Maaaaaaaaan, the week’s gone by like nobody’s business! It’s gone by so fast, in fact, that for right now I’m going to keep this short because the hour is very late.

It’s the first week of summer; welcome to it! Hoepfully, the weather is beautiful where you are–even if you are moving into winter in your part of the world.

There’s been quite a few downloads of the radio show this past week. Thanks for this; it’s much appreciated. I hope you enjoy the music. I’m pleased that some of you have taken the time to send comments. Please keep them coming in, because your comments help me in making a better show overall, plus it gives me a chance to let the labels and artists know how you feel about the music.

Well last week on the live show finally saw the light of day for the Bugz in the Attic profile, and now you can listen to the segment online. There’s more than enough that has been said about this pioneering nine-member collective of talented artists from West London. The influence of the collective cannot be denied, as artists the world over either have or are desiring to collaborate with them. So download the broadcasts and hear Orin and Daz in their own words, as well as music, of the Bugz in the Attic crew. Big ups to them and to Vicci from In-Pointe for making it possible. Shouts, too, goes to Angelo from Sound In Color for lending a helping hand.

But don’t get yourself confused about the downloads. From here on in, I’m dividing each show into two separate parts/files to make things easier for everyone concerned. If you’ve subscribed to the podcasts via your podcatching aggregator, then you’ll see updates of two links instead of one. But in any event, I think you get the picture. So don’t forget to make sure you grab both parts of the show. Oh, and the audio is at a higher quality at 128 kbps. I will also upload a single-file version of the show for those who still desire to download on the Urban Landscapes web site by tomorrrow evening. Long-term, things will change. I will keep you posted.

I’ve written more than I’ve planned, but I’m falling apart here. So watch for the blog during the weekend for more. Be sure to listen to Part One of my Halfway Rewind Special on the live show tonight, focusing on albums that are worth checking out that have been released this year so far. Next week will be the singles and EPs.

For now, have a good weekend!

Starting this week, the show will be available in two parts with higher-quality sound (128 kbps).

The Bugz in the Attic Profile includes music past and present from BITA (and some offshoots); includes highlights of my interview with Orin Waters (aka Afronaught) and Daz-I-Kue.

Live Airdate: Friday June 17, 2005

Song – Artist – Album – Label
Red Handed – Felix Laband – Dark Days Exit (Compost)
Perpetual Questions – Jazzensemble – Der Frankfurt Sound (Infracom)
Morning – Emile Normand Sextet – Ready Or Not EP 12″ (Do Right!)
Can’t Hide Love – Eddy Meets Yannah – Just Like… (Compost)

THE URBAN LANDSCAPES PROFILE:
Bugz In The Attic

Old Skool – Bugz In The Attic – Family Factory EP 12 (Solemusic)*
The Future Ain’t The Same As It Used 2 B – Neon Phusion – The Future Aint’ The Same As It Used 2 B (Bitasweet)
Loose Lips (Instrumental) – Seiji – 12″ (Bitasweet)*
One (Seiji Instrumental) – Rosey – 12″ (Giant Step)*
Looking For Love (Bugz In The Attic Remix) – Vikter Duplaix – 12″ (Hollywood)
Booty La La (Psyan’s Bootleg Mix) – Bugz In The Attic – 12″ (V2)
Move (Part 1) – Daz-I-Kue (Sound In Color)
Golpe Tuyo Calinda – Afronaught – 12″ (Bitasweet)
Hold It Down (Bugz In The Attic Remix) – 4 Hero – 12″ (Talkin’ Loud)
Bring Some – Homecookin’ – 12″ (Sole)*
* Tunes played in the background.
END OF BUGZ PROFILE

It’s Gonna Be Alright – Delgui featuring Colonel Red (4Lux)
Winter (Nuspirit Helsinki Remix) – Bebel Gilberto – Bebel Gilberto Remixed (Six Degrees/Zuriguiboom)
U Gimme That Feelin’ (John Beltran Rework) – Colonel Red – Sanctify EP 12″ (People)
Lovesick – High Contrast – High Society (Breakbeat Science /Hospital)
END BROADCAST

It’s close to showtime.

Friday night is yet upon us, and that means the start of a new weekend. And with it comes Urban Landscapes to lead you into it.

Cool music to be have, of course. As always, looking forward to the drops.

Come this week, though, is a special drop at that. it’s the first Urban Landscapes Profile aired in recent memory, and tonight is a treat. As mentioned previously, the nine-member West London collective known as Bugz In The Attic will take the spotlight for about a good half of the show. if you’ve been a fan of this show, as well as other choice shows around the world, then you know that the Bugz crew are best known for the proliferation of what’s known as “broken beat” music. They will tell you that they aren’t crazy about the terminology, but fans will tell you that it’s amongst some of the freshest dance sounds around. And while they are best known for that particular style, they’ve done everything from house to ballads, too. Some of the key Bugz members have also done other projects from both within and outside the Bugz camp.

Earlier this year came the domestic release of “Got The Bug” on V2 Records, a compilation of choice remixes compiled from the collective’s many works of mixes over the years. The tune “Booty La-La” is perhaps the group’s most accessible record to date, but no less effective on the dancefloor.

Orin Waters (aka Afronaught) and Daz-I-Kue were present for the interview, which took place during the dance music conferences in Miami this past March. As you’ll hear as part of the interview, remnants of thunder could be heard due to a tropical depression. But no worries, cuz Orin gives the rundown on the crew, the origins and challenges of broken beat, their busy touring schedules, the Puerto Rican project, and more. You’ll also hear music, past and present, in various incarnations. So check it out this week on the live show, or next week online the podcast site.

Podcast, you say? Back to that later.

You might have missed it on your way onto the blog, but there’s a teeny weeny addition to the “About Me” section. If you look at the end of the paragraph, you’ll see a “Atom 0.3″ icon. For many people (including me, up to last Wednesday), it’s just another link. But as I’ve found out in subsequent days, it could make life for you and me much easier. That small link that you see, in part, gives you the ability to subscribe to my blog.

(Caveat: in place of the “About Me” is “Contributors.” This is temporary for the moment, but you can simply click on my name. A page will appear with the Atom icon, which can be dragged to your newsreader.)

One of the most powerful features of blogs, as well as more “professional” publications, is the ability to store all similar links into one location. It could be a web browser such a Firefox; it could be a news aggregation reader such as NetNewsWire, or even an online service like My Yahoo that allows the same thing. In other words, you can take my blog, the Washington Post, the Christian Science Monitor, Wired, Ain’t It Cool News, and other sites bearing the RSS or Atom icon (or even text cues such as “RSS” or “Site Feed”). and save them all in one location.

The power is that when you launch a news reader or a browser, any updates on the appropriate sites will be updated to the reader. This makes it so that you don’t have to dig into layers of pages and windows to find what you need. One window, with your list of subscriptions, is all there is to it.

The same is true for podcasting, though you may or may not need to grab a separate “podcatching” software (fortunately, NetNewsWire does both). But think of all of the cool shows available via podcasting. For those that aren’t, some software will allow you to set a time/date to record your favorites. With podcasting, though, you will know when a new show is posted without having to visit my site. This also means that I don’t have to load the latest show, then wait a few days before you are aware of it. I load the show, you open your podcatcher, you’ll see the info updated. In some cases, it can download on the fly or you can grab the file at your convenience.

This is amazing stuff!

Sites such as Beyondjazz and Clubbity are already making good use of these tools. It’ll be very cool and convenient (especially for sites that don’t update but maybe several times a month) for labels, promotion companies, artists, and others to incorporate such technologies into their sites. Perhaps like me, they too will have to spend some quality time playing around in order to realize the true potential of RSS/Atom feeds. In the end, it can be a godsend!

Speaking of Beyondjazz, there’s a page that kinda/sorta explains a bit about what I’ve talked about. There are also additional links on the site that you can branch out to for more info.

Many thanks to Jurrian from BJ for hooking me onto this, and for his continued assistance. Expect to see some evolution of both sites (mainly behind-the-scenes) in the next week or so.

Aight, time to put the technobabble to rest, except to say that a few links have now been added to both blog sites. Check it.

Have a good weekend, and catch y’all next week!

The Urban Landscapes Radioshow 8.22
Friday June 10, 2005

Song – Artist – Album – Label
Harmony – Trickski – Compost Black Label 001 EP (Compost)
Is It Because I’m Black? – Blakfire – Bloodfire #2 (CD-R)
Reach The Sky – Eddy Meets Yannah – Just Like… (Compost)
Ir Facil – Moodorama – Brazilectro Sessions 7 EP 12″ (Audiopharm)

THE URBAN LANDSCAPES
GUESTMIX PRESENTS:
Fauna Flash (Compost Records, Germany)

Reign (Morgan Geist Mix) – UNKLE
Leave My Head Alone Brain – Henrik Schwartz
Dust – Recloose featuring Joe Dukke
Phonique (I:Cube Mix) – Alexander East
Unknown (Charles Webster Remix) – Logan
Engoli – Ame
Paranoia – John Tejada
Can’t Get Enough (Steve Bug Remix) – Funk D’Void
Enjoy The Silence (Timo Maas Extended Remix) – Depeche Mode

END OF FAUNA FLASH GUESTMIX

Hype Up (featuring Ms. Lickle Bit) – Surra (Amalgama CD-R)
Written In The Stars (Atjazz Remix) – Motorcitysoul – EP (Infracom)
Comin’ For Ya – M’Pho Skeef (Phuture Lounge CD-R)
Smile – Eddy Meets Yannah – Just Like… (Compost)
Minotaur – Porkswatch (Q-Tape CD-R)
END BROADCAST

Kermit-tee Frog here….I mean hey, Velanche back with you again. More on this later.

Okay, so MJ has been found not guilty. Now we DJs can live in peace and continue to spin his music, regardless of which side people stand on the verdict. Let the pundits have their say; but please…for the love of God…put an end to this media menagerie and let’s move on!

Last Friday’s show was a cool one. Included in the mix is the new Bloodfire tune (thanks to Daz from the Bugz for that one), some atmospheric delights from Trickski on Compost’s new Black Label series, the awesome and beautiful Eddy Meets Yannah long-player with two tracks from that one (one of the year’s best so far), some dub-wise madness from Surra (with help from the naughty Ms. Lickle Bit) upcoming on Amalgama, the forthcoming single from Porkswatch on Q-Tape, and the much talked-about M’pho Skeef tune from the Phuture Lounge label that’s been making waves in club circles (cheers to Dave aka Zed Bias for sending me a virtual copy stat). Also in the mix was the Urban Landscapes Guestmix from Fauna Flash (Compost Records). The show will be online for listening by the end of the week).

As for wassup on this week’s show, the Bugz profile is coming along nicely. Both interview and musical placement seems to be coming together. With just a few more hours of work, it’ll be ready for this Friday’s broadcast.

So what should you expect to hear? It’ll be mostly Orin Waters that I’ve done most of the chit-chatting with, but you may also hear from Daz-I-kue too. We talk about the formation of the Bugz, a little bit about Orin and how he got started, the West London scene, the state of bruk (or broken beat to you), and other subjects.

Among the varied sort of music that moves me is drum n’bass, especially those of the Latin/Brazilian and liquid soul kind. So I was pleased as can be when a package arrived in my box with several goods from NY’s Breakbeat Science. Out of the three CDs in the pack, the gem for me was the follow-up by High Contrast. The album, High Society, was originally out on Hospital Records last year. It’s not a new album, as it came out domestically on BBS last year. But wow, it’s a killer collection of deep soul, cool sounds, and just awesome goodness that makes liquid funk the kind of d’nb that endures. If you don’t have it in your collection, you need this. Shouts out to Steph for providing the music before taking off to Europe for a bit.

I truthfully and respectfully ask you good folks out there….do I sound like Kermit the Frog?? Well a few people seem to feel that way. Looking at the stats on my web site, I’ve found that there’s a link to one of my shows via the Southport Weekender web site. The link took me to a forum that was inaccessible unless I was a registered user. Not even the Search function was available to me, which was unusual for an online forum. After patiently taking the time to subscribe myself as a user, I’ve once again attempted to utilize that Search feature. Up came a list of possibles for my “urban landscapes” query, and I’ve jumped to one with the subject “QUALITY.”

Paraphrasing the thread, it goes something like this…

First Poster: Another fine fine radio show follks with a mix by someone called jan seigmund halfway through…its class…mind you anything that starts with a bit of bossa cant go far wrong can you

[Playlist posted here]

i know a few of you will love this

Second Poster: Some Dope stuff on there…What radio station is it? Dont [sic] you think the DJ sounds like Kermit the Frog.

First Poster: (after almost an entire row of smiley emoticons)
It’s Urban Landscapes.

Third Poster: Great radio show this, the Mediocre Voice EP is hot.

Fourth Poster: Yes it is quality this, and I also agree the DJ is definately [sic]

Not the whole post, mind you. At least they’re enjoying the music. And whether I play music or zap house flies with my tongue, I’m always appreciative of a willing audience.

For now, tis I leaving you with a bit *RIB-BIT*! Til later in the week, be cool!

The week’s almost over, and time to get on with letting our various strands of hair down. Summer is coming, and if the forthcoming music is any indication then summertime will be kind to us music lovers.

Check the show’s site, as the five most recent shows up to last week are now available for listening on-demand. You can check out the playlists, too.

If you haven’t heard of Amalgama Records (its own web site is coming soon), you’ll be hearing much more from the label in the months to come. Based in Puerto Rico and Miami, the label has already released several EPs. Soon though, the bomb will drop with “Del Alma,” an album of both previously-released and new tracks. It’s the modern sounds meets authentic voices and beats, meshed into some choice music that could potentially blow up dancefloors. What a lineup for this one: contributions will come from the likes of Seiji from the Bugz, Titonton, John Arnold, Alex Attias, and more. A remix of “Biomba” from Masoul has already made the rounds; though unfinished, it has enough bass to impress. I’ve played the tune twice on Urban Landscapes, and tonight I’ll play another killer track from Surra. Shouts to Santiago for luring me in; we’ll all be better for it. Watch out!

Munich’s Infracom continues to move forward. Having already released two remix EP’s of tunes from the “Point of View” long-player from re:jazz (a live jazz band project covering electronic/nu-jazz tunes), “Donaueschingen” is the newest EP in the series honing the remix treatment. Mr. Swell Session himself, Andreas Saag, is back with a bit of bossa and a bit of hip-hop blended in remix form. And if it’s hip-hop, then it must feel incomplete without an MC…and Atradies is the man fitting the bill. Say you don’t care for the MC? No worries; an instrumental version is also on the EP. Check it, along with the “It’s Written In The Stars” EP (remixes from Atjazz and Inverse Cinematics) and “Push Push” (with Motorcitysoul and Soulpatrol mixing things up).

if it’s jazz that you’re into, then check out a bit of history with a collection that celebrates the jazz of Frankfurt. Based on an exhibition resulting from a book about the history of jazz in Frankfurt, “Der Frankfurt Sound” was compiled by the book’s author Dr. Jurgen Schwab and the folks at Infracom. The styles are varied, but there’s no mistaking the jazz feel. it’s a beautiful collection worth adding to yours.

Dave Jones has been quite a busy artist. Holding the fort as Zed Bias and Maddslinky, he’s also one half of Vaceo (with Daniel Vaccheo) and half of Phuturistix (with Injekta). With plenty of quality releases over the last few years, Phuturistix has decided to launch its own label. Phuture Lounge is only three releases young since its launch at about the beginning of the year, but its releases have already gained a tremendous amount of respect. And if you’ve listened to the show during the last two weeks, you’ve heard some of the tunes. I should play yet another track from the first Phuturistix EP from the label tonight….a warm and soulful tune called “Into The Sun.” The second EP is supposed to be a killer release, though I’ve yet to hear it. I hope to have it soon to play for you. But the third features a live combo called LTA, or Love The Action. The quality is just as fine on this one, too. The Phuturistix EP is already out, while LTA should be released shortly.

I’ve received email from Mr. Gilles P. yesterday. I wondered if he would make a return appearance to the states, and indeed he will return to the states come fall to promote his new Worldwide Sessions album (tentative title) featuring live sessions recorded for his BBC radio show. Can’t wait to hear it; can’t wait to have him back stateside. He’s mentioned October as the planned period, and he’ll be making two West Coast appearances, one east, and possibly one more. Confirmed dates will be posted when received.

This week’s Urban Landscapes Guestmix will come from Fauna Flash. Christian Prommer and Roland Appel have been doing their thing for a number of years as FF. They’ve also collaborated with Rainer Truby as the Truby Trio, as well as Peter Kruder as Voom:Voom. They have done a number of remixes, choice ones that you can hear on a new compilation of Fauna Flash remixes called “Worx.” I should have a copy of the comp soon, and you’ll hear tracks from it. In the meantime, they’ve put together a mix set in conjunction with the album’s release. You’ll hear it this week.

Giving you just a little taste of next week’s show, you’ll finally hear the Urban Landscapes Profile with Bugz In The Attic. You’ll hear my interview with Orin Waters (aka Afronaught) and Daz-I-Kue (the Bugz’s supreme sound engineer), as well as choice music from the Bugz as well as various members of the collective. More details coming next week.

Some choice music are on tap this week, so be sure to tune into either the live show or the archived edition (which should be online by next week).

Have a great weekend!