Back to the, Back to the BEATS
Gearing up for Coachella this weekend. I'm thrilled that I was able to score tickets for a respectable price after going crazy for 3 days since I found out that Saturday had sold out. For a minute, Sat tickets were going for like 300 a pop on Ebay. Someone made some money. Really looking forward to Kraftwerk, the Pixies, Radiohead, Laurent Garnier, Stereolab, Da Lata, Savath and Savalas, 2 Many DJs, Dizzee Rascal, Mogwai, Dangermouse, Antibalas.... PLus movies like "Bomb the System" and "Sound Class"

Jazzanova is set to release a new Mix CD on Sonar Kollectiv. Check the tracklistings and hear the cuts now.

4Hero has released an LP of their best remixes as well as selected remixes done by others of their tracks. A great chance to get your hands on all the things people will be talking about as classics in 10 years. The boys are always one step ahead - whether that was acid house, breakbeat, hip-hop, drum n bass, soul and now broken beat. Their version of Rotary Connetion's "Black gold of the Sun" still gives me the chills. And if you haven't heard the Visioneers remnix of "The Action" (yeah that crew), you are missing out on the definition of jazzy hip-hop business.

Madlib is doing broken beat. Check the new (import?) Stones Throw 12" called "Broken Soul." A little too meandering, like a lot of his recent non hip-hop work, but there are some great bits on here trying to move things forward.

Peven Everett - Kissing Game (Kindred Spirits) - A housier and more better mastered offering from one of my hometown (Chicago) heroes. While Pevan is one of the best songwriters and performers in the country (check the classic 2-step forerunner "Gabrielle"), this too often gets lost in the LPs he's released (3 or 4 in the last year and a half?!). There are always a couple of bangers, in this case the title track, "Puerto Rico," and "Boy I Need," but also too much similar sounding beats and vocals. He needs an anthology already.

VA - Blue Note Revisited Album (Blue Note) - Probably the best one yet of all the Blue Note remix and repackage jobs they have crowded the shelves with in recent years. Someone over there knows their stuff pairing Horace Silver/4Hero, Bugz in the Attic/Gene Harris, Kenny Dope/Bobby Hutcherson, etc. Some let downs of course, but we like the effort.

Greyboy - Soul Music (Blue Note) - Loved the singles so this is a bit of a disappointment, but still the best Greyboy LP to date for my money. He brought up the soul and buried the hip-hop acid jazz to great effect.

Finally, do check out a nice BBC (Collective - a new type of interactive forum) feature on the "pirate soul" thing that is taking over the finer London record shops. Taking mash-ups up a few notches, peeps like Yam Who, Blackbeard, J-Star and Red-Astaire have made some of the most listenable jointz of the year. The thing is to take the best recent soul numbers like and tweak em just right - either by taking a nice little beat section from the original and extending it or replacing the beat or a joint with great vocals with something more substantial. Faves of the genre include YamWho/R. Saddiq's "Skyy Can You Feel Me," J-Starr's "No Digity," Red Astaire/Method Man's "Back n Forth/Follow Me,"Blackbeard/Kweli's "Get By."

One more on the illegal songs front - The Inhumanz CD "Hell to Pay.
These are the folks behind the popular SATANIK MASHUP series - club guaranteed.
01."Satanik Intro"
02."50 Inch Nails" - 50 Cent/Nine Inch Nails
03."Kashmir Yourself" - Eminem/Led Zeppelin ***
04."Shoot the War Pigs" - Nas/Black Sabbath
05."Back in the Episode" - Dr. Dre/Snoop Dogg/AC/DC
06."Magic Stroke" - Lil' Kim/50 Cent/Billy Squier
07."Neva Roam" - Bonecrusher/Metallica
08."Frantic Bia" - Lil' Jon/Metallica ***
09."Say Hello Last Time" - Clipse/Interpol ***
10."Suck Up" - Ludacris/Red Hot Chilli Peppers
11."Pass That Can" - Missy Elliott/Can
12."We Will Wanksta" - 50 Cent/Queen ***
13."21 Questions of Fame" - 50 Cent/David Bowie
14."Led Gon' Give It To Ya" - DMX/Led Zeppelin ***
15."Wizard Storm" - Mobb Deep/Black Sabbath
16."Dirt Off Your Sober" - Jay-Z/Tool

Last one, promise, but it fits too....
VA - ST IDES RAP COMMERCIALS - Self explnatory business who issue shows that too many people my age have too much money to waste. Naw, that one MC Eiht joint was ill. And wen Public Enemy did one of these I never bought another things from them.