela's musical director and drummer Tony Allen.  Antibalas have played over 1000 shows and they know how to involve the audience.  Their call and response method of presenting their msic worked the crowd well.  In typical Afrobeat fashion, their seventy-five minutes of allotted stage time was enough for six songs.

Tony Allen: (Saturday night)

Fluid, seven piece band. Climactic funk, hi-hats to the front, hammond organ smoothness, afro movements, colourful tom rolls and fills, give his drumming an expansive feeling, covering a huge range of  expression.  Along with Antibalas and Femi,  he presented the sound of victory for the oppressed.  "He is science.' said Mehdi/Speed Caravan.

El Guincho (Friday night)

His appearance represented a musical homecoming for Palbo Diaz-Reixa aka El Giuncho.  Born in Las Palmas but now based in Barcelona, the last 12 months have been very hectic, due to the totally unexpected reaction to his mega-tropicalistic Alegranza album, which was recently picked up the the quality label that is XL Recordings.  He has been developed his live show since I first saw him perform at the ECOS Festival in Tenerife earlier this year, as he is now armed with a drummer.  I've got a lot of time for El Guinch', however not sure his set is suited to a big stage just yet, however the spirit of rave, afrobeat and carnival is very much evident and I give him top marks for stepping out on his own, being a leader, not a follower.

Speed Caravan: (Saturday night):

This Algerian/French four-piece comprising of Mehdi Haddab on the oud; Hermoine Frank providing electronic beats; Pascal Teillet, bass; and Mohamad Bouamar on percussion and vocals turned in one of the most talked aobut performances which also included a vsersion of the Chemical Brothers' "Push the Button".  Mehdi's oud is plugged into two amplifiers giving in a presence and edge that one does not expect with this instrument.  Who'se gonna sign these guys and make them huge?  They deserve to be heard!

Umdumo Wesizwe: (Friday night)

This Zimbabwian group were another concert highlight, as was their workshop the following day.  Ten vocalists and two drummers showed how it is done.  Body-popping, kinetic dance moves while breathlessly delivering vocals.  It's not fair!

Paprika Balkanicus (Sunday night):

Weapons of choice, two accordians, a guitarist, weird violinist, an electric double bass that used to belong to Rhonda Smith, one-time player for Prince ("I lick it every time I go onstage." said the current owner, Jozef Secnik) and a great sense of humour.   This Serbian/Slovenian/Romanian quintet were very much appreciated, asking the thousands in the audience to all join hands and form a massive circle, to which the photographers went into a frenzied state trying to capture the images for the next day's front page.

The ever present 4/4 rhythms took a back seat as the Paprikans caught us with the 9/8 movement of 'Ne Kuni Me Majko' (Mother Don't Curse Me), a song about lost love.  Bodgan Vacarescu's violin moved over the strings of his violin at speds unimaginable, generating open-mouthed reactions and stunned-into-silence audience reaction.

Mariem Hassan: 

Her performance brought the Saharwian community of Las Palmas out in full force.  Polisario flags were abound.  At one moment the Muddy Waters blues filled the air, then rhythms that influenced Public Image Ltd during their Flowers of Romance period took over.

Darga:  (Saturday night):

When they hit the stage, once again flags appeared, besides the Polisario flags, those representing Morocco, the Canarian Independence movement and Amazig (berbers, the forefathers of the Guanche, the original inhabitants of the Canary Islands).  The flags swayed to the funk, rap and Marley-esque reggae flavours of this youthful group led by two vocalists and an 'Obama for Change'  T-shirt wearing guitarist.

DJ Mr. Benn (Friday night)

He is part of a DJ crew with Massive Attack's Daddy G, so I was eager to catch his set, as I know G plays quality music, and if somebody is down with him, then they too got the goods. However a scheduling change meant that as we were eating getting some tasty octopus he was finishing his set.  Grrrrr!!!!!!  I'll have to make do with his mix CD for the time being.

Ba Cissoko: (Thursday night)

Fantastic!  Great tones coming from the twin kora players, pounding beats from the calabah and top-shot energy from all players, made for a fitting opening night party.

Femi Kuti & The Positive Force (Sunday night)

The perfect festival closer.  A blazing entrance with a five-piece horn section, bass, two drummers, guitar, and finally some female singers/dancers who must be some of the fittest around.  There were several songs that lived in the 170+bpm range (drum and bass tempo) and they did not miss a step or shake of the hips.  The furious pace swept Femi into a state of musical intoxication, eyes rolling into the back of his sockets, while the horns burned around the rhythms that proved the bedrock for songs about poverty, greed, corruption and Aids.

For the encore....a classic from his father, 'Water Got No Enemy'.

Thanks  to Rod "The Hangman" Garrett and Nani, Tenerife's favourite percussionist for sound support...we must've done something right as the audience showed their love all weekend.

This week's radio program has some weight behind it, in my humble opinion.  It ain't about me, it's the music that players have generated.  

While at Womad,  the two Antibalas  guitarists presented me with cd's of side projects they are involved with.  One is....damn, where's the cd?!

Okay, can't find that one at the moment, however the one I got in the playlist for today is Akoya Afrobeat.

I didn't see Speed Caravan at Womex the week before Womad, but I did manage to get a copy of the Womex sampler CD, and there's SC track there, replayed on the show for your pleasure.

Bedoiun Jerry Can Band and Senegal's Mo-DJ also have contributions to the same cd.

Andres Argil was represented at Womex by the Mexican Independent Labels association.  His music stood out to me, as it was so unexpected among the more traditional 'Mexican-associated sounds' that one can come to expect.  Here, we have field-recording/ambient/texture exercises taking over.

Steve Goodman's Hyperdub label continues to leave behind those that want to remain solely in the 'dubstep' arena.  We have LV featuring Dandelion and the electrified Zomby.

Speaking of Zomby, over the next few weeks I'll be dropping some tracks from the forthcoming Zomby EP, yes on Hyperdub.

Okay, enough chat/write....

Ear Conditioning 

Radio Norte 89.4FM www.radionorte.com

18 November 2008

Zed Bias 'The Cauldron' featuring Jay Electronica and Ghost1 (Sidestepper)

Mo-DJ 'Dosso' (Womex CD)

Fosforo 'Mosquito'

Rev. Lonnie Farris 'A Night in the house of Prayer  (Mississippi Records)

El Hijo de la Cumbia 'Bombom Asesino Version'  (Bersa Discos)

Andres Argil 'Diógenes'  (Mexican Independent Labels CD)

Charlie Watts - Jim Keltner Project 'The Elvin Suite'  Coldcut Remix for Helen Dawn (Cyber-Octave)

Digital Mystikz  'Conference'  (DMZ)

Bedouin Jerry Can Band  'Ya el Yaladana'  (Womex CD)

Akóya Afrobeat  'B.F.B.F.  (Afrobomb)

Speed Caravan 'Kalaknik Love' 

Saul Williams  'PG Beat'  (Witchita)

LV featuring Dandelion  'CCTV'  (Hyperdub)

Zomby 'Spliff Dub'  Rustie Remix  (Hyperdub)

Ear Conditioning on Radio Norte 89.FM  www.radionorte.com

Tuesdays 20h30 - 21h30

Repeated Saturday 22h30 - 23h30

Oh, one other thing...my good friend Dani also put together a radio program that was dedicated to Womad, and you can check it here.....

Until next time.....

Squarepusher - Planet Gear

His new shit.....yes, he produced the video too.


Squarepusher - Planet Gear from Warp Records on Vimeo.

Only the poor man feel it

Our house is in a bit of a state at the moment, but nothing like what the people of the pueblo Cho Vito have had to go through.  Cho Vito is a little town, part of Candelaria, 20km from Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

There is a Spanish law that states that buildings are not allowed to inhibit access to the beach/coast.

Many houses have been built in contradiction of this edict, and now the demolition crews are moving in. The thing is, in many cases permits for construction where given by councils, and also many houses on the coast belong to fishermen....which makes sense. There are also many hotels on the seafront that contradict the law....however it seems that it only the houses of the poor man that gets marked for demolition, as witnessed in this link.  Big respect to some of the the police that reportedly didn't turn up for work that day, even 'monos' (monkey's, have a heart at times.  Mono's are the Canarian equiv' of 'pigs', so ya know.) 

There is a huge house not too far from where we live....sitting right there on the beach, the owner is a business man, well respected and all....the chances of his house being subject to bulldozers and police carrying him out are.....uh, zero.

Speaking of being Uprooted, this month sees the release of the freshest dj mix from the one called DJ/rupture.  The tempo stays around 70/140bpm hence in the dubstep / atmospheric zone, giving lots of room for space and subtle movements where necessary, balanced with caustic bottom end and shards of metallic plug-ins.  Clouds from Finland have a couple contributions, and they are treating my ears nicely.  Also new to me are Atki2, Baby Kites & Nokea.  Ekkehard Ehlers bring a super gorgeous piece of string-led melancholy to the arena, with a track called Plays John Cassavettes pt.2.  Maga Bo and Filastine are included too.

I'll have some more of this compilation to come over the next few weeks, stay tuned. The video is from Baby Kites & Nokea 'Reef', which /rupture initiates the mix with....

A few years back, my good mate Tony Thorpe called me to assist on a track for an album he was producing for a singer from South Africa called Lulu.  After the project was completed I was told that it was shelved as Lulu had got married and her husband did not want her to continue doing music.  So I thought that was that, luckily I had a test pressing of the vinyl (although I lost one of the two vinyls).  I did a net search at found out that the album did eventually come out under the name Lungiiswa Plaatjies.  I really hope Lungiiswa is still doing her thing.

Ear Conditioning
October 7 2008

Asha Bosle - Jhunka Jhulade (Super)
Bap's Three Bips & A Bop - Oop-Pop-A-Da (Blue Note)
Overtone - Give It Again (Redbud)
Trouble Funk - Drop the Bomb (Sugarhill)
Fear+APC+Pulsinger+Koas - Title unknown (!K7)
Root Down - Title Unknown (White Label)
G.A.F. - Two More Things I Need to Tell You (Ruin)
Panda Bear - Comfy in Nautica (UUAR)
African Head Charge - Dervish Chant (On-U Sound)
Lungiswa Plaatjies - Title Unknown (Melt2000)
Diplo - Diplo Rhythm feat Sandra Melody, Vybz Cartel & Pantera Os Danadinhos (Big Dada)
Atki 2 - WinterBuds (The Architecture)
Clouds - Too Much (The Architecture)
DJ Food - The Sky at Night (Ninja Tune)

Ear Conditioning is broadcast Tuesday at 20h30 (Canary Islands/London Time)
Repeated Saturday night 22h00 (Canary Islands/London Time)
www.radionorte.com 89.4FM

Thanks to Tally at the architecture, and all singers and players.

Return to the Airwaves

So, do you still think it's worthwhile putting your life savings in the hands of those on Wall Street?

Nevermind, as usual we had a mixed bag for the first program after the extended holiday break. As I mentioned in the previous post, Pedro, the man behind Txola, asked me if I heard of The Bug. Pedro, Pedro....you musta been too busy keeping the Txola clientele happy with the cervezas if you hadn't realized I play that shit every week!  Kevin, if your reading this, he wants to come back to Tenerife in December, and do a session.  Pedro knows he has to get  get bass-bins, and we know who to speak to about it.

While in Costa Rica for a couple weeks, I was able to get one CD. Actually that is a mistruth....that's what politicians call it innit?  When they say something that ain't correct?! 

We took a day trip over the border to Nicaragua, and it was there, in the city of Granada, that I was able to get my hands on some local tuneage, Marimba Tipica Nicaraguense con Los Mismos de Ticuantepe.  The music is very similar to what you find in the Pacific side of Costa Rica anyway.  On the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, Soca and Calypso infused rhythms run things.  

Gotta get back to CR as soon as possible.  It's name is very appropriate, believe.  Never seen so much fauna and flora.  Apparently they have over 2000 species of orchids!  We saw sloths, four species of monkeys, manta rays, turtles laying their eggs by the crate-load, tree-killing trees,tarantulas, pelicans, toucans, river flamingo's, the spectacular sight of lava flowing down the Arenal volcano at night, acres and acres of bananas and palm trees, snakes, crocodiles, caymans...it easily made up for only getting one cd.  Well, to be honest, before heading to Costa Rica, I set up the owners of Rough Trade, Soul Jazz, Honest Jon's and Phonica record shops in London for awhile...they were happy to see me after a year, "Oh, have you heard this?  How about this?"  Sons of bitches!

Ear Conditioning
Program Sept. 23/2008

Intro - The Original Broadcaster, Christopher Stone
Burial - 01 (Hyperdub)
Dub Colossos - Azmari Dub (RealWorld)
Dengue Fever - Oceans of Venus (RealWorld)
Riko Dan & Heatwave - Mind How You Talk (Heatwave)
MC Gringo - Alemao / Toddla T Remix (Man Recordings)
Cavaliers Unlimited - Soul Vein (Mississippi Records)
Marlene Shaw - Liberation Conversation (Cadet)
Los Mismos de Ticuantepe - Dona sapa
Fandango, Puede y Taraf - Granada (Producciones Alebrije)
MHV - Chroumous (Discos Konfort)
Jefferson Belt - Where's He At? (Round Trip Mars)
Cedric IM Brooks - Idleberg (Soul Jazz)
The Bug feat. The Spaceape - Fukkaz (NinjaTune)
The Bug feat. Ricky Ranking - Too Much Pain (Ninja Tune)
Unitone Hi-Fi - Up To Eleven (Round Trip Mars)
Incarnate - Blissed (Post Contemporary)
Burial - Untrue (Hyperdub)

Fandangdo, Puede y Taraf performing Granada

Ear Conditioning is transmitted on Tuesday evenings at Radio Norte, 89.4 at 20h30, and is now available online via www.radionorte.com

  

The Bug / Skeng: The Video

Fresh outta the box, Skeng featuring Killa P and Flow-Dan.
Directed by Anne-Marie Bergeron (Urler.tv)

Rethuglican Party Convention

September 1st, Labor Day in the US, it was also Day One of the Republican National Convention. The following video was released showing an apparent mass arrest of utterly peaceful concert goers at the SEIU Labor Day concert.

Here's the press release that came with the video, from the Glass Bead Collective:

BURIED TAPE REVEALS USE OF FORCE AND AN UNWARRANTED MASS ARREST OF BYSTANDERS DURING THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION
ST. PAUL, Minnesota (September 18, 2008) Video released today shows the indiscriminate arrest of a crowd of two hundred at the waterfront across from a concert on Harriet Island Regional Park during this month's Republican National Convention in St. Paul. The video includes multiple angles of the event as well as an interview with the cameraman who buried his footage and was one of almost two hundred people arrested for rioting without probable cause.
More than eight hundred people were arrested in St. Paul during the Republican National Convention. This video shows that at least twenty percent of the eight hundred plus arrested were seized without due cause.




God Bless America, AND FUCK THE REST OF YOU THAT DON'T LIKE IT!