Accept no substitutes.

Gotta a helluva sore back...so ain´t sitting in this chair for too long, gonna be brief.
Here´s the isht from last week´s do.
Yeah, myspace-murdoch-space....views have and will continue to be expressed about it, but through it i have exchanged x and learned about y. Dub Gabriel and Maga Bo for example came to my attention via ourspace and hence z, they provided us with a preview to their new respective albums. Dancefloor friendly, lyrically armed to the teeth slabs of low-end theory with movemental tops.....knowhatimean! Check Bo´s blog (click on Bo above, if you haven´t already) for the latest running´s just down the road from his yard in Rio.

Two friends here have asked about ´Dubstep´ this week, so i answered with the selection below.
ANS, from Prague has the first release on new label Studio Rockers, out this week, and also got a refix of Amy Whinehouse by my ever charming friend Tony Moody Boy Thorpe. Apparently the heads at her label flipped when they heard this mix.....




Kicked off this week´s show with a new joint from Ben Harper and The Innocent Criminals, great sentiment in the lyrics....basically saying Don´t Let the Bastards grind ya down. We are not alone....actually we never have been, it just feels like that sometimes.

Don´t watch this space, just come back next week.
All the beats

Ear Conditioning Playlist
September 25 2007


Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals / Fight Outta You (Virgin)
Prince Far I / Throw Away your Gun (Virgin)

Maximo Jimiñez / Gente de Monteria (Maximo)
Gaudi feat. Ojos de Brujo / Babylon Flamenco (Interchill)
Species / Todo Controlado (Roxy)
Tupperwear / Dantolo todo en vaicarca (Drone)
Massive Attack / United Snakes (Virgin)
El-P / Tasmanian Pain Coaster (Def Jux)
State of Bengal / Skip-ij (Betel nut)
Fun-da-mental feat. Rizwan-Muazzam Qawal / Pollution (Nation)

Maga Bo feat. Xuman / Fire (cd-r)
Maga Bo feat. ALIF / Sayel Mbott (cd-r)
Dub Gabriel / Battle of the Righteous Man vs. Common Factor / Untitled (SSR)
Dub Gabriel feat. Juakali/ Mash Out (cd-r)
Frank Perez / Que no te engañan (mp3)

ANS / Dungeon (Studio Rockers)
Subversion / Evil
Burial / Ghost Hardware (Hyperdub)
Saian Supa Crew / Voodoo Chile (Source)
Coki / The Skin (Big Apple)
Loefah / Disko Rekah (Deep Medi Musik)
Amy Winehouse vs. The Moody Boyz / Love in a Losing Game (Universal Dub cd-r)
Kode 9 + The Spaceape / Nine (Hyperdub)
King Jammy´s / Darker shade of Dub (Jamaican Recordings)

Saul Williams / Talk to Strangers (Witchita)
Cannibal Ox / Scream Phoenix (Def Jux)
Massive Attack / Angel · Blur Refix (Virgin)


Next week Thursday / jueves, i´ll be spinning at the pre-InspiraciónTenerife shin-dig
in Puerto de la Cruz. This event was originated by the promoters CDI, who with the council of
Puerto put on the festival of electronic music. The council later registered the name, and jacked CDI off like they was nothin´. With the recent local elections in May, the new council in Puerto have seen to give CDI their fair dues and gave them the call. Next week´s thang is gonna be at the beach, Playa de Martiánez. Do drop by if your in the area, i think the tax/entrance is reasonable six euros. Trevor Fung of HigherGround....(not Leftfield connected one) and Carlos Dominguez also sharing the decks. More info at www.inspiracióntenerife.com, although it wasn´t functioning last time i checked.


Radio Pimienta meanwhile will be holding an open house....food, drink, conversation, and tunes from MAD, the host of Mextura2, and contributors to his program, BFunk, Eddie Souzzo and Dab Maia, as well as i. It´s a Saturday afternoon thing running until midnight. We will also be recording for future programs for both Ear Conditioning and Mextura2.

Sunset

During the summer break i went to Toronto to see my Dad, who was illin´ with prostate cancer.
A week after i got there he was admitted to the hospital and five days later he passed away. He would have been 76 on Sept. 18th, the day of my latest transmission. I recall once telling him that i had met some fellow class-mates at my new school in Toronto, who´se parents like mine had come from Barbados. He was happy for me, and at the same time told me not to soley associate with them because of the Bajan connection but to feel free at hook up with people regardless of what passport they held. That was my parents way of dealing with close-minded people. The same thought process was applied to music, and what was listened to, all kindsa stuff. I returned to Tenerife with some of his records: John Lee Hooker, Chopin, Manu Dibango, Ella and Johann Strauss. This classic staple of Coldcut and other sample pioneers, "A Journey into Stereo Sound" was sitting in my dad´s collection from time man! It´s because of my Mum and Dad that i bring the music.

Thank you Sylvian W. Watts
Sunrise September 18 1931
Sunset August 6 2007

Ear Conditioning Playlist September 18 2007

King L Man / Enter the Matricks (cdr)
King Midas Sound / Surround Me (Soul Jazz)

Okna Tsahan Zam / Introduction & Edjin Duun (Buda)
Mongo Rives / Yo quiero bailar con Maríe Elena (Sonora Cubana)
Doudou Ndyaie Rose / Ligueyon Ndeye (Virgin France)

P.i.L. / Poptones (Virgin)
Einsturzende Neubauten / Boreas (Mute)

Spotlight
Linton Kwesi Johnson / Sonny´s Lettah (Island)
Linton Kwesi Johnson / Inglan is a Bitch (Island)
Linton Kwesi Johnson / Fite Dem Back (Island)
Linton Kwesi Johnson / Reggae Sounds (Island)

7" Bloodclatt Pressure
The Revolutionaries / Kunte Kinte (Channel One/Pressure Sounds)
Alborosie / Kingston Town (Forward)
IQ Productions meets Kope (Banana Klan)
The Dynamics / 7 Nation Army (Big Single)
Dr. Ring Ding / Bombs over Baghdad (Germaican)
The Bug feat. He-Man / Killer (Razor X)

Dub Gabriel / Battle of the Righteous Man (mp3)
Angel Garcia / Piquetón (Raya)
Tito Sensa / Shelembeh (Main Squeeze)
Razhel The Godfather of Noyze / Return of Razhel · Live
Quannum Projects / 2 1/2 Minute Workout (Quannum)
Roots Manuva / Awfully Deep · Lambeth Visitation Mix (Bid Dada)
Roots Manuva / Juggle Tings Proper · El-P Remix (Big Dada)
The Beatnuts / Props Over Here
LV feat. Dandelion / Takeover Dub (Hyperdub)

The Ear Conditioning radio program is broadcast Tuesday evenings, 20h00 to 22h00, and repeated Saturdays at 24h00. Radio Pimienta 100.3FM (Tenerife)

This week´s show happening to fall on Sept. 11th, hence the picture above, from Chile in memory of Salvador Allende. It was too easy to just blah blah blah on 9-11, for me, 9-11, as they call it, is being milked to death....uh, that was a shit pun! But it´s got enough coverage going for it, and i think it always will at this rate. So, the political content of the program contained contributions from Naomi Klein, and Robert Fisk. Clicking on the hot keys, about seven-eight words back will take you to the mini-site the Guardian newspaper has set up with Ms. Klein. Much information about her latest book, The Shock Doctrine is there, commentary on the business of war sitting alongside links to her articles for the Nation and video interviews.
The Fisk contributions have run previously on the program, but they are so damn good, they had to get another airing. He recalls witnessing what turned out to be the very first Hizbollah action, as a group of men took over an Israeli tank right before his eyes!

In trawling through the web a few hours before setting off to present the program from the Radio Pimienta studio´s i came across the news that The Roots bass man, The Hub has decided to move on after seventeen years at the helm. Seventeen years?! Damn, most folks ain´t even married for that long! His solo´s were jaw-dropping, from the first time i saw them in Roskilde ´94 or ´95, to most recently a month and a half ago at the Rogers Picnic in Toronto. He and the Roots are hip-hop but also beyond hip-hop, that´s why he (they) would pull shit from outta any musical genre and drop it, hard. Thanks Hub.

Felt is was time to get some more funk in the program, heads need to know about Funkadelic proper, never heard any P-Funk on Spanish radio in the two years i´ve been living here, and in the eight years i´d been coming here before the move. People have to know, so that´s my job. Also dug out The Meters and Defunkt for good measure.

Over at myspace world, Phobos3 got it touch this week.....the name drew me in for further investigation, and it turns out it was old friends Elixir, well, two thirds of them. Only the day before i was playing their Language collaboration with Endemic Void. Think Burt Bacarach, Hip Hop, lo-sci-fi, and your getting warm.

Mala of dmz was very kind in giving me plenty of records to grace the airwaves with. His latest dmz offering, Alicia is soulful dubstep, highlighting the potential of producers sitting high on the dubstep bassbin.....going further than the ´Wobble´phase that part of the scene is enamored with at the moment. Lush piano chords (and possibly guitar), organtastic movements propelled by a sub woofin´ entity.

Sometimes i ask myself "What ever happened to such and such producer, or group?" This week, Espionage filled that space. They-he-she released a track through Palm Pictures, and i think that was it. Purdy 4 President was a very fresh cover version on Eric B for President. Espionage had plenty talent...¿Que pas?

The Roots / Dilltastic Vol Won(derful) (DefJam)
The Roots / False Media (DefJam)
Asmahan / Aleik Salat Allah (Club du Disque Arabe)
Track 2 - Unknown Folk Music from Armenia / Mad Tunes from around the World (Metalanguage)
Tinawiren / Cler Achel · Water is Life (Independiente)
Indigeneous Resistance / Sacred Power Chanting Cree (IR)
Airto / Chicken in the Mind · Amon Tobin Remix (MELT)
Amit / Unholy (Commercial Suicide)
Kode 9 & The Spaceape / Curious feat. Ms Haptic (Hyperdub)

The Meters / Africa (Reprise)
Funkadelic/ Nappy Dugout…Cosmic Slop (Westbound 1973)
Funkadelic / Butt-to-butt resuscitation…Tales of Kidd Funkadelic (Westbound)
Parliament / Jimmy´s Got a little bit of bitch…(Westbound)
Sweat Band (Bootsy´s Rubber Band) / Jamaicia ...Sweat Band LP (CBS)
Defunkt / For the Love of Money Thermonuclear Sweat (Hannibal)

Bakshi Javid Salamat Qawal vs. Fun-da-mental / Just Bubbling Live
Live Human / Improvisessions (Fat Cat)
Elixir / Alien Rainbow vs. Naomi Klein discussing the Iraqi Election, if you can call it that.
The Clash / Magnificent Dance vs. Robert Fisk talking on the birth of Hizbollah
Overtone / Give it Again · Inverse Cinematics Remix (Rosebud)
Espionage / Purdey 4 President (Palm Pitcures)

Mala-Digital Mystikz / Alicia (dmz)
Jah Wobble / Need you by my side (Virgin)
Unknown Artist / I Don´t Give a Dub (White)
Supercat vs. Method Man / Scalp Dem · Junglist Version (White)

The Return of the dB assault

Ear Conditioning / dB Acrobatics

September 4th 2007

I´ve had seven weeks off from the program due to gigs and family commitments so plenty to catch up on.

Oh, where to start? Let´s make it simple...i caught up with fellow band members for a couple concerts in Russia in July. We flew into St. Petersburg for a festival sponsored by the British Council. The feel of St. Petersburg is so different from being in Moscow. The city is located on the coast, and canals and rivers flow throughout the city, very much a Nordic feel, where as the drive into Moscow last year was depressing as hell due to seemingly millions of vehicles on the motorway belching out tons and tons of diesel and petrol fumes (yes, we were part of the problem too), the drive into St. P from it´s airport is a lot shorter and we were greeted by the sights of people riding horses in city....not sure what that was about, but it looked good and not the type of thing i/we were expecting at all.

We were in St. P to take part in the British Council-sponsored UK Flavours event, featuring local band I-Iaska, Lily Allen, the Dub Pistols featuring former Specials vocalist Terry Hall, Tigerstyle (thanks for the 12" guys), Mad Professor and Misty in Roots. Click here for footage of our Ministry of Defence contracted dhol-player doing his solo. Seriously, he cant´t talk about the work he´s done for the MoD, as he had to sign the Official Secrets Act. Do they know he plays with us?

After the show, we had to take the overnight sleeper train to yup, Moscow for the Krylia festival. Eight of us travelling, four compartments reserved, two people to each compartment right? Not when you have a new monitor engineer that can´t share his assigned compartment for some unexplained psychological problem. So bass-man Lloyd had to sleep on the floor of another compartment. If it were up to me.....but it weren´t so enough about that, and back to Krylia. The festival was targeted in 2004 by a couple female Chechen suicide bombers, who took about fifteen people with them into premature retirement, hence the security at the festival was heavy as fuck, every two meters there was a cop or soldier present. Once again we shared a stage with New York´s Hazmat Modine who we played with last year in Moscow. They had a horn player with them who had the biggest horn i have ever seen in my life, surely most of their wages went to pay excess weight. Russian hardcore group FAQ continued the mosh-pit action after us with an energetic performance....well, you would if your hardcore. Speaking of hardcore, i caught a performance by Bad Brains at the Rogers Picnic in Toronto courtesy of old friend Errol Nazareth. Also on the bill was The Roots. Maceo of De La Soul was spinning during the stage change over, and he killed us with tunes...practically every track he played was a funk, disco, soul classic. I definitely rate him as one of the best party DJ´s, alongside DJ Premier and Rob Birch of Stereo MC´s. During The Roots set, Maceo Plug Won and Lupe Fiasco came out for an impromptu jam session. Most of us went home content.

While back in LDN working my way back home, i stopped of at Soul Jazz, Rough Trade and Honest Jon´s record shops for my fix, and came across a cd with a familiar image. Scratch the head, and ponder for a moment....ah yes i realized it was the mighty /Rupture that first brought this record to my attention with his superb blog. Choubi Choubi, Folk and Pop Sounds from Iraq, you know that had to be acquired.

Dubstep, or bass-lead music comprised the majority of purchase this time around, but it´s gonna be hard to find a system here in Tenerife that can handle the bottom weight. I will have to search hard, low and high to find a capable system so folks here can be ear-conditioned proper. in the meanwhile we in Tenerife must be satisfied with radio offerings such as the last 30 minutes of the program or DJ Mad´s selection on his Mextura2 program, also at Radio Pimienta. Other new joints include the Gaudi produced Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan album, and the cumbia of Lito Barrientos, high energy latin fiyah!

It all makes a lovely stew.....

FAQ / Intro (RebelRecordsRussia)
Ja´afar Hassan · They taught me / from Choubi Choubi(Sublime Frequencies)
Gaudi meets Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan · Dil da rog muka ja mahi (Six Degrees)
Unknown Artist · Segue Bezikh / from Choubi Choubi (Sublime Frequencies)
Unknown Artist · Oh Mother / from Choubi Choubi(Sublime Frequencies)

King L Man · When will Turkey apologize for the first holocaust of the 20^th Century? (Ear Con)
Mighty Zulu Nation · Mdavu the Man (Nation)

Dodo · Electric Love (Freshly Squeezed)
Lemon · Batman (Freshly Squeezed)
Liars · Plaster casts of everything (Mute)

Bad Brains · Give Thanks and Praises (Oscilloscope/Megaforce)
Bad Brains · Jah People make the world go round (Oscilloscope/Megaforce)
Bad Brains · Pure Love (Oscilloscope/Megaforce)
FAQ featuring Max Cavalera · Killing Song (RebelRecordsRussia)

Madlib · Enter Hot Curry (Stones Throw)
Lito Barrientos y su orquesta · Cumbia en dos menor (Soundway)
Tigerstyle · El Tiburón (Soldier Sound)
Buraka Som Sistema feat. Petty · Yah! (Modular)
State of Bengal · Breathe in (Betelnut)

John Lee Hooker · Walking the Boogie (Chess)
Manu Dibango · Soul Makossa (London)
Papa Levi · Mi God Mi King (Fashion)
Laurel & Hardy · You´re Nicked (Fashion)
The Beat · Noise in this world (Go Beat)

Prince Fatty · Milk and Honey (The Moody Boyz remix)
LV featuring Dandelion · Takeover (Hyperdub)
Coki · The End (dmz)
Skream · Moving Snares (Disfigured Dubs)
Coki · Sponge Bob (dmz)
ANS · New Worlds (Studio Rockers)

Thanks to Errol Nazareth and family for the time and presents, The Bug for busting some new tunes for me, Steve Goodman for the LV 12", quite possibly one of the year´s best releases. Also shouts to Mala - Digital Mystikz for a generous package and a good lunch and Marta at EMI/Mute España.