We start off this weekend with a cut from what will surely be one of my most recommended albums of 2005, the dope-as-hell full-length debut from the U.K.’s D’Nell on BBE. Yet another great cut from Recloose’s “Hiatus on the Horizon” album. Fluid Ounce is back with a wicked new tune from its new signing October, an artist from Bristol whose 3-track EP will be coming soon on the label. And on top of the good stuff, you’ll hear a replay of a live, in-studio Urban Landscapes Guestmix from Abstract Butta, a DJ from Los Angeles whose part of the Riddim Ridas collective. He takes the turntables while his companion Lady Fe sounds out the tracks.

So grab it…hear it…enjoy it!

Playlist coming soon.

A couple of new releases on Los Angeles-based label Sound In Color kick off this week’s broadcast, courtesy of Steve Spacek’s full-length debut and Sa-Ra’s double-disc EP. Got the Louie Vega remix of Bah Samba’s “Calma” domestically available as a cheaper standalone single. An excellent cut comes from the new Shapes EP:Z 12″ on Tru Thoughts, and a great unreleased track courtesy of Swedish producer’s Opolopo’s live project Expansions. Also got the dope new vinyl-only remix from Gerardo Frisina of a classic Dizzy Gillepsie tune forthcoming from the Impulsive! compilation of classic jazz remixed on Impulse, and a killer tune from Scotland by the Fusion Experience. And on top of all of that, this week’s Urban Landscapes Guestmix is also innit. Robert Strauss from Canada, whose debut album “Quasars and Phasars” is finally out on the U.K.’s Freerange label, has a one-hour mix to showcase his faves.

Hold on for the full playlist, but for now enjoy the show and the music.

It’s Monday night, and it’s quite late. I’ve spent some of my day preparing the two most recent shows. While the editing takes some time to do prior to creating the final audio files to upload, the most time consuming part (next to actually recording the shows) is the long wait for the final audio file to render. If you can imagine a two-hour show having to generate into the final mp3, it takes about an hour on my machine. And we aren’t talking about the time it takes to edit, do some minor slicing and dicing, and cleaning up the audio enough so that the volume is more-or-less even. But that’s how it goes for now.

So while I’m waiting for the file to finish up (I still have one more show to put together before I’m done), I thought that I’d take a little time to share with you my adventures from last weekend.

First, I gotta say that it indeed was a good one. It was great to see friends old and new who are also into the music scene, and are/were involved in radio, promotions, or some related aspect of the scene.

I’ve had dinner with Rocky Rococo, who is a DJ that fills in once a month for the Rucker Park show on San Jose’s KFJC. Also joining us was Frank, formerly known as Reggie Halogen and Frankie Cutless, who is also a KCPR alumnus and possesses a rather sardonic wit. We’ve spoken a great deal about nu-jazz, radio, jazz, and other aspects while consuming a delicious Thai dinner at a great restaurant that we’ve eaten at before during the San Jose Jazz Fest.

Then it was time for us to break up and for me to make the trek to San Francisco. That, in of itself, was a bit of an oddessy. Getting on the freeway was easy, but I was thrown off a little bit after crossing the city limit and ended up out of bounds. I was given directions by both a gas station attendant and a gentleman at a convenience store. Alas, I’ve meandered around and had to call Mr. Rococo, who had given me the directions on how to get the venue from San Jose. The second set of directions he gave me over the phone ended up getting me out of jam and within the general area nearest the venue. By then, I was about two hours’ over when I was expecting to arrive.

From there came a bit of walking up and down streets, and calling up another friend, Kate, whom I was to meet at the venue. I’ve already spoken with her on the phone about thirty minutes earlier when I was lost during the drive, and spoke to her again about my arrival to the city. I was a bit disoriented. Argh!

After another hour of having to go through false alley ways and given the wrong directions several times while walking on foot, eventually a security guard gave me what was needed to find the place. By this time, it was almost midnight, but I saw a line with people that I’ve struggled to look for in the other alleys without luck.

The venue, The Mezzanine, was once a dot-com, I’m told. It has a swanky-looking exterior, that’s for sure. I’m sure the current owners of the property felt rather fortunate, because it’s a nice location for a club.

inside, I’ve found my friend Kris, who is also a KCPR alumnus. Then Kate found me and it was sort of a roundabout KCPR reunion, except that Kris and Kate were meeting each other for the first time. Kris left to be with his friends for a bit while I was with Kate for about 20 minutes. She had already been in the venue for two hours, and had to leave due to the impending overnight closure of the Bay Area Bridge. She lives north of the bridge, so she would have been otherwise stranded.

The timing of my arrival was good, because right about then the live performances were about to begin. Tastemaker Gilles Peterson, who was on tour to promote his BBC Radio Sessions live album, introduced Virgin soul crooner Dwele. He arrived on stage and did a live P.A. of some of his tunes from both his newest album and his previous debut of two years ago. The women were quite responsive to this groove. He was then joined by Kajmere group The Rebirth, who backed him up on a few tunes. He did some electric keys while performing one of his tunes from his first album. Overall, a respectable performance.

Then Gilles introduced The Rebirth, and they were surely the better live performance of the night. They possessed soul and energy that had the audience working things up. Noelle and Carlos, the two leads, did the business of working up the crowd, and upping the ante with a killer performance. They’ve performed both album cuts and cover tunes, and at times cutting through a tune with a few bars from familiar soul tunes that drove the crowd nuts.

It’s been said that it was their cover of “Evil Vibrations” that was usually the highlight of their live performances, and it was no exception this time around, with the audience by then dancing hard and singing along.

Somewhere along the last third of their set, band leader Carlos introduced Rich Medina to the audience. He did what seemed to have been one long spoken dialogue to a quiet, standing audience, encapsulating most of his previous spoken words over several tunes into one. I question if it was the appropriate time to drop it, especially during an otherwise dancey atmosphere. Still, he was greeted with cheers from the audience in the end.

After The Rebirth’s set ended on a high note with “This Journey In,” Gilles took the decks. By then it was around 1:45am, with the entire live schedule already pushed back by 45 minutes. But the audience got into his groove. He had a good time rocking the peeps with a combination of new tunes, old faves, and quite a bit of cutting and teasing on the CD decks. Of course, the almighty Technics were there to accomodate the vinyl collection that he has great pride in. I’ve danced for a bit in the very front next to some lovelies who were having a great time.

After a bit of dancing, Kris’s eagle eyes once again spotted some peeps. He caught Tom Thump, whom I’ve met some time back when Nicola Conte did a gig during one of his club events. We’ve had a brief chat, after which Rich Medina came along (once again, thanks to Kris). We’ve chatted for a bit, and Kris used his camera phone to get a shot. I don’t have the picture yet, but hope to get it soon. Man, the guy is tall! But he was gracious and appreciative all the while.

Shortly afterwards, Marky, yet another KCPR alum and one of the promoters of the event (he’s with an outfit called Massive Selector), had a bit of a chat session catching up with what he’s been up to. Following that, I was introduced to Hakobo, one of the members of the Fresco crew. He’s a nu-jzz fan just like me, and I really dig that. He’s been supporting that aspect of the scene, and I look forward to knowing him a bit more in time. I was also introduced to a few others, including people from the Kajmere label.

It was about time for me to wrap up the night. On my way up, I was told that I could see Gilles whenever I was ready to greet him on stage. And surely, I went to him and gave him a hug. We’ve exchanged greetings and well-wishes, as I didn’t want to break his stride. He was on a roll, and he was having such a great time that the local DJs decided to let him close the night. That should have been a great treat for the dancers, who were having fun and enjoying the music.

So that’s my tale of San Francisco, or at least a part of it. As I finish typing this,I have a little while longer before the second show that I’ve worked on today (yes, I’ve finished the first in-between writeups) is ready to load online. I’m rather tired now, as it is about 2am. I’m going to pay for it at work tomorrow night (or rather tonight), but that’s how it goes.

I hope to get in more in the way of music news this week, so look out for it. Stay coolio!

As I’m struggling to meet deadline for my latest reviews to be submitted to XLR8R Magazine (to be published in December as Issue 93), this week so far has been a bit of a juggling act. Still, it’s been a good one so far. Good enough to share.

I’ve found out today, and made an announcement, that local music promoter Manuel Barba, co-host of the Night Train soul/funk show on San Luis Obispo County public radio station KCBX, has scored once again. It’s always been sort of a dream to make what’s happening a reality, but Manuel’s really coming through. Bringing acts here to SLO such as Quantic, the Crown City Rockers, the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, and Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings among others, his hard work, along with great support from the community, has validated so far that there’s a hunger for quality entertainment here. Not that the city doesn’t have such entertainment already, but it’s always frustrating when acts that are near and dear to us are performing either in L.A. or San Francisco, but never having the opportunity to play in an area that’s smack dab in between the two cities.

We are about to find out soon just how open-minded and how hungry people are for future music. The news was shared to me today by Manuel that John Arnold and Jeremy Ellis will be performing here on Friday, November 4th here in San Luis Obispo. I’m obviously very excited about this, especially with Ellis on the bill. I’ve interviewed him on Urban Landscapes around the time that his “Drink This” EP was released several years back on Detroit’s Omoa Music, and have met him in Miami last year prior to his live keyboard performance during an early evening Ubiquity event. I wish at the time that I didn’t had to leave, because he is just a wizard on the keyboard. I’m not sure what it was that he was using; I’m guessing a keyboard and an MPC. I was in awe with how quickly he’s able to shift from one sound to another, or even layering sound on top of sound, with relative ease. I wasn’t able to stick around long enough to hear him sing, either.

You bet your ass I’m not missing it this time. Not him, not the talented John Arnold, for whom the tour is really for (to promote his “Style and Pattern” album that’s just been released), not for anything. But since I’m going to be the opening DJ for the show, I really can’t cop out now can I? but no need to. I hope that it’s going to be a fun show. It’ll be live and all freestyle, as Arnold and Ellis take the music where it needs to go.

The most important barometer, of course, will be the community support. It’s still hard to gauge if they are ready for such music, but it’s funk…it’s soul….it’s boogie. I can’t see why they would not be ready, but that’s not for me to judge. We will just have to promote the show hard, and encourage people that this will be worth their time. If it’s a success, then it will open even more doors than it already has. My hats off to Manuel for having the courage to take a chance. Let’s see if the community will be as brave.

And also, it looks as if the Breakestra show has finally been confirmed. Umm, you’ll know when later on. Not too much later, but let’s focus on one show at a time shall we?

And on the subject of shows, this weekend promises to be big as far as Gilles Peterson goes. I’m looking forward to seeing him once again. There are also several other cats who have traveled to the Bay Area, not necessarily to see Gilles though. But of course, they now want to see his BBC Radio Sessions show now that they are aware of his presence, which is almost God-like for some. But to me, he’s one of us. He’s a DJ with a deep knowledge and a true love for all things deep and soulful. It’s been about a year and a half since our time in Miami, and it’ll be good to see him again. Albeit, I’m guessing a lot of people will want to see him at some point! But that’s just the nature of the beast. He’s performing tomorrow night in Los Angeles at the Vanguard, and then Saturday at the Mezzanine. I’ll be at the Mez.

I’m really looking forward to seeing L.A.’s The Rebirth at the show, too. If you haven’t picked up “This Journey In,” the band’s full-length debut, you really would do well to add it to your collection. Some really generous heapings of soul is in store for listeners from the seven-member band. Seek it out on the fledging Kajmere Sound label.

And Dwele? Well I haven’t got to listen to his album just yet, which is out this week. Hard to talk of him too much, so I will withhold judgment until I see the show.

Other than that, it will be good to see friends, too.

I have more to talk about, but I need to get back to meeting my writing deadline. Stay cool….

It’s about the beginning of a new week, with the last one now history.

As I’m maintaining several sites at once, I’ve come to the conclusion that change will be in the air again. I have the show’s main site, of course. But then there’s the blog, the gallery, and the podcast. And I haven’t even mentioned all the items on the main site, such as the availability of the shows for download there as well, and that of outdated reviews, and other goods.

I’m planning to do something about all of this, but it’s going to take a little while. It may take a few months to accomplish, but I will let everyone know when the time comes.

The international edition of last Friday’s broadcast, featuring the week’s Urban Landscapes Guestmix from Robert Strauss (Freerange Records, Canada) will be online by the end of the week.

And the cool music keeps coming. Be sure to put on your list of wants the vinyl-only Shapes EP: Z 12″ that’s forthcoming from the mightly Tru Thoughts. One of my faavoite tracks of last year, Polar Pair’s “Fall Over My Head,” remixed by Maddslinky, finally sees the light of vinyl. Mr. Luis, may I shake your hand please? There’s also another PP cut, too. A wicked Diesler remix of Nirobi and Barakas (that would be Epson Horne and Robert Luis, to you) slammer “Bungee Jump Against Racism.” I hearby give this one title of the year…until the next catchy one comes forth. Among other tracks, it also has the sought-after Prins re-rub of Quantic’s “Mishaps Happening.” Due to drop in 14 November in Europe.

Got a goodie from Sweish-based Opolopo. Along with a remix of Dwele is a knockout epic track under his own project called Expansions. A bit of Africa, Latin, and Rhodes, “Cha Cha Loka Funk” definitely had me dancing in the studio. And the mastering ain’t half bad, either. Who knows if it’s going to get a release, but it surely deserves it.

And speaking of releases–late ones, especially–Robert Strauss’s Quasars and Phasars is finally out after months of delay. This is his full-length debut, and I’ve been hawking it on my show ever since he’s passed on the promo to me in Miami last March. So now you can snag it for your own collection. Lots of funk influences here, but definitely some bangers worth checking. Out now on Freerange, yo!

And of dealys, it looks as if Amalgama’s Del Alma comp is still stuck in distribution hell. Hopefully, it won’t be much longer. Too many excellent tunes here to allow the collection to gather dust. It’s a mixture of Puerto Rican artists and others from the UK, stateside, and other locales. It’s most definitely world music to the next level.

On the Latin front, Louie Vega’s wonderful reworking of Bah Samba’s Calma has been released as a standalone 12″ at a much nicer price (at least stateside) on his own Vega label. So if you’re like me and didn’t want to have to fork out the serious dough for the import double-twelve, then you are in luck. It was one of my favorite tunes during Edground’s summer mix for the show and I couldn’t stop myself from pressing repeat. I’ve finally bought it earlier in the week, and now I’m happy that it’s in my posession. Big up to Little Louie.

More Latin vibes are floating about, as Schema’s Gerardo Frisina does not one, but two remixes of Dizzy Gillepsie’s classic “Swing Low, Sweet Cadillac.” There’s an extended version with some of his percussive touches, and then there’s a slammin’ revowrk that includes additional piano, percussion, and horns. Put that baby on, and watch the crowd fall at your feet. Definitely peaktime pressure. Look forward to listening to the rest of “Impulsive! Revolutionary Jazz Reworks,” a remix album of classic tunes from the catalog of the jazz label Impulse. Other remixes will come from RZA, Mark de Clive-Lowe, and Boozoo Bajou among others. It’s out 25 October in the states.

I will do my best to post another blurb by the middle of the week. If you’re in California, or are planning to be this week, Remember that Gilles Peterson is making the rounds doing the BBC Radio Sessions featuring live performances, as well as DJing from Gilles himself. I will let you know the L.A. date, but I do know that the San Francisco date is Saturday 15 October at The Mezzinine. The Rebirth and Dwele will be performing, and several local DJs are also on the bill. I’ll be at that one; make sure you’ll be there too.

Okay, I’m out. Have a good week!